Chapter 1. Need Help

"Shimatta! I don't know the answer to this one..TGIF, I can rest tomorrow! " Retasu said as she scratched her head with a pencil.

She stared at the terrorizing piece of paper in front of her eyes. There were confusing numbers along with alphabet letters like 'x' and 'y' written all over it.

She turned around and looked at the time.

'YAAAA! Only ten minutes, to go home time!' Retasu panicked she had to finish this exercise, before dismissal time.

And everyone knew why she had to go home early... her job.

Retasu loved her job. It was the only place where she had friends, the only place she had fun and most importantly she loved the job because 'he' was there.

'he' Shirogane Ryou, who she has been crushing since the start of the job. ,

She bit her pencil.

'I don't understand this!' Retasu continued to panic.

She saw the students around her, they were all scribbling and answering that piece of paper.

Retasu looked back at her paper. She decided to skip the questions first and when she is done with the rest she would answer it again.

But there seemed to be a problem... She didn't know the answer to all the questions!

'Maybe I should get a tutor?' she asked.

Some students stood up and handed the piece of paper to the teacher in the front desk.

Then they waved goodbye.

'Gambare, Retasu!' Retasu said. She went back to work.

After 45 minutes of tiring work she handed the piece of paper to the teacher.

The teacher gave her a big red F on her a paper without a second look.

She hurriedly went to her locker and took all her stuff.

She ran out of the empty school.

She stood there and waited for the bus to get to Cafe Mew.

It was quite far from Retasu's school.

By bus, it would probably take 30 minutes.

Retasu waited for around 5 minutes.

No bus.

'Aah! Ryou is gonna get mad at me' Retasu thought.

She didn't care, she was going to run to Cafe Mew, even if she carried a bag full of textbooks, a folder and another book in her hands.

In Cafe Mew

Ryou stood near the counter. He looked at his watch worried about Retasu.

'I wonder where she is? It's not like her to be late.'

Ichigo moaned.

"Oh, Ryou! You should gave us a raise! There are so many customers!" Ichigo said

"A raise? Yeah right." Ryou said as he looked another direction.

Ichigo looked around.

"Hey Ryou? Where's Retasu? It's not like her to be late. She usually comes first than all of us."

"I dunno..." Ryou said pretending to not care.

"How could you not know! She's your girlfriend!" Ichigo teased then stuck her tongue out.

Ryou blushed.

"NO SHE ISN'T, NOW GET BACK TO WORK!" Ryou shouted.

Ichigo stuck her tongue out and got back to serving cakes and pastries.

Then Ryou heard steps and heavy breathing near the entrance door.

Retasu showed up. There were papers flying in the air.

She was breathing heavily and sweating.

"Gomen (sorry), miina-san (everyone)." Retasu apologized.

Ichigo jumped "You're here!"

Ichigo leaned closer to Retasu and whispered "You're boyfriend there was worrying about you."

Ichigo pointed to Ryou.

Retasu blushed

"He's not my boyfriend, Ichigo-san." Retasu smiled.

Ichigo went back to work.

Ryou walked closer to Retasu.

"Need help?" he asked as he picked up the papers.

He handed them to Retasu

"Arigato Ryou. I never knew anyone as nice." Retasu smiled sweetly.

Ryou blushed.

"What's this?" Ryou picked up the algebra exercise on the ground.

He stood up and looked at it.

Retasu grabbed it "Gomen, Ryou. That's mine."

Retasu ran through the back door.

She went into the dressing room and changed her clothes.

Ryou who was still outside picked up her agenda (which, apparently, was open).

He saw 'Algebra Test on Tuesday. Get tutor!'

Then he remembered the algebra paper with a big, fat F.

In no time Retasu was helping out her friends.

"Ehm Ehm. Looks like lover boy was helping his girlfriend. So how long have you been going out?" Ichigo continued to tease him

"URUSAI!" Ryou shouted.

He blushed.