I don't own these characters.


Chapter 7

"And that will be the last of today's announcements. Don't forget to hand in your assignments, I'm not accepting any late hand-ins."

The bell had just rung, signaling the end of homeroom period. Sadayo was gathering her stuff as the class representative collected everyone's assignments and handed them to her. As she was about to leave she took notice of Makoto waiting outside of the class room, signaling Akira to come closer to which he seemed to happily comply. This caught her by surprise as she blinked in disbelief 'When did those two start socializing with one another. Did something happen?' As she finished packing she left her classroom and proceeded to the stair, but as she caught wind of their conversation Sadayo stopped by the stairs as she proceeded to listen in on the two.

"You holding up okay Makoto?" Akira asked.

"I'm a bit tired and my body is still sore in certain areas, but honestly I feel great." Makoto responded, sounding quite satisfied. "It was actually kind of refreshing being able to cut loose like that."

"It can be quite cathartic at times, I give you that."

'Tired? Cutting loose? What does she mean by cutting loose?' Sadayo's curiosity only increased by the second as she wondered what exactly was her trouble student doing with the student council president. She took a peek and noticed how both of them were acting very comfortable with each other, both of them seemed tired, but relaxed around one another.

"So what did you want to talk to me about?" Akira asked.

Makoto looked to the side, making Sadayo to move back in a panic, making sure not to be seen. "I was wondering if you would come with me after school, there's something I want to ask you about."

"Sure, it's probably a good idea to take a breather before we do another go at it.." Akira nodded.

"Very well. Then I'll meet you in front of the student council room after class."

With what seemed to be the end of their conversation Sadayo was quick to make her exit. For the rest of the day she found herself going back and forth between trying to figure out what exactly the two of them had been talking about, wondering if it had anything to those 'Extracurricular Activities' that he had mentioned a couple of days ago. Sadly but any kind of progress was always halted as she was quick to remind herself that it was none of her business. As she tried to put those thought behind her as she was leaving school, she overheard two girls talking in the hall, the topic of their conversation catching her interest.

"Hey, did you hear that the council president was calling for Kurusu-kun this morning? And apparently they met up after class"

"Wow, she must be really brave, considering all those stories about him. I wonder why though? They seemed way friendlier than I'd expect."

"Do you think that they're going out? Maybe she's into those dangerous 'Bad Boy' types."

"Isn't he also with that blonde chick though? I mean this is miss honor student, and he has an actual assault case. Who'd want to associate themselves with someone like him."

Sadayo cleared her throat, catching both girls by surprise as they turn to face her.

"If you have free time, you should probably spend it on something more productive than making up more useless rumors. I have enough of them to deal with already as it is, so don't go making things more difficult for me." Her annoyance was very clear, netting her both a glare and an eye roll as both girls walked away.

"Yeah, yeah. Sorry for causing you so much trouble teach. We'll be heading out now" the insincerity in one of the girl's voice did not go amiss, as she waved her hand in disinterest.

As soon as they were gone Sadayo let out a groan as she scratched her head in frustration. "Why did I have to go and do that..." She let out a sigh and walked towards the window, and when she looked out, she was able to see both Akira and Makoto as they left the school. From where she was, they seemed to be enjoying themselves in conversation, Sadayo couldn't remember the last time Makoto ever socialized with her peers like she was doing now, usually keeping to her studies and responsibilities.

Try as she might to avoid doing so, she thought back to what one of the girls had mentioned and the conversation Akira and Makoto had this morning, as an idea that she shouldn't be considering beginning to form.

"Could they really be...dating?" As those words left her lips, a sense of unease swelled in her chest, and she wrapped her arms around herself, turning away from the window.


Sadayo didn't have time for such baseless conclusions. She hated rumors likes those and was frustrated that she ever gave what those girls where talking about the time of day. She cleared her mind of such thoughts as she went straight to her apartment to get ready before gathering the neighbors' dogs and taking them for a walk for some extra cash. After so many days of rain, the days have become much hotter, and while her usually attire is usually fine for her to day to day activities, she rather have something a bit more breathable and mobile when dealing with the dogs. She wore a yellow long shirt that slowly shifted to red as it went down, a comfortable pair of worn jeans and some white sneakers. She also tied a gray cardigan around her waist, she didn't expect to need cause of how hot it was outside, but after that one incident where she got stuck indoors with the dogs and freezing cold AC as it rained outside, she figured it was best to be prepared for next time.

While walking her neighbors dogs wasn't the most profitable of her jobs, it was one of the few things she could do that didn't stress her out considerably. Her night job as a maid alone was bad enough, but even her job at the convenience store had her worried at time, even if Ms. Chouno had stopped interrogating her about her life outside of school. With dog walking, she could simply wave it as her helping her neighbors, and it had admittedly allowed her to be in good standing with most of them which made it easier on her not having to worry about someone being too nosy and finding her leaving in a maid outfit. It was hard at first as she tried wrangling all the dogs at once, from her next door neighbor's skittish Pomeranian to the man down the street's headstrong Labrador. But as the years went by she got a good understanding and started to appreciate the fact that there was no rush, no uncomfortable glares, no orders to take, no sense of uneasiness and no reason to hide. In a way it was a breath of fresh for her just as much as it was for the dogs, and while she still preferred fishing for when she wanted to relax, this was a nice alternative which also got her paid.

As she continue to wander by the side walk, leashes in hand, her mind continued to back to what she said at school. 'Clearly I'm overthinking this.I mean they had no idea what they where talking about. They where thinking out loud, there's no real signs or proof anyway.'

"But, then again..."

As Sadayo attempted to refute such claim, a thought came to her mind as she stopped. "There was that one time where Nijima-san had me tell Kurusu-kun that she wanted to see him, And on Monday she seemed really out of it, and ended up running after Kurusu-kun. Could the reason she called to meet with him was to confess to him? But that doesn't mean that they are dating, they simply could simply be friends." 'But what about that discussion that they had this morning.They way they where talking, it sounded like they had...' Sadayo face turned bright red before she even finished her thought as she shook her head. "No! There is no way they'd be talking about something like that in the open. And why am I thinking of that?" She ruffled her hair as she let out a groan, and unable to make sense of her thoughts stopping to crouch down and let out an exasperated sigh as her head hung forward. "Seriously, what is wrong with me...?"

Lost in her thought she hadn't noticed as her hand had loosened up and suddenly felt a tug as the dogs noticed something. Bringing her self back to reality she attempted to get a hold of the leashes once more, but before she could close her hand, three of the dogs manged to escape her grip. "OH NO, come back here!" Sadayo stood up and gave chase, unable to keep up as they gained more and more distance from her. As they turned the corner she heard something in the distance.

"What in the-!?"

Turning the corner, she found that the three dogs were trying to pile up on a very familiar student that was sitting on the ground while trying to keep them at bay.

"Kurusu-kun?!" She said in shock, all the while keeping a strong grip at the remaining dogs who seem just as interested to join in on the pile.

Akira looked at a surprised Sadayo. "Hey Ms. Kawakami…" He replied, with an awkward smile. "Fancy running into you."

"Yeah-I mean what are- Why are you-?"

"Before anything else, could I get some help?" Akira requested as the dogs prevented him from getting up.

"OH! Right, sorry." Sadayo proceeded to grab the loose dogs' leashes and pull them away. Still, why are they so interested in you?"

"Those dogs are after me! They better keep their distance or I'll scratch their eyes out!." Morgana Yelled as he hid in Akira's bag, causing Sadayo to look around in confusion.

"Did you hear a cat just now?"

"Nope, not at all. Must be imagining things." Akira hastily refuted as he got up, jerking his bag to signal Morgana to keep quiet. "They probably smell some of the jerky that I have."

"If you says so... Calm down boys." It took a while but Sadayo was able to calm the dogs and turned to her student. "Still, I wasn't expecting to run into you," She shot him a suspicions glare "You aren't following me are you? I thought you were spending time with Nijima-san today?"

"And how do you know of that?" Akira asked curiously, leaning forward to meet his teacher eyes as he showed a mischievous grin. "I don't recall ever mentioning anything like that, Sensei"

"Umm, w-well..." Her eyes widened as she realized she revealed herself to quickly once again, looking away as she stuttered to give an explanation. "Well, I-I was looking at the window, a-and then I saw the both of you talking as you walked out. It just caught me by surprise you know. I-I mean like a week ago she was calling for you to meet up with her cause of some reason you weren't sure of, and now you seem to be getting along well, so I guess it was just a bit confusing."

Akira's grin closed to a smirk. "Yo know for someone who doesn't pay attention to her student's lives, you seem to notice a lot of things."

"Even I notice some things, I'm not that oblivious..." her sentence drifted not fully confident in her excuse. If she really wasn't as oblivious as she was stating, she would had noticed the signs sooner on what was going on with a number of her students, instead she simply refused to notice things. No… there was another reason for way she was being much more aware of what was happening.

Akira could tell that the discussion was bothering her by the troubled look on Sadayo's face. While he enjoyed teasing her, his intentions were never to cause her any discomfort. Backing away, he grabbed the back of his neck as he let out a long breath. "Sorry, I know you mean well... She asked me for some help since she wants to better understand her fellow students more and do a better job as President. When I suggested giving the arcade a try she asked if I could accompany her since she's never been to one before, so I figured I'd help out."

"You two seem quite close now, if she's trusting you to come with her. When did that happen?" Sadayo snarked back at Akira as she pouted.

"What can I say, it has been a crazy couple of days. A lot of stuff had happened, and we kind of ended finding out that we have a number of things in common." Akira could tell that Sadayo seemed annoyed by something, whether it was cause of his teasing or from other reasons he wasn't sure. He hadn't been expecting to run into her and could tell that Morgana was trying to tell him that they should leave. "Anyway, I should be heading back. Don't want to interrupt you while your working after all." he was on his way off when...

"Wait..." Sadayo interjected, looking shyly to the side as she continued. "It's true that I should finish doing my round before their owners start to worry, but I don't mind if we continue our talk while we walk." A slight blush appeared on her cheeks as she finished her request.

Akira seemed to be caught off-guard by her suggestion, turning to face her once more. "Are you sure you're okay with that? I wouldn't want to cause you any problems if-"

"It's fine, I mean we just ran into each other, it's not that hard to imagine this kind of situation happening." Sadayo notice that Akira looked a bit worried as he contemplated his choice. "Sorry, it's okay if you don't want to. You probably have other plans and I'm just keeping you here."

"I never said I didn't want to." Akira looked at the his teacher as she waited for his response. "Sure, I think I can squeeze you into my schedule." He responded with a smile.

"Well aren't I lucky." Sadayo responded sarcastically, a small chuckle escaping her lips as she got up.

"Then lead the way." Akira gave her courteous bow as she signal her to take the lead.

"Of course, mast-" Sadayo suddenly stopped herself from finishing what she was about to say as she looked away. 'Shoot, I've been so used to only being around him outside of school as a maid that it almost slipped out.' She glanced back at Akira who, while wearing his signature smirk, though he refrained from commenting. While she was grateful that he was showing restraint in public, it caused her to feel a bit embarrassed that he knew what she was about to say. As She cleared her throat in an attempt to save face, she moved forward. "A-anyway, let's keep going."

While Sadayo wanted to continue their conversation, the two where silent for a good portion of their walk together, neither attempting to start a conversation. She may had said that it was fine, but it didn't stop her from being nervous about running into anyone else that might recognize them both, especially with him still wearing his school uniform.. She did mean it when she said that it shouldn't be a problem, but her previous experience caused her to be a lot more paranoid than she should be. In the end though, she was the one that asked for his company, company which she enjoyed spending time with, especially after the events of last Friday's.

They had gotten so enthralled in their discussion that night, that she had lost track of time and managed to stay longer than either of them had planned. But thinking back to it, the conversation always focused about her. About her day, her jobs, and while fishing was sometimes brought up, but very rarely does the topic focus on him. Any time it did, he was quick to change topics or give only the vaguest of answers. It didn't cross her mind at first as she was just satisfied to have someone to talk and vent to, but recently she couldn't help think about her young benefactor. She knew about the circumstances that led to his criminal record, and as of recently was able to see first hand how things were for him at school; Both the good and the bad. When it came to his day to day outside of the school though, she knew surprisingly little.

He was residing with Sojiro Sakura, or more specifically, at his coffee shop, he seemed to be helping him around at times and learning from him, but that was it. Why was he not staying at Sojiro's residence. When she first saw his living arrangement he seemed fine with it, but was he really? He had mentioned doing part time jobs as well, but considering how frequently he requested her and how much it must cost him to do so, the specifics of such jobs were quite mysterious. She might see him everyday at school, and they might talk together in private, but the reality of it all was that she really hadn't bothered to learn about him, something that she wanted to change.

Knowing that there was little distance left in her walk, she gathered up her resolve and called for her student's attention. "Hey… Kurusu-kun. I've been meaning to ask but, is there any reason that you're living at the attic of Sakura-san's shop?"

"I honestly have no idea." Akira responded without a second thought, keeping his gaze ahead of him.

"Seriously?!" Sadayo quickly turned towards Akira in shock, the statement making her stop in her tracks, which caused Akira to halt as well. Worried that she might had drawn a bit more attention she asked Akira to follow her. She led them to a small resting spot in a park, she'd usually stop here to pick up a drink from the vending machine and sit for a bit while the dogs' leashes tied to a nearby pole. Having company with her this time she offered him something as he placed his bag to the side. After handing him his drink she took a sit beside him to continue their discussion. "You're not kidding, are you…?"

"Nope, as soon as I arrived I was led to a dirty and completely discarded attic and told to clean up cause that's where I'd be sleeping."

"And you were okay with that?" There was a hint of frustration in Sadayo's voice, but tone was more curious than anything else, considering what he had previously told her about his living arrangement.

"Of course not… I mean who would be? But I didn't have a choice on the matter. One of the requirements for my probation was that I continue my schooling, but I had already been expelled from my previous school. My parents tried their best to find another school that would take me, but almost all of them refused me right away without giving us time to explain. We managed to find Shujin but it was all the way in Tokyo which meant that I'd have to leave home."

Akira ran his hand over his hair, a bit of his frustration showing in his eyes. "We had no relatives that lived here, or even direct acquaintances, and since they needed someone to keep a watch over me during probation, me going on my own was out of the question even if I wanted to." Akira gave a half-hearted chuckle as he thought back to those days. "I'd honestly had given up even trying after a while. Things just weren't going our way and I didn't see the point of continuing to try. My fate was already sealed I had become a criminal that everyone wanted gone so why not get it over with. Figured everyone would be much happier with me gone." Akira rubbed the back of his head as he smiled. "Got a hard smack on my head and a lecture from my old man for even considering that."

Sadayo snickered at the prospect of Akira being lectured by his father. "Sounds like your parents still had faith in you."

"Yeah, We managed to luck out when a friend of the family came to us with good news. My mother had complained to him previously about what was going on and in one of his trips to Tokyo he asked around on a particular coffee shop that he tends to frequent whenever he comes over here for one of his business trips. To our surprise, he told us that the owner of the coffee shop was willing to offer lodging during my probation. I really wasn't sure about the whole thing, sounded way too good to be true if you asked me. But my parents encouraged me to give it a shot, a fresh start of a sorts. The staff may know of my situation, but at least the students wouldn't. That way I'd at least wold have some semblance of a regular school life."

"But that's not how it went..." Sadayo interjected dejectedly.

Akira lead out a long sigh as he leaned back on the bench. "Yeah… as soon as arrived the Leblanc I was put in a dingy attic and was constantly reminded of my 'mistake'. For a good while I could only go out for school and nothing else so it still felt like a prison of sorts. My information got leaked out and because of that everyone knew about my record before my first day at school had ended, so those hopes were dashed relatively quick, and I'm sure you remember the rest." Akira turned to look with Sadayo, a bit of a smile in his face showing. "Actually, I remember a certain someone chewing me out non stop for the remainder of the day." His tone was much more calmer and playful, as if letting her know that he wasn't saying this in anger or frustration.

"Well what did you expect?" Sadayo responded defensively, as she poked his chest "Even without your probation, did you really think that arriving that late on your first day was going to win you any favors? Not to mention your excuse wasn't very convincing."

"And why do you say that?" Akira said, challenging his teacher's statement as he place his hand to block her prodding finger.

"Well for one, when I let Sakura-san know about it he sounded frustrated that he had wasted time confirming with you about the routes you were to take to get to school, and that you had left early enough that even if there was a delay, you shouldn't have been that late, plus we would had probably gotten a notification about it."

"Wouldn't that had happened after class, don't see how that would cause you to be annoyed with my reasoning."

"Well it didn't help!" Sadayo pulled back for a bit, as her face changed from annoyed to a more solemn look as she let out a sigh. "Honestly… The reason why I could tell was cause you looked you had been in a fight when you arrived to the Teacher's office." Sadayo took another sip. Buying herself some time as she thought back to that day. "I didn't think much of it at the time. With what I had heard about about and after hearing you put up an excuse like that with those injuries... I just figured that you had simply gone off looking for trouble and only came to school so you could say that you did. If anything it just confirmed my thoughts that you where going to be nothing but trouble and I was frustrated that I was the one that had to deal with you. It didn't help that you seem disoriented after class. I mean you were asking if the school was some sort of castle." Suddenly Sadayo was caught by surprised as Akira seemed to be laughing, she was reminded of the night in which he found out she was a maid and was starting to feel a bit self conscious for some reason as she cheeks turned red. "What's so funny?!"

"Sorry, it's not you…" Akira took a deep breath as he looked downward. He was smiling, but his face seemed melancholic to her his right hand squeezing his left. "It's just that looking back, I can't blame you for thinking that way. By that point I had honestly stopped caring about how people saw me. I didn't trust anyone around me and was simply going through the motions." He turned to face her giving her a curious look with a cocky smile. "I was just surprised to hear that you noticed those injuries. I was surprised you didn't question me more on those so I thought that you hadn't noticed them, but it turned out you had all along."

"I told you already didn't I, I'm not that oblivious."Sadayo eyes avoided direct contact with his. "I just didn't want to get involved in whatever situation you had gotten yourself into. I was tired of waiting and just wanted to get the introduction over and done with it.

"Well be that as it may, I was honestly glad you didn't ask me about it, so thanks for that..."

Sadayo pouted as she mumbled to herself. "Don't think it's worth thanking. I just acted like I knew nothing, just like I do all my students."

She wasn't fully sure what his intentions were in thanking her, he could honestly be doing so, or it could be teasing her on how much of a terrible teacher she is. He was hard to read sometimes and even after all the time they've spent together, she is unable to fully understand why he does the things that he does, but even with all of that, there has been one constant in his actions since there deal had started, he'd always been kind to her. He may tease her at time and act like a completely brat, but he other than that first night, he's never acted in any way that she could consider malicious. As a hint of a smile formed on her face, she decided to trust that what he is saying. With that in mind though, this has left her once again wondering about the boy by her side.

"So what did happen that day?"

"That day...?" Akira was caught of guard by the sudden question that had been asked of him. Since he hadn't been asked about his injuries back then he hadn't bothered to think of a good story and was caught by surprise. He subtlety shuffled his bag, signaling Morgana for a distraction as he tried to feign innocence. "What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean. It's clear that it wasn't just you being late, something happened to you and Sakamoto-kun on the way to school." Sadayo right hand grabbed on to her left arm as she continued on. "I know I wasn't the most understanding person back then, I probably wouldn't had believe anything that didn't directly incriminate you and if it did I would had taken that chance and reported it to get you off my hands, so I get that you had to lie to avoid trouble. I get that, but..." She turned to face Akira, a look of determination showing. "But it's different now. I know I'm not worth much as a teacher so I can't do much for you other than some free time, but I want to help out in anyway I can. You always listen to my problems, so I wish to be there for you as well. I want you to know that I'm here if you need someone to talk to..." Sadayo voice trailed off as her determination drained from her face as her lack of confidence took root. "Or... is it something that you can't talk to me about? I know I haven't done much to earn you're trust so, so I can't blame you."

Akira felt a sharp pain in his chest as he saw Sadayo waver and retract herself after showing such a determined look just a few minutes ago. She could tell she was genuine in her desire to help him out and was thankful for it, but telling what transpired that day is not something he could simply due. While he wish he could tell her, now was not the time, if there ever was one at all. "It's that easy sadly, A lot of stuff happened and I-"

Before he could finished, He heard a familiar scream behind Sadayo. As they turned they saw that all the dogs were pulling at their leashes as they barked into the bushes, clearly agitated by something.

"Okay I'm definitely heard a cat that time, think it might had spooked them all."

"They're getting kinda restless, probably a good idea to take them back to their owners." Akira quickly interjected, breathing a mental sigh of relief as he reminded himself to pick something up for Morgana on the way home as thanks.

Sadayo turned to him, a hint of suspension showing in her face could be seen in her face though only for a second as she gave a defeated sigh. "Yeah… probably for the best." She stood as she patted the dust off from where she was sitting and was about to walk forward.

"Kawakami..."

Sadayo stopped as she slowly turned towards Akira, still siting on the bench looking regretful.

"Sorry… If it was just about me I'd be fine, but there are a lot of things that I have to consider, and a lot to unpack, so I can't tell you just yet." He raised his heads and stood up a serious look in his eyes which pierced into her and caused her goosebumps. "But you told me a while back that you trust me, right? So I want you to know that I do trust you as well. It might take some time, and that time may never come, I just hope that you can be patient."

Sadayo returned his gaze with one of her own, a bit of disappoint in her eyes. Part of her wanted to correct him once more about using calling her name without using a Prefix like he had done when they ran into each other at the fishing pond, but the fact that he called out to her not as his teacher, or the maid name Becky, but as her own person… It felt very welcoming and she didn't want to ruin it.

She gave him a sad smile, the last rays of the sun coloring the sky like the shirt that she was wearing. "I don't get what you see in me that's worth trusting, but thank you. It means a lot to me that you do."

For the rest of the walk home Sadayo remained quiet, not out of fear or nervousness like earlier, but simply taking in the moment. She turned to look at the boy walking next to her once more and couldn't help but smile. She was a bit sad that he continued keep what had happened on that day a secret, and was admittedly worried of what kind of situation must it had been. But in the end he had opened up a tiny bit more to her. He usually acted like he's fine, but he clearly still had wounds for what had happened to him, yet it never stopped him from doing what he felt was right. The more she learned about him, the more she grew to admire him.

"What? Do I have something on my face?" Akira asked in the midst of a chuckle as he notice the smile on his teacher's face. One that he found quite charming.

"It's nothing, just…. You're really amazing, you know that?"

A streak of red showed on Akira's face as he scratched his cheek with his finger, unable to look at Sadayo. "I'm not as great as you make me out to be. I mean I was really close to-"

"Looks like we're here."

Akira stopped at the corner as they arrived near her apartment complex. Considering Sadayo's money situation, he had wondered if she had any problems with her living expenses and was relieved to see that while not the prettiest building, it seemed like a decent place and probably one he would had been looking into if he had been permuted to live on his own.

Sadayo turned to Akira as they hid behind the corner leading to her apartment, not wanting anyone to see them together. "Well, this is where we part ways… Thank you for coming with me, I know you probably had other things you could have done.."

"It's was nothing, and I'm sorry for bringing up all that depressing stuff."

Sadayo shook her head. "Don't be, I meant what I said about wanting to help you." Her hands moved as they grab hold of her arms, making sure to keep hold of her leashes. "I feels like I'm the only one who's really been benefiting from our deal and that is not fair to you, so if you need help with anything, even if needing someone to talk to, I want to help."

Akira did his best to hid the smile showing in his face as he looked to the side. As he thought about his plans for the evening. "Thanks, I can think of a few things, but I'd understand if you didn't want to. But, I could use some help with my laundry..."

Sadayo blinked. "Laundry?"


'So he was serious about the laundry...'

Sadayo just looked around the laundromat in disinterest as Akira starting up two loads of laundry. A look that he noticed when he turned to her.

"Is something the matter?"

Sadayo gave a noticeable huff. "It's nothing, just guess this is all I'm good for."

"That's not it." Akira said awkwardly. Looking at the two washing machines as he grabbed the back of his neck. "I've just been meaning to do a wash, but I've been so busy and haven't had the time to do so. You asked if there was anything you could do to help so I figured why not ask." He turned to towards Sadayo "I know it's not the most thrilling but-" Akira's words were halted as Sadayo placed her finger over his lips, a bit of a smirk formed on her lips.

Giggling at the sight her usually confident master, Sadayo interjected. "I was only joking... mostly. If this is what you need my help with then just leave it to me master." She said, pumping her fist determinedly.

Akira gave a sigh of relief. "As long as you're okay with it. But before I go, I need to let you know that-"

"What? It's just laundry. Even I can do this without much trouble. I've done other customer's laundry so I'm not going to freak out about your underwear." Sadayo said with a pout, and before he could say anything she went behind him and pushed him away while he tried to interject. "I got things here covered here, so you go take care of your things, have some fun. You're still young after all." Once she managed to get him out, she gave him a warm smile as he turned to face her. "Just remember that tonight's a school night so don't stay up for too long, okay master?"

Akira open his mouth in wanting to say something, but decided to give up and shook his head. "Thanks, I'll be sure to come back as soon as I'm done. Speaking of which..." Akira reached out to his pocket and held Sadayo's hand up as he handed her something. "I don't want you staying out here the whole time, so here."

Sadayo looked down to see that she was holding a key. She was perplexed at first, wondering why he had handed her a key, but soon caught wind of what it might be. "This is..."

"The key to Leblanc. Boss just left a while ago so feel free to wait for me inside once everything is done."

"Are you sure about this?" Sadayo said in a panic. "I-I mean, you don't normally give the key's of your house to just anyone, especially since they belong to someone else."

Akira nodded. "I sure, I already explained myself earlier today didn't I. I trust you as well." And with that Akira turned and ran off as he waved goodbye. "I'm counting on you Becky!"

Sadayo's free hand instinctively reached out to him before she stopped herself. Her cheeks blushing as she looked down at the proof of Akira's trust in her in her hand before closing it and holding it close to her chest. "You just had get the last word in, didn't you? Guess I'll take a seat and wait for the wash to finish."

As Sadayo puts away the key for safekeeping in a handbag that she brought with her, she went and took a seat on the corner. Normally when she did the laundry during her maid job, it would always be on top of doing something else, so it was kind of an odd situation that she found herself where she simply needed to wait and keep watch. Figuring that she would be here for a while, she takes out a book that she had in her bag and began reading. It was the latest romance novel that had been released by Airi Himura, an author she had found out about two years ago and had been following since. Their releases were sporadic, but she found them entertaining and sometimes even engrossing.

"The book in particular focused on the heir to a multi-million business, and a small flower shop owner. He was considered the black sheep of the family, and his father was planning to use him for a political marriage so that he could take advantage of the merger between the two families. But in on his way to meet the selected woman he stopped by a flower shop where he met the owner, a widow who was running her late husband's shop all alone, and it was love at first sight for the man. She rebuffed him at first, acting cold and distant, but he continued to visit and even started working part time. They slowly got to know one another and she began to open up to him, but the date where he was to be engaged was drawing near and he had to decided if he was willing to risk his status, wealth, and probably his relationship with his family to be with the one he loved."

Figuring things where going to get interesting soon Sadayo decided to stop for now, Taking a deep breath as she closed her book. "Must be nice… having someone falling for you like that. To have that strong a yearning for someone, that they are willing to risk everything. I can't imagine what it must be like." She was so lost in her daydreams, that she didn't even notice the lady that was entering the shed, unfortunately for her, she took notice of her and was suddenly was brought down by an unfamiliar voice.

"A maid doing laundry, not something you see often these days."

Sadayo snapped as she took notice of the person in front of her. A woman with short black hair, wearing a leather jacket over turquoise blouse with what seem to be a spider's web pattern on the side. She wore a studded collar with some ornamental jewelry and long boots over shredded stockings. Her appearance alone would be intimidating to Sadayo normally, but the fact that she seemed amused only made her even more nervous.

Recovering her composure, Sadayo gave her a wide smile. "Oh, it's nothing really. Becky's just doing some cleaning for her master. Hope that it's not a bother."

"That so? Well it bothers me none, I'm just here do a small wash so don't mind me." The woman said with a chuckle that felt like she had something in mind.

"Of course!" And as timed perfectly the washing machine's timer had ended. "Speaking of which it seems they are done with the wash. If you'll excuse me..." She said gave the woman a curtsy as she continued her Becky persona. 'And I was really hoping no one would come her this late. At least it's someone that doesn't know who I am, It'll be exhausting, but I just have to keep this act until the dryers are done and then I make my way.' Sadayo thought to herself as she started loading Akira's clothing, trying to avoid thinking about the fact that there was another person here.

It started simple enough, as she collected all sorts of articles of clothing, from his school uniform, some shirts, vests and the occasional underwear and socks, and found herself surprise at how little there was. 'Strange, with two machines going I suspected a much bigger load.' As she opened up the second machine, her questions only increased as the contents seemed like they where from a completely different person. 'What's in here? Why is there a golden vest in here, this underwear looks nothing like what he had in the other and..." As Sadayo raised to find what was some camisoles. 'Isn't this women's clothing!? Why would he have women's clothing unless...' Sadayo face become bright red at the thought, part of her wondering if she had actually mis-remembered Akira starting both machines, which caught the woman's attention.

"Is something the matter? You seem quite flushed." She asked with curious eyes.

"NOPE, EVERYTHING FINE!" Sadayo refuted, forcing her smile once more as she quickly dumped the clothing back to hide it and then proceeding to fan herself with her hand. "It's just so humid tonight, it's got Becky all bothered."

"Really? It's kind of refreshing actually." She said, clearly not fooled on her act. "Not getting sick are we?"

"Nope, I'm all good. Becky's a resilient girl." She said putting up a peace sign.

A chuckle escaped the woman's lips, going back to the reasons she had come.. "Well whatever, just don't go fainting on me."

Sadayo simply nodded as she proceeds to gather as much of the clothing as possible. In her hurry to drop it in though, a piece of clothing fell to the ground with a metallic clink and as she look down her eyes widen and was left speechless to find it was a black studded leather top. Her hand immediately reached out to grab it and threw it into the dryer as fast as she could, causing a large thud to come out of the machine causing the woman to look back in confusion.

"I'm sorry, think I dropped it in a bit too hard. Becky's such a scatterbrain sometimes." Sadayo feign a giggle as he playfully hit herself in the head.

"If you say so." Once again, the woman's tone seemed to suggest that he wasn't sold on her excuse. Luckily she also didn't seem interested enough to enquirer more. "Anyway I'm done in here for now so I'll be heading back for. Don't go catching a cold, rather not have any more work piled up on me."

"Ooookay… Sure thing. Have a nice evening." Sadayo waved, confused at what she meant by work pilling up but nevertheless happy to see her off. Once she was sure that woman was gone Sadayo slumped down on her chair like a deflated balloon. "Geeeeeez was that exhausting. It's hard enough acting like that for a customer, it's even harder doing so around a complete stranger." Sadayo turned her head towards the dryers, as the constant clanging reminding her at what is causing such a ruckus. "He better have a really good reason for this. What was with all that weird clothing." Sadayo let out a loud sigh as she felt a headache begin forming. "No point complaining about it now. All I can do now is wait it out."

With that Sadayo took out her book once more and engrossed herself in it. She hid it and prepared herself when she heard the washer ding for the other woman, expecting her arrival once more, which was fortunately much more brief, and easier on her. Once the dryers were done she quickly piled off his clothing and made sure no one was around when she opened the lock to Leblanc and went it quietly. She had come here couple of times already, but entering when it was empty was quiet odd. Either she would go upstairs to where Akira was, or he'd be waiting for her downstairs for her arrival. Having the place all to herself, Sadayo couldn't help but take her time to look around.

The first thing she took notice off was the painting to her right, one that she had glanced the last couple of times she had come, but was to busy with other stuff to fully take notice. "This… is Saiyuri, isn't it? But it has her holding a child. OH!" Sadayo was suddenly reminded back to the teacher's meeting a while ago as well as Madarame's confession that was being discussed. "Didn't they say that it turned out that Sayuri had actually tampered with. I wonder if this is someone's attempt of recreating the Original." As she looked at it close, Sadayo couldn't help but give a sad smile, as an ache in her heart started to form. "Still… when I look at this painting, I feel really sad, but also calm. Who ever did this must have put a lot of heart into it. I wonder if Kurusu-kun knows anything about it? I'll have to ask him."

Her curiosity now piqued at what other things she could find she took the laundry basket with her and proceeded to head upstairs to Akira's quarters. She remembered how it look during her first visit. It was dusty and with barely anything to make his own. But as she came up to look around it seemed much colorful. As she left the basket by the table where what she figured where his notebooks for school, she noticed what seemed to be a poster of Sapphire. It was a movie that had premier recently and was talked about a lot for staring the idol Rise. She'd seen the trailers air on occasion and found it interesting, but not willing to go to a movie theater alone to see it.

Going to the shelf, it still seemed quite empty, though this time a swan boat had joined the previous lonely Ramen bowl. "Why would he just have these on display? I wonder if there's a story to each of them." Sadayo remarked while chuckling. She turned around and set her eyes on the bench. She'd seen him doing his homework that one time, but now it had all sort of parchments, threads and metal sheets. In her curiosity, she picked up what seemed to look like a ball covered in cloth that was next to a pile of bottles and fabric scraps. "He sure has some odd stuff here, I wonder what is he trying to make..." Part of her wanted to look more into his creations, figuring it might have something to do with his so-called extracurricular activities that he had mention previously. But as much as that always nagged at her, she knew that going farther than this would be too much.

With a sigh she carefully placed the ball on the table and sat on his makeshift couch as she took out her phone.

[S]: Master will be happy to know that Laundry is done.

[A]: That's good, I'm finishing up here, so it will be a little be longer before I come back.

[A]: I know it' not much, but make yourself comfortable.

"Aren't you a busy one..." Sadayo commented as she replied.

[S]: Just make sure not to stay too late, okay master.

[S]: You wouldn't want to make poor Becky worry, would you?

[A]: Wouldn't dream of it.

Sadayo chuckled at his quick response as she put her phone down. A yawn escaping her lips as she did so. She was left with nothing else but silence as she took one more glance at Akira's living arrangement as she waited patiently. It's not like my apartment is any better, but it feels so quiet here. Kind of funny how I'm the one waiting for him to arrive." As she waited her eyes began to feel heavy, the walk with the dogs and her sudden shift to Becky had drained a lot out of her, and she hadn't gotten anything to eat so she was low on energy. A soft yawn escaped her lips as her head tilted to the side, leaning on the couch.

"I'll just take short nap... I'm sure he'd understand... I mean he did last time..."

As she her body fell to her side she could feel her conscious slipping.

"Just make sure to wake me when you get here… Okay master...?"


Sorry for the long wait.

So this was meant to be a short chapter with some expanded fluff with Sadayo learning more about Akira, but it ended up taking way longer and having to split into 2. So we will be having one more chapter before we go headfirst into the remainder of the confidant.

Fun fact: I had originally intended for Sadayo to be working at the same convenience store as Akira and they ran into each other that way, but after discussing it with both Mizu and the wife I realized that it's hard to imagine her working in a convenience store in Shibuya where a number of students that got o Shujin probably frequent.

Thanks to all of you that are patient with my slow updates and continue to read my story.