"Ayuzawa, I love you."

"I know, baka."

Thankfully before my words could have any effect on Usui, the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. I, ever so grateful for the interruption, rose, shaking slightly at the sheer barren meaning of my words, and disembarked from the emotionally saturated scene. All the while knowing that a pair of slightly dejected green eyes were staring a hole into my back.

Why? Why does he have this effect on me? I don't feel that way! But then memories of how grateful I was when he came for me stirred up in my mind. I began to remember how I tightly I had clutched to his shirt when I was nearly scared to death, and how immensely indebted to him I always seemed to be. There is no way I am ever going to pay him back, unless of course I become his personal maid for one day… No! That's going to leave me open to so much harassment… Can I even call it harassment now that we're dating? Are we truly dating? I'm not totally sold on the fact of actually being with Usui, I thought we simply acknowledged our attractions for one another. I face palmed, I don't think that's what he thinks happened. I will never understand him… But no matter, I'll just throw myself into my work as President of the Seika High School Student Council, and maybe this phase will all blow over. I stopped internally battling with myself, but a small part of my subconscious said, not likely.

I burst through the room door of my homeroom and arranged myself at my desk in order to better distract myself. As I was pulling out the Trigonometry textbook for class, a shadow appeared over my things. It was Sakura, who looked as cheery and suspicious as ever, and Shizuko, who just appeared to be lurking as per her usual routine.

"Misaki, are you hiding anything from us?" Sakura asked in a voice as sweet and innocent as a child.

My face began to heat up as I asked as calmly as possible, "What do you mean by 'hiding'? I'm not hiding anything!" I, without a lick of success, tried to rebuke her attempt to get me to spill.

"Your face says otherwise." Shizuko observed, "What's going on with you and Usui-san?"

"Usui? And me? What are you talking about? I-I, w-we, he pisses me off! Why would there be anything going on between us?" I lamely supplied.

"You can't hide something this big from us." Shizuko warned, light reflecting evilly off her glasses.

Sakura's face puckered up, "Come on, Misaki, we are your friends! Can't you at least give us a hint?" Her face pouted, while Shizuko's face remained untouched by emotion.

"Guys!" I pleaded, trying to reason with them, mentally cautioning them that they didn't want to open this can of worms. But their resolution remained intact, despite my begging, so I dropped them a line. "Usui and I are not dating and he is as unreadable as he was when he first began hanging around. However, lately, he seems to want me to know more about his past. I am not sure as to his motives but that is all I can report." I looked at them with sincerity, "I repeat, we are not a couple, but he seems to be trying to move us in that direction. Now," I cleared my throat and motioned to the front of the classroom, where the teacher was beginning to settle the students down to begin class, "can we get back to Trig?"

Both of them looked at each other, sharing knowing looks the like I had never seen, before sauntering back to their desks. It is almost like they know something that I don't. But what could they know that hasn't been shared with me? At this point, I was glad that my desk was by the window and their desks were near the front of the class. The arrangement was mostly because they weren't paying attention when they sat in the back of the room. I needed to get some perspective on this whole mess. I didn't know exactly where I stood with Usui, and the confusion of that continued to drive me half mad throughout the entirety of the rest of the school day. Unfortunately for me, I didn't have the luxury to dwell on such problems, as I had to rush off quickly to Maid Latte.

"Misa-chan, you look perplexed and worried. Are you going to be okay?" Satsuki asked with concern pasted on her petite brow. The woman was 32, though you wouldn't know it with the way she acted. She possessed a childlike mind and innocent air about her, but that was the thing that mostly kept all of her staff working with her.

"I am fine, don't worry, I am just thinking about things… Usui's not working today, right?" I asked as nonchalantly as I could, hoping the Manager wouldn't hear my hesitancy towards him.

"Is that what this is about? Problems with Usui?"

"No, nothing of the sort!" I lied, "I just wanted to know whether or not I was going to be annoyed by him today."

"Well," Satsuki began, "I don't have him scheduled today, so I think you're off the hook!"

Just then, Honoka chose that moment to make her entrance, "Misa-chan, your regular customers are out there waiting for you." Black Honoka rose out of nowhere for no reason. "So don't disappoint them, or keep them waiting…" She warned, making me slip further into confusion and befuddlement.

"Right, thank you." I said as politely as I could, knowing that Black Honoka could lash out at anyone whenever she so pleased. I rapidly left the back room and hurried into the main dining room to be greeted by a chorus of 'Misa-chan' from the permanently reserved table of the three idiots. "Welcome home, Masters." I said not wanting to let down the Manager or my regulars. "What would you like to request today?"

"Moe, Moe Rice Omelet, and three iced coffees." Shiroyan answered for the table.

"As you wish, Masters. Is there anything else I can do for you in the meanwhile?"

"Can you tell us why Usui is staring so hard at you?" Ikkun asked in a whisper, as if he was afraid Usui could hear him. I quickly glanced backwards, he was indeed staring intensely at my back.

I smiled, "He probably just wants to order, like you did." I covered, "I will be back with your drinks shortly, Masters. Thank you." I dashed, as gracefully as allowed, back into the kitchen to place my orders and to gather the drinks for the three idiots. What is he doing here? Even though I already know that he eats and drinks here on a daily basis, you would think that he would be gracious enough to give me some space when all that unpleasantness just happened between us. I wish he would let me be alone sometimes. I wasn't given any time to think on it though, as I hurried out to fulfill part one of my first order, and to take down my second order from the devil himself, Usui.

"Sorry for the wait, Masters. I hope you enjoy, thank you for your continued patronage." I bowed and strode over to Usui with a completely fake smile adhered to my face.

"Sorry for the wait, Master. What can I provide you with today, may I suggest starting off with a drink?"

His eyes caught mine as I ended my spiel, "Misa-chan…I would like to start off with a cream soda." He said as though he were trying to test the waters with me.

"Do you think you are ready to know what you would like to eat, Master? Or do you not want anything to eat?" I asked, keeping up the fake pleasantries as long as I needed to.

"I am not ready, yet."

"Okay, thank you. Is there nothing else I can do for you, Master?"

"That will be all for now."

"Thank you, I will return promptly, Master."

"Be sure that you do, Misa-chan." His eyes danced cautiously, as if he were warning me that I would be punished if I didn't return. But again, his motives were still so unclear to me. Damn it all to Hell, why can I not read him? Why does he continue to be such a mystery to me? Is there no end to his games?

I wanted to scream at him and tell him to stop being so cruel and to stop toying with me, but I left the smile on my face and said, simply, "As you wish, Master." bowed and walked away.

I strode back into the kitchen to prepare his drink, but was so caught up in my own personal turmoil that I didn't see Subaru-san carrying out a tray of freshly prepared dishes. *Wham* right into her, causing her to lose control of her tray, which was on a direct path for my head. I ducked and closed my eyes, preparing for the brunt of the blow from the tray and food, but not before seeing a flash of blond hair streaking out of the corner table.

Out of thin air, Usui materialized and grabbed onto the tray with one arm and steadied me with the other, completely saving me and my clothes for the umpteenth time. "Are you okay, Misa-chan?" His translucent green eyes stared seriously into my own. The customers around the incident began to clap for the hero of the moment, Usui. His face made no motion that he acknowledged that they were cheering for him, the only emotion on his face was worry.

I dusted myself off and apologized profusely to both Subaru-san and the other customers, who were interrupted at the commotion. I faced him slowly and gave him my most rare of smiles and said simply, "Thank you, Usui." After which, I ducked back into the kitchen with tears forming at the corners of my eyes. Damn it, why does he always save me? Why can't I ever save myself? Am I really so reliant on others that I can't even work properly? I wiped away the forming tears, I don't have the time to think about this now, I need to get back to work. The Chief will have, no, Black Honoka will have my head if I continue to let this affect my work. The sheer thought of another scolding, warning message from Honoka snapped me out of my head long enough for me to finish my shift.

While I was doing the end-of-the-night closing duties, although, my mind began to race once more. Am I so incapable of caring for him, like he does for me? Why is it ingrained into my mind that all men are evil? I gathered up the trash, can't I trust anyone anymore? Upon taking it outside, I was greeted with a surprise. There was no Usui around, for the first time, he had actually taken my wishes to heart and let me be alone, though I didn't know that my heart had no longer actually desired for those wishes to come to fruition.

This feels weird, normally he would ambush me right now. I peeked around the corner to make for certain that he wasn't trying to scare me by jumping out from behind the garbage can or something. Has he given up on us? I rationalized in my head, maybe he just had something to do. He is a busy guy, he probably had afterschool plans that he forwent to see me at the café. I will show up to school tomorrow, and everything will be as it was before. He, nah, there's no way he would give up on us, especially not after everything we'd went through. The guy has admitted his feelings for me at least a dozen times over, there is now way he would throw away all his progress with our relationship, right? This will all blow over by tomorrow, I bet.

I finished up with my chores, closed the café for the night, and headed home. Meanwhile, a small part of my subconscious was threatening me, what if it doesn't blow over? What if he is finished with trying to sway my affections? What then?