Chapter Six:

~'Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, huh?'~

Shut up.

~'Pfft, is that any way to talk to your bestie?'~

Sadie sniffed, rubbing her nose. You're not my best friend.

~'You're right about that. I'm your only friend.'~ The voice laughed derisively.

Dammit, leave me alone –!

"Sadie! Order up!"

Her father's sharp tone snapped her back into reality. Leaving the dish she'd been cleaning in the sink, she strode to the food counter and positioned the three platters of food in her arms. Across the bench, his piercing eyes assessed her face and appearance with all the precision of a brain surgeon.

She sighed once. "What?"

"What?"

"Why are you staring at me?" she snapped.

"Why are you getting angry with me?" he retorted, crossing his arms.

Sadie ground her teeth and tried to keep her tone even. "Try having your whole family watch your every move for three days straight and see how you feel."

"Well this wouldn't happen if you didn't do irresponsible things that caused you harm."

"It also wouldn't happen if people kept their noses out of other people's business!"

"Sadie –"

"Sadie-chan," her mother interrupted, touching her elbow gently, "The food's getting cold. You'd better take it out to the table."

Sadie nodded to her once and turned away, ignoring the furious whispers that started up in her wake – which had apparently been the trend for the past three days. Thanks to Momoi, Link was no longer talking to her; in fact, no one had seen him all day. After mumbling some excuse about car parts, he'd taken off this morning and hadn't left a message since. Her father didn't seem to be worried, but Sadie had been envisioning all sorts of creative explanations to herself.

Still, she planted a firm smile on her face as she placed the food in front of their respective owners, and thanked them for their patronage. She was turning away when one of them said, "Excuse me, I ordered a side of rice with my dumplings?"

"Oh, of course, sir," she placated softly, bowing a little. "I'll be right back with your rice."

"Hmph," was all he replied.

But not two minutes after that problem had been resolved, another customer complained that they hadn't received any dipping sauce. Every minute, more and more customers were piling in, adding to the work load. Swallowing her frustration, Sadie made her way to the back kitchen, where her father was busy slicing meat strips.

"Dad, you forgot the dipping sauce for table thirty-two."

"Oh," her father replied without looking. "It's in that container over there. Pour some for me, would you Sadie-girl?"

"Sure…" Sadie frowned uncertainly at the mess. "Do you need a hand?"

"Nope."

She shrugged and took out the customer's dipping sauce, apologising gracefully as she did. The woman didn't say anything as Sadie placed the bowl in front of her, but she had a firm scowl on her face as she picked up her napkin. Sadie smiled and apologised again. The customer must walk away satisfied…

A shout from the corner table drew the majority of the café's attention. "Excuse me! How much longer is my food going to take?"

Before Sadie could reply, Kimiko was there, bowing low and murmuring apologies in that soft voice of hers. "I'm so sorry for the wait, sir. I can assure you that your order is on the way. May I get you a drink while you wait?"

The man agreed with a reluctant nod, and Kimiko hurried behind the bar – Sadie followed, worried at the growing amount of irritated glanced directed their way. She leaned over the counter and said to her mother, "I'm going to help Dad. Is that alright?"

"Oh, please do," she breathed gratefully. "We can't afford any more disgruntled customers; at the rate he's going, they're going to start walking out on us."

"Alright," Sadie agreed, removing her apron. "I'll go pick up the pace. Will you be alright by yourself out here?"

"Yes, yes. Go now." She made a shooing motion.

In the kitchen, her father was more stressed than she'd seen him before. He was slicing meat and vegetables at an astounding rate, throwing them into one of the three large noodle bowls that were immersed in flames. In the corner, two pots of noodles on the six-burner stove were boiling over; Sadie decided to start there.

Fixing her blonde hair into a tight bun, she scrubbed her hands before hurriedly bolting to lift the lids off the pots. The steam nearly made her cough. Rookie error.

"Sadie-girl, what are you doing?"

"Helping you out," she replied distractedly as she drained the noodles. "I hope you've got that soup ready."

He made his way over to the mixing bowls and began stirring the contents. "I told you I was fine. Go help your mother – ARGH!"

Sadie glanced up to see a large lick of fire sizzle his raised arm. Dropping the strainer on the bench, she snagged the nearest towel and drenched it with cold water. In the next breath she was across the room and wrapping the cloth around his vividly red forearm. "Are you okay? Dad? Did it get you anywhere else?" When she saw he wasn't paying any attention to her, she shook him hard. "Oi! Are you listening to me?"

"The n-noodles," he choked out, pointing at the raging inferno above her. "S-save the noodles, Sadie-g-girl!"

She didn't stop to question him; one moment she was crouched over her father and the next she was up and slipping on a pair of thick gloves. Without checking the state of what was inside, she seized the nearest bowl and began swirling. The two mixing bowls beside her were covered in smoke, so she quickly adjusted the temperature and tossed them as well. In her peripheral vision she spotted a bottle of soy sauce; snatching it up, she added it to the mixing bowl containing the honey-soy-chicken ingredients and tossed it with her left hand. With her right she frantically seized the knife her father had been using moments before and finished chopping up the shallots before throwing them into the sweet-chilli-pork bowl.

Before long the smoking eased, and after she finished adding the proper ingredients, Sadie thanked her lucky stars when she saw everything hadn't come out over-cooked. It was then she remembered the noodles cooling on the opposite bench. Crap! Removing her gloves, she hurried over to the benchtop and ran boiling water through the drying noodles. Only when they were at a satisfying consistency did she add them to the glass bowls, pouring a saucy mixture from the three mixing bowls over each. She placed the three bowls on plates with complimentary spring rolls and practically threw them on top of the serving counter.

When she turned to survey the destruction, Sadie realised her father was staring at her with wide, shocked eyes. She blew out a breath and wiped her forehead. "How's your arm?"

He blinked. "F-fine."

"Are you sure about that? It didn't look too good when I saw it a moment ago. Maybe you should go to the hospital…"

"Are you kidding?" he sputtered incredulously. "I've got a full house out there, Sadie-girl. We gotta feed all those mouths. Come on," he growled, fixing his features into a mask of determination. "Let's serve these hungry people the best damn food they've ever tasted."

Sighing at his stubbornness, Sadie worked with him to knock over the large amount of orders lined up, and within an hour every customer in the café was stuffed to the brim and humming with satisfaction. Kimiko surveyed the scene with approval. "Sadie-chan, thank you so much for your efforts. We really would have been swamped without you today."

Her father sniffed indignantly at that, but Sadie smiled gratefully at her mother. "It's alright. We handled it together, didn't we?"

"Nah, you were pretty handy, Sadie-girl," he admitted with a small grin. "I wouldn't be able to handle that many orders myself on a good day." Sadie couldn't help the surge of pride that lit her chest at his admission, or the flush that coloured her cheeks.

The bell dinged again; clearly on auto-pilot, Kimiko turned and greeted, "Welcome! Please take a seat and I will serve –" She broke off when the realised who had walked through the door. "Oh, hello Link-kun."

"Where the heck have you been?" her father asked with a glower.

"Out," Link replied, demeanour suspiciously aloof.

"Well we needed you here. An extra pair of hands would've brought in a few more customers."

Link scowled. "I do have a life, you know."

"Yeah, but as long as you're living under my roof, you'll earn your stay and do your part when we need you," her father decreed ominously.

"That's enough, Andrew," Kimiko placated. "We managed without him just fine. Link, would you mind helping me with these plates for a moment? The next rush won't be too far away…"

Despite the displeasure his expression belied, Link obediently began to help his mother collect and stack the plates as people gradually began to leave the shop. Kimiko bowed them out, thanking them profusely; they all left with smiles on their faces. Sadie also had a small, proud smirk on her face – after all, not just anyone could manage so many orders in one go – but it quickly faded when she saw the dishes piled on the bench.

"Oh…"

"'Oh' is correct," her father sighed.

"Can we just… do it later?"

"Nope," he replied. "Like your mother said, we haven't got long until the dinner crowd comes in. We'd better make a start on them before stocking up the food stores. I think we're running low on spiced chicken…"

Link snorted as the last customer walked out. "You mean you're running low on intel – Who the hell is that?"

As one, their heads turned to see an abnormally large figure standing by the shop window – and by 'standing by' she meant face and hands fully pressed up against the glass. Wide purple eyes were gazing right at her with an intensity that actually made her back up a step.

Oh Lord, please don't do this to me…

"Do you know that boy, Sadie-chan?" Kimiko hesitantly asked.

Sadie swallowed. "Uh… Not really?"

Link scowled and crossed his arms. "Well he seems to know you."

"Maybe he's just lost?"

"I seriously doubt that. Is he just gonna stand there?"

"He certainly looks like he doesn't want to move," her father chimed in.

I gotta do something, quick. "Let me just… go and see what he wants?" Did she sound like she was asking for permission?

Still, she waited for her father's nod of agreement before she hastened to the door. Murasakibara met her there – both their hands reached for the door at the same time. When she hesitated, he yanked it wide, his large girth filling the doorway and then some.

"Sae-chin, why weren't you at school today?" he asked in that rumbling voice that made her shiver a little. Had it always sounded so deep and husky? No, that's just me being weird.

"Uh…" She glanced back to see her brother's brow raised and a knowing smirk on her father's face. Definitely need to take this outside. "Hey Mura-kun, back up for a second…"

But he just continued to stare at her with a strange look on his face. She sighed again and tried ushering him further out the door, but he barely noticed her efforts. Finally, she was able to get the door closed, and she breathed out a small sigh of relief before turning to face him. "Did you need something, Mura-kun?"

He scrubbed the back of his head and glanced away, features turning annoyed. "Muro-chin won't hang out with me until I apologise to you."

"Oh…" Sadie tried to hide the disappointment in her voice. "Sorry, I didn't get a chance to talk to him about that…"

He grunted and folded his arms, face set in a firm glower. "I don't care about him. It's the tiny-crazy-girl who's been really annoying."

Uh-oh… "You mean Momoi-chan? What's she been doing?"

"Really annoying stuff," he grumbled, clearly reluctant to elaborate. His face turned a faint shade of pink. "She said that I'm her 'nemesis'… Whatever that means…"

Sadie shook her head at that. "Just ignore her for now, alright? I'll tell her to quit it." There was a moment of awkward silence. "That still doesn't explain why you're here, Mura-kun…"

"I think I have to apologise to you, but I don't think I have to," he muttered sullenly, gazing at her with a slight pout to his mouth.

She blinked, momentarily stumped at the contradictory statement. "Uh… So you do or you don't?"

"I won't," he stated firmly, still pouting slightly. "You said some cruel things to me too, you know."

"Oh…" She'd almost forgotten about that. Awkward… "Well, I really am sorry about what I said to you about… um… choking on your chips. I was just upset…"

"Exactly. So why should I have to apologise?" he grumbled.

Sadie exhaled, tired of this conversation already. "You don't, Mura-kun. Just give it a few more days and I'm sure they'll start talking to you again." She gestured at the shop behind her. "Is that all you wanted to say? I'm afraid I'm really busy at the moment; there's lots to do at work, so…"

When he declined to reply, she gave a small salute and turned to leave.

"When are you gonna be at school again?" he suddenly asked in a low voice.

She stilled, momentarily stumped, and turned to face him; his head was lowered, as though embarrassed of his outburst. This boy is such a contradiction!

"Honestly Mura-kun, I don't understand you!" she huffed, hands on hips. "You came all the way here to tell me you're not apologetic in the least for your behaviour at school, and then ask me when I plan on coming back?" When he just glared at the ground, she asked, "Why is this so important?"

"Because, I…" He uttered something unintelligible and scrubbed the back of his head.

She blinked up at him. "Because you… What?"

Still refusing to meet her eyes, he mumbled, "I miss Sae-chin's cooking. I want to eat your food again…"

"… That's all?"

It was his turn to blink repeatedly. "Yeah…"

"You just want to eat the food I bake? Is that right?"

"Yep, that's right." His hands twitched. For the first time Sadie noted that they were empty; usually they would be clutching a packet or two of potato chips. "So will you be back tomorrow?"

She shook her head hopelessly at him, then giggled. "Mura-kun, you're so…" Simple. "Interesting. You really want my food that badly?" He nodded emphatically, and his purple eyes were full of uncharacteristic anticipation when they met hers. "Do you have money for it?"

His features quickly turned confused, as though he hadn't expected the question. "Money…? Why?"

"The food I make here doesn't come free," she explained slowly, as though conversing with a child. "So unless you pay for it, I'm afraid I won't be able to give you any."

He frowned as though this concept was a new and perplexing one. While they stood there in silence, waiting for the purple giant to come to terms with reality, she heard a knock on the window behind her. It was Link, glancing suspiciously between the two of them and beckoning her to return to the shop. Sadie then realised that people were already beginning to trickle into the restaurant for the all-consuming dinner-time rush.

She nodded to her brother and once again faced Yosen's basketball ace; he was still lost in thought when she said, "I'm sorry Mura-kun, but I'm going to have to save this conversation for another time. I have to get back now." His expression darkened, and she hastily amended, "Tomorrow, maybe? I'll give Himuro-san a call tonight; I'm sure things will lighten up for you both soon."

But as she turned away, a very large hand – paw? – seized her arm and halted the movement. "Sae-chin, don't move for a second."

She barely managed to sputter a protest before he was strolling past her, rudely knocking aside incoming customers to enter the shop. Her features contorted into a mask of dismay when he walked right up to her father, dwarfing his well-built, six-four frame, and began casually conversing with him. Link immediately stalked over and inserted himself between them, but her father pointedly pushed him aside, murmuring something indistinct before turning back to Murasakibara. Sadie watched as he nodded along with whatever the purple giant was saying, replying to questions every now and then. At one point he scrubbed his head and chuckled at something Mura-kun had said, as though laughing at a child who suddenly showed surprising intelligence.

~Are you just going to stand there gaping like a fish?~

Right.

Sadie quickly got with the program and hastened into the shop, ignoring the questioning glances from customers as she went by. She'd just reached her family when her father slapped the larger boy on the back, as though sealing some sort of pact.

"What's going on?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, I'd like to know that, too," Link agreed, glaring at the exchange happening before him.

Murasakibara tilted his head to glance at her – there was a look in his eyes that made her slightly uneasy, but it was her father who slowly explained, "Murasakibara-kun here has just brought it to my attention that he is very fond of your cooking, Sadie-girl."

When he didn't elaborate, she raised a questioning brow. "That's nice… Is there a reason this is important?"

Her father chuckled fondly with a knowing look in his brown eyes. "Well, he's just offered himself up as a kind of sacrifice so that he's guaranteed a taste of it every day." He smiled that cheerful smile. "Isn't that great?"

"What?!" the siblings exclaimed together.

"You heard me." He smiled calmly as they began to sputter protests.

"But –"

"Dad, what the hell are you –"

"Totally out of the question –"

"This crazy giant –?"

"That's slave labour –"

He frowned at that. "Hey now, I think that's a little over the top. He's still getting something out of this, isn't that right, Murasakibara-kun?"

The basketball giant picked at his ear in response and muttered, "You're too loud… So annoying…"

Beside her, Link began to inflate with anger. I need to find a way to resolve this quickly. "Dad, I don't think this is a good idea at all –"

"Order up!" her mother bellowed, glaring at them when she noticed their lack of productivity.

"I think you'd better take that one, Sadie-girl. I've got some stuff to take care of here." He patted her on the arm.

"But Dad, I don't – this is too sudden!"

"No, it's not," he reassured. "He's just gonna be working here from now on. After-school work."

Sadie glanced up questioningly. "But Mura-kun, isn't basketball practice starting up again soon? That's going to take up your afternoons. What about your homework?"

He shrugged carelessly. "Nah, basketball doesn't start up for a while. Muro-chin tries to make me go early, but I don't go if I don't want. There's not much to practice I have to practice, anyway; I'm good enough that not many people can take me on." He stated it like fact, appearing bored with the conversation.

Beside her, Link's features turned from one of resentment to surprise as though he'd just realised something. "That's where I know you from… You're the Generation of Miracles Centre, Murasakibara!"

Andrew scowled at his son's strange outburst. "The miracle of what?"

"I hate that title," he muttered to no one in particular.

But Link was shaking his head in confusion at something. "I don't get it. Why would you want to work in a café? Shouldn't you be training for National's or something?"

"Restaurant," his father corrected, just as Murasakibara shrugged carelessly. "I like Sae-chin's food."

His brow twitched once. "Yeah, we got that part. But why are you wasting your time here?"

"Because I like Sae-chin's food," the purple-haired boy emphasised with growing impatience.

Link's own patience was quickly depleting. "Yes, I know! But why –?"

"ORDER UP!"

"Sadie-girl, go get started on the food, please," her father ordered firmly.

Sadie threw her hands in the air. "Fine! But I'm telling you, this is a waste of time!"

She turned and stalked into the kitchen, taking note of the mess, the already fast-piling orders on the counter, and trying not to think about what her father had just signed her up for. Like the work itself wasn't stressful enough, she now had to worry about a giant food-fanatic breathing down her neck constantly. She sighed, exhausted. Why me?

~'Oh please,'~ the voice said derisively. ~'Like this isn't your every twisted fantasy brought to life.'~

You're wrong! Sadie insisted.

~'Yeah, Yeah. Whatever. You don't need to play dumb with me; I'm you, remember? Everything that goes on in your head, I'm aware of.'~ It chuckled once, making her shiver. ~'Let's see how long you can last before you completely lose it, shall we?'~