Something is just making me want to write this ridiculous story. I'm glad it's here and driving me, but I kinda wish it'd move to my other stories too, ya know?

Oh, well. Gotta go with the flow.

Enjoy this one. Less crazy until the very end. ;)

Running her aching, sticky fingers through her short locks, she frowned impatiently as her fingers caught slightly on the tangled strands of her messy hair. Yukari, yawning and rolling her shoulders, plopped next to her on the tattered red booth with a long sigh, and they leaned on each other back to back. There was a quiet clinking resonance of dishes being washed, but other than that, it was dead silence inside the small, quaint diner. Hitomi felt the soft auburn hairs of Yukari's ponytail brush against the nape of her neck and the memory of Amano's cheerful face flickered before her eyes. Her poor, sweet friend.

She would never, ever tell.

"I both hated and loved today." Yukari's soft voice floated behind her head. "I am so tired of this uniform, and being on my feet, and so busy that I can hardly breathe, but I made over $200 in tips today."

"You would be the only one to say that. Yukari: the ever positive over here. Me? I thought it sucked all around."

"You did have to deal with Plaktu." Yukari tilted her head slightly. "Sorry about that. I know it was a pain to deal with him."

"Eh, it wasn't so bad," Hitomi sighed, but her smile grew a little more as she remembered the finer details of her morning. Namely a dark-headed detail… "There was a bit of drama," she confessed, "but everything worked out. And just think: your mother is going to make us another one of her strawberry cakes after we send off the money. She always cooks after one of her treatments. I've been craving those cakes for a while now."

"You don't have to do that, you know," Her redheaded friend said lowly. "You need money to live, too. I feel bad taking half from you when you've worked as hard as I have. People can't survive on breakfast food."

She snorted and her green eyes slipped to the kitchen door. "Tell that to raging dirty apron in there."

"I'm serious."

Reaching back to awkwardly pat Yukari's face with her hand, Hitomi let out a small laugh. "Girl, you freely give me your couch every night. I will do anything for you. Money doesn't matter to me, but it matters a hell of a lot to you. 'Sides, you seem to be the only stable thing in my life right now. I don't want you to kick me out."

Yukari chuckled and reached back as well to pat Hitomi's cheek. "I won't kick you out. You know that! You're not just my best friend. You're like family to me!"

"You're family to me, too!" Hitomi grinned.

And that's how Balgus found his two waitresses sitting back to back on his booth and patting each other's faces.

Van glanced up from the kitchen table with a start as the door handle jiggled with the sound of tell-tale keys. Turning the pad of paper over immediately, he planted a grin on his face as the door swung open and Merle's familiar scowl appeared at the doorway. He was surprised to see her wearing his old baseball cap. Stomping inside, she turned instantly to slam the door only for a long black shoe to stretch out and catch it.

A shoe followed suspiciously green pants.

"Van! He's trying to come in! Help me!" Merle cried, shoving the door harder.

"Wait, what?" Van jumped from the table and rounded the counter quickly.

"She promised! Your sister is a lying liar!"

The black-haired man froze for only few ticking seconds before joining Merle at the door. "Gadeth the manager?"

"The one and only!" The man's voice happily resounded from the hallway. "She said I could stay! This is betrayal!"

"Betrayal, my ass! You followed me home!"

"Merle, how in the world did you meet him of all people?" Van asked in bewilderment.

"That's none of your business, Van! Help me close the door! He's trying to come in!"

"Merle-"

"Bro, please-"

"This hurts!" Gadeth squealed from behind the door. Van saw his pale fingers like snakes grasp around the frame door and push hard against her. He gained a few inches. "This is after I bought Bagel Bites and everything!"

"No, you didn't! I was with you the entire time! You didn't buy anything! You just followed me home promising you would!"

"I was going to go get some, but I needed to know where you live first!"

"Go away, you stalker!"

"That's not how you speak to your younger brother!"

Van's hands clenched on the edge of his button down shirt and he exhaled a deep breath to steady himself.

"Merle, let him in."

His pink-haired adopted sister stopped for a moment with her mouth open and Gadeth took the advantage of her shock. With a loud "THANK YOU!" he burst through the doorway without further invitation and rushed past with a quick, "I need to use the toilet!" Speeding past the siblings, Gadeth disappeared swiftly around the corner and the room settled like a passing hurricane. Silence enveloped Van before he closed his eyes tiredly and made his way back to the kitchen table. Meanwhile, his sister's mouth was still open in shock. Stepping forward, she grabbed the front door and slammed it shut. Van winced at the sound and braced his elbows on the rickety table in defeat.

Turning her sharp dark eyes on Van's face, she shook her head slowly. "Bro, you don't know what you've just done… You don't understand what he is…"

"I've met him before, Merle. At least let him explain himself." Van's eye twitched, but he settled his resolve. If it comes to it, I'll throw him out myself. He wondered briefly – as Merle rounded on him with her mouth opening angrily – if his headache would ever, ever go away.

"If you've met him before, you know he's crazy! And you just let him in our apartment!"

"You led him here, kid," Van retorted without fire.

"He kept following me! He said that if he didn't stay with us then he wouldn't give me the-" She froze and Van's expression darkened further.

"What was that, Merle?" he asked with a dangerous calm.

"Nothing!" she squealed, "What's for dinner?"

"Merle… how did you meet him? What is he not giving you?" She didn't answer, but Van already knew the conclusion of what happened. With a tight sigh escaping his mouth, he dropped his head in his hands and the pink-haired teenager had the gumption to look guilty. "Come on, kid. Don't tell me you skipped school again. I told you that you can't keep doing that. Not only are you going to get in trouble with the school district for tardiness, but I'm going to get heat for your truancy. They could take you away from me, kid."

"They can't do that!" she shouted, jumping immediately to her defense.

"Yeah, they can. They'll call me an unfit guardian and take you away from me. Is that what you want?"

"You're not unfit though!"

Van rubbed his eyes before standing slowly. He walked to his sister and placed his hands on her petite shoulders. "In a way, I wonder if I am," he said quietly to her. "Mom and dad… it's like they were here and then suddenly gone… and you were all I have left. I feel like I'm still trying to figure out how to take care of you. Mom should be here to teach your life lessons. Dad should be scaring away all the boys that dare to look your way. I shouldn't be the one to do this. I should be free to tease you and make you break the rules, not enforce them. I'm not good at parenting, Merle. But this is what life has given me. You are the only one I've got. I have tried. I really have tried to make this work. But it's not enough for you, is it?"

Merle's eyes took a frightened shine as she twisted her fingers together. Staring up at him with her mouth slightly ajar, she shook her head slowly. "Don't say that."

"I'm just being honest," he said. "I don't know what else to do. I said I wanted you to go to school and stay in school, but the very next day you disobey me. You run off to God knows where and you bring back a lunatic." Van laughed bitterly. "And this might just be my fault because I've been so focused on myself."

"I wanted to get that video, Van! I wanted to do it for you!"

"And I had asked you to leave it alone, Merle!" Van said sharply and she blinked in surprise at his tone. "This is what I meant by disobeying me! I need you to listen to what I say from time to time! It's dangerous for a little girl to go by herself in the city, let alone find some stranger that tapes things in the middle of the night outside his window!"

"Leave the video to me, big brother and sister." A sing-song voice broke through their heavy discussion, and both pairs of sibling eyes raced to the living room. The thin green man stood with his hands in the pockets of his pants and a strange smile spread on his lips.

"I feel like some Bagel Bites. Who's hungry?"

"I have to skip out on tutoring again," Hitomi complained as she dried her hair off with a yellow towel. "I'm so tired of this stupid diner job. It's taking over my life."

"You don't even like tutoring, Hitomi," Yukari said with a smile. She added another touch of powder on her nose and reached for her chapstick sitting in her make-up bag. "At least at the diner you can make money. You don't even get paid for tutoring those brats."

"But with tutoring... I don't know. I feel like I'm doing something important. I am so sick of pancakes! The same breakfast food day in and day out."

"It does get rather old," Yukari agreed.

"And besides, if I'm to be the unnamed mascot of some shitty restaurant, I should get a raise or something! That greasy fart is keeping all the profit, but keeping his pay rate the same! I bet IHOP pays more salary than he does!"

"The popularity will die down and life will go back to normal."

Hitomi groaned. "It's been going on for a full week! I thought viral things stopped being popular faster than this."

"Well, your video has got a lot of hits. It seems vomiting on waitresses has become a fetish."

Her mouth dropped open. "You're kidding..."

Not answering, Yukari rubbed her lips together, dropped the chapstick back in her bag, and reached up to tighten the rubberband holding up her ponytail.

"It'll die down soon. Be patient."

Hitomi rolled her eyes and fluffed out her damp pixie locks. "Patient, she says. Do you know who I am?"

Her best friend gave a small laugh and knocked her shoulder lightly with her hand. "Yeah, good point. But really, Hitomi, give it some time. These things never live long." Her face turned thoughtful as if she suddenly remembered something. "Oh yeah, speaking of that video, I forgot to tell you about that pink-haired girl who showed up at the diner yesterday."

"Pink-haired girl? Wait, you mean the one related to Van Fanel?" Hitomi quirked an eyebrow curiously and wondered at the shiver in her spine that seemed to flip her stomach into knots. "What did she want?"

"She said she going to get the video from the person who filmed it for her brother's band. She was staking out the bakery across the street."

Hitomi frowned. "I remember her saying they could use it as a music video or something for their new album, but I didn't actually think she was serious about it."

"I know, right? It's all really weird. Like, who needs a video about someone throwing up pancakes?"

Hitomi shrugged and reached for her toothbrush. "Maybe they just want it because it's popular."

Yukari pursed her lips and stayed quiet.

Van waited for the light signal to change as the early morning traffic sped past him and brushed his inky hair off his forehead. Merle was at school – God, he hoped she was at school, Gadeth had disappeared somewhere before dawn, and Van had woken up with a decision made in his mind. It was as if his unconscious-self had come up with it during the night.

He needed to speak with the diner owner. And possibly get some breakfast. After a pitiful dinner of store bought Bagel Bites from the grocery store across the street, Van could use a good meal.

Just maybe not pancakes…

Tucking up the manila folder with his rap inside, he crossed the street once it blinked at him and headed down the block towards the small restaurant. Then, he stopped in surprise.

There was a line outside the rusted door. Quite a long line actually. A smile hit his face as he remembered the kind owner with the spatula helping him to the hospital and insisting he come by just to ease his mind. If Van throwing up and getting a mild concussion was giving this burly man's business some attention then he found he couldn't be bitter about the video. The guy deserved to have some good luck out of this insanity.

Passing the alleyway near the diner to stand in the line, he heard a rustling noise and glanced at it without thinking.

And then he did a double-take.

Oh, no.

He heard the trash plop as a pair of startled green eyes met his.

"Oh, no," she said softly.

"Here ya are, my boy! Eat up!"

A pair of over-easy eggs and a scoop of hash browns plopped in front of Van's nose and his mouth watered in response. Sitting at the packed diner, his stool wobbled on the uneven tile floor as he unfolded his napkin and silverware. His manila folder laid respectfully by his plate as he grabbed the pepper for his eggs. The large owner frowned from behind the counter and turned to pick up the fresh brewed coffee pot to refill Van's cup.

"Are you sure you don't want pancakes?" he shouted over the noise.

"No-no," Van declined kindly. "This will do nicely, thank you."

"Alright, just let me know if you change your mind! Meal's on the house for you! You're welcome here anytime!"

"Thank you!"

Balgus turned to replace the coffee pot. Van chewed and watched him grab several plated stacks of pancakes from the hot spot and maneuver around the counter to serve the waiting tables. Seeing the flappy pastries dribbled in syrup, a queasy feeling hit Van's stomach and he struggled to swallow the hash browns in his mouth. A spot of yellow caught his eye and the pixie-haired waitress set several glasses of water down on different tables. Van watched her as she hurriedly gathered empty plates and whipped up her stained rag to wipe down the empty table. With her hands full of plates and cups, she nodded her head at the people waiting at the door and the table was instantly filled.

Despite her clumsiness, Van had to admit: she was a hard worker.

A memory came forth as his eyes followed her to the back kitchen:

"She used to be such a sweet little thing. Ever since she came back from dropping out of college, she's got this tough, chip-on-her-shoulder attitude," The old man had said as he drove Van to the hospital. "Straight A student in high school and got in with full scholarship to Cornish University. She was practically 4.0 till her junior year…"

She dropped out her junior year, Van mused to himself. She reappeared with a large stack of rolled napkins in her arms.

He wondered what for?

Taking another bite, he didn't notice the large owner glancing at his direction and follow where he was looking at.

He also didn't notice the furtive smile that slipped over the old man's lips.

The diner had somewhat quieted over the next hour.

Well, 'quieted' meaning: there weren't as many people waiting in line at the door.

Van took this as a good time to complete the task that had brought him here in the first place.

Writing down his cellphone number with Balgus' pen, he handed both over the counter to the large owner. "My sister has been notoriously skipping school and is dead set on bothering the people across the street. If you or any of your staff see her, even if it's after school hours, I would appreciate it if you called me and let me know. I need to start keeping track of her."

"I'll take care of it." The burly man agreed with a smile, but then his lips faltered under his thick, salt and peppered mustache. "I've been meaning to ask: are you doing alright, son? I don't mean to pry, but you look like you could fall over dead any minute. You've got large bags under your eyes. You sure you don't want pancakes? I'm sure the sugar alone will help."

Van burped quietly into his hand. "No, no, the eggs were enough. But I understand why you'd say that. Lately, I've been feeling that way more often than not."

"Is it stress?"

"You could call it that."

"Does she have anything to do with it?" the old man's voice turned sour as the yellow waitress passed them with a basket full of biscuits. Her green eyes flicked over to their corner of the counter and she scowled as if she could hear them.

"No!" Van denied too quickly. "No, she's fine. It's mostly just work."

The old man nodded, but his little eyes still held a twinkle of suspicion. "I heard you were a singer."

"Kinda…"

"Writing your own songs?"

"Yeah…"

"Hard to write them?"

"Surprisingly, that's not the problem," Van said honestly and placed his hand on the manila folder beside his empty plate. "My issue seems to be trying to keep my life together. With my sister, my work colleague, my 'manager', and this new music thing we are working on… it's just not going the way I planned."

Balgus exhaled loudly. "Listen, son. I don't mean to be your psychologist, but you gotta keep this in mind: it's your life and you can do whatever the hell you want with it. If you want to stop something, all you need to do is put a foot down. Sounds like you are suffered from a classic case of bullying."

Van blanched, but then thought of Allen's threats. "Bullying…" he said with a slow nod. "I never thought about it that way."

"Working in this city, I've had to do a bit of bullying myself. It's a dog eat dog world out there, and there's an IHOP just down the street. I am living a dream right now thanks to that video, but it looks as though it doesn't come without consequences."

Van smiled. "Nah, I'm glad that something good came out of my puking up your food."

Balgus gave a jolly laugh. "Just make sure you keep these eggs down, son! If you gotta barf them, please go to the bathroom to the right."

Hitomi was tempted to stop Balgus as she passed him and demand he tell her what they were talking about. It seemed like a nice conversation, but she was terribly curious as to why he'd show up here in the first place? Meeting him outside in the alleyway had been surprising enough, but when he asked if there was a table available for him, she hadn't really expected him to stay and eat. Hadn't they promised just yesterday that they'd try to stay away from each other for safety's sake? It really did seem like a curse was growing between them.

Like every single time they randomly met - something would terribly go wrong.

Did he show up because of her? Because he knew she worked here and he was guaranteed to see her? Was approaching her in the alleyway an excuse just so he could watch her?

She chided herself and flicked her short fringe out of her green eyes.

She knew she was being stupid.

When he finally left and the small bell clanged with the shutting door, Hitomi actually let out a breath of relief. Placing a sticky hand on her chest, a weird tight feeling she hadn't noticed before seemed to unknot itself from inside her.

It must have been from anticipation of something exploding.

It really was a miracle nothing happened.

Moving to gather plates together from various tables, she headed to Van's seat and put his plate on top of the stack.

And that was when she spotted the manila folder on the counter.

Exiting out the door of the diner and feeling lighter than he had in days, Van basked in the warm warm that filtered onto his face. Though he had been so nervous, it turned out coming to the diner was the best plan he could have had. Not only was Balgus extremely helpful with his Allen problem, but nothing dangerous happened with him meeting the waitress. Passing by the empty alleyway, he actually let a grin fall on his lips as he remembered her shock at him asking for a table.

Her green eyes had been wide and full of disbelief. Her yellow uniform was hiked a bit on her thighs from her yanking on the large black trash bag.

He had to admit. She was pretty.

Kinda more than pretty.

Van snorted and shook his head. Given he'd written two songs about her – both she had no clue about – he wondered what would happen between them once she learned about it. Once their first single dropped… once the album was released…

Once they got the okay to start tour dates…

But that was too far in the future.

Van had songs to write and possibly more raps in the future. He'd just have to avoid writing any more songs about her.

And that was when he realized he'd left his manila folder.

She read it.

She read all of it.

Hitomi saw tunnel vision as she turned around swiftly to stroll out the diner; the manila folder trembling in her hand.

Van Fanel…

That odious son-of-a-bitch…

He had written a poem about her.

Not even a good poem. It highlighted everything bad about her: the stinking yellow uniform, her anger at Plaktu, the way she'd almost smothered him with her-

Oh, this was not happening.

Opening the door, she walked out just as he rushed forward.

He stopped and stared at the folder in her hand.

She stopped and stared at his increasingly guilty face.

"I can explain…?" he said weakly.

SHE KNOWS.

Get ready for more fun!

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