Name: Nakatsu
Surname: Sano
Height: 5'11
Weight: 173 Pounds
Occupation: Student/Part-time waiter
Mai banged around the kitchen, an appalling long order list in one hand and steam attacking her eyes. For some reason, since she opened the cafe on a Sunday, which was unusual for her, people immediately flooded in, mostly high school age kids whom she'd never seen before. They would come in groups, all ordering something, which lead to an overwhelming amount of work on Mai's part. She had run out of all her pre-baked goods and was now in a rush to bake more and still make the assorted teas, coffees, and hot drinks that had been ordered.
Various timers and alarms went off all around her, filling her kitchen with a cacophony of the ungodly noises that made up alarms. Nakatsu was helping as best he could by stalling- eh hem, by keeping the customers entertained long enough for Mai to run around the kitchen and fill the orders.
Naru, the tea-obsessed asshole, wasn't helping at all, he had called Lin and all the SPR irregulars over, they sat in the table as they did last time, talking with their heads bent together and occasionally contributing to the massive orderload Mai had to work through.
After a few hours Mai had had enough, she emerged from kitchen and flipped the 'open' sign to 'closed'.
"Hey! Everybody!" she yelled, just barely overpowering the chatter in the room, "I'm not accepting any more orders, after I fill the last one I received, I'm closing,"
There was a collective groan throughout the room and Mai rolled her eyes, "Yeah, yeah, big whoop, cry me a river, build a bridge and get over it, we're closing."
There were several 'oohs' from the giant mass of teenage hormones that filled her cafe.
Rolling her eyes, Mai kicked the smile off her face and returned to the kitchen.
*Bout an hour later*
As she handed over the final order- a blueberry muffin and herbal tea- Mai threw her hands up in victory, "Finally!" She yelled, causing the girl receiving the order to smile in amusement, "I'm free!"
"Hooraaaaaaaay!~" Nakatsu latched his arms around the smaller brunette, nuzzling their cheeks together. "Mai can play now!"
Said girl laughed, shoving her friend away from her face, "No, come on Nakatsu, you need to sleep, jet lag is a real thing for your information,"
Nakatsu made a face, and Mai had a feeling that he knew she was trying to dodge the 'talk'.
"But Maaaaaaaaaaai~" he whined and sagged against her, putting all his weight on his (much smaller) friend.
"Ahh!" Mai screeched, scrambling to hold him up with her tiny stick arms.
He sagged even more dramatically onto her in such a way that Mai wonder if he was pretending to be dead or if he had actually died.
"Nakatsu!" Mai protested, whacking her arms against his back as she supported her (incredibly childish) friend.
Customers filed out the door in a steady line, casting the two amused expressions, most likely thinking that they were a couple, as that was the same thought running through everyone's head- including a certain narcissist.
He watched Mai and the other guy (as Naru addressed him because he didn't care enough to remember his name) through narrowed lids. His eyes focused on their movements and lingered where they made skin contact.
Mai, either oblivious or uncaring as to how she was being observed, continued attempting to get Nakatsu off of her. She pushed against his shoulders and dug her feet into the floor, trying to find some traction because Nakatsu's weight pressing into starting to make her slide across the floor.
"Nakatsu! Get off me!" Mai attempted to keep a smile off her face as she felt Nakatsu begin to shake with what seemed to be repressed laughter.
The pressure on her suddenly increased tenfold and all her struggles became fruitless as she began sliding backwards.
Just as she began panicking about holding the bespectacled brunette, footsteps sounded and several pairs of shoes appeared in the edge of her vision. Nakatsu immediately stiffened and the pressure on her disappeared, though he remained in the same exact position.
Wow, Mai silently marveled, that was amazing, he must have amazing muscle control.
Not that she'd ever tell him that.
Smirking a little at the thought, the amusement was instantaneously banished from her mind as the shoes got closer. Tension began to seep its way into her muscles.
The seven pairs of shoes halted, their foreboding clicks stopping, giving way to silence, which somehow seemed more oppressive.
"Mai," Naru's voice commanded attention.
Nope. The silence was better.
Reluctance filled her being, but curiosity won out and, ever so slowly, Mai mechanically turned her head to the side, purposefully ignoring Nakatsu's head, which was resting on her shoulder.
Her former coworkers stared back with varying expressions.
Masako, as Mai remembered, held her sleeve to her face, covering her expression, though her eyes shined. Yasu was entirely blatant, concern and sadness and pain splayed across his face like a storm, his eyes shining with almost as much tears as Masako's. Monk's brow was furrowed, his mouth tilted in a downturn, regret clearing showing. Ayako had her eyes fixed on Mai, face frozen in a grimace of some sort. John looked absolutely horrible, his eyes were crinkled in sadness and worry.
Lin looked stoic as ever.
Mai purposefully kept her eyes on the ground, refusing to meet any of their eyes.
"Jou-chan?" Monk broke the silence, sounding hesitant.
"Mai, why are you so warm?"
"What?" Mai's attention swept back to Nakatsu, who had asked the weird question. As soon as she turned her neck, his palm was on her forehead.
He pushed his face right up in front of hers and a second later his eyes bulged.
"Oh my God!" he yelped, "Mai! You're burning up!"
She furrowed her brow, what?
Nakatsu's face suddenly became serious and he straightened up, staring Mai in the eyes. "Mai," he admonished, "You have a serious fever, you need to go lie down."
The brunette stubbornly kept her gaze on the floor.
"Mai, are you okay?" Yasu's voice popped out now, lined with worry.
"Excuse me," she forced a polite tone into her voice as she ignored his question, "But I'm closed, I'll have to ask you to leave."
She was being childish, she knew, she knew dammit! Though the knowledge pounded against her head, she just couldn't help it.
"Wait a minute, Mai-" John's protest was cut short by Mai sneezing rather violently.
"Mai," Nakatsu stressed, "You need to go rest, idiot, who sleeps against their door in the middle of winter!?"
Naru and the others all sucked in a quiet breath. She had slept against the door!? Had they really made her that upset?
Mai glared at the floor, she would be lying if she said she hadn't noticed how off she had felt, or that it hadn't been a factor in her closing early.
"Hey," Nakatsu's soft voice drew her attention once more and he gave her a gentle smile. "Go on, I'll close up."
With that he nudged her towards the door and the brunette trudged gloomily back to her flat.
Nakatsu turned back to the SPR irregulars, who were expecting him to order them all out, instead he dragged his hand over his obviously tired face. Sighing, he grimaced, and faced the group fully.
"Now," he locked eyes with Naru, "There's something I need to talk to you about."