A/N: Round and Round - Areosmith
Sure enough, at 12:50pm, Nozomi left her shop with the bank bags and a smile on her face.
She walked with a spring in her step to the bank, and immediately saw Nico waiting in line to throw the bank banks down the shute.
"Well howdy, Nicochi," Nozomi smiled at the smaller girl, who looked up with a smirk.
"You've been looking forward to this all day, haven't you?"
"You betcha," Nozomi admitted, standing behind the florist in line.
"Eli still doesn't know?"
"Nope, not at all," Nozomi sighed, scratching her stomach again.
"I feel awful about it, but I'm still using those blasted e-cigarettes. This is just one real cigarette with a friend, and the rest of the day is that other garbage."
"You know if she finds out, you're a dead woman, yeah?"
"Yeah, I know," Nozomi grinned and pulled out her phone.
"Which I why I have made a schedule to only do this every fortnight: every Tuesday and Friday will be suspicious, y'know?"
"Good plan," Nico readied her bag once they neared the shute.
"So that's two bouquets of roses for Valentine's day?" Eli repeated the order to her customer on the phone as she jotted down the information.
"Yes…unfortunately we do not do home delivery, so it's store pickup…yes….yes…okay, no problem," She hung up and went to lean against the counter, but the blonde remembered Umi's words and settled for just sitting instead.
"Is it me, or did Nico-chan seem very enthusiastic about depositing the bank bags?" Maki looked over from the wrapping station at her boss.
"It is odd, but if she's happy, then whatever," Eli picked up the notebook that contained all of her orders, and sighed.
"The first five pages are valentine's day orders, so that will be our primary goal."
"Come to think of it, when is Valentine's day?"
"This Thursday."
"Wait, r-really?!" Maki's shock made her hand slip with the scissors. Eli gasped and rushed over.
"Maki! Are you hurt?" she took the red-head's hand, and looked down. Maki winced in pain, the cut was on her palm.
"Come on, let's get you cleaned up," Eli took Maki into their back room.
"Honestly, Maki, you need to be careful," Eli was knelling in front of the medical student, wrapping her hand up with a bandage.
Maki was sitting at Eli's desk, wincing as the disinfecting cream got to work.
"I'm sorry, Eli," Maki mumbled.
Eli clipped the bandage together with a pin, then got to her feet.
"If you need a minute, take one. When you're ready, we're going to swap: I'll do the wrapping and you can do orders."
"O-Orders? For Valentine's day?"
"Yep," Eli adjusted her ponytail.
"I have a system in place: single flowers are a circle, bouquets are a cross, and boxes are hearts. Tally up each type with their key, then we'll split them up between the three of us, okay?"
"Got it," Maki went bright red.
Eli raised an eyebrow, "Are you excited for Valentine's day?"
"N-No!" The younger girl shook her head, and Eli placed her hands on her hips, cocking them to the side.
"You know, Maki," a sly smile snaked its way onto the florist's lips.
"Nico loves sweets more than flowers."
Eli left the backroom with a smirk, hearing Maki spluttering from her seat.
When Nozomi walked back into her shop, Rin was sitting at the counter on the phone.
"Ah! She's actually right in front of me!" Rin put the phone down and placed her hand over the speaker.
"Senpai, would you be able to do a tattoo on Wednesday at 1pm?"
Nozomi walked behind the counter and pulled up her schedule.
"Looks like it,"
"Yes, she can," Rin placed the phone back against her ear.
"Yes…uh huh…yes, Nozomi-senpai is an expert for flowers…uh huh…yes…we'll see you then!"
"Flowers, hey?"
"Yes, they wanted sakuras on their shin."
Nozomi looked at the cherry blossoms she had framed on the wall, then shrugged again.
"Should be fine."
Rin took a deep breath in, but her nostrils wrinkled as a scent entered her body.
She coughed.
"Everything alright, Rin-chan?" Nozomi raised her eyebrows as Umi walked out of her piercing room with a fresh client.
"Y-Yeah," Rin moved away from the counter to let Umi ring up the man. There was a blush on her face as she stated the price of the body piercing.
Rin leaned in close to Nozomi and cupped her mouth with her hand.
"Did you have a cigarette, senpai?"
Nozomi's blood ran cold, and her eyebrow instantly twitched.
"N-No, don't be silly, Rin-chan," Nozomi smiled, instantly emptying her pockets.
"I don't have any cigarettes on me apart from that piece of- the e-cigarette, see?" She pulled out the tiny mechanism from her jacket's pocket, and Rin narrowed her eyes.
"Hmm," the orange-haired girl sniffed the air again and leaned into Nozomi, as if Rin were a cat.
"R-Rin, this is weird," Nozomi dropped the honorific as the man walked out of the store with a slight waddle.
Umi let out a groan and whacked her head against the counter.
"What's up with you?" Nozomi turned to face wthe piercer. Umi's body started to shake, and eventually, she convulsed.
"Kotori is going to kill me…"
"Why?" Nozomi raised an eyebrow as Rin whirled around with a gasp.
"Did you sleep with that man?!"
"Of course not!" Umi snapped as her fingers clung to her hair.
"I was gonna say, you're getting married this year, and I'm pretty sure sleeping with someone other than your fiancé is like, a sin, or something. Especially a dude, mind you…"
Nozomi clapped Umi on the back and muttered something about taking five, then went to her station to clean up.
"Come to think of it, we rarely get any men in this store. The only guys I've seen have been our dads," Rin mused, tapping her finger to her chine.
Nozomi tensed up at once.
"My dad came in once, and I've met Umi's dad, Honoka's dad…," Rin continued as Umi looked up and huffed.
"That man was Kotori's cousin."
"R-Really?" Rin nearly fell off her seat while Umi leaned on her elbows.
"…I pierced his right nipple."
"W-Well then," Rin was having a hard time stifling giggles while the body piercer slowly straightened up.
"You're lucky it wasn't her dad or anything."
CRASH.
The sudden sound nearly made Rin topple off her seat, and Umi jumped with a yelp.
Nozomi was standing over her station, shoulders hunched and hands balled into her fists.
At her feet was a pool of black tattoo ink. Nozomi's breathing was heavier than usual, and her twin tails were sticking up.
"Nozomi?" Umi quietly called out her boss's name while Rin regained her balance.
"Senpai?"
Nozomi straightened up, and when she turned around, she had on that ever-present grin.
"I slipped and knocked over some ink. Don't worry, I'll clean it up." Nozomi stepped sideways then went into the break room to fetch towels.
She might be a master at hiding her emotions on the outside, but they were destroying her insides.
There was nothing she could do about it.
He called her.
He was coming.
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