"You have to put water on it before you attach it to the bud, or else it won't stick." Luna said to Deku, who was struggling to wrap the petal he made around the manmade bud.

"Oh yeah." Deku chuckled bashfully, dipping his fingertip into the cup of water and dabbing it onto the petal. Then he wiped his finger off and carefully wrapped it. "How's this?"

"That's perfect! Now you just do the same thing, but gradually open the petals up." Luna said. "You can use the ball modeling tool to do that."

Deku nodded and grabbed the gum paste from under the plastic cup, kneading and rolling it out real quick. Once the gum paste was rolled enough, he grabbed the petal cutter and cut out another petal.

Yoshida had received an order for a styrofoam cake requesting a curved waterfall of pink gum paste roses on the side. Due to the lack of employees, Luna offered to help make some on her off time. She brought the material home and started working on it when Deku texted her, asking how her day was. After explaining herself, Deku asked to learn how to make some roses. Luna invited him over and showed him how to make them. He was a quick learner, already grasping the basics and figuring out the tools from their shapes.

"Yours look very realistic." Deku complimented, eyeing the completed rose in Luna's hand.

"Thank you! You're doing a great job yourself." Luna thanked him, taking the green wire of the rose and pushing it into a styrofoam piece with the rest of the ones she made.

"You seem like you've been doing this for a while." Deku mentioned.

"That's very true. Since I was very little, I've been making stuff like this." Luna replied, already starting on another rose.

"Why is that~?" Deku asked, his eerie voice softly coming out. Since meeting Luna, he hasn't felt the need to sound intimidating, but having it been so natural to speak that way for a while, it tended to come out.

Her smile dropped a little, staring sadly at the gum paste in her palm. Deku stopped what he was doing, monitoring her.

"My grandparents owned a bake shop back in America, so they would do stuff like this all the time for customers. My parents and I used to visit them a lot, even at their store. I guess I was fascinated and gained a natural talent when I started helping them. Since then, I always helped at their store." Luna explained.

Luna's hands lowered. Deku stood there, still not moving. "Where are they? Are your parents still in America?" He asked.

The platinum-blonde haired girl's eyes began to water, her smile now completely gone. "My parents died when I was still young. My grandmother died a year ago. My grandfather couldn't handle it and he eventually…"

White-clothed arms wrapped around her from behind, Deku's warm body pressing into her back. He hugged her, his face burying into the crook of her neck. Luna didn't seem to mind, bringing her hands up to hold his arms gently.

"I'm sorry." Deku muffled, inhaling her scent. "I shouldn't have asked."

"It's okay-you didn't know." Luna assured him, her voice cracking, trying not to break down.

"My mom died a few years ago." Deku revealed.

"Oh dear, I'm so sorry." Luna apologized, her heart growing even more heavy to hear the sweet boy lost his mother. Her hands shifted as she brought her arms around, hugging his own.

Deku buried his face further into Luna's neck, trying to stop his tears from flowing. Her skin was so soft and comforting. Once his eyes dried, he gave Luna a small squeeze as if hugging her within a hug. He lifted his head and stared at Luna's cheek.

Luna froze as she felt lips press against her left cheek, a rush of heat coming into her face. She became stiff for a moment, but relaxed when Deku rubbed her arms. They stayed that way until Deku unwrapped himself from her. Luna's weight slowly lifted, replaced with a lightness and her body heat rose. She heard Deku go back to his table.

"How many roses did we have to make again?" Deku asked.

"U-Uh…128." Luna answered, her fingers shaking while recalling the amount.

Deku smiled crookedly, his cheeks also red from having done that. He didn't know what came over him. It wasn't hard for him to switch emotions so quickly, but…what was this? Empathy? Affection? He learned to stop holding back since becoming a villain, but this emotion only ever arose once. It wasn't as strong as back then. It was sending him more over the edge than before.

He liked it.

Yoshida was super happy when she received the gum paste roses. She thanked Luna a million times over and asked for Luna to send the person who helped her a thank you note, as having this job done helped her a great deal. Doing the cake was not as much of a problem, but getting all those roses done would have taken up so much of her time, especially with there not being so many employees.

Luna continued training Akoya on how to do things around the shop. It was only the second day, but judging from Akoya's techniques, she seemed to have completely forgotten everything Luna taught her the first day. Not that Luna was annoyed or anything. For some people, it just took longer for things to click. Luna really enjoyed doing her job and showing others how to improve themselves, anyways. So she didn't mind one bit.

Ikuma stopped by again requesting for Luna to take care of his usual charge. Yoshida was not present at the time, having been delivering a real wedding cake to a location elsewhere. The second manager Hayashi was in charge this time, who didn't mind Ikuma as much as Yoshida did. Luna had Akoya with her during the transaction to show her how to work the register, explaining how things were done up front. Ikuma, though a little agitated that Luna's attention was not completely on him, sucked it up and allowed the girl to do her job. Once everything was done, Luna acknowledged he was free to take the order.

"Alright, sweet stuff. See ya next time!" Ikuma said, putting his index and middle finger to his head and tweaking with a wink before leaving.

Luna noticed through the glass door Ikuma look at something from a distance in the opposite direction he goes in. After a minute or two, she saw the customer shrug and leave.

"Okay Akoya, "Luna said, looking at the clock. "you've been doing a great job so far. Would you like to take a lunch break?"

Akoya nodded, casting her eyes down for a moment, her dark hair covering her face. A natural smile came to Luna, adoring her shyness. The new employee still hadn't grown accustomed to her new surroundings or her trainer, it seemed.

"Okay, go ahead. Take your time." Luna said, dismissing the girl. "I'll be here when you get back."

Akoya nodded once more and took off, disappearing behind the back door. Luna turned back to the register and proceeded to count the money, making sure the right amount was still here. Ever since what happened with the money incident, Yoshida trusted her employees enough to have access to open the cashier. Checking the cashier's money became a nonverbal job, and security cameras were available 24/7.

The sound of the front door echoed in Luna's ear, causing her to look up. A guy around Takashi's age wearing a delivery outfit opened the door with one hand, his other arm wrapped around a pretty, cylinder glass container. That container elevated something beautiful.

"For Luna?" The delivery man asked as he walked through the door.

"Huh?" A light, confused noise escaped Luna's mouth, her mouth dropping a little as she stared at the contents in the glass.

It was a bouquet of white roses. Not too small and not too extravagantly large in amount. Cleanly cut and all lengthened to give it a nice dome shape. Fresh and blooming beautifully.

"Are you Luna?" The man asked. After giving the girl a moment and receiving a nod, the man approached and took out a form with a pen. "If you could just sign here, please."

Luna blinked, but nodded in understanding as she took the pen and signed her name. After thanking the man and watching him leave, Luna stared at the flowers. The roses looked even more beautiful up close. She brought her face up to them and inhaled. They smelled so nice. She spotted a tag on a lilac satin ribbon wrapped around the rim of the glass and slowly opened it.

To Luna

"For my sweet angel."

"Who sent you flowers?" Hayashi asked, grazing his fingertip over one of the petals as he stared at the bouquet admiringly.

"I don't know. It doesn't say." Luna said truthfully.

"Maybe Ikuma? He comes in here a lot to see you." Hayashi mentioned.

"No. He shrugged when he saw the delivery man." Luna said.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" Hayashi asked.

Luna shook her head, also staring at the flowers.

"So who the hell would sent you flowers then?" Takashi spoke up, his back against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. He expressed a slight distaste in his tone.

"Why is everyone just standing around?" Yoshida's voice sternly asked from the front door, who did not look happy to see her workers unoccupied. "There's orders to be taken care of."

"Someone sent Luna roses." Hayashi explained, motioning his hand to the bouquet sitting on the counter.

Yoshida glanced at the bouquet before turning to Luna. "Why?" She asked randomly.

"I don't know." Luna replied. Since working here, this has never happened before. Neither her nor anyone had ever received an order for roses before.

"You didn't order them for a cake, did you?" Yoshida asked, walking up to the bouquet to give it a close inspection. "Last I checked, there were no recent orders involving real roses."

"Mhm-mmm." Luna hummed, shaking her head.

"Someone sent them to her, but it doesn't say who." Takashi brought up.

"Looks like you've got a secret admirer?" Hayashi suggested.

Yoshida inspected the roses closely, bringing her fingers up and petting one while studying the insides very closely. Her nose got close and smelled the nice aroma from the flower.

The back door opened and Akoya stepped out, walking back behind the counter.

"They're nice roses." Yoshida let slip with a fascinated tone as she let the one flower go. "Either way, work still has to get done. Solace, I want you and Akoya back in the kitchen to work on orders. Hayashi and Takashi, back to work as well."

Everyone acknowledged their understanding and headed toward their stations. Luna turned and headed for the back door, making it and grabbing the door handle. Noticing the lack of presence, her gaze went to Akoya. She was still behind the counter with Takashi, who was saying stuff about the roses to her. Akoya wasn't saying anything, but stared at the bouquet. Her yellow eyes seemed locked on the flowers. She must be admiring them.

Luna gave her a minute before speaking up. "Akoya, we have to do the order." She reminded her.

Akoya blinked while glancing at Luna before returning her eyes to the bouquet. After one more minute, she finally looked away and headed in Luna's direction. Luna opened the door for her and let her step through first before following behind.

Luna also glanced at the roses once more.

Who sent them?