Chapter XXI - Like I Was Never Born (V)

"Thank you, but I'm fine," I said, offering a smile at her that I hoped looked more genuine than it felt. "Really."

Mio-san studied me for a long moment with an uncharacteristically serious expression. Then she seemed to make a decision and her usual bright demeanor returned like a light switch being flipped.

"Well, at least let me give you some of my magical concealer before you leave today. That thing is going to be fifty shades of purple by closing time. Can't have you scaring away all the cute customers!"

She winked, a gesture so exaggerated it bordered on ridiculous, and I felt some of the tension ease from my shoulders. That was Mio-san’s gift—she could acknowledge the darkness without dwelling in it, and could offer help without making you feel pitied.

"Besides," she continued, rummaging through her locker and pulling out what appeared to be a small cosmetics bag, "Remember that gorgeous redhead who came in last week? The one with the stunning blue eyes who was looking for candy?"

My heart stuttered in my chest.

"She came back yesterday evening while I was working! And guess what she bought?"

I shouldn't care. I really shouldn't. And yet...

"What?" I asked, hating how eager I sounded.

Mio-san’s grin turned positively feline.

"She bought a pack of those imported cookies we got in—you know, the ones that mysteriously appeared after her first visit? And get this—she actually smiled when she saw them. Just a tiny one, mind you, but definitely a smile. And then she sat outside at one of the tables for like, an hour, just reading some book in what looked like Italian."

The information shouldn't have affected me the way it did—a small, warm feeling spreading through my chest at the thought of Minazuki-san finding something familiar, something from home, in our humble convenience store. At the thought that maybe, just maybe, she had a connection to this place where I spent so many hours of my life.

"Interesting," I managed.

"Interesting?" Mio-san echoed incredulously. "That's all you have to say? Shou-chan, this is clearly the beginning of a beautiful love story! The mysterious foreign beauty and the quiet convenience store boy, brought together by imported cookies and destiny!"

"It's not like that," I protested, feeling heat rise to my face. "She's just a classmate."

"A classmate you get all blushy about," Mio-san relished in my embarrassment. "Oh, this is going to be fun to watch unfold. Maybe I should start keeping a journal. 'The Sunrise Mart Love Chronicles: How Italian Cookies Led to True Love.'"

"Please don't," I groaned, standing up to throw away my trash. "And I really do need to get back to my register."

"Fine, fine, run away from your feelings, but mark my words, Shou-chan, there's something there. I have a sixth sense about these things~"

As I made my way back to the front of the store, I couldn't help but wonder if she was right. Was there "something there" between Minazuki-san and me? Or was I just latching onto any connection, any thread of meaning in a life that had long since stopped making sense?

The thought followed me as I resumed my position at register two, automatically greeting the next customer with my signature.

It just wouldn't happen again, it just wouldn't—

* * *

Why did it happen again?

The universe, as always, had a perverse sense of humor.

It was nearing five in the evening, the liminal hour when the day shift began to wind down and the evening crew filtered in. I had spent the past seven grueling hours on my feet, scanning items, making change, and maintaining the carefully constructed smile that was as much a part of my uniform as the button-up shirt with the Sunrise Mart logo.

The automatic doors slid open with a soft whoosh, admitting a slender figure in a gray hoodie pulled low over her face, and a "YOKOHAMA BAYSTARS" in bold blue letters baseball cap beneath it. As if this layered disguise wasn't conspicuous enough on a surprisingly warm November evening, she had even added a pair of large sunglasses covering half her face.

A perfect disguise, if her goal was to look exactly like someone trying not to be recognized.

I might not have noticed her at all, or could have even dismissed her as just another eccentric customer, if not for the single strand of unmistakable scarlet that had escaped from beneath the cap, curling against the pale skin of her neck like a flame.

Minazuki Serena.

Here. At Sunrise Mart.

My heart performed a gymnastic routine so complex it would have secured a gold medal at the Olympics.

She lingered near the entrance, pretending to browse a rack of magazines, but her body language was tense, coiled like a spring. Every so often, her head would turn slightly toward the registers, and even with the sunglasses obscuring most of her face, I could feel the weight of her gaze. She was like a cat entering unfamiliar territory.

Which was...

So freaking cute.

Wait. Wait. Wait. Bad Shouma! Not cute. Strange. Odd. Bizarre.

But also...

Definitely cute.

I ducked behind the magazine rack, nearly colliding with Kanzaki, who raised an eyebrow at my sudden movement.

"I need to... stock the back shelves," I mumbled, an excuse so transparent it wouldn't have fooled a child.

Kanzaki's gaze followed mine to the hooded figure now making her way toward the international snack aisle. His expression didn't change, but somehow, I sensed he immediately understood the situation at hand.

"I'll take Register #2."

"Thanks," I whispered back. I needed to use escape route #4, but first...

I didn't actually know why I was hiding.

We had talked—genuinely conversed—on the rooftop. She knew my darkest secret, and I had glimpsed something of her own pain. But... something about seeing her here, in this space that usually existed completely separate from school, from Kagami Shouma the Class Representative, from all the masks I wore...

It felt like worlds colliding in a way I wasn't prepared for.

"And where do you think you're going, Shou-chan?"

Interrupting my escape route to the storeroom was her. Before I could open the door, I felt her hands on my back.

'Damn it.'

"And where do you think you're going, Shou-chan?"

"I was just—"

"About to run away from the most serendipitous meeting of star-crossed lovers that this convenience store has ever witnessed? I don't think so!"

"Mio-san, please—"

"Do you know how long I've been waiting for the mysterious redhead to return? Now she's here, in the most adorably terrible disguise I've ever seen, and you want to hide in the storeroom? Absolutely not~"

Her grip on my shoulder tightened as she steered me back toward the front of the store. I caught a glimpse of Kokonoe, who had spotted Serena and was already adjusting his hair with one hand while checking his reflection in his phone camera with the other.

"I'll handle this one, guys," he said, his voice dropping to what he probably thought was a handsome man. "She's clearly looking for someone with a little more... experience."

"She's a high school student, Kokonoe. Find someone your own age." Kanzaki flatly expressed, not even bothering to look up from where he was organizing the register drawer.

Kokonoe's complexion burned red.

"How do you know she's in high school? She could be a college student! Or a model! Or a—"

"She's in our class," I interjected. "At Amane."

Kokonoe deflated.

"Perfect!" Mio-san whispered, still gripping my shoulder. "Now that the competition is gone, it's time for you to make your move."

"...What move? There's no move to make. She's just a customer..."

"A customer who came all the way to our little store instead of the 8-Eleven that's literally next to your school? A customer who's wearing a disguise straight out of a shoujo manga? A customer who, according to my reliable sources—" she tapped her own chest importantly, "—has been asking a certain Kozue-chan from Class 1-D if she knows anything about a part-time worker at Sunrise Mart with green eyes?"

"..."

Mio-san’s smile was so triumphant it bordered on smug.

"Heh, typical boy. She didn't ask for you by name, but how many employees here have eyes like yours, hmm?"

Before I could process the sudden information, Minazuki-san had made her way to Register #1, where Kanzaki was waiting with his usual impassive expression. She placed a small basket on the counter, and I could see it contained several packages of the imported Italian cookies we'd started carrying last week, along with a can of coffee and a fashion magazine.

"I'll take over!" Mio-san announced loudly, practically shoving Kanzaki aside. "Why don't you help... um... that elderly gentleman with the pet food, Kanzaki-kun?"

There was no elderly gentleman. There wasn't even a customer looking at pet food.

But Kanzaki nodded as if this made perfect sense and moved away, exchanging a brief glance with me that might have been sympathy or amusement; it was hard to tell.

"And Kagami-kun... could you handle this customer while I check the price on these cookies? I think they might be on sale."

If there was a sale on the cookies, it was news to me and everyone else who worked at Sunrise Mart. But before I could point this fabrication out, Mio-san had disappeared to the back of the store with the price scanner, leaving me standing before register one with Minazuki-san—or rather, the suspiciously hooded figure carefully not making eye contact with me.