It was the next day, and as Keigo had promised, he made sure you got to work safely. As you were about to go in to start your shift, he grabbed your wrist to hold you back a moment. "I'll be back here tonight to pick you up. Have you made a decision whether or not you want to stay with me?"
"Oh, uh... no, I haven't decided yet. We just reconnected, I don't want to rush it, ya know?" You said nervously, not sure how he was going to take that.
"Alright, I understand." He said with a smile. "Have a good shift." He waved, before walking away. He would be on patrol today, so chances were that you weren't going to be hearing much from him today. Which was fine obviously, you didn't need to hear from him every second of everyday. You understood that he would be busy as a pro hero. But you did want to make sure he was okay at all costs.
You clocked in to start your shift. You had to help clean up and prepare. The restaurant didn't open until 1:00 pm, and doesn't close until 10:00 pm. And most days, you worked all day. You can in early to help open, and you would leave late to help close. You didn't mind it of course, because it was good money, but you were worried about eventually waring yourself down. But at that point, you would have enough money saved so that you could change your hours.
Once it was one o'clock, the owner opened the doors and people did not hesitate rushing instead to get served. There were a couple birthday lunches, a few anniversaries, and a few celebrations parents spoiled their kids for because they had gotten good grades. Even though it was pretty busy, you still had a smile on your face and made sure to work your magic to get a slightly bigger tip. And almost nine times out of ten, it worked.
There was a group about five men, discussing business matters. They had walked into the lobby, and asked for a table. They were sat at a round table by the host. Thankfully, the host sat them in your section. You got your notepad ready, and waited for a moment or two before walking over there.
"Good afternoon, boys. What can I get you all to drink to start out?" You used your customer service voice. It was like your voice was straight out of hello kitty. One of them lowered his menu to look at you, and to say the least, he was pleasantly surprised.
"Well, hello there darlin'." The man said, not taking his eyes off of you. At this point, the way he had said that had gotten the attention of the other four men, who appeared relatively younger that himself. They looked at you, and had the same reaction as him. "I'm just gonna have a glass of red wine."
"Alright, red wine... and for you all?" You asked sweetly, looking at the others.
"A gin and tonic please." One of them said. You nodded and moved on to the other two, who also ordered red wine.
"Alright, I'll be right back with those and I'll take your order when I come back, is that okay?" You asked with a smile.
"Of course darlin'." The older man said. You nodded and walked away, mentally cringing. But hey, it was for more money.
You came back with the drinks a moment later, and handed them out. You took out your notepad again and asked what they would like.
"A filet mignon, darlin'." The older man said, closing his menu and placing it off to the side. You wrote it down and looked at one of the other men, this one looking about in his late thirties.
"Hmm... I don't know.. I don't see you on the menu." He said with a sly smirk. This joke went well with his coworkers, and on the outside you definitely laughed and acted flustered, but on the inside you just wanted to hit him up beside the head. Eventually he did tell you his actual order, and you took the rest of the peoples' orders at the table. You hurried to the back and out the order in, telling some of your co workers what this man had said to you. All of them were about your age, in their early twenties. They were all disgusted by this man's behavior and offered to take the table for you. You thanked them, but declined their offer. There was no way you were going to lose this table.
After about thirty minutes, you had gotten all of their plates and went back to the table to serve them. Once you had set down their plates you asked if they wanted refills. They all declined, and you nodded. "Alright, well is there anything else I can get you all?"
"Yeah, tell me about yourself." The man who had cracked the joke earlier said, resting his head in his hand.
"About myself? Well, I don't know, I'm not very interesting." You giggled a bit, but that made the table of men all the more interested. "Well, what do you want to know?"
"How old you are, where you went to school, if you have a boyfriend..? Things like that." One of the other men said.
"I'm twenty-three years old, I graduated from UA, but my high school boyfriend passed away and I had gotten pretty depressed about it." You said sheepishly. "And I'm just now starting to make my way past that."
"I'm so sorry sweetheart, that sounds tough." The older man said. He may have been a little bit weird, but he was nice.
"It was for a while, but I'm staying strong." You smiled.
"So, do you have a current boyfriend?" The one in his late thirties asked. This is when the rest of the men looked at him strangely. They all thought he was just joking, but since he has been a bit persistent, they were starting to question him a bit.
"Mr. Fujioka, don't you have a wife?" One of them asked.
"What she doesn't know won't hurt her." He shrugged it off. "Now, do you have a boyfriend?"
You thought about what you're answer would be. If you had said yes, he would leave you alone. If you said no, he would be more of a creeper, but it would be a bigger tip. And if you did say no, it would be telling the truth. "No, I don't."
"Are you looking for one?"
"Not really, I want to make sure I'm stable first. Financially and mentally."
"Well, I could take care of the financial part." He smirked. Your eyes widened and the men started to murmur to themselves, talking about how gross he was.
"Miss, you should probably check in your other tables." One of them said. You nodded and hurried off to check on your tables. It wasn't long after they started to scold him and remind the man of his family at home. From what you over heard, he already had a young wife, and two young children at home waiting to greet him at the door when he got home. But he didn't feel one bit of guilt.
Once they were done with their meeting you have them the check, which turned out to be over two hundred dollars. A twenty percent tip would be fifty dollars, and honestly that wasn't bad. "I'll leave the check here, wave me down and I'll come pick it up." You smiled, and left. The men argued for a moment over who was going to pay, who would leave a tip, and other things of the sort. After about five minutes, the old man waved you down. You took the check and and paid them out, and brought back his card and the receipt. "Alright here you go."
They sat there for about twenty more minutes discussing business things, before they started to get up and leave. The old man announced that he had to use the bathroom, and wandered around to find you. Once he did, he tapped you on the shoulder.
"That you for taking care of us today, darlin'. And I'm so sorry about Fujioka." He bowed his head, and handed you a hundred dollar bill. And that was on top of the fifty-five that had already tipped you.
"Oh my god, thank you so much." You smiled. He nodded before leaving the restaurant. That old man definitely made your night.
It was now ten, and you all made sure to close on time. You had finished all of your side work a bit early so they let you go at ten thirty. You headed towards the back and grabbed your jacket that was hanging on the hangers, and put it on. It got kinda cold at night, and you made sure to always bring one with you. You exited the back door that lead to the alley, and you looked around. There was no one there. Only you, and a dim light that was flickering over your head. You pulled out your phone which was close to dead, and hurried to text Keigo. 'Are you still on patrol?' You texted, and quickly turned on your battery saver, anticipating his response. Hopefully he would text you soon.
Soon enough, you would see a figure walking down the alley way. But it was for sure not Keigo's. This figure was thinner, and most definitely shorter. In fact, it looked more like a female's physique. Now thinking about it, it looked very much like the girl you would pass on your way home. You would stay by the door, watching this girl walk towards you. She wore a hoodie, and the front pieces of her hair were in her face. She would stop in front of you, and look up at you with her golden eyes.
"Do you think you can get me some food?" She asked in a sweet voice. She looked young to you, maybe about fifteen, maybe sixteen. Her voice was rather cheerful, and she had a toothy grin on her face.
"I can see what we have left, anything particular you want?"
"No, just something."
You nodded and headed back in, and grabbed a take out box. You placed a couple pieces of chicken and some rice in the box. You came out the door again, and she was standing there, seemingly not moving a muscle. "Here you go." You said, handing her the box. She smiled and thanked you. You nodded, thinking she would leave after giving her the box, but she didn't. You sat on the steps, and she sat there with you, starting to eat.
"What's your name?" She asked, looking at you.
"Y/n L/n." You answered, looking straight ahead. She nodded, and had a look of almost being in a daze, or as if she was thinking.
"I'm Himiko Toga." She said.
"It's nice to meet you." You smiled, and then heard your phone ding. Hopefully it was Keigo. 'On my way.' He texted. Toga saw this message as she looked over your shoulder. When she saw that, she got up.
"Thank you, Y/n. You're a nice person. I'll be seeing you soon."
"Huh?" You questioned, but she was already gone before you could ask what she meant. It freaked you out a bit.
"Hey, Y/n." You heard Keigo's voice, as he walked towards you. "Sorry I'm late, you didn't wait to long did you?"
"Oh no... but did you see where that girl went?"
"What girl?"
Now you were questioning whether you made her up in your mind. "Nothing, it's fine. But I'm exhausted." You sighed. "I want to go home."
"My place? Or yours?" He asked, helping you up from the stairs.
"Yours." You said, without even thinking. But then you caught yourself, and looked into his eyes. He smiled, happy that you wanted to go home with him. The truth was, you very much enjoyed being around Keigo, and didn't want to be without him now that you found him again.
You finally discovered your feelings for him.
"Uhm, Keigo?"
"Yes, Y/n?"
"Do you think on my next day off, or yours, we could uh... move some stuff from my apartment to your house?" You asked nervously, afraid he would reject your request. But you felt him grab your face, and kiss the top of your head.
"Of course. So you want to move in?" He smiled widely, getting all excited.
"Yes, I do. And if you want to try, we can uh... uhm.." You we're extremely nervous.
"What is it?"
"We can date, but I don't want it public. We can tell close friends but... I don't want the whole world knowing." You explained quickly.
"I understand, and don't worry, we can keep it private." He smiled, and brought you into a tight hug. "I'm so happy that you have decided that. So so happy." He pulled away, and cupped your cheek, lifting your head up to him. You blushed and you felt your heart fluttering, and he slowly leaned in, kissing your lips softly.