Closing Time

Hayashi Sakura could feel her cheeks burning as soon as Mori Ken's right hand grabbed hers. To immediately end this senseless tension between them, she immediately grabbed her hand away from him while still maintaining her calm demeanor.

"A-alright master! I gotta go!"

Without waiting for his response, Sakura quickly made a run towards the new customers while also trying to compose herself. 'It's nothing, Sakura' she tried to convince herself as her heart kept on hammering loudly in her chest. 'Keep your guard up! Don't fall for that guy's tricks!'

Meanwhile, Ken was left dumbfounded by the way Sakura reacted earlier. Even he was also surprised by what he did. But after a while, he soon gets over it and maintains a keen observation with those two suspicious guys who just entered the establishment.

For the first night that they have been here, those two shady-looking gentlemen haven't caused any trouble to the cafe. However, as Mori Ken keeps on coming back for three consecutive days after his first encounter with them, he also finds it kind of odd to know that they have instantly become the cafe's regular customers and that they are always requesting for Patty to be their maid for the day.

Still, after those three nights that Ken visited their cafe, nothing has happened. He now wonders if those two were just regular customers like him… or not.

***

Hayashi Sakura was happily humming on her way to her seat at Hirosaki University the next day. Looking at her calendar on her phone, she realizes that it's only seven days from now till the end of April. From then on, a lot of things that she looks forward to will happen.

First, she will receive her pay from Ms. Cookie on the 29th. Then there's the club welcome party the next day on the 30th (which is a Saturday) that they have planned the other day! And finally, they will each receive their own set of school uniforms also on the 29th and will be required to wear it from then on.

Mori Ken was already seated on his chair when he saw Sakura looking happy as ever as she also settled down in her seat. He pins his right elbow on his desk and then places his chin on top of his hand while smiling secretly to himself.

"You look a bit happy right now…" Mori Ken said as he cast an intriguing look in the girl's direction.

Sakura was a bit taken aback when his seatmate paid attention to him, hence she was forced to plaster a straight face and frowned in his direction.

"It's actually none of your business." Sakura snapped at him before tilting her head in the opposite direction. Despite still not understanding what his real intentions were for approaching her again after ignoring her for almost five years, Sakura makes sure to keep a careful distance when she's around this guy.

Ken pursed his lips after that. Oh well… there goes his favorite smile in the world.

***

After classes, Hayashi Sakura immediately went straight to work after going home to her apartment for a while to shower for a bit and to change clothes as well. She then realized that once she gets her uniform from her university, Sakura would need to do this more often to prevent being caught by the school in case things got even worse.

Once Sakura is in her maid uniform, she does some breathing exercises first for a few seconds to compose herself. This is normally what Sakura does when she knows she will be about to engage in an activity that would demand all of her energy. Feeling somewhat better now, Sakura goes out to meet today's customers.

"Welcome home, master!"

A sweet smile emerges on the girl's pinkish lips as soon as two of their new regular customers appear at the door. Both of them are equally tall, Sakura must say, and looked like they are still in their mid 20's. The one on the left has saggy ebony black hair that is perfectly matched on his brown hooded eyes, while the other guy on the right has that arrogant look plastered on his face that compliments his thick curly chocolate brown hair.

"Patty-san. It's good to see you again!" says the one with the black hair, looking well-pleased to see the beautiful maid standing before them.

The other one nods correspondingly to what his friend is saying. "Yes, yes. Very nice indeed."

Sakura kept her smile all the way when she was already leading these two to their seats. After ordering two black coffee for each of them, Sakura immediately scooted away towards the kitchen and relayed the order to the ones in charge inside.

As Sakura waited, she couldn't help but notice the time on the wall clock hanging near the kitchen door. It's already past seven in the evening and yet, Mori Ken is surprisingly not here. She now starts to wonder what happened to him and why he stopped showing up for today.

Yet before she could let her thoughts overwhelm her, Sakura tried to brush it off as quickly as possible and mumbled to herself, "Good riddance, I won't be able to see that guy's face for once!"

Sakura's thoughts were soon disrupted as soon as the order came out from the counter and the sound of the bell soon rings after that. She immediately went to pick the tray up containing two mugs of black coffee before serving it to her masters' table.

***

As soon as La La Land cafe closes, Sakura finds herself frowning when she hasn't seen Ken visiting the shop all night. Even after all the convincing she made to herself, she can't deny the fact that she was somehow worried for him for not showing up today.

'Well, maybe he's just busy…' Sakura said to herself as she was making her way towards the utility office where she planned to get the necessary cleaning tools for tidying everything up in the cafe before she goes home.