Hello, welcome to my first attempt at a Shokugeki no Souma fanfiction.

It'm kinda rusty, but I tried my best. Being an AU I hope the characters are IC, but I could have err a little, please let me know.

Lastly, as english is not my first language there probably gonna be some grammar mistakes, sorry for that.

Well, I leave you to it, and I hope you enjoy it

Oh, yes. I want to thank my friend Water Lock for the helping me with the format of the cover image for the story (and for reading this, I know SnS is not your cup of tea). Thank you! Your help is dearly appreciated and highly valued.

And lastly, I don't own Shokugeki no Souma — obviously, if I did this and several other ships would be official by now..

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PROMPT 1 - COLLEGE AU

YOU DRIVE ME CRAZY

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~*you live above me and I'm going to murder you if you don't stop throwing parties Sunday night*~

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"I hate them!"

Kinokuni Nene complained loudly to the empty space, hitting her head against the coffee table in frustration. It wasn't as if somebody could hear her; she couldn't hear her own voice with all the noise inundating the room! And it had been like that since she came home from her shift at the library...

Four. Hours. Ago.

"I really, really hate them."

She needed to sleep, tomorrow she had the first period! But she couldn't because her idiotic neighbors from above decided that tonight was a good opportunity to throw a party. It was Sunday, for God's sake! Who in his sane mind parties on Sunday night?

If she at least could use her time awake for something productive like studying some French conjugations for next morning class, but no, with this noise it was as useless as trying to sleep.

To think that she had been so excited about going to college and being on her own for some time.

Nene's thoughts got interrupted when she heard some noise coming from the entrance. Someone moved the doorknob trying to open the door. If it was another drunkard trying to get lucky she would use some of her old judo moves and leave them maimed for life. A good prospect for the future of mankind if she was honest.

She didn't relax until she saw it was just her roommate, Shouko Kaburagi. Nothing surprising there as only the two of them had the keys. The lack of sleep was starting to affect her regular thought process.

The other girl worked the evening shift at a local pub and by the time she usually arrived, Nene was already resting, so they rarely crossed paths at night. The two had met on their first day at college when both answered an ad offering a room for two girls; they became friends after a time sharing the same space. By now, both were so used to the other antics that had chosen to keep being housemates and move together into a two-bedroom flat when their old rent ended.

Nene watched bemused as the girl slowly closed the door, slowly took her shoes off and slowly turned around in tiptoes.

What is she...?

"Why are you doing the slow-motion thing?"

"Oh, fuck!" screamed Shouko, jumping back against the door. "Nene? What a scare! What are you doing up? It's like 2 AM!" She brought a hand to her chest, breathing fast. "Please don't tell me I did wake you. I tried so hard to be all ninja-like and make no noise."

Nene moved aside so the other could see the notebook and the papers scattered on the coffee table. "Relax, Shouko. I was only trying to refresh some verbs for Chapelle's class."

"How can you study with all that ruckus?" The brunette looked to the roof while tossing her cap on the couch. "Friday, Saturday, Sunday… now I see why the rent was so cheap in this building."

Nene took her glasses to clean them with a tissue. It was more from habit than desire but it helped clear her mind. "I've been stuck on the same page for the last hour. The only verbs I can conjugate right now are 'assassiner', 'tuer' and other criminal connotations, all influenced by our beloved neighbors. Make your guess."

"Well, you did say trying..." Shouko stretched her arms, frowned, and then rolled her shoulder with a hiss. "I'm dead. Some jerk tried to impress a bunch of girls with the glasses tower bartender trick using paper cups. I can tell you that the cleaning lady — me — was not impressed with the fucking mess he got as a result."

"At least tomorrow you start after lunch..."

"Yeah. Thanks heaven for little mercies..." Shouko went to her room, only to return a few minutes later changed into her pajamas, trying to murder the roof with her glare. "It's even worse in my bedroom... How the heck are we supposed to get some sleep tonight? This shitty noise is a pain in the ass!"

"In my room isn't any better." Nene closed her notebook. It wasn't helping anyway. "But I cannot concentrate in here either so I'm at an impasse."

"Weren't you going to study at your job?" Said the brunette, sitting cross-legged on the couch, and starting to untie her hair. It was funny how Nene used her hair down for her job and tied in braids at home while Shouko did the opposite. "The library is like the best place for it."

"I did, for a while. But Enomoto-san called in sick so I had to manage front desk today. Everything was going perfect until this guy came—"

"A guy? Now this is getting good."

Nene rolled her eyes. "He asked for some books and after I provided the information, he went to the reading room..."

"And that's it? I expected something more epic."

"Wait," Nene closed her eyes, focusing on the past afternoon. "Ten minutes later he came back to ask for another title. After a period of ten, maybe fifteen minutes he is back again for a new one and half an hour later, for another. All the books were on the same topic so they were supposed to be on the same aisle."

"Odd. Why wouldn't he just search for them? The reception is not close to the reading tables."

"No idea. After a moment with no interruptions, I thought 'study time', but no, he came again and told me he couldn't find one of the titles. The system said the book was still in the building so I went to look for it."

"And?"

"It took me almost twenty minutes to find it, not so far from where it should be, but a shelf above and with the spine turned."

"As a mystery finale, it's quite anticlimactic... at least the guy got his book."

"Yes. And I have never been happier for it. He had been right by my side 'helping me' search while talking nonstop about sowing, planting, vegetables... It was okay at the beginning but by the end... Why would I be interested in the life cycle of a tomato?"

Her friend covered her face with a little pillow, trying to hide her humor, without much success if her trembling shoulders were any indication. "Haven't you thought that maybe — just maybe — he liked you and was trying to hit on you?"

WHAT?

"Of course not! He was just being dumb." Nene scoffed, that idea was laughable. "And by the end I wasn't particularly accommodating. I explained to him that if he required another agriculture book, he had my permission to search for it on his own, that they were ordered by topic and alphabetically and that I only needed to know if he wanted to take them out, or make copies. And that's the end of it."

"Well, with all his visits to the main desk area I sorta believe that he either liked the reception or he liked the receptionist, and was trying to attract your attention." Shouko stretched on the sofa, playing with the hair tie on her wrist. "Poor tomato guy," she said with a shrug. "He certainly didn't choose the right move to impress you." She turned towards her, poking her in the head with the knee. "Please, at least tell me he was cute."

"He was stupid..." Nene crossed her arms, refusing to think on the guy's appearance; she wanted to forget about the entire situation, it had been so absurd... but the image came uninvited as it always happened when she tried not to think on something. She shook her head trying to block it, but her traitorous mind wasn't helping.

Shouko tilted her head, looking at her with barely contained curiosity. "That doesn't answer my question, you know?"

"I didn't pay any attention to him. The light is awful in there..."

Her friend raised an eyebrow, skepticism filling her voice. "C'mon, Nene. You are getting way too flustered over someone to whom you 'paid no attention'.The fact that you talked about it says a lot." Shouko laid on the couch, crossing her legs at the ankles and resting the back of her head over her arms in a very relaxed pose. "I think you are hiding something and as we are not going to bed for a long while, I can wait until the guys upstairs finish their reunion for your confession."

It wasn't a joke either. Nene knew that the topic wasn't going to get dropped any time soon. Shouko could be worse than a dog with a bone when something sparked her curiosity. No, wrong metaphor: she was more like a caiman with its jaws closed on a prey, or should it be a shark? But the more fierce of her friends was Rindou-senpai... all this tiredness was muddling her brain. It didn't matter, in the end, Shouko could be relentless and terrible perceptive when she felt like it.

"Ok, ok, yes, I recognize it. He was easy on the eye. Are you happy now?" Nene said, harrumphing defeated. And it wasn't a lie. The guy had been really attractive, the first time he appeared on her desk she got a little distracted — not that she would ever show that. A shame that he was unable to operate a library and talked so much.

Ok, the last item may have been a little endearing. Just a little.

"Oh, my! He must have been more than 'easy on the eye', my friend. You're blushing a very telling shade of red!" Her roommate started to chuckle freely, almost choking on it, while her own embarrassment grew even more. It felt like hours passed before a yawn interrupted the brunette's outburst.

"Are you done?"

"Nope. This is so exciting! Now I demand more details about him. It's weird that you react like this towards something that doesn't have pages."

Nene looked sideways, willing her cheeks to stop burning to no avail. Her skin was a curse sometimes, she reacted way too easily. "Ok," she surrendered. "Let's see: he was like a head taller than us, brown hair, blue eyes, smiled stupidly a lot..."

"A toddler would envy your power of description."

"...he is unable to find books on a shelf, talks nonstop about topics that nobody cares about and likes tomatoes?"

"Ok. Stop! This is terrible!" Shouko laughed. "For someone who enjoys reading as much as you do, Nene, you really suck at storytelling." Her roommate poked her head again when she tried to throw a paper ball at her to shut her up. "I don't get it. You can improvise an interesting lesson on the History of Philosophy in ten seconds but I ask you to describe a guy and your prose is reduced to that of a two-year-old."

"Well—"

A strong thump from above made them look to the roof. Shouko seated straight on the sofa.

"We are not gonna sleep tonight, right? I mean, c'mon! I like to party like anybody else, but tomorrow is Monday."

The frustration from the day, added to the recent teasing and her lack of rest reached boiling point.

"We are." She stood up from her seating on the carpet. "I'm tired of it. It's the fourth Sunday in a row that they choose to make noise." She grabbed her keys from the kitchen's bar and put on her flats on the same move."I'm gonna kill them."

"Wait, I'm coming with you." Shouko scrambled after her. "Someone will have to film this for the jury. I'll try to make you look nice so the sentence is light."

###

When the door opened, after fifteen minutes of strong knocking, the cheerful girl in a fluffy bunny pajama was not what they were expecting. But then, since they climbed the stairs to the third floor, they had been passing by a lot of people dressed in a colorful variation of pajamas and other nightclothes.

"Well, at least now I don't feel so out of place," had murmured Shouko, when she noted the dressing code. "It takes PJ Party to a full new level."

Nene had nodded absently, not really caring about that. Most of the people mingled around them in different states of drunkenness. It took a long moment to find someone sober enough to tell them where to find the 'Party Mastermind' and here they were.

Door 206.

"Oh, hello!" Murmured the girl, carrying a tray. "Nachos are coming. And the guys took a beer barrel to the 211 to ice it because it's a little crowded in here."

"Actually we want to speak with the person in charge of the party."

"Isshiki-senpai? He is back there, refereeing the beer pong I believe." She moved, allowing them to go inside. "And don't call next time; the door is open during parties. With all the noise nobody would hear you anyway."

Both shared a look and went in. The place was huge, like twice their little two-bedroom apartment.

"I feel so cheated," reacted Shouko, pouting as she stomped on the carpeted ground. "This is way bigger than ours!" but Nene ignored her, trying to navigate the sea of people that filled the space to the brim. It may be bigger than theirs, but it felt cramped with all these people coming and going. Most of them concentrated around a table in the corner, where two guys seemed to be playing something —ping pong, maybe?— creating a pseudo-entertainment. On one side, a polished blond; on the other, a spiky redhead with a white headband.

Nene noted that the boys had several plastic cups filled with something in front of them, and both were trying to land ping pong balls in the cups of the other boy. Whenever one hit home, the ball was taken from the recipient and the content was drunk by the loser.

"That has to be the most unhygienic thing I ever saw." Murmured Nene, wrinkling her nose. Her stomach revolted at the scene. "Their hands touched those things! And some of those balls even hit the ground."

"It's only beer pong," said Shouko shrugging, indifferent to the situation. Nene imagined that her friend had seen way worse in her work line. "All the players are too wasted to care about germs and bacteria."

"It's disgusting. I'm feeling unclean just watching it."

"Poor virtuous Nene-chan." Shouko patted her head in a patronizing way that she found irritating. "Your innocence about party games has just been broken." She finished, laughing loudly.

"Shouko! Let's find that Isshiki guy and leave this place." She pushed her glasses up her nose.

All the stifling human heat, the loud music and the fumes of alcoholic beverages were giving her a headache. She had never been happier of not giving in to her friends' attempts to take her to party. Thankfully, now that Shouko worked most weekends and they moved to a different building from Rindou's, their pressure has reduced. This kind of spectacle definitely wasn't her thing. "Now, how can we find him in the middle of all this inebriated chaos...?"

"I have an idea," said her friend, cupping her mouth to emulate a loudspeaker and using her as support while standing tall on tiptoes. "HEY! IS ISSHIKI HERE?"

Nene sighed, shaking her head while tiredly watching her roomie. "Subtlety and you are not on good terms, right?"

Shouko only smiled brightly. "Try to be subtle on a family reunion with parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, six siblings, eleven cousins, and one bathroom—" the girl interrupted herself, her eyes widening while looking to something behind Nene.

"Hello! I am Isshiki." Said a cheerfully irritating, and strangely familiar, voice. Besides her roommate and Rindou-senpai, she didn't know anybody else that could be so upbeat in this kind of situation. "Were you looking for me?"

Shouko, letting out a breath, fanned her face with a hand while keeping her eyes right on whoever was behind her. "I feel warmer out of a sudden." She murmured for their ears only. "Maybe I should ask for some of that cold beer."

Nene looked perplexed at her friend who only mouthed a quiet "behind you, just turn around and look behind you" that did not help her confusion at all.

Doing as told, Nene met with a great display of bare chest, more than she expected to see outside the beach, to be honest. Taking a step back she looked dumbfounded at the barely dressed male in front of her. Was he wearing only a fundoshi?

Why is he wearing only a fundoshi?

She felt her cheeks burning hot, and that only increased as her eyes went further up on the apparently endless expansion of suntanned skin and toned muscle.

Nene did a double-take when she finally saw his face, recognizing the grinning guy in front of her.

"It's you!" said both at the same time. His smile got wider and that only made the still flustered woman to narrow her eyes at him. Her embarrassment disappeared, and her original irritation returned.

###

Isshiki Satoshi's party to honor Kuga's birthday had been going strong for hours, even though the boy recognized that he wasn't as present as he used to be in this kind of situation. He had always strived to be a good host, but tonight he felt a little out of the celebration and right back at the library, trying to socialize with the reception girl.

Ah, he smiled at her memory, she was a really tough cookie.

To think he had been 'looking' for her since his the end of his first semester. One afternoon he had arrived early to a lesson and the previous group was still in class. In a moment a green-haired young woman started a lesson, and it had been a surprise. In all the times it had happened before, he he had never paid much mind to his surroundings; the subject of this class — Philosophy — had never attracted him, and neither had he paid any attention to the students on it. His only objective then, had been to get a good seat for when his own class started; but something in her voice had made him listen, and after he did, Satoshi found that he couldn't stop: her lecture had been very engaging and her words full of passion and strength. Everything had been clear, and thoughtful, easy to understand. Even for someone like him who was not enrolled in that class.

She explained how students should be inspired to go through their subjects not only as credits for graduation but as an experience on their own; to enjoy the ride, not only the destination. She had seemed to give everything of her in that presentation, and it had blew him away. He liked his career choice but he had never given much thought to the joy of learning to get his degree.

Obviously she did.

By the end of it, he had wanted to be one of her books to be learned so thoroughly.

Regretfully, he hadn't listened to her name, and as that was the last class of that group before finals he never crossed paths with the girl again. With the new semester all classes changed and she wasn't in that classroom anymore — he checked — so he didn't saw her for the next months. He had been keeping an eye out for her without any luck.

Until this afternoon.

Satoshi almost crashed into another student when he saw her at the front desk of the Library instead of the usual receptionist.

What an amazing surprise it has been.

He had tried talking to her, and she had been attentive, but her no-nonsense attitude and busy demeanor halted most of his attempts to extend beyond 'official' dialogue. And when he had been granted the possibility to have a real conversation with her — finally — he got a little carried away with the topic. In his defense, he would claim that her presence distracted him. She had been cute from afar but was really pretty up close, with eyes in a peculiar shade of pinkish-red that her green hair and creamy complexion just enhanced. But what called to him the most was her delicate mouth: it seemed soft, glossy and she kept on biting her lower lip while concentrated in a task making it look wet and plump — during their search, it had been really difficult to ignore.

Regretfully the spell broke when her expression went from inquisitive to sour at the end of their little hunt for Crop rotation effects on soil fertility and plant nutrition. After that, she quickly explained that it was a self-service library and he had her absolute permission to search for the tomes on his own — he got the feeling it wasn't a suggestion.

Auch, that had hurt. Who would say the girl he had been searching for the last semester had such a personality?

Ok, the little trick with the book may have been a little childish but at least it got her to stop watching from behind the desk and keep him company for a moment. A very short moment but one had to start somewhere, right?

In the end, he hadn't had much luck that day, but now he had an idea of where to find her, and that certainly worked for him.

Hearing someone yelling his name brought him from his fantasies to check on the caller. It seemed to have originated from a petite brunette, now talking to another girl. A green-haired one, if his eyes weren't mistaken.

Can it be...?

He hurried to them almost rolling upon Marui-kun who was knocked down on the floor after his turn at beer pong.

"...eleven cousins and one bathroom—" the brunette caught sight of him and stopped whatever she was saying, giving him the once over. She looked familiar, maybe they shared a class or something. But it didn't matter, his attention focused fully on her friend who kept her back to him.

When she finally twisted towards him, his smile grow bigger. It was her! His serious little librarian. She looked different with her hair in a simple braid and her extra-large tee but as adorable as that afternoon in her classic librarian clothes and perfectly straight hair. Even more with her flushed face and widened eyes.

"It's you!" Both said at the same time. Good, she remembered him.

"What you is him?" The brunette asked, giving him the double-check, smirking playfully.

"Tomato guy."

Satoshi sweatdropped. Tomato guy? That was the impression he left on her? He needed to work on that.

"Oh!" Said her friend. "The talkative one who doesn't know how to find a book in the library."

That didn't help his ego. But he didn't know how to explain what happened this afternoon; well, not without sounding like some kind of creep. "Well, that's not—"

"The same." The librarian folded her arms. "Are you Isshiki?"

"Yes. Isshiki Satoshi at your service." He made a vow, that only made her raise an eyebrow and bit her lower lip. Satoshi cleared his throat. "And you are...?" If he at least could gain her name out of the tomato guy thing he'll consider it a job well done.

"Your downstairs neighbor."

Ok. It wasn't a name, but her address would do; especially since she ended up being so near. How come they'd never crossed paths before?

"That's great! Well, I didn't know you before, but now that I do, you and your friend are always welcome to any of our—"

"You organized the 'party', right?" She cut in sharply.

"Well, yeah..."

She pointed a finger at him. "Look, Isshiki..."

"You may call me Satoshi."

"Isshiki is fine. We need to sleep, can you, I don't know, stop this... thing?"

"Well, we are just in the middle—"

"Have you realized that tomorrow is Monday?! Thanks to your wonderful idea of fun, I haven't slept at all and I have early classes."

"What a coincidence! So do I! What is your—"

"If you have classes too, why are you throwing a party?!"

"It's just that is my friend birthday—"

"Couldn't you wait until Friday like normal people?"

"Well, you see—"

"No. Don't answer that." She lowered her gaze, blinking twice. Flushing, she quickly looked aside, coughing once. "Normal, you are not."

What was that? Satoshi raised his eyebrows. Interesting…

She crossed her arms and frowned at him. Satoshi noted her eyes stayed firmly on his face. "So today is a birthday. What about last week? Or the one before? Because you have been partying on school nights for the last month."

"My birthday, the end of the golden week... Ibusaki-kun asking Sakaki-kun out—"

"Finally!" Exclaimed the brown-haired girl, and then covered her mouth with a hand. Until then, she had seemed quite content just watching the two of them quietly, only snorting, gasping and hiding her laughter where the moment called for it. She had even grabbed some nachos from somewhere and had been happily munching on them, following their exchange.

"Shouko?"

"Sorry for that, I didn't want to interrupt." The brunette rubbed the back of her neck. "It's just that I've been following that love story since we moved here — I usually pass by them when it's my turn to take the clothes to dry on the roof." She snorted in a very unladylike way. "Poor girl. He is slower than a snail, Nene."

Nene. So that's her name. He looked at her.

It suits her, he thought smiling, it's as cute as its owner.

While her friend distracted her, she took her glasses off to rub her eyes. Now that he shook off a little of the cloud covering his head, he realized that his librarian, Nene, seemed exhausted. Her eyes were a little dull, with slight shadows beneath them.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." She waved his concern, adjusting her glasses back in place. "I'm just.."

"Tired?"

She looked at him, and nodded. "And is too loud in here."

"Hey, hey, hey, Isshiki-chin! What's with all 'this'?" As if called by her words, one of his two roommates, birthday boy Kuga Terunori appeared between the girls, looking from one to the other and then at him. "You know who was screaming so noisily? Was one of these two hags?"

"That's not polite, Kuga-kun."

Nene looked an odd mix of offended and disgusted, murdering Kuga with her eyes. Her friend, Shouko if his memory didn't fail him, wasn't better. Both appeared very interested in killing the new arrival.

"We were just asking your friend to let us sleep," said his librarian through gritted teeth, eyes narrowed on the short boy.

He only smirked. "If you want to sleep with him, you'll have to get in the line. Isshiki-chin here is very solicited."

You are so not helping Kuga-kun.

Satoshi didn't want her believing that he was some kind of womanizer; he respected women, and they seemed to like him.

"Can't yo at least lower the music?" Nene dismissed his roommate as nothing and settled her attention back on Satoshi.

"Of course not. IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!" His friend interrupted grumpily. It was common knowledge that he hated being ignored. It usually had the opposite effect: he became louder.

"Then we'll have to call the landlady."

"Please, be our guest." Chuckled Kuga, waving a hand towards the crowd. "She must be somewhere in there."

"Oh," murmured Shouko, jumping from her position on the wall. Her face had lost all vestiges of affability. "That explains a lot. Let's go, Nene. They are chummy with the manager, that's how they got approval for events on school nights. It's useless to ask for anything from them, they have nothing to lose."

"And now what? You've just arrived from work and I have classes in the morning."

"Earplugs?"

"Don't grumble so much 'pigtails'. Isshiki-chin here also has early classes tomorrow and you don't see him PMSing over it."

"Not all of us come here to waste our time," exclaimed the girl. "Your friend can choose not studying. I can't—"

"Actually he is one of the best students in his career."

That stalled her a second. She studied him curiously, but when he smiled at her she just shook her head. "Good for you. But I'm not some kind of prodigy who can function on beer and junk food—" she cut herself. "Why I'm explaining myself to you two?" She turned to her friend. "You are right, Shouko. Let's try the earplug thing. It's evident that as long as they have their fun, they don't care for who they disturb in the process."

The weariness in her voice made Isshiki felt like an idiot. When they began with this Sunday thing, he had never considered the people who had to work late or had an early class. As it didn't affect his early morning routine.

Now he felt like a jerk.

He was prepared to apologize when he discovered that the girls were already gone. Looking around, he caught them almost by the door, ready to depart. Hurrying after them, he almost crashed into both Yoshino Yuki and the younger Aldini that were coming in.

"Hey, Isshiki-senpai." Called his kohai, while her companion smiled nicely, both were carrying paper cups and plastic bags with chips. "You should think of dressing a little more if you need to go outside."

He checked himself. Right. Something told him that his librarian wouldn't take his apology seriously in only his underwear.

Some twenty minutes later — how could he always undress in the blink of an eye, but it took him so long to get into a simple shirt and some jeans? — he was running down the stairs when two familiar voices reached his ears on the landing of the first floor.

"..sorry. I'd forgotten about it."

"Shouko, stop apologizing. I just wonder how can you lose one earplug?"

"It fell when I was sleeping. Never found the thing again. That's why I stopped using them." The girl sounded contrite. "If you give me a minute I'll change into something more outdoorsy and go with you to the store."

"No. It's just a five minutes walk from here. You just came from work, then went with me to that... hellhole."

Satoshi automatically knew what place she was referring with that name.

"Not regretting it. The nachos were okay and fundoshi guy has good abs. A shame we weren't able to see if he has an equally appealing behind~"

"Shouko!"

"I saw you ogling him."

"I'm leaving!"

"You cannot deny reality~!" He heard a girl's laughter, and some hurried steps coming in his direction. "Be careful, Nene! Call me if you need anything! Do you have the pepper spray?"

The young woman came quickly towards him —well, towards the stairs to be exact— but as she was looking over her shoulder, Nene didn't saw him standing there. "I don't need—oh!" In a moment she turned towards him, and before he could take a step back, with a movement that a cat would envy, she made a last-second spin avoiding to crash right into him.

Impressive reflexes.

"Nene... is everything fine...?" The brunette reached them. She tilted her head to the side when she saw him there. "My, my... What do we have in here?" She checked him out without shame. "He looks good with clothes on too, don't you think so, Nene?"

"Stop it, Shouko," she answered to her friend. "What are you doing here?" Nene's pretty eyes narrowed on him. They would be even more lovely if they weren't directed at him with so much suspicion, but her irises blazed an amazing hue of red nonetheless.

"I was going to..." Recalling the conversation he overheard gave him an idea. "...the convenience store. We ran out of some things."

"Common sense is not available on a Seven-Eleven," murmured dryly his librarian, looking aside and crossing her arms, pouting.

"That's great!" Clapped her friend. "Now, you can go with Nene. She's just going to buy something too."

"Shouko! I don't—"

"I know you can take on any thug that makes the mistake of crossing paths with you, but it's late, and I would feel a lot more at ease if you take him with you. After all, both of you go to the same place."

Nene raised a hand, apparently ready for a refute, but her friend's logic was sound, and all of them knew it. God, Satoshi could have kissed the other girl in that moment.

"...ok."

The brunette hugged her friend. "Thank you, Nene-chan. My peace of mind is thankful too." She turned to him, making sure Nene couldn't see her face and winked. "You, make sure nothing happens to my friend. She is a little grumpy, but I blame three days of bad rest for it." Her scolding tone betrayed her expression, where her wide smirk showed she was obviously having a good time. If only his friend could do the same.

"Well, let's go. Isshiki, right?" Nene went down the stairs to the ground level. "I want to come back quickly. It's late and I'm exhausted." She threw a pointed glare at him.

This was going to be a fun shopping trip.

###

"It's a very pretty night, don't you think?"

"I guess..."

Satoshi smiled. At least she answered. "There are a lot of stars..."

The girl raised her head to the sky. "There are not that many, the city is too bright for stargazing."

"Do you like stars, miss librarian?"

That comment got an unexpected reaction from the girl. Satoshi had been trying to break the ice — with little success — since leaving her hallway, but she didn't collaborate. He found out she could be quite stubborn.

Now, she turned to him, biting her lower lip, obviously trying to hide her laughter. He considered that an important victory.

"What did you call me?"

"...well… I don't know your last name..." and he had the feeling that she wouldn't like him calling her 'Nene'. "You never told me. Remember?" He extended his hand. "But we can try again. I am Isshiki Satoshi and you are…"

She blushed slightly but shook his hand once. "Kinokuni Nene," she said quietly and looked to the side. "Now, you know." Letting her arms fall to her sides, she continued walking ahead of him.

Kinokuni Nene. He repeated her full name on his mind, savoring the sound of each syllable. Her surname felt familiar somehow; he liked it.

"Kinokuni-kun, how long have you—" he cut himself. The girl had disappeared. Focusing on his surroundings, he discovered they had reached the store and he stood right in front of its door.

When?

His librarian walked quite fast for someone so petite.

Taking a deep breath Satoshi went after her. He wasn't going to give up so easily.

Once inside, it didn't take him long to find her. The store was devoid of people — normal considering the hour — but for the cashier at the entrance and the green-haired girl standing in one of the aisles. Nene stood in front of a huge display of colorful earplugs, analyzing everything with the utmost care. Even from where he observed her, he could listen to the woman reading aloud the tags, weighing the pros and cons of each brand, type, and price of the hearing protectors. It seemed she was a picky buyer.

"Kinokuni-kun, here you are!"

She looked at him, nodding at his presence without interrupting her activity.

"I was wondering where you have gone."

That surprised him. "Did you miss me?"

"Of course not." She coughed. "I assumed that you went to do your own shopping, have you?"

"No, but I know the exact location of what I want." He chuckled. "Don't worry about it."

"I'm not worrying." She stated firmly. "Why would I worry about it?" And grabbed a plastic blister of silicone earplugs before walking in direction of the cashier. "I'm ready."

Satoshi smiled. "Ten pairs?."

"Yes, I'm sure we'll need them in the future. "

"I'm sorry about that."

"What's done is done. Besides, you are not the only one," said Nene, waving hello to the girl at the register who seemed very concentrated smoothing her nails until that point. She raised an eyebrow, and made a gesture for them to put their things on the line.

"Weren't you here to buy something?" Asked Nene, looking at his hands curiously.

Right. He had forgotten that.

What to buy? What to buy? They were already at the register and he didn't trust her to not leave without him if he went back. From the corner of his eye, he saw some colorful packages and grabbed two at random, for the sake of his cover, without really reading what they were. Some candy seemed okay.

"Hey! If you want to get lucky, at least buy better quality ones. These don't taste of strawberries, you know?"

What?

He looked at the little package the cashier had in her hands. It wasn't candy as he had thought, but...

"... strawberry flavored condoms?"

Oops.

Hearing a sharp intake of breath, he turned to his companion. Nene was wide-eyed, watching him. The moment she caught his eyes she lowered her own and turned to the other side, keeping a little more distance between them.

Great, he thought. Now she either thinks I'm gonna have sex with someone or that I wanna try something with her...

At that moment, he chose to ignore that the last idea wasn't so far from the truth.

"...If the girl is going to be doing all the work," continued the young woman at the register, ignoring the tension. "...she deserves something better." She took another package from the counter's display. "These are a little more expensive because this package only contains three pieces, but as they aren't latex, they lack that strong plastic aftertaste. It comes in Vanilla, Strawberry, Chocolate, and Banana. Personally, I wouldn't choose the banana one."

He took one randomly, not looking at his companion. He wasn't embarrassed by the situation per se, but it had to happen when she was with him?

"...Aren't you going a little fast? You do know that you need to have a space of at least six weeks since these..." she pointed to the condoms, "for her to need this, right?"

Looking at the woman's hands, he realized that the second item wasn't something innocuous either.

A pregnancy test?

"... if you use the condoms for what they are designed to do, there shouldn't be any need for the test. These are not suitable for the kind of activity that could risk a pregnancy scare. If you want those, we have several brands that—"

"It's okay." He said, cutting in with a thin smile. "They're fine."

More than fine, please stop.

"Ok. The two items are ¥1000. Buying any condom of this brand, you can have fruit flavored lube with 10% off."

"No, no, these are perfect. Thank you." Satoshi reached for his wallet, but it wasn't in the back pocket of his jeans. He checked his shirt but it had no pockets.

Wait... Oh, right.

As he only intended to apologize to his neighbor, he never thought of grabbing money when he left the party, so that meant...

"Well, you see..."

"Here," Nene added her purchase to his and was extending her debit card to the cashier. "Charge me his items too."

Eh?

"You have no money on you, right?"

He scratched his nape. "I forgot my wallet at home."

She sighed. "Yeah, I can see that." She turned towards the saleswoman. "As I said, I'll pay for everything."

"Ok. Adding the earplugs, It's ¥2000..."

Nene just nodded. "It's fine."

"You know," started the cashier, while checking her ID. "Girl, if you're gonna have sex with your boyfriend you should always be prepared. It could be a pain to get the mood back after having to buy the condoms in the middle of a date."

His librarian's reaction came fast and hard: her eyes went wide, mouth falling open, and blood started to color her skin... He had never seen someone do a full-body blush before. How much of her was covered in red…?

He coughed, stopping his mind from going down that line.

"Yo-you think t-that he-he and I...?" He had to bit his cheek to not chuckle. "We are not—" She cut herself, taking a moment to clear her throat and fix her glasses, put some hair behind her ear and finally take a deep breath. "He is not my boyfriend."

Yet.

God, he needed to control himself; this little crush was getting out of hands.

"...It also applies to casual hookups and friends with benefits, you know?"

"I don't do that!" she said loudly, moving her arms in an exaggerated fashion. Realizing it, she folded them on her waist, nodding in his direction. "...He is only my noisy neighbor."

"Oh," said the woman. "That explains the earplugs. I was starting to think you were into some kinky fetish. But in any case, to each their own... who I am to judge, right?"

Both shared a look, and after grabbing their items, retired quickly from the place. It had been quite the experience.

"Umm... Kinokuni-kun. Thanks for that." He started walking the way to their building.

She scoffed. "I didn't do it for you. We were going to be stuck in there until next year if I didn't intervene."

Satoshi grinned. "You could have pay for your stuff and leave me there."

Nene stiffened, coloring a cute shade of pink. "And having to survive Shouko's third degree?" She added after a moment, avoiding his eyes. "It was easier to give you the money."

Both kept on walking in silence until they reached their building entrance. There she stopped. "I suppose it must have been a very urgent purchase for you to leave your party in such a hurry."

Swift change of topic, miss librarian... and was she inquiring about the condoms? His mind did a happy dance. Her curiosity definitely was a good sign...

He opened the door for her. "They are not for me, but for one of my roommates..." He said, blurting the first thing that came to his mind. "He couldn't leave the party for... Well, you know. It does ruin the moment, and it took him so long to convince this girl. And it's his birthday..."

Sorry Kuga, but you would do the same in my position and we both know it.

Nene raised an eyebrow. "And which one is in need of a pregnancy test in the middle of a pajama party?"

"Uhm... That's for me?"

"You think you are pregnant?" She smirked. "Because I could have saved some money and tell you that you are not...unless..."

"No!" Satoshi sweatdropped. "No, no. Of course not. It's for... an experiment."

She blinked. "What kind of...? No, forget it. I don't want to know. My instinct says that it's better if I don't."

"If you're curious I wouldn't mind telling you about it."

"I'm sure you would not. You really like the sound of your voice, don't you? You talk a lot."

Satoshi smiled mischievously at her. "Maybe I just enjoy your company."

"Yeah, right." She rolled her eyes. "Are you always so silly?"

"Only with people I like."

"Oh, lucky me."

Satoshi laughed at that. Both had walked upstairs while they talked, reaching the first floor — and her apartment — just when he was getting somewhere.

"Well. Here we are." He started. "Thanks again for helping me at the store. I'll pay you back."

"It's not necessary."

He got an idea. "Yes, it is."

"Really, I don't need it."

"But I do. I'll feel bad forever if I don't give your money back."

"So melodramatic." Nene sighed, but half-smiled. "So, let's be clear: You are going to insist until I say yes, right?"

He just nodded, grinning brightly.

"Alright. You can repay me."

Great.

"Lunch? Tomorrow?" He said. "My treat, of course."

"I was thinking more along the lines of ¥1000 in an envelope on my door's mailbox."

"It's a free lunch and you choose the place. It's not only for your help at the store but also as an apology for the noise too."

She kept quiet for a moment. "I can choose the place? Any place?" She smirked. "What if I feel like wanting something really expensive, like Shino's Tokyo."

That's expensive, but he could pay for it. "It wouldn't be a problem, but I heard it's by reservation only."

"Does it has to be tomorrow?"

"Well, no. You can tell me when you are free and I'll arrange everything."

Nene closed her eyes for a long moment. "I'll think about it." She turned to go into her apartment.

It wasn't a yes, but neither was a no.

"Wait, how would I know your decision."

She stood still, giving her back to him for a long moment.

"Check your mailbox, Isshiki Satoshi from apartment 206," she said without turning. Her voice sounded confident, but the tips of her ears were red. She quickly disappeared behind the door 106.

Satoshi stood there grinning like an idiot. Very aware of the fact and not caring at all.

Yes! She said yes! Well kind of, but she didn't reject the idea, so he would take it as something positive... Now he knew that he had to impress his pretty librarian... No, Kinokuni Nene.

Now, she had a name, and an address... and quite the interesting temper.

Humming happily, Satoshi climbed the stairs to his house, head full of the cute girl living on the floor below, with big hopes for tomorrow's — or should it be today's?— mail.

###

Isshiki Satoshi:

I expect you at Central's sushi parlor for lunch.

If you cannot come, I wrote my cell number so you can tell me in advance.

If you haven't arrive by noon without a word, I'm leaving. (And I'll be expecting that ¥1000 envelope).

Kinokuni Nene

Ps. Don't forget your wallet, and no, I'm still not interested in your experiment or the life cycle of a tomato.

###

French

Assassiner: Murder.

Tuer: Kill .

###

This imaginary college (Tootsuki University?) is a odd mix of American movies with some Argentinian public university system. In here, the classroom is used by different professors and subjects during the first year. So you could have economics on the classroom 5 on the first period and then after the recess, group and professor changes and a new group could have Sociology in the same classroom on third period.

Exams are given in different classrooms (and buildings) from where you coursed the subject.

No idea how it's done in other countries.

###

Author's note:

I'm gonna be honest here. My idea was to write something short, and funny, and short, and nice, and... did I mention short?

Well, some of you may consider this funny, and some may think it nice, but I'll owe you the short for future prompts — Maybe? It all depends on my muse, I guess— because by the time I consider this done, I had exceeded my expectations by some 4000 words.

Sorry for that.

Well I'll make this short. I really hope you enjoyed it. Please do tell me what you think, all reviews are welcome.

Lys.