Note: I know in Japan you have to wear your work clothes on a construction site, but for the sake of this story, let's ignore that -

The first time Isuke noticed Haruki, it wasn't even because of Haruki herself.

She was on her way home when a group of excited girls standing by some metal fences of a new construction site captured her attention. Instantly annoyed by their giggling and general immature behavior, Isuke pushed her sunglasses further up her nose to conceal her glare at them. She just didn't understand how people could be so shallow and embarrassing; she estimated the group of eight girls to be high school seniors, and yet they had no shame, grabbing and pressing their faces against the fences to get a better look at something interesting. Or rather, someone.

As Isuke passed their backs, one of them excitedly said in a hushed tone, "Here she comes!", and she stuck her hand through a gap to point out what she saw. Her friends muffled their delighted squeals behind their hands.

Isuke wouldn't have spared them a second glance if it wasn't for the pronoun that immediately sparked her interest.

It wasn't unusual for some construction sites to have well-built men working with their shirts off and attracting a female crowd during summer, but she had never witnessed a woman to have the same effect.

Isuke's heels came to stop. She was torn between keeping her pride and relieving some of her curiosity. She came to the conclusion that she didn't have to stand next to the high school girls, she would make it look like she was interested in the foundation of the new building.

She made sure to strut a good distance away from the high school girls before she lowered her pace and allowed herself to peek through the fence and find out for herself what was so interesting about gray half-built walls and building materials spread all over the place. She squinted her eyes and saw nothing special, just the usual sight of sturdy men in dirty, sweaty tank tops, and none of them were attractive enough to her to deserve a little crowd of girls watching them.

Isuke adjusted her sunglasses and leaned away from the fence. She had just misheard the girls, there was no woman working at this construction site.

Just when she was about to turn away, she heard a big clang of metal crashing against metal, and she instinctively searched for the source of the noise.

"Watch it, Sagae," a gruff, deep voice grunted. A much lighter and definitely feminine voice replied, "Sorry, sorry." The bright voice didn't sound much apologetic to Isuke. "Don't know how I could've missed that beer belly of yours entering the door first."

Hidden by a shorter and broader man stood a tall, athletic and feminine figure, and Isuke's sunglasses slid down her nose as she tilted her head and peered over them. Her resentment for the group of high school girls dwindled as her own interest in that woman increased.

"Just get back to work," the man unfriendly said, and picked up a metal rod from the ground.

The woman with long red hair tied in a ponytail chuckled and mocked him with a salute, then picked up her own dropped material and placed them on her shoulder. During these movements, Isuke could see strong arm muscles working beneath smooth skin, and the woman didn't seem to have any problems with the heavy weight. Whistling an upbeat tune to herself, she easily walked around with a bunch of metal rods propped on her shoulder, all of them around the same length as her height.

Isuke slowly pushed herself away from the fence. She glanced to the side to see the high school girls loudly admiring the female builder's strength.

"Pff," she uttered with disdain, pushing her sunglasses up her nose again.

Sure, the woman was nice to look at, but she was still just a construction worker and her personality seemed to be as uncouth as her fellow workers. Isuke didn't plan on getting involved with someone of a class beneath her, they couldn't offer her the living standard she was used to. People could say what they wanted, but financial security was a valid point in choosing partners.

Isuke furrowed her brows. Why was she even thinking this about a woman she had only seen for a minute?

–—-

The first time Haruki saw Isuke, she had only seen her back.

"Oi, did you see that fine ass watching me?" one of Haruki's co-workers excitedly said, and he stopped his work to show her who he meant. He pointed with his dirt-stained finger to the north side of their construction site, and Haruki looked up to see the backside of an undoubtedly alluring female body walking away.

"Yeah sure," Haruki decided to humor him since he was one of the few friendly guys she worked with. He was gullible and at times conceited, but otherwise a decent person who defied the unfavorable stereotype of a construction worker.

"But she is obviously an Ojou-sama," he added with a dejected sigh. "Looking is as far as this goes."

"Hm," Haruki neutrally hummed, getting back to work. She didn't have troubles like her colleague, all she could think about day and night was making enough money to feed her family and to save the rest for education. Working on a construction site wasn't something she planned to do forever.

Aside from wanting to improve her living standard, she knew she was meant for higher education, she just didn't have the means to afford it. Since she had always been taking side jobs as long she could remember, there hadn't been much time left for studying between taking care of her younger siblings and working two different shifts. Her grades in high school hadn't been good enough to get her a consideration for a scholarship, but they were still high enough to get her into the colleges she wanted if she could only afford the tuition fee. And even if she had gotten a scholarship, she couldn't have left home with a bunch of underage siblings running around and a sick mother lying in the hospital.

"Hey, you're overdoing it," her colleague warned her, and she stopped hammering, only now realizing the dent she was making.

"Thanks," she muttered, wiping at her sweaty forehead, "can't afford to get fired yet."

"It's not like they would."

She questioningly glanced at her fellow worker, who grinned at her and then nodded to the fences that kept pedestrians out of the construction site. A small group of high school girls quickly dispersed when they saw her looking their way.

"You're giving this place some good publicity, whether you notice or not." He laughed at Haruki's stunned face. "They're always here after school. And it's not just them, you've got quite a bit of fans of every age."

Haruki thought about this for a second before she shrugged and went back to work. "Unless they pay me, they're useless to me."

–—-

Despite seeing each other daily, their eyes never met. Isuke never lingered long when she paused to watch, and Haruki only ever managed to catch a glimpse of her when she was walking away, wondering to herself how that stunning figure would look like from the front.

The first time they exchanged words was the first time Haruki got to see Isuke's face. And it was also the first time Isuke got to know more of Haruki's personality, which turned out to be completely different than initially thought.

–—-

Isuke was walking her usual path that had her passing the new construction site two blocks from her apartment when she noticed the workers sitting close to the fences and having lunch. Needless to say that she decided not to pause and look out for the female builder today, so she strutted past the workers with her head held high and her designer bag pressed between her body and arm.

That was when someone whistled and cat-called after her.

She gritted her teeth in irritation and came to a stop. She wondered how she could teach that someone a lesson despite a metal fence separating them, but then she heard someone else beating her to it.

"Ow, fuck," a man exclaimed, "what the hell, Sagae?"

"Jerks like you are the reason why we've got such a bad reputation," a female voice said in annoyance, and Isuke quickly turned around. "Just don't do that, man. It's lame and creepy, and it shows zero respect. If you don't know her, then shut up, 'cause girls get freaked out by that."

"Then why is she coming back?" the man smugly said, but his smugness didn't last long when he saw Isuke's deep scowl.

"If it weren't for this fence, you'd be dead by now," Isuke sweetly said, but her mouth was twisted in a malicious smile. Her narrowed eyes spoke of murder. "Whatever high opinion you have of yourself, just know that nobody wants your attention. I mean, look at yourself –" She paused to give him a once-over with a disgusted look. "It would be far more convenient if this place was surrounded by walls instead of fences, at least that way nobody has to put up with your sight."

The builder's face was burning red with anger and that his co-workers were snickering gleefully didn't help. He looked like he wanted to shout back some insults to save the crumbling bits of his pride, but the red-haired woman placed a hand on his shoulder and shook her head.

"Whatever," he spat, turning around and walking away. "Bitch."

Isuke clenched her teeth and wanted to yell after him, but noticed the woman on the other side of the fence grinning at her. She forgot what she wanted to yell about at the sight of such a carefree and bright grin.

"Sorry about him," the redhead said, pointing a thumb over her shoulder, "he's got a lot to compensate for."

Her fellow workers broke out in laughter, and her grin widened.

The deep wrinkle between Isuke's eyebrows softened, and though she still looked annoyed, she felt much more at ease now. "Make sure he won't do that again."

"Count on me," the other woman said with a smile. "But in case he causes you trouble again, you should know where to go first. Name's Haruki Sagae if you ever need me."

Isuke didn't like the warmth making its way up her neck and cheeks, and she decided to act before it was physically noticeable. She avoided Haruki's eyes that had a strange magnetic pull to her, and cleared her throat.

"Unlikely," she curtly said, and with a flick of her hair, she walked away. She hadn't gone that far when she heard the workers laughing at their female colleague, teasing her about being coldly brushed off.

"I just tried to help," was all she had to say, sounding earnestly confused and worried about her good intention not shining through.

Isuke bit her lip but forced herself to keep walking.

—–

For a week, Isuke avoided any route that involved passing the construction site where a certain female redhead worked. She didn't know why she went out of her way to distance herself from someone who never saw her anyway. Whenever Isuke had paused by the fences, Haruki had always been working with her back turned to her, so it wasn't like Haruki knew about her frequent visits in the past.

Isuke decided to stop handling the situation like a coward, this wasn't like her at all. Intimidation was something completely unknown to her – she didn't get intimidated, she only caused this feeling in others.

So the next day, she walked the familiar streets to the construction site again and her steps automatically slowed down as she neared it. She spotted no workers sitting by the fence, but according to her expensive watch, it was already lunch time.

Pretending to be only walking by, she casually glanced through the fences, but couldn't get a look of the person she had been avoiding and now was searching for. She couldn't explain the disappointment welling up in her chest when there was no sight of messy red hair.

"Um, excuse me?" a nervous voice said behind her, and she felt instantly annoyed when she recognized it as male. She wasn't in the mood to deal with any of the male builders right now. She turned around, letting out an irritated, "What?"

The man startled at her abrasive reaction and hugged his yellow helmet closer to himself. His voice cracked as he stuttered out, "I – I see you often come by and stand here and I just thought…nothing. It's nothing. I'm – I'm sorry."

After a quick bow, he walked away so fast it seemed like running.

Isuke enjoyed great satisfaction at this sight, feeling reassured in her ability to intimidate others with a simple glare.

"That's going to haunt him for a long time," someone chuckled behind her.

Isuke froze, her shoulders visibly tensing, before she turned around and took a deep breath.

Haruki brightly grinned at Isuke with a Pocky stuck between her smiling lips. If it weren't for the yellow helmet tucked beneath her defined arm, no one would assume her as one of the builders. She looked far too casual to be working on a construction site, what with wearing tank tops and shorts. Showing so much skin could be distracting, and Isuke wasn't thinking of the male co-workers, but rather of the female pedestrians who liked to linger by the fences and watch her work.

"Let it haunt him for the rest of his life," Isuke said without any guilt, focusing her eyes on a point above Haruki's eyes so she wouldn't have to look in them. But that made her only notice her long bangs and the few hair pins holding them together, and she was back to gazing into grinning eyes. She abruptly turned her head to the side and crossed her arms.

Haruki frowned at Isuke's dismissive reaction and scratched at her neck, which was a habit she had developed whenever she felt nervous or helpless. This time, she felt both, and she hesitantly said, "Is there anything I can help you with? I mean, he wasn't completely wrong, you do seem to be passing by a lot…"

Isuke went rigid. Her illusion of Haruki's obliviousness to her frequent visits had just been shattered, and she tried to make up a believable lie that would both deny the facts and make Haruki look ridiculous for bringing them up in the first place.

"I mean, if you're interested in this building's apartments, you should buy them now because they'll probably be sold out by the time it's done," Haruki explained, unaware that she herself had given Isuke a dignified out.

"I know that," Isuke quickly said, feeling relieved at the excuse that Haruki had unknowingly offered her. "I was just keeping an eye on the process. I want my apartment to be finished in time."

"Don't worry," Haruki optimistically said, and Isuke watched the Pocky dangerously dangling from the corner of her smiling mouth. "We're working hard everyday, so leave it to us! But I guess it doesn't hurt if you come by every so often, it really motivates us to give our best."

"Eh?" Isuke's voice sounded faint and high, and she cleared her throat to compose herself. "It motivates you?"

"Yeah," Haruki chuckled, taking her Pocky out of her mouth and twirling it between her thumb and index finger. "There's no better motivation to work than a pretty woman watching us." And she finally took a bite off her Pocky, giving Isuke a playful wink at the same time.

Stunned, Isuke didn't react for a short moment, but when she did, her cheeks flamed up with a vibrant red within seconds and she faced away with her hand covering her mouth.

"What a cheap thing to say…"

Her muffled voice sounded far too high-pitched to give off the unaffected impression she had been aiming for. She silently and repeatedly cursed herself, feeling greatly embarrassed about her own uncontrolled reaction.

"Are you alright?" Haruki worriedly asked, placing her helmet on the ground and putting her Pocky back in her mouth so she could reach out to Isuke with two hands, "Your face is burning, is it the heat? Do you want to lie down and drink some cold water?"

"No!" Isuke snapped, leaning away from the hands that just wanted to check her temperature.

Haruki quickly took a step back and apologized three times in a row for invading her private space, bowing her upper body so far down that she missed the regretful look in Isuke's eyes. Isuke hadn't meant to snap at her so harshly, she had been just overwhelmed with her own embarrassment. But it seemed like that Haruki had no idea what was going on, she only kept wrongly interpreting Isuke's reactions.

"It's – it's okay," Isuke said, her eyes softening when she saw that Haruki was still facing the ground in an apologetic bow. "You can look up now, people are staring already."

"I'm really sorry," Haruki repeated as she straightened herself, awkwardly gesturing between herself and Isuke. "People like me shouldn't be touching people like you."

And it made Isuke forget about her previous embarrassment. Though she had immediately understood what Haruki was saying with this, she couldn't help but repeat, "People like you?"

For the first time, Haruki didn't seem like she had a confident answer for this, and she looked to the side as she scratched at her neck. She was certain that Isuke had understood what she had been referring to, but she didn't know why she was made to explain it. Maybe to rub the huge gap between their social classes in or maybe because Isuke didn't agree and wanted to argue against that by first knowing Haruki's stand on it?

"Like my friend said, you're obviously an Oujo-sama," she slowly said. "I shouldn't be even bothering you in the first place. Man, you probably think I'm a big idiot."

Isuke huffed. "Well, you're not wrong."

Haruki let her head hang, opening her mouth to start another apology again when Isuke added, "You are a big idiot for believing this bullshit."

Haruki's head quickly jerked up, and she looked both confused and hopeful. It was physically straining for Isuke to stay mad at this face, and she tried to sound stern and impatient, but her voice came off as the complete opposite. "What kind of idiot still believes in a strict class separation? This view is outdated and stupid, and it doesn't even matter when you fall in l-" She bit her tongue to stop talking.

But Haruki questioningly tilted her head and seemed to patiently wait for her to finish her sentence. "Fall in l-?"

"Large pits," Isuke finished slowly, immediately cringing at the terrible excuse. "Social standing doesn't matter when you fall in large pits, people will try to help you out anyway."

Isuke felt like she had just died a little at the most pathetic excuse she had ever made. Lying usually came easy to her, but today, one sad excuse after another came and all that in less than ten minutes of talking with Haruki.

"Makes sense," Haruki agreed, her expression lighting up.

"Anyway," Isuke quickly said, "don't mention it again. And don't say idiotic things again. Actually, just stop being an idiot, that might help."

"Duly noted," Haruki laughed, and it confused Isuke how someone could laugh so freely at something meant to be insulting. "I'll be less of an idiot next time you pass by, Miss – uhm…" She faltered. "I'm sorry, I never got your name?"

Isuke didn't understand why her cheeks decided to tinge red at this very moment. She didn't understand most of her body reactions when it came to Haruki Sagae. "Isuke Inukai. But because I'm still pissed, it's Isuke-sama for you."

"Sorry, sorry," Haruki easily said, grinning. "Then, Isuke-sama, I've got to get back to work. It was nice talking to you, see you on another day!"

She picked up her yellow helmet, gave her a cheesy salute and walked along the fences until there was an opening and she slipped inside, now back on the construction site with her helmet secure on her head.

Isuke stood there unmoving for a minute before she slowly turned around and walked back home.

It was nice talking to you.

That was something she had never heard anyone say to her before.

She felt something other than her cheeks getting warm, and it was pounding wildly in her ribcage.

–—-

When she first started working as a builder, she had to go through all the things someone would expect going through as a female in a male-dominated field of work. From light verbal jabs to blatant sexual harassment, she had already experienced them all, but had dealt with each cases accordingly. Starting out as an underestimated helper, she quickly became a valuable co-worker who equaled in both strength and skill with her male colleagues. She learned fast and wasn't shy about approaching new ideas, most of the time coming up with new solutions of her own.

Her abilities gained her both friends and enemies within her work team; some men just couldn't get along with the idea of a young woman being successful in the same field as them, while others admired her for the same reason. But one thing that no one could deny was that she was talented, and she had become irreplaceable with the set of skills she possessed.

The respect for her, whether it was pure admiration or reluctant concession, was the reason why no one questioned her when she decided to go on her lunch break earlier than usual. They had already figured out that it had to have something to do with the pink-haired woman standing by the fences, who had become a known face by now.

–—-

"Checking on your future home again?" Haruki said with a grin as she approached Isuke, stopping a few steps before the metal fence that separated them.

For a moment, Isuke was perplexed about what Haruki meant with 'future home' until she remembered her pathetic lie about having bought an apartment of the building that was to emerge from this construction site.

"So what if I am," Isuke said with her arms crossed. "I don't see you working."

"Ah, I decided to have my lunch break earlier today," Haruki explained with a smile. "Would you like to join me?"

Isuke bit on the insides of her cheek. She hadn't had lunch yet and was actually about to go eat right after having visited the construction site, so there was no real reason to decline. She would get to be alone with Haruki. It's what made this offer both tempting and intimidating. Could she handle spending more time with a person who made her feel so many weird things at the same time, making her discover sides of herself better left unknown?

Talking to Haruki came with irritation, confusion, embarrassment and uncertainty; she never knew how to properly react and was speechless more often than not. She wasn't ready to be confronted with unpredictable situations where she was going to look like a fool. But that was exactly the same reason that made her want to spend more time with Haruki because the redhead didn't think of her as a fool when she had nothing coherent to say. She didn't take Isuke's dismissive reactions personal, she didn't get intimidated by her abrasive outbursts, she generally seemed to possess more patience to deal with her than most people.

"It can't be helped then," Isuke sighed. The sigh was more directed at herself for being so incapable of handling and reacting to things like normal people.

"Yes," Haruki cheered and triumphantly punched the air.

"Idiot," Isuke muttered under her breath, but was charmed by Haruki's unveiled enthusiasm. She seemed like the kind of person to honestly express their feelings without being sorry.

"I know a good hot dog stand down the-"

"No," Isuke interrupted before Haruki could finish a suggestion she clearly wasn't going to accept. "That kind of food is garbage and not what you should eat for lunch."

"Eh?" Haruki meekly protested. "But that's what I've been eating for a month now."

Isuke shook her head with a sigh. "Just be quiet and follow me."

–—

"Something wrong?" Haruki said after swallowing a big bite of sushi. She noticed that Isuke had paused eating to watch her, and she self-consciously wiped her mouth, thinking that the other woman was disgusted by her rushed eating habit.

"You eat like you have been starving for days," Isuke pointed out, and she didn't say it in a condescending manner. She was fascinated by the way Haruki's eyes would light up at the sight of a new sushi plate, almost mesmerized by the way her face openly showed every twist and turn of her emotions. It felt like watching a small child eat their favorite food; they would savor every bite and scrunch up their face in pleasure.

"I'm sorry," was the first thing Haruki could think of saying, lowering her chopsticks. She sheepishly grinned. "It's really good. Thanks for showing me this place."

"Well, you really need to eat better," Isuke replied, looking slightly to the side so she wouldn't have to meet Haruki's gaze. "Especially if you're doing the kind of job you do."

"Wow," Haruki breathed out, a smile stretching from ear to ear. "Isuke-sama cares about me! My life is complete," she dramatically said, before stuffing another piece of sushi in her mouth with a happy grin.

Many malicious retorts with the intention to undermine that statement came to Isuke's mind, but her mouth refused to open and say them out loud. They didn't sound right, not even in her head. Watching Haruki still smiling at her with stuffed cheeks destroyed every bit of her resolve to get angry at her over nothing, and she exhaled loudly.

"It doesn't take a lot to satisfy you, does it," she muttered evasively.

Haruki waited until she finished chewing her food before she said with a shrug, "You've gotta take what you can get. Otherwise, life would be pretty sad if you just waited around for the big jackpot while you missed out on the smaller prizes you could get everyday."

"That's," Isuke paused, deliberating whether to take that response seriously or mock Haruki for making profound statements, "not really surprising coming from you."

Considering that Haruki most likely grew up with a poor financial background, she had probably learned to appreciate little things to stay optimistic throughout life.

"Hm," Haruki hummed, her mouth full again as she chewed with undimmed appetite. She had close to a dozen plates piled up next to her, and if everyone in the restaurant took advantage of the sushi buffet like her, that place possibly wouldn't be able to sustain itself very long.

Isuke resumed eating again in a slower pace than Haruki, and she noticed that the other woman wasn't exactly unrefined in her eating habits, but her rushed movements made it seem like that. Haruki never talked with her mouth full and regularly wiped her mouth with a napkin between every third and fourth bite, but her large bites and fast chewing stood out and dominated her appearance. Isuke wondered if that was how she always ate or if that was circumstantial because of her limited lunch break time and the unlimited buffet.

"Say, Isuke-sama," Haruki said after clearing her throat and wiping her mouth, "how do you plan on furnishing your apartment?"

Isuke coughed and quickly put down her chopsticks to grab her tea, buying herself some time by sipping on it slowly. She couldn't keep reacting this suspiciously, even someone as oblivious as Haruki was bound to catch on one day and she didn't think she could face the embarrassment if her lie was ever revealed. There had been moments where she had contemplated about actually buying an apartment so she would have a legit reason to check up on the construction site almost every other day, it wasn't like she couldn't afford it. But she had a perfectly fine apartment two blocks away, and buying another one just to back up a lousy lie in front of someone she had met two weeks ago seemed overly irrational. She did have a lot of pride, but that didn't interfere with her rational mind. Well, most of the time it didn't.

"I'll hire an interior designer," Isuke offhandedly remarked like it had been her plan all along.

"Oh," Haruki commented, sounding a bit disappointed, which only confused Isuke.

"Why do you care?"

Haruki leaned back in her seat with a shrug. "It's nothing, probably stupid."

"No difference from your usual ramblings then. Tell me."

"It's just," Haruki scratched her neck, "I thought you were the kind of person who likes everything to have a personal note. You know, choosing furniture and placement on your own because you have a clear idea of how your apartment has to look like. I know interior designers don't do their own things without your opinion, but some part of your personality gets lost in the process…"

"That's," Isuke swallowed, "ridiculous." Spot on.

Nothing in Isuke's current apartment had been randomly decided, every piece of furniture and decoration had been placed there after careful consideration of her part. The only thing she hadn't done herself was moving them around. Just as Haruki had said, Isuke liked personalized things, and one look at her pink convertible that matched her favorite nail polish color confirmed that.

"I said it's stupid," Haruki muttered. They resumed back to eating in silence.

Isuke's conscience was nagging at her to stop being such a cold coward toward Haruki. She didn't even know why she reacted the way she did, she was so used to guarding herself and pushing others away that she did those things without a second thought. But with Haruki, it felt wrong to treat her like that, it felt like scolding a puppy for something that other dogs had done.

"It's not stupid," Isuke finally spoke up in quiet and almost soft tone. She was facing her plate as she shoved the pieces of sushi around with her chopsticks. "You're not stupid. If you keep calling yourself that, others will think it's alright for them to call you that too."

Surprised, Haruki looked up from her own plate. "Aren't you the one who likes to call me an idiot?"

"Well," Isuke uncomfortably shifted in her seat, "you know I don't mean it like that."

"Then like what?" the redhead curiously asked.

"Like…" Isuke gave up when she had no answer. "Doesn't your lunch break end soon?"

And it effectively distracted Haruki, who let out a quiet, "Shit."

She shoved the rest on her plate in her mouth, downed her tea and signaled a waiter to pay. As she fumbled for her wallet in her pocket, Isuke had already pulled out a couple of bills and given them to the waiter, telling him to keep the change. He bowed deeply and expressed his thanks, leaving them alone again.

"You shouldn't have done that," Haruki protested, having finally managed to free her wallet from her tight pocket.

"Don't tell me what to do," Isuke said, rolling her eyes. "Letting you pay would be quite low of me considering that you would need to work two hours to earn the money back."

"Yeah, but," Haruki looked to the side, "at least split it half half. I don't like owing people."

"You don't owe me." In that moment, Isuke's mouth decided to act on its own. "Because next time it's on you."

And when Haruki realized what this implied, her eyes lit up and she cheerfully smiled. "Deal!"

–—-

Satisfied and full from the meal, Haruki was in a decidedly good mood as she walked back to her work place with Isuke by her side. She had her arms crossed behind her head and grinned up at the sun with almost closed eyes, humming a happy tune to herself.

"What are you so cheerful about?" Isuke asked, fanning herself with her hand. The moment they had walked out of the air-conditioned restaurant, the sticky summer heat had instantly enveloped them and made them sweat. She felt uncomfortable and dirty, so she couldn't understand Haruki's enthusiasm because the redhead had to work for another few hours beneath the unshielded sun.

"Do I need a reason?" Haruki replied with a smile. She uncrossed her arms and stretched them. "I guess it's been a while since I had such a good lunch. Thanks again, Isuke-sama."

"You don't need to keep thanking me," Isuke muttered, thinking about how Haruki really was easy to please.

"I'd rather thank you one more time than sound ungrateful," Haruki said with a shrug.

Their steps slowed down as they neared the construction site, suddenly both aware that this meant goodbye.

"It was fun," the redhead smiled genuinely as she turned to Isuke. "If you want to do that again, you know when and where to find me." She did her trademark salute and winked, then slipped through an opening between two fences that she closed after being on the other side. "Until next time, Isuke-sama!"

Isuke found herself waving goodbye with her hand, and once Haruki laughed and waved back, she quickly let her hand drop and walked away.

It wasn't until she entered her apartment and let herself fall on her couch that her mind began to fill itself with a thousand thoughts at once.

It was fun.

Fun? With her? She wasn't known for being a fun person to hang around, nothing about her personality provided humor for other people, her own taste in humor was dark and warped. But to hear that someone enjoyed her presence and considered it as pleasant…she furiously shook her head and grabbed the remote for the air conditioner.

So Haruki was a strange person, a strange but also very attractive person, and next time they meet up, Isuke would try to be easier on her.

She dropped the remote when a sudden thought entered her mind.

Was that a date?