Nights, Ene reflected, were the worst. Having Shintaro's computer at her beck and call was far better than laying in bed an hour or two, waiting to get back to sleep, but the lack of change and activity could be rather boring. She mostly spent her nights plotting some new prank or another, but on this particular night she was feeling more angry than mischievous. Shintaro talked about himself as some up-and-coming music producer, and happily told others how awful their creations where.

As of yesterday, it had been three weeks since he had even opened his music program.

Ene opened the program and looked through what Shin had saved. The longest song was a whopping three measures. She fought back a scream. This was what the so-called genius was capable of? At this rate, he might have a one-minute song ready to play when the Apocalypse came. Anyone could do better than him, easily.

And that was when the wheels started turning in her head. She was going to make sure he was thinking about music the next day. It should help him make progress. Or drive him up the wall. Either was an acceptable outcome. She made sure the speakers were off, so the surprise wouldn't be ruined. Then she set to work. For all the time she'd spent listening to music and watching Shin critique it, composition seemed like it should be easy. She ended up spending most of the night before she got a song with about the right effect. But it was still missing something.

Lyrics, that was what it needed. Except she had no idea what to write them about. Something exciting. Something memorable. She felt her mind reaching back into her old life. She shook her head. It was best to let the past be, she always told herself. But now that she was trying to avoid it, it was impossible to not think about. The deluge of joy and regret wasn't far away, and it was actually bringing with it a few ideas. Ultimately, she gave up and went with it.

The Next Morning

For once, Shintaro Kisaragi was actually able to sleep in. He began to feel a growing sense of hope, which was quashed as soon as he turned on the monitor of his computer.

"Good morning, Master!" came the all-too-familiar voice of Ene. "Did you sleep well last night?" she said, quietly reveling as she watched his eye twitch.

"What did you do?" He had been out of bed for two minutes, and he somehow sounded very weary.

"Why Master, what makes you think I've done anything?" said Ene, doing her best to sound innocent.

Shin didn't even give a retort. He just glared.

"I haven't been up to anything! I was busy all last night trying my hand at doing something creative." She said.

More glaring.

"I made a song for you! It's actually pretty fun. You should try it sometime." And with that, her song began blaring from the speakers and Shin found his ears full of cheery pop music.

And that was what confounded him. Ene hadn't gone out of her way to make something annoyingly awful; it actually sounded decent. The lyrics didn't seem to be mocking him either; it sounded like it was about some internal conflict. An odd choice for an upbeat song, but not anything that really upset him. Still, he didn't want to let Ene dictate anything, so he shut the music off. Ene didn't fight or protest, something he should have been suspicious of. But he didn't have anything too bad to deal with, so he happily went on with his day.

Except about five minutes later, he started humming to himself. He stopped as soon as he realized exactly what he was humming. Ene, who had been watching quietly, was suddenly smiling from ear to ear.

"Oh, guess that song was a bit of an earworm, wasn't it? Well, might as well try listening to it again." She said, apparently wanting him to start it up himself.

But Shintaro disagreed. It was a simple, obvious trick, and one Shintaro was too smart to fall for.

Two hours later, Shintaro was listening to Ene's song for the dozenth time, feeling utterly defeated. Really, this was a rather low-key antic for Ene, but the way her ode to being tongue-tied by affection was eating his attention bothered him immensely. It didn't help she was still grinning at him.

"You like it! You really like it, Master! I wrote it just for you, you know."

At that, Shin stiffened. His mind began to draw things together. Feelings that can't be expressed? Ene staying with him all the time? Her playful antagonism? A song about not being able to say something, written just for him? He felt his heart pounding. That's not it. That couldn't be it. Ene probably couldn't feel that way. It's just another part of a prank. But the idea didn't seem to be going away anytime soon. He had to ask.

"Ene, why exactly did you write this song?" It came out with a very measured, controlled tone. That got Ene's attention.

"Oh? I just did it for fun. I need something to do-"

"The lyrics, Ene. Why did you write them that way?"

"Huh?" This wasn't what Shin was hoping for. Ene was surprised, off-guard. When did that ever happen? "I-it's just pop music! No one cares about the lyrics!" She was flustered now. Shin had never felt so anxious to be right about something.

"And you made something I'd listen to repeatedly. Ene, were you trying to tell me something?"

"What do you mean?"

He took a moment to gather he thoughts, to review, to see if there was any other good explanation. "Ene… This song, is it a confession?"

At that, Ene just stared. Finally, she said-or rather, snapped- "Not for you!"

And yet, as the words were leaving her lips, she realized she wasn't entirely sure.

Author's Note: My first Kagerou Daze fanfic. I just got the first novel in English and enjoyed Ene way too much to not write al least something about her. But while the story just started as an idea for a creative prank, it started to take on a different element the more I thought about it. Ene and Shintaro aren't my favorite pairing, but I kind of liked playing with the idea.

Three guesses what song Ene created, and if you need two I've done something wrong.