A multichaptered story this time around, unlike all my other oneshots and that random twoshot. I got the inspiration from a romantic comedy act in a Korean show called Gag Concert (a few years back), and, well, let's just say I couldn't not write this.

Disclaimer: If I was the owner of Kaito and Aoko- no, if I was the owner of the whole franchise, we would've gotten the happy ending years ago. Seeing as the whole series is still continuing today, with no notion of ever ending (I love you, show, but I want a happy ending too), you can probably guess that I own nothing. Oh, and while I'm on that topic, I don't own Gag Concert either.

"Oh, welcome back to The Child of the Blue! I have your book ready for you."

With a charming smile and a pleasant gesture, the bookstore owner lead the pleased customer to her desk.

"Let's see… Fujiwara-san, yes? I believe the book was Fear Not, Fall Not?"

Fujiwara-san clapped her hands together in delight. "Yes! You remember very well, Aoko-san."

Aoko laughed, "What can I say? It's all I can do." She picked the book up and brought it to her cashier. "That will be nothing more than ￥1500." (1500 yen = around $12/13)

The transaction was made, and the customer left the store with a happy smile.

It was a quiet day, all in all- perhaps the hundredth quiet day in a row. Aoko's bookstore did not have much business, mostly because it was new and small, a bit hidden behind a bigger store. 22-year-old Aoko didn't care; her dream of owning her own shop had come true, and that was enough for her at the moment.

Besides, she could always pass the time with a book in her hand, as she loved books as much as she loved the shop. A content smile graced her lips as she, in the humming silence, flipped page after page.

The bell rang, signaling someone entering. Aoko tore her eyes off the book and greeted the person, "Welcome to The Child of the Blue! How may I help you?"

The first thing she saw, as she bowed, was clean, polished black shoes. As she straightened back up, she noticed the neat black slacks and dress shirt. A man in all black, she thought, How interesting. She didn't know if she has ever seen black dress shirts before, but it was pretty nice-looking.

When her eyes reached the face, she was taken by slight surprise. From the polished look of the clothes, she had expected a bit more serious of an expression and a tad bit calmer of a hair style. What her eyes were met with instead was a playful, widespread grin accompanied with twinkling eyes and a seemingly unbrushed bed of hair.

The stranger asked, "Are you the owner of this store?"

What a strange way of starting a conversation, she thought, but she shrugged it off to smile again. "Yes, I am she. Can I help you somehow?"

"Actually, you can." He reached inside his pocket to produce a small card. "I was sent by Kaze Corps. I understand that you haven't paid your debt for this shop ever since you've bought it? Which was, I believe, around four months ago."

She took the card from him- KAZE CORPS, AGENT, it said. "No name?" she said aloud.

The no-namer shook his head. "No name." He continued. "I'm here to collect your money for the debt, and believe me when I say that even if right now you can put me off, I am one persistent agent."

Aoko stared at him. "So what you're saying is…?"

He grinned again, even bigger this time, and said, "Even if it takes me ten years or twenty years, I'm going to come to this shop every single day until you give me the money I must take."

He took two steps away from the desk and stood there, cocking his head. "This is where I am going to stand all day, every day- literally."

The first thing that came to Aoko's mind, and the first thing she said, was "Wow, you really must not have anything to do."

He threw his head back and laughed, but Aoko still knew that he meant it when he said he'd do so.

After a pause of thinking, Aoko shrugged. "As long as you don't get in the way of my customers, I think I'll be fine with this. Though by the looks of how this is going, you actually might have to wait a couple of years before you get your money. Is there a time limit?"

"Fortunately for you, no."

"Then," Aoko said, sending off a smile of her own, "if I'm going to have to see your face every day of my life until I earn enough money, we must get acquainted."

She came up from behind her desk and stood right in front of him, then took out her hand. "Hello, sir, my name is Aoko Nakamura and I am the owner of Child of the Blue. Nice to meet you."

He laughed again, though Aoko doesn't know why, and he accepted the handshake. "My name is Kaito."

"…that's all?"

"Yes. Simply Kaito is all."

And that was that.

.

.

.

Aoko bundled up her things and started off. "Another new day, Aoko! Let's try my best!" she said to herself. It was 6:00 in the morning, and the air was crisp and quiet. She loved the morning time, when it wasn't so bustling and busy like noon but still a bit chilly, a bit dark, but somehow so fresh.

She walked with a spring in her step, awaiting the time she got to spend with her dream shop. She reached Child of the Blue at 6:15, her face a bit warmed by the brief exercise and her feelings quite exhilarated.

She prepared things for about thirty minutes, organized for five, and cleaned up a bit for ten. Then she opened the shop.

Just five minutes after seven, the door signaled a customer. "Welcome-" she noticed the black attire and stopped herself. "Oh, hello there, Kaito-kun," she said instead.

"You start too early," he yawned in reply. "Why seven in the morning? Why not noon? You probably won't have any business until around that time."

Aoko nodded. "That may be true, but I enjoy the morning." It was a good enough answer for her, but maybe it wasn't for Kaito; but then again, she didn't really care about what he thought.

After the brief conversation, there really was nothing more to say. Aoko was constantly busy cleaning up and organizing, moving from place to place to place, opening boxes of new books and making more inventory. Meanwhile, Kaito sat in his chair in the corner, sometimes following Aoko's movements and sometimes seeming to nod off.

The early morning thing was not for him, Aoko assumed.

There really was no business until just a tad bit before noon, when two teenagers came in.

"Welcome!" Aoko immediately said. "How may I help you?"

"We're fine, thank you," the male student said. "Just looking around before lunch."

Aoko smiled agreeably. "A bit of window shopping never hurts. Is she your girlfriend?" She referred to the girl next to the person who'd spoken, who immediately pinked at the question.

"Not at all! We're just good friends." The flush of the faces on both sides said otherwise, but Aoko wisely held her silence.

"Well, I'll leave you to your own devices. You can call me if you need my help- my name is-"

"Aoko-san, right?" The male cut in.

Surprised, she stared at the smirking boy. "How…?" she inquired.

The girl rolled her eyes. "Don't pay him any attention. He just likes to play detective."

Aoko laughed, but dared to pay attention anyways. "But I really would like to know how you knew my name. I don't wear a nametag, so…"

The boy grinned. "The shop name, Child of the Blue. Blue is Ao, Child is ko. Blue child. Simple."

"I see." Aoko nodded, feeling quite delighted. It was just like a detective novel! She decided that she liked the two, even if she might never see him again. "Go on ahead then, you not-a-couple-only-friends, you."

She turned away to hide a small grin, and pretended to be busy for a second before returning to her comfortable spot with a book.

She hadn't read for five minutes when the boy called out, "Wait, Aoko-san?"

Right away she shot up. "Yes?" She made her way to the back of the small shop, still holding her book dearly to her heart. "Is there a problem?"

"No problem, just…" The boy, who had previously been staring with wide eyes at a magazine, moved his shaking gaze to the owner. "Is this," he briefly swallowed, "the first edition, perhaps?"

Of course, she thought, any detective wanna-be's would know this one. "Yes, it most definitely is."

"The real deal?"

"What else?" She couldn't keep the sly grin off her face. "Only ￥35000, and in mint condition. And since I like the two of you very much, I'll give it to you for only, hmm, ￥31000."

The boy gaped. "Seriously? Is this a dream? Ran, pinch me. Real quick."

The girl, Ran (Aoko presumed), shrugged and pinched him hard in the arm, causing him to yelp.

"Not that hard!" he hissed before turning back to Aoko. "I'll take it. Of course I'll take it. Who wouldn't take it?"

It was Ran's time to gape. "Shinichi! You've got to be kidding me. A whole ￥31000- did you even bring that much money? What's so special about this English magazine anyways."

Shinichi (Aoko presumed) glared at Ran. "You have got to be kidding me. This beautiful wonder I'm holding is the first edition of the Strand magazine's autobiography by Arthur Conan Doyles, and it's in the best condition I've ever seen. And only ￥31000!"

Ran frowned. "That's not a lot?"

"A lot? ￥31000 is barely anything compared to what this is actually worth! If Aoko-san had doubled, no tripled the amount I still would've bought it."

"My, I should've raised it," Aoko piped up. "Oh well, I guess. Now let's go make this official."

She lead the two students to the cashier where she rang up the ￥ÍÍÍ31000 and gave them the book. "I hope you two have a nice date together, not get shrunken at a shady amusement park corner, and then have a manga about it that never ends that will annoy me forever because it never ends." She smiled, all innocent, and fortunately (or perhaps unfortunately) the two didn't hear it as they were still arguing about the rash buying.

"Good bye!" she bowed. As she was turning back to the book still in her hand, she caught sight of the random debt collector in the corner staring intensely at her. "What?"

"Oh, nothing in particular, just, you totally could've gotten much more than what you asked for if you took the initiative and payed off this debt faster so I don't have to stay here super long. You know? Nothing big or anything."

She sighed. "Kaito-kun, it seems you don't know anything about the book world. Even if I told you my reasoning behind it, you still wouldn't be able to understand, so I will quit before I even say anything more."

Kaito started to mimic her with a nasally voice. "Nakamura-san, it seems you don't know anything about the business world. Even if I told you what I thought of it, you wouldn't be able to understand, so I will quit before I even say anything more."

Aoko gave him a look. "Are you seriously going to do this to somebody you don't even know well?"

"Are you seriously going to do this to somebody you don't even know well?"

"Yes."

"Yes."

"Then fine!"

"Then fine!"

"I'm glad everything's settled, sir."

"I'm glad everything's settled, ma'am."

With that, she harrumphed and promptly sat down, fuming, and opened her book. She really couldn't concentrate with the anger boiling inside of her, but she flipped page after page anyways to at the very least seem occupied.

She knew her short temper was a problem, but obviously it was also his. She dared not glance at him just in case he was waiting for it- besides, she didn't want to look at his smirking face.

It was another half hour until she finally glanced at him to see him moping in the corner, with a cloud of gloom over his head. She was quite surprised, as she had expected him to also be at the very least annoyed. Her fire died a little, and she allowed herself to sigh.

"Sorry, I get kind of mad sometimes."

His pouting glare almost made Aoko laugh, but she managed to hold it in. "Yeah you do, and it's super fast too."

"I have a bit of a short temper, if you hadn't noticed," she said sheepishly. "I'm sorry I got so snappy."

He brightened up by the time she acknowledged her shortcoming, and he was his easily smiling self again. "Apology accepted."

And that was all there was to their first argument, the start of many other mini fights to come.

In fact, it didn't take long until they had their next argument- about two minutes later.

"To pay my boss back as soon as possible, you need to manage your business better, I'm telling you."

"And I'm telling you that I can manage just fine. See? I already got some of that payment back! Besides, if you're so good at business, why don't you go on and hold your own?"

"There are certain- circumstances- that won't allow me to. And this isn't about me, it's about you affecting me. The more you do that silly discount thing, the longer I'll have to stay here, and I'm sure both of us don't want that."

"You know, staying here was and still is entirely your choice. I could've easily agreed to send you money from here while you cruised at your house or something."

"I've been caught in the back too many times to do that. You never know until it's over. Trust me, this is the easiest way for both you and me."

"Me? How so?"

"You don't forget that you have a debt to repay because I'm always here, leering at you. Plus, you get some awesome business advice that would surely help you if you just happened to listen." He raised an eyebrow.

"I only listen to advice that makes good sense," she snapped back.

By this time, Aoko had steam coming out of her ears (as a saying, not literally), but Kaito was as cool as a cucumber. With a frustrated "Ugh!", she stomped to the back of the room and started to loudly rearrange some random books.

It had not been 5 minutes of tense, angry silence when Kaito also made his way to the back of the room.

"Peace?" he said, surprising her- she had not known he was there- and when she turned her head, a rose poofed up out of nowhere. His face had a hopeful, childish tinge to it, a simple but hesitant joy replacing the usual mischievous look in his eyes.

She couldn't help but smile at the random red rose, and her heart softened along with her expression. "Magic?" she half-joked (she half-wanted to believe, in her heart, that magic was real, just like any other book lover).

"Of course."

She fully laughed now, setting the book down and taking the rose delicately, not wanting to ruin the perfect image. "Is it real?"

"That is an insult to my magician-ness," he replied, indignant.

With that, they returned to their respective spots in a comfortable air, feeling much closer together now that they'd had a few fights and more than a few reconciliations, though the count for both were the same.

Business and books would most probably always be a fight between them, since their prime interests lied in different ways in both subjects, but it must be credited to both for their audacities in stating their separate opinions, for that was (as always) that.

[Hello folks, this be the writer. If you are wondering what that Gag Concert "corner" I got the inspiration from is about, it's pretty much about a debt collector that vows he won't move from that spot in the shop (it differs what shop every week, from restaurant to comic book store to all different kinds of things) for ten years if it means he'll get that money. They skip all the way to 10 years later, and it's obvious he likes the woman he's supposed to be intimidating and collecting money from, and every week the ending is different save for one thing: they always get a happy ending. It's pretty sweet and funny. This story is based off on that, BUT it takes a whole different aspect. So call it a parody, call it a copycat, but please take note that it is NOT plagiarism/stealing of any sort because I'm pretty much stating that I got the idea from that show and thus 'citing' it. Just for caution's sake, here you go ^^ Thanks.]