“Am I being ignored…?” Akako wondered, tapping her fingers against the marble tabletop. She was currently relaxing with a glass of iced tea and a strawberry parfait on the eighth floor café of a local shopping complex. She hadn’t heard from Kaito in days, and she couldn’t remember when she had last spoken with Aoko. And who knew where Hattori was right now…
And Hakuba was completely out of the question. Sometimes she felt quite guilty for what she did to him but she would be damned if she would apologize this late in the game.
She sighed, glancing out the window in boredom. It was a nice day out and of course she could probably find something to do but she wasn’t willing to go out and find it. She was feeling rather melancholic.
As fate would have it, the person chosen to walk into the cafe at that moment was the aforementioned Hakuba. He didn’t notice Akako as he skirted his way through the tables and to the register to order. The detective’s arms were burdened with several shopping bags and he looked tired, but smiled at the girl behind the register and easily made polite and friendly small talk until the transaction was complete.
Finished, Hakuba shuffled the bags between his hands and went to wait at the other end of the counter for his espresso, finally taking a moment to gather his surroundings. He’d been so busy thinking about his need for caffeine that he’d done things out of order… and regretted it once his gaze fell upon Koizumi-san.
Shit.
The detective turned sideways, averting his gaze to watch the cashier as she made his coffee, instead. Maybe the witch hadn’t noticed him? He peeked back.