koizumiakako:

More than anything, having him roll his eyes at her had irritated Akako the most and for a moment she imagined that he had actually rebuffed her invitation. Thankfully, for both of them, he had conceded and made his way over to the table. She ignored his rudeness and instead fixed him with an equally neutral stare, trying to hide the effect he had caused.

“Hello, Hakuba-kun,” she greeted flatly. There was no inflection in her voice; not even a hint that they had once been involved in any way. She laid the spoon on the table next to the half-empty cup of melting cream and straightened it just so before taking a small sip of iced tea. Normally she preferred juice but she had been going through a lot of changes recently.

Crossing one leg over the other and straightening her back, Akako tried her best to appear taller. It wasn’t difficult considering she already rivaled his height on a normal day but she hadn’t been feeling her best and the extra few inches couldn’t hurt.

“What brings you here?” She was only half curious but chose sugar over vinegar. Saguru probably wouldn’t respond to anything else from her. Actually, even with him joining her, Akako would still be a little bit surprised if he decided to respond at all.

The posturing was noted with a bite of irritation, which Hakuba showed by tightening his jaw. He nodded to her greeting, then took a sip of coffee – which was, as always, far too hot to drink right away – then set it down in silence. Until the question, anyway. 

“I had some shopping to take care of,” the detective answered quietly, stating the obvious. “I suppose I should ask the same of you?”

Hakuba glanced over again, trying sort of hard to keep the disdain out of his expression and stay neutral. When it didn’t work, the drank more burning coffee. Ow. 

koizumiakako:

With another sigh she looked back down at the table and swirled the spoon around the dessert cup in front of her. Honestly, she hadn’t really meant to cause him so much pain. The whole affair had been based on her spell over him, which wouldn’t have hurt him so much upon it’s removal unless he had actually developed some sort of genuine feelings for her. It wasn’t her fault that he had actually started to like her! Especially when she made it clear that she was trying to get Kaito’s attention.

Obviously it didn’t work. It never did no matter which Kaito she tried it on because there was always someone else. Aoko, Kudou, and sometimes even Hakuba himself. Maybe she had done it as a sort of backhanded revenge but it seemed silly since Hakuba hadn’t done anything.

Why wouldn’t he be pissed? She could feel it radiating off of him, and while she wasn’t scared of him in the slightest, it still left her with an uneasy feeling that she couldn’t quite shake off.

Looking back up at him she nodded her head toward the seat opposite her. A talk was probably long overdue. And while she wasn’t quite sure what to say, it seemed that it was inevitable. He probably had plenty to get off his chest and likewise she had a few things to get off her own.

Things had changed since then.

An invitation to sit with her. With her. Hakuba rolled his eyes, turning his head away again, but hesitated. Evil, temptress witch or not, Akako was still a lady – at least she presented herself as such – and if Hakuba was really a true gentleman, he would give her another chance. He considered, briefly, if he really needed to be a gentleman in this case, but eventually, reluctantly, conceded. 

Defeated, he could only give the cashier a mournful, pleading look as she handed him his coffee. He rolled his hip, pulling away from the counter he’d been leaning on, and slowly trudged in despair toward Akako’s table as if he were marching to his own, certain, miserable death.

Once he arrived, he looked at her again, pressing his lips into a thin, straight line; a supposedly neutral expression that he often wore when he was trying to decide what mood he wanted to be in before speaking. Then, he did the rudest thing he could think of to do and pulled a chair back and taking a seat without being explicitly asked to or having asked first. The coffee ended up set on the table while Hakuba organized the shopping bags at his feet. 

He said nothing (which was also quite rude of him to do), and didn’t even care.

koizumiakako:

Of course she had noticed. Akako had recognized his voice the moment he had spoken to the cashier but noticing and initiating conversation were two completely different things. When she had looked to find the source of the familiar voice she had easily pinpointed him by his blond hair and refined stance, even under the weight of so many shopping bags.

So she had waited to see if he would see her and sure enough he had. And then he immediately looked away and she bristled slightly at being ignored, even though she was doing the same thing.

Of course he would still be mad. The idea occurred to her quickly and it calmed her attitude, but only slightly. When he turned back to look at her again she couldn’t help but feel a pang of hurt at the look on his face; as if he had been hoping to never see her again. She had hoped to never see that face on a man ever again.

So instead of turning away, she gave him a tiny wave, nearly unnoticeable but she was sure that he would.

Oh no. She had noticed. And then- what, a wave?

Hakuba frowned. He wasn’t sure how else to react. After what she’d done, a wave? He fought the compulsion to wave back. To smile and nod at her in greeting. It would be rude to ignore her gesture, but then, he didn’t really have anything to say to her that wasn’t rude anyway, so what did it matter? 

The detective looked back to the cashier, wondering why it was taking her so long to get his coffee ready. He took in a deep breath, exhaled a sigh, then forced himself to look back at Akako and nod in her direction. 

THERE. That had to count for something, didn’t it? 

He was displeased, sour-faced, hands slipping into his pockets – what he could manage, anyway, with the shopping bags looped around his wrists. Ugh. How could someone so beautiful be so… so… so like her?

koizumiakako:

“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.