[AQ] Blood Orange?! [Souta/Yasuko.K]

[Yasuko Kobayashi]

SPOILER: Click to show

Blood Orange?!
+ Description: It’s your job for the day to look after Seiyo’s student store. The new stock just came in but all the green marbles that were ordered are… RED?!
+ Pitch them off as a more love-oriented marble, try to sell them anyway: -1 Guardians, +2 Faberge
+ Don’t sell them; try to return them and get the correct stock: +2 Guardians, -1 Roost
+ After school, turn to the store and buy some correct ones yourself: -1 Guardians, +2 Roost
+ Requirements: Tag an Admin for end post
+ Submitted by Hatta

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Pulling onto her jacket, Yasuko walked up to the peach-coloured building, absent-mindedly jiggling the keys to the door. It was rather early in the morning and there were hardly any students on campus at the moment; most were likely here because they needed to prepare for clubs, or prep the schoolwork or even just go and get a bunch of flowers for the vase in the classroom, all before class started. But the first-year didn't have any classes for the day - and instead of being able to go back to the dorms to do other things, here she was at the Student Store.

She had found it a strange system really. Having to take care of the Student Store while on an off day? She could see why it was something the school administrators would use to help students cultivate a sense of independence and nurturing skills for adulthood but that didn't mean she had to like it. Staring at the store, she sighed, before she unlocked the door. She had gotten the keys from a teacher - which took a while because goddamn were they extremely apprehensive about giving her the keys. Honestly, if they expected them to begin to develop skills for adulthood, then certainly they should treat them as one right? She was a responsible person! She wasn't going to lose the damn keys just because she misplaced them. And besides if they were supposed to man the store for the day, then certainly they would expect them to arrive early to do all the clerk stuff right?

Opening the door, she found no one inside yet. Which would make sense, otherwise the door wouldn't be locked still. Tucking the keys into her bag, she quickly closed the door, took off her jacket and hung them by the entrance. Whipping out her phone, she scrolled into her note app to check a few things. The teacher said something about making sure everything was in order, rearrange the shelves so that they would be neat, catalogue all that was sold...yadda yadda yadda. 

Oh and that they had to restock the green marbles. Apparently it had been all the rage recently.

Putting her phone back into her pocket, she finally took a good look around the store. She had only been here once, to buy some patterned paper for a pen-pal exchange program thing that the student council had set up. And she had been in a hurry too, so she hadn't been able to really look around the place. Folding her arms, she pondered on what to do. Should she wait for the other students first? She knew she wasn't the only one manning the store for the day, but she had no idea who the other student would be.

[Deleted]

It was a day to remember or well a night that turned into the morning that led to a sleepy Souta walking zig zag to a building. The building was home to the student store. Souta had been to the student store often enough to know he could buy things he needed like paper, erasers, sometimes even tissue? He mostly bought tissue around spring time. The guy honestly hated flowers because the smells they had made his nose feel like it was on fire with every sneeze that was forced out of him.

"Gooood morning." The good part was dragged out just because he was that tired. He just wanted to sleep. He had been up all night watching a live stream of a let's play of a visual novel he himself has yet to purchase. When he looked up from the floor, the dark circles under his brown eyes. His eyes caught those of a female student. In all honesty, the guy was drunk on exhaustion and without thinking he kind of just spilled out a lame pick up line right on the spot.

"You must be one hell of a thief because you just stole my heart from across this small room." And with that, he felt very satisfied with himself before dropping to the floor. That still wasn't enough to wake him up. It's a well-known fact that is Souta doesn't get at least five hours of sleep he's useless. But then again even full charged the guy was useless.

[Yasuko Kobayashi]

"?" Yasuko looked back as she heard the door open. Considering the time, was it perhaps the other student that she was working with today? "Ah, good morning-" she started, but stopped abruptly as she watched the student looked down at the ground. She caught sight of green messy hair and...what looked to be dark circles. Did this student had any sleep last night or what? And that...slouched position and the drawn out greeting...was this person reliable she wondered? After all, they had been told early enough about the student store duty; shouldn't he know about getting enough sleep before coming here?

Okay that might have been a little rude; maybe the student had a late night because of a perfectly reasonable excuse - like maybe he had some hard homework or something that made him stay up, or perhaps he had trouble sleeping for some reason. "Uh, are you okay?" she first asked, turning fully so that she was facing him. She shouldn't base her impressions so early on after al--

"You must be one hell of a thief because you just stole my heart from across this small room."

Her eye twitched as she watched him fall to the floor in - what she presumed to be - exhaustion. Did...did he just try to flirt with her? Yasuko had never been flirted with before, but come on, what kind of pick-up line is that? That sounded like something far too generic and could be easily aimed at any female! And falling to the ground after trying to flirt with her? Honestly, how lame was that? Why did he even attempt something like that anyway, if he was going to drop to the floor afterwards?!

"Um, hello?" she asked, bending down as if to inspect him further. Her tone however, was flat and not at all caring. There was no response. Squatting down instead, she called out again "Oi". Why wasn't he answering?

That was when she realised that he was asleep.

"Oi!" Yasuko cried out, before grabbing his shoulders and shaking him as hard as she could. How dare he just sleep on the floor just like that?! He had a duty! And that was to man the Student Store! Not fall to ground and start sleeping again!

[Deleted]

This student was not a reliable one. In fact, you could say the fact he had to take care of such a responsibility was clearly because someone wasn't being responsible with assigning these duties. Whoever had assigned him had no idea what they were doing. Souta was not a morning person. Sure he went to his morning classes like a good kid but hell, it wasn't like he was awake for most of them. It was obvious this kid spent most his time up at night instead of during the day. He'd honestly hadn't been feeling well lately anyway. Discovering something about himself he was choosing to ignore for now.

"Ugh... I'm... g-gonna puke if you don't stop.." He was up now thanks to the shaking that Yasuko gave him. He really did feel like he was going to puke. He was after all the type that got motion sickness pretty easily. He was already regretting not just ditching this man the student store duty. "........" He glared at her as she continued to have her hands on him. But wait that's not what he wanted to do. Not really. He was just tired and didn't care about being friendly. "You know... Sorry." He finally said as he took her hands and gently removed them. Not exactly sure why he said sorry but she seemed upset so.

"Uhhh let's just get to work I guess." He honestly didn't even remember using a pickup line only moments earlier. He was so tired he was out of it and honestly just in a terrible mood. It had been that way for a week now. Staying up and getting upset whenever someone woke him. It wasn't like he was specifically upset with her. There was just this grumpiness that had struck him. He was trying to ignore it which only made him grumpier.

[Yasuko Kobayashi]

Wait what? What just happened? Did he just. Did he just dismissed whatever she was doing just like that? Honestly a part of her was annoyed at the male's glare at her (and the grumpy look and tone of voice), but she was actually far more confused by what had transpired. What did all of this mean? First this...odd spiky haired boy comes in all exhausted, said a pick-up line and then dropped to the floor - and now he just gets up and suddenly wants to work? She wasn't used to this - screaming and yelling was the thing she was far more accustomed too - and so all she did was stare blankly at the student who just said "let's get to work". It simply didn't match her first impression of him. "Wha-I-Did you just-" she started, wanting to ask him what he was doing, but she stopped abruptly, not at all sure what exactly to ask even.

Well he still he said sorry. Though she wasn't quite so convinced it was genuine.

"You know what, never mind," she continued, beginning to stand up. It wasn't like it was terribly important to think about, and they still had work to do in the store. Especially since they likely have to get ready before all of the students started crowding in here. Turning to the counter, she stopped to look at its contents, before glancing back at him. "There's a few things to do I think. I think we need to find the catalogue of items, the finance books, receipts, neatly arrange the items, clean the counter..." she listed them off one-by-one using her fingers, her eyes furrowing as in thought. "...Oh, and restock the green marbles. Apparently students had been buying them a lot more than usual." She shrugged. She herself didn't know much about the whole green marble thing.

Looking back at the male, her mouth formed a thin line as she realise she wasn't exactly sure if she should trust this guy. Was he reliable? She wasn't sure, but judging by the sudden drop to the floor and the fact he didn't remember that he used a pick-up line just now made her less confident in this person's abilities. Oh, but he was a guy right? "Why don't you bring the stock of green marbles from the back?" She pointed at the door leading to the storeroom, her voice commanding. "The teacher said they should have arrived after school and be ready for us to put back out onto the counter. You're a guy right? So lifting something like that shouldn't be a problem for you." Grumpy or not, he was scheduled to work here, so work he must.

She herself would do the other smaller jobs, like finding the finance books and receipts. Oh and even neatly arrange the items. She wasn't sure if she could trust this guy with something that important - so she'll rather do it herself.

[Deleted]

"You just said something incredibly sexist." Souta followed up with his tongue poking out at her. He really was just a big bratty kid at heart. Always ready to pick fights and whine. "But OKAY. GUESS I CAN DO IT." He started to head to the storage room. Searching around for the box that was hopefully labeled with its contents. It was a pain in the ass to be out and about today. To be working. If he wanted to work he would just get a part time job. Probably work at his grandpa's bakery. Well, he did work there but usually only when they needed a lot of people or during the summer.

"Ugh..." He felt sick. The kind of sick where you puke whatever is still left in your stomach from the last time you ate. Which you have no idea was when but you know you haven't eaten breakfast yet today.

As he walked back holding the box he placed it on the counter. Staring over at her she looked so bossy. He didn't like bossy people. Bossy people always ordered him around to do laborious work. But oh well he wouldn't get mad about it. He was too tired to worry about that right now.

"You know if you smiled you could pass for cute." He said to break the silence.

[Yasuko Kobayashi]

Yasuko rolled her eyes at his comment. Why were people concerned about something like that anyway? She was sure she wasn't entirely wrong. While there certainly were women who have better strength then some men, they tended to be outliers anyway and weren't - in her eyes - the representative of the majority of the females. Surely, most boys were still stronger than girls. It was clear, however, that Yasuko wasn't at all bothered that she had said something sexist. But really what annoyed her the most wasn't the comment itself, but the boy's childish behaviour. Really, what was the point of sticking out his tongue at her? How old is he even? She shook her head at him, turning away so that she could dig out the records from the drawer below the cashier.

Hearing the thump of the box being placed onto the counter, she looked first at the label. Judging from the large "MARBLES" label on the box, it seemed he had, at least, brought out the right carton. Plopping the stack of books she had pulled from the drawer, she made a move to open the box - but stopped abruptly at the boy's sudden words.

Her brother had loved to use this sentence on her. While her oldest brother, Yasuhiko had stopped in realisation that his little sister didn't appreciate such comments, her other brother, Yasuo, hadn't let up. He always had to call her his "baby sister" or "cute little sister" or something or other. It infuriated her. She wasn't a kid anymore for god's sake! And Yasuo always, always had to say something about her face. You know, if you stopped frowning, you'll be the cute little sister that I always see! Yasuo loved to say that, grinning his stupid mischievous grin, as Yasuko proceed to try and plummet him into the sidewalk. Not that she succeeded, considering Yasuo's far more athletic prowess.

So it was incredibly unfortunate that this new guy had decided to say that, because Yasuko gave him the most murderous glare she could muster. "Don't. Call me. Cute," her voice sounding as if venom was dripping from her lips. While cute was something most would consider a compliment, it wasn't to Yasuko. It reminded her of all the aunties who loved to dote on her because she was short and had a baby face. She wanted to be an independent woman goddammit! Not a...child! And even worse was that it came from this...this guy whom she barely knew and was acting like a bratty kid!

With a sharp pull, she opened the box, as she glared daggers at him. "Besides, I smile when I want to smile. I don't need you telling me when to smile," she gave a huff, before she turned her head back to the carton. There should be green marbles in here--

Then she blinked.

And stared blankly at the box.

Before turning angrily back at the boy.

"What were you doing in there?!" She cried, pointing back at the box. "This is the wrong box! I said green marbles! These marbles...!"
"They're red!"

[Deleted]

It had been awhile since he had gotten that kind of glare. It left him speechless. What more could he say at that point? If he so much as sneezed it felt like she would rip his nose off or some limb from his body. Souta decided to just casually and carefully look away from her. Not paying complete attention to what she had to say because at this point he just wanted to leave.

But then she dared to raise her voice at him?

Souta wasn't going to let this girl screech at him about marbles. So he leaned over close to her. Glaring down at her. "Don't yell at me. If I wanted to be yelled at by someone I'd go home and let my annoying step sister do it." His eyes showed that same murderous look she had shown him earlier. He wasn't in the mood. He was tired. "Move." He ordered pulling the box from her and looking inside. They were red. That was strange.

He had bought a green marble himself. In all honesty, he hadn't bought it because of the purpose it was supposed to serve. Souta just liked the color green and thought the green marble was a nice little trinket to keep for himself to remember this place when he graduated some day. "Well, this was the only box in there labeled Marbles... BUT I GUESS I'LL GO CHECK THE OTHERS." He turned to head back into the storage room.

"Anything to get away from your whiny ass." He made no effort to mumble this. He wanted her to know he didn't like her as much as she didn't like him.

There didn't seem to be any green marbles anywhere. He ripped open all the boxes. It became clear someone had screwed up and ordered red marbles. "There aren't any back here." He yelled from inside the storage room.

[Yasuko Kobayashi]

Yasuko was taken back by the sudden glare. Here she was, thinking that this guy was one of those unreliable, wishy-washy guys, only for said guy to actually manage to produce a glare of the same kind of magnitude she could. It was kind of astonishing really. She didn't have time to react as he told her to move, taking a step backwards as the other student walked up to the box. It had been a while since she had met someone who could give a glare with the same kind of intensity as she could.

But honestly had he needed to do the whole height thing on her? Looming over her just because she was short? That was the one thing she hated other people doing - using their height to intimidate her. She was short, yes, but no one needed to keep reminding her of that fact! Certainly if someone wanted to win at an argument, then they could simply use words and expressions, instead of needing to resort to something that barely anyone could change!

Yasuko didn't just dislike him now. She hated him.

"What?" the first-year nearly shrieked. Whiny ass?? Whiny ass?? She was not one of those overly cliche spoilt brats who have to complain about everything under the sun with a high-pitched tone! "I am not a whiny ass!" she responded with a huff, going over to the entrance of the storage room to watch him take a look at all the boxes. She was simply responding to the fact that he brought out the wrong marbles!

However, as he continued to rip open the boxes in the storage room, it dawned on her that perhaps the incorrect marbles weren't the result of this boy's mistake in identifying the right box - and with that she quickly turned away, going straight for the books on the counter. Opening the paperback cover, she started to skim through the entries quickly. If she was right, they should be cataloguing all of their stocks for the day and every delivery that was made to the store. After all, that was what organisation was about right? Assuming so. It wasn't clear why she was doing this; maybe by doing so she could shed some more light on the matter, or to maybe she had the tiny hope that by doing so, she might find out that they indeed had received some green marbles and that it was stashed away elsewhere.

But as her finger stopped at the line "MARBLES" on the received column of the page, she realised that the student store indeed had only received one box of marbles - and that were the red ones sitting on top of the store's counter. Either someone had ordered the wrong colour to begin with, or the person receiving them yesterday hadn't checked the colour before signing off the form. "You got to be joking..." she closed the book, slumping into the chair next to the cashier. Now what were they going to do? This was a disaster! She just wanted to come here and do her part as required of her - not to deal with unexpected things like these!

Her hands were over her face, covering them. She was clearly stressed out. Despite how she often presented herself, Yasuko was terrible at dealing with things like these; things that screwed up with her schedule and her plans. Anything unexpected basically. She could certainly deal with a potentially difficult partner (considering the fact that she tended to end up in such situations), but things like these, ones which she didn't prepare for, threw her for a loop.

She didn't know what to do right now. She was just really stressed.