It was business as usual for Mai at the Linden Baum cafe. She served up a hot meal practically every minute of almost every lunch hour for the last month, and yet it still felt fresh and new to her. She loved to cook, and the students loved to eat up her food. Even more satisfying were the times when she got to rest and sample her own food.

"Mai-chan! Is it my turn yet?" a voice called out.

Out from the back of the kitchen came Akane Higurashi, one of Mai's co-workers. Her cooking skills weren't quite on the same level as Mai's, but she was extremely well-liked by the customers. She often worked the tables and took orders while Mai did the majority of the heavy lifting behind the scenes. The time was four-thirty, and the roles were now reversed; Akane was the chef/waitress in charge, and Mai was her customer.

"Sure, Akane-chan," said Mai. "Whenever you're ready."

"All right! Now it's my time to shine!" Akane said, pumping a fist into the air.

Mai grabbed her lunch box and found a seat at a table with Yuuichi and Mikoto. They were in the middle of their own separate meals--Yuuichi ordered himself a bowl of the soup of the day, while Mikoto had fresh rice and a pair of taiyaki in front of her, not even bothering to use chopsticks to eat them. Yuuichi looked up at the girl in the red and white apron for a split-second and stopped eating long enough to greet her.

"Deciding to join us for lunch today, Mai?" he said.

"That's a silly question, Tate-kun," said Mai. "Where else would I be? Even us food-service workers have to eat too, you know."

"I suppose you're right. By the way, this soup is delicious. Did you make it?"

Mai scratched her head. "Actually, that wasn't my doing."

"Well, give my compliments to the chef, whomever he or she might be."

"I'll make sure to tell them on your behalf," said Mai, taking a small bite from the umeboshi in the middle of her box.

"So, what are you guys up to?"

"Mashiro and Fumi taught me how to make origami," said Mikoto. "I made a yacht. Wanna see it?"

Mikoto pulled out a small blue piece of paper, folded into the shape of a boat. It was still barely two-dimensional, so it wouldn't float upright in any body of water, but it was a somewhat accurate replica of the real thing.

"It looks very nice, Mikoto. Good job!"

"Thanks!" Mikoto handed the paper yacht to Mai and pulled out another one to sit next to her meal.

"What about you, Yuuichi?" asked Mai.

"I've been asked to rejoin the kendo team...again," he said quietly.

"Why so unhappy? That's great news! You could lead this school to victory again."

"That's exactly the problem. I don't want to be the captain...there's just too much pressure involved coordinating a team. If I'm going to go back on there, I just want to be in it to win matches."

"Well, it's your decision, I guess."

A few minutes into their meal, Akane came by with a pen and paper in hand. "Can I get you guys anything else?" she said.

"Some water would be nice," said Mai, fanning her tongue. "This umeboshi is a bit too spicy for me."

"I'll have some water, too," said Mikoto.

"One for me too, please," said Yuuichi.

"Three glasses of water, coming right up!" Akane wrote down their orders and dashed back to the kitchen.

Yuuichi shifted his focus back to the girls at his lunch table. "What about you, Mai? Tell us about your exciting exploits."

"Yeah!" said Mikoto. "What did you do last night?"

"I spent the night at the gym," said Mai, "and then, well..." Her voice trailed off as she took a bite from the rice in her lunch box to mask the taste of her other spicy snack.

Yuuichi jumped out of his chair, a fire burning in his eyes. "And then what? Tell me!"

"Well..." Mai paused. "I went to the locker room for a 'surprise', and out of nowhere...someone kissed me."

His curiosity increased, mixing itself with a hint of jealousy. To think that someone had been given the chance to kiss Mai before he did felt almost blasphemous. "Somebody else kissed you? It wasn't Takeda, was it?" he asked.

"No...it wasn't him."

Yuuichi rattled off a short list of names of some of the male athletes he knew, none of which were familiar to Mai, so she shook her head each time. Finally, he ran out of names to use, so he sighed and said, "All right, I give up. Could you tell us who this mystery kisser was? The tension is killing me."

"Look behind you," said Mai, pointing over Yuuichi's shoulder. He slowly turned around in his chair to see Natsuki standing right behind him.

Yuuichi didn't know very much about Mai in their short time as friends, and he especially didn't see her as the type to go around kissing other girls. Mai herself hadn't given it much thought, either, even though Fuuka Academy's female student body outranked the males in both size and importance. He tried to resist the implication of seeing the two girls together, for fear of being labeled a "pervert". With Natsuki standing behind him and Mai sitting next to him, the temptation was too great, and he found himself clutching his head as he tried to suppress the image.

"Are you all right, Yuuichi?" asked Mai. "Do you have a headache?"

"I'm fine, really." Yuuichi got up from his chair and quickly walked toward the bathroom. "Excuse me..."

Natsuki brought her plate and sat down next to Mikoto, who was busy laughing at Yuuichi's predicament.

"Should I call the nurse?" asked Natsuki. "Or perhaps the janitor?"

"I'm pretty sure he'll be fine," said Mikoto. She picked up her chopsticks and tried to eat the rest of her rice the same way Mai did, but had trouble holding them properly. Mai giggled, and showed Mikoto the correct chopstick technique.

"By the way, Tokiha," Natsuki continued, "when your 'boyfriend' comes out of the bathroom, tell him he owes me a thousand yen."

"He's not my boy--" Mai stopped her sentence in mid-bite. "Wait a minute...what do you mean he owes you a thousand yen?"

"Don't you worry your pretty little head, Mai. That's between me and Tate-kun."

Just then, Akane came by with the girls' glasses of water.

"Here you go," she said. "Hey...Yuuichi was here just a few minutes ago. What happened to him?"

"Uh, he had to take a bathroom break," said Mai. "He'll be back shortly."

"I hope he's okay. Oh, well. Enjoy your meal, ladies!" Akane bowed, and returned to her station.

As Mai and her friends waited for Yuuichi to return from the bathroom, they continued to enjoy their meals until the clock struck five o'clock. Mai decided to stay behind and clean up while the others went back home, figuring a few minutes of extra time each day would give her enough money to go into town for the weekend.