DAYS LATER…

Takuto’s POV

"I still can’t believe this," I muttered to myself as we were on the plane back to Japan. In my hand, was the same exact hair accessory that the orange showed me on his phone.

“What’s not to believe?” Riki, who was sitting next to me, asked.

“That this was actually in the store.” I replied, gaze still not off of the accessory.

“Duh, because that WAS from the store,” Orange huffed from behind Riki. “I took a picture of it from my phone as soon as I laid my eyes on it. And I thought, ‘If Takkun doesn’t end up finding anything for Takara, maybe I can show him this picture to see what he thinks…’ And voila! It’s in your hand! Well, you’re currently holding the box which is holding the accessory…So… You’re somewhat indirectly holding it."

“Stop being so technical, Hiro,” Kenshi chuckled.

“Can’t help it.” Orange said with a smile.

Gross…..

“I wonder how my bar is doing…” Beardy muttered mainly to himself but we all heard.

“I’m pretty sure it’s fine,” Riki assured. “This isn't the first time you left the bar alone for a few days.”

“Yeah, but just think. I could've already lost some customers.”

“Well, that’s your fault for coming with.” I stated.

“How cruel, Takkun…”

“Ugh, stop calling me that!” I huffed in annoyance as the others simply laughed it off. “How annoying, I’m going to take a nap.”

“Sure, we’ll let you know when we have to get off. It only takes about four to five hours to get back anyways.” Riki said and I nodded as I closed my eyes.

“Sure thanks.”

/ / /

Third POV

“Finally,” Riki stretched as Boss parked the van in front of LRN. “Even though it was approximately a four to five hour flight, it can still take a toll on ya.”

“I agree,” Kenshi sighed as he unlocked the front door to LRN, holding it open for the others. “Luckily I have a few more days til I have to go to work.. And Hiro was on break so this worked out for him as well.”

“Yup!” Hiro nodded, agreeing. “And I’m glad we got Mr. Hoshiko’s invention back. I heard that it was going to go into the black market or something.”

“That’s the rumor.” Riki stated, “Unfortunately, we need his great granddaughter’s fingerprints for his masterpiece work.”

“But we’ve been trying to look for her for years. Who knows where she could be.” Kenshi muttered in frustration.

“Kenny’s right, Rikkun,” Hiro sat on one of the stools. “We don’t even know her name. Even if say we did, we don’t even know where she is or if she’s even alive.”

“Why wouldn’t she be?” Riki raised an eyebrow. “Doing some math, she should be around… Takuto’s age?”

Takuto shrugged, “Who knows, we won't really know until we happen to run into her. Which I highly doubt since this world is so damn big.”

“Well,” Boss walked out from the kitchen with the open sign, “Takkun’s gotta point.”

“Resist the urge,” Takuto muttered, clenching his hands into fists.

“U-um anyways! We should help Boss with the reopening of the bar no?” Kenshi said quickly, purposefully standing between Takuto and Boss.

“Sounds like a plan,” Riki then turned towards Boss, “So apparently you said that you closed LRN temporarily for repairs. . . What kind of repairs did you have in mind?”

Boss thought for a moment, “I guess I could say the pipes were leaking water… Sounds reasonable, doesn’t it?”

“In a nutshell yeah,” The rest nodded.

“Alrighty then! Let’s open Le Renard Noir!”

/ / /

Hiro’s POV

“Unbelievable, LRN must be THAT famous,” I mumbled to myself as I quickly served the orders, heading back to the kitchen for more dishes.

“You’re lucky we don’t have to work today, Boss.” Rikkun said, speed walking past me.

“Of course! Thanks a bunch guys!” Boss called from the counters.

That was when Kenny came through the doors with bags of groceries in hand, “I got more meats and vegetables, Boss!”

“Thanks Kenny! Bring them here!”

“You got it!”

“Even poor Takkun’s helping…” I said as I glanced towards his direction.

I’m surprised he volunteered to help. I wonder if it’s because of what Boss said to him a few days ago…

FLASHBACK

“Here’s the thing, Takuto.” Boss said, turning his gaze towards Takuto. “I’m not so sure if you should be liking someone due to your position but… Love is love. If she loves you just as much as you love her, then she would love anything you give her. No matter how cheap or expensive it is. It’s always the thought that matters, and not the item of choice you give her. Overall, know that the guys and I will always support you and your decisions.”

“Beardy…”

END OF FLASHBACK

“Guess Takkun really is a softy after all. . .”

“Hiro! Order for table four!” Kenny called, handing me two dishes.

“Got it Ken!”

“Thanks!”

“Hiro, another for table five!” Boss shouted.

“Hiro, got my hands full here, can you take table ten’s order?” Leader asked while taking orders from another table.

“Y-yeah!”

Goddammit! Please don’t make this day a normal thing!!! I’m begging you!

Takara’s POV

“It’s around lunch time…” I said to myself as I glanced down at my watch. I was walking around town passing time when I heard a couple walking past me talking amongst themselves.

“Did you hear? LRN reopened after repairs.” The woman beamed excitedly.

“Yeah, but we should probably go later.” The man responded. “I heard it’s packed there.”

“LRN?” I questioned myself. “Repairs?”

Oh yeah, if Takuto left for the emergency, then the others have probably gone with him…

“I wonder if I should go…” I pondered. “I wonder if he’ll recognize me…”

How can he?

“I’ll probably leave my phone in my apartment. Just in case he tries to call. I’m not sure if I should reveal my identity… Besides,” I stopped in front of LRN, my now medium length chestnut hair blowing freely in the wind, my strawberry blonde hair with the scarlet streak gone.

I need time to think about the Scarlet Foxes and the Black Foxes.

With that thought in mind, I walked back towards my apartment.

/ / /

TWO HOURS LATER…

Hiro’s POV

“Hah…” I sighed to myself, helping myself to a glass of water. “The place finally settled down.”

“Yeah,” Riki agreed and chugged down his beer. “Though there’s still a decent amount of people here.”

“At least it’s not THAT busy right?”

“I have to agree with you on that one, Hiro.”

(CHIME CHIME)

“Huh?” Riki and I turned our gazes towards the door to see a woman with medium length chestnut hair standing there. She looked around and Boss must've noticed her, for he walked over saying 'welcome to Le Renard Noir!~'

“Woah… She’s pretty cute.” Riki muttered under his breath as Boss escorted her to an empty table.

“Yeah,” I nodded in agreement. “I guess I should go take her order, unless you want to Rikkun?”

Riki shook his head, “Nah, you go ahead. I don’t know how she’ll act if she figures out that I’m somewhat drunk. Go ahead.”

I shrugged, “Okay. Don’t drink so much Rikkun.”

“Don’t worry about me, who do you think I am?” He said with a knowing smirk. “Go kid.”

“Hai hai!~” I saluted and made my way over to the woman. “Hello Miss, my name is Hiro and I'll be your server this---” I froze when my eyes landed on the ring she was wearing.

Her ring… That’s…!

“Hmm? Is something the matter?” The woman asked, tilting her head up towards me.

“N-nothing, I’m sorry.” I quickly snapped out of my trance. “It’s just that you’re a very beautiful woman, I couldn’t resist staring. Please forgive me.”

“Hehe, that’s okay.” She smiled, “You’re very flattering, aren't you?”

“Haha, no of course not miss. I do not flatter. I speak the truth as I see it.”

“Is that so, alright then,” She giggled, “Well, thank you, Hiro."

"Of course." I grinned as I clicked my pen, bringing it to the notebook in my hand. "So I'll be your server this evening. Do you need more time? Or would you like to order?"

"I think I know what I want," The women smiled and started reading what she wanted, "I was thinking about ordering this and this...”

“Alrighty,” I nodded, looking over her shoulder to see what she was pointing at. Quickly writing it down, I then excused myself with a ‘be right back’ to give the order to Boss.

Casually walking around to make sure the other customers were doing okay, I made my way back over to the woman.

I gently took her right hand saying, “You have a very beautiful ring miss.” I said in admiration, secretly studying the ring.

“What are you--!” She gasped in surprise but relaxed when she saw who it was. “You know you shouldn’t scare people like that, Hiro. But thank you; it’s a memento from my great grandfather.” She explained as I listened with interest.

“Really, that’s nice of you to wear this in remembrance of him.”

“Mmhm,” She nodded sadly. “I have unfortunately known him for a short amount of time.”

“I see… I’m sorry for your loss. He sounded like a great man.”

“He was,” She gave a small smile. “I admired him so much when I was younger..”

“Admire?” I questioned, tilting my head.

“He apparently made of lot of inventions… He was also great at art.”

“Really? I’m an art student. I love art!” I beamed excitedly. “Is he some famous person?”

“Not sure actually, they referred to him as the Japanese Leonardo da Vinci.”

“!”

“What’s wrong?”

“He must be really famous then!” I gasped.

“Hey Hiro,” Riki called.

Turning around, I see him beckoning me over with his hand, “Be right back miss…?”

“You can just call me Takara.”

“Alrighty, please excuse me Miss. Takara.” I smiled and walked away.

Another Takara? This is the third one!

“What’s up Rikkun?” I questioned curiously.

“Stop bothering the customers,” He sighed, head shaking. “You might make them uncomfortable.”

“No Riki, I have a reason,” And at that he looked at me curiously.

“What do you mean?”

“Well---”

“Hiro! Here’s an order!” Boss called from the kitchen.

“I’ll tell you later,” I whispered and went to get the food.

“Alright.”

Making my way towards Takara, I thought to myself.

That ring was definitely real… Which means…

“Here’s your order, Miss. Takara.”

“Thanks, Hiro,” She smiled at me.

I smiled back with a nod and walked away.

/ / /

“Where’s Riki?” I asked while looking around, a small sheet of paper in my hand.

The bar was now closed so this was the perfect time to tell them what I discovered. “I need to tell him something…”

“Who knows…” Takuto answered without looking at me for he was typing on his computer.

Kenshi shook his head, “No idea, my guess is… He probably went to his room upstairs.”

“Oh.”

“What did you need to tell him?” Boss inquired as he was cleaning the wineglasses.

“Something very important.”

“Well shoot.” A voice said. We all turned to see Riki walking into the kitchen, shoving his phone into his pocket. “Had to make a phone call for work, sorry.”

“That’s fine,” I nodded in understanding. Him, Kenny, and Takkun had to take a week off of work..

“So what’s up? Can we actually talking outside the kitchen, it’s a little stuffy in here.”

“Sure.”

… We were all outside the kitchen, sitting by the counters.

Riki turned towards me asking, “Alright Hiro, what was your reason for your continuous chatting with the pretty lady?”

“Pretty lady?” Takuto questioned, “You were flirting with the customers again, orange?”

“N-no! I had a reason!” Everyone’s gazes were suddenly at me, “Why are you guys looking at me like that? It’s sort of creepy.”

“So what you’re saying is…” Riki glared at me, “Our faces are creepy.”

Yes :)

“No Leader! Course not!” I held my hands up in defense. “Anyways, our mission is to find the Japanese Leonardo da Vinci’s great granddaughter, right?”

“Yeah, so?”

“Instead of us going to her, she came to us. Not on purpose of course.”

Everyone stared at me questionably muttering, “I don’t get it.”

With a sigh in disbelief I said, “That woman,”

“The one you kept talking to/flirting with?”

“…….. Sure, whatever.”

I dismissed, not even going to try with them.

“What about her?”

“The reason why I was talking to that woman, constantly, was because…”

“Because…?” Riki gestured for me to go on.

“She is the great granddaughter of the Japanese Leonardo da Vinci,” I slammed the piece of paper that I was holding in my hand, onto the counter.

The receipt with her signature…

“Takara Hoshiko.”