Day 7: Duck, Duck, Goose

Ryan stayed up all night again. He had a ceaseless feeling that someone was watching him throughout the night, so he spent the first part of his night covering all the windows and double locking all the doors, but the feeling never ceased. He chalked it up to paranoia and decided to go to bed. As he tried to sleep, the tugging feeling of paranoia never left him. By the time the phone rang at 5 am, he had huge bags under his eyes, cold sweat running down his face. He heaved a monumental sigh of relief as he heard the ever-so-familiar ringtone that he set specifically for Kiara. He shot up, grabbing the phone and accepting it as fast as possible.

"KEKKERIKIII~" Kiara shouted through the phone.

"Morning Tenchou," Ryan tried his best not to sound tired but ended up sounding like someone who hasn't slept in a month.

"You alright?" Kiara asked, concern rising in her voice. "Sounds like you've had a rough night."

"I don't know," Ryan grumbled, scratching his head. "I just had this… terrible feeling of being watched."

"It's probably nothing- Oh! I got a text. Give me a second…" There were a couple seconds of silence as Kiara checked her text messages. "Ah, I see! Don't worry. I'll talk to her, so don't worry!"

"Wait, there was someone watching me?!" Ryan exclaimed. As if on cue, he heard running and stumbling from outside. He ran over to the door and opened it, wildly looking around. When he didn't see anyone, he narrowed his eyes, closing the door.

"No! What are you talking about?" Kiara denied profusely. "I was just talking to… the ghost! Yeah! The ghost…"

"Whatever you say," Ryan grumbled, not believing a word. "I'll be there in five. Please make sure I don't get murdered by a psychopath wielding an axe."

"No promises~," Kiara said suggestively before hanging up the phone.

Ryan groaned as he got his wallet. Today was going to be a rough day.

-

Thankfully, the feeling of being watched slowly started to subside as he headed towards work. He opened the door to see Kiara already preparing something in the back. "I was going to ask, Tenchou," Ryan said as he headed over to the break room to change. "Where were you yesterday? Like, where were you really?"

"I was playing board games with Calli," Kiara lied as naturally as she breathed.

"Tenchou, we both know that's not true," Ryan said through the door as he zipped up his pants. "I'm just worried about you. The last thing I want, or need is my manager with a bullet in her head. I don't want to be nosy or anything, but I want you to be safe."

"Everything is okay," Kiara assured him as Ryan opened the door to face her, a reassuring smile on her face. "I promise not to do anything dangerous."

"If you insist," Ryan sighed. As he moved towards the counter, the door opened, and the oddest thing happened. A duck with a multicolored cap walked in. Ryan gaped in confusion as it walked over to the counted and flapped its wings, flying up to the seat, making eye contact with Kiara.

"Shuba Shuba Shuba!" The duck quacked, flapping its wings. Ryan turned his eyes towards Kiara, who smiled widely.

"Pipipii!" She chirped before going to the back. Ryan then turned to look at the duck, who looked back at him. He then looked at the clutter of feathers that was quickly forming on the floor below the duck disapprovingly.

"You know I'm going to have to clean that up, right?" He pointed at the mound of feathers. The two stared at each other, creating a considerable amount of tension before the duck arched its head backwards. Ryan was not prepared for what happened next.

"OMAEEEEEEEEE!!!" The duck yelled, its voice also human. If Ryan didn't know any better, he would have guessed the duck was using a spell to amplify its volume. Ryan stumbled back, and invisible force pushing him back.

"Ow," Ryan steadied himself on a counter, wiping a bit of blood from his ears. "That kinda hurt."

"Sorry about that," Ryan watched as the duck started to shift in shape until a girl took its place. Somehow, the baseball cap grew with her, covering a head with short hair going down to the middle of her neck. She wore a yellow and white striped shirt and short shorts. "Force of habit."

"Don't sweat it," Ryan dusted off his uniform. "I've dealt with worse. Name's Ryan Shade."

"Oozora Subaru!" The girl shot her fist in the air, a bright smile on her face. Ryan smiled at her. How could he not? She was adorable.

"If you didn't light that guy on fire when he called you a kid, we would be on time!" A girl with pink hair wearing what looked like a maid uniform coming from sea snapped.

"NEEEEEE?!" Ryan wanted to call the small girl in a witch's outfit a child, but his experiences with the super sexy boing boing Rushia deterred him. "If you didn't trip every other turn, we wouldn't be late!"

"Welcome to KFP," Ryan said, clearing his throat to catch their attention. "My name is Ryan Shade and I will be taking care of everything for you today."

"A-ah!" The maid girl physically jumped back, waving her hands all over the place before bowing multiple times. "I-I'm sorry! My name is Minato Aqua! Thank you for having us!"

"Aqua, you need to stop doing that!" The smaller girl sighed, shaking her head. "Murasaki Shion."

'Kusogaki!' Ryan instantly thought. He didn't know why he thought that, but a gut feeling told him that this Shion person was a smug, cheeky, brat.

"Nice to meet you two," Ryan smiled at the two as they took their seats beside Subaru.

"Yo Dayo!" With a puff of smoke, an Oni with white hair and red eyes jumped up out of nowhere, causing Ryan to jump. "What's up human?! Konnakiri! I'm Nakiri Ayame!"

"Welcome to KFP," Ryan had to use every fiber of his being to stay professional as he felt his heart melting at the cuteness of the Oni. "My name is Ryan Shade. It's a pleasure to meet you, Nakiri-san."

"Call me Ayame!" The Oni giggled.

-100 hp! Critical hit! Ryan stumbled back, clutching his chest. He lost all sense of professionalism as Ayame giggled, slowly curing all forms of negative emotions from his heart.

"Jeez, that's an odd reaction," Shion looked at him with disappointment. "You alright, kid?"

"You're one to talk," Ryan shot back, balancing himself.

"Listen here you little-" As Shion jumped up, a wand appearing in her hand, Kiara burst out with several plates of food.

"Don't set my employees on fire!" Kiara shouted, placing the food on the counter, placing the food in front of each person.

"This joke is really getting old," Aqua looked at the plate of chopped onions in front of her.

"Sugar?" Ayame titled her head cutely at Kiara.

"It's because you're so sweet!" Somewhere in this world, a Tako gave Kiara a thumbs up.

"Thank you, Kiara-chan!" Shion instantly started singing a different tune as a plate of cakes, pastries, and other sweets revealed itself.

"Shuba shuba shuba shuba shuba!" Subaru turned back into a duck as she saw the plate of duck food, digging right in.

"How do you know what everybody wants?" Ryan asked Kiara.

"I'm just that good!" Kiara winked at Ryan.

"Sure," Ryan deadpanned.

"Shuba shuba!" Subaru said through mouthfuls of duck food.

"It has been a while since we got together like this," Aqua replied, speaking as if she understood the duck.

"Well, that's all thanks to someone," Shion glared at Aqua.

"Shuba shuba!" Subaru stopped eating to look at Shion.

"I guess we do arrive everywhere together," Shion grumbled, causing Ayame to giggle.

"I miss this!" She wrapped her arms around Subaru and Aqua. "You guys are so fun to hang out with!"

"Speaking of fun, where's Choco-sensei?" Shion asked.

"What are you implying?" Kiara narrowed her eyes at Shion.

"She got turned down without a second thought," Aqua said, causing everyone to laugh except Shion.

"NEEEEEE!" Shion shouted, a deathly glare piercing Aqua's onion head.

As if on cue, the doors opened, revealing a rather… well-developed woman wearing a school nurse's outfit.

"Hello~," She smiled as she walked over to the counter and to a seat before looking at Ryan. "Ara ara, what a coincidence~ It's been a while, Ryan~"

"Have we met?" Ryan asked, concentrating on literally anything other than her oppais.

"You don't remember?" She tilted her head, putting a finger on her chin. "I was your high school nurse back in America."

"Don't you work at a demon school?" Shion deadpanned.

"I was asked to transfer to America for a few years by Death-sama," The woman replied. "I had to cut that term short, though due to a certain… incident."

"Sorry, but I'm having some pretty bad problems with memory," Ryan shook his head. "If we have met before, then I don't remember."

"Ah, I remember now," the woman said, crossing her arms underneath her chest. "My name is Yuzuki Choco. You can call me Choco-sensei, though. We aren't exactly strangers~"

"What exactly do you remember?" Ryan asked, his interest piqued.

"Er…" Choco looked rather uncomfortable, multiple sets of eyes on her.

"Choco-sensei!" Kiara interjected, as if to deliberately change the subject. "What would you like to eat?"

"I'm fine for now," Choco gave Kiara a kind smile.

"You don't have to tell me," Ryan said, trying his best not to sound aggravated. "It's not like I'm not used to it."

With that, the mood of the room noticeably shifted. "Ryan…" Choco looked visibly saddened. "I'm sorry…"

"It's okay," Ryan didn't miss the guilt and regret in her eyes but was too peeved to acknowledge it. "Tenchou, I'm clocking out."

Ryan went to the back to clock out, leaving everyone sitting in silence.

-

"Guh!! I'm so stupid!" Ryan hit himself on the head with his fist, emulating Calli's verbal tick. It only took a couple hours for Ryan to clear his head and to reflect on his actions. "How could I just ruin their day like that! I'm so dumb!"

He paced around his room, muttering to himself. He was so deep in his thoughts that he visibly jumped when someone knocked on the door. He walked over and opened the door, his eyes widening slightly as Choco was standing there in front of him.

"Hey Ryan," She looked into his eyes. "I want to-"

"I'm sorry," Ryan said immediately. "I admit I kind of lost my temper back there. You didn't deserve that."

"No, it's okay," Choco surprised Ryan by pulling him into a hug. Ryan didn't really know what to do, so he just let his arms hang awkwardly. "I really want to tell you what happened… believe me I do… it's just not my secret to tell… there is so much more in play. I wish I could just talk to you."

"I understand," Ryan replied, finally finding the courage to wrap his arms around her. "Thank you."

"Always," Choco smiled softly as she pulled away. "Thank you for forgiving me."

"No problem," Ryan smiled back.

"I'll see you around," Choco winked as she vanished in a puff of pink smoke.

"Yeah," Ryan closed the door. It took about two seconds for the events of the past few minutes to sink in.

"What the hell just happened?"