STARLIGHT | krmy ✓

12

CHAPTER TWELVE —
                    THE PERFORMER.

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MAYA HAD NOT expected to miss Claudine this badly. But maybe, in retrospect, she did, though perhaps not to this extent — missing her warmth, her voice, her mannerism, and just her presence, in general. Claudine had a way of commanding the room, as if demanding that Maya focused on her and her alone. Or perhaps that was just the radiance of a Top Star, or maybe it was just her–

"Tendō-buchōu," Yuyuko drawls, handing Maya the set of files that needed to be sorted through. Maya massages her temples, trying to get the aching memory of cinnamon and coffee out of her head, then reaches for the stack, nodding gratefully in the officer's direction.

"Thank you, Tanaka-san."

Yuyuko makes a face. She pauses, her feet digging deep into the ground, as if she wanted to say something. Maya notices this, and looks up when she realises that Yuyuko still had not left her office.

"Is there anything else?" Maya asks, and Yuyuko merely yawns, moving to prop an arm up against Maya's table, earning her a disapproving look from the captain.

Yuyuko looks her dead in the eye, unsettling Maya enough for her to shift her arms, from where they had been on the table, to the armrests on her chair. Yuyuko had always been fairly indignant to Maya's senior ranking, though she addressed Maya formally, the way she acted around her did not convey the same.

"You've been acting weird."

Maya raises a brow. This was not what she expected.

"You've been eating lesser," Yuyuko points out, beginning to fiddle absentmindedly with a pen that lay across the table. "Seem less fierce, too."

Maya is not sure of how to reply to that. The tour had ended a few days ago, and she had been recalled back to the police station to assume her role as captain once more. True, she missed being there, and missed a certain someone, but she didn't think it would be this obvious — that even one of her subordinates noticed.

But then again, Yuyuko was intelligent, though her sleepy attitude largely undermines her ability. She was sharp, secretly hardworking, and quick-witted: reasons why Maya had hand-picked her for the Ghost Patrol. She was one-of-a-kind, and perhaps too observant.

Maya looks down, hoping that Yuyuko wouldn't see her face as she rifles absentmindedly through the documents. "Is that so? Should I make you work overtime, then?"

Yuyuko abruptly straightens, her eyes darting to the office door. "O–kay, I'm gonna go–"

She says all this while rushing out in a flurry, leaving the door open by a slight fraction. Maya sighs, half-glad she was finally out of her office, and stands to close the door so she could go back to reminiscing.

Her fingers close around the cool metal of the door knob and she starts tugging it close. But before she could shut it completely, a hand lashes out and latches itself firmly onto the other side of the door.

Taken aback, Maya snaps her head around to see who it was. Was it Yuyuko again? She really did not want to deal with her right–