Unplanned Return [Hiatus]

10th

The boy looked sullen for a moment but then shook his head. "I'm sorry, I- I should've realized you could be seeing someone. Have, have a good day." He said as he turned and walked away.
Éclair watched as he walked back into the school and calmed her breathing as she went inside. It was now or never. Stepping into the school's cafeteria she walked right back to the table were Rebecca and Shinku were still sitting, and instead of sitting beside Rebecca like she had been, sat beside Shinku. "Um, Shinku, about before . . . ."
"Hmm?" Shinku hummed as he chewed the bite of his sandwich he had taken just as Éclair had sat down.
"Um, I," Éclair stuttered a bit before shaking her head and patting her cheeks a bit, causing Rebecca to look at her strangely as she turned and looked at Shinku, "Yes, my answer is yes."
Shinku smiled and put down his sandwich, "Then shall we go somewhere after school?"
Éclair nodded shyly, her cheeks reddening slightly as she gave her silent answer.
Rebecca looked at both of them for a moment and tilted her head in confusion. "What?"
"That's what you guys were talking about, going on a date?!" Rebecca exclaimed in surprise to Éclair as the two of them walked to school with Shinku a few meters ahead of them, walking on his hands upon the roads guardrail like he was practicing
Éclair and Shinku hadn't said anything to Rebeca, even when she had asked them the day before at lunch. Having someone confess to her had been shocking, but it had pushed Éclair to go all the way, and that day after school she and Shinku went to the seashore and got some food together, an Earthen dessert called a crepe. It was a simple date, but she felt good about it none the less. "Y-yeah, um we did actually, right after school yesterday." Éclair admitted meekly, her cheeks turning a rosy red.
"Ah, is that why you guys disappeared so fast! That's so unfair, I was waiting for you two by the school gates for almost half an hour!" Rebeca complained angrily.
"S-sorry, I just thought that um, that it might be better not to say anything, or-,"
Rebecca let out a sigh and looked to Éclair. "I'll admit that I'm kind of mad and upset it couldn't be me, but I'm happy for you, and I'm sure the princess and everyone will be happy for you as well." Rebecca whispered to Éclair, keeping Shinku from hearing what she said.
"Y-yeah, I just worry. The princess and Yuki like him as well, and it feels like betraying the princess in a way." Éclair admitted quietly.
"It's not, so don't think of it that way," Rebecca replied with a smile, "I'm sure everyone will be at your back no matter what happens. And if Shinku does something horrible to you we'll all team up on him!"
Éclair looked at Rebecca and could not help but smile from her words. "I don't think will ever be necessary."
"Yeah, probably not, but what is he like!?" Rebecca asked her voice full of interest.
"W-what is what like?"
"Shinku, I mean, we all know what he's like normally, but he's seemed a bit different lately. Is he any different when he's alone with just you?" Rebecca asked doing her best to keep her voice down despite her giddiness.
"Err, well he doesn't seem different from usual I guess, unless being less dense about his feelings counts." Éclair replied, embarrassed about speaking about such a topic when Shinku was so close by.
"Wait, do you mean he, isn't being that dense around you?"
"N-not really. Not as much as in the past I guess, not that he was being dense to me in the past or anything but- aww, let's stop this, please!" Éclair pleaded, not use to discussing such things with anyone.
"Aw c'mon you can tell me. I won't tell Shinku, I promise!" Rebecca teased Éclair with a smile, the two of them giggling and laughing with the other, and at how ridiculous their conversation was.
Without warning Shinku suddenly leapt backward off of the guardrail ahead of them, and pointed ahead towards the school, "Something's going on!"
Following Shinku's finger, Rebecca and Éclair looked ahead towards the schools main gates. In front of the gates where dozens of fire trucks and police cars along with a large armoured truck, and surrounding all of that, the teachers were talking to the students as they crammed around each other to see what was going on. Running over and joining the group they were able to hear the principal, Robert Arnos's words, though it worried them to an extent.
"The school is being closed until further notice due to a danger to all of our students. Please, as quickly as possible head back to your homes and tell your parents that they will be informed when the school opens back up. We are sorry for this and hope to-,"
Shinku took a few steps back with Éclair and Rebecca following him, they had heard all they needed. "Becky, are those people going into the school what I think they are?"
Rebecca nodded as the three of them walked further away from the gates. "Y-yeah, I think so. I remember my father talking about them, and that armour looks like bomb squad armour to me."
"Wait, so does that mean the school is in danger?" Éclair asked not entirely sure what a bomb was, but thinking it was something similar to an emblem cannon
"No I don't think so, if they're not letting us in, then the school likely got a tip or a threat. I'm sure it'll be fine in a day or two." Rebecca said with a smile, "shall we head back then?"
Shinku looked to Éclair and smiled, "Do you want to go somewhere?"
"Uh, well I, it's not like I wouldn't want to," Éclair said as she looked away, embarrassed by how openly Shinku asked.
"Okay, we're going to go into town, Becky. Will you be okay to head back to your house?"
Becky smiled and nodded strongly. "Yes, I have some homework for our end of the week assignment to finish. Have fun!" Becky called as she ran off, leaving Éclair and Shinku to their time alone.
As Rebecca walked down the streets back to her house, she didn't notice the brown van sitting by the street, or the two men inside who watched her.
"Is that one of them?" the man in the van's driver seat asked grimly.
The man in the passenger sea nodded. "Yeah, but not either of the priority targets, just their friend. What do you think?"
"I think with two of our people missing that the government somehow knows about us. I think we need to get the information, and even if she isn't one of the two priority targets, she'll work. And if she doesn't, we can use her as bait."
The man in the driver seat nodded and looked behind his seat, "You heard him boys. Get ready for acquisition, we'll do this fast and quiet. Time to kidnap a source of information!"
"Mmmmmmm, this is so good! What is this called again?" Éclair asked as she held a hand to her cheek and poked at the cake on the plate before her.
"It's called cheesecake. I'm not really sure where it's from though." Shinku replied as he took a bite from his own. Once they had reached the streets by the shore they decided to hit a café, and finding one, had quickly ordered a pair of cheesecakes, one strawberry, that Éclair was indulging in, and a chocolate one.
"It's so good! It's sweet but so smooth and, mmmm, does your mother know how to make these?" Éclair asked energetically, apparently in minor love with cheesecake now.
"Uh, maybe, I'm not sure. If she doesn't we could find out pretty easily though." Shinku explained as he looked own at his plate and the piece of cake on his fork, and then looked at Éclair who was savoring every bite. "Éclair, look. Aaah!"
"What are you-?" Éclair began to say as she looked up, only for Shinku to calmly, and not too forcefully press his fork with a piece of chocolate cheesecake against her partially opened lips. The smell of the cake and chocolate filled her nose almost instantly, and before Éclair knew it her lips had fully parted and hr mouth and clamped down on Shinku's fork, sliding the cake off with only her lips. the flavor of smooth chocolate seem to explode in Eclairs mouth as it touched her tongue, and she was unable to do anything but savor the taste as she chewed.
Once finished she looked at Shinku for a moment absently as he smiled. "Tastes good, yeah?" Shinku asked with a smile, causing Éclair to realize just what had happened.
"Aaaaahhh! W-w-w-w-w- what d-d-d-d-did you . . . . Did you just?" Éclair stuttered and fumbled before covering her face with her hands and lowering her head, somehow knowing that she must be blushing uncontrollably.
"Yep, you liked it!" Shinku said, his smile seeming to be somehow even bigger than before and he took a slice of his cake and ate it happily.
Éclair slowly moved her hands away from her face. Her eyes were tearing up from embarrassment. How did he manage to pull that on her so easily! Had, had Shinku's mother been right about him having been stealing glances at her? Did he have even more feelings for her than she realized at first. He had asked her out after all, and their first date had been nice. This was nice too, of course, but-..
Eclairs train of thought stopped as she eyed her fork for a moment and smiled. "H- H- here.., Shinku. Do- do you want to try, mine?" Éclair asked as she looked at Shinku and cut a piece of cake with the side of her fork, showing it to him as she lifted it up from her plate.
Shinku looked at Éclair for a moment and swallowed hard, evidently not so strong against the same tactic being used against him. "Um, okay, sure." Shinku replied carefully as he leaned forward and took the cake from Eclairs fork as she moved it to his mouth. "Mm, it's good, sweeter than the chocolate, but the flavours not as overpowering. It's really good!"
Éclair smiled at Shinku's reply, and his embarrassment, and only when he looked directly at her a second later did she realize what she had just done, and both of them instantly turned their heads away in embarrassment.
"Ah, oh, um. w-we should probably finish this and head back home, huh." Éclair said frantically trying to hide her embarrassment, with little success.
Neither of them could say anything for a while as they ate. The low giggles of a group of nearby young women didn't help either, especially since it was obvious they were gossiping over their reactions.
Then Shinku's phone rang, sending out a stream of low chirps and beeps.
"Oh, ah I should have put it on silent. Sorry, Éclair. I need to check if it's my mom." Shinku apologized as he pulled the phone out and prepared to open it.
"O- of course. Go ahead." Éclair quickly said as she looked to the side, thankful that the silence after their action had been, at least partly, done away with. She was also thankful that Shinku could not see her tail from across the table, as she was unable to stop it from wagging about happily.
Shinku flipped open his phone and cleared his throat. "Hello?"
"Shinku Izumi." came a strange warbled voice, through the phone.
"Huh, who is this?" Shinku asked in surprise and confusion, causing Éclair to look over to him from his sudden tone change.
"Who I am does not matter." The voice explained. "What matters is that you hold information we require. You will give it to us."
"I don't even know who you are? This is some kind of prank or something isn't it?"
"No prank. You will give us this information, and in return, we shall return your friend, Rebeca Anderson."
"What, when did, how do you know of my friend? Who are you?!" Shinku nearly yelled into his phone, causing the nearby group of young women to glance toward their table and whisper.
"Shinku, you're causing a scene. What's going on?" Éclair asked in a whisper.
Shinku gestured toward his phone and tensed his jaw before moving it back to his mouth. "You have Becky?"
"We do."
"You haven't harmed her, right!?"
"We have no desire to harm anyone, we only desire information. If you are willing to meet us, you may exchange information for your friend's release. You understand, correct?"
Shinku swallowed hard and nodded to himself, causing Éclair to become worried. "Yeah, I understand. Where do I go?"
"It is good that you understand. Come to the city's eastern port area, the public docks. Warehouse E11. If you come and bring your green haired friend, we guarantee nothing will happen to your friend here. And if you tell anyone, all bets are off. We hope to see you soon." the voice finished before the line cut out, leaving only a dead ringing from Shinku's phone until he slowly moved it away from his head and closed it with one hand.