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“What are you thinking about?” Maki asked, propping her chin in her hand. She’d been watching Miu for a while before she spoke up, seeing her get increasingly squirmy and restless. At the moment, Miu looked almost like she was going to crawl over the table, leaned over heavily and fidgeting nonstop. They’d been getting friendlier lately—something that the Maki of not too long ago would have been horrified to hear—but that didn’t mean she suddenly had infinite patience for Miu’s oddities.
“Oh, nothing,” Miu said a little too quickly, feigning innocence. “Just ideas for some new inventions I’ve been planning. Nothing for you to worry about.”
Maki raised an eyebrow. Miu loved talking about her inventions, regardless of whether anyone in earshot could understand the particulars. The fact that she was declining to elaborate was suspicious to say the least. Either the inventions were something she knew Maki would disapprove of or she wasn’t thinking about inventions at all. Given the recent prank war she’d been engaged in with Kokichi, Maki was inclined to believe the latter.
“Uh huh. Sure. Well then, I’m sure you won’t mind if I leave you to it. I could stand to get in an extra workout before training later.”
She was only halfway to her feet when Miu exclaimed “Wait!” She stretched out a hand, grabbing Maki’s forearm. She could shake off her grip easily if she wanted to, but her curiosity got the best of her, both about what mischief Miu had in store and why her hand felt so clammy.
“What? I’m sure you know I can’t be of any help with your inventions. Wouldn’t it be better if I left you alone to focus?”
“Well...” Miu dragged the word out far longer than necessary, tipping her chair back onto two legs and then forward again. If Maki’s reflexes weren’t so well-honed, she might have flinched, worried that Miu was going to topple backward and crack her head open. “Maybe there’s something else on my mind too. Multitasking is no problem for this glamorous girl genius.”
Maki stayed silent, standing there and waiting for her to continue. She’d never felt the need to fill silence just for the sake of it.
“I was, ah, kinda wondering if you’d wanna go out with me? Uh, I mean, I’d be willing to grace you with my presence on a date.” She chuckled uncomfortably, still gripping Maki’s arm. This was perhaps the most nervous she’d ever seen Miu, practically radiating desperation. Maki’s lips were almost forming the word yes when she remembered Kokichi.
She wrenched her arm away, fixing her hair to buy herself a few seconds of time. “This is a prank, isn’t it? You and Kokichi can do what you want to each other, but it’s kind of shitty of you to drag other people into it too.”
Miu’s eyes went wide. She leapt to her feet, shaking her head urgently. “No, it’s not a prank! Do you really think I’d do something like that? Is that how you see me?” Crocodile tears? Maki wasn’t sure. The uncertainty made her stomach churn.
“I don’t know. You might.”
“Really, I swear. Let me prove it to you.”