Chapter Text
He'd seen her before. It wasn't often but it was enough to recognize her. The shark tail did make it easier, but Manato definitely recognized her face. He stood off to himself in the station. He was already dreading the ride back to Failume Heights after classes all day. He was trying to rub out a knot in his neck when he noticed the girl scrolling through her phone. She looked pretty tired too. She usually did.
His day had been pretty standard. After seeing the kids off to school, Manato headed into the City for his weekly classes. He was lucky to have Alice get him a spot in her Hollow Investigation Class, so he couldn't mess this up. This could be a huge opportunity to get a job that could properly support A-Yuet and A-Cing. Still, these back and forth trips were probably going to put him in an early grave at this rate.
He let out a yawn that was much louder than he had expected it to be. He quickly covered his mouth with the back of his hand, his left ear twitching a bit. He didn't realize how much of a commotion he had caused until he happened to lock eyes with the girl who had looked up from her phone.
Now that he could see her clearly he couldn't help but think she was kind of pretty. She had a kind of punk vibe that he really dug and her highlights matched her eyes. Thankfully he caught himself before he could stare for too long. He looked away, now rubbing the back of his neck once again to work out the knot.
"Sorry. It was a long day." He apologized.
He was fine with leaving it at that. Hey, he spoke to a cute girl today. That was pretty cool. He honestly didn't expect much more than that these days. Between taking care of two kids and working odd jobs with classes in between, he didn't have time to be skirt chasing. Plus he wasn't an idiot, he knew he was surrounded by cute girls. The problem there was he saw all of Shook Shack as a bunch of sisters. He could never try to date any of them, it would be too weird for him.
So, he began to reach into his pocket to dig out his earbuds when the girl answered back.
"I feel you there. I had an exam in Math today. And then after school I had to deal with a really stupid customer at work." The girl suddenly complained nonchalantly.
Manato's hand stopped near his waist as he looked back at the girl. She sounded tired too. Well, a conversation wouldn't hurt.
"Didn't have to deal with any customers, but I did have an exam. Guess that means you beat me." He joked.
Though it wasn't obvious, Manato couldn't help but feel like she seemed proud of this little victory. Maybe it was the sway of her tail or the fact the stick of the candy she was eating was now pointing a bit higher. She seemed to think about something for a moment before she finally spoke again.
"Sorry if this is weird, but my boss is a wolf thiren. You kind of looked like him right now when you were yawning."
Manato found his cheeks getting a bit warm in embarrassment. Not at being compared to another thiren, but at the thought of her having watched that entire yawn. The girl must've caught this, but misunderstood.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to..." She started before Manato quickly waved it off.
"N-Nah, I ain't offended or nothin'. You just caught me off guard. I doubt you want to be thinking about anything involving work right now." He guessed.
The girl gave a light shrug. It seemed like she didn't actually mind her boss. That was something at least. Before he could attempt to continue the conversation a familiar song rang out. The girl flinched at the sudden noise before she quickly reached into her skirt pocket. Manato's eyes stayed trained on the pocket even when she pulled out her phone to answer.
Skirts...have pockets?
"H-Hey!"
Manato snapped out of his thoughts at the girl's voice. He realized where he was staring and quickly looked back to meet her eyes, his now wide.
"S-S-Sorry! I was just surprised your skirt had pockets! My friends are always going on about not having them so I just figured that wasn't a thing! I didn't mean to stare!" He quickly apologized.
Great. Now he looked like a creep. Or so he thought. He was surprised when the girl seemed to calm down a bit. Then, she got happy?
"My friend sewed them for me. I needed pockets for work so she made a few on a couple of my skirts." She seemed to gloat.
Well, looks like he was in the clear. He cleared his throat and turned to face forward again. Embarrassed twice. Smooth, Manato. Really smooth. He looked back over to see she was now texting someone. It looked like she didn't want to talk.
"That song just now, was it by Voltage Amp?" He asked out of curiosity.
It now seemed to be her turn to be surprised. He knew why, that band was pretty underground. Literally. He'd only ever seen them play in Reverb Arena once and there was probably 8 other people there. They didn't have much of a following.
"You know Voltage Amp?" She asked.
Manato smirked as he flashed one of the pins on his jacket. Her eyes seemed to light up even more.
"Been listening to them since middle school. I actually got to see one of their live shows." It was now his turn to gloat.
The girl actually began to smile as the two fell into conversation about the band. Their sound, their audio mixing, even the few music videos they had. Manato found the conversion flowing as naturally as if he were talking to Yuzuha or Lucia. And from there they somehow ended up on the topic of shows. He rarely had time to watch TV so he liked to stick to stuff he knew he would enjoy. She seemed to be the same to a certain extent, but she did recommend some anime after hearing some of the shows he liked.
Even as the train arrived, the two continued to talk.
"Don't even get me started on those TOPS pricks. I have to deal with them all the time for work and every single one of them is the same." Manato complained. "What did he even say?"
"He said that my legs looked nice in my uniform. I don't even know how he saw them, I wear leggings underneath." The girl explained.
"Guess creeps always find a way. So gross." Manato spat.
He sincerely hated guys like that. He thought about if some man had said something like that to A-Yuet and it made his blood boil. Was he ever like that? No, Yuzuha would've set him straight if he was.
"It's part of the job sadly. Maid is a pretty common fetish." The girl sighed.
A beat of silence passed between them before Manato turned to see her blushing. She crossed her arms and looked away once she realized what she had said.
"A maid?" Manato asked.
"Don't say anything." She threatened.
Manato raised his hands to show he meant no harm. It was just a bit surprising to imagine this girl as a maid. Actually, no, he probably shouldn't be thinking about that in the first place.
"Wasn't going to. A job's a job. I mean, I work odd jobs so I get it. No judgement here." He assured her.
This seemed to relax her a bit. Just in time to. The train began to pull into the next stop which seemed to be hers. Manato watched as she grabbed her school bag and started to get up.
"Now arriving at Ballet Twins Station." The announcement echoed.
The Ballet Twins? Manato recalled hearing about them from the Spook Shack forum. Something about it being haunted by the Twin Ballet dancers that died in the Hollow. He wondered if there was some truth to it. His attention returned to the shark thiren who turned back to him.
"This is my stop. It was...nice talking to you. See you around?" She said.
Manato nodded.
"Yeah, these classes are going to be pretty regular these next few weeks so..." He said back. "But, ah, I didn't get your name."
"My name's Ellen. I live around here and...yeah."
"Manato. I'm over in Failume Heights." A paused. "Have a good night, Ellen."
The girl nodded.
"You too, Manato."
And just like that, she was gone. Manato stared at the door for a bit even as the train departed. There weren't many other people in his cart and the ones who were were already asleep. Manato would've joined them any other day, but he suddenly found himself wide awake.
"Ellen." He repeated to himself.
He snickered a bit.
"Didn't take her for an Ellen.”