Bang. Bang. Bang. Slide. Bang. Bang. Slide. Bang.

The sound was enough to make Lucy spit.

She fidgeted with her fingers in her lap as her patience for the man in front of her ran dangerously low.

“You know, if you’re going to call me in here, maybe you could save that for another time?” Lucy stabbed a finger towards the mounds of papers claiming Kazuma’s desk as the next Mount Everest.

Besides a strained smile and a “Please, have a seat,” Kazuma had paid her no mind for the past five minutes as his wrist continued to flick his seal down onto countless documents all vying for his attention.

“My choice of music not to your liking, Lucy dear?” His usually stiff shoulders shuddered as a chuckle escaped him, eyes peering up momentarily for a glimpse at his guest’s nearly manic expression.

“If this is music, then please for the love of God, make me go deaf.” She threw her face into her hands, elbows digging into her thighs. “And don’t call me that.”

Lucy grit her teeth while Kazuma let out another sickeningly annoying laugh, followed by more bangs and the sliding of papers.

It had been six weeks since the “agreement” between her Uncle Alfred and Kazuma had taken place, and as they rolled steadily into summer, it was wholly safe to say that not much progress had been made, besides for the fact that this “Mister Kamoi” had made a second home in their house’s old study. Every Saturday and Sunday at unpredictable hours, Kazuma and Mieko would pop their way through the door of the Hampton home, Kazuma carrying on business discussions with Alfred and Mieko making a beeline towards Lucy and Yuko. Alfred and Kazuma always found themselves back in the same place as their first meeting, at the wooden table in the study with a pack of cigarettes in between them. Lucy would have given anything to be a fly on the wall in one of their private gatherings, but whenever she tried to follow them, the door was slid in her face.

“Hmmmm.”

Lucy was dragged out of her thoughts as Kazuma finally looked her way.

“This sound is music to my ears.” He grinned at her from across the desk, one hand cradling his chin while the other continued its inky assault on the papers below him. “I needed this, especially after everything you’ve pulled on me.”

“Excuse me!?” Lucy shrieked, fists pounding on the desk in front of her. “What I’ve pulled!? What about you-”

“This,” Kazuma sighed, unfazed and drinking in Lucy’s rageful spunk with a smirk, “Is the sound of productivity. I know it may be unfamiliar to your ears, but please, give it a chance.”

Stolen story; please report.

Lucy crossed her arms and scrunched her nose, leaning as far back into her chair as it would allow. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You're, I like to believe, a smart girl. It means exactly what you think.” Gathering the wayward documents into one pile and setting down his hanko, Kazuma leaned forward. “At least, I hope you can gather what I am referring to.” A steely glint danced across his eyes as Kazuma rubbed at his brow. “Little Miss Hooky.”

“Stop giving me these random nicknames!”

“Very well, Lucy dear.”

Lucy groaned through gritted teeth, head down and lips taut, waiting for Kazuma to start his lecture.

“The teahouse-”

“A dud, I know,” She rolled her eyes while Kazuma scoffed and shook his head.

“More than a dud.” Kazuma motioned a hand towards Lucy’s slouched figure. “It was an embarrassment, a smudge on my name.”

“You lied to me!” Lucy balled her hands back into fists. “You said the pay was 300 yen, they gave me 250.”

「I didn't lie. It was a miscommunication.」 Kazuma snipped. "But in your situation that still gives you no ground to not show up the following day.”

His eyes studied Lucy’s stiff posture, heaving a sigh from the depths of his stomach as he accepted her resolve not to look at him. “I was going to talk with them about the discrepancy, but instead you jumped the gun and took it into your own hands. I’ve done business with them for years, and now? We have to go and scrounge for something else once again.”

“How was I supposed to know you would talk to them? After all, it’s not like you really-” Kazuma’s unreadable expression roused unease as Lucy stole a glance from under her fringe. Whether he was insulted or concerned or any emotion in between, Lucy couldn’t tell.

“Me working odd jobs wasn’t part of the deal.” She twirled a piece of hair between her fingers as she quickly changed the subject. “Instead of having me in here, why not my uncle? The one you actually made said deal with?”

“Oh-ho.” Kazuma chuckled again, rising from his chair and circling around Lucy to gaze out the window. “Your uncle is even worse than you, if you can believe that.”

“Worse than me?” Feigning shock with a hand to her chest, Lucy gasped and rolled her eyes. “Mister Kamoi, you sure know how to flatter a girl.”

Spinning on his heel and reaching for the armrest to Lucy’s chair, Kazuma decided to entertain her charades - and his bravado.

“Even if someone’s a pain in my behind, I’m more motivated to play the game when they’re a challenge. And a such pretty little one at that.” He applauded his victory once Lucy’s pale face began to ignite in a heated flush, her hands shooing him away as her legs jolted her to a stand.

“This ‘game’ shouldn’t have anything to do with me.” Winding towards the door, Lucy felt Kazuma’s eyes stabbing a hole through the back of her skull. “I’ll leave your bullshit between the two of you.”

“My my, and just when I thought Little Miss Lucy would give me a run for my money.” Kazuma hummed dreamily, returning to his chair and reaching again for his hanko.

Bang. Bang.

“All bark and no bite, you are. Very well, bring him in.”

Lucy had half a mind to let loose once more with the verbal bullets, but for her sanity’s sake, she left the room with a slam.

Once the grumbling subsided and the door crashed to a close, Kazuma allowed himself one more laugh as he rummaged through his jacket for his pack of cigarettes - a small reward preceding the second trial of the day.