"Muffin Mania"

"Hey, I'm the new guy," Rubius stepped through the doorway of the bakery. He was wearing his regular outfit, a pin-striped vest and pants. His red hair was up, as usual, and he had on a disguise which hid the Negamoon insignia on his forehead.

The only others working there were three young women. One had sandy-blonde hair, somewhat short, and the other two, twins, each had black hair.

"You have to put on one of these!" one of the twins demanded, handing him a chef's outfit.

Rubius decided to put his plan into action. "Why?"

"It's policy," the other twin answered flatly.

The other one instructed, while the non-twin kneeded bread, "Go to the bathroom and change. If you don't, then you're fired."

"Sarah, take the front counter and turn on the open sign!" the other twin demanded.

Those two will be perfect recruits, with all that attitude! Rubius thought to himself as he walked into the bathroom, chef's outfit draped over his shoulder.

I hope no one sees me... Aurora pulled the Dark Stone out of her pocket, and into her lap. She did her cry in a whisper, "Nega, Dark Stone, Drain!!" She cut off the drain abruptly, so as not to be suspicious.

"I'm sleepy..." Molly yawned, her eyes closing a little.

"I won!!" Aurora and Serena screamed at the same time. "Congratulations!!" they said to each other in unison as well.

The last round was about to start: Aurora against Serena. They sat themselves on the two stools, opposite each other and the consoles between them. Sammy and Molly cheered for Serena, and Andrew pitched in for Aurora, as he felt sorry for her that nobody else was cheering on her behalf.

After several minutes the definitive cry came from Serena: "I lost!!!"

"Aurora Buckly is the winner of our first annual contest! Here you go!" Andrew draped the key on a chain around Aurora's neck.

After changing into his "work clothes," Rubius stepped out with his old outfit draped over his shoulder.

"Don't bring it into the work area!" one of the twins yelled at him.

"Fine," Rubius grumbled as he walked back through the doorway. He looked around for somewhere to put it.

The girl named Sarah stepped over to him. "Don't let Kelli and Jacklyn get to you. They're just big babies. By the way, there's a rack by the front door," Sarah told Rubius with a smile. Rubius then only saw Sarah, the rest of his vision was daydreamy sunshine.

"It's okay; I don't mind. What was your name?"

"Sarah."

"Pleased to meet you," Rubius said sweetly as he hung his outfit on the wooden rack. The afternoon haze filtered through the glass doors.

"And you?"

"Rubius," he shook his head, to rid himself of the emotion he was feeling. He couldn't put his finger on it. It was nothing he had ever felt before.

"What a nice name!"