The festival finally rolled around after a long night of you having a breakdown inside your room. You shrug the awful thought off, not wanting it to ruin your mood. Your emotions were already jumbled up as it is, you didn't need a certain lettuce-haired teen to mess it up even more.
"(N/n)!" You turn around to see Gyu, his red hair shorter than usual. "Hey, looking good!" You smile at him. He blushes and shakes his head, trying to shrug off his pacing heart. "Thank you for covering Senku's position as the sous chef, you aren't even part of the science club!" You laugh as Gyu walked beside you, smiling, "I'm not acting in the drama club this year so I'm free, you don't need to worry about that." He chuckled and messed with your hair, a habit you notice he's developed.
The two of you enter the science lab. The door was suddenly opened by someone from inside. You look at the culprit and saw that it was none other than Ishigami Senku himself.
You silently scoff and walked past him, going over to your station so you could scan through the recipes and go over the process with Gyu. From your peripheral vision, you could see Gyu shoot Senku a pitying look before walking over to your side. The ruby-eyed teen walked away, presumably looking for Taiju.
You sigh and start to go over the recipes with Gyu, but not before he asked, "Did you two fight?"
You laugh dryly, "It's something like that, yeah." You trail off as you opened a small container of passion fruit caviar. Gyu raised an eyebrow as he sharpened a knife. "Isn't this supposed to be the part where you tell me about it and based on your story, I give you advice so you two will make up?" He says in a playful tone, trying to lighten up the mood in the room. The club members, especially, had noticed the dreadful vibe you and Senku had been emitting since entering the school grounds. They weren't used to you two arguing. And neither were you.
You laugh again, trying to keep yourself from breaking down. "Even if we do make up, I won't be seeing him that much anymore. It's pointless." Your voice almost broke as you said this, but you didn't let yourself show weakness. Especially in front of Gyu and the members. The redhead couldn't stand seeing you this sad, and so he pulled you out of the room. "I don't know much about what's going on, but what I do know is that you two need each other."
You look at him with an expression he couldn't quite pinpoint. "He's leaving for Kyoto, Gyu. He broke a promise. He said he was glad to leave my sorry ass behind. He doesn't care for me, he never did." You look away, trying to stop the tears from flowing. Luckily, nobody seemed to be in the hallways. It was just you and him.
Gyu's eyebrows knitted together, "I didn't give up on you just so you could get hurt like this!" He grabbed your shoulders with an enraged expression, startling you a bit. "Look, Senku is the type who thinks first before speaking. But it seems to me that what he said to you is just some shit he pulled out of his ass last minute!" He practically screamed. You look around and saw that some of the club members were peeking through the window.
"He must have his reasons. I don't know what his intentions are but whatever they may be, it doesn't justify the fact that he hurt you and broke an important promise." He sighs, trying to catch his breath, "Try to talk to him, communication is always good. If he doesn't budge, then it should be you who leaves his sorry ass." His grip on your shoulders loosens as he took a step back, blushing. "Sorry, I got a bit carried away." He smiled sheepishly.
You smiled back at him, it was genuine this time. "Thanks, I'll try to talk to him. No promises on making up with him, though."
Gyu blushes and grins at you, "Glad to see your smile is back." He messes with your hair. Chuckling, you walk back into the club room. The members immediately rush over to you with worried faces,
"Things will be okay!"
"The president probably had his reasons! He'll come around eventually."
Their comforting words were all it took for you to finally break down and let all the tears flow. Never in your life would you have expected to have such genuine friends that cared about you. And it was all because of the person who claimed he was gonna leave you.
"Alright, the festival is about to start. We need to get everything ready, get excited everyone!"
"Yeah!"
As Senku had predicted, the cafe was a huge success. He was glad, though he wished he had been by your side to witness it. You were probably enjoying your time cooking up those unique dishes of yours. The ruby-eyed teen would never admit it, but he always found your movements to be quite elegant while in the kitchen. It's as if your body flowed like water whenever you were focused on perfecting a dish, rushing from one counter to another just to get everything where you wanted them to be.
Before Senku knew it, he was at the bonfire. Some couples had already been dancing for a while. Senku even noticed Taiju asking Yuzuriha for a dance and clumsily did so with a flushed face. The male chuckled as he observed the area, searching for a familiar face. He was gonna apologize. No matter what it took, he needed to see your smile again. He was willing to drop going to Kyoto if it meant wiping that frown off your pretty face.
Sure enough, there you were, in all your glory. Senku had noticed that your hair grew longer over the course of the year. You had tied it up in a neat ponytail. By the gods, he was smitten. You were tired beyond belief after being in the kitchen for so long. Sitting down by an empty bench, you silently wait for something to happen. You had been waiting for this moment for longer than five months, there was no way you were going to back down now.
Senku watches you from afar, afraid to do his next move.
Fuck it, this was his only opportunity.
You were slowly nodding off to the slow music, then you felt a weight next to you. "Hey." Senku started. You tense up, "Hi."
Now, this was awkward.
Senku sighs and he unconsciously scratched his head. "Look, I'm sorry." He looked away, obviously not used to apologizing. He was also not used to the silent treatment, and so he continued on. "I didn't mean what I said yesterday. It was illogical of me to say such things." Still, not a word came out of you. Senku sighed, "I can just ignore the acceptance letter if you want. It's way less exciting without my trusty assistant around, anyway." He trails off.
Finally, after a moment of silence. You laugh. It wasn't genuine in the slightest. It was a laugh of sarcasm. "Don't." You start, "You've dreamed of going to space, right? If leaving for Kyoto is what will get you closer to that, then go for it." Senku was confused. Didn't you want to stick together?
"If I leave, what about you?" He finally asks. You turn to him. "What about me?" You chuckle, "I'm going back to Korea."
What?
"You're... what?"
You laugh at his reaction. "After my dad found out about you going to Kyoto University, he offered to enroll me to the culinary school he graduated from." You explain, "And I accepted."
Senku tried to speak but got cut off. "After you asked me if I even had a plan for my future, it got me thinking. And since my old man gave me an opportunity, I took it. My dad already took care of everything, I leave at dawn." You smile, mocking his words a bit. Senku was disappointed. Damn, he was really gonna do this.
"If that's the case, then..." He stood up, facing you. You tilt your head, curious as to what he was gonna say. "May I have our first, and hopefully not our final dance together." He held out his hand, urging you to take it.
Your head was a mess. Despite the pettiness in your tone earlier, you had already forgiven him. And now that this situation has escalated, you didn't know what to think. Senku made no effort in confirming nor denying that he was the mystery man leaving you strawberry milk in your locker. It confused you, to say the least.
"I'm sorry, but I have my first dance reserved for my-"
"Secret admirer?" Senku smirks as he took back his outstretched hand and put it on his hip. He was blushing but tried to seem confident. "I knew you were slow, but I didn't realize it was to this extent."
"What?"
"Let's do this again, dumbass. This time, try to read the mood."
Wait-
"I told you didn't I?" Senku checked his wristwatch as it struck at exactly six o'clock. He smirks, "At exactly six o'clock, I will be your first dance at the bonfire." he held out his hand for you to take.
You hesitate, "Are you sure? I told you, I'm leaving for Korea. I don't even know if I'll even return." You say, tears threatening to fall. Senku smiles genuinely, a sight people rarely get to see, "As illogical as these feelings may be, I'll wait for you. No matter how long it takes."
At that moment, you realize.
"Then let this be a goodbye worth remembering, though it may be bittersweet." You say.
The person you had been looking for was none other than the person standing before you. Your best friend, your partner in crime, and now possibly even your significant other, Ishigami Senku.