The next morning, Teru heard the bell above the entrance door to the cafe ring. It was far too early for most people to be up.
After all, it was around five in the morning, he wasn't expecting anyone to come at that hour again.
"That's.. a stupid argument, you're- god. Will you listen? That's not even.. no, no, that's it- I'm not doing this with you again, I'll talk to you in person after school. Yeah, whatever. Bye."
His head perked up at the voice, immediately recognizing it as the boy who had visited yesterday. Despite him once again very rudely arguing with someone on the phone, a subtle smile appeared on Teru's face.
Akane somehow made his eyebags worse within the span of just one day. Did he sleep at all? That was a bit concerning. Alarming, even. But Teru focused on something else.
He wore a wrinkled uniform with his ripped up shoelaces untied. His hair was a mess (and it always had been, that hadn't changed. Maybe Teru was thankful for that.) and he seemed to be moving his hands around as he spoke.
"Good morning, love~" Teru said in a sing-song voice, clasping his hands together as he welcomed the other. "Would you like the same seat from last time?"
"Yeah, sure. Why not," Akane muttered as a response, shoving his phone into his pocket. He didn't say good morning back, and Teru caught onto that. But of course, he said nothing about it.
"Has today been any easier for you so far?"
"I guess?" he pushed up his glasses with one hand, letting out a sigh afterwards. "It's more like kind of. My work is still piling up, but everything else is okay."
"Mmh, that's unfortunate." Teru led him to the same seat as before, shaking his head to express some sort of pity. "Good luck with that." he then placed a menu down onto the table. "Ah, and this time- please don't fall asleep before ordering. It leaves a bad impression when our customers start snoring on our tables."
"That was a one time thing! I don't snore, either!" it earned him a flustered reaction, which he instantly deemed as cute. It was almost as if it wasn't his first time seeing it before; his own thoughts were pretty quick, after all. "And I don't need a menu. I'll get the same thing as yesterday, if you remember it."
"Hm?" he blinked, "Don't you want to try something new? Tea, perhaps? Some sort of fruit bowl?"
"Not really. I'll just stick to the hot chocolate,"
"Well, alright. Give me a moment, then," he excused himself.
"Good morning, Minamoto-kun!"
"Good morning, Mei-chan," Teru gave the girl a smile as he made his way towards the serving hatch, "we need hot chocolate."
"One cup of hot chocolate coming right up!" Mei gave a thumbs up, "Say, is it for Aoi-kun again?"
"Mhm. He's the only one here, after all.. I don't think anyone else has come to the diner this early in the morning. It's a bit strange."
"Ooh! Well, that's Aoi-kun for you. He's kinda hard to understand, a little confusing in the social department, too. No one really knows what's going on with him," she hummed, "rumor has it that he and his partner broke up yesterday afterschool, too. If you still wanna flirt with him, then maybe you have a chance?"
"Ah, I'm not sure if I'd want to do that so soon."
"Really? Because-"
"Before you say anything," he cleared his throat, "the names I've been calling him have no real meaning behind them. I do this with most customers, they find it amusing. He simply doesn't care for them," he clarified, though it wasn't a lie- it wasn't completely true, either. Akane had sparked his interest, but he was only teasing for the fun of it (or at least that's what he told himself). "He hasn't asked me to stop, either."
"Suspicioooous.. but fine, I'll only believe you 'cuz you do that with most people." Mei hummed, "hey, want me to put a little something in his drink? Like, something cute?"
"Eh?" Teru blinked, "Something cute?"
"Maybe a little heart made out of marshmallows? Or a little extra whipped cream, if he likes that!"
"Well, I don't know what he likes."
"You don't?" Mei furrowed her eyebrows, "How come? Did you forget?"
Did he forget?
What an odd question.
How could he forget something about a stranger he hadn't met until now?
"I don't recall him ever mentioning it to me,"
"Oh," she paused for a moment, sounding as if she were hesitating to say something. It reminded him of Akane before he left the day before. It was an awkward feeling. "okay, then! I'll just put a few marshmallows in there! You can see if he likes them; and if he does, I'll see what I can do with the amount of sweet stuff we have!"
"Thank you, Mei-chan."
"Mhm, no problem! You know, hot chocolate is really easy to make- you should make it for him as a first move! Nene-chan says she loves it when I make it for her," she said cheerfully, "it's romantic!"
"Yes, I suppose it is. But Nene-chan finds the smallest things romantic," Teru chuckled, "and my job requires me to serve customers out here. I can't go back there and make him the hot chocolate myself without getting in trouble,"
"Don't say that about her! At least she likes my efforts!" she placed a cup onto the serving hatch, "I guess you're riiight.. just give it to him and say you made it!"
"I'll try, I'm sure that sounds believable enough."
With the support of an enthusiastic Mei, he walked back towards Akane's table.
"Here you go, Aoi-kun~ made just for you!"
"Of course it was made for me. I ordered it," Akane made a snarky remark, and for a moment, there was a smile on his face- but he looked away.
How odd. What was he looking away for? Perhaps he was insecure about his smile. Maybe he forgot to brush his teeth.
"Well, of course! But I made it with the intent-"
"You made this?" he immediately looked back, clearly the sentence had caught his full attention. "..I'm not so sure I want to drink this. Is this safe? Did you have supervision?"
"Eh?" Teru was stunned by the sudden questions. "What do you mean? I put my all into this hot chocolate, and this is what I get back? Ah, you wound me.."
"You know that's not what I meant," the former shook his head, "you should, at least! Don't think I've forgotten!"
"Come on, Aoi!" Teru whined, "I don't know what you mean. I didn't take you for the paranoid type~ and forgotten? Hm?" genuine confusion was laced in his voice. "What could you have forgotten?"
Akane stiffened.
"Never mind. Just.." his voice trailed off, a rather difficult to decipher emotion laced in his voice. "you're probably really a bad cook, that's all."
Had Teru struck a nerve? Maybe Akane was the sensitive type, instead.
It was a strange reaction, nonetheless.
"What an awful assumption!" Teru placed a hand on his own chest, continuing his 'hurt' act. "What makes you think that, though?"
"My gut. It's telling me you and a kitchen are a horrible combination."
"Well, unfortunately for you, your gut is wrong." he sat in front of Akane, (that wasn't even allowed, was it?) a charming smile on his face. "Quite the off topic question, but are you a fan of sweets?"
"Huh?"
"Well, you seem to like hot chocolate.." he pointed at the cup while his cheek rested on his other palm. "so I'm simply asking if you like sugary things."
"Uh.." Akane tilted his head to the side slightly, "not really."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah." he cautiously took a sip of his drink, just the cup itself was enough to warm up his cold hands. "Sweets aren't really my thing. I mean, it's not that I don't like them, I guess? I don't mind them. I just like savory stuff more,"
"Ah, I understand that, I suppose."
"Why do you ask?" he mumbled, now he was the one who sounded confused. "If you're still set on making me something, I would rather you don't. The efforts are kind of funny to experience, but don't take your flirting that far."
"Eh??~" Teru groaned quietly, "Well, if it makes you feel any better.. I didn't make the hot chocolate. I was going to ask my friend if she could make you something, instead."
"Mei-san, right? I could tell this wasn't yours in an instant.. I knew it had to be someone else's. Plus, you weren't even gone for very long."
"You know her?"
"Of course I do. We went to.." Akane paused, "uh, yeah. We aren't close, just old friends."
"I see.."
"Tch. Well, you should also see that claiming someone else's work as your own is wrong." he huffed, a sudden rant escaping his mouth. "Saying that you made this for me just as a horrid attempt to flirt? That's not worth it, Minamoto-san. You should know better than that."
"Aoi-"
"Not only is it rude, but it's also lying to the person you're flirting with. You might win over some of the cheerleaders with that, but not me- definitely not me. You have to work harder to gain my interest. Put more thought into it."
"I wasn't actually-"
"No, no- don't even start with that; you just tried it. So I'm letting you know now you have to do a lot more than pretend to make me something to get me to even want to talk to you."
"Eh?" Teru didn't know why, but he liked to listen to Akane ramble- even if the conversation was against him. His voice was oddly soothing. "Ahaha~ all I got from that convo is that you're going to let me win you over. I didn't listen to anything else." In reality, he did. He made sure he'd take that advice later on (which was quite strange for someone who claimed it was just teasing).
"Well, maybe."
"So you aren't denying it?"
"I'm not going to, no. If you want to try to win me over.." Akane took one final sip of his hot chocolate before finishing it all. "I'm not going to stop you." he flashed a small smile. "Now, I should be on my way. The club I go to is counting on me, you know?"
"Awh, that's a shame.." Teru got out of his seat, the other doing the same. "Will you come again tomorrow?"
"If I have the time, I might."
"One last thing before you go," he reached for one of Akane's hands, pressing a soft kiss on top of it. "Good luck~ I know I'm in the grade above you, but I wouldn't mind helping you out whenever you need me to. Just let me know when you need it."
"..thank you." Once again, Akane looked flustered. He was easily caught off guard (maybe Teru was grateful for that.) and his reactions were priceless. "Goodbye, Minamoto-san."
"See you around, dear."
"See you around."
"Are you sure that's a good idea, Aoi-kun?"
"I don't know."
Akane stood in an empty classroom, a brunette by his side.
"If he treated you that way," the boy said calmly, he seemed to be double-tasking. He was writing while conversing. "even in the past," he then made eye contact. "Then it's best you don't talk to him again, isn't it?"
"I get that, but it seems like he's changed."
"A Minamoto can't change."
"Minamoto-san seems different, Fuji-kun."
"I'm only warning you." the sound of his pen clicking was audible. "Don't get yourself in too much trouble. Akane-san is worried about you."
"She is? Why?"
"She knows you've been hanging out at the diner. Mei-san told her." he sighed, "She says she doesn't want you to get hurt again. Minamoto-senpai.. he hurt you a lot back then, didn't he?"
"I guess." Akane sighed, his fingers tapping nervously against the desk in front of him. "But it.. I don't know. I'm over it now,"
"Are you sure about that?"
Was he?
He could still recall what happened like it was yesterday.
"You know, Minamoto-san.."
"What is it?"
"I got a letter in the mail today. They accepted my request to participate in the Performance of Magic! I got the most important part- the finale!"
"Ah, really? That's amazing, Aoi! What day is it?"
"May 17th. I'm honestly shocked they picked me, I'm still a beginner- but you're gonna come, right?"
"Of course I am! I wouldn't miss my best friend's performance for the world!"
"Just making sure! I'll save you a seat up at the front!"
"You better!"
"No.. not- not really."