Sunday Breakfast With or Without Leave

Having an entire day all to themselves was a role Raichi took quite viscerally. What drove him was the desire to spend time with Yaori outside of school again.

Their steps in tune with their awkward yet content mood, Raichi's thoughts ran rampant with ideas on what to do next. Luckily, he already knew where to eat breakfast, so he could plan out the rest of the checklist while on the way to checking off their morning appetite.

Yaori's hands remained held together in front of her lap, and from what he could see at the edge of his vision, her hands were fidgeting.

Another detail worth mentioning was that Yaori was not afraid to hide her bandaged hand, unlike previously. After seeing her so defenseless, a massive contrast to when they first made their promise, Raichi had a hard time barely looking at her.

In her absence, he had learned much about her from Nishikigi. Though he'd beg to differ with the teacher's words about how much Yaori trusts him specifically, this time, he might throw her a bone.

Now that he had regained that trust, he wanted to prove himself deserving of it, especially after he had started a secret "rebellion" for someone who could never have imagined herself raising her hand for such a thing.

Their steps came into sync as soon as they left the park, and Raichi could feel his heartbeat in his ears. Next block, they would reach the cafe Raichi had chosen, and he hoped Yaori's expectations would be met. He had spontaneously upped the ante on his impromptu planning skills for this one.

Should be around this corner…

Turning left, the secret urban cafe could almost escape their sight. It was that hidden, shabby, and slightly backstreet. Yet, Raichi knew they would serve the best food at this hour.

''Well, looks like we've arrived, Yamada-san.''

''W-We have?'' Yaori only now saw the hidden cafe entrance resembling a bar under the stairs. ''I've never… seen this place before.''

''This is an establishment that was still around before I moved to Nara. Kinda surprised you haven't been here.''

''Well, aren't you an Uji expert?''

Even after all these years, Raichi still knew his way around not just the main but also the backstreets of Uji. To say that he was an expert in it certainly wasn't a lie.

Raichi walked down the small stairs and opened the door for her.

''Thank you.''

A waiter welcomed the two bookworms inside, leading them to a silent seat in the corner, isolated from the rest of the tables. When Raichi took a glimpse at the waiter's face, he could see a smile of pure joy on her face, which led Raichi to believe that it might have been intentional.

Yaori still looked like she had seen the outside world for the first time in her introverted life. But thinking she had been taken out for the first time wasn't a far-fetched idea, much less going AWOL simultaneously.

Raichi wanted Yaori to feel just as comfortable as she was when they were at the park.

''Feel free to get anything you want from the menu, Yamada-san. Today is on me."

"A-Anything?"

"Anything."

Yaori grabbed her copy of the menu. They had told the waiter they would order once they decided.

When looking for their order on a menu, one would be looking at the photos and content of the items. Yaori, though, from the way her gaze fell to the right half of the menu, seemed to be looking at the price tags with the bold text.

"I think I'll have some tea, Sato-kun." She laughed nervously. "I don't think I'm hungry just yet."

"Tea? Just tea? We came here looking for breakfast." He said, voice firm.

As he thought, Yaori'd rather Raichi not spoil her with such an expensive breakfast, despite asking for it herself. Perhaps her expectations weren't higher than convenience store sandwiches. However, they would need the energy if they wished to survive the entire day. He needed a solution, and fast.

Raichi pushed her menu card toward her, insisting, "You've gotta get something like a piece of toast. Please."

"N-No, I…"

If Yaori wasn't going to make a choice, then this once, Raichi would do it for her.

He buried his face deep in the menu, and he scanned through all the breakfast items, trying to find the piece with the most value for his money and Yaori's saturation.

And at the bottom, he found a breakfast pair specialty set, which was meant to be a shared meal for two people.

He pointed at the menu card, whispering calmly.

"Look at this one. It's a specialty here. Can you read its contents for me?"

"This one?" Yaori took a second to find it on her card, then started reading it out loud. "It says that it has toasted milkbread, a side of jams and sausages, and a pan-ful of omelettes. But, Sato-kun, it's three thousand yen!"

"Exactly." He nodded, leaning toward her like it was an unearthed secret. "It's a pair set. It's an absolute steal. If you get the cheapest normal menu, it'd cost at least four thousand in total. This way, it is individually cheaper."

"W-Wait, so you're saying…" Her face lit up, glasses sliding down her nose. "It's more economical if we get that?"

"Statistically, yes."

"If so…" Yaori put her fists in front of her chest in exclamation. "I'd love to get that!"

"A specialty pair set it is, then!" Raichi raised his hand and voice slightly, and that was all it took to get the attention of the waiter nearby. "Excuse me?"

The waiter, the same one with the bubbly smile on her face, headed over. Raichi gave the order and added two mugs of coffee to go along with it.

After the waiter took her leave, practically skipping with joy, Yaori's shoulders relaxed a bit, and she let out a sigh of relief.

Moments like these, where a girl was standing idle in front of him, rendered him unable to do the same.

In an effort to distract his head and start up a conversation, he skimmed through his phone and found the page for a book he had read back in Nara.

Raichi held his phone in his hand before he uttered,

"Hey, Yamada-san." He turned his phone the other way. "Have you seen this book before?"

"Oh? Let me see."

Yaori gently took the phone away from him, their hands brushing each other as the contact sent butterflies down his stomach.

"W-Well?"

She took a good, long look at the book, reading a bit of the demo, examining the cover, looking at the details, and reading the description.

This calculative, stoic look of hers, almost serene and most definitely in her element, was strangely nice to look at, and left his mouth open before he focused himself back into frame.

"This is a foreign book, is it not?" She adjusted her glasses. "I've mostly read the classics. Other than that, I strictly read Japanese authors, so I don't know."

"Oh, I-I see." Raichi felt a bit nervous about nerding out. "I read this when I was… in Nara. I'd heavily recommend reading it."

"When you were in… Nara?" Yaori looked a bit surprised to hear that. "From what the description reads, it is quite the melancholy. Extremely so. How did you manage to— enjoy reading such a piece, Sato-kun?"

"H-Huh?"

Raichi hadn't thought things through. To be keen on reading such a story, one would have to be either the opposite or as dark as the piece itself.

If he had the option to, he'd rather not have her know anything about his time in Nara. But one can't help but let intimate details slip when near someone faithful such as Yaori.

Her eyes darted around when Raichi didn't respond.

"I mean, it just—isn't my type of stuff, so I was wondering, that's all…"

What else could he say, he thought. Following such an out-of-pocket comment, heat rising to his cheeks, small talk would only sink the ship deeper.

This is bad.

The phone would stay in Yaori's hand as long as he stood there with his mouth zipped. He could take it, but he didn't.

His fingers traced the pattern on the wood, grasping just to avoid her gaze.

"If I had to say something…" Raichi began, a stiffness in his voice he didn't intend to add. He really didn't want her to see the grim expression on his face. "I think that—the content of the book says a lot about its target audience. I mean, you wouldn't pick up such a downer of a book if you weren't on a similar wavelength, would you? It's different from just enjoying it, I guess. It was like… I could see the same gray sky as them, you know?"

He hoped he wasn't right on the nose about it, but seeing as he accidentally let crumbles fall, he might as well show a taste of it, Raichi thought.

His time in Nara. If it were any type of food, it'd be bland, flavorless, hard as a rock, gum. Gets your teeth grinding, but doesn't provide for the tongue.

The world would move on with or without him, and he would feel like the only person vegetating, not unlike the pencils or erasers a student would use.

It was a time of inaction, a loop. He didn't feel like making the effort of talking when people judged him. The more he isolated himself as a getaway, the more he was judged. Avoiding it and starting from scratch was impossible.

Yaori didn't move. She just waited. The phone in her hand closed after not touching the screen for a bit, and she ended up looking at her own reflection briefly.

With eyes full of empathy, Yaori was, for lack of a better word, staring at him, as if tracing a line around his frame.

The last thing he expected her to do, though, was for the Acing Bookworm to take off her glasses again for the second time today.

She put her glasses to the side. ''...I think I get what you mean, Sato-kun.''

''You do?''

''Of course I do.'' Yaori nodded. ''That is the whole reason I started reading books. Do you remember… when we talked about what books were for us at the start of this week? An escape, a brief yet meaningful one—from the hardships of life, we said.''

The air shifted in a way Raichi hadn't expected. The secret he shared about his previous years felt less like a wound being reopened and more like a painful yet small insect bite.

And he hadn't forgotten the exchange Yaori was referring to, either.

''I do remember. I guess I hadn't realized what you really meant by that at the time.'' His shoulders relaxed a bit, eyes unable to avoid the sight of Yaori without her glasses. ''I never thought I would ever encounter someone who felt the need to indulge in a story just to get through a tough day as I did.''

Yaori blinked, putting the phone on the table and pushing it toward him with one finger.

She tilted her head, smiling from the depths of her heart.

''It can be incredibly lonely, that I know.'' She murmured, head turning toward the window to her right. ''That feeling, that impatience of being the only one in the room waiting on a clock that will just reset again.''

Raichi now felt comfortable enough to put his hand behind his head for a second, the edges of his lips curving.

''It's a bit of relief, in a way. Knowing you're here, too.''

Though he would love to rein in the silence for a moment longer, it had been many a minute since they ordered, and as Raichi saw the same waiter leaving the kitchen with a giant plate in hand, he knew what was coming.

The rhythmic clack-clack of the bubbly waiter's high heels approached them, and the plate in her hand made a metal sound that made the two of them jump.

"Sorry for keeping you waiting! Here you are!"

When all the plates, the pan, the coffees, and the ramekin came crashing down, the table was a sight to behold, especially for someone who had a low appetite.

"Wow."

"Whoa!"

The rich aroma coming off the feast coated the bookworms like a warm blanket.

The waiter, her expression that of extreme elation, maintained her excitement as she followed up with,

"Careful! The pan is still quite hot. Enjoy your meal!"

A feast worthy of a king was spread across the table. So much so that one couldn't even call it a "pair" set, given the volume of food.

Inside the heated pan, the egg, expertly cooked, was still sizzling from residual heat. When the cover was raised, the cloudy, creamy omelette revealed itself, folded to perfection.

Aside, four toasted slices of shokupan bread were resting on one another, waiting to be taken apart with the salted butter that came along with it.

Within the multiple ramekins were jams and honey alike: a crimson red cherry jam, yuzu marmalade, fresh honey, and much more.

On another plate were a few pieces of Vienna sausage, blooming like a fragrant flower upon being cooked.

And to top off the meats, some stringy, crispy bacon to complement the sausages.

Alongside a pair of tongs to be used for serving came some oshibori, to clean their hands with.

Lastly, an unforgettable way to start one's morning: two mugs of coffee.

After using the oshibori and putting them aside, the time for answering the three-thousand-yen question arrived. Would it be worth the price?

"Look at this spread, Sato-kun!" Her eyes were on the edge of turning into a waterfall of joy. "It's way bigger than I would've imagined!"

"Quite the smorgasbord indeed. In that case," Raichi grabbed the tongs. "What would you like on your plate first?"

Yaori blinked, then couldn't stop herself from smiling at his remark despite her obvious frustration.

"I'm not that helpless. But…" She crossed her arms together. "I wouldn't mind. Start with the egg, please."

"On it,"

With precision, Raichi slid the server under a big piece of the omelette, lifting the egg from the still-sizzling pan, making sure to keep its fluffy shape intact. He steadied it again to make sure it could land successfully on Yaori's plate.

The sausages were next. He used the tongs and snagged the biggest pieces with them, and the bacon strips, too. After some more tinkering, a dense landscape of food had formed on Yaori's plate, and on his own, with the shokupan being the last addition as a cherry on top.

Raichi put extra care into every bit of movement that followed the tongs and server. Not that he wanted to impress Yaori or anything, but he wanted to be precise and thorough to give Yaori the best experience he could.

''There we go,'' Raichi set the tongs down at the side. ''I'll grab the bread as we go, so as to keep it warm and toasty until we want to eat.''

Yaori didn't pick up her fork right away. Her eyes almost seemed to be following Raichi's hand and fingers before he put them away.

Unclear whether it was from the heat of the food or not, a rosy tint dusted itself on Yaori's cheeks. Raichi hadn't realized or noticed her staring.

''Sato-kun,'' she looked back down at the spread, then back at him. ''Do you help with the kitchen often?''

''W-Where did that come from?''

Yaori blinked, clearing her throat, finger on her mouth. ''Um, nevermind. Before we start, I had something I wanted to do.''

''What is it?''

She reached for her pocket and, bashfully, opened her camera, holding her phone above the spread.

With her unoccupied arm, Yaori scratched the top of her head, letting out a tiny laugh.

''I don't usually do—this,'' She tried to get the angle right, focused. ''But there is so much food that I feel compelled enough to take a photo of it. I don't want to forget this.''

''Oh, I see.''

Raichi leaned back slightly, sensing that he may be caught in the lens. Taking a photo of the spread before eating was a common practice for girls and boys their age. Yet, seeing Yaori, one who is constantly striving to maintain her prim and proper reputation, doing something he'd often associate with his carefree and bombastic peers like Nao, was a refreshing change of pace.

He heard the shutter click once, then twice. Raichi continued to observe her calmly until the shutter clicked several times in a row after she changed her angle.

''There, I think that ought to do it.'' She murmured, phone sliding back where it came from.

''I'm… not sure if you got your fill of the photos just yet,'' Raichi added as a joke. ''Need more?''

''H-Hey, I know a joke when I see it, Sato-kun. And no, I am not done yet.''

''I knew it.''

Despite the only photoshoot-worthy scenery in front of them being the scrumptious food, Yaori glanced around like she was searching for something.

Her eyes narrowed toward the kitchen, where the bubbly waiter was polishing an empty metal tray. She corrected her glasses, standing up from the soft, cushioned seat.

"Something's up?"

"I think I recognize the waiter who served us. Nee-san used to bring me along with her to the neighborhood association meetings. I, um, apologize for letting the food go cold, but—"

"No, it's fine, Yamada-san." Raichi reassured, despite his confusion. "If you feel it's important, then feel free."

"Thank you! I'll only be a minute…"

Coming as a surprise, Yaori stepped out of their booth and walked toward the blonde waiter. Strangely, the woman tilted her head when Yaori was approaching her.

Their conversation, from his vantage point, only reached his ears in hushes and whispers. From the feel of it, though, Raichi could tell they were familiars.

That was when, strangely, Yaori whispered something directly in the woman's ear, which prompted a vigorous, enthusiastic giggle and nod from her.

Most peculiar of all, perhaps discreetly on purpose or simply out of his line of sight, Yaori shoved something inside the waiter's back pocket on her work uniform.

What are they doing over there, I wonder?

Raichi wasn't planning on expressing his scepticism and piquing interest. However, Yaori tossing an item he couldn't see in her pocket inescapably caught his attention.

When Yaori returned, for reasons Raichi couldn't help but probe, the rosy dust on her cheeks she had left with had only increased in contrast and hue.

He watched as Yaori slid back into the booth, her movements slower and more deliberate as she sat down. The blush on her face, impossible to unsee, looked like it was glinting at him.

Playing it cool, Raichi used his oshibori one last time in an attempt to distract himself at the same time.

''Everything okay? That looked like a negotiation at some point…''

''Y-Yes, everything is fine. She was just, uhm, slightly irritated that I didn't recognize her the first time. We had a bit to catch up on."

"Right. It is a small world, as they say."

In the end, he didn't push it. He thought he might just be off his rocker for even having the urge to pry.

Raichi gestured toward their plates, an ample amount of steam being released from the creamy omelettes and the bit that was still in the pan.

"The food isn't getting any hotter. I think it's high time we started eating."

"I think so, too."

Before clapping his hands together, Raichi's eyes landed on what remained of the blush on Yaori's cheeks, furtive.

The two bookworms pressed their hands together, leaning just a fraction.

"Thanks for the food."

Their utensils started tinkering on the plates as the low jazz music of the restaurant grounded them in place.

Yaori's first bite of the omelette, lingering in her mouth, made her eyes widen, her glasses still at the side. She lifted her fork for another trembling piece of omelette before reaching for a shokupan.

Her subtle tension from before, very much hard to ignore, vanished in an instant.

Having taken his first few nibbles and nothing else, Raichi almost found joy in watching her eat so enthusiastically. Perhaps it was the pride that came in having bought the food for her, like he was the source of her jubilation.

"Um, do I have something on my face?"

"Oh, my bad, Yamada-san." He reached for his shokupan and a nearby ramekin. "I was just—thinking. You're enjoying it quite a lot. More than I expected, actually."

"Is that so surprising?"

"A little. Something in me thought you'd be worrying about the calories or loss of time. Not to mention your distress at the price beforehand.''

"I—I am," Yaori snickered, turning away with a grin. "Ehe, the omelette is impeccable though. I just can't hold back my amusement."

"Oh, is that what it is?"

Raichi couldn't help but genuinely laugh at how direct Yaori was about it. And she wasn't wrong about it either.

The creamy omelette melted in his mouth like ice cream, and it had an immaculate balance of flavors, largely thanks to the dashi.

Toasted to perfection, the shokupan, crusty, savory, sweetened by the cherry jam on top, was dangerously good. It was the type of toast that would leave you wanting more.

The Vienna sausages, flower-shaped and brownish pink, were also classic breakfast companions, and they tasted just as great.

Coffee wasn't his favourite drink, but Raichi could see the vision in how someone like Yaori might like it in the morning.

Raichi went ahead and cut the rest of the omelette in half and served it accordingly.

A moment passed, and when Yaori finished swallowing the food in her mouth, she paused, not taking another bite.

"Hey, Sato-kun."

"Yeah?"

Yaori's fingers traced the rim of her coffee mug, then she lifted the mug up to her mouth. Her eyes, her expression, looked like it was wearing a skin he had never seen Yaori in.

''I was… mulling it over. If this were any normal day, I'd be at my desk, perhaps spaced out, looking at the red timer sitting beside me.'' She murmured. ''I use it to keep track of how long I have been studying. Every time I check it, I ask myself whether I have studied enough to justify a ten-minute break. And it just hit me—how different it feels.''

Raichi stopped eating for a second, holding up his mug in turn.

He was aware that Yaori's comment was on the heavier side. To hear her open up about her daily life at home was a topic he was interested in, as much as he would hate to admit out loud.

However, from the way she put it, Raichi could tell it would lead to a somber transition for their breakfast, which he'd hate to see.

''Different?'' Raichi parroted. He acted aloof as he followed up with, ''Is the beep loud at all?''

Yaori blinked. ''Excuse me?''

His voice remained conversational and flat, and to deepen his stoicism, he took a calm yet deliberate sip of his coffee, setting it back down on the table.

''The timer, I mean.'' A bite of omelette entered his mouth. ''When it goes off, how loud is it? Quiet or loud?''

''D-Don't talk with food in your mouth!'' Yaori scolded. ''But to answer your question, I guess it is… sharp. It cuts through everything, my concentration, and the silence in which I study. Why do you ask?''

''It sounds annoying if you ask me. If I had a tiny machine like that clock yelling at me, I'd chuck it out the window. I've seen plenty of people reporting improvement upon switching to timed study sessions, but why not just study until you feel tired and take a break?''

For some odd reason, Yaori looked like she had taken his conversational eating as a challenge, and started chugging down food and blabbering on her own.

The serious yet elegant bookworm seemed quite casual when eating, in stark contrast to the substantially loaded topic of the conversation.

''B-Because if I stop whenever I feel tired—'' She swallowed. ''I'd never get through any of the material! It keeps me accountable, Sato-kun!''

''As if to say you're—constantly tired, Yamada-san?''

The fork flying up to her mouth halted in the air as she met his eyes after that comment, like a jab to the stomach.

While she did look hilarious during her stunt, his remark seemed to have done its job.

Having such a study system with barely enough stamina left was a contradictory one, likely consuming at the edge of her youth and time as a teenager.

We're only first years…

Raichi thought, yet stating that out loud might have Yaori lash out, so he buried it back into the corner of his brain it came from.

The fork in her hand still reached its destination, along with a delectable bite of shokupan with butter and cherry jam on top.

''I-I'll admit it's a bit of a problem, but I have to be!!'' She exclaimed, sipping her coffee. ''Otherwise, I will have wasted time.''

''Wasted time? Doing what?'' He lightly pointed at her with the tip of his fork. ''Taking an eleven-minute break instead of ten? What are the consequences of not adhering to it for a day? You're already at the top of your class, and you can beat us with your eyes closed…''

His voice trailed off at the end, his palpable concern for her showing itself for a moment.

''It's a slippery slope, Sato-kun…'' She must have noticed it, too. ''I-If the routine falls apart, I can never pick it up again, and thus—''

''You get a ninety-five instead of a hundred.''

''It's not just numbers on a piece of paper, and you know that, Sato-kun!!''

Raichi couldn't tell if she was really scolding him and calling him a slipshod, or whether she was putting on the act of an adorable drunkard.

The two bookworms, both chowing down the food in their mouths, ended up in a simultaneous eye contact with Yaori's bandaged hand.

As if the seriousness had just dawned upon them, Raichi lightly asked,

''And what is it, then?''

''...A return on investment.''

A bead of condensation rolled down his mug, and his thoughts ran back and forth.

Labeling studying as a return on investment was almost cynical, especially for a first-year student in her youth like Yaori.

What does she mean by that?

Raichi put his newly adorned shokupan back on his plate.

"Investment." He said as if testing the word. "What a heavy way to put it. Are you meaning to treat yourself and your efforts as mere stock options, Yamada-san?"

"I-If that's what it has to be." She took a bite from her shokupan. "After all, I am not the one investing."

"I realized that. Your sister, isn't it?"

In the process of angst-feeding, Yaori was pretty much done with her plate. Her eyes kept glancing over to her bandaged hand as she strung together her next sentence.

"My sister. In an effort to keep the house afloat, to keep me warm and fed, she's… effectively giving up her life, so I can have one of my own. She works these late, grueling shifts she goes to after dinner and returns by the time I am already asleep. Sometimes I pretend to be asleep, and I find her tucking me in. When she's home, she does the chores, cleans the house, making sure the space in which we live is neat and silent, so I can study."

Her bites didn't have any joy in them anymore, which hurt Raichi on the inside all the more.

"Those grades of mine. If I don't keep them up to standard, then her sacrifice ends up being in vain. I just become… a sinkhole for her effort."

Raichi unloaded his entire weight onto the leather of the booth, stretching it. He tried to comprehend the amount of sheer hard work Yaori just undermined the value of.

Not only did she, in his humble opinion, misunderstand the supposed hardship Ayaka puts herself through, what she works for, and what her labour accomplishes for Yaori, but also what her own studies are standing for.

His opinion notwithstanding, this thought process would be transgressing her established boundaries. Raichi had to make his position clear before he responded.

In terms of how much of the Yamada family dynamics he knew, he was lacking. Through Nishikigi, however, Raichi had gotten the opportunity to learn more about the Yamada sisters. Ayaka's current standing, as he surmised, seemed like it had ended up diverging from her shining past.

"Look, Yamada-san." He started. "I don't… have the right to say anything about your family or your home environment, including your sister and the specifics of why she does what she does. It isn't my place."

Yaori didn't return his gaze, instead staring off into her bandaged hand, zipping her mouth silent.

His hands merged in front of his face, elbows on the table.

"From my, an outsider's perspective, what your sister does for you, it's so you could have a life, that's what you said, right? Would she be happier than she otherwise is if she sees you making the most of it?"

"I… I did say that." She nodded, hesitantly. "But I think she'd be happier… knowing her efforts weren't for naught, and that I succeeded in that life she offered me."

"You're misunderstanding what I mean, Yamada-san." He leaned forward. "She is buying you precious time, that's what she is doing. Do you think… you're honoring the investment—by limiting yourself to a timer, one that won't let you eat breakfast in peace?"

In the silence that followed, the tinkering at a nearby table, the sound of sizzling oil and fire, easily reached the comfort of their table.

Uncertainty kept him from swiftly crafting up another well-thought-out assurance. Perhaps this was a good stopping point.

The flaw in her logic was laid bare for her to see, yet that didn't change anything. Raichi wasn't a part of her family, nor was he a savior.

"S-So, I'll say it again," he said, indecisive. "I can't figure out the answers, but I know one thing for sure. If I was the one working those late shifts, I'd most certainly want you enjoying your meal than to see you as a zombified examinee. But maybe that's just me."

Raichi thought he had changed the flow of the conversation enough that he could comfortably finish the rest of his meal, or at least what remained of it after their competitive eating.

There was no telling who could win this clash of two opposing lifeviews; therefore, Raichi thought he ought to finish his meal. After all, it was Yaori's life they were discussing, and Raichi knew he had no say in it.

Yaori didn't respond; instead, she took another bite of her last piece of shokupan.

She let out a confused, muffled sound. As anyone in her shoes would be, she was at a loss for words. Her gaze, if met, gave off the impression that it could burst into anger or sadness.

''You don't—'' She bit her lip, shaking her head. ''N-Never mind. I'm just… struggling to follow. It's like my head won't budge, no matter how right or wrong you may be, Sato-kun.''

''As I said, I am just a stranger, Yamada-san. We're close, but… nothing compares to family, to each their own.''

''You're right. I'm… going to come out and say it.'' She sipped her coffee again, and guilt swelled up in her eyes. ''I was an inch away from telling you how little you understand our home, but that would've… been absurdly rude of me.''

''You just did…''

''I am aware of that, and I am sorry.''

The apology wasn't genuine, and Raichi knew that. Because it wasn't a necessity in the first place, her hypothetical snide comment was harsh, bitter, but not ungranted.

My back. It's aching again, pulsating.

As deserving as he was of that comeback, it didn't have an effect on how distant he felt just now. Prior knowledge of her sister brought with it more burden than anything.

"T-The coffee. It's a lot less enjoyable when it's… cold."

"Likewise."

Cold coffee in one hand, and the last shokupan in the other, Yaori resumed chowing down on her remaining meal. Everything else had run out, and so it was just the toast left.

Raichi didn't want to end this once-in-a-lifetime breakfast on a heavy note, but in the end, he at least managed to make her happy, if only briefly, he thought.

In order to keep himself occupied and to give Yaori some thinking space, in the meantime that she was eating, he opened his phone and acted like he was scrolling. In reality, he was going in all four directions on the main screen, vacant.

When one or the other met their gaze, they both ended up turning the other way. It felt as if Yaori was deliberately slowing herself down while eating it. The enthusiasm the two had packed earlier came off as entirely mechanical at this rate. That wasn't to say it was boring, but something else entirely.

His phone would continue to ''entertain'' him until Yaori would give him the signal, and their breakfast would meet its end.

The denpyo was within arm's reach, and he would have to grab it minutes later, when Yaori finished her last piece of crust.

''I'm… finished, Sato-kun.'' She lightly bowed. ''Thank you for the meal. It was amazing.''

''Glad to hear it.''

Raichi reached for the denpyo and slid out of the booth.

''Are you—?''

''Yup, I'll go handle the bill. You can… wait here.''

The piece of paper felt frail in his arms as he called out. The register was down the aisle.

This breakfast with Yaori, this experience, was an emotional high-stakes bumper ride. One moment, they were enjoying the silence and food, and in another, they both had taken turns opening up.

While Raichi was occupied with handling the bill over at the register, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the same cheery blonde waiter wave to his left, likely Yaori. She passed behind him, and although he didn't turn her way, the clacking of her high heels faded away into the distance.

By the time he returned to the table, the waiter was already gone.

As he did before, Raichi saw no reason to pry into something so trivial. He decided he had to leave everything behind for now, and so he led the way out of the restaurant, his mind filled with an uneasy ache of all the blue emotions.