-

"Two hours went by so fast." Mizuki said, swirling the iced tea in their hand and watching the ice make clinking noises whenever they collided. "Time really does pass in the blink of an eye when you're having fun, huh~?"

"But of course. The fact we didn't even notice is a good sign, even. I'm glad everyone enjoyed themselves today." Rui agreed.

The cafe/restaurant they had chosen was not a particularly fancy or incredibly popular one. It was simply that; a cafe, and the food there was good enough for all of them, so that's where they chose to enjoy their "lunch". At the minute, they were waiting for the food to arrive.

"Seeing Akito 'wear a cat' and be nice to strangers gives me the creeps." Ena shook her head. "But, it was nice going out with some friends for a bit."

"I'm right here, you know-" Akito began complaining, before one of the waiters walked over with their food, and his sentence and tone changed completely. "-oh, thank you so much!"

"...exactly like that." Ena muttered once they left, nothing but pure disappointment in her eyes.

"Maybe for our next show we could have Shinonome-kun as one of the actors, hm~? What do you think, Tsukasa-kun?"

"Oh, huh-?" Tsukasa seemed to snap back to reality at the mention of his name, and when he looked up there was something off in his eyes, but he switched back to his normal personality so fast that Rui almost missed it. Almost. "I think having Akito-kun perform with us could be very interesting indeed! With the guidance of a director like you and a star like myself, he will be performing great shows in no time!"

"Hey! Don't forget who owes who, alright? Last I checked, you haven't directly repaid me for my help with that whatever wedding show." Akito's eyes locked with Rui's, and he could tell the other had noticed it, too. Mizuki didn't seem to, though.

Well, there goes asking our local expert in reading people... Still, I'll see if they know anything later.

"Ah, even after mine and Touya-kun's heartfelt talks, it's still a 'whatever wedding show' to you? How rude... You've truly gone and hurt my feelings, now~" Fortunately, they were both good enough at hiding things to keep their conversation going despite the fact they were concerned (even if Rui was sure Akito wouldn't admit to being worried about his loud, annoying upperclassman).

"I thought I told you that voice doesn't work on me."

"But it does on Mizuki! Right, Mizuki? Who's in the wrong here?"

The person in question took a long sip of their iced tea while maintaining eye contact with Akito, before giving him that mischievous smile that Rui knew all-too-well. "Ohhh, no~oo, It seems I've fallen trap to Rui's tricks once again~! You better apologize, otouto-kun, before he does something else!"

"Yeah, Akito, apologize." Ena sided with them, obviously finding Mizuki and Rui making fun of Akito absolutely hilarious. "Oh, but before you do, wait, I have to pull up the recorder app on my phone-"

"Hell to the fucking no."

Mizuki burst into a fit of giggles, with Rui following soon after. Tsukasa seemed to smile at this, too, and he was glad they had at least that. But...

He'll look into it later. They have some food to eat, for now.

-

"I had a lot of fun today! Thank all of you for the invite! Farewell, everyone!" Tsukasa exclaimed, before walking off in the direction of his house.

"Goodbye, Tsukasa-kun!" Mizuki waved him off, smiling brightly.

After finishing their food and having Tsukasa pay for it, they had spent a few more hours at the mall, simply walking around and window shopping whatever there was to see while talking and joking with each other. Tsukasa's... whatever had happened seemed to have been gone from then on, and he was back to being loud and energetic and talkative.

"Well then, Akiyama, who's walking you home?" Akito said once Tsukasa was gone. Ena was on her phone again, rapidly tapping the screen to send fast responses to her friends. They were outside now, standing on the sidewalk of Scramble Crossing.

"Eh-?" Mizuki blinked, surprised, but it was quickly replaced by a soft (but equally teasing) smile. "Aw, otouto-kun, how sweet that you worry about my safety~"

"Ugh, nevermind, I take it back. Senpai, just make sure they don't die on the way home or something, alright? I don't want to be associated to any murders."

"I got it, don't worry. Thank you for today and yesterday, Shinonome-kun, Ena-chan." Rui nodded. "See you at school tomorrow, if nothing goes wrong, of course, fufufu..."

"...that makes it sound like maybe I shouldn't go... just what are you planning this time?" Akito seemed genuinely concerned for his safety, and Rui couldn't help but laugh about it.

"Ah, it's nothing. Well, you better get going before it turns dark."

"Bye~bye, otouto-kun! I'll talk to you on Nightcord, Ena-chan!" Mizuki said goodbye to the siblings, before turning back to Rui. "Hey, Rui, I know there's school tomorrow, but..."

"...you want to stay at my house. Yes, yes. Come on, Mizuki," He smiled, knowingly. This conversation always went something like this, after all. "My parents are out on work trips and such. Not exactly sure what, but you know I don't really care either way. We have the house just to ourselves, to do anything we want..."

"It sounds really weird when you say it like that, but great! Won't have to sneak in through the garage window this time~!"

"You do that because you want to. I never said my parents were against you coming over."

"Well, it'd be sort of weird if your kouhai from Middle School, Mizuki-kun, suddenly showed up looking nothing like what he did before, wouldn't it?"

"I never really told my parents about you. Kind of had a feeling I'd regret it later. Maybe it was for the best, hm?" Rui shrugged. "The worst thing that could happen is them starting to go 'aw, is that your girlfriend?' anytime they see me with you. In their eyes, I've never really had one."

"You didn't tell them we were dating either?!"

"Hey, in my defense, it's not like they cared. Also my mom would probably die from a heart attack if she found out I was dating a quote-unquote 'boy'."

"And here I thought that you and your mum mostly got along..."

"Well, it doesn't matter. Come on, let's go before it gets too dark. I want to take the shortcuts to my house and those alleyways look awfully shady at night."

"Yep~yep! Let's go!"

-

Rui was tinkering with some stage equipment in his garage when he heard his phone ping with a Nightcord notification.

The better Shinonome - 7:29 pm

did akiyama get home safe?

Oh, he's totally telling Mizuki about this later. There's just no way he wouldn't- how sweet, dear Akito asking him if they were okay.

Rui ♡ - 7:30 pm

Actually, they came over to mine's

Nothing out of the ordinary, www

The better Shinonome - 7:30 pm

kay cool

see you at school tomorrow, senpai

Rui ♡ - 7:31 pm

See you tomorrow!

Oh and- by the way

The better Shinonome - 7:31 pm

?

Rui ♡ - 7:32 pm

You can keep my hoodie if you like it that much, Akito-kun~ :3

He shut off his phone before Akito could respond, giggling to himself. Now he had something to look forward to tomorrow...

Ah, right. Where was he again?

-