*Scaramouche POV*

Kazuha's eyes closed, not a sound. He must've been very tired.

Seems like I answered too late for him.

I can't say I understand how he feels in all this. I can't say I understand how he's able to control himself in this situation.

He's really, really strong. I couldn't be strong like that. He's amazing.

I tried to close my eyes, but one thought lingered my mind.

Does arranged marriage mean that I should give up on my feelings for Kazuha?

I hate how I love him. I hate how I love caring for him, talking to him, just looking at him.

I'm falling for him so badly that I'm scared I won't be able to control myself when the time comes. I'm scared that I'll show him the side of me I try to contain inside.

Well, if that happens... it just means I'll have to isolate myself from the world. I don't mind cutting class, even if it'll ruin my grades. I just can't afford to hurt Kazuha.

When I went over everything going on in my head, I closed my eyes and eventually fell asleep.

Timeskip, after the night

I woke up to see Kazuha that...

Wait, where is he?

"Oh, Scaramouche, you woke up. Good morning."

Sadly that wasn't Kazuha, it was Ei. She walked towards the doorframe and leaned on it with a cup of coffee in hand.

"Good morning, Ei. Do—"
"Don't worry for Kazuha. He had to go to work today. I gave him a lift to the bus station. I don't know if he'll come back this night though."
"Alright. Thanks for accepting and helping him out."

Ei smiled and sighed.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't help but overhear a bit last night. But I get what he's going through. I witnessed the death of a loved one once and it's heartbreaking. But..."

She closed her eyes calmly and opened them again.

"...but I think what hurts him the most is the other thing. And I know you're probably hurting so much because of it right now. How are you feeling?"

Ugh, Ei. You always get me to open up, huh.

"I'm scared of giving up on him. I'm scared to confess, too. But, most of all, I don't want to hurt him, you know..."
"You're still scared of that part of you?"

I slightly nodded. She understood and sipped some coffee before saying something.

"Scaramouche, I hope that you understand that when you're in a relationship with someone, you can't hide what you are, you can't hide you. You'll have to talk to Kazuha about that part of you if something ever happens between you two."

What she said made sense. I think I'm gonna listen to her this time.

"Thanks, Ei."

She smiled and almost left, but came back to me.

"Today you have a day off, so you could visit Kazuha at work. He would probably appreciate it."
"Oh, yeah, I'll do that."

One detail about our conversation came up to my mind.

If Ei got Kazuha to the bus station, they probably talked about something. Ugh, I'm actually scared of going there all of a sudden.

I looked over at my phone. Looks like I had quite a few notifications.

Kazuha
Scaramouche, I'm sorry for leaving so early.
I had work so I couldn't risk it.

This was sent about two hours ago. I wonder if he's able to see my messages at this time.

Scaramouche
No worries, I get you're busy and all.
Actually, since it's a day off today, would you accept me coming to your work?

It only took a few seconds to see the green icon indicating he was online. I saw him typing.

Kazuha
I would really appreciate it.
You could also meet with some of the customers.
There's a lot of kind people here.

Scaramouche
Alright, I'm coming.

I didn't even look at the messages from the group chat. I packed a bag with some homework to do and some money. I put on the most casual outfit I have and went over to the door.

"Scaramouche, what are you doing?"

I was stopped by Ei, obviously.

"You're the one who told me to go see him, well, that's what I'm gonna do."
"I'm dropping you off."

I held my sigh and waited for her to get ready. Ei eventually opened the door and went outside. I followed her.

"Do you even know where's the place?"
"I'll figure it out. No worries."

The car ride was boring, seems my mother knew where to go. She stopped in the parking of the shop and waited for me to leave.

"Have a good time, you two."

I closed the door of the car and to entered the shop.

"Welcome- oh."

Kazuha looked at me with a bland look, but a smile eventually appeared.

When it did, it shined so brightly.

I walked up to the counter. No one was waiting in line.

"H-hi. Um."
"My break's starting in about 10 minutes, so we'll be able to chat a while. First of all, you should start with a drink. What can I get you?"

Kazuha looked in his element, waiting to take my order. I never drank bubble tea, so I didn't know how to order.

"Since this is the first time—"
"Yeah, here, look at this. There's milk tea and bubble tea. For the milk tea, there are different flavours, but they're not customizable, compared to—"

There was this one drink that caught my attention and I pointed it.

"Oh, this one? Sure. One milk tea coming right away! Pick a place, I'll come with it."

I looked around the shop as Kazuha left to prepare the drink. There weren't a lot of free places. I wouldn't like to sit at the same place as someone else, but...

"Hey, you there. You're a new customer? Come over here."

A tall man with icy blue hair caught my attention. He had rather gentle eyes. There was also a girl besides him. She looked rather similar to him.

I did as he said and settled down at the place he indicated. The girl looked rather nervous, but the man didn't look awkward.

"Kazuha told me a bit about you. Said that we could talk and stuff.", he said.
"R-right."

The man drank his drink, the girl stayed almost paralyzed and I was... eh, I didn't do anything.

"You know what, I'm gonna-"
"Sorry, sorry, I didn't introduce us. I'm Ayato and this is my sister, Ayaka. Actually, you two go at the same school I think."
"W-well, nice to meet you. I'm Scaramouche."

Ayaka nodded at me and smiled, while his brother had a mischievous look on his face.

"Well then, Scaramouche, what-"
"Here's your order, Scaramouche. Mind if I sit besides you?"

Kazuha arrived with the drink in his hand. He had a bright smile on his face, but it became a bit serious look when looking at Ayato. The man closed his eyes and sighed.

"Sure."
"Thank you."

My friend sat next to me and handed me the drink and a straw. The cup had a plastic cover on it which I figured I had to remove. I tried getting it off, but Kazuha grabbed hold of my hand.

"That's not how you do it. Here, take the straw and pierce the cover. Like this..."

He popped the cup himself to show me. His hand was still on mine, which caused me to redden. Kazuha looked at me in the eyes and then at his hand, swiftly taking it off.

He became all red and mumbled some words I couldn't understand. Ayato raised an eyebrow and chuckled.

"What's that for, Ayato?"
"Nothing, Kazuha. Absolutely nothing."

I eventually took the cup and took a sip.

Oh my god the flavours-

"Woah, that's amazing Kazuha! And you work here every morning? I'm definitely visiting you anytime I can!"

Kazuha blushed and smiled.

"Sure, I'll look forward to it!"

Ayaka looked out of place, Ayato too, but I was wondering what was going on in Ayato's head. He looked very... I don't know, suspicious?

"Say, Kazuha, was that the flavour you were talking about? The one you never tasted but wanted to?", said the man.
"U-um, well, yes-"
"Why don't you share with Scaramouche?"

I almost hate the guy.

"N-no, he couldn't possibly-"
"It's so big he won't be able to finish it all and look, it's not as if it wouldn't accept? Or would you?"
"N-no, I wouldn't decline."

I felt my face becoming all hot. I didn't dare look at Kazuha, he must be a mess right now.

"So, why don't you take some?"

The white-haired boy took a sip of my drink and his eyes sparkled.

"This is the best flavour, there is no question about it!"
"Are you sure that's all there is?", Ayato asked.
"..."

Gosh, what was up with that guy?

"Well, I guess I did make it tasty just because I knew you would be the one to taste it, Scaramouche..."

I put my hands on my face to hide my embarrassment. Kazuha was probably burning up right now. Ayato chuckled until a quiet voice stopped it.

"You should stop teasing them like that, brother. I know that you're trying, but..."

Ayaka finally spoke up, but immediately covered her mouth with her hands. Kazuha stopped breathing for a bit and Ayato sighed.

"This isn't going well, aha. We're just gonna have bad impressions of ourselves.", declared Ayato.
"Yeah, that's for sure.", I couldn't help but say.

When things got calmer, we started talking like we normally did, I did some of my homework with Kazuha during his break and we talked lots.

The funniest thing in all of that was that we shared the drink all along.

It was the end of the day and Ayato was heading home with Ayaka.

"That was a nice time, Scaramouche. To the pleasure of seeing you again.", said Ayato.
"Yeah, see you soon, Scaramouche.", added Ayaka.

I waved over to them, I wasn't leaving. I decided to stay and wait for Kazuha.

"Scara, you're still here?", a familiar voice shouted.
"Yeah. Take your time though. I'm gonna wait for you and don't worry, I'm not in a rush."
"I'm done already."

Kazuha arrived from behind the counter with his coat and bag. He waved at me and I got up from my seat to join him.

"Are you going to your place tonight?"
"Would you mind me staying over tonight too?"
"No, you're welcome to stay for as long as you want. Ei won't mind."
"Alright, that's settled!"

We left the shop and went back to my place by bus. We settled down for the night and rested.

Who knew that after this weekend, our lives were going to be much different than before?

OH MY GOSH PPLLLLLLL ITS BEEN SO LONG I'VE MISSED YOU ALLLLLL!!

Hi there people! How are you all doing?
It's been almost about a week I haven't updated, I'm so sorryyyyy! Had a writers block and life is really tricky for me right now, but I'm glad to be writing again!

I'm on break now, so I'll try to write more! It was a nice change of pace!

Okay, I'll leave you all to read this chapter. I'm going to go back to writing.

Until next chapter!

-Author-chan

*btw I wrote this when in 2.5 so maybe Ayato isn't like his usual personality, sorry about that*

2nd of March, 2022
(1943 words)