Kojiro had woken up at the asscrack of dawn, got lost driving to the airport and almost missed his flight, gotten on the plane and had been stuck between a bickering couple for fourteen hours. When he finally got back to Okinawa, the Uber took forever to find him. He’d arrived at his family’s home, wondering if he should knock. He’d been in Italy at a culinary college for four years. He’d only visited home twice during those four years, so he was naturally excited to see his family. But above all, he wanted to see his best friend.

What Kojiro wasn’t expecting was for that best friend of his to open the front door.

“Kaoru?” Kojiro says, grinning stupidly and almost dropping his suitcase with excitement.