You felt annoyed at the situation—but especially at yourself. Annoyed that you’d agreed to another outing with your friend, the guy you’d had a crush on for nearly two years now, and his girlfriend of ten months. You couldn’t say no, especially since you didn’t have anything else planned and didn’t feel like coming up with a lie.

So here you were, sitting across from your best friend and his girlfriend as they chatted about some topic you couldn’t care less about. One of the waitresses had handed you three menus earlier, but you only pretended to look through yours. After all, this café was your spot. You basically knew all the staff here, and they knew you. But you weren’t in the mood to eat—you just wanted this to end so you could go home.

That was what you planned to tell the waitress when she came over. But the voice that spoke up wasn’t a woman’s—it was a man’s. A man you recognized immediately. You looked up to see Choso freaking Kamo, someone you had a very mutual hate-hate relationship with since your first year of college. No matter how much you tried to avoid each other, you somehow always ended up in the same place at the same time.

And if you remembered correctly, today was supposed to be his day off. (Not that you’d asked around about his schedule or anything... maybe just once.)

“You guys ready to order?” he asked, his monotonous tone never wavering. Tatsuya—the guy—ordered for himself and his girlfriend, who, to your mild irritation, seemed a little too interested in Choso.

After scribbling their order in his notepad, Choso turned to you, one eyebrow raised. “And for you?”

“I don’t want anything,” you said, looking down at the menu, feeling Tatsuya’s confused gaze on you.

Despite your answer, you heard the familiar scratch of his pen before he excused himself. After he left, Tatsuya asked why you hadn’t ordered anything, and you shrugged, lying that you’d had a heavy breakfast. He clearly didn’t believe you, but thankfully, he didn’t press the issue.

Minutes passed as you half-heartedly listened to the couple’s conversation, occasionally grunting out a “yeah” or “mhm” to sound engaged. When Choso finally came back with the food, he set two plates down in front of Tatsuya and his girlfriend. You expected him to walk away, but instead, you heard another plate being placed in front of you.

Your eyes dropped to see one of your usual meals from the café staring back at you. Confused and annoyed, you looked up at Choso—who met your gaze with his usual deadpan expression.