"So, are you guys a thing now?" asked Mashiro cheerily. "You know. Have you started dating?"
Both Hiyori and Shinji choked on their drinks, Shinji sputtering shaved lime ice and Hiyori spewing strawberry milk all over the table. Hacking and coughing violently, Hiyori ducked her head, conveniently hiding her beet-red face, Lisa noticed, and when Shinji tried to pat her on the back, she gave him a half-hearted glare.
"Watch it!" Love said, wrinkling his nose. Hachi lifted his eyes to the sky in helpless exasperation.
Hiyori gagged, pretending to throw up.
"Me, date that stupid mophead baldy?" she sneered. "As if!"
Shinji snorted, wiping his mouth with a napkin and flapping it in derision.
"Me, date that snaggletooth monkey brat?" he jeered. "In your dreams!"
As Hachi called a waitress over to clean the table, Lisa observed the two casually. In the background, Mashiro spoon-fed a madly spitting Kensei her smoothie, and Hachi, who'd just stopped apologizing to the poor waitress, closed his eyes, mentally asking the Spirit King for guidance. Mashiro and Kensei - they thought love was all pink boats and ice cream floats, Lisa told herself, but it was clear that love was an entirely different thing with Shinji and Hiyori. Unbeknownst to them, Lisa's mind was already racing, the cogs and wheels of her mind spinning manically. There was something not quite right with the way the two Vizards were acting…
Shinji's mouth contorted in his signature Cheshire cat smile and gave Hiyori a flamboyant wink, something that would've earned him a sandal in the face, but Hiyori only hmphed. The corners of her corners twitched, like she wanted to reprimand him loudly, but they stopped for a minute, then turned upwards in a -
"Smile?" stammered Rose in disbelief. The donut fell out of Lisa's mouth, plopping neatly in her lap. Her jaw hung open, and Hachi's and Kensei's expressions mirrored hers.
She blinked a few times, took off her glasses, polished them with the hem of her shirt, put them back on -
There was no mistake. Hiyori was smiling. HIYORI of all people! Hiyori, with her sneer, with her scowl, with her sandal poised to smack some unfortunate fellow. Hiyori, whose narrowed, bad-tempered eyes had turned soft and affectionate - still sharp, but almost… kinder. More caring.
"Whatcha lookin' at?" Hiyori snapped, the smile slipping off her face so quickly Lisa wondered if it had been her imagination. Fortunately, Love had acted quickly; there was a quick, blinding burst of light that made Lisa blink.
The flash receded and Love peeked out, grinning, behind his camera.
"Got it," he said, pleased. "Okay, folks. Nine hundred yen each. Anyone want a print?"
"Me," said Hachi somewhat reluctantly, a smile making its way across his face.
"Me," grunted Kensei, narrowly missing another spoon of smoothie.
"Me!" squealed Mashiro.
"Me," offered Rose.
"Me," Lisa laughed.
"Me," Shinji smirked.
Blood rose to Hiyori's face and she growled.
"Shinji, you - "
"What?" he replied innocently. "Is it my fault that I like seeing your smiling face once in a while? It's a big pain to use Sakanade every time I want you to smile."
If possible, Hiyori turned even redder.
"You dared - " she began furiously.
Shinji only gave her a cheeky smile in reply, which would've - no, should've, Lisa corrected - ended with him nursing a bloody nose, but Hiyori only wrinkled her nose at him and -
Blushed?
Lisa's eyes bulged and made a few choking noises as Mashiro laughed, shoving Kensei playfully. Kensei nearly spat out his mouthful of smoothie as he bumped into Love, who dropped his camera. Rose gave a cry of surprise as an elbow rammed into his face and Hachi, looking quite tired at this entire ordeal, was pushed clean off his chair. Through Mashiro's giggling, Kensei's roaring, Love's shouting, Rose's reproaches, and Hachi's muffled protests, Lisa's eyes caught sight of Hiyori glowering at Shinji as if saying, This is all your fault, stupid. He poked her cheek with his right index finger, and Hiyori had just barely batted him away with her left hand before -
Wait, her left hand?
Lisa ignored the increasing volumes of her friends and ducked her head under the table. What she saw made her eyes swell to the size of dinner plates and nearly pop out of their sockets, but she soon recovered and smiled broadly, smugly, slyly - she knew there had been something going on -
Under the table, hidden from unwanted eyes and unwelcome scrutiny, Hiyori's right hand and Shinji's left hand sat, entwined tightly: Hiyori's small, callused palm meeting Shinji's long, spindly fingers in a tender, affectionate tangle.