They had kept running into each other after that.
While not everyday, it was often enough for thoughts of 'fate' and 'destiny' would worm their way into Rohan's thoughts. No, these were just happy coincidences.
And it wasn't like the 'happy coincidences' he would have with Koichi either, where he would just happen to be walking by Koichi's house while just happening to go to that one store where he was happening to purchase that new comic that he definitely didn't start reading because Koichi was into it. He was just expanding his influences! He was a manga-ka after all!
He would run into Tomoko at the grocery store, the cafe, the bus stop and at the department store—where he learned that she had a penchant for black pantyhose and the fruity yet peppery perfume she wore on her neck and the back of her wrists was a Tom Ford affair and no, he did not read her to figure this sort of thing out. Surprisingly. Not that he was thinking about it or anything.
"Do you want to get a coffee?" She asks, wearing that painfully familiar smile on her face while adjusting the shoulder strap of her purse.
His mouth is dry and his hands are clammy—Rohan Kishibe, you are twenty years old, you can handle being asked this sort of thing never mind the fact that you have never seriously been asked this by someone that wasn't a starstruck fan that could easily be shut down—
"Well?" She blinks, and if Rohan wasn't Rohan, he would have thought that she was batting her eyelashes at him and puckering her lips—goddammitwhydidJosuke'smomhavetobeso?
"I might as well, we keep running into each other." His voice is way too haughty and harsh, despite being a nervous wreck and kind of excited—no, thrilled—on the inside.
There's that smile of hers again.
She drank her coffee black, preferring the more bitter and acidic blends without too much of a caramel aftertaste. She would stir her coffee, despite there not being any cream or sugar in it, three times counterclockwise every so often, talking about how Josuke liked his cream and sugar in his cup. To the point where she thought there would be grains of sugar stuck in his teeth for hours afterwards.
Even if she was talking about one of his least favourite people in the world, Tomoko would manage to make it interesting. The little sparkle in her violet eyes and how her smile was just a little bit wider when she would talk about her son. It almost made him want to try being nice to Josuke. Almost.
"Am I bothering you, Kishibe-san?"
"No," He takes a long sip of his coffee—three cream, two sugar—before looking up at her once again. "It's fascinating really."
"What is?"
He bites back the comment he wants to say, something along the lines of how she managed to have him stand listening to her talk about Josuke of all people. He shrugs instead.
"The way you talk, I suppose."
She grins, which looks a little too familiar for his comfort but he'd have to get used to it. If this was going to go anywhere. Not that he was hoping for that. Nope.
"Oh? Explain."
The few 'explanations' that come to mind are how cute she is when she thinks about Josuke, how her voice was smooth like chocolate and the little "ssu" that might slip out at the end of her sentences occasionally and while Josuke might do that, it's cute when she does it.
Instead, Rohan downs his coffee—burning his tongue and throat in the process—and asks for his cheque.
They would keep meeting up for coffee, sometimes with the occasional parfait that Tomoko would share with him because there is no way she could eat all of that by herself but that girl at that table over there makes it look so good—oh no is it weird if she's asking this sort of thing?
Its usually those days, that she asks him if he'd like to come over for dinner. The temptation to go just to see the look on Josuke's face when he sees him sitting at the table is horrible. But, he declines, making up an excuse that he has deadlines to meet the next day—leaving out the part that he can finish drawing and inking a chapter within twenty minutes because she doesn't need to know that—and his newest editor is pushy.
He could have sworn that she always looks a little disappointed when he says this, actually, no. He doesn't even have to use Heaven's Door, he can see the "But that's what you said last time" in her eyes.
"I'm sure that Josuke wouldn't like me showing up anyway."
"Oh, I'd make sure he was on his best behaviour, as long as you are too, Kishibe-san. I've heard some... Stories about you."
"What kind of stories?"
"Something about your house nearly burning down while playing a game with my son?"
"Check please!"