Catching Up

I entered the cafe with baited breath. It just showed how nervous I was. Like, you cannot blame me, any normal man will be nervous if he were asked to spend an evening with a beautiful woman.

I looked around the cafe searching for the distinguishing silver color and found it almost immediately in the corner of the room.

Typical Kawasaki ei?

Now having found my so-called date for the evening, I made my way to her and saw her tapping her phone as if waiting for someone. I decided to let my presence be known.

"Yo", I greeted and she literally jumped two feet into the air at that. Huh, that can be used as blackmail material.

But she quickly recovered and with a frown on her face said, "Hello Hikigaya, fancy seeing you here"

Eh?

"Way to go treating your date like someone you ran into at the shopping mall", and at that, her eyes widened and her cheeks flushed a bright crimson color.

"What are you talking about?", she said, confused, "I am waiting here for Taishi."

Oh. That is when I put two and two together. That brat, he is gonna get it from me.

"He is not coming", I said with as much annoyance as I could muster, "Your sweet brother asked me to accompany you on a date and I am pretty sure he also tricked you with something and you accepted being the brocon you are"

"Brocon? Who are you calling a brocon, you yourself are a sis...", she immediately covered her mouth as she saw my eye twitch a little, "Anyways, I think you are right, he tricked me into this saying he hadn't been spending enough time with me and that we should visit 'This cafe by the block where they make cappuccino that tastes like they were sent from heaven'"

I chuckled at that and said, "Well, as we are both here, why don't we enjoy this little time that your brother has bought us"

Her cheeks flushed again as she fidgeted with her finger and nodded slightly. And so the date begun.

Well, I would not exactly call it a date as both of us were literally staring at each other for extended periods of time so I guess it qualified more as a staring contest.

"So, how's life?", I decided to break the ice.

"Fine", she replied.

"Good", and end of conversation. I tried though so a head pat for me.

And the silence ensued once more until it was seriously getting unbearable and I was thinking of leaving but then...

"You know, yesterday Keika cooked for the first time", she said with a large grin on her face, "and to be honest, it was disgusting beyond comparison"

"Oh, so what did you do with it?"

"Well, you know, I pretended to eat it but threw it all out in the trash when I went to the kitchen to fetch some drink, I really hope she doesn't find out though"

And at that, we both shared a hearty laugh. Afterwards, our conversation went on as usual as we asked each other about our lives, our jobs etc. We talked about everything we could except for one untouchable subject, but as the saying goes, 'All good things must come to an end'.

"So, how is Komachi?", she asked with clear hesitation in her voice. She turned her head to look at me but immediately dropped her gaze as soon as she saw the look on my face.

"Still in deep sleep", I answered.

A pregnant pause ensued after that and she did not utter a single word as she knew she had entered forbidden grounds.

Meanwhile, I was reliving the memories I had pushed into the deepest recesses of my mind. I am going to be honest, I was not pleased.

I was trying to move on but like every wound, it takes time. For that, I had isolated myself from everyone. Oh, didn't I mention earlier that this was one of the reasons I cut off my ties with Yuigahama? No? Sorry, my bad.

And whenever this topic was brought up, I could feel someone stabbing me with a dagger again, again and again until I was vulnerable enough that the slightest of breeze could tear my skin off.

I saw Kawasaki's face and I could find only one emotion there.

Pity

The one thing I hated the most in the world. I hated being pitied. I would rather die than be pitied by someone. This caused something from within me rise and all playfulness in me was gone.

I was through with this date. I know Taishi isn't the type of guy who would waste my time over something as flimsy as a date. He must have had a better reason and I could tell that from the start of this 'Date'. So I decided to end these small talks to avoid anymore sensitive topics from being bought up. No more beating around the bush.

"Kawasaki, what is bothering you?"