Eiji walked anxiously through the doors of Oishi's workplace. It seemed like forever since he was on the hospital.
"This is the place where I met Oishi-san." He smiled to himself while crossing the hallways and picking up the elevator to his office.
On his hand there was a small bag with a big bent box and a smaller one with the apple dessert inside. He arrived at Shuichirou's floor and walked quickly towards his door, knocking briefly.
"Come in." the voice said from inside and he obeyed.
"Oishi-san!" he smiled. "You look so cool in that white coat!"
It was the first time he saw him with it.
"Not at all." Shuichirou chuckled. "How are you, Eiji-kun?"
"I'm just fine!" he showed him the bag. "I brought lunch! For you and Harada-san as well."
"Really? You didn't have to, I was the one who invited you over." He rubbed Eiji's hair. "Thank you so much!"
Kikumaru grinned happily. He had missed that touch so much!
"Ah, you arrived already, Eiji-kun." Haruka appeared and looked at him gently. She was already with her regular clothes, since it was lunch time. "It's been a while."
"Nice to see you again, Harada-san. How's Takumi-san?"
"He's well, thank you for asking."
"He brought us lunch, Haruka." Shuichirou smiled while removing his white coat.
"Ah, that's amazing!"
"I brought the tarte tatin as well." He smiled shyly. "I really hope you guys like it."
"I'm sure it's delicious." Oishi said, coming close to them. "Let's go? We can eat on the park near."
###########
"It's such a beautiful day." Haruka said, looking around. They were sitting on a iron table under a big tree.
"It sure is." Oishi smiled. "And with Eiji-kun's food and company it's even better."
Eiji blushed a little before removing the bento's lid. There was rice, salad, grilled fish, skid and deep fried shrimp.
"Wow! It's a banquet!"
"This is lovely, Eiji-kun."
"Please, enjoy yourselves." He said, giving them the hashi.
"Thank you for the food." Both of them started to eat.
"So good!" Oishi said, after eating one of the shrimps. "Your food is still the best!"
"Your fish is even better than Takumi's. Please, don't tell him that."
Eiji couldn't stop himself from smiling. It was just like the old days when he was allowed to be by the young doctor's side. He started to eat when they continued the conversation.
"Eiji-kun, how's therapy? Are you still going?" Haruka asked.
"Yes, it's going well. I'll start to make anxiety medicine. In fact, I'm going there after here to pick up my prescription."
"Medicine?" Shuichirou looked at him worried. "What do you mean? Did your crises get worse?"
"I don't want to risk it. Even with the headphones. And now, since I'm working at Sakurai, I cannot let a storm stop me from doing my work."
"But you have to be careful at the beginning, Eiji-kun. Those kinds of medicine take a while for the body to get use to. You'll probably be sleepy on the first weeks. Did you tell your roommate about it?"
"Not yet. She's actually traveling to visit her family in Kyoto. She will only come back one day before classes start again."
"You will be home by yourself?!" Oishi said.
"It's okay, Oishi-san." He smiled. "I'll be just fine."
"But!"
"So, Eiji-kun." Haruka interrupted her friend, trying to make him to ease on the subject. There was a sly smile on her features. "Tell us about your roommate. We've been speculating if she's your girlfriend."
"What?!" he blushed entirely. "No, no, no! It's nothing like that! She's just a friend!"
"Ah, really?" she was disappointed. "We thought you left Shuichirou to live a torrid summer romance."
"I'm not dating anyone!" he looked at Oishi worried, like wanting to give him the proper explanation.
"She's just teasing you, Eiji-kun." He said, gently. "Are you going to visit your parents too?"
"Yes, I'm going a week from now. There will be a summer festival on our neighboorhod on Sunday and we always get a stall. It's a lot of fun!"
"Ah, a festival." Oishi took a deep breath. "It's been many years since I last went to one of those. We were still in college, right?"
"Yes." Haruka said.
"Do you guys want to go?! It's super fun! With the best food as well! You can go in the morning, spend the day in the city and go to the festival at night. There's still time for the last train."
"We'd love to go but Takumi and I are going to visit my parents on that weekend. I'm sorry." She looked at Shuichirou. "You should go and enjoy yourself."
"You can meet Haru-chan, Oishi-san! She's very big!"
"Haru-chan?"
"His little sister's name is Haruki." Shuichirou explained.
"Oh, a wonderful name." she smiled.
"You should definitely go, Oishi-san! I can introduce you to my parents as well! I'm going Saturday after my shift on Sakurai, taking the first train in the morning."
"I can't go with you Saturday because I'll be volunteering, but I can go on Sunday."
"Really?! That's awesome!" Shuichirou had missed his cute happy face so much.
###########
Oishi returned home with a smile on his face. On his hand there was a small container. He removed his shoes, his jacket and went to the bathroom to take a shower. When he returned, already on his pajamas, he pick up the container he had left on the kitchen and opened it. There was a slice of the tarte tatin Eiji had baked and he insisted Shuichirou would take home. He did the same for Haruka, sending an extra slice to Takumi.
He sat down with a fork and closed his eyes after the first bite, chewing slowly, enjoying all the rich flavors. He still could remember how the blue eyes were sparkling in happiness when he told Eiji it was the best he ever had and Haruka complimented him as well. He wished the hours could stop; there were so much they still wanted to talk about. Kikumaru told them about his job at Sakurai, the food he was learning how to prepare and how much fun the experience was.
He really missed talking to Eiji regularly. He was always very excited and interested about things, would always give Oishi his full attention and encouraged him. No one ever used so many nice adjectives towards him like Eiji did. His happy voice filled the house completely.
He took a deep breath, before having another bite. Shuichirou was grateful for those delicious caramelized and juicy apples that were able to soothe his loneliness and the terrible silence of his apartment, at least, for just a little.
Silently and, without even realizing, Oishi hoped the festival would come soon.
