| Haeret Lateri Lethalis Arundo Chapter Three |
Fuuko sat perched on a pile of tires as she watched Domon energetically buffing the wax on a car. Like Recca, he too worked part-time at the car wash to put himself through school. His mother had made him major in business so he would be better prepared to take over the family floral shop when he graduated.
"Recca went out for lunch," said Domon, stepping back to admire his handiwork. "He's been out for nearly an hour by now."
"Oh, really?" asked Fuuko. "I thought he brought his lunch because he can't afford to eat out too often. What's he doing today?"
"There was some cutie who pulled up and spirited him away," said Domon, looking a bit forlorn that the aforementioned cutie hadn't included him in the spiriting-away process.
"Ah, really. What's her name?" asked Fuuko, leaning forward intently.
"Tomoe, Tomomo, Tomomi, something like that," shrugged Domon. "Really cute blue hair, though." He wiped his fingers on his shirt. "I've got my lunch break coming up, Fuuko-chan… you wanna go get a hamburger?"
Fuuko thought about it. On the one hand, it would be encouraging Domon. Even through all the years, he had still kept up his pursuit of her. Now, though, it was more joking than serious. It was as though he was reluctant to give up the schtick… and Fuuko would have felt strange if he had ever completely abandoned her.
"You wish," she replied sharply, and they both grinned at each other. "Maybe, though," she amended. It depended on how much information she felt she could worm out of Domon.
A sleek, shiny red sportscar pulled up to the carwash, and one happy, well-fed-looking Recca tumbled out.
"It was good!" he called to the driver. "We'll have to have lunch again sometime!"
A sunglassed Tomomi honked in reply. "Tomorrow, then!" she shouted through the open passenger-side window. Another honk, and she pulled back into the traffic.
Fuuko peered over Recca's shoulder and watched the departing Tomomi as she merged into the flow of cars. "Back from your date so late?" she cooed in his ear.
Recca jumped, swatting at his ear. He hadn't seen Fuuko at all. "It's not a date!" he exclaimed. "I helped a friend of mine study for her test, and so we had lunch together. But it's not a date! You know I've got Hime!"
"I know you've got Hime; and she knows you've got Hime; but do you think she cares?" purred Fuuko calmly. "You're just encouraging the girl, Recca."
"It's not a date!" protested Recca.
"Who paid for the food?" persisted Fuuko.
"Well, I did—"
"Both of them?"
"Well, yeah, both of 'em—"
"That sounds like a date to me—"
"My dad would kill me if I made a girl pay for her own stuff," said Recca. "He taught me better than that."
"I don't know; I've watched Yanagi pay for you before," countered Fuuko.
"And I paid for Yanagi— she wanted it to be like that," reminded Recca.
"No, the way I remember the conversation was going went something like, 'Oh, I only have enough money for one sundae. It can be yours, Hime.' 'Oh, no, Recca-kun, why don't I buy you one, and you can buy me one, then?' 'Okay, Hime!' " corrected Fuuko.
"So I was low on cash that week," growled Recca. "Geeze, Fuuko, what are you getting on my case for? I just went out with a friend for lunch. It's no big deal."
"It's a big deal to Yanagi. She's worried about Tomomi, and her relationship to you," said Fuuko calmly.
"Tomomi's just…. Tomomi. She's a friend," said Recca. "No one could ever replace Hime."
::He looks so sincere:: thought Fuuko, smiling slightly. "But Tomomi isn't satisfied with keeping your friendship at a just-friends level," she said aloud. "She's not like that. And by going out on these little lunch-dates or dessert-dates with her, you're not doing anything to tell her that you're a taken man."
Recca scowled at her. "You don't know anything about it, Fuuko," he said bluntly. "You're making assumptions and reading things into the situation that don't really exist. Go mind your own business. I have to get back to work." He stormed back into the carwash shed.
Fuuko gazed after the departing ex-Flame-master in satisfaction. Turning to her nose-ringed friend who had watched the exchange in silence, she said, "Say, Domon… about those hamburgers you were talking about earlier. They sound really good right now."