Inigo's PoV
"Hey! Penny!" Inigo called from within the hallways of West Inkopolis High School. Mornings were the perfect time to talk to other people, as no classes have started for the day.
A fair-skinned inkling with yellow-orange hair and green eyes stopped walking and turned around to look at him. "Hi," she simply greeted.
"Have you seen my heart anywhere?" he asked, a goofy smile on his face. He snapped his fingers and pointed towards her. "I heard it was stolen by you, love."
"Wha- I already have a boyfriend, Inigo!" she complained. "Your pick-up lines won't work on me!" With that, she turned around and walked away, head up high.
The indigo-haired boy simply lowered his hands and frowned. I'm not surprised. Looking up at the clock, he got another idea. He could try flirting again… but with a different girl. He still had time before his first class, after all. Looking around, he spotted another pretty-looking inkling with pale skin, cyan hair, and bright blue eyes coming down the hallway. Her name was Celia, a girl in Inigo's math class.
"Yo, Celia!" he proceeded to call. "Could ya come over here for a sec?"
She approached the inkling with a ponytail. "What do you need?" she asked.
"You know what I need?" A small blush crept up his face. "You."
Celia was unimpressed. "No, thanks." The long-haired inkling with cyan hair simply walked away, deflating Inigo's ego once more. He sighed and leaned up against the lockers.
"Let me guess, flirting didn't go so well," a familiar voice suddenly said.
He jumped, whipping his head around to see the newcomer. "Gah!" When he saw that it was just Roy, he let out a sigh of relief. "Don't sneak up on me like that."
"Sorry," he apologized.
"And, yeah… it didn't go so well."
A smirk crossed his friend's face. "Y'know, I got an idea."
"What, what is it?"
"You'll find out later." Winking, the red-haired inkling started walking backwards, towards one of his classes. "See you later.
"Umm… bye." He gave an awkward wave goodbye and started walking to his first class for the day.
Hours passed, and now Inigo arrived at his lunch table with the other Rainbow Squids. When he arrived at the table, they went silent and pulled out their phones. His indigo eyes dashed between them, confused on what was going on. I hate being left out of the loop…
"Hey guys… what's up?" he tried greeting.
"Oh, nothing much," Bonnie replied.
"But, Inigo," Octavia spoke up, lifting her head up from the cellphone. "Do you know what Coral Rings is?"
"It's a café in the Reef, right?" he asked to clarify.
"Yep," Yuri confirmed. "You don't mind going there after school, do you?"
"Why?"
"You'll see."
"Well, at what time?!" Inigo then asked.
"That's to be decided," Roy replied. "I'll tell you in history, alright?" he then added, giving a pat to his friend's back.
Still upset by the lack of communication, the inkling with the ponytail groaned and started to eat his lunch. The conversation quickly changed subjects, and no matter how much he wanted to bring up Coral Rings, he never found the right moment to do so. When the period ended, Inigo silently got up from his seat and started walking towards his next class. I'm not being fresh right now, am I?
Even later in history class, Roy and Inigo were working together on a group project. While he glued a typed paragraph Roy wrote onto the posterboard, the tan-skinned inkling nudged him, and he paused to see what he wanted.
"So, y'know the date we were talking about at lunch?" he started.
"A date?!" Inigo gasped. "You never anything about a date!"
"Well, that's why you're going to Coral Rings," Roy clarified.
"With who?!"
"That's a secret."
"Oh, so it's a blind date?"
"Yeah."
"So, what time am I going?"
"4 o'clock, sharp. Don't miss it!"
"Sounds like a plan."
More time passed, and Inigo now found himself standing outside of the café Coral Rings. It was a simple café, with a dark brown exterior and a yellowed sign reading the name of the place in bold letters. He opened the extravagant oak doors to see the interior of it. The floors were made of white tile, and the walls were green with lighter polka dots. On the right side of the place were tables made from oak, with seats with green cushions surrounding them. On the left side were the white marble counters, with stools resembling the normal chairs seated at them. Most of the people there were jellyfish, though there were other sea creatures present as well.
Suddenly, he spotted a familiar wavy-haired inkling sitting at the counter. "Via!" he exclaimed.
She spun the stool around to face him. "Hey, Inigo." In her hand was a coffee mug, and she took a sip out of it. "I reserved the table over there for you and your date." She pointed to a table with a vase of flowers on the top of it. "She isn't here yet, so just wait for now, okay?"
"Alright…" He walked over to the aforementioned table and sat down, twiddling his thumbs. He started staring at the entrance, waiting for someone to step through it. He assumed it would be an inkling, but nothing was certain.
A few minutes later, another inkling walked through the doors. She appeared to be a little shorter than Via, with fair skin and short, deep violet hair. Initially, she had SV925 circle shades obscuring her eyes, but she took them off to reveal navy eyes. She wore a Squidmark LS, shorts, and sesame salt 270s. She chatted with Octavia briefly before walking up to the table Inigo was sitting at and taking a seat.
"Hi!" she greeted with a high, cheerful voice.
"Hi." Inigo gave a small wave. "So… you're my date?"
"Yeah!"
"So, uh… what's your name?"
"Fable."
"Mine's Inigo. Nice to meet you."
"I knew that, but nice to meet you, too!" They shook hands, and then they sunk back into their seats. A jellyfish walked over to them and plopped two menus on the table. The inkling with the ponytail picked one up and examined it.
"What are you gonna have?" he asked. "I'll take tea."
"Tea? Why not coffee?" Fable asked.
"I don't like coffee," he replied. "It's too bitter."
"Not if you add a lot of sugar!"
"Aren't you an avid coffee drinker," he muttered.
A sea anemone with an apron walked up to them and greeted, "Hello! May I start you off with a drink?"
"Tea, please," Inigo answered. "Just your normal blend."
"And I'll take coffee. Black coffee," followed the purple-haired girl. "And make sure to bring a lot of sugar!"
"Alright." The sea anemone wrote their drinks down on a notepad and then shoved it into her apron pocket. "We'll get right on it!"
"Great." He watched her step behind the counter and give the notepad to a jellyfish. They poured coffee mix into a machine and activated it, the drink soon flowing out of it. While it was running, they then put a tea bag into another mug and prepared it. A few minutes later, they put the two mugs onto a tray and gave it to the waitress. She then walked over to Inigo and Fable and gave them their drinks.
Fable immediately tore several sugar packs and dumped them into the coffee before mixing and taking a large sip of it. "Delicious!"
Inigo took a much smaller sip. "Green tea?" he guessed. The sea anemone nodded.
"Are you ready to order?" she then asked.
"Oh, no," the indigo-haired inkling replied, shaking his head. "I was watching you make the drinks the entire time.
"Well, I'm ready," Fable commented, "but I'll wait until you're ready."
"Alright, I'll come back in a little while," concluded the sea anemone, and she walked away from their table.
Inigo returned his attention to his date. "So, what are you having?"
"I'm getting some bagels to go with this coffee. It's the perfect snack!"
"Hmm… then I'll get a biscuit. It goes perfectly with tea."
"Okay. While we wait… can you tell me one of your pick-up lines?"
"Pick-up lines? I don't have any lines, but I can pick you up." He winked. When it came to romance, those seemed to be the one thing he was good at. He wasn't too crazy about Fable, though. Something about flirting with her just didn't feel right. He could easily go up to someone he was attracted to and say one of his signature lines, but with others, it just felt forced.
A goofy grin crossed her face. "That's wonderful! Can you do more?"
"More? Umm… I don't need more, because I have you?"
"Another one?"
He paused to think of one, and then he said, "I would traverse the deepest oceans for you, even if it kills me?" Considering that inklings die in water, it didn't make much sense, but it was still a valid pick-up line.
The sea anemone waitress walked up to their table again and asked, "Are you ready to order now?"
"Yes! I want some biscuits!" Inigo immediately responded.
"Buttered?" The inkling with the ponytail nodded. She turned to Fable and asked, "What about you, miss?"
"A bagel. Seasoned, mind you," she requested.
"Alright, we'll get right on it." The waitress stuffed the notepad into her apron once more and returned to the kitchen.
"Seasoned bagels? I like mine plain," the indigo-haired inkling commented.
"Seasoned bagels are good!" the violet-haired inkling argued. "They add more flavor!"
"My point still stands." Inigo took another sip of his coffee and leaned back in his chair.
"So… are you a sailor?" Fable then asked after a few moments.
"My grandpa was," he replied. Inigo looked down at the blue sailor suit he was wearing. "He hunted salmonids back in the day."
"So, he did Salmon Runs? Cause I love those!"
"I guess… though it wasn't called that back then."
"What did he do with the golden eggs?" she asked.
"I think he destroyed them. Simple as that."
"Aw…"
"What?"
"The salmonids are so cute! Destroying their eggs… it's like driving them to extinction!"
"Well, the past's the past. They're still here, and that's what matters."
"Umm… right!"
The sea anemone soon came back with a tray consisting of a bagel and some biscuits. She gave them to Fable and Inigo respectively and bowed. "Enjoy!"
"I've been waiting for this!" The short-haired inkling took a huge bite out of her bagel. "Mmm… So good!"
Inigo started to eat his biscuits, drinking his tea every-now-and-then. "So, how do you know Via?"
"Oh, we met last year. We were lab partners in chemistry class. You're in some kind of group with her, right?"
"Yeah, the Rainbow Squids! You see, all of us usually have a different ink color, like a rainbow." He was about to mention Geneva's absence when he found himself unable to form the words. He frowned, and more solemnly, he added, "Geneva's on vacation, though, so we're missing green right now. Via's sister Alexis is our replacement Geneva, but… it isn't the same without her."
"Geneva… Didn't you date her for a while?"
"Yeah. We got together a month or two before the Squid Sisters' final Splatfest, but we broke up at the beginning of the year." The memory of the break-up started to resurface in his mind, and he bit his lip. Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry…
"Aw. Well, you'll find someone else." Fable smiled. "Like me!"
"Sure…" Inigo ate another biscuit. Yeah, this isn't gonna work out. Mentioning Geneva dampened his mood, something that made him realized he hadn't quite moved on yet from the break-up. Not now, at least.
The two finished their food and drinks and waited for the waitress to come buy again and bring them their bill. Quickly she did, gathering up the plates and handing them their bill.
The girl took it and read it. "2,000G? That's not bad."
"Not bad at all, for such a nice café."
"I'll pay," Fable announced. She took out 2,000G from her pocket at set it on the bill, and then she added a tip.
"That's that, then," Inigo concluded. "Shall we go?"
"Of course!"
The two inklings got up from their chairs and walked towards the entrance, where they found Octavia with a nauseous look on her face. The employees of Coral Rings said goodbye, but right now, their focus was on her.
"I think I drank too much coffee…" she groaned, gripping her stomach.
"Do you need a bag or something?" the violet-haired inkling asked. The wavy-haired inkling held up an empty paper bag.
"Can one of you take me home? Please?" Via begged.
"I will," Inigo offered.
"Thanks." She exited the building to walk to his car. The other two inklings followed her. Funnily enough, their cars were parked right next to each other.
As Octavia climbed into Inigo's car, Fable said, "I guess this is goodbye."
"I'll still see you in school, y'know," the indigo-haired inkling pointed out.
"I know," she acknowledged, "but we won't be alone."
He sighed. "True. We could hang out again some time."
"Alright. Bye!"
"Bye!"
The two climbed into their cars and drove away.
A/N: I'm so sorry this is a day late, I just couldn't finish it in time. Summer work got in the way, so the bulk of this chapter was written late in the week. In the end, I had to delay this chapter a day. I'll try my best to make sure this won't happen again, but in the meanwhile, enjoy this chapter. It's a little rushed, especially towards the end, but my point still stands. Stay tuned for next Sunday, and Branchwing, out!