Oriya is waiting. Kazutaka is late for their study session. Oriya is worried about the upcoming chemistry exam; Kazutaka has asked Oriya to help him with their Japanese literature paper. Oriya suspects, strongly suspects, that Kazutaka does not actually need the help. Kazutaka is simply being kind, trying to let Oriya keep his pride. Kazutaka does things like that. Sometimes Oriya feels like Kazutaka is laughing at him behind that kind smile, but the feeling always passes quickly, and Oriya chalks it up to paranoia.
Kazutaka is half an hour late, but Oriya is not worried. Kazutaka promised he would come and he has not broken a promise to Oriya yet. Kazutaka will come, so Oriya waits.
Oriya is waiting. Kazutaka should have been here fifteen minutes ago. He was supposed to be here to save Oriya from dying of boredom if the woman his father set him up with turned out to be dull, which she is. She's the type of person who has fine lineage and not much else, the kind of person Kazutaka mocks in that elegant, brilliant way of his.
Oriya wonders what will happen when Kazutaka does arrive. Will he smell of blood? (Kazutaka is a medical student; that's only natural.) Will he have that wild, sated look in his eye? (Surely Oriya's imagination.) Will he look at the woman as if he were a butcher sizing up a slab of meat? (That doesn't happen; that's not true.)
Oriya holds in a sigh and resigns himself to his date's inane chatter. There will be a distraction soon enough. Kazutaka promised, after all, and he has not broken a promise to Oriya yet. So Oriya waits.
Oriya is waiting. He has been waiting all night. The dinner that was so expertly prepared has gone cold, and Oriya wonders where the hell Muraki could be. Oriya tries to reassure himself. Perhaps Muraki had to perform an emergency surgery; perhaps there is a patient that only a doctor of Muraki's skill could save. Oriya wants to convince himself that Muraki has been delayed because he's saving someone's life. He doesn't want to think of Muraki covered in blood; doesn't want to think of severed limbs and gasping screams.
Oriya shakes his head. Muraki is Muraki. There's no changing him. Oriya gives the meal one last look, then goes to find the tea utensils. If there isn't any decent food, then at least Muraki can have tea once he arrives (after Oriya kicks him in the head), and Oriya knows that he will arrive eventually. Muraki has not broken a promise to Oriya yet. So Oriya waits.
Oriya is waiting, though for what he's not sure. He fingers the small cut on his forehead and wonders if that boy has found the person he was looking for, and what it means for Muraki if he has. He feels an aching weight in his throat and can't tell if he wants to laugh or cry. Maybe both.
Muraki is an idiot. Idiot, idiot, idiot. Oriya repeats the word over and over again in his mind until he can't tell who he's referring to.
Muraki said he would not return. Muraki has not broken a promise to Oriya yet.
Still, Oriya waits.