Chapter Eight:

True to her word, Akari left for the United States. She hadn't given anything to Tohno, but he still thought about her, more so than the past, it seemed. Every time he closed his eyes, Tohno could taste Akari on his lips, her sweet breaths tantalizing close to his mouth, and feel the way her arms had went around him. In his chest, there was a constant dull ache. He knew it wasn't worth it to get his hopes up. After all, from what he could see, Akari and Yuuchi were married. At the very least, she and him were a couple.

Yuuchi, huh... He absent-mindedly wondered. What kind of person is he to make Akari care about him so much?

Tohno returned back to reality quickly when the running hot water scalded his hands. He silently thanked the Kami that Isamu's restaurant wasn't extremely popular or else he would be continuously washing dishes in the scalding water. By the looks of it, he was apt to have blisters on the back of his hand by the end of the day. Isamu was loud; he could hear the old man's voice now, even though Tohno was at the very back of the restaurant. He faintly heard a female voice replying back to Isamu and knew they had a new customer. Knowing Isamu would soon be calling for him, or rather- barking orders at him, Tohno hurriedly finished up the plates to leave. Parting the beige curtains that served as a divider between this small room and the rest of the resturaunt, Tohno wiped his hands on the apron he was wearing as he made his way to the front.

"May I take your order?" he asked politely, while bowing slightly.

"Here he is. I was just about to call you, Tohno," Isamu said laughingly.

The woman chuckled. "He sounds like a perfect waiter."

Tohno snapped his head up when he heard the voice. Because Mizuki was sitting leisurely at one of the tables in front of him, her head propped up casually by the palm of her hand. "Hello Tohno Takaki." Mizuki grinned impishly. "I never knew Akari found herself a cook."

"Or a waiter," she added as an afterthought.

"Mizuki? How did you find me?"

She clucked her tongue disapprovingly. "That's the first question you ask me? Nothing about Akari? Shameful. But to answer your question, Akari told me where you were working."

His heart leapt at the sound of Akari's name. "Why are you here?" Though Tohno did not know Mizuki well, he had concluded that she was the type of person who did not randomly visit restaurants as a pleasant pastime of hers.

"Just wanted lunch." The grin never faded from Mizuki's face the entire time and Tohno knew she was enjoying herself immensely. "Is that so much to ask?" She pretended to pout for a second.

"Just kidding," Mizuki said with a dismissive wave. The grin vanished from her face. "I wanted to talk about Akari."

"Is this where you normally go?" There was no hostility in Mizuki's tone; she was making a pure observation as she took in the relaxing scenery of the park before her.

She had requested to talk somewhere quiet, and Tohno had racked his brain of places that would suit Mizuki. He had thought -briefly-of taking her back to his apartment, but as much as it was quiet there, it was simply not the kind of place he would like to be found in with Mizuki.

It wasn't that he was scared of being discovered with Mizuki next to him. There was nothing between them except for a mutual friend. He couldn't even fathom taking anything more than a friendly interest in Mizuki either, but... taking her to his apartment seemed more intimate in a sense.

And so he had taken her to the park.

Now that they were here, Tohno found awkwardness settling between them caused by the prolonged silence. Maybe it was just a one sided awkwardness though, because Mizuki's attention seemed to be fixated on the scenery before them. She picked a maple leaf off one of the lower branches of the maple tree before them and held it up for Tohno to see.

"Do you like maple leaves?" He asked, though he had no idea why she was showing him a maple leaf.

Mizuki frowned at his question. "No," she said. "This place just reminds me of Akari. She would have liked this place."

"I met her again here."

Their conversation continued as they continued walking along the paved path, a respectable distance between the both of them. Strangely enough, Tohno heard a little voice in the distance yelling his name. "Tohno-kun! Tohno-kun!"

He turned around, expecting the voice to be a figment of his imagination, but it was not. Down the path was Kanae, with her hands waving wildly in the air to catch Tohno's attention. He waited for Kanae to catch up, noting the annoyed expression Mizuki flashed at him. She carefully masked it up when Kanae came into view, panting slightly.

As expected, Mizuki made her usual dramatic introductions. This time, she introduced herself as Tohno's older cousin, stepped closer to Tohno, and laughed when she saw Kanae flush. With that same hysterical laughter, Mizuki bid Kanae goodbye before turning her dark eyes on Tohno.

"Hey waiter-boy, don't worry. I have a feeling Akari's going to come back."

"Do you think so?" He was surprised to hear the amount of hope in his question.

"I know Akari. She'll come to her senses. I just hope sooner than later," Mizuki replied before turning down the path.

"I didn't know you had a cousin, Tohno-kun..." Kanae studied the ground below, rolling the loose pebbles along with her shoes. She glanced upwards quickly only to find herself staring at Tohno's eyes. Her heartbeat shot up rapidly, as it always did when she was in close proximity with Tohno. He turned his kind eyes on her, but they did not linger on her, unlike how they did with Akari.

"No, Mizuki is not my cousin. She made that information up on the spot." Kanae watched Tohno frown at Mizuki's shrinking figure.

"Then... how do you know her?"

"She's one of Akari's friends."

Impulsively, Tohno checked the time of his phone. Isamu had given a thirty minute break, and that was soon coming to an end. With remorse written across his face, Tohno bowed apologetically to Kanae to take his leave.

It was all so abrupt that Kanae had only stood still in shock and watched him leave. Watching Tohno leave though, always seeing the back of him, it pushed her to run the distance between them and stop him. He turned around in surprise and waited expectantly for Kanae to say something. In stammers and jumbled sentences, she asked him to keep in touch with her.

Although Tohno agreed to her request readily, Kanae knew he was only doing this out of his own niceness. She also knew that she had to return home soon. Staying in Tokyo was devouring her money to nothing.

How much longer could Kanae delay telling Tohno her feelings?

Author Notes:

Thanks again for reading this! As for those leaving reviews behind, I wish to thank you all especially. I usually reply to those reviews, but if I had missed yours for some reasons, I want to say thanks now. Also, for the guest reviews, I do wish you guys would create an account D: I really want to thank you, but I can't.

Next up: More about Akari+Yuuchi.

Additionally, if anyone has suggestions, comments, or just want to talk; leave me a message. ^_^