Junichi is sitting at the kitchen table, drinking milk straight out of the carton when I walk in. The nightmare from the previous night is still fresh in my memory as I put a slice of bread in the toaster and pour myself a glass of water. While Junichi is telling me how he wishes he could have taken Golden Week off work to travel, Shun walks in. I try to pay attention to what Junichi is saying but my mind is completely on Shun as he walks toward me. I flinch and jump away, despite there still being a good meter between us.

He peers at me through narrow eyes as he reaches for the fridge handle.

“What’s your problem?” he sneers.

I stammer and continue to back up.

He takes out a bottle of tea and closes the door, giving me another suspicious look before leaving the kitchen. The room falls silent. I jump at the sound of my toast popping.

“Shun sure gives you a lot of attention,” Junichi comments.

“Way too much attention,” I mumble and butter my toast.

“Does he still mess with you a lot?”

“No, he hasn’t for a while,” I reply, wondering if it’ll stay that way or not.

“That’s good.”

I join him at the table with my food.

“How did you get him to stop?” Junichi asks.

“Well…” I take a bite of my toast to buy time. It would be embarrassing to tell him about the treaty.

“I’m not sure,” I end my sentence after swallowing.

“Weird. He must have finally grown up.”

“Must have.” I nod.

“Or maybe,” he says, a grin growing on his face. “He decided you’re not such a bad guy.”

I continue to nod while chewing.

“He may have even come to like you,” he adds.

“No.” I immediately slap the idea down.

Junichi titters. “Sorry. Just joking.”

I don’t need that kind of joke right now. Or ever.

“There’s no need to worry. You’ve noticed he always wears that thing around his neck, right?” Junichi says with a sly smile, his voice getting lower.

“Yeah?” I lower my tone to match his. He has my attention.

“Apparently his boyfriend makes him wear it to show off that Shun belongs to him,” he whispers. “Isn’t that creepy?”

I feel my eyes widen. Shun has a boyfriend? Shun has a boyfriend?

Junichi quickly changes the subject when Kenji walks in. I nod my head while he talks but can’t seem to register anything he’s saying anymore.

How did I not even consider the possibility that Shun has a boyfriend? At least now I know there’s no chance of him catching feelings for me.

I make sure to double-triple-check my appearance before heading into work just in case Yuki’s there. I find myself smiling when I run into her in the staff room. She’s already in uniform, tying up her hair in front of the mirror. She greets me brightly, and I try to reply casually while walking over to my locker. I can’t help but glance over at her a couple of times while pulling out my uniform and heading for the changing room. She looks nice today too. I wonder if she has a boyfriend. She seems like the type to still be dating someone from high school. With her personality, I bet she was one of the most popular girls in her class, both among guys and other girls.

Yasuhiro is the one training her again today. Looking over at them every now and then, I can tell she is having a harder time getting used to carrying dishes than I did. I’m about to rush over to help her with a plate that’s going to slide off her tray, but Yasuhiro beats me to it, catching the edge of it with his boney arm. My heart sinks a bit as I watch him grab her hand to readjust its position. I kind of wish I was in his place.

After a long, busy double shift, Yasuhiro sees out the last group of customers. Yuki buses their table while I begin the final till check.

“Makoto,” Yasuhiro calls as he approaches me.

“Yes?” I respond, losing count of a set of bills in my hand.

“I’m gonna head home now. Can you show Yuki how to close?” he asks.

I perk up. “Yeah, sure.”

When Yasuhiro informs Yuki that I’ll be in charge of teaching her the rest, she nods before coming up to me like a puppy waiting for her master’s next order. I try to suppress a smile. She’s so cute.

“Let me show you how to do the sales report,” I say, motioning for her to come behind the counter with me.

She listens obediently to everything I teach her. At first, I’m a bit nervous talking to her, but it’s not long before her dimpled smiles and agreeable personality put me at ease again. The more we talk, the more she reminds me of a girl I was close to in high school.

An hour later, the only thing left to do is refill the condiments.

“Thanks so much for teaching me today,” she says out of nowhere as she picks up a soy sauce bottle. “It must be taking longer than usual to finish because you have to explain it all to me.”

“Don’t worry about it.” I smile and shake my head.

“By the way.” She looks up from the bottle in her hands. “You’re not from Tokyo, are you?”

My hands freeze. “How did you know?”

She giggles and carries the tray of sauces to the next table. “I could hear a bit of an accent when you were teaching me.”

I let out an embarrassed laugh. I’d been trying to speak in standard Japanese but must have slipped up somewhere without realizing it.

“So where are you from?” she asks.

“Hokkaido,” I answer.

“Oh!” Her eyes twinkle. “So there must be a lot of me where you’re from.”

“What?” I quirk my head to the side.

“Snow! Because my name means snow. Get it?” Her charm makes up for the bad joke.

“Oh, I get it,” I laugh.

Everything Yuki says gives off positive, carefree vibes that help the gloomy mood yesterday’s events put me in turn a little brighter. After completing our tasks, we take turns in the changing room. She catches me off guard when she steps out of it looking even prettier in her baby blue sweater and white denim shorts. I try to keep professional while showing her how to lock the entrance.

“Do you live around here?” I ask as we walk past the station.

“Yep! I live over there.” She points across the intersection. “What about you?”

“I’m this way.” I motion over my shoulder. “So I guess I’ll see you later.”

“Okay. Thanks again for today!” Her smile practically lights up the dark street as she waves and begins to walk away. I’m still waving back when she turns toward me one more time and calls out, “You’re a great teacher, Makoto!”

I automatically grin and reply with, “I hope I can teach you again.”

Remembering my plans with Koki and the guys after my lunch shift, I throw on a light gray V-neck sweater and a pair of ripped black jeans. With how warm the weather’s been lately, I don’t bother with a coat. I fix my hair and head for the front door where I put on leather boots. I’m still working on the laces when Shun walks into the kitchen and joins me at the door. Watching him pull out his V-3 sneakers, I realize the dream I had two nights ago no longer haunts me.

“Are you going out too?” I ask casually.

He quietly nods.

We leave at the same time so we head for the station together, but the silence that lingers between us makes the first few minutes incredibly awkward. Shun stares straight ahead like he did the day we walked to the café in Takadanobaba. I know he’s still mad.

“Hey, Shun,” I try to break the ice.

“What?” he answers without looking at me.

“I’m really sorry about the drawing,” I apologize. “And the other thing I did, too.”

His eyes point downward. At first, I think he’s ignoring me until he finally says, “Don’t worry about the drawing. I wasn’t all that proud of it anyway.”

“Oh,” I sigh. “That’s a relief.”

We fall silent again. I still feel tense, but don’t try to push it any further. That’s probably the most forgiveness I’ll ever get out of him. Then, out of nowhere, he trips and stumbles forward, barely catching himself before falling.

“What the—” I look over my shoulder at the bare pavement. “What did you even trip over?”

“I’m not sure.” Shun lets out a small uneasy laugh.

“There’s nothing there you could have possibly tripped over,” I tease him, hoping it’ll lighten the mood.

I watch his profile while his cheek develops a pinkish color. Is he embarrassed? Since when has Shun been capable of feeling embarrassment? I can’t help but stare at him until he looks up at me.

“What?” he asks innocently. His other cheek is red too.

Cute.

I almost stop in place.

Huh? What was that voice just now? I quickly shake my head and look forward, remembering to move my legs.

“Nothing,” I say, but on the inside, I feel my pulse rising.

“Why were you staring at me?” he presses.

“I wasn’t staring,” I deny in an offended tone.

“Yes, you were. What were you thinking?”

What does he want from me? Don’t corner me like this!

“Since when have you cared what other people think about you?” I counter, grasping for any distraction.

He furrows his eyebrows at me as we turn the corner to the station.

“I don’t. Especially not what an idol wannabe thinks about me,” he says in his usual audacious tone before dashing for the stairs.

Tension leaves my body and I find myself smirking while I watch him disappear into the station. Now who’s the one running?