Chapter Text
Sota had stayed in the front of the shop with Miyamura’s dad. It seemed that the bakery didn’t have the amount of cupcakes that he needed to bring to school, so they were choosing alternative desserts to fill out his quota. Up until this point Hori hadn’t given much thought to how ridiculous it was to force a six-year-old to bring snacks for school. She supposed she’d been fascinated by the idea of coming to see Miyamura.
Izumi had followed her and his mom into the kitchen. The place was relatively small. The center of the room had a gigantic metal table, where she supposed all the mixing was done. The walls were covered in shelving space and what she supposed was the fridge. Across from her, Kyoko could spot the two gigantic ovens by both their size and the scent of rising dough coming from them. It was a scent she associated with Miyamura, the faint scent would surround her whenever he hugged her close. This time, it was completely overwhelming her. She loved it.
His mother pointed them towards a small wooden table in the corner. Three chairs were already laid out there.“Kyoko-chan, would you like to have a snack as well? Izumi made some cheesecake. He says you love it.”
“I do, oka-san. ” In response, Miyamura’s mother had squealed
“Ohh, you’re so lovely Kyoko-chan. Izumi, come sit down I’ll go bring us all some tea.”
The two of them sat down next to each other and she immediately reached out towards Miyamura.
“Wait!” he said before lifting his hand and removing the glove he was still wearing. He took it off carefully before reaching out and entangling their hands together.
“It’s nice that you’re here,” he said, not meeting her eyes.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah,” he said nothing else, letting the sound of his mother’s tea-making break their silence.
“So Kyoko-chan, Izumi tells me you're at the top of the class! .”
“ Oka-san !” exclaimed Miyamura.
“What? You said she got over 90 in all of her exams! Didn’t you Kyoko-chan?”
“Oh, yes, but I’m still not at the top of the class! But I usually get good grades.”
“That’s good! Izumi needs someone like you to help him study, he hasn’t always done well in school.”
Is this it? Hori wondered is this why you didn’t want me to meet her, because she’d bring up your grades? She looked up at Miyamura, whose eyes had already been turned towards her, as if examining her. Sometimes when they made eye contact, she felt like they were perfectly able to understand each other and would never need to speak again. Like right now, she thought he was saying ‘she’s nice, but she can be a bit overbearing, I hope you don’t mind’. She tried to answer back, to tell him that it was fine, like come on, had he even met her parents? The problem with telepathic communication with her boyfriend was that Kyoko could never really be sure she wasn’t imagining his half of the conversation.
“Of course, I know grades are not the end of the world, but it’s best to do well in school!” Miyamura’s mom said, “Are you planning on going to university next year?”
“Yeah… although I’m still not really sure of what I want to study.”
“Oh, it’s such a difficult decision. You should take your time before deciding. And, if you end up not wanting to go we could always offer you work here at the bakery!”
“Oka-san” Miyamura said, his cheeks had turned completely red.
“What's the matter, Izumi? If you two get married she’ll be part of the family. And we’re a family business!” Iori said, casually, as she brought over the tea set to the table.
At that comment Miyamura’s eyes widened. Kyoko was tempted to laugh at him, but she knew she probably looked even more red than her boyfriend.
So does this mean that she knows about the proposal? Probably not, since she said ‘if we get married’. But it sounds like she would want us to get married
“Oh, is the cheesecake outside, Izumi?” Iori added nonchalantly, as though they weren’t discussing the possibility of their marriage.
“Oh, yeah, it’s on the display.”
“Ah, I see. Start on with the tea, I’ll bring some slices over.” She said, as she walked out to the storefront.
For a second, Kyoko worried they wouldn’t speak about it.
“I haven’t told her,” Miyamrua said softly.
“Oh.,” C ome on, Kyoko, use your goddamn words. “Is there a reason why?”
“Eh?” His hand started getting a bit sweaty.
“I mean, have you not told her because you were embarrassed or because you take it back?”
“What?! No, I don’t take it back! I want us to get married.”
“Oh,” Kyoko’s blush was coming back.
“I just… You never brought it up again,” he looked down at their intertwined hands. His thumb was stroking the palm of her hands in slow circles. “I guess I was expecting that you would. I wasn’t planning on telling anyone about it until after that.”
Oh….wait...what???
“Miyamura!” she said rather angrily. Kyoko was indeed, very angry. She was pissed. She wanted to yell at something. That something was part herself, part Miyamura, and their combined idiocy.
“What?” he said. His thumb kept stroking her palm. The bastard knows this is relaxing to me.
“I never brought it up because you never brought it up!”
“Really?”
“Yes, really!”
Miyamura began laughing
“Stop it!” she said, as she patted him lightly on the shoulder, “it’s not funny!”
“What do you mean it’s not funny! It’s hilarious. We agreed to get married and then we never talked about it again cause we were scared we would both take it back!”
“Yes, because we’re stupid idiots.”
“We are! We probably shouldn’t get married if we’re this stupid together.”
“No, we have to get married because we’ll balance our stupidity out!”
This, finally, had gotten him to stop laughing.
“Ok then,” he brought her hand to his lip and kissed her fingers, one by one “we’ll get married.”
“Idiot,” she yanked the collar of his neck towards him and pecked him. He was about to lean back in to go for a second kiss, when Iori entered the kitchen again, carrying three slices of cheesecake in a piece of cardboard.
“I see, I can’t leave the two of you alone!” she said with a smile on her face.
“Oka-san!”
As she placed the slices of cheesecake at the center of the table, Kyoko wondered why it had taken her such a long time to cut up three slices.