Archive of Our Own

Thank goodness she said something that convinced him to stay.

Shiki…wasn’t quite sure what exactly had changed his mind… But something must have stuck! After all, her partner had looked ready to leave without looking back after the Prince made his “spicy tuna roll” comment. And yet there he was on the other side of the clothing rack—

True, he was looking at the ceiling, rather than actually checking out the clothes; but she still considered it a win! Though…she did wish he might actually talk rather than just stand there brooding. Like always.

“Hey, Neku.” He turned his head ever so slightly in her direction. She was holding up a purple bikini for him to see. She liked it, and they had enough money for it. But may as well try to strike up a conversation, right? “Whaddya think of this?”

Blue eyes passed over it. She smiled as she waited for his reply. Now they could finally have a decent talk, have fun, get to know each other more!

“…When are we gonna have to swim in the Game?”

Ugh, Shiki thought, if he wasn’t such a pain to talk to. The hanger fell back into its spot on the rack with a clang, Shiki crossed her arms over her chest shortly after. “Well,” she started, unable to veil the annoyance in her tone, “I wouldn’t be wearing it to swim. It’s to help fight the Noise! See, Rhyme and I were talking and—”

“Whatever, get what you want.” Neku turned on his heel to walk away. “Don’t know why you bothered asking…”

“Ah, Neku…!”

Before she could go after him, one of the vultures swooped down on him: “Hello, sir! Anything you’re particularly interested in today?”

“Leaving,” he replied, deftly sidestepping the store clerk. His hands were shoved in his pockets as he left the store and sat on the empty bench outside. It wasn’t surprising when the clerk rubbed her eyes after he did. He appeared, to anyone not participating in the Game, to have vanished into thin air after walking through the archway and into the floor’s central area.

She watched sadly and whispered his name as one of his hands reached up to headphones, revealing that he had, once again, tuned himself out from the rest of the world. Every time she felt like they had taken a step forward, Neku would take three steps back. How were they supposed to be good partners if she was the only one between them making much of an effort?

The store clerk, who had muttered something about kids these days after she had brushed off the disappearing act, turned back to Shiki, beaming, “Miss, is there anything I can help you with?”

“Er…” Now that she was looking at her, Shiki could not help noticing just how forced those actions were. She must have seen that she and Neku had entered together. So Neku’s rude behavior was being associated with her as well. Guess now was as good a time as any to try to repair this burned bridge… “Yes, actually, I was wondering how much…?” Okay, she already knew the answer to that question. But it was an easy start. And it was a better idea than sending the woman off or storming out like her partner had.

After about ten minutes of small talk and a more intense inspection of clothing, Shiki left the store with a decently filled D+B shopping bag and a significantly lighter wallet. Once she was outside, she pulled out Mr. Mew, per usual. She thought it best to be prepared in case any Noise showed up. After doing so, she frowned as she looked back toward the bench a certain someone had occupied; she took in a deep, calming breath before beginning to approach him. “Hey…”

Neku was still staring straight ahead, his head bobbing slightly while his hand rhythmically tapped on his leg. Then as she leaned over to poke him, repeating herself, it occurred to her just how loud that music of his was. He really was trying to tune everything out, wasn’t he? Could he even hear himself thinking right now?

The poking was what got his attention; but, annoyingly, rather than lower his headphones, he only reached down to the music device around his neck to lower the volume. Figured. “Hey,” he replied. His eyes flicked down to the bag in her grasp. “You get that swimsuit for the Game’s invisible swimming pool?”

She took in a sharp breath and swallowed the snappy retort that came to her tongue. How in the world was she supposed to be partners with this guy?! “Yes,” she answered with gritted teeth, trying her best to keep from throttling him, “I got the swimsuit.”

He nodded before starting to stand. She couldn’t help but notice that almost as soon as she had finished talking, he lifted a hand to turn his volume back up. Oh no—he was not escaping her that easily. “Okay, look.” He froze, still grasping the device and his thumb hovering over its button.

“I get that you don’t like shopping”—or even talking to people it seemed—“but this is really important to the Game! Can’t you at least try to take this seriously?” A hand went to her hip while her other arm possessed Mr. Mew in a chokehold.

He looked from her face down to Mr. Mew before looking away. “I can barely take you seriously,” he retorted from behind his high collar. “How could shopping possibly be so important? The Game’s about completing missions! You think one of them’s gonna be ‘Find a good deal in twenty minutes’?”

“No, but—!” She stopped herself before she could delve into an explanation her partner would more than likely ignore. No point in wasting her breath for that. Even if it was actually important. She raised her chin, looking overhead as she inhaled deeply again. “How about this: you can do…whatever while I do the shopping, but you have to handle getting food for us to snack on.”

Shiki noticed his eyebrows lower when she proposed her offer. “What, you don’t like food shopping?”

“It’s not about whether I like it or not,” she snapped, her eyes rolling. Honestly he was almost as bad as the neighbor kids back home. “It’s about being fair; it wouldn’t be right if I was doing all the shopping. This whole Game is a team effort. And you know what team means, right?”

He didn’t say anything, his mouth hidden by that high collar, and his eyes shifting to one side. She wondered vaguely if he was even listening to her answers. He had yet to give her any real responses aside from the snarky comments that she would rather do without. “So how ‘bout it?” She shifted to one side, holding her open hand toward him. “Sound like a deal?”

His eyes glanced down at her extended palm, but instead of returning her handshake, he sidestepped her to walk away. “Well, it sounds like something anyway…” When she didn’t follow—she was too busy gaping at just how impossible he could be—he looked over his shoulder half-heartedly, saying, “So we heading to Towa Records, then?”

Fine. Two could play this game of his. “No, silly.” Neku turned back around when she had replied to see she had placed her free hand back on her hip, Mr. Mew having been put away again. “I’ve got loads more shopping to do.” She smiled as she held the D+B bag to him. “So if you could just hold this for me, we’ll get right on that.” The teenager did as he was told but not without expressing his discontent with a groan and slumped shoulders as he followed her.

For the most part, Shiki was on her own when it came to choosing what to purchase. Though every once in a while, Neku did take something off of a rack. Though it was typically followed by a remark like “People actually wear this?” or “This isn’t really the price, is it?” Mostly, she just made use of the teenager by employing him as a bag holder or to compare sizes for the clothes for him.

It was only after they had walked out of Edoga the Shop that something had seemed to peak his interest: despite only having bought one item in the store, the receipt that had printed out was as long as his arm. “What’s up with that?” he wondered, pointing at the paper.

“I don’t know for sure how it works,” she began, passing it to him, “but it seems like whoever it is that makes us visible in these shops, also made it so any time we make a purchase we get tips about what these clothes can help with during the Game. Maybe they’ve got a button to press on the register when they see a Player Pin…?” She glanced down at the pin in question. The more she thought about this Game and its connection with the RG, the more confused she got.

“How exactly is it that these clothes have the power to do this stuff?” Neku was still engrossed with the receipt, reading and rereading to try to understand better. “I mean, these shoes you bought can just…prevent Noise from knocking the person wearing them down?”

She snapped out of the fascination with her Player Pin, pulling out Mr. Mew as she and Neku stepped into an elevator to get back to the ground floor. “I dunno. Maybe it’s sort of related to how different Noise aren’t affected by certain pins…or something.” This Game should really have started with a pamphlet. It would probably be pretty big though.

“…wait, you spent 4,800 yen…on just those shoes?” She looked back to see him looking at her over the receipt with wide eyes. “Do we have any money left?!”

“Of course, we have money left,” she yelped, snatching the paper back to stuff into one of her bags. Shiki folded her arms, looking away so he couldn’t see the embarrassment on her face. “You don’t still think I’m that useless, do you?”

“…how much do we have now?”

“…I-it doesn’t matter; there’s enough.” Before he had the chance to respond, the elevator doors slid open. “Hey, look we’re back on the ground floor!” She rushed out, looking around to gather her bearings. “Now where’s the exit again?”

Despite Shiki’s…overspending—for lack of a better term—for fashion, she and Neku made it through the last few days of the week fairly easily. As far as shopping. And, to her surprise, her partner actually started contributing to clothes shopping, though he still refused to admit that he recognized its importance to the Game. And true to his end of the deal, he dealt with their food purchases without much complaint. Really, he got the better end of the deal here.

In fact, Neku had grown so comfortable with it, that he continued with the custom in his second Game with his new partner, Joshua. Even without Shiki around, he had gotten at least moderately comfortable talking to the shopkeepers.

So much so that he had even grown into a bad habit of telling his partner to find a place for them to sit while he ordered their food. He should have seen it coming when Joshua—who Neku realized more and more was a polar opposite to Shiki—made a joke about taking people on fancier lunch dates than Sunshine’s.

He couldn’t help giving a roll of his eyes, muttering, “You wish this was a date.”

“I can dream, can’t I?” How was it that this guy knew exactly how to respond in a way that made Neku want to eat his own words? He was starting to think he just shouldn’t talk anymore. No matter how much Mr. Hanekoma had tried to stress communicating in this Game.

He had gotten a decent way through his chicken nuggets before Joshua decided to speak again. “Neku.” He stopped only to find that the prissy kid across from him was staring past Neku’s shoulder, a hand supporting his chin. “How well do you know that cashier girl?”

The teenager raised his eyebrows at this very odd question but lowered his half-eaten nugget anyway as he replied, “What, Shigemi Konno?” He glanced back only to see she had just hurriedly turned to speak with a coworker. Maybe something had turned out wrong on an order? He shrugged it off, turning to face ahead again. “I dunno, not very well. She’s usually here when I come in to order. But other than that…”

“Hmm…” Neku wasn’t sure he liked the contemplative look on his partner’s face; but he still found himself asking why that was brought up. He shook his head, finally breaking his gaze with the front counter. “You just sounded surprisingly friendly.” He snickered, adding in his usual manner, “I was a little jealous.” Neku couldn’t hide the disgust that statement made him feel. Shortly after Joshua looked back toward him, he added, “I think we’ve yet to have a single pleasant conversation in the entire time we’ve known each other.”

You make it sort of hard. Saying weird stuff like that, he thought to himself, reaching for another nugget. However, Joshua interrupted what could have potentially been the best chicken nugget in history by holding a clenched fist over the table. “Uhh, what are you doing?”

The pretty boy only rolled his eyes, shaking his fist for Neku to hear the jingle of something inside. “I’m still hungry. And this”—he shook his clenched hand again—“is enough money for more fries. So could you be a dear and go get them for me?”

He couldn’t be serious, right? It was his turn to give a roll of the eyes, saying, “You’ve got the money, just go get it yourself.”

“Neku.” His voice was incredibly stern—why in the world he would use that tone over something like this was beyond him—and he leaned forward, pushing the coins even more in the other’s face. “I insist you go over there and get another order of fries.”

What was up with this guy all of a sudden…? “Alright, fine.”

He started to stand, holding out his hand for the yen once he had. “And, Neku,” Joshua said, money still held in his fist, “when you get the fries—before you walk away—”

“What now?” He watched Neku for a moment before glancing at the counter again, his eyes narrowed. Neku looked over his shoulder as well but didn’t really notice anything out of the ordinary. Still, acting like this, it had to be something serious, right?

He finally dropped the coins in his hand. “Give the cashier girl a scan.”

…what? If it weren’t for the high collar blocking the view, Joshua probably would have ended up laughing from the way Neku’s jaw fell open. It took a minute for him to even figure out what to say, in which time Joshua had continued drinking his water. “That—that’s it?” he stuttered. “All this fuss because…what, you think she’s cute or something?”

Joshua only raised his eyebrows, setting the water back on the table. “Well, really, can you blame me? She’s quite charming.” How would he know that? He hadn’t even talked to her! Still, it was a little funny to think Shigemi—a random cashier—could make him that nervous.

“So, what, you want me to scope things out for you or something?”

“Oh, no need to do anything over the top,” he clarified. “Just a simple scan should do fine.”

An odd request, but he nodded and made his way back to the counter to ask for another bag of fries, nonetheless. Shigemi told him it would be a minute, but she’d make sure to stuff in as many fries as she could. He looked back at their table to see that Joshua was watching and when he caught his gaze, his partner gave a thumbs up. Something about this…felt off… He couldn’t tell what exactly it was. But something was wrong here.

“And here are your fries, Neku.” He was torn out of his thoughts when she spoke. He nodded, taking the bag as she said her usual, “Thanks, I’ll see you soon!” Once she had turned away, he tapped on one of his Player Pins, tuning himself into the frequency of her thoughts. Then her voice appeared in his head, loud and clear, I should ask him out! Wish I were less shy…

He barely heard the second part of her thought, quickly tapping the pin a second time. That…was the last thing he expected to hear. He wasn’t even sure how to react to the idea. All he could think of was Shiki teasing him if she ever found out. How she would say that it’s all because he always wanted to get the cheapest food possible rather than spend more on ramen.

Wait, why did that make him think of Shiki? It would make sense to think of Shigemi. They were her thoughts after all. Even Joshua would make sense since he had been the one to force him to hear these thoughts. But Shiki? She had…nothing to do with any of this. Heck, they only popped into this particular Sunshine during one mission last week. True, they had popped in more than once that day. But they had been to the Sunshine Stationside near Hachiko a lot more. There was next no to reason he should think about her opinion on it. So why…?

“Oh, um, did you need something else?” Shigemi had turned back, having realized he was still standing there. Words didn’t come to mind quickly enough. A frown came over her face; he must have looked just as frozen as he felt because she wondered, “Is everything alright, Neku?”

Had to make a recovery. “Yeah, I just remembered that my friend. He, uh, needs ketchup.” She nodded and went to grab some but he found himself mumbling into his shirt’s collar, “For the fries…” Did Joshua like ketchup? Probably not. But after pulling a stunt like this, he would have to deal with any food Neku bought him. Whether it was to his liking or not. He muttered a thanks when he got the packets and then hurried back to their table.

Joshua was leaning on the table, his chin held up by his entwined fingers when Neku approached. “Find out anything worthwhile?” That tone and the stupid smile on his face were just too much. He tossed the bag to his partner’s side of the table, flopping back into his own seat before reaching down to his music player to drown out the world. And more importantly Joshua.

“You’re ignoring me now?” Neku didn’t know how it was possible but no matter how much he turned up the volume, he could still hear that whiny voice across the table loud and clear. “Oh come oooon, Neku…”—seriously, he wasn’t even speaking any louder how was his voice breaking through the headphones on full blast?—“So you found out that cashier girl likes you. I hardly think that warrants giving me the silent treatment.” The teen wearing headphones refused to give his partner the satisfaction of a response, glancing over to one side and pretending as though his music was effectively tuning him out. “And here I thought it would give you a good laugh…”

Among everything Joshua was saying, that was the only thing that struck a chord. He turned his volume back down as he turned to stare down at what was left of his food. “You’re right…”

The idea that Shigemi had a crush on him should be funny. At the very least, it should have been funny that anyone could have a crush on someone like him. He hated people. He only spoke the bare minimum rather than try to prolong conversations like Shiki or even Joshua could. He wore his headphones all the time just so people wouldn’t talk to him. The idea that anyone could possibly have a crush on Neku—let alone someone like a cashier who he only talked to out of necessity—should have been hilarious.

“I should be laughing about it…but I’m not.” Somehow, he didn’t find it the least bit amusing. He wasn’t even embarrassed. The only thing about the last few minutes that embarrassed him was…the first thing he thought of after hearing it. He learned that this cashier girl had a crush on him. And he would have found that incredibly funny if it weren’t for the fact that he contemplated Shiki’s thoughts on the matter.

“Neku…” He was surprised to find that Joshua had nearly finished the new fries in the time since his partner had last spoke. He had actually let him stay in his thoughts rather than forcing him to talk. It was rather impressive. Especially since he wasn’t forcing him to speak on the matter now. “You should really drink something,” he said as he reached over for a napkin. He looked up after settling back in his seat, an annoyingly familiar smirk painting his features. “Your face is all kinds of red.”

He lowered his chin, hiding the bottom half of his face in his high collar, while a hand reached up to touch one of his orange spikes. What a prick. “Just shut up and eat, Josh.” He was stuck having to listen to Joshua’s incessant giggling while he attempted to finish his own food. However, it seemed, for some reason he had lost his appetite…

It may have been the first time since entering the Game that his hunger disappeared, but it didn’t turn out to be the last. He continued to eat on a regular basis even during his third week in the Game; but more for the sake of keeping his strength up for fighting Noise than because he was actually hungry. Even when he had returned to the RG, he would forget. Only eating when those around him—primarily his family—would remind him.

It was hard to remember when he was so lost. Something was different from before. Before being thrown into the Game, he was left bored and tired. But now he was neither of those things…merely searching. But he didn’t know what he was looking for, he was left wandering around Shibuya combing the city for the missing piece. He returned to Udagawa, looking at the tag mural that had brought him so much comfort in the past few months. They really were the streets he had always known.

Then it occurred to him that maybe…maybe he was what was different. The last three weeks in the Game…they must have left some impact on him. It was just a matter of realizing what exactly that impact was. If he was different, shouldn’t his parents have said something? Well, he realized, it’s not like that’s much different. I still leave the house all the time. Maybe the others would know.

He flipped open his phone, leaning against a wall in Udagawa as he went to search through his contacts. As he was, though, it occurred to him that he and the others…had never exchanged numbers. There was no reason to; they couldn’t place any calls and texts never ended up going through. Before he had the chance to close it, he noticed the first contact was, in fact, labelled “Beat”. That couldn’t be right. He looked through the rest of his contacts, just to be sure. Joshua. Rhyme. Shiki. They were all there in his phone. How…?

He wasted no time clicking on one and sending a message. Then to another. And another. But on the fourth he hesitated… Joshua. What was he supposed to say? After the last time they had seen each other… He couldn’t forget the lies he had been fed. He had been forced to stare down the barrel of a gun, choosing to either shoot one of the few people he had actually come to care about or allow himself to be shot by them instead. True, Joshua did ultimately bring him back to the RG and kept Shibuya around but even so…

Neku shut his phone, turning on his heel and heading back home to wait for the others to respond. He would message Joshua eventually…but not now. It would take a while to gather his thoughts on what exactly it was that he wanted to say anyway.

Shiki had been the first of the three to text back. She insisted that they all have a meet-up in the coming days. It took some discussion, but eventually all four came to the agreement of meeting at Hachiko a week from the day that they woke up back in the RG. He did end up inviting Joshua before the meeting took place. But he never got a response. And no matter how long he and the others waited, the Composer never showed up. However, they were eventually pulled away from Hachiko for Beat’s ever increasing hunger. He wasn’t the only one. For the first time in three weeks, Neku was starving.

And while they ate, the others tried to assure him that Joshua was probably just busy in the UG. Surely dealing with all of the aftermath of his Game with the Conductor. It took a while before he really convinced the others that he was okay, even if Joshua hadn’t shown up. “Yo, Shiki,” Beat started, his mouth still full of his favorite ramen, “what took you so long, man? We all started thinkin’ you weren’t gonna show up neither.” He didn’t seem to notice the faces Neku and Shiki made at his table manners.

“Yeah,” Rhyme said, preparing her chopsticks for her next bite before looking back at the girl in question. “I did think it was strange. Neku said that getting together was your idea. So I just assumed you would be there first.”

Shiki, who had set down her own chopsticks when Beat addressed her, now waved her arms in front of herself. “It’s not like I chickened out or anything!” Neku started eating his bowl of rice, wondering where she got that idea from. No one had accused her of getting cold feet; Beat and Rhyme were merely wondering what had slowed her down. They had been there a decent while before she arrived.

“I, I just had a hard time deciding what to wear,” she insisted. She pushed her glasses up and placed her hands in her lap, bowing her head slightly. Surprising. She hadn’t been quite this…shy before? It was hard to say exactly what this vibe was until she spoke again. “I mean, it was gonna be the first time any of you saw the real me, and, well…”

Neku set down his near empty rice bowl as he interrupted, parroting her words from before, “How you dress send a clear message.” Actually, he was fairly sure that was not what she was going to say at all. She was probably just nervous about how they would react to her actual appearance. Neku had known but Beat and Rhyme had barely heard about it through the messages before the meet-up. “Right?”

His words were followed by silence other than the sound of Beat loudly slurping up the rest of his tonkotsu ramen. Neku looked back toward her, expecting for her head to still be bowed and perhaps only give a mumble in response. Instead he found her looking up with an expression he could only think to describe as astonishment. A hand reached up to touch the back of his head, glancing away awkwardly. Was…what he said really that unexpected?

After a few seconds, Shiki closed her gaping mouth while her features softened in thought. “Yeah.” Then after a couple more moments, she smiled—probably the brightest smile he had seen her with—and seemed to shed whatever doubts she had about being there. A hand reached up, brushing her brown hair out of her face. “Thanks, Neku.” Well, his face feeling very warm right now. He decided to merely hum in response, ducking his chin down in his collar.

Thankfully, for him, no one had a chance to dwell on this moment because after slurping up the last of his ramen, Beat released a hearty sigh. “Maaaaan, that hit the spot, yo.” He patted his stomach before looking around the table only to find that none of the others had finished yet. “C’mon, ain’t you guys even hungry?”

“Not everyone’s as comfortable as you are talking with your mouth full, Beat,” Rhyme pointed out after finishing another bite. “And you didn’t even eat your rice yet. So you’re not really finished either.” Everyone laughed when Beat tried to get into a debate over the fact that he technically didn’t need to eat the rice.

“Y’know, this really was fun though,” Shiki spoke up after she had finished her own miso ramen. “We should all get together again another time!”

“Definitely!”

“Sounds like a plan, yo! Whatchu think, Phones?”

Neku was surprised to find everyone else staring, waiting for his opinion on the matter. He looked around their table from face to face before he gave the slightest smile. “Yeah, I guess that’d be alright.”

“Jus’ aight? Wha’s that s’pposed ta mean?”

Neku’s first partner laughed. “Don’t take it personal, Beat! Neku’s just not very good at showing when he’s excited about something.”

It certainly wasn’t the last time any of the four hung out together after that. Though it wasn’t until a few months later that Neku would return to Ramen Don again. Mostly because it was just going to be him and Shiki getting food today; and anytime they went to Sunshine or Mexican Dog, he could feel her judging him for picking fast-food again. So since it would just be the two of them, he figured he would be willing to splurge for his serving of shouyu ramen for one afternoon.

He forced his hands in his pockets as he waited for her to come out of the house, ducking his head down but finding himself irritated by his lack of a collar. Sure, the shirt still had one. But the only way it could cover his mouth was if he grabbed it and pulled it up. And he hadn’t even worn his headphones to make up for the lack of high collar. This was the worst.

Or so he thought until Shiki came to the door, ready to go with a clip decorating her short hair. He contemplated telling her how nice it looked—until after she had turned to face him, her face cracking from what he assumed was holding back laughter. A hand went up to the back of his head, looking away as his cheeks heated up a bit. “Wh-what’s so funny?”

“Sorry,” she giggled, a hand covering her mouth, “it’s just weird to see you in such…normal clothes.”

What he wouldn’t give to have a high collar to hide in right now. “Yeah, well, don’t get used to it,” he mumbled. They started to make their way toward Ramen Don’s and after being poked and prodded at, Neku was forced to recount why exactly he wasn’t wearing his preferred clothing.

He made the mistake of allowing his mother to find out that he was going to be going out to lunch with a friend. And as a result she just “happened” to throw all of his usual clothes into the wash, leaving him to wear “normal clothes”. He refused to admit, however, that it had only peaked Mrs. Sakuraba’s interest after finding out that one friend was, in fact, Shiki. Hence the simple jeans and t-shirt (CAT brand, of course).

Despite leaving out certain details that he felt would have been funnier (more embarrassing, in his opinion), the story still caused her to laugh. “Well, it might not make you feel better,” she said once he had finished and her giggles had ceased, “but it doesn’t look bad on you.” She was right, that didn’t make him feel better. It didn’t make the clothes any more comfortable certainly. “You should wear stuff like that more often.”

He glanced toward her as they arrived to the ramen shop and had to fight not to roll his eyes. “Yeah, I’ll put that under consideration.”

He pushed the door open to hear a familiar rough voice shout, “Irasshai!” Ken Doi had looked up from his cooking, his eyes closed in a grin. When he reopened his eyes, he gave a hearty laugh at the sight of the teenagers. “Hey, kids! Haven’t seen you in a while!” He waved a hand at them before getting back to focusing on noodles for another customer, saying, “Pull up a couple seats, I’ll be right with you!”

“Okay!” Neku had to fight from rolling his eyes when she had bowed as she spoke—that was overly respectful. “C’mon, Neku,” she said as she straightened back up, a hand rising to push her glasses back up to their usual position. “…what’s with the weird smile?”

He paused, a hand resting on the back of a chair, as he looked back at her. “What?”

She laughed as she said, “That dumb grin you just had.” Had he been smiling? He hadn’t realized. She had sat down in another chair, looking back to him when he didn’t immediately respond, her eyebrows raised. “What was that about?”

He forced himself to sit as well. “You were just seeing things. Everyone knows I don’t smile,” he said, busying himself with the menu. He didn’t really need to look at it, but keeping his gaze occupied was his closest substitute for the collar that he normally hid his face in.

“Mmm, that’s hard to say actually,” she said, a finger touching her cheek in thought. When he hummed curiously in reply, she elaborated, “I’m pretty sure I’ve only actually seen your mouth, like, twice. That one shirt of yours almost covers your nose!”

“And we’re back to critiquing my wardrobe.” Wonderful. Better than focusing on that smile that had supposedly crossed his face anyway. “Are you gonna call me a spicy tuna roll too?”

A hand covered her mouth when she laughed lightly, shaking her head. “Are you still upset over that? It’s been months already!” Neku touched a piece of his hair, mentally noting that it was hard to forget when someone compared your taste in fashion to an appetizer—a particularly shunned one at that. “Besides, I don’t really think—”

She was interrupted when the familiar shopkeeper had come over, greeting the two in his usual manner. He had brought them glasses of water and gave them their wet towels as well. “Since it’s been so long, are either of you planning on spicing up the orders today?”

Though the words were addressed to both of them, his pointed gaze at Neku made it clear just who he was talking to. Of course, the effort was in vain. “Not for me, thanks,” he said holding up his menu to their server. “I’d just like—”

“Shoyu ramen with a side of fried rice,” Doi finished with a sigh. “Really, kid. Are you ever gonna try something different?” Neku frowned as the menu was relived from his grasp. He knew what he liked and liked to stick with it. He could hardly see how that was a problem. “And for the lady?”

“Hmm…” He looked back across the table to find Shiki looking down at her menu, a finger resting over her mouth as she thought. She was staring so intently that he wondered what she had been looking at other than the menu since they had sat down. “I’m going to stick with the miso, but…” she paused before nodding and handing over her menu as well, “I guess I’ll spice it up with some gyoza on the side today.”

“The usual but with a twist…think maybe you could rub off on your friend there a little?” Why did people always speak like he wasn’t even there? Doi gave a hearty laugh after looking back at him, saying, “Don’t take it so seriously, kid! Nothing wrong with having a usual—I just like to mess with ya.” He tapped the teenager on the head with their menus before he turned away, announcing that he would be back with their food in a few minutes.

“Apparently so does everyone else,” he muttered, a hand touching the hair that had been tussled.

Shiki tried to assure him that she (and she assumed most of the others) never meant it in a malicious way. They made it back to another subject and were speaking for a few minutes when someone walked up to their table, saying Neku’s name. He looked up to see…a face that he could not place.

He could see the smile she had fade as she saw the confused expression he wore. “What’s with that face? You don’t recognize me?” He shrugged, which—thankfully—only made the brown-haired girl laugh. “Maybe this will help…” She cleared her throat, before saying in a very enthusiastic voice, “Welcome to Sunshine!”

It clicked and the look on his face must have shown just as much for she laughed yet again. “Ohhhhh, Shigemi Konno, right? Sorry, I hardly recognized you out of uniform.”

“Clearly,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “Though, I barely recognized you either in those clothes!” This again? Did everyone just hate his taste in clothing or something? “Gotta say, though, you’re rocking it.”

“Uhhh, thanks…”

What else was he supposed to say to that? No collar to hide in after this either. Next time he wore a “normal” shirt, he would have to compensate by bringing his headphones… For now he distracted himself, pouring a glass of water from the pitcher Ken Doi had left on the table before. He thought that was it. And she had just come over to say hi—and talk fashion, ugh, apparently.

But much to his surprise, she stayed put and took another breath to speak. “Where have you been? You barely come to Sunshine’s anymore! You used to come in more than three times a day.”

“I’ve been…busy, I guess.” That and not many of the others were particularly fond of Sunshine. Shiki definitely preferred coming here. “Oh, right.  This is Shiki,” he said gesturing across the table. The girl in question had been staring off while she drank her water, but Shiki seemed to be pulled out of her stupor when her name was said. “She’s a friend of mine.”

“Oh, it’s nice to meet you,” Shigemi said, beaming. It seemed as though she had more to say but the sound of someone calling her name made her pause. “Well, I’ll see you later. My friends are waiting for me. Hope to see you again soon though!” She waved before following the voice that had called for her.

Well, that had been a surprise. He shrugged after she went to leave, reaching over for his water. He tried to recall what exactly had been going on before she interrupted. “Um…”

“I didn’t realize the two of you were such good friends,” Shiki mumbled as she set down her glass of water.

“What?” That was a bit of an exaggeration. “I wouldn’t say we’re friends,” he replied, reaching up to touch a strand of his orange hair again. How she could have thought that was baffling. “I mean, I just saw her a lot back during the Game. Kind of out of necessity, really…”

He looked back across the table to find she was staring down at her lap. “It seemed like it was more than that to her.” There was a bit of an awkward pause, at least on Neku’s part. He…wasn’t quite sure what to say to that. After all, she did stick around for a little longer than he expected. “It kinda seemed like…maybe, she had a thing for you.”

He wanted to say he found that doubtful, but that would be a lie. He didn’t forget the thoughts he had heard during his second week, back when Joshua tricked him into finding out about the Sunshine cashier’s crush. However, this was…nowhere close to how he thought Shiki would react to it. He assumed she would find it funny, but she seemed more hurt. Something he couldn’t really wrap his head around.

Before he could even think of how to respond to that statement, Ken Doi returned with his usual grin, setting their steaming food down before them. “Here we are! Make sure to eat this while it’s hot, kids! I’ll be back to check on you in a while, so let me know if you two need anything!”

Neku grabbed his chopsticks, breaking them up while his friend gave her thanks to the owner before he left to help other customers. They began eating and after a few bites, Neku found something to say. “Well, even if she does have a…thing for me, it’s not like it matters.” He took another bite before looking back to her to find a slightly confused look on her face. He decided to elaborate, “She didn’t come over and ask me out, so I don’t see the issue.” After giving a nod, he slurped up some of his ramen as though that cleared up things.

“Well”—though clearly, for Shiki, it wasn’t settled—“she only left because her friends called her away. If they hadn’t…”

If he had known she would press this further, he wouldn’t have started eating already; it was difficult to converse when you’re in the middle of a bite. “But they did. So it doesn’t matter,” he said, his voice coming across as more irritated than he had intended. A fact that was made more obvious when she looked down to her lap again, her hands folded together. Oops. “Sorry.” She only shook her head in reply.

They sat in silence for a short while. Neku set down his chopsticks, keeping his gaze on her and hoping that he hadn’t accidentally hurt her feelings with anything he had said in the past few minutes. He was trying to figure out what exactly might have caused this, when she spoke again, her voice quiet, “If…” She seemed to hesitate before finally glancing back at him, but keeping her head lowered all the same. “If she had asked you out…like, on a date…would you go?”

He leaned back in his chair, a perplexed look crossing his face. What did that have to do with anything? Still, from the way she was acting, this must be an important question to her, right? “That’s…I mean, no. Probably not.” She lifted her chin ever so slightly, head no longer bowed. Well, that was an improvement, he supposed. “I don’t know her very well. And I’m not really interested in her that way.”

She seemed to be staring off into space for a minute. “Yeah… I guess you’re not really the type to date a stranger.” Considering that he wasn’t the type to speakto a stranger, he would think dating one was well outside the realm of possibility for him. His chopsticks, however, were left untouched until she continued eating and, even then, there was a second’s hesitation before Neku reluctantly followed suit.

His eyes kept focusing on her every few seconds, his own breath hitching every time she took an abnormally large breath. Normally, he would not be quite so focused on his lunch companion. But with how this whole lunch had gone so far, he couldn’t help feeling as though something else might happen when he least expected it—especially if his mouth was full. But his worries seemed to unnecessary since neither talked until Shiki seemed to have finished her food. And even then, she was only praising her choice of gyoza over the usual fried rice.

“Honestly, Neku, you should try it! It’s really good,” she insisted with a smile. “Doesn’t hurt to try something new every once in a while, right?”

He swallowed the last of his rice, once again feeling judged for his (admittedly limited) taste. Three times today now, was it? Man, no one would give him a break here. Especially not Shiki. “I just don’t want to buy something when I’ve never tried it before, that’s all.”

Her smile faded for a moment, glancing down at her plate before suddenly beaming once again. “Well, then today’s your lucky day!”

“What?”

He could only watch in bewilderment as she picked up one of the gyoza that was left on her plate with her chopsticks. “Well, I was just going to take all the ones I didn’t eat home,” she explained as she held it out, pointing at one of his empty dishes with her free hand, “but I can spare one for you to try, I suppose.”

He reluctantly picked up one of the bowls and rolled his eyes as she set it in. “How generous.” He set the dish back on the table before deciding to try a bite nonetheless. When Shiki asked his opinion, he only shrugged. “It’s edible.”

Then it was her turn to roll her eyes though it was also accompanied by a groan. “You’re just so picky…!” He only shrugged again as he finished off the dumpling. He would figure she had realized that by now.

There was a significant pause until he finished and he couldn’t help but notice that she had begun staring off into space…again. This might not be good. “What’s up?”

She snapped out of it rather quickly, though she now looked like a deer caught in headlights. “Sorry, sorry. I was just thinking about earlier.” He didn’t have time to ask what exactly she meant by earlier from how quickly she continued, talking very fast. “I mean, about the strangers thing. And I was sorta wondering something…”

Of course she was. “Okay.”

“Well, you aren’t the type to go out with a stranger,” she restated. He only nodded. They were both very much aware of that by this point. “But what if someone else asked you out?”

He reached up to pinch a strand of hair as he thought. Who even would? Then he suddenly remembered an annoying laugh that was almost always following innuendos. “Depends on the person.” Definitely not for that person…

“Well, what if…” The rest of her sentence came out as a mere mumble so he only gave a curious hum in reply. Then she took a big breath and practically shouted, “What if I asked you out?”

His face was already turning red when a loud guffaw came from beside their table. Ken Doi was back with the tab. “Are you kids trying to tell me this isn’t a date already?”

Neku barely saw Shiki stand up waving her arms, his hands instead covering his face as he wished more than ever that his mom had let him leave the house with a damn high collar. Today of all days, he thought trying to ignore his burning face and awaiting the inevitable text from—

Beep beep!

“Ugh, I hate my life,” he mumbled as Shiki hurriedly tried to explain herself to the owner of Ramen Don.