Chapter Text
He answered on the second ring. “Mitsukuni.”
“Takashiiiiii! You’ll never guess who I bumped into today!”
“Who?”
“Haruhi! She was walking by as we were setting up for the opening ceremony at the new storefront. We’re all going to have lunch tomorrow, kay?”
“Where?”
“Café Voluum. I think I’ll be craving eclairs then~”
“When?”
“12:45. Reservations in my name. Don’t be late!”
- -
Following the waiter to their booth, Takashi gave a single, silent laugh. He was never late. Mitsukuni, on the other hand, was not so punctual. He hadn’t expected to see him yet and was amused anyway. Haruhi was already seated, lowering her menu as they approached. She beamed, rising to meet him. "Mori, I didn't know you'd be here, though I guess I shouldn't be surprised."
"Haruhi," he greeted her. It had been a long time since they'd seen each other. A year, maybe creeping closer to two. The former members of the host club didn't make too much of an effort to keep up with each other, because when they did it was like no time had passed at all. Their connection was just that strong.
The pair fell immediately into companionable silence, with Haruhi returning to her appraisal of the menu. Takashi took up an appraisal of her. The almost-black-but-still-navy blazer suited her, and from the nose down, she looked ready to conquer the world. Under her eyes, though, there were dark smudges, and her hair was fluffy in a way that looked unintentional.
"You look tired," he said to her.
She peered at him over the menu, then let it flop onto the table. "I am tired," she confessed, running a hand through the front of her hair. It fluttered back around her face, fluffier than before. Ah. "There's a lot going on right now at the firm. Nakayama-san, the vice-president, just quit and no one is quite sure why. It's chaos, trying to make sure all his work gets done, plus all kinds of rumors about what might have happened. There wasn't someone ready to fill his position because we all thought he'd be around for a while. Ozaki-sama hasn't taken it well at all." Haruhi huffed a small sigh. "On top of that, I have a pro-bono case that's turning out to be more trouble than I expected."
"Ah." He knew how that could go. He'd taken a few pro-bono cases of his own early in his career, but now that he was at the top of the legal negotiation team for the burgeoning HaniKana Doll & Figure company (a venture undertaken by Mitsukuni and Reiko to provide children of all sorts with toys to suit their needs, be they cutesy or occult), he didn't have the time. Working at the Ozaki firm would be different, as many of their cases were focused on familial disputes. Equally challenging, but not quite the same time demands.
"I'm glad you understand. It's one of those that seems like it'll be bad news any way it goes." She gave him a wane smile. "I've been thinking about it all day, though, so I'd rather not talk too much about it right now. "
He bobbed his head.
"How have you been? You look sort of tired yourself. Honey told me you were working for his new company. I saw that storefront yesterday! He still doesn't hold back on the decorations, does he?"
Takashi could feel a smile building behind his eyes. "He doesn't." They both took a moment to recall and be amused by the mix of aesthetics that graced the Tokyo branch of HaniKana Dolls & Figures. Pink and fluffy bunnies, dark and shriveled witches, police and military figures, fashion dolls and many other styles of humanoid toy formed a sculpture that spelled out the name of the store. Despite the differences between them, each sort of toy managed to exist in harmony with the others. It did well to represent that nature of the store – eclectic and over the top. But he hadn't answered her question. "I'm good. Busy."
"I'm glad to hear it! You did always seem happiest when you had something to pour your efforts into. I imagine it takes a lot of work to design contracts for a new company." He nodded. Haruhi smiled. It did something to alleviate the tiredness hovering under her eyes. It did something to wash away some of his, too. The comfortable silence returned.
And was broken again, by Mitsukuni's hurried footsteps. "Sorry I'm late!" he called, throwing himself into the booth next to Takashi. He radiated positivity, flashing smiles all around.
"That's okay, Honey. It's good to see you again. Thank you for getting us all together." Haruhi shifted herself to the middle of her booth so she could look at them both.
"Of course, Haru-chan!" Mitsukuni sparkled. "I know we don't together as often as we used to, but we see you least of all, so when I saw you yesterday, I knew we had to talk more.!And I knew Takashi would want to see you too!"
Takashi nodded. "Yeah. It's good to see you."
Their lunch was simple and conversation between the three was easy, continuing across dessert - Takashi had a vanilla eclair with coffee, Haruhi some sweet black tea and a strawberry eclair. Mitsukuni also vanilla and strawberry eclairs, as well as an orange creme eclair. And a chocolate eclair. And salted caramel, elderberry, coffee, maple and lemon eclairs. He'd seriously considered a raspberry as well, but since there were only two left in the pastry case, he decided someone else could enjoy them.
It was Haruhi who broke the meeting. At 1:50 she rose, saying "I have an appointment soon that I've got to get to. Thanks again for the meal. It was really nice to catch up with you!"
"Our pleasure, Haru-chan! We love seeing friends."
"Haruhi," Takashi said once she'd stepped out of the booth and into the aisle. She turned back to him. "Stay in touch."
Haruhi's already huge eyes widened just a touch. Then, she chuckled. "It had been a long time between talks. It wouldn't hurt to do this more often. What's the best way to get in touch with you these days, anyway? We could set up another lunch, or something."
Takashi passed her his card. On the front was the HaniKana logo, large and multicolored. Kaoru had done a marvelous job with it. The back simply read:
Morinozuka Takashi
[email protected]
"Nice and simple." Haruhi glowed, just a touch. Maybe it was spillover from Mitsukuni's resumed sparkling. "I think I can remember that." She took the card from Takashi, whipped a pen out of her blazer. She scrawled her own email address on the card and thrust it back at Takashi. "Talk to you soon!" She waved as she left. The bells on the door jingled. Takashi slipped the card into his pocket.
A moment of quiet. Mitsukuni's sparkles lapsed into a nearly mischievous smile. "I knew you'd want to see her."
"Ah." So that's what this had been about. He'd wondered. Now that Mitsukuni was happily married and on his way to becoming a father, he thought it was just about time that Takashi settled down as well.