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"Tsumugi."
Banri walks into Tsumugi's room to find Homare on his way out with a weird expression on his face. Did he get his soul cleansed or something?
Well, whatever, he has his own agenda. He sees Tsumugi looking relieved from what probably was an exhausting conversation.
"Wait, Homare!" Banri watches Tasuku abruptly leave the room in a hurry. He closes the door because no one needs to hear this.
"Banri, what brings you here?"
"This." Banri shows the flyer advertising for any stray sheep to visit 'Father Tsumugi' that he found on the ground earlier. "Figure you would probably be the best choice to talk about this with. Have another opinion."
"Thank you? Would you like to sit?" Tsumugi gestures toward his chair.
"Nah, I'm good. You sit." Tsumugi goes ahead to sit before looking back at Banri.
"So, what's on your mind?"
"...I like Itaru."
Tsumugi looks confused for a moment. "Itaru...as a boyfriend?"
"I think so." Banri scratches his head. "I'm not...sure, how to go about it."
"Hm…" Tsumugi hums and thinks for a moment. First off, Itaru and Banri have a really good relationship, or at least that's how it looks. Surely even if Itaru doesn't share the same feelings, they will still have a good relationship, right?
He then pictures himself and Tasuku in a similar situation, if Tasuku were to tell him that he likes him. As a boyfriend.
He's happy that they are able to act together and are good friends, and he's sure no matter what, he wants to be a part of his life for as long as possible. He wouldn't have an answer right at the confession though, but if he has some time to reflect upon this revelation, something workable should come out of it. Itaru would agree with him, he thinks.
"Why don't you have a good, honest talk with him about it."
"Yeah...but if it doesn't work out?"
Tsumugi stands up and pats Banri's shoulder. "I'm sure he wouldn't want anything bad to come out of it. Have a little faith in him."
Banri looks more relieved. "You're right. Thanks Tsumugi, talking with you is calming."
"Anytime. You need anything else?"
"Nah, I'm good. Good luck with the strays." Tsumugi walks Banri to the door and sees him off. He watches Banri head toward the stairs.
He hopes they do work it out, and he has a feeling Banri isn't the only one who felt that way. It would be a little surprising actually.
"What did Banri need?"
Tasuki shows up behind him looking more exhausted than earlier.
"We were talking about the flyer."
"Man, you're brutal." Banri snaps the frozen juice tube in half to give one side to Itaru.
"They got cocky, deserved it." Itaru sucks out a piece of the frozen treat. "Wow, these aren't as good from what I remembered."
"You got old man taste buds now." Itaru shoves Banri at that comment and he laughs.
"I'm surprised the cafe even had these."
"Nostalgia's a money maker. They really got that retro feel down."
"Should've seen when Izumi was there. Carrying and beating their asses in that racing game."
Banri doesn't say anything, continuing to eat his treat while thinking he kinda wished he had found the place with Itaru instead. Then again, it's not like Izumi likes any of them that way when Mankai and curry are her priorities. Or her life really.
"What's up?" Banri turns to see Itaru looking at him.
"It's nothing." Itaru looks unsatisfied with the answer.
"...Did you just sulk?"
"The hell? Who says that." Banri does not sulk . Didn't intend to anyway.
Itaru chuckled to himself. "Still can't believe you sampled and ripped them on their menu."
"There's no variety and half of them were mediocre at best." Banri's disgusted face makes Itaru laugh aloud. "They can't even say what their best seller is."
"It was nice of you to even teach them about that orangette. Where did you even learn that from?"
Banri slurps a decent chunk of the leftover treat in his hand.
"Saved you all from Izumi this year. Anyway, you gotta have a quality menu if you wanna make it. Guess it would've helped more too if I had Tsumugi's pickiness with furnishing."
"To go that far though?" Itaru empties the rest of his treat.
"...You like it there." Banri watches Itaru almost choke as he looks over to Banri in surprise.
"What does tha-" Itaru stops to rethink what he was going to say. Banri did it because Itaru likes going there on retro games days? Though it's still only once a month? There is some charm to the cafe though so he does appreciate Banri helping them out.
"Thanks, Banri."
"And," Banri takes a deep breath. "I like you."
The world feels like it has stopped and Itaru isn't saying anything. His heart's pounding at the uncertainty this is leading toward. He lets Itaru take his time to think as he finishes up his dessert.
They end up walking toward a park, and Banri gestures for Itaru to give him his trash before walking over to the trash bins. When Banri looks over, Itaru is taking a seat in one of the swings and joins him.
"... Our age-"
"Doesn't matter to me."
Banri sits down on the seat.
"I've only got-"
"I like all of you."
"You even know what I'm going to say?"
Banri doesn't mean to interrupt or anything but he doesn't think anything can convince him out of it. "I thought about it already. This wasn't a sudden thing you know." He hears him mutter something but doesn't catch it.
"This might take long, but you've unlocked a backstory."
Itaru looks at the park, the sky, anywhere but Banri's face. He appreciates Banri, and he wants to tell him about that scar on his heart, so he tells him the story of Tonooka. How he thought he had found his first real best friend. How he felt like everyday he had something to look forward to. Something exciting to talk about because games are fun and sharing that joy wasn't something that happened before.
How he thought friendship like this felt so good and have felt so lucky it actually happened, and maybe he could feel some sense of being normal .
But only to be betrayed. He had lost his trust in others and only had superficial relationships before Mankai found him. It's still difficult to fathom sometimes that he can be himself whenever he's at the dorms.
"That fucker..."
"He's not important anymore."
Banri slips the top of his left fingers in between Itaru's hand, barely holding hands with him.
"I didn't think I would find someone like that again..." Itaru fully closes the gap between their hands, then looks at Banri. "But someone has proved me wrong."
Itaru grips Banri's hand tighter and smiles. "Think you're even better. I'll be in your care."