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Everything was, so far, going to plan. That was good, Katsuya thought. Very good, because he wasn’t sure what he’d do if it went wrong.
Which wasn’t to say he didn’t have a contingency, of course. He had several contingency plans, and he was currently in the process of running through all of them in his head.
He glanced down at his outfit one more time. He still wasn’t sure about it. Did he dress up too much? Maybe he should have chosen the other jacket. Was there time to drive back home and change it? No, of course not. She could show up any minute now. Maybe this jacket wasn’t that bad, actually. The other one might be too plain. He didn’t want to be too dressed up- he couldn’t steal the spotlight, after all- but maybe this was okay.
He shifted on his feet. A car drove by on the road and the nerves in his stomach lurched, but it kept driving past and didn’t turn. It wasn’t her. Of course it wasn’t her- Maya didn’t even have a silver car. And her driving was way more… recognizable, than that.
He glanced at his watch. The reservation was in ten minutes. With places like these, weren’t you supposed to get there early?
For what was definitely not only the second time- or the third time, for that matter- Katsuya dug out the note from his pocket where he’d written down the reservation time. It did say the time he thought it did, right? But what if he’d recorded it wrong, and he’d already missed it, or he was so early that-
Or what if she didn’t show up? Maya would never do that purposefully, of course, he knew her well enough to know that, but… what if she forgot? She got caught up in things sometimes. She’d get so focused on things, and she couldn’t let go of them until she’d solved it. It didn’t matter if it was some problem she was figuring out for work, or just a long ongoing internal debate about what her favourite fruit was. She’d never set something aside until she had an answer she could stand behind. Maybe she’d gotten caught up with something and she’d forgotten.
What would he do if she didn’t show up? The reservation was already set. It would be hard to get another one, at a time that worked for both of them…
No, it was fine. She’d show up, they wouldn’t be late, it’d be fine. He shouldn’t be so nervous about this! He’d defeated an eldritch god and saved the world before, so this should be nothing! To be fair, he’d also been pretty nervous then, too. Still, he should have learned better! But there was just so much that could go wrong…
He started pacing. He shouldn’t have showed up so early. Of course, it was far better to be early than late, so he’d come extra early to make sure that if anything happened to stop him from getting there as fast as usual, he’d still be early, and that was all part of the plan, so it was good. It was good to stick to the plan. If he didn’t he might say something wrong, and if he said something wrong then…
He really, really didn’t want to mess this up.
He was still kind of embarrassed that Maya had been the one to suggest this first. She’d even picked out the restaurant! Which was probably for the best, Katsuya admitted, because he didn’t go out to places like this much, and so he probably would have picked the wrong place.
But still, he should have been the one to come up with it first. Of course, it wasn’t like he hadn’t been thinking about it for quite a while, he just… hadn’t been brave enough. Kept waiting for the right time, except it turned out that “the right time”, in his mind, always seemed to be “sometime in the future”, and time passing never brought him any closer to it.
Katsuya, really, hadn’t thought this would ever even be possible. He’d expected that, just in case being around the others somehow jogged their memories, they would do their best to keep Maya and Tatsuya and his friends apart. And Katsuya couldn’t leave Tatsuya, of course, so he’d expected that he and Maya would start to drift apart, avoiding each other the best they could for the sake of the entire world.
But… Maya was Maya, he thought fondly, and she would do things her way no matter what. Despite that they couldn’t know for sure if there was danger in everyone meeting again, she insisted that it was worth the risk.
So they’d kept on visiting each other. Maya made friends with Tatsuya again, too- and she’d brought Jun into the mix as well, and Katsuya wasn’t sure he’d ever seen his brother as happy as he was when he was with him. And, if he was being honest, seeing Maya take so much responsibility for Tatsuya’s happiness was what made him fall in love with her even more.
Those days, when Maya visited, and often Jun, too- those were the days when Katsuya felt happiest. Everything else- other timelines and evil gods and abandoned dreams- faded into the background. He was too embarrassed to ever say it, of course, but over time, the four of them had started to feel like a family.
Which is why it was only natural that they’d end up here, eventually. He was just disappointed in himself for not suggesting it first, before Maya did.
Katsuya checked his watch again. Five minutes to go. She should be here by now. Then he checked the note with the reservation time written on it again, just to be sure. And then he deliberated on his jacket again, because he really might have had time to drive home and get the other one instead, but that didn’t matter because surely she’d show up any minute now-
A familiar bright blue car sped down the street toward the restaurant, and Katsuya’s heart leapt in his chest.
Which, admittedly, was only half because he was nervous about the actual date, and half because letting Maya drive was a mistake .
He should have just done all of the driving himself. Sure, it might have lost some of the impact that way, but-
He winced as the tires on Maya’s car screeched as she turned into the parking lot without slowing down. She- remarkably- managed to park moderately neatly without hitting anything, and for a moment Katsuya was so relieved about that he completely forgot he was terrified.
But he didn’t forget for long, unfortunately. His heart was pounding so harshly in his chest he was almost tempted to just get back in the car, drive away, and stop all of this before it could start. There were so many ways this could go terribly wrong-
Maya stepped out of her car and waved at him. She looked perfect- which was not something that could probably be said about anyone else who was forced to put up with her driving. She was dressed up a little, too, and he once again panicked about his jacket, but he didn’t have time to panic right now so he tried to ignore it.
“Sorry, was I late?” Maya said, running up to him. “I feel like I hit every red light on the road. I didn’t even know we had that many stoplights in the city!”
That was… vaguely concerning, because he definitely had seen Maya run a red light without noticing it before, but that was beside the point right now.
“We’ve got a minute or two,” Katsuya said. “It probably would have been better to be early, but we did our best.” Okay, sure, he really would have liked to be early, and if it’d been him he would have left early enough to make sure that even if every stoplight was red he’d still be early, but…
It wasn’t like he could blame Maya for anything.
She was just… like that. She was so sure of herself, enough that she could even admit when she was wrong without any trouble. Katsuya, on the other hand, had a tendency to become a mess of nerves and anxiety at the slightest provocation. So he trusted her, no matter what- well, except maybe with driving. Though Katsuya had to reluctantly admit that he would trust her even then, if she asked. It’s not like he could ever refuse her.
She was brilliant and confident and he loved her. He loved her so much and he wished he had the bravery to tell her that, someday.
“Well then,” she said, smiling- she always seemed to be smiling, and Katsuya would never understand how she did it- “we’d better move fast, then! Don’t want to be late!”
Katsuya nodded, then turned and knocked on the window of his car. “Tatsuya! Are you coming? They’re here!”
The car door opened and Tatsuya stepped out, glaring at him. “I could have driven myself, you know,” he said. “Then maybe we wouldn’t have gotten here forty minutes early.”
“What, you think I was going to let you ride a motorcycle in the busy part of town when it’s already dark out? All on your own? What if something happened to you?”
Tatsuya just scowled at him and ignored him completely, turning to nod to Maya in greeting, then craning his head to peer past her toward where her car was parked.
“Is he here?” Tatsuya asked, voice softer, as if all his annoyance and anger had completely dissipated just at the possibility. Katsuya thought he even sounded a little bit nervous.
Maya nodded. “Mmhm! He should be out here any second now.” She leaned forward and whispered to him conspiratorially, though she was terrible at actually speaking quietly. “He’s probably just making sure he looks extra nice, just for you!”
Or, more likely, Katsuya thought, just recovering from the shock that was Maya’s driving. It really was a humbling experience, realizing you were alive after you almost certainly shouldn’t be. Of course, Katsuya would never voice that thought out loud.
Still, Tatsuya actually blushed a little at Maya’s comment.
He heard the sound of a car door open and Jun ran over to join them. He only looked a little bit shaken, so he’d done a remarkable job at recovering from near-certain death.
“Sorry!” Jun said, smiling at them. “I imagine we’re running rather late, aren’t we? We should go, Tatsuya.”
Tatsuya was staring at Jun, face bright red. It seemed to take him a second to notice Jun had spoken to him, and he just nodded silently in response, seemingly too star-struck to speak.
Jun took Tatsuya’s arm and grinned as they started walking off toward the restaurant.
“Thanks again for driving me!” Jun called over his shoulder to Maya.
“Of course!” Maya called back, smiling. “You two have fun!”
Katsuya watched the two of them walk inside the restaurant. He glanced at his watch again. They were just on time- they should be fine, then.
Maya watched them too. “They really do grow up fast, don’t they?” She said.
“Mhm,” Katsuya said, still too nervous to speak much. Of course, being left alone here with Maya was making him even more nervous. One of these days he’d have to work up the courage to tell her-
It must be strange for her, nevertheless. She’d known Tatsuya and Jun since they were children, but they’d only just met her a few months ago.
“Still, I’m so happy for them!” Maya said. “They deserve this so much.”
They deserve at least one timeline where they’re happy, felt like Maya’s unspoken thoughts. Katsuya didn’t think of the other Tatsuya as often as he used to, anymore. It was hard to move on, but he was managing. He would never forget him, of course, and he hoped every single day that he’d found himself a good life in the other world, but…
The better things got in this world- the more the distrust between him and Tatsuya faded, the more they felt like something of a family- the less he worried about the other Tatsuya. Maya said that made sense, that it was a good thing. They could all only live their own lives, after all.
“You don’t think they’re moving too fast?” Katsuya asked her, staring over at the restaurant window.
Maya laughed. “They’ve known each other since childhood!”
“No they haven’t.”
“Ah, but they have,” Maya said, with a fake mysticism to her voice. She waved a hand and wiggled her fingers as she spoke, as if trying to simulate a magic spell, like she was trying to claim that they knew each other through mysterious arcane means he had no chance of ever understanding, and so he could only take her word for it. Though if he was being honest, he sometimes felt like that even when Maya wasn’t trying to. He didn’t understand her, how she could be so many things he found impossible, how she could be so bright, but he would never stop trying to.
He smiled at her, because how could anyone not smile at her.
She laughed. “Really,” she said. “They’ve both told me before that they feel like they’ve known the other their whole lives, and not just in the poetic sense. I think they’re doing just fine.”
He nodded. She was right, of course, but he still was still worried.
“You really think,” he said, “there’s no danger of them remembering?”
She smiled at him, with the smile that simultaneously said she was trying to reassure him but also that she thought he was being a fool for worrying so much over something like this. “It’s all been fine so far! And it’s going to keep being fine! That threat is passed, Katsuya. You know that.”
He nodded, some of his nerves dissipating. Of course, he was still nervous about a lot of things today, but if Maya said at least that wasn’t a problem…
“Well, anyway!” Maya said, “we should get going! Don’t want to lose the window seat, or else the whole backfires!”
She linked her arm through his, and it was enough of a shock that Katsuya completely forgot what he’d been about to say. He knew very well that she did this to everyone, it was just a quirk of hers- but that didn’t stop Katsuya’s face from burning. He hoped desperately that she wouldn’t glance over at him and notice that his face was inevitably as bright red as his glasses.
But thankfully, she didn’t seem to notice- she could be so unobservant sometimes, but he didn’t think that was necessarily a bad thing.
“It really is the perfect place,” she said, smiling as usual. “They’ll love the restaurant, but we also have the perfect vantage point!”
She gestured grandly with her free arm to the small, cheap fast-food place across the street from the restaurant Tatsuya and Jun were currently at.
“See?” She said, pointing. “If we just get that empty table by the window right there, and Jun sits by the front window too like I suggested- I told him it was the best seat, and I think he believed me- then it’ll be perfect! We can keep an eye on them and make sure their date goes well!”
“That was your plan?” He asked. He’d known that they were planning on keeping an eye on the date- it had to go well, obviously! It was kind of their fault that Tatsuya and Jun didn’t know each other their entire lives in this world! So clearly they were responsible for making sure it went smoothly!- but for some reason the plan suddenly sounded ridiculous now that they were actually in the moment.
“Well, of course it is!” She said. “Oh, or do you mean that the great Detective Suou has a better idea for keeping an eye on them? You must be good at this sort of thing!”
“Well, no, that’s not what I meant-” he said, and Maya just laughed.
The fast-food diner was a small and relatively organized place. The table by the window was indeed open, and Katsuya claimed to for them while Maya ordered two meals’ worth of food that he was fairly certain she was well aware were both for herself, because Katsuya wouldn’t eat anything from a place like this.
He glanced through the window. Maya was right- you could see into the other restaurant’s window fairly clearly, from here. He wondered how she’d found this place. Especially since it was next to a restaurant that Maya claimed both Tatsuya and Jun would be fond of- he still found it kind of embarrassing that Maya knew more about what his brother liked than he did.
Maya returned to their table with a full tray of food that she did, indeed, set down solely in front of herself, only handing him one of the drinks. She knew him far too well.
She leaned over, peering through the window so closely her face was almost touching the window glass.
“They’re there!” She said excitedly. “They got the window seat!”
“Good,” Katsuya said, because he wasn’t sure what else to say. This whole plan was seeming rather ridiculous now. Of course, it was their responsibility to make sure the date went well, because they were the only ones who knew those two were supposed to be together, so much so that it’d nearly ended the world for the second time trying to keep them apart. But if something went wrong, what were they going to do about it?
“I can’t quite see-” Maya said, and then leaned forward even more, until her face was actually pressed against the window glass.
“Maya!” He said. “You’ll get smudges on the glass!” He wasn’t sure if she just hadn’t noticed it or if she genuinely didn’t think it was a problem, but still-
“Oh!” She said, moving back an inch. “If we smudge the glass, we won’t be able to see as well. Good thinking!”
“That’s not what I-” he started to say. Then Maya glanced back at him with a smile and it occurred to him that she was probably joking. And probably because she knew he’d fall for it, too.
He tried to sigh in disappointment at her, but ruined it because he couldn’t stop from smiling.
Maya reached over and grabbed a box of fries from the tray- one of several. He really didn’t understand how she could eat so much. Or how she could stand to eat things like that, but that wasn’t something he just found bewildering in Maya, that was something he just thought was strange about everyone. People ate so many foods that Katsuya thought were irredeemably disgusting. Maya claimed he was picky, but he preferred to call it “sensible”.
Katsuya turned his attention to the window. He could sort of make out Tatsuya and Jun at the table across the street. The lighting made it kind of difficult, but it was a good vantage point. He once again wondered just how much planning Maya had put into this.
“What’s happening? Is it going well?” Maya asked, through a mouthful of fries.
He frowned. “It looks fine? But they don’t seem to be talking much.”
Maya shook her head. “Oh, that’s good then!”
“That’s good?” Katsuya asked. How could not talking to someone you were trying to get to know be a good thing? Didn’t that mean they didn’t have enough to talk about? Not enough common interests? Again, it wasn’t like they could do anything to fix it, so he wasn’t entirely certain why they were here at all, but then again, any data they collected today could be useful in setting up future events-
“Mmhm!” Maya said. “Those two get along so well they don’t even need to talk. They’d stare at each other silently for like ten minutes and then nod like they’d just had a whole conversation. It was kind of freaky at first, actually. Lisa and Eikichi and I used to try and guess what they were saying, though of course we never knew if we were actually right.”
… That did sound like his brother, Katsuya admitted. Tatsuya didn’t like to talk much, and while Katsuya was rather fond of quiet himself, too, sometimes Tatsuya took it so far it was infuriating.
“Yeah,” Maya continued. “So if they’re not talking much, that’s a good thing! It means they’ve already reached the silent communication stage. That’s definitely a win!”
“But,” Katsuya said with a frown, “how can we distinguish not-talking-because-they-don’t-know-each-other stage from silent-communication stage? Wouldn’t they both look the same?”
“Hm,” Maya said, and turned back to peer out the window with him. “No, that’s definitely silent-communication stage,” she said, pointing. “See? Jun’s not distracted by anything. He gets distracted really easily, so if he’s that focused, he must be having a conversation right now.”
“You know them really well,” Katsuya said. He’d known that in theory, of course, but something about seeing Maya able to so easily analyze the little details of their actions like that was impressive.
Maya smiled at him. “Yep! I mean, I grew up with them, so of course I know them well! Though sometimes I do worry that I’m not getting it right because they’re a little different in this timeline.”
She didn’t stop smiling as she said it, even though it felt a little like she should.
“But they’re not really that different at all!” She continued. “When you know someone when you’re children, I think you always know them.”
… He’d grown up with Tatsuya, but he definitely didn’t know his own brother as well as Maya did.
But that didn’t matter. He wasn’t supposed to get hung up on that. It didn’t matter that they didn’t get along in the past, that’s what everyone told him. What mattered was that they were trying to get along better now, and it was working, albeit slowly.
“Maybe,” was all he said.
Maya reached over and grabbed one of the burgers from her tray. The fact that she could eat so much was astounding in itself, but that at least he was used to. But he found himself momentarily distracted by the fact that she was eating everything out of order. She still had a second box of fries. Why would someone not eat all of the fries first before moving on to the other food? That just seemed strange. Why would you mix things together like that?
“Are you sure you don’t want anything?” Maya asked, perhaps misinterpreting why he’d been staring at her food.
He shook his head. “I ate before I came,” he said. “There’s nothing good at places like this.”
“The food here is good, though!” Maya said. She grinned at him teasingly. “You’re just picky.”
“I am not picky,” he said, entirely aware she was only saying it because she knew he’d argue but not really caring. “I just have taste.”
“And that means you’re picky!” She said. “I mean, you don’t even like canned crab meat. Who doesn’t love crab meat? It’s the best!”
“It’s slippery,” Katsuya said. They’d had this debate before, but somehow it was always fun, even if he knew they’d never agree. “Meat should not be slippery. And it just tastes like salt.”
She shook her head at him. “I don’t know why you always say that. It’s not even that salty!”
“It definitely is,” he said. “Things shouldn’t be strongly salt-flavoured. Salt is meant to enhance flavours in small amounts, not to be a flavour.”
Maya shook her head in mock-disappointment. “Katsuya, I love you, but you’re wrong.”
Did she just-
Did she just say that she loved him?
She didn’t mean it like that, obviously not, this was Maya and she said that to everyone, so it didn’t mean anything at all, he knew that, but-
It still made his heart pound, and he was sure his cheeks were burning again, and she’d notice for sure this time, quick, he needed a way to distract her-
“How are Tatsuya and Jun?” He asked, using it as the perfect excuse to turn toward the window and away from her. He didn’t sound too frantic when he said that, did he? Maya just turned her attention over to the window too, so that probably meant she hadn’t noticed anything odd. That was good.
“Hmmm,” she said, peering really closely out the window. “They’ve gotten their food now. Wow, that restaurant has pretty fast service! Maybe we should go there sometime.”
Did she just say that the two of them should go to a high-class restaurant together sometime? She probably wasn’t thinking about that either. She probably didn’t even realize how that sounded.
Still, it was not helping. Someday he would need to work up the courage to just tell her, because it was times like this when he thought that maybe…
“I think they like the food, too,” Maya said. “Jun definitely does. I don’t know about Tatsuya, though. I could never really tell when he liked something.”
“Hm,” Katsuya said, leaning to look out the window more closely. “With Tatsuya, it’s more about what he doesn’t like than what he does. He’s picky-”
“Like you!” Maya interrupted.
“Not like me,” Katsuya said, “-and so anything that he will eat counts as a favourite, I think.”
“Well, he definitely looks like he’s eating what he ordered,” Maya said, face dangerously close from touching the glass and smudging it again. “That’s good! Things seem to be going well, don’t you think?”
He was about to agree when Tatsuya turned his head to look out the window across the street.
“Maya, move!” He said. Maya seemed to notice him turning too and they both scrambled to get out of the window’s view. For Katsuya, that meant just pushing his chair back so he’d be out of the way. Maya, on the other hand, for some reason just decided to duck, sinking in her chair so she was below the window’s level.
They waited a second. Katsuya wasn’t sure why they both felt the need to be quiet, because it wasn’t like sound would give away their position, but they did. After a moment, Katsuya hesitantly leaned forward again to make sure the way was clear.
“Are we good?” Maya asked, trying to crane her head to see without sitting up fully.
“I think so,” Katsuya said, and Maya pulled herself back up to sitting normally.
The fast food diner was mostly empty, this time of the day, but there were a few other customers who glanced over at them curiously. Katsuya immediately felt embarrassed- that had been absolutely ridiculous- but at least the upside of the matter was that if Maya saw him blushing now, she’d just assume it was because he was embarrassed about that and not anything else.
Maya grinned at him. Their gaze met, and after a second they both burst out laughing.
If the other customers were staring at them before, they definitely were now. Katsuya was laughing so hard he could barely breathe. It was just- just- it was just so ridiculous, all of it. What were they doing?
He couldn’t remember the last time he’d laughed this much. Maya was laughing so hard she’d had to brace herself against the table. She had the best laugh.
They calmed down after a moment, but then Maya glanced at him again, and said “What are we doing?” in the most bewildered tone, and then they both burst out laughing all over again. Maya knocked over her second box of fries by accident, and then they both just kind of stared at them, and somehow that was funny too and neither of them seemed to be able to stop laughing.
They finally began to settle, after way too long.
“My chest hurts now,” Maya said with a chuckle, holding her side.
“Mine, too,” Katsuya said with a grin. He really couldn’t remember the last time he’d laughed like that.
“Oh my,” Maya said, “what if I cracked a rib? Can you imagine that? Everyone would ask you how you got hurt, but you’d have to tell them it was just from laughing.”
“Please stop saying amusing things,” Katsuya said. “Otherwise we’re going to get ourselves kicked out of a diner for being too loud.”
“Can that actually happen?” Maya asked. “I mean, I used to go places like this with Lisa and Eikichi. If that wasn’t loud enough to get us kicked out, how loud do you think you’d have to be?”
“I don’t want to find out,” Katsuya said.
Maya laughed. “Have you ever been kicked out of a place like that?”
“No, of course not!” Katsuya said immediately. “Wait,” he said, glancing at her suspiciously, “are you saying you have?”
Maya smiled sheepishly. “Only once! It was years ago, and it was entirely Ulala’s fault. We got kicked out of a bar.”
“I can believe that,” Katsuya said, with a fond smile. “You know, I kind of miss those days. With Ulala and Kaoru, I mean. Not- not that they were good, in any way, because obviously everything that happened was terrible and I hated having to deal with it all, but-”
He shouldn’t have said that. She’d think he was crazy, to miss that time even in the slightest. There’d been nothing good about it, but he did miss it, in a way, because…
He wasn’t sure how to explain it. He shouldn’t have said anything about it at all, though. What was Maya going to think?
Maya just nodded. “I feel that way, too,” she said.
“You… do?” He asked, surprised.
“Mmhm!” Maya said. “It makes sense. Obviously things are better now, and I wouldn’t want to go back at all, but things definitely changed. They changed a lot- from where we were before all of that to where we were during it, and then again when it was over to where we are now. I think it’s normal to miss things that are important like that.”
“Oh,” he said, because he wasn’t sure what else to say.
“Sometimes I think,” Maya said, “about how different things would be if I didn’t remember everything. Those days, when we were just starting to learn everything- they made it all different. I remember two lives now, and I know people who didn’t know me. So of course I miss those times, because they were the times when everything started changing.”
She paused for a moment and then smiled. “But none of that’s a bad thing! I’m happy I get to remember it all.”
Katsuya wasn’t sure what to say. He’d thought about that, a lot. Maya was carrying memories of two lives, one of which no one remembered but her. He thought it was confusing, trying to deal with just everything that had happened, and the other world, and everything with Tatsuya- but Maya had all of that and then more. But she’d always been the one supporting him, and the one working hardest to bring Tatsuya and his old friends together again too.
That was the main reason he hadn’t said anything to her yet, about the way he felt for her. He wasn’t good enough, couldn’t do enough for her. She deserved more than that.
“It was easier back then, too,” he said, in part because he wanted to take part in this conversation and in part because he wanted to distract himself from his own thoughts. “Well, not easier. Not at all, because we literally had the fate of the world to deal with. But… because of that, everything seemed smaller.”
That didn’t make any sense, but Maya nodded anyway.
“Mmhm. It was easier, in some ways, because we always knew what we were working towards. Life is better when you have a goal to work towards, but finding one for yourself can be hard.”
He nodded. Maya always had a way of understanding things- not just getting what he was trying to say, but adding something onto it even if she didn’t understand.
“But,” Maya said, with a bright smile, “even though I miss it, I’d rather be right here. I’m really, really happy with the way everything’s turned out for us.”
She glanced out the window as she said it, to where Tatsuya and Jun were sitting. Jun was saying something, Katsuya thought- it was hard to tell from the distance, but it looked like he was talking quite animatedly about something. Tatsuya seemed completely enamored by it.
Katsuya wondered if that’s what he looked like when Maya spoke. He sincerely hoped not.
“Me too,” Katsuya said, and he was surprised how much he meant it. “I- Thank you.”
Maya looked at him quizzically. “For what?”
Katsuya glanced out the window again. “The reason everything’s turned out so well is you,” he said, trying to will himself not to start blushing with only moderate success. “You’re the one who tried to bring everyone together again. Tatsuya looks so happy,” he said, watching his brother through the window, “and that’s because of you. And I’m happy, too. For the same reason.”
There. He’d said it. There was still more he wanted to say, there was so much more he wanted to say, but… that was something. He wanted her to know that he saw it. He always saw how much she cared, and how hard she worked for all of them, and Katsuya… Katsuya just wanted her to know that he always would.
Maya smiled at him. She was always smiling, but this was a different smile, somehow. Softer. It made him blush, but hopefully she would just think that was because he’d just said something so sentimental.
“Thank you!” She said brightly. “Of course I try my best for everyone! But I can only do it because everyone tries their best for me, too. Don’t sell yourself short- I couldn’t have done it all without you, either.”
Did she really mean that? Of course she did- Maya never said anything she didn’t mean, especially when it was about someone else. But still…
He felt too awkward to reply to that, but Maya just reached for her second burger- why was she choosing the second burger next? If she was going to eat things out of order, she should at least make a pattern out of it- and it felt a little like a gesture meant to say that she didn’t need a response. He wasn’t sure if he was reading too much into it, though.
Maya frowned, looking out the window again. “What do you think Jun’s talking about?” She asked.
Katsuya shrugged. “I have no idea,” he said.
“Hm,” Maya said. “I guess there’s not really any purpose in guessing if I’m never going to know the answer. But they look like they’re enjoying themselves!”
“They do,” Katsuya said. “That’s good.”
“Mmhm! Hm, do you think-”
“Maya!” He said suddenly, because Jun had glanced this way. Maya instinctively ducked again and giggled.
Katsuya carefully leaned forward enough to check the window again. “All clear,” he said.
Maya sat up and laughed. “We’re terrible at this whole spy thing,” she said with a grin. “Come on, you must know about this sort of thing! What are the rules for a successful stakeout?”
Katsuya raised an eyebrow at her. He couldn’t tell if she was teasing or if she was genuinely being serious.
“Maya, you know I don’t do that sort of thing, right?”
Maya frowned. “Really?” She asked. “That’s disappointing.”
“But a good thing,” he said. “Because otherwise our attempt at spying today would seem a lot worse. I should hope that if someone had to do this for a job, they’d be better at it than us.”
Maya nodded but didn’t say anything- most likely because she seemed very focused on finishing her burger.
Katsuya turned his attention to the window again, thoughts wandering. It was rather dark out- the sun set early, this time of year. That didn’t stop people from having places to be, it seemed, because the road was still busy with dozens of cars going past.
A thought occurred to him. “Oh no,” he said.
“What is it?” Maya asked, finishing off her burger and reaching for the last remaining set of fries. He was still astounded by her ability to get through all of that food.
“Do you think I should have brought dessert?” He asked. “For Tatsuya and Jun, I mean. Tatsuya’s way too cheap to buy something at the restaurant. And besides, what if the desserts there aren’t any good? You can’t win someone over with lackluster desserts.”
“That is a problem,” Maya said. “I’m not sure we can do anything to fix it, though. Hmm.” She frowned thoughtfully. “Well, at least we know that for next time!”
“If we were watching this whole time to make sure nothing went wrong,” Katsuya said, “but when things did go wrong we couldn’t do anything about it, then why did we bother coming here at all?”
Maya grinned at him. “I have no idea!” She said.
Katsuya laughed, and so did Maya, and they came dangerously close to another unstoppable laughing fit but managed to avoid it.
“Besides,” Maya said, “it was fun, wasn’t it? I liked getting to see Tatsuya and Jun so happy, and the food here is good, and of course I liked talking with you!”
“Oh,” Katsuya said. “Yes, I suppose- That- I enjoyed it too.” He really did turn into a stuttering mess every time she said anything about him, didn’t he? He was such a fool.
“Good!” Maya said, smiling brightly. “We should definitely do this again sometime. Hm, where do you think we should set them up next? Though, I suppose, we could go somewhere together without it being for Tatsuya and Jun. We can find someplace where you actually like the food!”
Did she- Did she just invite him out somewhere for no purpose other than to go there together?
He was thankfully spared from trying to string together a coherent response when Maya spoke.
“Tatsuya and Jun are leaving!” She said. “Quick, we need to make it look like we weren’t here the whole time! We should have moved one of the cars, so it looked like we left and came back- maybe we still have time to do that.”
“Too late,” Katsuya said, pointing. Tatsuya and Jun had just stepped out from the restaurant doors and were walking out toward the parking lot.
And then, terrifyingly, both Tatsuya and Jun looked directly at them. Jun even waved at them.
Of course, they could have just noticed them, and if that were the case they could probably come up with a reasonable excuse, but there was something about the looks on their faces…
“They knew we were here the whole time, didn’t they,” Katsuya said, with building terror.
“Looks like it,” Maya said, with equal fear.
Katsuya put his head in his hands. “There’s no way we’re ever going to hear the end of this one.”
Maya waved back at Jun, and then turned to look back at him. She was, of course, smiling.
“Well,” she said, “at least we’ll face this together.”