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The cherry redhead should’ve never agreed to this.
But here she was with her boyfriend, one of her best friends, and her best friend’s boyfriend, all together at a café. A very new, cute, café, that both she and her best friend’s boyfriend had panicked over earlier that week. But then that son of a gun pulled a “what if we share?” card on her and here she was.
It all started when Himiko was sitting in her bedroom freaking out over the purple-haired boy she was dating. She had these moments, where she would fervently think about him when he wasn’t there, practically dying over how cute, cheeky, and chaotic he was. She was always ashamed of it but she couldn’t just bottle this up and let it build till it breaks in front of him. That would be so absolutely embarrassing.
It was then that she decided to take him out for a date. Her treat. Considering she had done a huge magic gig a few days back and she’d only arrived yesterday, she was hell-bent on using some of this money for some quality time. She heard there was this new café that opened up, a really aesthetically pleasing place apparently. Bougainvillea and ponds decorated the outside and inside of the café, small petting areas with adorable pets for sale, and most importantly, very cute and tasty treats! It was also a little costly but Himiko didn’t mind splurging if it was a guaranteed nice place.
She decided to book it, a nice spruce table near a small pool of water that contained a few lotuses, a perfect location in her eyes. It was 4 seater table but that could easily be fixed. The moment she booked it with the staff which she was messaging, they quickly sent a message back.
“Ah, I’m so sorry, that table’s already booked- We have plenty more options for seats though so take your time picking!” That’s one nice employee. Oh well, nothing to do but to browse. She decided she’d do this, later on, considering how her entire body felt cramped as hell so she needed to go out for a walk, and that she had till tomorrow. Surely the bookings won’t just fill up by then, right?
She hoped so. She put on a lime green T-shirt and some jean shorts. She pushed her feet into two grey slip-ons that had “grown” tight for her. Well, her feet had grown big for these is a better way to phrase it. She was too tired to shoe shop anytime soon and using her normal medieval boots for a walk feels like a sin. So, she just bore with it, hoping to God she wouldn’t get shoe-bite.
She walked out the door with her phone in her jean short’s pocket. She decided she’d get a coffee from one of the places outside the campus since she was very sure she’d need one the moment she felt tired. Which she knew was going to be very soon considering her tolerance for physical activities was unsurprisingly low.
She approached the campus gate, pulled out her ID from her wallet which was in the same pocket as her phone, and showed it to the person at the gate. They let her through and she was now outside, ready to get herself rid of these awful cramps.
She was walking at a brisk pace toward the place she was hoping to get some to-go coffee at when she encountered a familiar light green-haired guy.
“Ah, Himiko! What a funny coincidence running into you here, how was the show?” Rantaro was practically a big brother figure to her and one of the main reasons she was currently going out with Kokichi. He taught her that it didn't matter who asked out who first. She’d always be thankful to him for telling her that, otherwise she’s very sure that Kokichi would still be waiting on her to ask him out. He IS that type of dude to tease someone the second they show any affection to them. Thankfully she’s learned to cope with that (just a quarter of the time).
“Nyeh... The show was good, albeit a little boring..” He walked with her after learning that she was going for coffee and that isn’t something he could resist either.
“Well, I heard the pay was good. You taking Kokichi out with the money?” She looked at him with wide eyes. Of course, he knew, he knows all too well. She blushed, looking off to the side while speaking.
“A-ack- That was sudden but yeah, there was this new cafe I wanted to take him out to..” Rantaro’s ears distinctly perked at the word "wanted”.
“Ah, I think I know what place you’re talking about! It’s Lotus Kiss Café, right? I booked a reservation for me and Tenko earlier today there, going out for the weekend you know?” Her head did a full 180 and just stared at him. They stopped in the middle of walking, the silence growing a little too strong for the two of them.
“Hey.. You don’t suppose this table was.. table number 7, do you?” He just looked at her with the same surprised eyes.
“How did you know?“
“Ah.. that was the seat I was about to book nyeh..”
“Oh.”
“W-Wait it’s fine, I still haven’t booked seats yet and I was planning on doing it with someone else so-“ She took her phone hastily out of her pocket and looked through her messages with the employee. She and Rantaro spent a good deal of time looking at the available seats together and before they knew it, they’d found another beautiful one. No ponds but it was next to the dog petting area. She rechecked with the boy next to her, who just said “go for it!” and she typed up a message to the employee.
As soon as she sent a request for the reservation to be booked, a text came back which got her eyes wide and quivering. Rantaro came close to her side and looked at her phone. Que Rantaro’s face distorting to one of second-hand dismay.
“I’m so very sorry, our reservations are all booked for Saturday! We have free spots on Sunday, including the spot that you originally wanted, so let us know if that would work out for you.”
She felt her heart sink. She couldn’t reschedule for Sunday since one, she had a small gig on that day, and two, Kokichi was planning on going for a “professional heist” or something of that sort. She wouldn’t question it, but when she asked about when he’d come back, he said “not sure but it won't be too long”. She had found it extremely hard not to just hug Kokichi right then and tell him not to go but she couldn't because that would just make him think she was desperate. Which she was. But not enough to admit it.
She looked over at Rantaro and a light bulb lit up in her head. She put on the biggest puppy-dog eyes he’d ever seen on her face, let alone anybody else’s face.
“Please please please give me your reservation Rantaro- I’ll be in debt to you forever, please!” She bowed down, putting her two hands together as if though she was standing in front of a god. In this situation, he was the god of, hopefully, sympathy.
“Ahah- I’m sorry Himiko but Tenko’s gone for another week to some Aikido championships even though she’s the Ultimate of it. She’s gone on Monday and she needs to pack on Sunday so..” God damn it, why did the both of them have to have terrible luck.
She drooped her head all the way to the coffee place, where Rantaro repeatedly apologized and told her that he’d repay her back soon. As they stood at the counter, waiting, the green-haired boy looked over at the seats inside the establishment. They were only there for a quick pick me up but looking at the seats he realized something. As soon as they got their coffee and got out of the place, he patted her back.
“Nyeh? What is it?”
“I just realized- Since both of us need that reservation, and we both need it on Saturday, the same table, how about we both share it?” She looked at him like he had lost his nuts and bolts. What did he say?
Apparently, he caught the confusion in her face and replied, “Well... It’s a four-seater table right?”
Her eyes lit up, and in turn, his did too. They both walked back to their dorms, talking about how they were going to plan this. She knew he’d be the one to actually organize it, she’d be the one paying since she wanted it to be her treat. Rantaro didn’t decline, he knew he’d pay her back so it was fine. What wasn’t fine was that this was their first double date and that too with people who they thought they were very serious with. Oh well, they’d give the nerves a little time to rest. After all, it was just a Thursday.
She waited outside Kokichi’s dorm room, waiting for him to come out so they could both get into Rantaro’s car. She was trembling, nervous whether he dipped since Tenko was coming. She knew both of them have a weird view of each other since both are very possessive.
She stood there waiting as her skirt flowed with the passing breeze. She decided to get herself some new things for this date so she went shopping with Tenko. She’d gotten herself a cute beige top with a turtleneck and off-shoulder puffy sleeves which she complemented with a pleated creme skirt with a frill underneath that hung above the knees. She wore her hair up into a ponytail and had her signature blue gem accessory pinned to the base of it. She wore little to no makeup, just some blush, mascara, and lip balm. Really nothing too big, even if this café was a rare treat. Oh, and of course, she got new shoes. Plain black cup shoes that fit her nicely with white socks.
Finally, the person she had been waiting for came through the doors, his hands tucked in the pockets of his jeans. Kokichi came out in a checkered black and white hoodie and denim jeans. He also had his hair on a ponytail funnily enough. Guess both of them were just too tired to do anything with their hair.
“Wow Himiko you’re all cutesy today~” He walked over to her, giving her a big warm hug. She swore she could just melt in his hands but she had to keep it together. Less PDA since there were going to be two other people there. One who would absolutely destroy this cheeky idiot for even the smallest hug.
“Nyeh... Kokichi, you have to stop being so touchy... Tenko’s going to accuse you of invading my personal space..” He intertwined his fingers with hers and placed a chaste kiss on her cheek, backing away just to see that cute little expression of fluster.
"I can't NOT be touchy when you look so cute like this~!"
“Besides, how is Tenko accusing me of something that I do regularly, a bad thing?” She broke out of her blushing state and raised an eyebrow at him.
“You know exactly how. Now come on, we’re going to be late if we keep this up-“ She runs as fast as a tired girl could, while Kokichi just followed behind, hand still latching onto hers.
They walked over to where the car was parked, getting in as soon as they heard that reassuring beep that Rantaro had just unlocked it.
In the driver’s seat was Rantaro, his hair in his usual style, wearing a green and white striped long sleeve V-neck with a denim jacket lazily hanging off of his forearms. She couldn’t really tell what he wore for pants but considering this was Rantaro, guessing that it was bellbottoms wouldn’t be far off.
The girl next to him in the passenger’s seat was Tenko with her hair down (which was rare). She wore a blue and white plaid jumpsuit, something that Himiko said would look really cute when they were shopping. She also had a really simple white slingbag, presumably just for a water bottle, her wallet, and her phone.
The moment they got in, Tenko was clearly restraining herself from looking into the backseat. In her mind, he was forcing her to do something completely unacceptable. In reality, Kokichi sat behind Tenko’s seat, holding Himiko’s hand as she and him both looked at the world outside whirring away. Of course, Himiko’s face was beet red from this simple intimate action and Kokichi looked over at her for a second and laughed. Tenko’s nerves were close to busting.
Finally, after about a good 15 minutes of Tenko silently seething in that car, they had reached. And by god did all of them forget what they were there for when they saw the place.
The front was pure nature. A beautifully decorated pond with a stable bridge underneath so that you could enter the café without having to jump to the entrance, various pink and white flowers hung off of the roof and other random portions of the café. This was only the front. Only Himiko and Rantaro saw the inside fully but they were already a little stunned.
After admiring it for quite a while, they got out of the car and walked over. Inside was a whole other world. Tenko died a little inside when she saw the cute little ducks in the weirdly placed streams and pools of water. A waitress welcomed them, sat them down at their table and told them she’d be back with waters and their menus.
Considering they had all eaten no breakfast (or dinner) just so they’d be hungry enough to down everything they ate here, they decided to order a lot.
Himiko sat near the window, gloomy early sunshine peering in. 6 am was very early for all of them but that wasn’t important right now.
The waitress had left the menus and filled their glasses up with water. When Rantaro drank some, he immediately went from very calm to startled. It was way too fresh. The other three just sipped and widened their eyes at each other. This was literally just water. What the hell were they doing, freaking out over H2O for god’s sakes.
They set down their cups of god-water, silently vowing to each other to never speak of this moment again. Himiko wanted the menu but even if she reached hard enough, she still couldn’t grab it. So that’s when Kokichi snatches one of them and takes her hand, placing the menu in it gently. A very cheeky expression appeared on his face and she just opened up the menu to hide her red face from Tenko. She was very audibly seething, that silent aggravated breathing giving Himiko more anxiety than anything. She looked at the menu, focusing on what to get so as to forget what might currently be the start of a war between her and Rantaro’s dates.
“Hey Himiko, there’s a purple tea!” Kokichi pointed to the words “Butterfly Pea Flower Tea – A blue delicate tea made out of butterfly pea flowers that turns purple as soon as our finest lemonade hits it”. His eyes were gleaming, clearly in awe that there was such a thing as purple tea. He didn’t care if it tasted like crap, he just had to have it. As for her, she found out about cherry blossom tea and instantly wanted to order it. Rantaro and Tenko just looked at the menu they were sharing, Tenko always shimmying away from him if she got too close to the menu (which meant getting close to him). By the time Himiko and Kokichi took their eyes off of the menu, they saw that the green-haired duo were leisurely chatting, Tenko seemingly enjoying the conversation.
“Did you two figure out what drinks you were getting?” asked Kokichi. The other two looked at him and Rantaro responded.
“Ah, we decided on matcha green tea and tulsi green tea.” He looked at Kokichi and said, “Now the real question is, have you two stopped taking so much time to order?” Himiko’s face went red in embarrassment and Kokichi replied, “Taking time to order our drinks isn’t something bad, we just wanted to see if there was any new stuff, and luckily, there was.” “So, what are you getting?” “Himiko wants the cherry blossom tea and I’m getting this butterfly pee tea or something like that..”
Tenko looked at Kokichi in disgust while Rantaro lost his shit laughing. Kokichi in mock frustration scoffed “immature” (clearly directed toward Rantaro) at Himiko, which got a giggle from her. He smiled from the reaction he got from her, proceeding to take her hand and kiss it. Tenko was just about ready to pay Himiko the world so she could beat the daylights out of him. When the waitress came back to pick up their orders, they got themselves together and ordered their drinks. Weirdly enough, they only got a drink menu. Right after they placed their orders, the waitress placed two menus, of the same color, except there was different wording on the front. “Finger Foods”.
“Ah, I see you don’t know how we serve here. We like to surprise our first-time customers with the menus individually after ordering, it’s just a thing our owner loves!” Upon further questions, they find out that the owners of this mystical place were Mrs. Ruruka Andoh, the Ultimate Confectioner and Mr. Teruteru Hanamura. Both were supposed to be deceased in their own seasons but since Danganronpa the franchise was entirely over and the Ultimates could live freely now, it made sense for the confectioner and the chef to open up this lavish place.
The waitress left them to order their finger foods, which ended up in Tenko and Himiko both getting tea sandwiches, Kokichi getting potato chips, and Rantaro getting a small quiche. They placed their order, the waitress gave them a main menu with desserts and the other things from before. She assured them that their teas and breakfast appetizers would be ready, skidding back to the kitchen door.
Even before they could open the menus, she came back out with trays of tea and food, gently placing them on the table. She said that they could order mains by calling her and she left them to enjoy their food.
The teas caught their attention first, Kokichi’s being the most exquisite looking. It was a dark blue liquid in a very classic teacup, with a miniscule cup of lemonade right next to it. Himiko nudged Kokichi and he brought Rantaro and Tenko’s attention over to his very questionable-looking tea. He exclaimed, “Prepare to see some food magic, prepared none other than by me and Himiko, my trusty assistant.” He felt a stamp on his foot, very sure that this time it was Himiko.
At the mere moment, the sentence was uttered, he took the shot glass-looking cup of lemonade and gently poured it into the tea. It was turning darker, and darker, and.. pinker? In front of their eyes, they saw it turn into a dazzling purple tea. One which, the moment Kokichi drank just a little, he nearly died because of how much he hated it. Himiko knew this was bound to happen since Kokichi drank very little tea or coffee, so she was very sure he wouldn’t like the taste of this one. Nevertheless, she decided to drink it since it was clear he wouldn’t.
He, however, sneakily took Himiko’s fragile cup of floating cherry blossoms, a very translucent soft yellow liquid underneath. He put it to his lips and drank some. And had the same visceral reaction. Tenko and Rantaro just stared as Himiko scolded him on how dumb he was for ordering tea that he thought just looked cool since it was purple. They slowly sipped their green teas which they both were fine with, unlike a certain tea-hating idiot there.
“Why did you get it just because of the colour!?”
“Because, I wanted to match with you~” She looked down and realized what he meant. Purple and red (in a sense) tea. She blushed and looked off to the side, forgetting about the mini quarrel which was going on.
As soon as they finished up their teas, they looked over at the beautifully plated finger foods. Even the potato chips looked elegant as hell.
Himiko eyed Kokichi’s chips. The purple-haired boy could see the absolute restraint in her eyes to just snatch one of the crisps up and decided to utilize this opportunity.
“Himiko, if you want some of my chips soooo badly, you could’ve just asked you know,” he got very close to her face, “but since you clearly aren’t interested in asking, how about a trade?” She was ready to give up one of her sandwiches to him but his next few words got her in a tizzy again.
“Half of my chips for a kiss.” She cursed him inwardly. She could maybe, MAYBE, do this when they’re by themselves, but in front of their friends? Definitely not. And even more so with one of them just dying to snap Kokichi’s head off.
She came close to his ear and whispered, “Just a small peck?”. Dumbass had the nerve to say “Nope, it has to last over a good 3 seconds.” Fuck these chips.
She took his face in her hands and kissed him chastely. She counted each second, letting go at the very beginning of the third second.
She could tell that Tenko was fuming. Rantaro was probably eating his quiche slowly while watching Himiko practically turn into flustered mush. True to his promise, he put half of his chips onto her plate. That, and a kiss on her cheek.
Rantaro slipped a hand into Tenko’s, not with the intention of anything intimate, he just knew that she could lose all control and go at Kokichi right here right now. Tenko interpreted this action the wrong way, slapping his hand away and looking away from him. Himiko looked at Rantaro, who looked a little dejected, with a sympathetic look. They were suffering from either an overdose of affection or a lack of it. The red-haired girl knew that he was fine with it but she could tell that sometimes he wished the aikido master would just reciprocate those feelings. Even if it was the smallest act of intimacy.
They had soon finished up their starters, all of them talking about their week and what else they had planned. Himiko had another magic show which meant she’d only come back the next Thursday. Tenko had Aikido championships for a week, Kokichi had a heist which he couldn’t really assure her when he was coming back. And Rantaro was just going to be teaching survival classes so not much free time on his schedule either. By the time their conversation had wandered over to the topic of the killing games, their waitress thankfully came in at the right time to get their orders. Himiko wanted fluffy waffles and a milk latte. Kokichi wanted three of their signature grape jelly sandwiches.
When the waitress quipped, “You mean the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches?”, Kokichi just scoffed. Of course, it was for jokes but Kokichi let out a grunt because he felt the girl who had her hand in his, hit him straight on the shin. He then replied to the waitress, “I don’t like peanut butter, so I’ll have the jelly alone.”
“And for you two?”
Tenko examined the menu once again and asked to get the madeleines and eclairs. Rantaro just asked whether the club sandwiches were just bigger tea sandwiches, to which the sweet waitress replied, “Yes they are, and if you really did enjoy those tea sandwiches, you can still buy them.” Rantaro decided to get about 4 batches of the tea sandwiches, and when the waitress looked at the pad she’d been writing on she slowly looked back up at them and nervously smiled, running quickly over to the kitchen.
The four of them noticed and had a good time talking about how stuffed they were going to (hopefully) be when they left this place. Then, the waitress came back with some less than favourable news.
“So our kitchen staff is a little overwhelmed by the amount that you have ordered, would you perhaps be interested in ordering less or waiting more time?” They all had empathy and just told the waitress that they could wait. The waitress’ eyes lit up as she remembered something.
“Ah, you could spend this time having a look around! I’m pretty sure you’ll enjoy going through this place thoroughly.” The waitress talked about the little animal enclosures and the gardens in the back. She mentioned that they were holding an art competition in the gardens soon and all four of them exchanged looks. “Angie would creep everyone here out for sure but she’s the best painter..”
They shook that thought off their heads and looked around, the cafe itself was a tad empty. Figures, it was very early in the morning and they'd seen some of the customers finish up already. Tenko and Rantaro had gone over to the little stream near their table, looking at the adorable little ducks and koi swimming around all whimsically.
Kokichi and Himiko had gone over to the dog and cat enclosures, and since they were “pettable” (as shown by the amusingly large signs), both of them sunk their hands into the soft furs of these creatures. And in two minutes flat Kokichi was begging Himiko to get them this big-eyed pug, while she was containing her own want for it. But she already had way too many pets. It was a tough time dragging themselves away from there but eventually, she got him to do it by offering him a kiss. Which he received, her eyes looking away as she pecked him quickly.
They all came back to the table once they realized that it’s been half an hour. They can wait more but they just thought the food would be ready by then. To their lovely surprise, it was ready.
Laid out in front of them were these grandiose dishes that just made everyone except Kokichi gape. He was too busy licking the grape jelly off of the bread. Himiko caught onto this and tugged on his sleeve.
“Hmm? What is it Himi? Want some again~?”
“No, but can you please eat the bread too?" She was trying everything to get her boyfriend to eat the non-grape portion of his food. He knew the consequences of just eating sweet grape shit every day but chose to ignore it because why the hell not. So, since he wasn’t budging, Himiko impulsively took some of the bread he set apart, used her hand to position his face, and stuffed the bread into his mouth. However, she made the mistake of pushing the bread into his mouth, resulting in her fingers going just a little into his mouth. A little was enough for him to swallow the bread and suck on her fingers. She pulled them out, flushed in her face, and didn’t bother him about the food thing again. She was expecting to feel Tenko’s raging glare at Kokichi, but while she wiped her fingers off, she looked in front of her and saw that the dark green-haired girl was in her own moment of weakness.
Rantaro was patting her back while she coughed. It seemed like she choked on something, Himiko thought, a bit worried. She asked Rantaro if she should call the waitress to help out. He replied that the girl next to him was fine. Just choked on her water because of what had happened earlier. Himiko felt bad that her friend choked up because she decided to feed her stubborn lover. However, she was sidetracked from that when she saw Rantaro bring a cup of water to Tenko’s lips, trying to clear up her throat so she’d feel a bit better. It was really sweet to witness but Himiko could hear an audible “yuck” from the person to the right of her. She would smack him but what she was seeing was heart-numbing.
“Ah... Thank you Rantaro.” That was a sudden surprise for everyone. Did she just call Rantaro by his name? And not “degenerate”?
Rantaro, hiding his surprise and happiness, replied, “Of course, I'm right here when you need me.” It seemed like Tenko forgot that she said anything different from usual but you could tell she knew. She just didn’t admit it.
“Aya, I think it’s time we order desert no?” Rantaro started up a conversation about what they were going to order for dessert. Kokichi had decided on a grape cheesecake that he had to promise to Himiko that he would eat the entire thing. Himiko, Rantaro, and Tenko all ordered a cherry cobbler, a butterfruit custard, and a banana split respectively. They then waited for their deserts, all four talking about what they were going to do after this. Himiko thought it would be nice to bring Kokichi to a park for some time and Rantaro and Tenko already had a packed schedule of plans ahead. Shopping, lunch at a popular restaurant, leisure time, dinner, they were going to be out of the dorms all day.
They were going to touch on the topic of whether or not they should all have a road trip during the holidays when the waitress came round the corner and placed the desserts on the table.
Que Kokichi using the dumbest line ever while waving his spoon at Himiko.
“You know, all of these deserts combined wouldn’t even compare to how sweet you are~”
“Nyeh!? K-Kokichi stop..” She heard him snicker. He took his spoon and scooped up some of her cobbler.
He stuck the spoon right in his mouth, licking it clean as he maintained eye contact with her.
With a wink, he said, “Never.”
The cherry-haired girl wrapped her hand tightly around his, shivering as she realized her mistake of not bringing a sweater too late into her walk with Kokichi. They had finished up eating at the café and said goodbye to Rantaro and Tenko when they were dropped off at the park. Now, the morning cold was setting in. Her hair stood on end and she froze on the grassy path. Kokichi looked to his side to see why she wasn’t moving and found her hugging his side, poking at his hoodie as if she wanted to be in it with him.
"Oh- oh so that’s what’s going on." He didn't realize she was practically shivering.
He unzipped his hoodie, wrapping the left side over her. Of course, they couldn’t fully fit in the same hoodie for obvious reasons but it just brought her closer to him. He felt the prickly morning cold as well when he unzipped his hoodie and realized that they could get sick due to this. He sprinted with his hand being tightly clutched by both of hers while she screamed at him to stop running. She couldn’t tell where they were going, just that he was running. And she was going along with him. She’d always be right there when he needed her. Even if it was to run with her back to where ever the hell they were going.
He finally stopped, letting her breathe. She looked around and- Eh?
They were back at her dorm.
“Hey Himiko,” she heard Kokichi say behind her. He was standing on the doormat, she was standing in her dorm.
The purple-haired boy produced something from his pocket, bowing a little when showing what it is that he took out. She got a better look at it. It was a beautiful magenta rose.
“Ahem, will you, Miss Himiko Yumeno,” he approached closer putting an arm around her waist, “take my flower and kiss me?”
She swore in her head she could slap him. Slap him so hard he’d forget this morning.
But that was in her head. In reality, she looked to the side and nodded. She felt her face being positioned to look him straight in the eye as he placed a lingering kiss on her lips.
He swept some of her hair away from her ear, carefully putting the rose’s stem behind it.
“Don’t forget me while I’m gone okay?” He rubbed her face with his hand, her cheek cozy in his palm. She put her arms around his neck, whispering something to him. He let go of the embrace and said goodbye and that he’d be back sooner than she would’ve known it. She watched as he walked down the steps and finally closed the door. She leaned her back on it, trying to process what the hell just happened.
What’s worse?
He tasted like grape cheesecake.