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They're on a double date. A proper one, rather than a mixer where all the single guys and girls decided to join them in hopes of finding love with the other group.
Takeo has gone off to get their order from the counter (despite the fact that it's four peoples' worth of food - only he could actually manage to carry it all, Kurihara thinks). Nanako, meanwhile, is in the restroom. It's just Kurihara and Yamato.
She's sweet, Kurihara thinks, but every time he looks at her, he thinks that he's one wrong move away from making her burst into tears - she seems too fragile. Like she's made of sugar, and would fall apart if he does something wrong.
Maybe that's why she likes baking.
He hides his amused snort by taking a drink, and then beams at the girl, settling on a neutral topic. "I'm glad you and Takeo started dating!"
"A-ah? You are?"
"Yeah, yeah!" Kurihara nods fervently. "Not just 'cause I met Nanako, either! It's because he always seemed so lonely, y'know? I know not a lot of people need romance, but Takeo sure seemed to want it, at least."
Yamato nods her understanding. "I wanted it too!" she agrees. "I just always went to girls' schools, and I'm not interested in other girls, so I didn't have any options."
"Right!" Kurihara thinks this is going good. And their significant others will be back soon anyway, so he's not thinking too deeply when he says, "Honestly, at the rate things were going, I honestly thought he might end up going out with Sunakawa."
Yamato's face falls, and Kurihara immediately knows he's said something wrong.
"What... Do you mean? Did... Has Takeo ever liked Sunakawa like that before?"
"H-huh? No, no! I didn't mean that!" Kurihara says quickly, shaking his head rapidly. "I-it was a joke! 'Cause, y'know, they're so close, and stuff...?"
Yamato's cheeks puff out, but she doesn't look angry, or annoyed. After a moment, she blows out the air in her mouth, and nods slowly. "Right. Takeo would tell me if he'd ever liked Sunakawa. He's been honest about all his other past crushes."
"Right!" Kurihara agrees - maybe a bit too quickly, but whatever.
"And Sunakawa never liked Takeo, either. Right?"
...
At that, Kurihara doesn't know what to say.
Because there have definitely been rumors about Sunakawa Makoto and his orientation - or rather, his specific fixation on his best friend - that have flown around since middle school.
Rumors, and nothing more.
Nothing based in truth.
Sunakawa has never, ever said, one way or the other. Whether he likes boys in general, or Takeo specifically.
But there are rumors.
Kurihara swallows thickly, sees Yamato getting antsy over his lack of reply, and he mumbles out, "I don't know... About that..."
Yamato's eyes go wide with absolute horror. Tears brim at the edges of them, glossing over innocent honey-amber eyes.
And what really, really makes Kurihara feel horrible isn't that she's upset over being betrayed by her friend (boyfriend's friend, but he's sure it's the same thing to her). That's not it - because the first words out of her trembling lips are, "Why... Why wouldn't Sunakawa... Tell me if I was hurting him...?"
She's not worried about Suna taking Takeo away from her.
She's worried because she took Takeo away from Suna - from her point of view, that is.
Kurihara is pretty sure Suna thinks of it a completely different way - if Sunakawa ever thought he'd had a chance, he'd have asked Takeo out. The guy's too damn blunt, sometimes, so there's no way he wouldn't have.
But Yamato's tears streaming down her cheeks have rendered him utterly speechless, closed his throat and stolen his voice.
What is he supposed to say?
...
Thankfully, he doesn't have to say anything.
"Rinko!" his girlfriend cries, approaching the table. He hears Takeo's concerned grunting as he shuffles over, trying not to drop their food.
"What's wrong, Yamato?" Takeo asks her, placing a gentle hand on her back (it practically engulfs her frame, Kurihara thinks. It'd be amusing in any other situation). "Did something happen?"
"I... I'm a horrible person!" Yamato shrieks out, gaining attention from the others in the restaurant. Nanako gives them apologetic looks, Kurihara tries to shush her, and Takeo focuses his attentions on calming her down.
"You're not horrible, Yamato," Takeo assures her. "Why would you think that?"
"I... I stole you!" Yamato sniffles pathetically, and blows her nose into the tissue Nanako offers. "K-Kurihara said-"
"I joked!" Kurihara insists. "Joked!"
"H-he said that... That S-Sunakawa liked you be-before I asked you out..." Yamato lets out another sob, Nanako looks at Kurihara in a mixture of bewilderment and annoyance, and Takeo just looks flat-out confused.
"You believed those dumb rumors, Kurihara?" Takeo asks.
"Ah, you knew about them?" Kurihara asks. He hadn't been sure if Takeo just actively ignored them or not. "Well, yeah, I knew about them..." He gives an awkward laugh. "I-I just told Yamato that I didn't know if they were true or not- That's all! I didn't say it was a definite thing! Honest!" He holds up his hands as if that will prove his innocence.
It seems to work, because Nanako sighs and relents in her stare, focusing back on Yamato. Takeo hums and nods at Kurihara's story. "I see... Then we should just ask Suna, right?"
"Huh?"
All three of Takeo's companions stare at him in shock as he whips out his phone, about to call his best friend and ask- ask him-!
"You can't do that!" Kurihara sputters out. "For a lot of reasons, trust me!"
"Agreed," Nanako says. "For one thing, you should at least get Rinko's permission. Right, Rinko?"
Yamato puffs her cheeks out again. Her eyes are red and puffy from crying and her nose is bright pink from rubbing at it from the tissues. "I... I would be okay with it. I want to know, too. I would rather know for certain than have doubts."
Takeo nods his understanding. "Right, then-!"
"Wait!" Nanako says, sighing. "If Sunakawa has hidden this from you," she says carefully, "why would he tell you, even if you asked?"
Takeo and Yamato look shocked at this, like the possibility of Suna not being honest about his feelings hadn't occurred to them. "Yamato shouldn't ask, either," Kurihara adds. "He'd be worried about upsetting you and your relationship with Takeo."
"Ah... That's true," Yamato agrees. "But then, who-"
"I'll ask," Kurihara says, pulling out his own phone. "I started this, right?"
Takeo and Yamato grin at him as he stands up. "I'll head outside so he won't figure out I'm still in the restaurant with you guys. Then I'll come back and tell you what he says. 'Kay?"
"Sounds good!" Takeo says with his trademark wink and thumbs-up.
"Thank you!" Yamato says. "I-I'm sorry for crying and causing a scene..."
"It's fine. It's my fault for upsetting you," Kurihara assures her.
"Yeah, it's his fault," Nanako agrees.
"Hey!"
Kurihara slips out intot he cold air and gives a shiver. He pouts as he finds Sunakawa's name in his contacts, hoping the conversation can be over quickly so he can go back into the heated building.
There's the dull, electronic noise of the phone ringing in his ear as he waits, anxiously shifting. Thinking of Yamato's tears, of Takeo's blank confusion.
He wonders what will happen to them if Sunakawa tells him that the rumors are true.
He jolts as the click of his call being answered meets his ear. "Hello?" Sunakawa says, bored as ever. Kurihara can hear a soft scratching - he's writing on paper, maybe. Studying.
"H-hey, Suna. It's Kurihara," he says, probably unnecessarily.
"Mm. What's up? Aren't you on a double date with Takeo and Yamato?"
"Ah... We just left," Kurihara lies. "I have to ask you something," he adds quickly, so Sunakawa won't continue down that topic.
"Okay, what?"
Kurihara sucks in a too-cold breath, and pushes it out with the question, "Do you know about the rumors with you and Takeo?"
The scratch of a pencil on paper halts.
"You mean the ones where people think I'm in love with him," Sunakawa says slowly. He's not asking a question - he's stating fact. He knows that's what Kurihara means.
"Y-yeah. Those ones."
"Yeah, I know about them. Why?"
Kurihara winces. "I... Just was thinking about them," he says awkwardly. "And, I dunno, I... Wanted to know... You don't have to say, if you don't want to, but... Are they true?"
There's a long stretch of silence on the other end.
Eventually, Sunakawa huffs out a sigh, and the scratch of pencil on paper resumes. "Yeah."
Kurihara pauses. Blinks. "That's it?"
"You expected something else?"
"I... Well..." Kurihara flounders desperately, unsure of how to take this development. He'd thought Suna would at least deny it once before saying it was true. "Is that why you never bothered to stop them?" he finally asks.
"More like I didn't care one way or the other," Sunakawa says airily. "And for the record, if Takeo had asked me about them, I'd have been honest. He just never asked, so I never brought it up."
Kurihara swallows thickly. He glances behind himself, into the window of the restaurant. He can see the back of Takeo's head from here. "...I see."
He doesn't say anything for a minute, but Suna understands what's on his mind now. "You could tell him if you wanted to."
"...Huh?"
"I wouldn't mind," Sunakawa says. "He deserves to know, and like I said, I've never tried to hide it. He's just painfully oblivious." Kurihara hears laughter touching Suna's voice, and he's honestly a little surprised - he's never known Sunakawa to laugh.
But then, he's not around the guy as much as Takeo is, so he wouldn't know.
"You want me to tell him?" Kurihara asks.
"I don't want you to," Suna corrects. "I just don't care if you do. If you keep quiet, that's fine, too." There's a pause. "Was that all?"
"...Yeah. See you tomorrow in class."
"Mm. See you."
Kurihara hangs up, and heads right back inside. He shivers for a moment, rubbing his arms to gain some warmth and feeling back in them. He then looks over to the table where his girlfriend and friends are sitting.
He thinks about how Yamato's tears had tracked down her cheeks. But he also considers how she'd wanted the honest truth about Suna's feelings.
He considers Takeo and how he's so happy, so close with Yamato, so pleased to be in such a lovey relationship... And the fact that Suna, for however long, has been going unnoticed, his feelings hidden for no reason other than Takeo not bothered to look for them.
He takes all of this into consideration, and then steps towards the table, deciding what he will tell them.