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There’s a light snow falling by the time Akane and Kogami duck their heads into a noodle stall on the side of the road. The stall owner welcomed them in as he idly tended to the stovetop, glancing at them over the steam of ramen broth. His brows shoot up his forehead upon seeing how they were dressed.
“Y’all sure look real fancy!” he exclaims in a thick country accent. He was a friendly-looking older man with facial hair that looked more like cat whiskers.
Akane, somewhat breathless and desperate to rest her aching feet, smiled across the counter at him as she took a seat at the bar. Her dress was long enough that she had to somewhat fold it around her lap so as not to drag on the floor.
Kogami sat down much less elegantly than she did, but not before throwing his suit jacket over her shoulders. She side-eyes him but he was already rolling up his sleeves and giving the whiskered owner their orders—extra meat in his, no mushrooms in hers—so she decided to let it be. He loosens his tie as the owner goes about preparing their meals, and finally sits back.
It wasn’t as if the wedding they’d just come from didn’t have plenty to fill their stomachs. The bride and groom spared no expense in taking care of their guests; But when it was over, when Akane had every intention to go straight home, kick off her heels and climb into bed, Kogami found her in the reception hall and asked if she wanted to get some after-dinner ramen together. Just down the street, he said. It wasn’t far.
And maybe it was the wine, or how his blue eyes had a slight twinkle to them that was only possible on a dusky night like this, but Akane replied, “Okay.” And they slipped out before anyone could notice or ask questions.
“Mio looked happy,” Kogami says.
Akane smiles. “So did Kazuki.”
“He was nervous. I could tell.”
“Wouldn’t you be?”
“I wasn’t the one getting married.”
“So let’s say you eloped.”
Kogami nearly spat out his tea. “With who?”
“I don’t know,” Akane shrugged, like she hadn’t just said something crazy. “Saki? From the finance department.”
“Of all the…” Kogami rubbed between his eyes. “The SAD doesn’t need another groomsman.”
Incidentally, Mio and Kazuki were both employees of the PSB and SAD respectively. They’d been paired on a few missions together as part of their work before Kazuki finally had the guts to make a move (as he tearfully recounted in his speech). Although the relationship was by no means forbidden or untoward, it was certainly viewed as a unique marriage of two departments that were typically at odds with one another. A wedding reception that had a mixture of PSB and SAD personnel made for some interesting competitive banter over sweet cake.
“So, do you think it’s a bad match?” Akane changes the subject, just as the whiskered owner set their ramen bowls on the counter with a bashful, “Enjoy.”
Kogami doesn’t answer right away. Distracts himself with breaking apart Akane’s chopsticks and plants them in her hand, like it was the most natural thing. He breaks apart his own and moves the noodles around in his bowl.
“Our line of work isn’t exactly something we can share to the public, even with each other,” he finally says.
“So they’re doomed from the start?”
“No matter how you look at it, nothing about it is your typical office romance.”
Akane hums, neither upset nor disappointed. It was as pragmatic a response as she expected.
The conversation comes to pause as they eat.
It’s late enough that the streetlights go on. With the snow, everything looked brighter and felt softer. Taking the edge off the will-they, won’t-they of a newly married couple’s future that hit a little too close to home. Especially for people like them, who didn’t often think about things like marriage or relationships, but at the same time, remained a topic that stuck close like a vacuum in their minds.
The broth warms them up well at least, soothing their aches and anxieties and distracting them enough for the night. They sigh dreamily, almost in unison. Their elbows bump under the counter and they exchange awkward glances and light chuckles that makes the night feel almost innocent. Akane wipes a bit of broth off her chin.
“Personally, I think they’ll be fine,” she countered his previous point.
Kogami was already drinking the last bit of soup from his bowl. “How are you so sure?”
“Because they chose each other.”
Mio and Kazuki weren’t paired through the Sibyl System. Despite protests from their families on both sides, the relationship persevered. It was only by a stroke of luck that they were shown to have a favorable compatibility rate that their families finally gave their blessing. Yet, Mio professed in her speech that she would’ve married Kazuki regardless of the outcome, the purest declaration of her love.
“I think it’s wonderful,” Akane says.
Kogami wasn’t so convinced. “I don’t doubt that it was by their own choice, but that their families were so strongly opposed until the Sibyl System showed otherwise, says a lot about where society stands.”
Akane made a sour face. Always the realist, this man. “Still…” She elbows him on purpose this time. “It also means more people are willing to take a bet on each other.”
Kogami looks at her, his jacket draped over her thin shoulders. The exposed skin of her neck and chest had turned a pretty shade of pink from the cold—Or was it heat from the ramen? His eyes softened as she met his gaze expectantly, like she was daring him to try and disagree again, and he laughed through his nose. “You’re right about that.”
There’s a question on the tip of his tongue, crawling out from the deepest crevices of his mind that he’s halfway to asking.
He makes another round of orders instead.
Akane starts to get full halfway through her second bowl. Kogami was ready for a third.
She has to call it a night right there, before he bought out the whole stall, and Kogami playfully offers to finish whatever leftovers she had, he can handle it, he needs the protein anyway, he insists. She pulled him up by the arm and it felt oddly normal and right. Like an office worker romance wasn’t completely off the table.
“I’d elope with you.”
“What?” Akane drops his arm.
He rubs the back of his head, sheepish. “I mean, I’d just.” He loses it. Finds it again. His fingers curl on the stall counter. Fuck it. “I’d bet on it. Bet on us.”
His jacket slips a little off Akane’s shoulder. He fixes it into place. “And yeah, I’d be nervous as hell.”
Akane still hadn’t said anything. Just stared, in that way she does that makes him even more unnerved. He realizes his hand is still on her shoulder and moves away.
She grabs his wrist. Shivers shoot down Kogami’s spine and it wasn’t because the tips of her fingers were cold.
“Idiot.” She mutters. Her cheeks are as pink as her lips.
He intertwines his hand with hers. “Look at us. Proper old farts, huh.”
“Speak for yourself,” she snorts.
Kogami pays for the meal, at which point he also thought to ask the whiskered owner for recommendations on honeymoon spots, just out of curiosity, as Akane glared daggers into his profile. The old man twirls his mustache and beams. An onsen is the perfect place for this time of year, he suggested. He and his wife still made time to go, even at their old age. Then he leaned in, a twinkle in his eye. “An’ lemme tell ya somethin’—We eloped too!”
They bid each other goodnight and thank you over and over.
“An onsen…” Akane’s ears were practically red. They walked alongside the street, no destination in particular, hand in hand. Kogami could get used to this.
“Not exactly the season for beach vacations.”
“Do you think Mio and Kazuki had the same idea?” Akane wondered.
“Probably. They’ve been a couple for a long time, so it wasn’t off the table for them, I’m sure.”
“A couple, huh.”
“Yeah?”
Akane stops a few steps behind him, pulling him back. “Did you mean it?”
Kogami swallows. He tightens his grip in her hand. “Every word.”
The snow piles up and Kogami thinks they ought to get inside soon before one of them got frostbite. Akane bites her lip.
“I’m… I, I know I said all those things, but… I’m not ready.”
“I know.”
“Is that okay?”
“It’s what it has to be.”
“What does that mean?”
“I’m not ready either.”
Akane looked hurt. “Then why did you…?”
“Because we might never be ready.”
Kogami steps forward until her hand is pressed against his chest. He can smell the remnants of her perfume from this proximity, and the ramen from her breath. If he pressed closer, he bet he could smell himself on her too.
He holds her. Presses his nose into her hair.
“Is that okay?” he asks.
Akane stills for a bit then relaxes. Brings her arms up around his shoulders and keeps them there. Squeezes him, even. She plants a small kiss on the side of his neck and Kogami hopes it leaves a lipstick stain.
“Let’s see about that onsen, and go from there,” she says.
He kisses her on her temple. “You sure?”
“Not really, but… I’ll bet on us too.”
Kogami chuckles and rubs his chin into her head. “The SAD might have another groomsman on their hands after all.”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Akane chides. “Let’s get somewhere warm, first.”
“I’ll call us a cab.”
“A cab?”
“Hey, not like I was expecting to take anyone home...”
They make their way back to Akane’s place, and she’s kind enough not to kick him back out in the snow. She turns on the heater and takes out her fuzzy blankets and they cozy themselves on her living room couch, Akane in her dress, and Kogami in his suit. She drapes her legs over his and they talk more about the happy newlyweds, people they saw at the party, and wondered if they should call in sick tomorrow for work.
They don’t talk about the possibility of them. Not yet. But they agree that they'd rather get married in the spring.