"Here you go, the food you ordered." Mikoto brought the food Keita and Itsuki ordered.
"Thanks, miss... Err... How do we call you?" Itsuki asked.
"Mikoto's fine!" Mikoto said.
"Alright, Mikoto-san!" Itsuki said.
"Alright, I'm digging in!" Itsuki said eagerly before taking a bite.
"Ummm! Delicious! Your meals are amazing!" Itsuki said.
"I'm flattered, I think I have other matters to attend to, please make yourself at home." Mikoto said before retreating to the kitchen.
"Keita, how does yours taste like?" Itsuki asked.
"No, don't even try." Keita warned. As Itsuki tried to steal a bite from Keita's plate, Keita pinned his spoon on the table with his fork.
"You've done it now huh?" Keita said.
"Come on, it's just a bite! I'll give you mine too!" Itsuki negotiated.
"No." Keita refused.
"Oh, hey Ayumi-chan, what happened? You look different now. Where's the tsundere act?" Itsuki turned to Ayumi, noticing that she's being quiet from a while ago.
"Do you have a death wish?" Ayumi asked.
"Well... It seems like you're being yourself again huh? Ahaha..." Itsuki chuckles. The trio studied for a few hours into the evening. It's almost the time when the cafe will get busy.
"Alright, I think we shouldn't stay here any longer. We'll be sorry if the customers who wants to pay didn't get their seats!" Itsuki said. The other two agrees.
"I'll be off then, good night!" Itsuki said before he runs off to the station, leaving Keita and Ayumi standing outside of M's.
"Mikoto-san. Is there anything bothering you?" Keita asked.
"J-just Ayumi is fine!" Ayumi said.
"Alright. Ayumi." Keita said. Perhaps it sounded too bold that caused Ayumi to look the other way. It was too dark to see her face, but Keita does not have a clue.
"Alright then, you won't tell me anyways. I'll be off. My parents are home right now." Keita said as he started walking away.
"W-wait!" Ayumi called.
"What is it?" Keita responded.
"There is something... Bothering me..." Ayumi said.
"So, yeah. What is it?" Keita said.
"Do you... ... ...ber me...?" Ayumi murmured. The busy city noises from the distant highway even managed to propagate to their ears, rendering Ayumi's words barely audible.
"Excuse me, what did you just said?" Keita asked.
"N-Nothing!" Ayumi rushes back to M's, leaving Keita clueless at the entrance.
"Remember you? I don't." Keita said as he walked away.
Ayumi stayed upstairs until it's closing time. She walked down to talk to her mother.
"Mom, what is Kanade-chan's mother doing here?" Ayumi asked.
"Oh... You mean Yuuki-san. She's here to talk about our situation, you know? She figured out everything." Mikoto said reluctantly.
"What? How did she know?" Ayumi was shocked.
"She came over to understand our situation, I even asked her to keep this a secret... It's just because you wished so." Mikoto said.
"I-I see..." Ayumi responded.
"Apparently she heard about M's from Kanade-chan. So she thought to drop by but she recognised me straight away... I should have put on some more makeup... Ugh..." Mikoto explained.
"That's okay mom... I want to talk to her. Please help me." Ayumi said with determination in her eyes.
"I see... I'll call her tomorrow. You have exams right? Please make sure you didn't go out for too long. Won't you be ashamed if your grades are a bit unacceptable? Hehe..." Mikoto said sternly, then started to tease Ayumi.
"Mom!" Ayumi is embarrassed.
In the next day, Ayumi declined Itsuki's invitation to study in M's, she met up with Yuuki in the city area, Akari.
"Oh, Ayumi-chan. Good afternoon, how is school today?" Yuuki greeted Ayumi as she approaches.
"Good afternoon... Auntie." Ayumi is nervous.
"My, my... No need to be so nervous, Mikoto-san called me this morning, saying that her daughter wants to talk to me. I seriously don't know what you could want from me, so I just complied." Yuuki explained.
"I see... Thank you for coming..." Ayumi said.
"So, you came back from overseas. How is your body doing now?" Yuuki asked seriously.
"Uh... I stopped receiving medical care..." Ayumi said reluctantly.
"I see. And coming back despite being like that. Care to explain yourself?" Yuuki said.
"My family couldn't do well in overseas. My parents divorced, but dad still sends money home once a while. I couldn't make friends there, so I decided to come back to see... Uhm..." Ayumi explained.
"Keita, right?" Yuuki interjected.
"Huh?! Where?!" Ayumi is startled.
"That explains it. Haha..." Yuuki laughed.
"..." Ayumi couldn't say anything in response.
"It seems like there's something common in both of us." Yuuki said.
"Eh? But I'm not as strong as you..." Ayumi said.
"You came back just to see Keita, don't you?" Yuuki asked.
"I want to see my old friends too!" Ayumi said.
"Despite your condition?" Yuuki is not convinced.
"I see... You got me..." Ayumi concedes.
"Despite chained down to your fate, you still want to act on your whims. Just like how I was back then." Yuuki said.
"You...? Back then?" Ayumi got curious.
"I deemed myself beyond saving back then, since I know I don't have long to live, I decide to just live as a normal girl for once. Yet my conditions worsens quickly, I couldn't even spend a semester long as a normal high school girl." Yuuki lamented.
"I got confined in the hospital soon after, since my older brother is a doctor, he allowed me to roam around in the hospital when I'm not needed for examinations. It was until he came to my life." Yuuki said.
"He...? You don't mean..." Ayumi asked.