You blink a few times, rubbing your eyes before realising you'd fallen asleep in the coffee shop. The thought of doing something like that is still embarrassing, but you have to admit that you really needed the sleep. You look around and see not one, not two, but three familiar faces. Just your luck, really.
You see your girlfriend and feel yourself smile. It's going to take a while for you to get used to that word, but maybe that while is shorter than you previously thought. You catch the girl's eye and wave at her and watch her face go completely red. You find it adorable, and can't help smiling to yourself. Once she regains her composure, she waves back at you with the tips of her fingers. She hides her face in her hands again, and you feel a sudden warmth rush over you. You feel your stomach melt and your heart rush.
Rantaro notices the usually calm girl's composure break and turns to see you. You smile at him and wave groggily, pointing two lazy finger guns at him. He's mildly shocked by your behaviour because you don't usually do anything that's not directly work-related, but then he realises that you just woke up from a nap and your perception of reality is probably slightly out of whack. You have no clue what he is thinking, the future is forever but sleep is now.
You're tired enough to go back to sleep, but you do want to talk to your friends so you wave them over (including Kaito, who points to his work and shakes his head sadly but promises to chat for a bit after his shift gets done). You sigh, that was rather tiring. Rantaro grabs the chair beside you and Akane sits in the booth seat with you, nervously fidgeting with her hair. You wiggle yourself out of Rantaro's cardigan and nudge it across the table towards him with your nose. He smiles and takes it back. You nod at him, but end up banging your chin against the table. While it isn't bruised, it does sting a bit. You frown at the table, scrunching up your nose and eyeing it with intense scrutiny. When it doesn't apologise, you give up on it and turn to Akane before promptly resting your head on her thighs.
You smile to yourself, shifting your head so it's nice and comfortable.
"Soft," you whisper, snuggling in. "You're warm and nice. Like a pillow."
Akane, who is practically going into cardiac arrest at this point has no idea how to respond except pat your head gently and brush the hair away from your face. Rantaro eyes the two of you with mild interest and a hint of surprise.
"She never does that with me," he says, pouting. "She must really like you!"
"You mean to say," Akane speaks, clearly flustered. "That she often behaves like this?"
"Oh, yeah, sometimes," Rantaro says, nodding. "When she wakes up, she's always groggy, so she's a lot more...like this. Think of it as how when some people drink, their personality completely changes? It's kinda like that."
"I see," Akane says, pausing for a moment. "But I do believe that such uncharacteristic behaviour would likely be a source of embarrassment for her, right?"
"Yeah, that's true," Rantaro says, sighing. "If she remembered any of it. Which she doesn't, so it isn't. It's a pity, though. She's a lot less upset like this."
Akane ventures a look down at you to find you sleeping soundly. The gentle smile on your sleeping figure could've belonged to an entirely different person, really. It wasn't forced or rigid, but rather the smile of a satisfied, happy child. Akane couldn't help but smile in return. This wasn't the same person that she had confessed to, but it was the person she loved all the same. Your hand reached out for something, and Akane was more than willing to oblige by intertwining her fingers with yours. You settled back down into your slumber, sighing gently.
"So," Akane says, lightly patting your head. "Mind telling me what that was about?"
"What?" Rantaro asks, visibly confused.
"Don't act like you don't know," Akane says. "You've been glaring at me the whole day. You know you can't do that."
"And you know the rest of our agreement," Rantaro whispers. "Do you not?"
"You merely said to not steal your position or anything precious," Akane says, eyeing the boy cautiously. "You were never in a romantic relationship. I never stole your position as the best friend, did I?"
Rantaro sighs. "Well played. You're right, as usual."
"And as per usual," Akane says, smiling at you softly. "You have no reason to out me."
"That I do not," Rantaro affirms, sighing. "At least, not yet."
"Don't be so ambitious, especially when you have nothing of value to offer," Akane says, not taking her eyes off you.
Kaito picks that unfortunate moment to take a break from his shift and shivers at the tension between the two. He's not particularly inclined to walk into that situation, but Akira did tell him not to shy away from social situations, so he figured he might as well at least get within one foot of the table first.
"Hello," Kaito ventures, voice shaking. "Are the two of you alright?"
"Ah," Akane says, nodding. "Hello, dear secretary."
"Good day," Kaito greets, smiling.
"Hey! I'm also important, you know!" Rantaro adds, pouring.
"Good day to you as well," Kaito appends.
"This is another student council power struggle," Kaito observes. "Or so I assume."
"Our dear Rantaro doesn't know when to give up, it seems," Akane says, sighing.
"As per usual," Kaito says. "I do believe Alice would be very disappointed by the news."
"Do not breathe a word of this to the gremlin," Rantaro speaks, all too quickly.
"As the student council secretary," Kaito says, staring right at the boy in question. "It is my job to carry out my designated tasks according to the rules set out for me."
"You're a secretary, not a butler," Rantaro huffs, crossing his arms.
"If you raise your voices any more," Akane whispers, evidently angry. "And you two wake up my girlfriend, there will be consequences."
Both Rantaro and Kaito are shut up quite effectively shut up by that statement. Rantaro evidently more upset about it, resting his cheek on his hand as he pouts and stares out the window. Kaito slides him a strawberry cheesecake which he begrudgingly accepts, delicately polishing it off, layer by layer. Kaito also passes Akane your coffee, who graciously accepts it but refuses to wake you up.
The three of them sit in silence, a begrudging truce of sorts.
Rantaro wonders how what was supposed to be his special outing with you turned out to be a student council meeting. He's not pleased with it, his plans to feed you strawberry milkshake (just like when you were kids) ruined.
He sighs. He supposes his special outing could wait for another day. At least this gives him more time to plan it out in more, perfectly fine-tuned detail. He wants you to be irrevocably in love with him.
He feels sick to his stomach. He can't believe that though was his. Was he wishing to ruin your relationship, even though you looked so happy? This was the most content you've been in years, napping happily on Akane's thighs, and Rantaro wanted to destroy that. He wanted to selfishly rob you of that happiness. He felt disgusted. Repulsed by his own thoughts. He would never deny you something that made you happy, even if it ended up not being him.
He hastily stood up and excused himself. He told Akane the directions to your house, telling her to make sure you were safe or else there'd be consequences. He then dashed off home, his head cloudy and thoughts foggy.
He didn't like this. He didn't want to be the jealous ex, especially since he wasn't even your ex. He just wanted you to be happy. He just wanted you to feel loved.
A little voice inside him reminded him that he wanted you to feel loved by only him. He told the voice to shut up.
He locks himself in his room, unsure of what to do, wary of his own thoughts. So he does the only thing he remembers how to do when he only feels and can't think, he grabs his ukulele and composes.
He sings about you, and the time you spent as children. He sings about you, and how calm you've always been. He sings about you, and how dedicated you've always been. He sings about you, and how much he loves you. He sings about you, and how much he wishes you loved him.
He posts the song online to get it out of his system. It gets a few thousand responses in a matter of minutes. He selfishly hopes you hear it, and realise how you love him.
He slaps himself for thinking like that. He loves you, and that means he'll be happy with whatever makes you happy.
Even if he can't stomach the thought of it not being him.