killer whale

Could it be—? With genuinely hopeful eyes, Kotomi gazed up with slight enthusiasm dawning down upon her face. However, when she was only greeted by the sight of one of the waiters, her eyes softened and she looked back down at the note. It seemed like the one who wrote it really had no plans in meeting her at all and the mulberry-haired girl had never felt like such an idiot until now.

Recalling the waiter’s presence, she glanced up at him— seemingly reluctant. Now that she had concluded that the person she was expecting to meet won’t be arriving any time soon, Kotomi now had to wonder about something else. Why would this tall guy want to join her? In her perspective, he was the first person to approach her all day— oblivious to the fact that a number of waiters already tried to get her attention earlier.

Besides, I'd probably look like a prowler if I did that, huh?

Under the consideration of how the 'okay' for taking a seat wasn't given, the olive haired waiter simply looked just as that -- a waiter donned with a butler's attire, ready to tend to his customer. Because of the fact, he couldn't help but keep his eyes on her, taking in both her characteristics and presence from his position. From what he gathered by her mannerisms and delicate utterance, he presumed she had been accustomed to ridicule, which lead to the notion she was waiting for the inevitable all this time -- waiting for embarrassment because of a cruel joke, perhaps?

[✄] — Perhaps going here wasn’t a good idea. She should have seen this coming after all. After anxiously looking around the butler cafe for probably the fifteenth time by now, Kotomi gazed down at her watch and swallowed the heavy lump that was forming in her throat. She had been waiting for over two hours now and yet the person she had been expecting to meet was still nowhere to be seen.

The young girl pursed her lips as she unfolded the note in her hand again, recalling how she found it in her locker earlier that morning.

Kotomi Ichinose, I really like you. Please meet me at Cafe Soleil after school.

Considering her fear of people, Kotomi would have decided not to go to the meeting place but after hours of hesitance, she realized that this was possibly a chance for her to finally find her confidence and talk to someone without cowering away. But as she thought about it more now, she ended up with a conclusion that a prank was pulled on her. She had been staring at the half-finished cup of tea on her table and she could tell that the waiters were now wondering if she was ever going to leave. She couldn’t blame them seeing as how she continued to ignore them whenever they would offer other treats or more tea to her.

There was something about her -- the whole ordeal -- that unsettled him. She was why he began heading in her direction after requesting for someone to cover his remaining tables. He intended on giving her the attention she blatantly deserved and bring to light the reasons behind her perplexing, continuous declination.

"Oh? My knight seems to be good with words, how could I not have noticed before? Or did you perhaps train while I was unaware of it?" She giggled. Talking to him was a lot more fun than she had expected, and in the short time they had been together, Aika had grew to enjoy his company. This may seem folish, but she felt like they had known each other for years already. It was a rather strange feeling, as well as the first time she was experiencing it. She didn’t feel this way with any of her other friends, nor Mahiro or Yoshino. It was…strange, yet somehow it made her happy. For now, however, she decided not to think too much about it.

They had finally arrived at the infirmary. “It appears so.” He opened the door, stepped in and let her down on one of the beds. “……” Aika observed him and, then, he said that. That…goodbye. She didn’t want that. At least not yet. But why? Why was she getting so attached? This was not like her at all, what had gotten into her? “Hey—” She hesitated; wasn’t it selfish to ask him to stay? He was probably busy with something, and she didn’t want to keep him. But, at the same time, she didn’t want him to leave yet. “Makoto.” She called his name, still unsure of what to say next. “…Well, the nurse seems busy for the moment, s-so would you mind keeping me company? Just for a little while. I won’t keep you if you’re busy, though.” No no, you have to go back to normal, Aika. What are you even doing? Just give him a snarky remark and that will be it. “Isn’t it the knight’s duty to guard her princess at all times? You can’t just up and leave her alone, now can you?” The pain in her ankle was the least of her problems now. What the hell are you doing, woman.

And, to think I go to Nagisa for advice when I could have her around.

Brushing off that sudden thought, taken off guard by how it penetrated his mind, the olive haired swimmer shook his head once more, but in a protesting manner. Smooth? Makoto was far from suave when it came to women, despite working at Cafe Soleil. While he was able to play up the part as a charming gentleman, when it came to reality, he was oftentimes unsure how to proceed considering he never wanted them to gain the wrong impression. He always wanted to be careful. Needless to say, he wasn't capable of 'letting them down easy,' if he could let them down at all without making an excuse to avoid hurt. Interestingly, at that moment, coming to the realization she wanted him to stay with her, he felt as though the cycle was taking its course again.

He prayed it was just his ego.