#;ren

“Ah, you think? Perhaps I’ve pushed myself a little too hard today. I appreciate the seat...”

Goro sat heavily at one of the counter seats, fighting the urge to rest his throbbing head on his arms. It was more than pushing himself, but Akira didn’t need to know that.

“Sometimes I just get so lost in biking I don’t realize I’ve been going for too long. Ahaha...do you also get lost in your own head, perhaps?”

Akira raised an inquisitive brow, regarding the other with a mix of concern and curiosity plastered all over his features. He couldn’t know whether Akechi was being truthful as to why he had pushed himself to the brink of total physical exhaustion, but it was evident that his body needed either rest, fuel or both.

“Sometimes I do,” Akira admitted half-heartedly in response to his question, his head already in a different space. “Now, I have five options for you to choose from.“

“Number one– I’ll get you a premium glass of cool LeBlanc faucet water, freshly tapped.” As he elucidated the first option, Akira gestured toward the empty glasses on the shelf. “Number two, I’ll make you some coffee as a pick me up, on the house. Three would be some curry for the calories you obviously need, and four is calling my trusted neighborhood doctor over.”

While he had spoken, Akira had already fetched the other a glass of water. Seems as though Akechi had to go with option one at least.

It took him all night, all night before be finally figured out where he had seen his waiter before. In class. It was a fairly large class and faces tended to blend a lot, but he finally placed him. Kyungsoo was a Musical Theater ad Musical Education double major, the other must be taking the class for a general education class or he too is majoring in some sort of music degree. 

A deep breath filled Ren with peaceful happiness and nostalgia. The familiar clinking noises in the background, the oily yet pleasant scent of potatoes wandering into the deep frier, the quiet mumbling of people speaking in standard Japanese  — yes, there was absolutely no mistaking it. The now senior in high school was back at the diner in Tokyo, the city which had granted him one year filled with excitement, adventures and the friends of a lifetime. 

His hometown just couldn’t measure up. At all.