We rode for a while and arrived at the café by the station. Every time I’d passed it I’d thought as much, but yeah — it had a trendy atmosphere that made me feel deeply out of place.
”…Can I please just go home?”
“Of course not, dummy.”
“Come on, work with me…”
“All right then — if you’ll come help me pick out new underwear, I’ll let you off.”
That was way more impossible. Looks like the café was happening either way. The moment Kano and I stepped inside, a server took us straight to a table.
“My treat today, so order whatever you want.”
“Thank you, then.”
A look at the menu confirmed everything was on the pricey side, so the treat was very welcome.
That said, I didn’t want to linger, so anything that took a long time to eat was out. I dithered a bit and settled on a hot coffee.
“Kano-san, I’ve decided.”
“What’re you getting?”
“Hot coffee.”
“Okay. I’ve decided too — let’s order.”
Kano used the call bell on the table to summon a server. And then, ordering — she said something outrageous.
“Excuse me, two hot coffees and… one Couples-Only Jumbo Parfait.”
”…Huh?!”
The moment I heard her, an honestly stupid sound came out of my mouth. The fact that I never in a million years expected her to order the Couples-Only Jumbo Parfait goes without saying.
“H-hold on, the Couples-Only Jumbo Parfait?!”
“The photo on the menu looked great, I wanted to try it. It said you can only order it if you’re a guy and a girl together, so I figured why not.”
“That is unreasonable on so many levels…”
“So! Help me out, yeah?”
Kano was beaming. I was just… slack-jawed. Now that I thought about it, she’d been the type to act on a whim since she was a kid — this was probably one of those.
A little while later the hot coffees arrived, along with the Couples-Only Jumbo Parfait — which lived up to its name in size. It was enormous.
Other tables were openly staring at us, and the discomfort was off the charts.
“Yuito, want some?”
“No, I’ll pass.”
“But I probably can’t finish it on my own, so I’m gonna end up making you help me anyway.”
”…Please don’t order things without thinking them through!”
“Sorry, sorry. I didn’t think it was gonna be this big.”
Kano apologized, but she clearly didn’t feel sorry at all. Resigned, I started eating with her.
“So how’s life lately?”
“That is the laziest possible way to ask… so-so, I guess.”
“That’s good.”
“Well, no matter what I do, I still can’t beat my brother.”
The moment I said it self-deprecatingly, Kano stopped her spoon and her face went a little stiff.
“Yuito — you’ve always pulled out Ayato as a comparison whenever anything happens, and personally? Not a fan.”
“But everyone thinks of me as my brother’s downgrade. Lower-tier version of him.”
“Then let them think it and ignore them. Because you’ve got plenty of good points Ayato doesn’t.”
The look on her face when she said it was completely serious, but I couldn’t quite buy it. The reason was simple: Kano is even higher-spec than my brother is.
Even my outstanding brother can’t get anywhere near her. What good points could someone like her — who outshines even him — possibly see in me, who can’t even touch my brother’s shadow?
“Ah, you’re making a face like you don’t believe me.”
“Because come on.”
“Whatever. The good points Yuito doesn’t even know about himself — I’ll just keep them all to myself.”
”…Out of curiosity, what are my good points that Ayato doesn’t have?”
“Secret.”
She went back to eating her parfait, and out of the corner of my eye I watched her and tried to come up with what good points I had that he didn’t. By the time the parfait was gone I still hadn’t thought of any.
“Phew. That was good.”
“You look extremely satisfied.”
“I dragged Yuito all the way out here for this parfait — of course I’m satisfied.”
”…Hold on. Didn’t you just say earlier that you saw the photo on the menu and ordered it on a whim?”
The instant I said it, Kano’s face split into a wide grin. And I understood everything.
“Don’t tell me… the parfait was the whole point from the beginning?”
“Ahh, busted, huh.”
So today, it turns out, was a fully-planned operation.
“Honestly… don’t drag me into stuff like this. You have plenty of guys other than me who’d come along if you asked, right?”
“Because then I’d risk one of them getting the wrong idea — that’s just sad for him.”
“And it didn’t occur to you that I might get the wrong idea?”
“Wait — did you?”
“Of course not.”
I haven’t experienced it much recently, but I have been confessed to by girls who’d mistaken me for my brother and then visibly deflated when they realized — so I have a strong confidence that I will never get the wrong idea.
And besides, Kano definitely sees me as a younger-brother-figure at most. Using me as a tool to eat the parfait today is precisely because of that.
”…You’re as twisted-up as ever, Yuito.”
“That’s just who I am.”
“You’re gonna stay girlfriendless your whole life like that, you know?”
“No need to worry — I already have a girlfriend, thank you.”
(Granted, she’s never coming out of the screen.) As I was thinking that, Kano froze with her coffee cup halfway to her mouth.
My answer must have caught her completely off guard. After a few seconds of being frozen, she snapped back into motion.
“I’d love it if you’d tell me — in detail — who she is, where you met, what made you click, when you started dating, and exactly how far things have progressed between you two. Oh, and obviously, but in case you forgot: lying or trying to play it off — will not be forgiven.”
She leaned across the table at me with terrifying intensity. I didn’t know what I’d said wrong, but I had a deep premonition this wasn’t going to go well. So I scrambled to explain.
“S-she’s a 2D girlfriend, just to be clear!”
“Hmm. Then prove to me you really don’t have a real one.”
“How am I supposed to prove that?”
Proving you have a girlfriend, fine — but how on earth do you prove you don’t?
“For starters: if you let me look at the contacts on your phone, I’ll believe you.”
“Uh, that’s…”
“Or are you saying you can’t show me?”
“Got it. I’ll show you.”
Defying her seemed much more terrifying than just complying, so I obediently handed it over.