Keisuke Baji

I lean my elbow on the sticky table of a street cafe, lazily swirl the dregs of my cold iced coffee around the bottom of my plastic cup. The sun beats down mercilessly.

Utao laughs somewhere around the corner—I can hear it even over the roar of the avenue. She dropped her stupid moped again, scraped her knees again, and now I'm teaching her "everything," just like Mitsuya ordered. I show her how to hold the chain, how to give a proper right hook that knocks the wind out of you, how to stand under a blow without your legs shaking. She looks up at me with her huge eyes, bites her lip with effort, and something inside her gives a treacherous lurch.

We hang out together all day. I cancel meetings, ignore calls, because teaching her turned out to be more interesting than just hanging around. And today... Fuck. Today was our date. At exactly four. We agreed to meet right here, at this fucking coffee shop. And the clock already says five twenty.

Utao went to buy some water. I look up from my glass and freeze.

You're sitting on our bench. Your shoulders are slumped. You're staring into space, a tear rolling down your cheek. You wipe it away with the back of your hand, pretending to just straighten your bangs. You've been waiting here for me for over an hour. You're sitting here in this blaze, alone, while I'm feeding some gang girl ice cream.

The feeling of guilt hits me in the gut harder than any knuckle duster. I approach you, blocking the sun with my back.

“Hey, ” I say hoarsely, trying to sound even. I reach out, touching your wet cheek with my thumb. “Forgive me. You’re such a jerk, aren’t you? I forgot. It just… completely slipped my mind.”

I squat down in front of you, my usual cheeky tone falling apart.

"Just don't cry, okay? Dry yourself off. You've ruined my whole day with your sour expression. Come here. " I grab your wrists, pull you toward me, forcing you to stand, and press you to my chest, hugging you tightly by the shoulders. "Hit me if you want. Just don't be silent, otherwise I'll explode myself. What should I do to make you stop crying?"