After sitting down near a window, the girls were served fairly quickly. There weren't many people inside.
"What would you like to drink?"
Atsumi was the first to ask, speaking with a formality somewhat foreign to her usual composure.
"I'll have a coffee with milk and sugar, preferably three tablespoons, and a cream crepe with strawberry syrup, if possible with a cherry."
His rather specific request was noted, and Hina's followed.
"I'd like a deluxe vanilla milkshake with chocolate sprinkles on top, an assortment of house sweets, a slice of cheesecake, and cream biscuits."
She ordered twice as many things as Atsumi, within the limits of her wallet and the waitress's notes. Natsuki was the last to order.
"Yoo..." She hesitated for a moment, glancing at the menu to remember what they had, and, not wanting to waste any more time, replied still uncertainly, "...Milk with honey and a croissant."
"Would you like it filled with something?"
"Ah, uh, honey? Yes, honey."
But tell her no, girl, her friends thought.
Taking note of the order from a blushing Natsuki and verifying that everything was alright, the waitress went to deliver the order.
The tomato managed to come up with something to talk about before her friends laughed at her.
"Atsumi, I didn't know you liked coffee."
Aside from the honey croissant, the only new thing on the table was the coffee Atsumi ordered. She would normally order tea with her crepe.
"I tried it while I was studying late, and it's really good with milk and sugar. I'm more worried about Hina's wallet, though. Didn't you order too much?"
Hina was now on another planet thinking about everything she was going to drink, a little drool coming out of her mouth.
"Ehehe, vanilla. Natsuki, thanks for making me come here. Touch my hair all you want."
"Ah, yes, hehe, it's nothing."
Now there were two of them drooling.
"And Natsuki... You could have told her not to put anything on him..."
"Don't throw it in my face!"
The pink color of her cheeks, which she felt from stroking Hina's hair, turned red with embarrassment, even more so because she had her guard down.
"I think it's normal to add honey. It's good, and it's yellow. Like vanilla. Hehehe."
Hina's aura was as yellow as the vanilla she imagined. She smelled of roses.
"And weren't you the one who suggested coming? Are you really not going to ask for anything else? Get some money out of Hina, she doesn't seem to be short of it."
"I'm not that bad… And that's enough for me~," Natsuki's face buried itself in Hina's hair. Against all odds, Hina snapped out of her daze for a moment.
"Natsuki, you're going too far."
Natsuki was the one who never came to her senses.
"For."
"Mofu-Mofu~"
Faced with the inaccessible beast in heat, Hina had to resort to extreme precautions, grabbing Natsuki by the shoulders and pushing her out of its mane, as well as her hands.
"Grounded. You can't touch him anymore." To the recipient, these were atrocious words, the sweetness with which they were delivered serving as an amplifier of the poison. She was petrified and denied access to her paradise.
"My tongue wants to touch vanilla now… Ehehe," the other, however, was surrounded by her paradise.
Sometimes I think he has a switch that makes him daydream. I wish I could find it so I could take advantage of him.
Some time after being mesmerized by her favorite drink, and while Atsumi and Natsuki were talking, as much as one can talk to a statue, the waitress arrived with everything the girls had ordered.
Without saying a single word, Hina began to drink her vanilla milkshake, which was topped with cream and the chocolate shavings she had requested.
Meanwhile, Natsuki stared at her croissant. " I don't know if I should eat it or not..." she thought, but her face said it better than words.
Atsumi joined them with some coffee, and the three of them were having what they ordered.
Everything changed when Atsumi remembered something that the exams had buried, earning a somewhat silly smile.
"Hey, Hina, has anything happened with the guy from your club? Are you two dating now?"
"Blublublublu!"
The list of things that made Hina leave her paradise today increased to two. Just like the smoothie came out of her nose.
"What a dilemma..."
As Hina cleaned her nose and the little bit that had fallen on the table, Atsumi remembered the arc Hina was going through before the exams.
"What was his name..." She strained to remember, and a name, or rather a nickname, came to mind, "Ikōchi, perhaps?"
"Yes, yes," a lightbulb went off in her head when she heard that name come out of her mouth, "I almost forgot. What was it, was it...?"
A lightbulb went off in their heads when Atsumi mentioned the course they were going to.
Although she doesn't remember the class, they do know she's in second year. And Hina had agreed to help the students in second B a little.
"Aish, Hina, you're such a good person. You should learn to say no once in a while... Please learn to say no."
It's best not to talk about what Atsumi imagined, her expression tense as she reflected on what she had just said. She added something else.
"Don't spoil the kid too much, or he'll become a NEET."
It was imperceptible whether his honeyed voice was to mock Hina or to imagine Hina marrying that Ikōchi guy.
All of Atsumi's comments left Hina red-faced and irritated.
"You know he's just a friend, and I don't like it when you say things like that..."
"Come on, nobody's going to find out. Can't you see this place is empty? Natsuki is dying to know."
Atsumi continued to pressure Hina without considering her words, knowing that romance and love were not something she disliked.
On the other hand, Natsuki was dragged into the confrontation while taking small bites of her croissant, someone she really can't talk to about love without hesitating and blushing. This was no exception.
"Oh, uh, well, y-you don't have to say it." If he admitted it, she'd melt on the spot and end up like the honey about to ooze from her croissant. He took a bite to pretend he'd left the conversation.
Well, that's good…
"Spoilsport."
"Y-you're the only one who wants to know!"
Natsuki became even more agitated than before, her face still red, and didn't wait to swallow before answering Atsumi. Defending herself was much more important now. Hina had to remind her of it.
"Natsuki, don't talk with your mouth full."
"* Gulp* … Sorry."
Although she meant well, Natsuki didn't appreciate the warning. Frustration and embarrassment defined how she felt about it, and she withdrew from the conversation, enjoying her unexpectedly delicious honey croissant to distract herself.
"Anyway, you can tell me another day."
Returning to the main topic, Otsuki completely surrendered, taking one of the cherries on top of his crepe, accompanied by a sip of coffee.
They would have stopped talking about the subject if it weren't for Hina, who hadn't returned with her friend the deluxe vanilla milkshake with chocolate shavings on top of the cream.
Something was going through his head, his senses restored.
What do I gain by saying nothing?
She's liked Ikōchi for months now, even though he's a year below her in school. Her "not liking to talk about it" excuse is just that—an excuse, a lie to tell her so-called friends that she's not ready to share it with them.
However, admitting that she liked that boy might even help her on her long journey to confess, and she couldn't say it even by opening her mouth.
It would be one step of many, just one, but it would be the third. And this one carried the same risk as the second risk, the reason why he couldn't speak.
She didn't want to hear from her friends that it was still too soon.