As much as he didn’t want to do it. Kichi did join the other three girls to a cafe nearby. It had tons of wonderful treats as to be expected of a store like this. Though cool, he certainly kept his guard up as they got seated.

There was no way to trust anything Kougi would do. She was a wildcard to say the least. Just because she had yet to do anything to humiliate him didn’t mean it wasn’t going to happen now that they were in a different location. He was just thankful they were no longer at the theater so he could put the events which occurred there at the back of his mind.

However, Kichi wasn’t the only person who had kept their guard up. Aoi was also quite reserved as they all sat down. The twins were besides each other and the other siblings mirrored them across the table. She had the supposed honor of facing the boy as they took their orders.

There wasn’t anything she could think of saying. Every word that entered her mind only led to her also thinking of it sounding stupid. She didn’t want to mess things up like she always did. Every time she had been harsh to him, the girl also kicked herself mentally on being so mean to the boy. As Kougi told her, he’d eventually give up on even trying to be her friend.

She couldn’t help herself. Despite having these growing feelings for the boy. Aoi always found herself unwilling to allow him to even have a hint that she might have a crush on him. For if he did find out, that he’d make fun of her feelings. The imaginary words echoed in her mind on his hypothetical response. On how she had absolutely no chance with him because he could easily get with Airi instead.

It also didn’t help now that she also knew about her twin’s feelings for him as well. While she didn’t know why she felt that way, it didn’t matter in the battle for his heart. Only the end result would and she knew she’d hate to be on the losing side when it was over with.

The four of them got their orders in quick fashion. She was quiet about what she wanted as they talked to the server, but it was loud enough to get the message across. This part was her least favorite of any social gathering. Trying to survive chatting with multiple people without getting overshadowed.

Aoi always failed to keep up with everyone else. While it wasn’t as if she had challenges talking with any one of them here under normal circumstances. She did want to do it in more normal fashion. As Kougi told her, a boy like Kichi probably wouldn’t want to date a mean girl. So she was careful with the words she chose.

The problem arose that by being careful and second guessing herself. Aoi quickly got quiet and distanced herself away from the conversation. Afraid to speak up to interrupt them, she ended up becoming the one getting interrupted instead. How did Airi act so casually, she thought. As she looked over at her mirror image of a twin talking with the others as easily as it was to breathe.

She had gotten discouraged. Already at this point, she believed she had already lost in the competition of feelings when she couldn’t understand how to make hers work.

“Aoi, what do you think?” A voice called out to her. She turned her attention to see it was Kichi who asked the question.

“Huh?” She replied, unsure of what was being asked. Aoi had zoned out and didn’t even realize what the conversation was about anymore.

“We were just talking about what’s a better dessert. Taiyaki or Mochi.” He explained. “You were kind of quiet, so I was wondering what you thought about it.” Kichi took note of her silence as they talked. It seemed a bit unfair to her if he only gave attention to one of the twins.

“Why do you care?” She retorted. Her toes curled as her body reacted poorly to her bad response. There she went again, she thought. Another time where she mucked up a response to a simple question. Always trying to guard against her feelings and opinions to not seem weird to other people.

“I just wanted to know.” He replied, a bit taken aback by her response. Yet at the same time, not that much. At this point, he had gotten to understand she took a bit of prodding before opening up. Even on simple things like this.

“I like Taiyaki more.” She whispered quietly, barely audible from the noise of the crowd surrounding them.

“Hmm? What was that?” Kougi leaned in, cupping her ear to listen in better. “Did you say something?”

“I said…” Aoi didn’t want to repeat herself, but it couldn’t be helped. “I like Taiyaki more.”

“Really? Me too.” He responded with glee. “Those two like Mochi more, so at least it’s tied.”

“So we really like the same thing too?” She got even shyer than she was before. Despite it being so simple, so basic that no normal person would place stock in. Aoi felt herself getting nervous due to sharing this in common with the boy. Was this the effect of being in love? That something so mundane could draw an emotion such as this out from her?

“Anyway, you want a bite from mine then?” He asked.

“Ehh!?” She got caught off guard from his suggestion, nearly tumbling backwards in her seat. “You want to do something perverted!?”

“Well, I get indirect kisses, but you’re the one who brought that up…” He tore a piece of his treat and held it up to her face. While Kichi wanted to make fun of her for being the perverted one for thinking what she said out loud. The boy resisted the temptation and decided to just hand over a piece to her. Whether she took it from was up to her.

“T-thanks.” She slowly took it from his hand and then quickly put it in her mouth. She was so consumed with thinking about her every action that she forgot one important step.

“Guess Aoi’s so selfish she doesn’t want to share with you too.” Kougi commented in teasing fashion. The smile on her face only served to make Aoi realize her blunder.

“Gah! Um, would you l-like some of m-mine?” She stumbled across her words as she pushed up her bowl of Anmitsu in his direction.

“I would’ve thought you didn’t like the indirect kissing stuff.” He looked at the parfait, unsure of what to do. A treat like this needed a spoon to eat and there was only the one she had been using. Obviously he couldn’t use his hands either since that would be worse and really disrespectful. “It’s fine, you don’t have to give me anything.” Kichi pushed it back to her. She took that as failure to succeed in this social scenario. Like in a video game, but without a retry.

Meanwhile, as Kichi watched Kougi continue to have fun in teasing the poor girl. He could tell there was something bugging her. It didn’t feel as though Aoi was acting like her usual self. There was something about her actions to him that felt off. Perhaps she was going through the usual problems of a teenage girl, but if it was anything like the last time. Then he wanted to make sure things were all right between the twins.

This meant he had to find a way to talk to her privately, without the other two getting in the way. While he wasn’t worried about Airi. Kougi’s meddling was something he expected by now in life. So things were going to get a little complicated after their little cafe lunch ended.