good morning, sweetheart || terukane

empty

Silence.

Teru listened to the silence with an unhappy expression.

What was he so surprised for?

He didn't even have to go to his shifts on Saturday. No one was in the diner except for him; no one would show up until later hours. Who would go to a diner at five in the morning, anyway? No one. It's common sense.

Teru wasn't an idiot. He knew that fact very well. So why did he choose to go?

He had gotten used to getting up early just to see Akane- that was it. He knew that much, too.

But did he really expect Akane to show up despite their previous argument?

Akane said it himself. He would leave, and he did. That was the end of the story. They fought and ended their friendship a second time.

Was it even a friendship? Was it a romance? A mixture of both?

He was so caught up in trying to uncover what had happened between them in the past that he never got to find out. He knew he found interest in Akane- but not the type of interest he'd find in others. Akane seemed to share that interest, or at least he thought so. It depended on the day.

Did it even matter, though? Now Akane thought he was a jerk.

Well, he wouldn't be wrong.

Thinking back at it, Teru realized how selfish his actions actually were. Telling Akane it wasn't his fault.. technically, it wasn't- but Akane still had plenty of reasons to believe it. It's not like Teru could properly clear his name, either. He didn't remember what he was doing back then. What was so important that he had to miss a performance he was invited to by his best friend?

Before, he wanted to figure it out and leave the boy alone again.

Now he wanted nothing more than to make it up to him.

"Good morning."

His head perked up at the sound of a bell ringing.

"Oh," it quickly looked back down though. "Good morning, Shijma-san."

"You don't sound very happy to see me." the girl adjusted one of her braids as she walked towards the counter, "Were you expecting someone else? My sister is on a date with Yashiro-san today. I'm taking her shift."

Shijima was quite the lady. She had medium length hair that curled ever so slightly at the ends because of how often she left it braided. She was his best friend's sister who eventually became his own friend, though it was originally reluctant.

She acted a bit like a certain someone. The two had a few similar traits, such as playful sarcasm, or meaningless teasing.

She also had beautiful teal eyes.

The color reminded him of Akane.

But Shijima wasn't Akane, and Akane wasn't Shijima.

Akane's eyes were ruby red with only a hint of teal. They weren't completely teal like Shijima's, but they were worth swooning over either way.

Akane's eyes were pretty. That was how Teru wanted to remember him. Shijima was beautiful, but she wasn't pretty.

But really, the last thing he wanted to do was start associating Akane with others. It was too soon for that. It was almost as if he was grieving over someone who wasn't even gone- he wished he had forgotten Akane all over again, but now there was no going back.

"It's not that I'm not happy to see you," Teru eventually gave her a forced smile, "and I did expect someone else, yes.. It just wasn't Mei-chan."

"I can tell when you're upset." Shijima hummed softly under her breath, "Alright, Minamoto-kun.. What's up? Who did you want to show up?"