"Who hasn't, guy's a hero. —wait, your boy's dating Yamada Inori? Yamada Inori is dating an alpha? The Kokonoe heir????"

"Yeah." The waiter shows up and gives them their order: cappuccino latte for Subaru, double black for Aoki. "Yeah to all of those."

"World's crazy," he says, shaking his head and lifting his cup to his lips to blow on it. "So the two of you aren't fucking anymore?"

"—I hope for your sake and Kokonoe's this is an open arrangement because may God have mercy on your souls if you're running around behind Yamada Inori's back."

"Of course it's an open arrangement! He knows all about it. And..." Blush. "We, um, the three of us, last night..."

"...hot. Did you both fuck Yamada, or...?"

"No, Tōkan was the hinge of that vee."

He grimaces a bit and takes a sip of his coffee. "I gotta say I do not understand the appeal of A/A. So, the three of you are fucking but Kokonoe is dating Yamada and not you? This could fuel a romcom, or one of those teenage romance shows."

Subaru sighs. And smiles a bit. "I missed you."

"...I missed you too." Sip sip.

"So how about you, how have you been?"

"Alright. Law school next year, obviously. Parents promise they had nothing to do with it and I believe them but I bet the family name helped. Kinda sucks but such is life."

"Congratulations are in order, then!"

"It's not official, it won't be until finals are actually done and I've graduated, but it would be pretty surprising if they backed out of it. So, yeah, thanks."

Subaru smiles a bit again and starts drinking his own coffee, then grimaces and adds some more milk to it.

"...so, I have a pretty huge favour to ask."

"...ah, there it is," says Aoki, leaning back on his chair and folding his arms. He's trying to look cool but there's clearly a hint of hurt in his features.

"I know. I suck. ...I genuinely did miss you, and... I'd been thinking... I know it doesn't matter, just. I felt embarrassed, and the more time that passed the more embarrassing it got to think about talking to you again until I eventually kinda... just... stopped thinking about it."

"And then whatever it is happened and I was finally remembered. I feel so loved," he says, dryly, but he averts his eyes while hiding his lips behind his cup again.

He closes his eyes but presses on. "This is kind of important, but I can't... You don't owe me anything."

"Damn right I don't," he mutters.

"And I guess if you feel... used... or something, or you never want to see me again, or you just hate me forever, it—I still have to ask."

Aoki doesn't say anything, just keeps watching Subaru and drinking his coffee with a distasteful look on his face.

He sighs again but opens his eyes. "One of the Kokonoe alphas is pressing charges against Yamada for aggravated assault, claiming it was unprovoked. Yamada had been protecting a middle schooler from the alpha. But... he's also beat up other Kokonoe kids and... there's no way they're not gonna join the bandwagon..."

That shocks him right out of his distress into horror. "That could ruin his life."