Episode 8. A Kiss Worth Too Much For This World
“Can you get Yama-senpai for me, Momo-chan? After school?” Yuu asked quietly.
Tomo leaned backwards, holding his lunch box as far away from Suzuki that he could without falling, while his classmate aimed at the egg rolls with his chopsticks. He furrowed his brow as he turned to Yuu.
“I’m sure Yama-senpai does too.”
“I’ll come with you.”
“I dunno, Yuu,” Suzuki said as he snatched an egg roll. “I heard Hana-chan say senpai works as a host.”
His friends stared at him with curiosity.
“I can’t see Momo-chan as a host. Can you, Tatsumi?”
“If I squinted from a distance. But a hostess, maybe?”
“Momo-chan’s legs look great, he’s short enough, but no boobs.”
Tomo’s face burnt and he held onto the box tighter. “Why are you evaluating my body?! That’s embarrassing!” Several of their classmates turned their heads upon hearing him. “Besides,” he muttered. “I’m not a girl, you know.”
“Sorry, Momo-chan. We’re just joking. I mean, your legs do look great, but the rest was just me messing around.”
He lifted his arms to cover his face with the sleeve, trying to hide the increased burn of his face.
“Why did you want to talk to Yama-senpai anyway, Yuu?” Tatsumi said with his mouth stuffed.
Tomo lowered his arm to see Suzuki take the last of his egg rolls.
“My food!”
“You didn’t guard it, Momo.”
“Tatsumi, that’s kinda mean.” Yuu put one of his slightly-fried-too-long patties into Tomo’s lunch box to compensate for the delicious egg rolls his friend had stolen. “Ichirou-san makes just enough for Momo-chan to feel full. He puts thought into nutrition to make sure he eats enough. He’ll probably be starving halfway through classes.”
“Really? I thought Momo just tried to diet.”
“That skinny thing?” He pointed at Tomo gratefully chewing on what Yuu had given him with his chopsticks, even though teachers and parents alike would teach children not to be rude.
“Anyway, what did you want from senpai?” Tomo asked once he had swallowed.
“I just wanted dating advice.”
He chuckled and choked on some rice. He had expected no one would turn to Ken for that. As he was coughing, Suzuki handed him the can of tea.
“Drink a little.”
“I dunno if senpai is the one to ask for advice from,” Tomo said once the cough stopped. “His motto is ‘I’m always single’. He goes on dates with girls and that’s it.”
“That’s what I want advice for.”
“To have a shoe thrown in your face?” Tatsumi asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Sayoko-senpai really needs to stop going on dates with senpai.”
“It’s Yama-senpai that should decline,” Suzuki countered.
“Hmm… I guess you might be right. But senpai must have a reason to go on dates with her.”
“Could it be she’s your sister’s friend?”
He shrugged.
According to Ken, he angered Sayoko every time. The reasons were different every time; he didn’t pay for the tea, didn’t offer her snacks at the cinema, or he refused to carry her things when she was shopping.
Tomo didn’t ask why Ken kept going, but Sayoko was Chika’s best friend, and Ken had spent a lot of his childhood growing up with her, so Tomo could conclude it was one of two reasons: to befriend Chika’s friend, or to provoke Chika.
Chika was furious.
“You’ll ask Furukawa-san out?” Tomo asked.
Yuu looked away. “No”
“Right,” Suzuki responded with raised brows.
***
“There are some boys from 1-B asking for you, Yamada.”
Ken looked up at his classmate and then turned to the door to which his classmate had nodded.
“Yuu! Tatsumi! And Tomo-chan, too. Why are you here?”
Tomo walked up to his desk. “They kept asking if they could stop by at the café, senpai.”
Ken's face turned troubled, and he peered at the other two, before he stood up and threw his bag over his shoulder.
All three then headed towards the stairs.
“They’ll just stalk us if we go now, so they might as well come along.”
Tomo fingered his bag nervously. “I’ll ask tenchou to put me in the kitchen,” he said and fished out his phone.
“He’s not there. Arata’s working fifteen, no, sixteen hours today.”
“Oh. Then I’ll skip work.”
Suzuki and Yuu turned to walk downstairs, while Tomo continued forward, hoping to avoid the situation.
Yuu had come over a few times, and Tomo had worn some of his more feminine clothes once when they studied for their exams. However, Tomo had avoided mentioning his preferences, and his work uniform was not something he’d call masculine.
After a few steps, he felt arms around his waist.
“If I have to, you have to, Tomo,” Ken whispered. “And niisan will be furious if you skip for no good reason. We’re already low on staff.”
“Ken, it’s worse for me than you!”
Ken took Tomo’s hand in his, trembling slightly. He had never suffered from stage fright. “Please?”
He looked up at Ken, trying to read what frightened him so.
“Hey, why are you hugging over there?” Yuu asked. “You need to show the way.”
“We’re not hugging, Yuu. I just caught a runaway.”
“What? Momo tried to run away?!” Suzuki asked. “Yuu, this seems like a terrible idea.”
***
Tomo held Yuu’s shoulder, staring into his eyes.
“You ABSOLUTELY have to call me Momo-san. Not Momo, not Momocchi, not Momo-chan. Is that clear? No matter what. We don’t go to the same school and you don’t know senpai. And you have to call him Ken-kun. If you don’t we might lose our jobs.”
“And don’t go in for... like fifteen minutes. We need to get changed.”
Tomo turned to Ken. “I won’t be able to greet them!”
He needed to wait for an opportunity to get changed, then put on makeup and ask Ken or Arata to help with his hair. He couldn’t manage that in that amount of time, and Ken should have known that.
Ken took Tomo’s hand. “You’ll be fine Tomo-chan.”
Ken pulled him along as he dashed around the building, threw the door open and rushed to the changing room, Tomo stumbling into the room out of breath.
He looked up, holding the door frame, as Ken had let go. He saw Tachibana getting changed, looking at Ken with wide eyes, completely out of character for the man who usually went with the flow at all times. Looking at him, Saitou from the kitchen sat on the sofa, blinking. The man turned to Ken, then made an effort to stand up. But before he had gotten up, Ken shoved Tomo’s uniform into Tomo’s arm, made him turn around and pushed him out.
“Use the restroom.”
The door closed behind the surprised Tomo. As he walked away he could hear Tachibana ask what was going on.
When Tomo returned, Saitou had gone back to his tasks in the kitchen, while Tachibana remained, fixing Ken’s tie while looking thoroughly amused. Tomo closed the door behind him and Tachibana looked up with a chortle.
“You look like a mess, Momo-san. If you want to, I’ll take them so you can finish up.”
“It’s fine, senpai,” Ken said. “I told them to wait fifteen minutes.”
“I’ll deal with the floor; you deal with the mess,” Tachibana chuckled and nodded at Tomo. “B High, right?”
“Thank you, Hana-kun,” he nervously laughed.
“I’m just doing my job, Momo-san.” The man walked past Tomo and turned before stepping out. “Both of you need to calm down. It’s not your first or second time on the floor. You’ve dealt with hundreds of customers already. If anything happens, Fuu-chan-senpai, Mimi-senpai and Tanaka-senpai all have your back. I can help any time too.” He smiled calmly. “Just be yourself. If they have a problem with that, I’ll personally kick them out.”
He closed the door behind him, and Tomo turned to Ken.
“Why are you nervous, Ken?”
“I don’t know.” He silently looked at Tomo for a few moments. “I don’t want you to get hurt again. I can’t let that happen, Tomo.”
He walked up to Ken and heaved himself up on his toes, nose touching Ken’s. “It’ll be fine.”
Skeptical, Ken put his forehead against Tomo’s.
Ken still blamed himself for the bullying Tomo had endured, though Tomo had told him many times the fault wasn’t his. Ken often would overthink things, turning things over more times than anyone could count. So, now faced with a situation he had put them in which could cause him once again becoming the victim of bullies, Ken had second thoughts. Likely many second thoughts.
That was how Tomo interpreted Ken’s expression. The carefree boy in front of him was so troubled by his thoughts he couldn’t keep the act up he had in front of others.
However, his excuse didn’t explain why he had been nervous earlier. Something other than the bullying was on his mind. Something that Tomo didn’t know.
“Stop thinking about it,” Tomo told him. “Do something calming instead.”
He got a brush and hair accessories and put them in Ken’s hands.
He laughed weakly. “I’m so uncool.”
“Yes, you are, and that’s fine with me. Whatever bad that’ll happen, will happen anyway.”
“You should start turning that around and say ‘good’, Tomo.”
“And you need to start with my hair or I’ll never get ready.”
Ken sniggered before putting his arms around Tomo to nuzzle his hair.
“Ken.”
He chuckled. “I’m doing something calming.”
***
He laughed awkwardly when he reached the table where Yuu and Suzuki studied him from top to toe.
“You had requested me to serve you today. I’m very sorry for the wait. What would you like to order, and would you like me to sit with you, Tatsumi-kun, Yuusuke-kun?” Tomo winked as he got more into his role. “I’ll give you special service today and throw in another friend. How does think Ken-kun sound?”
A girl next to their table turned to them.
“I want Momo-san and Ken-kun at my table too! Maybe I can be the first one to see Ken-kun steal Momo-san’s heart and receive the kiss worth too much for this world.” The girl looked dreamily at him.
He cursed his luck. Tachibana had said the private area had been filled up and didn’t look like it was emptying anytime soon, so he had chosen as best as he could. Unfortunately, that hadn’t been enough.
Four types of customers visited the café: most enjoyed the silly ‘romance’ acts they did but didn’t have any opinions on it, some didn’t care or ignored them, some got really into them while Ken and Tomo were saying some line or other but then didn’t care too much, and then a few hoped for a true romance.
Ken identified as straight, so the romance couldn’t happen. Probably.
Tomo placed the tray he had been holding on his friend’s table and approached the customer. He used what Ken had told him and studied her reactions and he cupped his hand, carefully avoiding to touch her, not to disturb either her or her makeup. Ken said he just barely would touch them, but Tomo approached no one the way Ken did.
“If it’s just the two of us,” he said as he imitated Ken’s actions and way of speech, lowering his voice just slightly, “perhaps you’ll be the first to steal my heart. Or something as such.” He stood up and just grinned, aware that he not only acted out of character but also didn’t have the same effect on people like Ken had. The girl laughed. “But I regret to inform that I’m bus—”
“What was that?” he heard Ken as an arm pulled him to the side and Ken turned Tomo to face him.
Tomo blinked at the sudden interruption.
Ken took his chin and gently turned his face upward to see Ken’s expression. Ken had closed the distance closer than even in private and Tomo could feel his breath. Immediately blood rushed to Tomo’s face.
“Aren’t you giving your heart to me?”
When Tomo grasped for words to say, none came to him. Trying to act as ‘Momo-san’, he couldn’t remember how.
The lack of distance, his heart loudly thumping in his chest, the intensity in his voice and the pitch of it, Ken’s brown eyes gazing into his… He couldn’t think of anything else. The words he was supposed to say, the things he was supposed to do — none of it came to him.
He struggled to be logical. That was Ken’s domain. Yet, he needed to construct logical thoughts.
Ken must have gotten too into his role.
Or he genuinely told Tomo to give him his heart. That it was Ken talking to Tomo, not ‘Ken-kun’ to ‘Momo-san’. Being this close was out of character.
So was Tomo, and he needed to respond.
However, he could only stare at the boy with one arm around him, holding him so close he must feel Tomo’s hammering heart, and holding his chin with the other. Ken had gotten closer, and if Tomo just lifted his heels off the floor, he could steal a kiss from Ken.
Which would be awful to do to someone not interested in guys, especially since Ken knew very well Tomo what he was.
Though… Ken didn’t see Tomo like that.
“What? Is Momo-san finally giving in?”
“I can’t believe I get to see it!”
“Now I want to know if Momo-san is a man or a woman! If Momo-san is a man, I wonder if Ken-kun would kiss me too?”
“Aren’t you straight?”
“Does Momo-san need to be?”
He heard the excited chatter around him and his heart raced for a second reason. Kouta allowed his employees to remain themselves and have fun together while serving, given that no one was offended, hurt or harassed.
And it didn’t affect sales.
There needed to be an end, but to Tomo there was only Ken’s eyes, lips, and breath, and Tomo’s racing heart and flushed face.
“Momo-san—” Ken began.
“Ken-kun! How many times have I told you to only flirt with the customers?” Fuu-chan walked up to them and Ken backed away from Tomo, as if caught doing something forbidden. He grinned sheepishly and the supposed act ended.
Yet Tomo’s heart wouldn’t stop its speedy beat, and it embarrassed him that he had blanked out at something he went through often.
Mix in was a pinch of guilt for the thoughts he shouldn’t have when he knew where they stood.
***
While Ken got their order, Tomo explained the scene to his two extremely confused classmates. To see one’s senpai sweep one’s classmate off their feet while visiting their workplace would confuse anybody.
Suddenly seeing their senpai sweep their classmate off his feet while the two of them were working would confuse anyone.
“I can kind of understand why you didn’t want us to come,” Suzuki whispered. “Your acting is fantastic. I thought Y—Ken-kun would kiss you, Momo...-san.”
Tomo covered his mouth as he chuckled. “Who knows if it was acting?”
He couldn’t admit he hadn’t.
“For my beloved Momo-san, your own special set.” Ken blew a kiss Tomo’s way after he had put the tea and pastries on the table.
“I heard that!” they heard Fuu-chan say.
“Momo-san is my customer now. I’ll charm Momo-san, so I won’t ever need to order again. Nothing would be sweeter than to receive Momo-san’s kiss.”
To cover up the increasingly racing heart of his, Tomo chuckled again.
“If so, Ken-kun is a customer too, and needs to share my heart with everyone. My kiss is worth too much for this world,” he smiled with a wink. “Besides, you like bitter tastes, so you wouldn’t like the sweetness.”
Ken looked surprised, then huffed before he laughed a little. He then sat down next Tomo, reaching past him to cover the window a little more so no one would see them from the outside. Tomo never needed to mention to Ken he feared that any bullies from the past would recognise him.
When Ken lifted his cup, Tomo felt his hand on his thigh and Tomo took it with a squeeze, and Ken moved their hands to be between them, taking the rare opportunity they had received.
This was a part of being themselves they couldn’t do even at the café.
***
While sitting on the rug with his knees pulled almost to his chest and fingers playing with the soft faux fur, he took deep breaths. His head rested on the bed behind him and he blindly stared into the ceiling. On his desk his text- and notebooks laid open, abandoned after many fruitless attempts to study for the finals.
He repeatedly went over what had happened that afternoon.
They had agreed on that Yuu would ask Furukawa if she and Sakura and Nomura would like to hang out. They all knew the goal was for Yuu to ask Furukawa out on a date, though Yuu refused to admit to it.
However, Tomo wasn’t fond of having Sakura and Yuu together in the same group, because of the risk that Sakura’s and Tomo’s relationship was exposed. Ken had attempted to steer the idea away from involving Sakura, but as Tatsumi knew nothing, there was only so much they could do.
Yet, what his mind kept turning to was what happened before they made their plans.
The image of Ken being close enough to kiss him didn’t leave his mind and feelings he had tried to hide away had bubbled up to the surface, impossible to control.
Chills ran down his spine as he thought of how Ken had held him, even though he had experienced Ken’s embraces many times before. He’d smile for no reason, then tell himself he was being ridiculous.
He liked the relationship he had with Ken and didn’t need inappropriate feelings towards his childhood friend, and he had felt no jealousy towards Ken’s girls.
Rather, he felt sorry for them, as they never truly saw Ken’s genuine side. Sakura was the only Tomo knew who wasn’t Ken’s or Tomo’s family and who saw glimpses of how Ken was, because of their never-ending bickering.
Besides, Tomo could be close to Ken, anyway. He had always been, and if they drifted apart, they wouldn’t be so strange anymore. They would have a normal friendship without holding hands, hugging and cuddling. Ken wouldn’t be messing around with Tomo’s hair all the time. They wouldn’t share a bed, just like they did as children.
It all would change when Ken had a girlfriend. Sometimes Tomo waited for it. Other times he asked questions about what would be for the best.
Should they distance themselves from each other? How would it be for Ken to explain his relationship with Tomo to others? How they shared the bed if they had the opportunity?
However, something among all his feelings and thoughts had been new. He had never thought about kissing before. Not about kissing Ken, nor about kissing anyone else. He thought he had no interest in romance like that. That all he wanted was to be with Ken all the time. That he wanted some things, but not others. Like giving Ken chocolate on Valentine’s and getting something in return a month later, but not the dating part.
Ken had mentioned nothing about it afterwards and acted as usual, so Tomo figured it was all in his head. He had just gotten caught up in his acting, while Tomo couldn’t respond instead.
If he just asked he’d get the answer he needed to forget all about it, yet he couldn’t make himself do it. Because what if…?
He let out a heavy sigh and picked up his phone from the floor. He needed to focus on something else, so he opened up his conversation with Sakura.
[We’ll ask you to hang out with us at school tomorrow. I know it’s close to the finals, but at least pretend to be excited about it.]
[us?]
[Sakuraba, Suzuki, Ken and I.]
[Sakuraba will ask Furukawa.]
[the one with a crush on ai-chan? gotcha!]
***
“Hey, Airi! Some friends and I were thinking of hanging out. Wanna come? We’re just guys, though. Yama-senpai’s coming too.”
Tomo looked at Suzuki, who looked amused at the scene.
“Oh. My. God! You’re friends with Yama-senpai?” Sakura said excitedly. “Ai-chan! I’d like to hang out with senpai!”
Furukawa laughed. “You really look up to Yama-senpai.” She turned back to Yuu. “What day were you thinking?”
“Momo-chan and senpai are off work on Sunday, if that works.”
“Works for me. Minorin, you’re good too, right? What do you say, Hana-chan?”
Sakura glanced at Tomo, before she frowned. “We have practice then. Senpai and I, I mean.”
Yuu turned to him, and Tomo shook his head. Ken had been the one to suggest Sunday because it worked with both Tomo’s and Ken’s schedule.
He stood up, leaving his partly eaten lunch on the desk. “I can go check with senpai for you, Hanakawa.”
“Really? Thanks, Seki-kun!”
When he had left the classroom, he tried running up the stairs, but after half a flight, he was so out of breath he walked, hurrying to 3-A.
He couldn’t see Ken, but walked up to his sister eating lunch with some friends.
“Chika, have you seen Yama-senpai?” he asked after walking past a third-year who asked him what he wanted after he had excused himself. He felt incredibly out of place.
“I thought Kenta would eat with you.”
Her look of confusion made worry stir and anxiety told him some was wrong.
He shook his head. “If you see him, ask him if he had acting practice on Sunday. Either Hanakawa or senpai is misremembering.”
His sister looked troubled as she nodded. “Yeah. Sure. I’ll tell him. I bet he forgot.”
“Thanks, Chika.”
“That your brother? He’s super cute. He totally looks like a girl,” he heard and he hurried out.
If Ken couldn’t be found in the classroom, the next place was the drama club’s room on the same floor. He knocked on the door before opening it. He excused himself for the intrusion and looked around. No one there, which he thought odd, since the door was unlocked. He didn’t have time to look into that mystery though; he needed to find Ken.
He hurried back down to the ground. The last place Ken would be at was the infirmary or the health teacher’s office. He knocked on the infirmary, but found no one in there, then he went next door.
“Excuse me,” he said as he opened the door after knocking.
“Seki-kun, do you need to lie down?” the teacher asked. “Are you doing all right?”
“I’m looking for Yama-senpai.”
She laughed. “Yamada is here too often if you come here specifically to look for him. I’m afraid he’s somewhere else. Do you want me to pass on a message if he comes?”
Tomo shook his head. “No, it’s fine. It’s nothing important. Thank you, sensei.”
“It was nothing.”
He bowed, closed the door and hurried to his classroom.
“Welcome back, Momo-chan! What did senpai sa—”
He shoved the closed box into his bag. “Nothing. I’m leaving.”
“Huh? Momo-chan?”
“Bye.”
He couldn’t keep still. A sense of dread was both weighing him down and forcing him to keep looking.
Sayoko had been eating with Chika, ruling out the possibility he was with her somewhere. He dug in his bag as he left the building, opening the mail app as soon as he could.
[To: nomura_349@horizonmail.co.jp]
[From: momotomo0403@horizonmail.co.jp]
[Subject: Theatre]
[
He searched everywhere he could think of while students began heading inside again before the bell rang. He asked as many as he could, but no one could answer the question where Yamada Kenta, the infamous player, spent his time at the moment.
Was he avoiding Tomo? Was his forgetfulness because of what had happened at work the day before? Had he realised Tomo…? He hoped that Ken had noticed nothing.
He felt a stab in his chest while the worry made him further restless. The bell signalling the end of the lunch break resounded through the schoolyard, and Tomo hurried to leave, hoping no one who noticed him would notify a teacher. He struggled to breathe already; he didn’t need something to add to that.
“Tomo, why aren’t you in class?” he heard and looked behind him.
Ken stood there, plastic bag in one hand, the other in his pocket. His face showed how surprised he was at seeing Tomo leave.
“Ken!” he snapped, glaring as he walked up to him. “I’ve been so worried! At least tell someone where you’re going!”
Taking a step away from the fuming Tomo, Ken laughed with a shrug.
“Sorry, Tomo. Needed some alone time. Got late to class though.”
He continued to glare, his anger burning inside, but he saw Ken look around before he put his forehead against Tomo’s. The comfort made him calm down and he couldn’t glare without feeling like an idiot.
“Why were you searching for me?”
“Why didn’t you know about acting practice this Sunday?” Tomo retorted. “Sorry,” he added, and Ken’s forehead rubbed against his when he shook his head.
“I guess I forgot. It happens.”
“I don’t believe you would forget that unless something’s wrong.”
It got cold when Ken’s forehead parted from Tomo’s. He took a few steps back and smiled. “Nothing’s wrong. I better go now. Since I’m already late to class, I’ll go sleep at Suzuki-sensei’s.”
Tomo’s anger returned and he grabbed his arm to keep him from leaving. Ken stumbled and accidentally closed the distance between their faces. Tomo glared, while Ken’s eyes were wide with surprise.
Suddenly Ken laughed.
“Be careful. You might lose that kiss worth too much for this world.”
Ken tried to leave, but Tomo refused to let go, now more furious than before. A ‘kiss worth too much for this world’ was something they only mentioned at the café.
“Why are you putting up such a lousy act in front of me, Ken?” he asked, but seeing Ken’s face, he let go, turned on his heel and left the young man by the school gate.
Ken didn’t shout for him.