Humble Love

Next time, he’d have to ask Yomi to call ahead and reserve him a spot.
“Don’t worry about it, Kozuka.” Kagome had been re-assuring him the entire walk back. But it wasn’t alright! He’d finally asked him on a date, and he hadn’t even managed to get into the restaurant. What was he going to do now? Just walk him home with his tail between his legs, apologise for wasting his time?

Kagome hadn’t even said anything about it. He hadn’t even said where he was living for Akira to walk him home. He didn’t even want to ask because that meant admitting defeat. That meant ending his date. And Kagome would never want to go on another date with him after this.

“Kozuka, can you wait a sec?” Kagome had stopped a few paces behind him without him noticing. Before he could say anything, he’d disappeared into a tiny hole in the wall restaurant. They’d already walked past a number of restaurants, all filled to bursting or he hadn’t really known if anywhere around here did good food. Picking the wrong restaurant would have ruined the entire night.

So, he hadn’t been willing to risk any of them.

Kagome came back out after a few minutes with some paper boxes, a voice shouting a “thank you” after him.
“I like their orange cakes. It doesn’t really count as dinner, but…” he said before trailing off. Akira opened the box, revealing two slices of sponge cake, decorated with candied orange and a white frosting. It definitely looked nice, though it would have been better as the dessert to a fancy meal. He took one of the slices, taking a bite to stifle his sorrow.

It really did taste of orange! Since moving here, it had been obvious that orange was something of a local speciality, but most of the orange cakes he’d tried had been so light on the flavour it was hardly detectable. But Kagome had found one that actually tasted of orange! And the marmalade was still the perfect consistency, not yet too absorbed by the cake. Even the frosting was the perfect balance, not making it too sweet.

“Kagome, your taste is really good.”
“I thought you’d like it,” Kagome replied and took a bite of his own slice.

They kept walking as they ate, the previous worry finally starting to melt away from Akira’s mind. Well, even if he had planned a fancy restaurant, this worked out. Maybe Kagome would even consider having a second date with him, and he could use the money he’d saved for…

“You paid for our date!”
“Yes?”

That wasn’t right! He was meant to swoop in and pay for it all himself! Fujiko had said girls loved that sort of thing! Kagome might not be a girl but… but…

“Is everything alright, Kozuka?”