"A Little Coffee Between Friends"

Secret Agent Rainbow was on a mission: a mission to make Kaname Kusakabe her lover… and possibly make his girlfriend, Mana Kirihara, cry.

"Rainbow, we’re already ten minutes late and Tomonori’s gonna rip us apart." Amaya Takehiko said, glancing at her watch.

"Quiet! He’s going to hear us!" Her best friend, Secret Agent Rainbow, hissed at her as she peered around the corner.

"Who’s going to hear us?" Amaya asked, walking over to her friend. There, she saw that, around the corner stood Kaname Kusakabe, a classmate of theirs with whom Amaya had just gotten out of a non-committal—though extremely tumultuous—relationship with, standing at the water fountain with Naoya, his smart-ass best friend. "Oh, no, Rainbow, can we please wait ‘til later for you to talk to Naoya?" A week prior, all four of them had been to a Unitarian-Universalist church function, wherein all sorts of unnecessary commotion occurred (if you know anything about Unitarians, you know they’re all fuckin’ crazy) resulting in Kaname breaking ties with Amaya in favor of returning to his sexually ambiguous ex-girlfriend: Mana Kirihara. This, of course, left Amaya an emotional train-wreck and a complete and total overemotional burden on all of her friends. Needless to say, she was hardly ready to make smalltalk with him.

"Pft! Like I’m after Naoya." Rainbow retorted. "I just figured, ya know, since things ended so cataclysmically with you and Kaname at the con that he was up for grabs again… So I’m gonna go grab him! That’ll teach that uptight bitch Mana Kirihara what’s up…" Secret Agent Rainbow hated Mana Kirihara, though she really had no logical reason as to why. One can assume it was because Mana was a likeable, attractive young lady of sufficient mental clarity with a handsome boyfriend and girls hate that in other girls; it’s just the nature of things.

"Oh… okay…" Amaya didn’t want to admit it, but she felt betrayed by her best friend moving in on her "almost boyfriend" so soon after their heartrending "break-up".

"Now c’mon, let’s go." Rainbow whispered, motioning for Amaya to come with her to go "grab" Kaname… though where exactly she intended “grab” him was up for speculation.

"No! No! I can’t! I just can’t talk to Kaname right now! It would be too weird!"

Rainbow put her hands on her hips and glared at her friend. "Amaya Nadine Takehiko! Have you no spine? You have to go over there and face him with pride and confidence and show him that you are a strong and empowered woman who doesn’t need him and his big, man-penis to make you happy!"

"… My middle name is not ‘Nadine’!" Amaya came back with. "And what about you? You’re strong and empowered! You don’t need a… ‘man-penis’… to make you happy!"

"Yes I do!"

"And, what, you’re just gonna go over there and hit on Kaname right in front of Naoya? He’s still hopelessly in love with you, ya know? If you go over there and start hitting on his best friend right in front of him he’ll be heartbroken!" Secret Agent Rainbow and Naoya Itsuke had, for nearly two years, been very much in love with each other. Rainbow’s utter lunacy and Naoya’s pseudo-badass personality complemented each other. They had even orchestrated a coup de e’tat against the administration the year before—but that’s another story entirely. The fact of the matter was, Naoya was still completely enamored with her, in spite of the fact that she had swiftly moved on and been with many, many other men (and maybe even a few women, who knows?) since their breakup.

"Pft! Naoya…"

"… Why do you keep ‘pft-ing’ every time I mention Naoya?"

"Oh Amaya… silly, silly Amaya…" Rainbow replied.

"… That’s not an answer!"

"Okay, Amaya, my dear, dear friend; look over there at Naoya… Now look at Kaname." Rainbow directed. "Sure, Naoya’s okay, but Kaname is an Adonis!" She began staring at him. "Mmm-hmm… delicious… absolutely delicio—"

"Yeah! Okay! Rainbow! I get it! Kaname’s gorgeous!" Amaya exclaimed. "I mean, if you remember correctly, I had me a piece of that at con!"

Meanwhile, over at the water fountain:

"Wow… Rainbow and Amaya have been over there arguing, and staring at us, and arguing more for a while now." Naoya commented.

"Uhh… yeah…" Kaname replied.

"Oh! Shut up! They’re coming!"

“… I wasn’t saying anything.” Kaname replied, feeling a little scolded.

"Hi Kaname! You’re looking sexy today! How are you?!" Rainbow greeted enthusiastically, dragging Amaya by the wrist behind her.

"I’m uhh… fine?" Kaname replied. He glanced nervously over at Amaya, who, in turn, glanced just as nervously at him until they both realized they were looking at each other simultaneously and both jerked their eyes off into another direction.

"So, Amaya and I were just talking about what a nice ass you have, Kaname." Rainbow said.

"Oh god! Rainbow!" Amaya exclaimed.

"I… I… uhh… thank… you?" Kaname stuttered.

Naoya laughed. "He does have a nice ass, doesn’t he?" He said, smacking Kaname squarely on the rear end.

"Ah! Naoya!" Kaname yelped, blushing.

Rainbow glared at Naoya.

Amaya smiled at the scene, though she couldn’t bring to laugh; the weight of her anxiety for standing there with Kaname was sending her to the brink of panic.

"Naoya! Do you want to go get some coffee?" Amaya asked, surprising even herself by the words coming out of her mouth.

"… Huh?" She heard Rainbow grunt.

Naoya smiled. "Sure."

"But what about class? You’re going to leave right in the middle of the school day?" Rainbow interrogated with a hint of jealousy in her voice.

"Why not? We’re already nearly twenty minutes late for Algebra." Amaya replied.

"Shall we be going, madame?" Naoya asked in a courtly, British accent, offering Amaya his arm.

Amaya giggled. "Why certainly, kind sir." She replied, curtsying and taking his arm.

There was a little coffee shop not too far from the school. It was very atmospheric, with jazz music playing all day, and bohemian waiters and waitresses and enormous, hacky-sack-looking beanbag chairs instead of tables.

"So whatever happened with you and Rainbow?" Amaya asked him, sipping her coffee and feeling oddly at ease with him. "You two were inseparable last year. I remember that time you two took over the school." Amaya sighed, falling victim to nostalgia. "Those were the days, eh?"

Naoya smiled. "Sure were." He took a bite of his bagel. "But Rainbow just wants to be friends…" He said sullenly with a mouthful of bagel. "I think she just wanted to get all in Kaname’s junk, but right after week broke up Kirihara came back from Nagasaki and messed everything up that she’d had planned." He took a drink of his coffee. "I laughed."

"… Do you guys still like…" Amaya began to ask.

"Screw around? Yeah."

"… Have you screwed around with anyone besides Rainbow since you two broke up?" Amaya asked, shocking herself with how blatantly she was questioning Naoya about his sex life.

"Uhh… No." Naoya replied, blushing a little. "But it’s not for lack of offers, no way. It’s just that I don’t wanna screw around with anybody other than Rainbow; I think she’s like… ‘the one’… ya know?"

"Hmm…" Amaya sighed; her heart sank for Naoya. She knew all too well the many suitors Rainbow had had since she and Naoya broke up; but she wasn’t about to go into that with him: she was sure he had heard from someplace else… probably Rainbow herself.

"Naoya?"

"Yeah?"

"… Ya wanna go back to my place?" She asked. "Michiko isn’t there—she’s at school, of course—and we could just… ya know… talk…”

Naoya wasn’t entirely sure what she had in mind; but he was getting an idea. "… Alright."

So they paid for their coffee and bagels and walked on over to Amaya’s apartment in silence. There was a certain amount of tension between the two of them, just because Amaya felt guilty, like she was sleeping around with her best friend’s boyfriend, and her boyfriend’s best friend. Naoya felt the same way; he had always just known Amaya as Rainbow’s friend with the violent mood-swings—that is, until now. But, of course, it wasn’t as if they were doing anything to be ashamed of; just a little coffee and bagels between friends; no harm done.

"You’ve never been in my apartment, have you?" Amaya asked as she unlocked the door.

"Nope; don’t think so." Naoya replied.

"Well, don’t mind the mess; it’s a dump… And don’t mind the size… it’s actually a converted milk crate with indoor plumbing… most of the time." And with that, she unlocked the door and stepped in; Naoya followed. He took a seat on the couch, as Amaya sauntered into the kitchen.

"I know we just had coffee, but would you like something to drink? We have—" She opened up the refrigerator. "—Nothing… apparently."

Naoya laughed. "Sounds great."

Amaya closed the refrigerator door and made her way into the living room area. "You’d think for as much ‘grocery shopping’ as Michiko does, she’d actually buy some groceries every once in a while." Michiko was Amaya’s roommate—not to mention a belligerent alcoholic. She used the phrase “grocery shopping” as a euphemism for going to the local pub to get plastered after a long day.

And so there they sat, in awkward silence again. To cure it, Amaya turned on the television.

"Ooh! It’s Los Santos y Los Traviesos!" Amaya exclaimed.

"What?"

"Well, ya see, we only get two channels: Public Television, and the Spanish soap opera channel, since Michiko is too cheap to swing for the extended cable."

"Oh… okay."

"They’re actually really addictive." Amaya explained. "This one is about a woman named Barbarita who is framed for armed-robbery by her sister, Emanuelita, and goes to jail or twenty years and when she gets out she finds that that Emanuelita framed her just so she could have Barbarita’s handsome and extremely rich husband, Esteban!"

Naoya grinned. "Thrilling."

"I know."

And so the two spent the next hour watching trashy, Spanish soaps; citing it as a decent alternative to going back to school for the rest of the day.

"Wow… That Emanuelita’s a real ‘putu’." Naoya joked, as the credits of Los Santos y Los Traviesos began to roll.

Amaya chuckled. "Tell me about it!"

Suddenly Amaya felt Naoya’s hand slide across hers. Her eyes immediately darted to the sight of their two hands touching, there on the couch cushion. Quickly, Naoya withdrew his hand.

"I’m sorry." He apologized, hanging his head in shame. "I’d better just go." And with that, he rose and began to head towards to the door.

"Naoya! Naoya, come back here! Where are you going to go? It’s the middle of the day."

"I donno… The roof of the school?"

"No, no, no; I won’t hear of it. You stay right here." She got up and walked over to him, putting her hands on his upper-arms. "You weren’t being too forward, Naoya. Any girl would love to be with a guy that’s as cute, and nice, and funny as you are."

"Not Rainbow." He mumbled, staring awkwardly down at his shoes.

"Well Rainbow is crazy! … Literally, clinically insane! … You know her; you know what I’m talking about!"

Naoya looked up a little. His eyes met with Amaya’s, and at that moment the two of them let go of their inhibitions and kissed, right there in the living room of Amaya’s apartment.

The two collapsed back onto the couch, with Naoya on top of Amaya. He ran his fingers through her hair, as she ran hers along his back. Amaya was in something of an uncomfortable position, so she attempted to adjust herself. In doing so, she accidentally made Naoya fall onto the floor, hitting his head on the coffee table and dragging Amaya down with him.

"OWCH! FUCK! DAMNIT!" Naoya cursed, rubbing his bumped head. Meanwhile, Amaya sat on his stomach, laughing hysterically.

"Are you okay?" She asked, still laughing and wiping the tears that had formed in her eyes from her guffawing.

"Well, my head hurts!" He replied.

Finally, Amaya managed to compose herself. "This couch thing isn’t going to work, and we have no floor space…" She began to ponder. "However… Michiko does have a full-sized bed…"

"… Oh does she now?" Naoya said, grinning wildly.

And so, in the confines of Michiko’s dark, windowless room, the two consummated their newfound feelings for each other. When it was all over, Naoya held Amaya close to him and the two whispered to each other a little.

"… We can’t ever mention this to Kaname or Rainbow." Amaya said, her voice faint and airy.

"I know."

The two fell asleep after that. Amaya awoke a few hours later and happened to glance at the digital alarm clock: it was nearly 3:00 PM : Michiko—who was also a friend of Rainbow’s—would be home any moment. In a panic, Amaya sprung out of bed.

"Get up! Get up! Get up! Get up! Get up!" She screamed, as she felt around in the dark for her clothes.

"… What’s wrong?" Naoya asked groggily.

"It’s three o’clock! You have to go! You have to go!" She exclaimed, picking up a pair of underwear and throwing it on, not sure if it was hers, Naoya’s, or Michiko’s.

In a blind fury, the two redressed and fluttered towards the door; and just as fate would have it, right as Amaya flung open the front door, there stood Michiko, riffling through her purse for her keys.

"… How the hell did you get home so fast? … And what’s Naoya doing here?" Michiko questioned.

"Nothing! We did nothing! We had coffee and bagels and nothing else! Nothing!" Amaya exclaimed in a panic.

Michiko looked the two of them over for a long moment. Amaya’s hair was all disheveled, the buttons on Naoya’s uniform were all in the wrong holes and for some reason he had his socks in his pockets.

"… Ehh, whatever." And with that, Michiko passed them and went into the apartment.

Naoya stepped outside the doorframe and into the hallway of the apartment building. "Well… Guess I’ll see ya ‘round."

"Yeah…" Amaya sighed. "… See ya."

Briefly, Naoya kissed her on the side of her mouth, and then took off down the hallway. Amaya stood there in the doorway and watched him walk towards the stairs. Several times he looked back at her and smiled, for that day he had fallen in love with Amaya, but he knew all too well that it could never be, so he never told her.

Finally, when he had disappeared out of her sight, Amaya returned to the apartment.

"Michiko?"

"Yes, Amaya my love?" Michiko replied, making some tea for herself.

"… You might wanna do some laundry… Particularly the sheets…" Amaya told her.

"Oh oka…" Michiko trailed off in mid-sentence, beginning to process what she had told her. "… Oh my god…" She sighed.

(And they never spoke of it again).

… That is… Until one day…