After helping Nagito clean the café, Makoto drove me home. On the days he'd drive me home, he'd always leave a few minutes early, claiming he was going to start his car, but I knew he was giving Nagito and I some time alone. I never minded it, because whenever it was just the two of us, it felt as if Nagito finally relaxed.

I loved it when Nagito felt relaxed around me. It made me happy to know he felt comfortable around me. I felt the same way around him. Although, it made me sad to know that he felt tense around the others. They were supposed to be his friends. Though he was only really close with me, Sonia, and Gundham, so I shouldn't have been too surprised. Regardless, he felt relaxed around me, and that made me happy.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Nagito said as he walked towards his car, waving to Makoto.

As I slid into the passenger seat, Makoto sang, "He likes you."

"I'm not getting into this again," I gritted.

"I know, I know. Unless he confesses to you first, you're not going to make your move. But you have to admit, he sort of made a move on you today with that crumb licking he did."

Feeling my cheeks blare, I pouted and stared out the window. "You better not tell anyone."

"I won't tell anyone. I can't say the same about Kazuichi," he chuckled, and I groaned loudly. "Relax. We all found it adorable. He was so jealous of Kyoko."

"When there's nothing to be jealous over considering we all know she likes you."

Makoto blushed and giggled softly. "You think so?"

"It's been obvious to everyone ever since the two of you met that you two would eventually marry each other."

"H-Hajime, please, we haven't even gone on a formal date, yet," he stuttered.

"And after you two do, we all know she's going to propose."

"Don't make me more nervous than I already am," he sighed. "I'm already worried over what she's going to say about me being an Ultimate in private."

"She knows why you joined the club, so I don't think you have to be worried."

"Yes, I do. She thinks she knows why I joined the club, but she doesn't actually know."

"Yeah, she does," I scoffed. "Not only because she's an amazing detective, but because it's very obvious to everyone that the only reason you would actually want to be an Ultimate is to learn how to rub shoulders with the rich so you won't make a fool out of yourself or Kyoko whenever she has to attend formal parties for her job. It's obvious to everyone that you did it for her. That's why she wanted to see you in action today and see what you've learned so far."

"I really hope she knows that's why," he exhaled.

Pulling into his driveway, we spotted Kyoko and Chiaki sitting on their front steps, talking with Aoi and Sakura. Ibuki would either see her after her concert tonight or at the party tomorrow.

We both walked up to the group, and Aoi held in her giggles. "Kyoko told us about what happened today."

"What part?" I asked, glaring at them.

"Only that we went to see you at your Ultimate Club. Nothing more," Kyoko promised, holding her hand up. "It was a lot of fun to see you two at work. You've both learned a lot about etiquettes, I noticed."

"We had to in order to fit in," Makoto explained.

"It's hard, but it seems like my clients don't mind me not being quite at their level. It makes me less threatening."

"No offense, Hajime, but most people wouldn't find you threatening upon first glance," Aoi commented.

"However, you have been working hard at the gym, so I know if someone were to try to take advantage of you, you could fight back," Sakura stated.

"That is so true," Aoi chuckled.

"I found it fun to watch you two in action," Kyoko complimented, standing up and stepping over to Makoto. "I wish I could come and schedule sessions with you two more often, but I wouldn't want to ruin the integrity of the Hope's Peak student café."

"It would be great to see you there again," he smiled giddily.

"My only concern would be upsetting Nagito again. I swear I didn't mean to upset him while I was there," she frowned.

"Don't worry. We talked about it after you left, and it's all water under the bridge." Or at least as much as it could be. I knew something about it worried Nagito, and though he wouldn't tell me, he didn't seem to stress over it.

"Is everything okay?" Aoi asked, biting her fingernail.

"Don't worry. I may have given off the wrong impression to Hajime's friend by mistake, so I invited him to..."–she jerked her eyes to Makoto–"hoping to give off a better impression."

"I don't think he hates you. I know he admires your work on the Monokuma files. It didn't seem like he had any resentment towards you when we talked."

Kyoko exhaled and placed her hands on her knees. "Well, that is a relief."

"What happened?" Aoi asked.

"I'm sure if they want to tell us, they will," Sakura replied.

"It's nothing to stress yourselves out about," I promised. "Everything will be fine tomorrow. I know it."

^^^

In order to arouse suspicion about Komaru's surprise party, we held it in Chiaki's backyard. Makoto and his parents took Komaru out for breakfast, and then he took her out to the mall for the afternoon to pick out a birthday gift. When they arrived back home, he claimed Kyoko had a birthday gift she sent for Komaru to pick up.

To say it surprised her was an understatement. We rarely ever held surprise parties for anyone anymore, since we always knew something was happening. The bigger surprise part was Kyoko being back in town. Since she went out with Toko after club activities and asked Makoto to keep quiet about her arrival, Komaru was crying tears of joy over seeing her again.

Makoto helped Kyoko grill burgers, allowing the two to catch up in their own bubble. All of us watched them dote over each other, giggling, blushing, and smiling like fools in love. I only wished that could have been Nagito and myself. Though, according to our friends, we tended to act like that whenever we were on our own.

"So, bets," Chiaki stated, sipping her soda as we watched the two. Everyone else at the table was invested in their own conversations, leaving the two of us to talk. "First, who is going to confess to who?"

We both looked at each other. "Kyoko," we agreed.

"Okay, when will she tell him?" I asked. "I'm going to go with... within the next month."

"I think it will be in about two months. They need more time to catch up and actually admit their feelings," Chiaki said.

"Yeah, but they are already getting close like this. Not to mention that they've had these feelings for so long that it makes sense that they'd want to confess the moment they can."

"I'm still going with two months."

"How much are we betting?"

"Ten bucks?"

"I'll agree to that."

"Hajime, Chiaki," Ibuki whispered, poking her head between ours. We turned to look at her. "I've come up with a fool proof way to get the two a little closer together."

"What did you come up with?" Chiaki questioned.

Ibuki cheekily smiled as she held up her empty soda bottle. "We play spin the bottle, of course."

"You think that will actually work?"

"Yeah. We get Kyoko to spin it, and before it lands on anyone, we all jump back. You know, except Makoto. He won't know to. That way we can get the two to kiss," she proudly explained.

"Didn't that happen on Full House?" I asked.

"Yeah, and it worked."

"I don't think it did."

"Well, even if it doesn't, it will be super funny anyway to see them get all flustered," she laughed. "Once Nagito gets here, be sure to tell him the plan, okay? Ooh, I'm super exited to meet him!"

"Oh, yeah, he is coming, isn't he?" Aoi questioned, joining our conversation. "Is everything going to be okay tonight after what happened yesterday?"

"What happened yesterday?" Komaru questioned.

"Hajime hasn't told us yet. All we know is Kyoko upset him over something," Aoi shrugged.

"It's really not as big of a deal as you're making it out to be," Chiaki stated. "If anything, it just solidified the fact that he likes Hajime."

"Oh, my god, what happened?" Ibuki exclaimed.

Sighing, I stared at the table. "Kyoko went to wipe some crumbs from my face, and Nagito grabbed her hand before she could and said that clients weren't allowed to touch Ultimates."

"Ooh, it definitely seems like he likes you if he was so intense like that," Ibuki nodded, crossing her arms. "I will need to see it with my own eyes, but based on what everyone's said so far about you two, I strongly believe he likes you."

"Why not scream it louder?" Kazuichi chuckled.

"What? It's a good thing. If Hajime likes him, then they can start dating soon."

"Except for the fact that Hajime refuses to make the first move." Kazuichi walked over to my side and wrapped his arm around my neck. "He's too much of a gentleman to make the first move. Even though it would help speed up the process."

"I'm not making the first move," I stated, "so stop asking me to. Until he makes the first move, I won't do anything, and you all better not mention my feelings. I do not want to make him uncomfortable."

"If it makes you feel better, I don't think he would hate you if you admitted your feelings for him. Regardless of his feelings, I'm sure he'd be flattered that you have feelings for him," Chiaki encouraged, patting my thigh.

"She's right," Kazuichi nodded. "He'd be grateful for your feelings, and then you can move forward from there."

"It's not about my feelings right now. It's about making sure he doesn't feel as if I'm taking advantage of him by confessing my feelings to him," I replied.

"How does that work?" Ibuki asked.

"It's complicated," I sighed.

"Yo, Hajime, I think I just saw Nagito pull up," Makoto called out, and Kyoko glanced over towards her driveway.

"Be on your best behaviors, alright?" I demanded, and everyone nodded firmly.

Turning towards the backyard entrance, Nagito entered the backyard, smiling giddily with his arm wrapped around Toko's waist.

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