Chifuyu ordered six dorayaki and counted his coins onto the counter while Aiko, who had spent the best part of the last five minutes trying to build up the courage to tell them, let out a small sound as she cleared her throat.
"Why only six?" she asked when both Baji and Chifuyu turned to look at her. "Won't there be loads of people there?"
Baji's eyebrows dipped into a small frown. "I'm not responsible for feeding the whole gang."
"No, not the whole gang. Maybe just the captains? Besides, you said Mikey will probably take two or three and I'm starting to feel a little hungry myself."
Baji lowered his head to Aiko's ear level and whispered, "Are you suggesting we steal some?"
"No, no, no," she said, just as shocked by his closeness as his question. "We could just buy more. Maybe two dozen?"
"We don't have enough money on us," Chifuyu said, pulling a few more coins from his pocket.
"How can you not afford dorayaki? What kind of delinquents are you?" Aiko said before slamming her hand over her mouth. "I mean, that came out wrong, but don't you need money for fuel and things like that?"
"Are we supposed to pay for the fuel?" Baji asked which Chifuyu responded with a small shrug, setting the two of them into laughter.
"Right," Aiko said, unsure if it was merely a joke or a statement with a more serious intention behind it. "Well, let me pay for the dorayaki," she continued, choosing to ignore it completely.
Baji shook his head. "We don't need your money."
"I know. But, as I said, I'm kind of hungry. Plus, I'll feel better if I turn up to the meeting with something to offer. It's from good manners, you know?"
Baji groaned, but didn't argue, he simply raised his eyebrows at Chifuyu who nodded and requested the additional dorayaki.
Once the dorayaki was boxed, Chifuyu secured it to his bike and Aiko took her place on the back of Baji's motorbike. Riding a motorbike didn't seem as daunting as it did the first time, still she snuggled in as close to Baji as possible and wrapped her arms firmly around his waist, smiling as she took in the soft fragrance of his sweet berry shampoo which was mixed with a smoky undertone of some type of cologne or body spray.
She'd been waiting for that moment since they'd ridden away from the school together. She did want to meet Emma again, and even the other Toman members, but if Baji had decided to do nothing else but ride for the next 2 hours, she'd be equally as happy.
The meeting was as lively as the first time she was there. Deep voices chattered and shouted, as the boys played or scuffled in mini mock fights. Mikey was sitting at the top of a staircase with Draken and Mitsuya standing nearby. Baji climbed the stairs up to where Mikey sat, greeting the other boys as he passed by throwing a small punch or elbow, and then kicking one boy and running away laughing as the other boy shouted a curse after him but didn't bother to chase.
When reaching the top of the staircase he gave a simple shoulder bounce to Draken and fist tap to Mitsuya before moving around to crouch beside Mikey. The two talked solemnly for a moment until Baji roughly draped his arm around Mikey's neck and both boys burst into laughter.
Something Aiko had noticed since spending time with Baji; they touched each other a lot more than she would have expected from gang members. Violence was the only thing ever expressed about gangs from the circles Aiko moved in but, although violence was something the boys enjoyed, they were just like other teens wanting to play, laugh and have people they could be close to.
Perhaps a little more broken though, Aiko thought wondering if the excessive amount of touching was the boys' way of seeking some form of connection.
Mikey's expression, which was previously bored as he watched the other boys with their antics, brightened. He caught Aiko in his gaze and waved a gesture for her to come to him.
"What does he want?" Aiko asked Chifuyu who raised the box of dorayaki and handed it to Aiko.
"Probably these."
Aiko took the box and walked up the stairs fully aware that all eyes were on her.
Mikey was also watching her. His face was as pleasant as his smile was wide, but there was a dark depth to his eyes that she had even noticed on their first meeting – he wasn't the commander of such a large gang by mistake.
Aiko raised the box to hand it over to Baji as they met on his way back down. Without taking it from her, he opened it, took out three dorayaki and then closed it again. "You give it to him," he said before leaning in towards her and whispering, "Quickest way to his heart."
Quickest way to his heart? she repeated to herself and a slow smile crept onto her face. Baji had made an overly thoughtful expression when she'd made the comment about bringing an offering to show good manners. Had he seen it as an opportunity to form some kind of friendship between Aiko and Mikey? Almost as you would want a friend to show a good impression when meeting your parents for the first time, or more specifically, a boyfriend. Not that she'd had such an experience herself, but she had heard the stories.
Don't get ahead of yourself, she told herself, the word 'boyfriend' warming her heart as it ran through. Baji was thoughtful, beyond what he would like you to imagine, but not in the way Aiko hoped.
That's what she told herself anyway.
He just didn't want her to feel uncomfortable and he'd probably guessed that being accepted by Mikey would help her relax.
"Aiiiiko-Chan," Mikey sang. "Nice to see you again."
"Yes, you too," she replied.
Mikey tapped the step next to him so, obediently, Aiko complied and sat down.
"These are for you, and ... your ... friends," she said, unsure if using the word gang was appropriate or not.
He smiled softly, took the box and ever so politely said, "Thank you."
Aiko was almost surprised by his mature and calm manner when, on opening the box, both his small eyes grew to show the excitement of a child as he opened his birthday presents.
"My favourite," he said, taking a dorayaki from the box. "How did you guess?"
"Er, Baji mentioned them."
He pushed the open box in front of her. "Here, let's eat together."
Mikey was on his third dorayaki as Aiko finished her first, but he still ate as excitedly as when he started. Draken and Mitsuya had joined by that time to share the food before calling over another boy to hand out what was left.
"Wow," Aiko said as she inspected the embroidery on Mikey's jacket. "I can't believe you did all of this. You're really talented."
"Thank you," Mitsuya said, smiling proudly.
Once again a stereotype about gang members had been broken; these boys had skills, hobbies, and dreams. A realisation that, while filling Aiko with a warm happiness, also filled her with sadness.
Would their dreams ever be fulfilled if they continued to follow the road of a delinquent? As far as she knew it only ended with crime, imprisonment and/or death. And suddenly, her carefree night of a fun bike ride with Baji became heavy. It wasn't only Baji she wanted to be friends with. All of the members, or at least the ones she had spoken to, were people she would want to know more about and would even sneak out to be with just as she had with Baji.
Mikey, who she was sure was scary when he needed to be, was almost a boy-child. Too relaxed for what she thought a gang leader would be like and, despite the darkness that lurked in his eyes, he seemed to want nothing more than to enjoy the small pleasures of anything.
Mitsuya had completely amazed her with his maturity and dedication to his dream of becoming a fashion designer. The practice he talked about and the things he had made could make any wannabe in her so-called 'elite' circles bow their head in shame and maybe give up on their dream altogether.
And then there was Draken. He was quieter than the other two and, although he was only the vice commander, had more of a 'best brother' type of relationship with Mikey. Even in their first meeting, she could see his ever-watching eye focused on Mikey and what was around him, and Mikey accepted and indulged in his overlooking completely.
As Draken spoke about an alteration he had recently made to his motorbike, Aiko's name screeched out from down below. Emma stood at the bottom of the staircase waving her arms above her head.
"Ah, Emma's back," Mikey said, waving back down to her. "She'll be hoping that you notice," he said to Draken.
"Notice what?" Draken asked.
"Touma took her to drop off some things at home. It looks like he bought her a drink."
Sure enough, Emma was making a small display of accepting the drink from Touma, who incidentally was the same boy Baji had named 'Guy two' the first time Aiko was there. Touma seemed more in a hurry to discard the drink than anything else, holding it at arm's length and offering a few small bows as he waited for her to take it. As soon as Emma had taken the drink, and after a quick look and small bow to the top of the staircase where Mikey and Draken were sitting, Touma hurried away.
Draken made a small 'tsk' and turned back to Aiko. "She could do with some more female company, to be honest," he commented, more in passing than with any real motivation.
Aiko's heart sank a little for Emma, it appeared she tried quite hard to get Draken's attention, but with Touma's hasty escape, it wasn't difficult to see why none of her attempts to get him jealous worked.
Aiko peeked at her watch, she still had at least two hours before she needed to make her way back and she hoped to spend more time with Baji. But Emma was someone she had been looking forward to seeing again too. "If you all don't mind. I'd like to go and speak with her for a while. I'll have to go soon."
Mikey nodded in acceptance and went back to talking with Draken about his alteration as Aiko headed back down the stairs.
Emma grabbed Aiko into an excited embrace once she had gotten down the stairs and ushered her over to a small wall to sit. "I'm so glad you came back. Did you come with Baji?"
"Yeah," Aiko answered, looking around the group of boys for a sight of him.
"I knew it. I knew you'd be back with him. I get a hunch for these kinds of things."
"No. It's not like how you think. We're just ..."
"Hey," Emma interrupted. "You like him, right?"
"Well ... umm ..." Aiko broke Emma's gaze and a flush of heat ran to her cheeks.
"Exactly," Emma said triumphantly.
More time went by catching up with Emma. She wanted to know every detail of Aiko's time while she had been gone and then filled Aiko in on as much of her life as she could. As Baji was one of her oldest friends, as well as best friends with both Mikey and Draken, Emma was fixated on the position that they too should be best friends. Aiko didn't fail to remind Emma, on each occasion of her mention of Baji, that she and Baji were nothing but friends. But Emma refused to accept that as a reality and tirelessly tried to convince Aiko of the same.
"How long do you have left?" Emma asked after Aiko explained her escape from the library.
"About an hour."
"Then we have to find Baji. You need to spend time with him before you go."
"I can't. He's probably hanging out with his friends. He may have even forgotten I'm here," Aiko said, accepting that he hadn't returned after leaving her with Mikey.
"Yeah. That's what boys do. That's why we have to remind them that we're here."
"I don't know. I thought if a boy likes you he would think of you all the time."
Emma let out a loud sigh. "You said he turns up at your school every Wednesday. If that's not enough to convince you that he thinks about you then I don't know what is."
Aiko bit on the inside of her lip to hold the smile in. Yes, she had thought of that, but she'd dismissed it quickly enough telling herself it was merely curiosity and politeness. But he had gone through some effort to see her after their initial meeting, maybe Emma was right.
"Okay," she said, setting a new resolve within herself. "What do I do?"
Emma was quick at surrendering a plan, which mainly consisted of small flirting cues and a few jealousy tactics. Aiko wasn't confident or even comfortable with any of the suggestions, but still, agreed to keep Emma informed of any advancement in her relationship with Baji. The first step of which was to get his phone number by the end of the night. But, of course, she would have to find him first.
It turned out that Baji, Chifuyu and some other boys had gone for a ride, but they didn't have to wait long before he returned.
Aiko walked over to the group of boys who laughed and roughhoused, a sight Aiko was becoming used to seeing among the Tomans. Baji watched her as she approached, his face distant as usual causing Aiko's steps to falter, but the sound of Chifuyu's greeting strengthened her to continue, returning a greeting to Chifuyu before coming to stand by Baji and his bike.
"Here," Baji said after she greeted him and then he stretched out his hand to offer her a can of peach nectar. "I got you a drink."
"Oh. Um... You didn't have to."
"I know," Baji said flatly.
"I mean, I thought you didn't have any money."
Baji tapped the top of the can against her forehead before flipping it into the air and catching it again. "Do you want it or not?"
"Sorry," she said. She rubbed her forehead and then reached out to take the can from him. "Thank you."
"It's nothing," he said, which in itself was something to Aiko since he rarely used niceties when speaking with her if he ever had in fact. "Whenever you're ready to go, let me know."
Aiko opened her drink and began sipping with Emma's words rolling around in her head. Sure he thought of buying me a drink, but I'm sure it's just because he remembered he had to take me back, she told herself to extinguish the excitement that was running through her. Or was it something else? she wondered, remembering the effort Emma had made to show Touma had bought her a drink. Was buying a drink of such importance?
"Oh, I found out Guy Two's name," she said at the thought of Touma.
"Guy Two?"
"Yeah. You remember when you were telling me the names of everyone? Well, apparently, Guy Two isn't actually his name." She gave a small giggle at the obviousness of the statement.
His brow furrowed for a moment as he thought back to that first night and then he relaxed into a smile. "Ah, yeah. Guy Two."
"Yeah," she said, motioning to her hair.
"With the silver streaks in his hair ..." They both stopped. Frozen for a moment in each other's gaze as they realised they were both speaking the same words at the same time before Baji broke the silence with a laugh.
"Go on then. What's his name?" he asked.
"Touma."
Baji nodded, clearly not interested in Guy Two's name but rather the fact that Aiko had paid so much attention to his fake introductions. "Nice. If you find out Guy One and Guy Three's names, I might give you a prize."
"Really?"
"No," he laughed.
Aiko laughed with him and then continued drinking in silence. They didn't speak again until Chifuyu began a conversation about which route to ride on the way back. This got Baji's, who clearly enjoyed riding, attention and by the time they had discussed the route and how long it would take they were ready to leave.
The route back was a good choice although it was a longer route. For some parts of the drive, Aiko rested her head against Baji's back, listening to the soft sound of his heartbeat and the occasional hum of a tune. Then for some parts, Aiko sat up straight on her seat to watch the scenery as it hurried by, again seeing parts of the city that she hadn't seen before, at least not at nighttime.
Aiko checked her watch when they had pulled up at the library. She was back with ten minutes to spare.
"Thanks again for taking me with you tonight," Aiko said, resting her hand next to Baji's on his handlebar.
"Anytime," he answered.
"Really?" Aiko held her breath as she awaited an answer. Previous experience with asking Baji questions had led to either a joke as an answer or simply no answer at all.
Baji's eyes momentarily drifted, as if he too was trying to work out the correct answer, and then he looked back, catching her waiting gaze. "Yes. Anytime."
"Umm," she started, remembering her arrangement with Emma. "Do you think I would be able to get your phone number? I mean, maybe we could arrange sneaking out again together, or something. That would be fun, right?"
Baji groaned as a small reddening appeared on his cheeks and he pulled a small piece of paper from his pocket. "I er ... I was going to give this to you," he said, handing it to her. "For the same reason, of course."
She unfolded the paper to find Baji's name and number roughly scrawled on it.
Aiko didn't even attempt to hold back her smile that time, and she leaned forward to grab him in an embrace. She'd just spent the last 30 minutes with her arms around his waist, a hug wasn't much difference unless it were to be judged by the intention behind it. An intention she hoped Baji could recognise.
She liked him a lot. And it just seemed to be growing more and more.
Baji cleared his throat and gave a small wiggle as if indicating her to let go, just at the same time she noticed Yui's voice behind them.
"I better go," she whispered and waved a quick goodbye to Chifuyu and the other two boys before walking over to the library entrance.
"I thought you went home," Ichika said.
"No," Aiko answered, preparing a short cover-up. "I thought I would just rest a little so I didn't miss the study session, but I guess I got back too late."
"Really?" Daichi asked, watching the motorbikes as they rode off. "That's that boy from earlier, isn't it?"
"Yeah. I just ran into him, actually."
"Somehow, I don't believe you," Daichi said, which Ichika quickly agreed with.
"Well, our rides here, so ..." Aiko turned to walk back down to where the car was pulling up.
"Aiko," Daichi said, grabbing hold of her sleeve and pulling her beside him. "I promised your dad I would look after you. I can't allow you to speak to that boy anymore."
"You can't what?" she repeated almost in disbelief.
"I can't allow you to speak to that boy anymore."
"And how are you going to stop me?"
"Simple. Tell him to stop coming around or I'll tell your dad and we both know what he'll do."
Yes. At the very least he could cancel her library visits and have her collected straight from the gates every day, but they both knew her father would willingly go further than that too.
"Daichi, you can't do that," she pleaded, knowing it was on deaf ears.
"You know that I can," he said, his voice as flat as it was cool. "And you know that I will."