"Really?…"
Kirishima Touka froze for a moment, then turned to Kaneki Ken. "Do you hate me already?"
"N-no… not really…"
Kaneki replied in a very soft voice.
But just as he started to speak, Kirishima Hikari's voice had already spoken over him.
"Then don't you think you should apologize? If you apologize properly, I'm sure Kaneki will forgive you."
At that moment, Hikari intentionally spoke up right as Kaneki was opening his mouth.
Otherwise, it wouldn't be easy to get Touka to realize her mistake and change her behavior.
As a result, Kirishima didn't hear what Kaneki said at all. She obediently nodded, "Okay…"
Right after that, Touka said to Kaneki, "I'm sorry."
"You think just that is enough? Shouldn't you show a bit more sincerity too?"
Hikari said.
She felt that Touka should hurry up and take Kaneki back upstairs to let him change out of those clothes.
But clearly, Touka misunderstood her meaning or maybe she just imagined something else entirely on her own.
All of a sudden, Kirishima launched a surprise attack on Kaneki and kissed him right on the cheek.
Her face flushed slightly red, and she asked, "Is that enough for you to forgive me?"
"Th-this…"
Kaneki's face instantly turned a bright tomato-red, as if his brain had completely crashed.
Seeing this, Uchiha Byakuya couldn't help but think that while Touka may be young, she really knows a lot.
"Hahaha, Touka-chan's got Kaneki-kun completely wrapped around her finger~"
Yoshimura Eto immediately teased.
At that moment, Yoshimura Kuzen was watching everything in the café with a warm smile on his face. This kind of atmosphere was exactly what he had always hoped for, especially being able to serve coffee brewed with his own hands to his daughter in this café.
He had committed countless sins in the past. Who would've thought that now, in his later days; he could actually enjoy such a blissful life.
Watching Kaneki and Touka, Mayu too, suddenly wanted to imitate them.
Because it just looked… so fun.
"Juuzou, do you hate me?"
Mayu directly asked Suzuya Juuzou.
Juuzou simply shook his head.
"Okay then."
Mayu thought about it. Juuzou really had no reason to hate her, and she didn't want him to, either.
Still, even so, Mayu followed Touka's example and simply gave Juuzou a kiss on the cheek.
The latter didn't react nearly as dramatically as Kaneki did. Instead, he just looked at Mayu with a slightly surprised expression, one hand gently touching the spot on his face where she had kissed him.
"Hehe~"
Mayu didn't look shy in the slightest.
Seeing Mayu and Juuzou acting like this, Byakuya couldn't help but think that these kids are way too mature already.
If they're like this as kids, what are they going to be like when they grow up?
At this moment, Koma Enji clutched the fabric over her chest and muttered, "I suddenly feel like such a failure!"
From the side, Irimi Kaya immediately laughed and said, "You really are a failure, you're not even as good as the kids."
"You have the nerve to mock me? Aren't you the same?"
Koma Enji shot back.
"That's different. If I wanted to, I could have tons of people chasing after me anytime."
Irimi Kaya flipped her silky hair back with a smug look.
Just then, Hoito Roma suddenly said teasingly, "You two actually make a pretty good pair. Why don't you just get together~?"
Hearing that, both Koma Enji and Irimi Kaya froze as though paralyzed for a second.
But Koma Enji quickly replied, "No thanks. I'd rather die alone than pair up with her."
"As if I'd even be interested in you."
Irimi Kaya also said with a look of disdain.
However, Roma had already seen through it all. Her face was full of a knowing smile, though she didn't say anything more.
She'd been staying in Anteiku for quite a while now and had observed every employee. Naturally, she'd noticed the vague and ambiguous relationship between Koma Enji and Irimi Kaya.
But the relationship was too delicate, and probably wouldn't progress much anytime soon.
So she figured she might as well stir things up every now and then, just for fun.
At the same time, both Koma Enji and Irimi Kaya were, of course, fully aware that Roma was probably just messing with them for fun.
"By the way, Roma-neechan, you're not exactly young anymore, right? When are you planning to get married?"
Irimi Kaya immediately asked.
"Marriage? I don't think something like that is very interesting."
Roma replied bluntly with her hands back.
Very few people knew that her real age was already over forty, in the end, she just looked like someone in her twenties on the surface.
Koma Enji and Irimi Kaya obviously had no idea about Roma's actual age.
"But if the two of you were to get married, now that would be interesting."
Roma smoothly shifted the topic back to the two; Koma Enji and Irimi Kaya.
"No thanks, I'm not marrying a monkey."
Irimi Kaya said.
"What monkey? It's 'Devil Ape!'"
Koma Enji emphasized. "And I'm not marrying a black dog either."
While Koma Enji, Irimi Kaya, and Roma were loudly bickering in a lively way, Uruka Minami and Arima Kishou were quietly studying at a nearby table.
"So noisy… I feel like we'd be better off studying at the library. Trying to study during our part-time shift just makes it really hard to concentrate."
Minami said, an awkward smile appearing on her face.
"True. Let's wait until the shift is over, then head to my place or the library to study. That way we'll be more efficient."
Arima nodded.
In truth, he didn't really need to study much at all, most of the time; he was just keeping Minami company while she studied.
To put it bluntly, Arima was simply too smart. As long as he paid even just a bit of attention during class, it was enough for him to score first in the entire grade during exams.
Before, Minami had always been number one in their year. Now, it had become Arima.
Arima wasn't just outstanding in combat intelligence, physical ability, and reaction speed, no; his academic intelligence was also extremely high.
He was practically the definition of a flawless, all-around "hexagonal warrior."
Originally, his lifespan was his only weakness, but now even that was no longer a problem.
Ever since he inhaled the "Dragon Toxin," his lifespan had become about the same as that of a normal human.
And if Byakuya wanted to, he could even give Arima some of his Longevity Pills.
"Arima-kun, you always study with me, but I still can't beat you in grades."
Minami said with a sigh.
The more Arima-kun studied with her, the more impossible it became for her to ever surpass him academically.
But the more brutal reality was that even if Arima didn't study with her, she still wouldn't be able to beat him.
To this, Arima only gave a faint smile. He didn't say anything that might discourage Minami.
"By the way, after graduation, what university are you planning to go to, Arima-kun?"
Minami suddenly asked.
She wanted to start preparing early. If she knew which university Arima-kun planned to attend, she could begin preparing specifically for that one.
Because Japan's college entrance system was different from many.
Aside from a unified exam similar to the "gaokao," of China, students also had to take individual entrance exams at the universities they wanted to attend.
Every university was like that; each required students to take its own "entrance exam." And the difficulty of those entrance exams wasn't low, so many students would start preparing long in advance for the schools they had their eyes on.