"Ugh. That jackass."

"It wasn't very good, we were both pretending we weren't each other's firsts and we were too dumb to admit that we didn't know what we were doing and porn does not prepare you for that stuff."

"Yeah, that sounds like you." He lifts his soup bowl to his lips and starts blowing on it.

"It does, doesn't it."

"Yeah. You were my first—that, too, though. Which you knew."

"I knew," he agrees. "Man, we've been friends forever, huh?"

"Is that what we are? Friends?"

"What else would you call it?"

That is a trap and he is not falling for it. He starts drinking his soup.

Mm. He'll drink his soup, too.

"Did something happen? The vibe's kind of..."

"...finish drinking your soup."

...okay. He does.

"How long have you liked me?"

—ah. Yeah. He would have inhaled his soup and made a mess if Yutaka had asked that while he was drinking.

"I didn't realise you knew."

I didn't. Not until you told me.

"It took me a while to realise."

"So that's what this is about, huh? You're—turning me down."

"That's—the primary goal here, yeah."

"'The primary goal', why do you sound like a nerd, is your boyfriend a nerd?"

"Well, yeah, that is probably why."

"Oh."

"Akira, I—"

"Spare me, Iwasaki. I don't want your, your—pity or whatever the fuck that was about to be. I'm a big boy, I can deal with being rejected."

"I'm sorry for leading you on. I'm sorry I didn't notice sooner. I'm sorry I can't reciprocate your feelings. I think you're a great guy, and I'm not, and I don't know why you'd like me, but you shouldn't. You shouldn't get hung up on someone like me—"

"Oh my God will you shut up?"