The college cafeteria was louder than usual during lunch, packed with students talking over each other. Hiori sat by himself at one of the tables, quietly eating while occasionally looking down at his phone.

He had a crush. A pretty obvious one, too. And somehow, after watching Hiori from afar for weeks, Karasu still hadn’t worked up the courage to actually talk to him.

Otoya noticed Karasu staring almost immediately. He glanced toward Hiori, then back at Karasu with an amused look.

“You’re doing it again.”

Karasu frowned. “Doing what?”

Otoya gave him a knowing look. Karasu sighed and looked away, clearly embarrassed.

“…Shut up.”

Karasu sat across from Otoya, pretending to listen to whatever his friend was talking about. His attention kept drifting toward Hiori.

He’d noticed Hiori around campus before—walking between classes, sitting outside the library, occasionally grabbing food from the cafeteria. Karasu didn’t even know his name at first, but he’d found himself looking for him whenever he was around.

And now that Hiori was sitting only a few tables away, Karasu suddenly had no idea how to approach him.

Across the cafeteria, Hiori finally looked up from his phone—and his eyes briefly met Karasu’s.