Soren stood in the middle of the plaza outside the academy like a statue that had been left out overnight.
The air was crisp in that early-morning way that made your lungs feel cleaner than they had any right to, and the sun sat low enough to paint the stone paths gold without yet committing to warmth.
A yawn crept up on him and stole his face before he could stop it.
"Ugh…"
He blinked a few times, eyes watering slightly, then tilted his head back to look at the sky.
The sun wasn't even fully committed to being awake yet, hovering above the rooftops as though it was still deciding whether showing up was worth the effort.
He rubbed the corner of one eye with his thumb and exhaled slowly.
'Why am I here again…?'
The thought arrived late, delayed, the way thoughts did when his body had already reached a place but his mind was still catching up.
His fatigue made everything feel a step behind, as if his brain was loading in pieces instead of all at once.
His body knew the answer.
His mind had simply been busy being tired.
Then, the moment he tried to pin it down, the memory slid neatly into place on its own, smooth and immediate in the way it always was when he gave it even the smallest prompt.
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
Esper's voice had been bright and sharp in that private café room, as if she could cut through tension by deciding not to acknowledge it.
"Are you free tomorrow?"
Soren remembered blinking at her.
The question had felt abrupt, arriving right after everything she had dumped on him, right after the letters and the irritation and that rare, tight honesty that didn't hide behind performance.
He had answered without thinking too much about it, because the question itself was simple, and simple questions were easier when the mood was heavy.
"Yeah."
Esper's grin had widened immediately, the kind of grin that suggested she had been waiting for that exact response, not merely hoping for it.
She leaned forward a little, elbows on the table, the envelope still sitting there between them like an insult neither of them wanted to touch again, and her tone shifted lighter, too light.
"Good, then meet me tomorrow at ten."
Soren had frowned.
"Where?"
Esper's eyes had gleamed as she answered, perfectly casual, perfectly confident, as if she was telling him the most obvious thing in the world.
"The plaza in the shopping district. You know it, right?"
He had stared at her, suspicion arriving automatically.
"Why?"
Esper had placed a finger against her lips in a playful little hush, smiling as if she was sharing a secret with herself rather than with him.
"It's a secret," she teased. "Don't ruin it."
"That's not an answer," he had replied.
Esper had leaned back in her chair, satisfied with how annoyed he looked, her smile too smooth for someone who claimed she wasn't dramatic.
"It's the only answer you're getting," she said, and Soren remembered sighing, the kind of sigh that came from long experience, because he knew exactly how arguing with Esper went when she decided something was entertaining.
He remembered deciding not to argue.
He remembered telling himself he would regret agreeing, and agreeing anyway.
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
And now he was here.
Back in the present, the plaza felt oddly large when you were standing in the middle of it alone, an open space built for crowds and movement, and suddenly there was too much room for thoughts to echo.
A few students passed by in pairs, chatting lazily.
A merchant cart rolled along at a slow pace.
Somewhere, someone laughed too loudly, the sound carrying for a moment before the rest of the morning swallowed it.
None of it mattered.
Soren's gaze dropped to the pocket watch in his hand.
10:18 a.m.
A faint irritation rose in his chest, not enough to make him scowl, but enough to sit there and be inconvenient.
'Eighteen minutes late.'
It wasn't like he expected Esper to be early.
That would have been bizarre, almost alarming, yet some part of him had hoped she would take this seriously since she had been… well, tired.
The memory of her in that café room, her cheer thinning into something quieter, made his expression soften slightly, irritation fading at the edges.
Then it came back again, because he was still standing there.
He checked the watch once more, as if time might have apologised and reversed itself.
It hadn't.
Soren slipped it back into his pocket, shoulders relaxing, and looked around the plaza again, scanning without urgency.
The sunlight had climbed higher now, warming the stones beneath his boots.
The air was less sharp, less biting, more awake, and the shopping district carried the faint sense of life preparing itself, shutters opening, footsteps multiplying, the day gradually putting on its face.
A sigh left him before he could stop it.
'When is she going to—'
A finger poked his cheek.
"Boo~"
His entire body jumped.
It wasn't dramatic, but it was immediate, pure reflex, the kind that happened before thought could intervene.
His shoulders tensed and his head snapped to the side so fast it almost hurt, his hand lifting halfway on instinct, like he had been about to swat something away.
Esper stood there like she hadn't just committed a crime.
Her grin was wide, eyes bright, posture relaxed and smug, radiating that specific kind of satisfaction only someone who enjoyed annoying people could wear with pride.
"—What the hell?" Soren blurted, catching himself halfway through whatever his hand had been planning to do.
Esper's grin widened further, utterly unrepentant.
"Good morning," she sang.
Soren's mouth opened again.
He had been about to scold her.
There were words ready, prepared, reasonable, the kind of lecture any sane person would deliver.
'You're late.'
'Don't sneak up on me.'
'Do you enjoy stressing me out?'
The first part of that lecture died before it could leave his throat, because his eyes finally registered what he was looking at, properly, and his brain stalled in a way he didn't appreciate.
Esper was dressed up.
Not in the loose academy uniform he usually saw her in, not in the neat, polished noble style she wore even when she claimed she was "going casual," because Esper's version of casual still looked expensive and intentional.
This was something else.
Her makeup was still bold, because Esper didn't do subtle even on her best days, but it looked different.
The eyeliner was sharper, more deliberate, drawn with the kind of intention that suggested she had actually sat down and decided what effect she wanted.
Her lips were glossy and bright.
The blush wasn't routine; it was warm and chosen, placed to suit the look rather than to complete the same familiar mask.
Even the faint shimmer near her eyes caught the sunlight in a way that made it obvious she had spent extra time on it.
More care.
More attention.
Then there was her outfit.
A gal-style look, bold and cute and dangerously confident, put together with the kind of cohesion that made "loud" feel like a choice rather than a mistake.
The short skirt wasn't scandalous, but it also made no attempt to be modest, sitting in that sweet spot where it was clearly daring and clearly deliberate.
Her top was fitted, showing off her figure without looking fragile or impractical, and the cropped jacket over it pulled the whole thing together, stylish rather than messy, sharp rather than casual.
Accessories finished it off in a way that should have been too much, and somehow wasn't.
Earrings that caught the light when she moved, bracelets stacked with intention, a small charm hanging from her bag strap, the details all speaking the same language.
Knee-high socks made Soren's brain short-circuit for a second, paired with boots that looked like they belonged in a fashion magazine rather than on academy stone paths.
It was revealing, but not in an 'I'm trying to cause a scene' way.
More in the way that said she already knew she would win any scene she entered, so she might as well dress like it.
Soren's thoughts stopped moving.
His brain went quiet.
His face, however, did not.
Heat crawled up his neck before he could control it, and the faint flush on his cheeks made him want to turn into dust on principle alone.
He could feel it happening and that only made it worse, because awareness didn't stop embarrassment, it just made you suffer it more intelligently.
Esper watched him.
Then she leaned in slightly, eyes narrowing with delighted precision, as if she was studying a reaction she'd successfully provoked.
"Oh?~" she said, voice sweet. "What's with that look?~"
Soren forced his mouth to work again, because letting silence stretch would only make her happier.
"I was going to tell you off," he said, and immediately regretted starting with that, because it sounded weak in a way he didn't like.
Esper's grin widened, viciously pleased.
"You were going to tell me off?" she echoed, amused. "For what, Cutie? Being late? Or for blessing your morning with my presence?"
Soren stared at her.
The nickname "Cutie" still made him feel like he was being toyed with like a pet, and Esper said it with the kind of ease that suggested she enjoyed that fact.
"Both," he said flatly.
Esper giggled, then circled him once as if she was inspecting an item she had purchased.
His eyes followed her without permission, which made him even more irritated with himself, and by the time she stopped in front of him again, she looked far too satisfied.
Hands clasped behind her back, posture innocent in a way that was clearly fake, Esper tilted her head.
"Do I look pretty?" she asked brightly. "Be honest~"
His mouth opened.
Then closed.
The correct answer was obvious, painfully so.
The problem wasn't honesty, and the problem wasn't complimenting someone.
The problem was that she clearly wanted the reaction, and he could feel the trap waiting under the floorboards, ready to spring the second he stepped wrong.
Esper's eyes narrowed, expectant.
"Well?"
A sigh left him.
Still, he wasn't going to lie.
"Yes," Soren said, tone blunt and matter-of-fact, as if stating a basic fact was safer than letting the words turn into something else. "You look beautiful."
The words landed in the air like a thrown stone, simple, direct, and for a second they hung there as if the room itself had paused to listen.
Esper froze.
It lasted barely a heartbeat, but it was there, the tiniest hitch, the smallest flicker in her expression as if the compliment had hit somewhere it wasn't supposed to.
Her cheeks pinked, just a shade, enough that Soren noticed and immediately wished he hadn't, because noticing made him feel like he had stepped into something intimate without permission.
Then her smile returned, brighter than before, because that was Esper's defensive reflex, the same way some people flinched and others laughed.
"Oho?" she said, eyes gleaming. "Beautiful? Not just pretty?"
"They're the same thing," Soren replied, keeping his voice steady even though his cheeks were still warm. "You asked if you looked pretty. You do."
Esper's mouth twitched like she was trying not to smile too hard, like she was fighting the urge to look too pleased.
"Mm-hm~" she hummed, then waved a hand as if brushing away embarrassment. "Fine. I'll accept the praise. As your fiancée, it's my duty to look good, and your duty to suffer about it."
Soren's eyes narrowed.
"That's not how that works…"
"It is if I say it is."
He stared at her.
Esper stared back.
Then she abruptly turned her head away and cleared her throat, adopting the tone of someone who had suddenly remembered something extremely important.
"So," she said, casual in the way people got when they wanted to change the subject, "what time did you get here?"
The question caught him slightly off guard.
"Uh…"
He glanced around the plaza as if the ground might help him remember, then gave the honest answer because honesty was, unfortunately, his default.
"Half an hour ago? I just wanted to be safe."
Esper's brows furrowed instantly.
Her expression didn't turn angry.
It turned offended on his behalf.
She stepped closer and lightly punched his side, not hard, more of a tap with attitude than anything else.
"Ow," Soren muttered, more out of principle than pain. "What was that for?"
"You're not supposed to say that," Esper complained, as if he had committed a social crime.
Soren blinked.
"Why?"
"Because you're supposed to say you just arrived," Esper said, like it was obvious. "Like a normal person."
"Well, how was I meant to know that?"
"It's common sense," Esper replied, sounding personally betrayed by his existence. "Shouldn't you know how to treat a girl by now? You're too honest. It's disgusting."
Soren sighed, shoulders loosening now that his brain had started functioning again.
"Whatever. You were late."
Esper gasped, dramatic again, a hand flying to her chest with the enthusiasm of a stage actress.
"How dare you?"
Soren gave her a flat look that could have stripped paint.
Esper's grin returned, and for a second it almost looked real, not curated, not polished, just something lighter that flickered through before she caught it.
Then it slid back into its usual shape, because she was still Esper, and Esper didn't stay unguarded for long.
"So, what did you drag me out here for?" Soren asked, letting that moment pass without poking at it.
Esper's eyes flicked up to him, amused.
"Drag you? I invited you."
"You told me to be here at ten and called it a secret," he replied. "That's basically dragging."
Esper hummed, pleased.
"You're sulking again, how cute."
He stared at her again, not even warranting her words with a response.
Then she stepped closer.
It happened so naturally that it didn't register at first.
Her arm slid through his, linking them together as if she had been doing it her whole life, casual and familiar.
Her grip wasn't tight, and it wasn't possessive, but it was decisive, the kind of action that would look romantic to anyone watching, and for Esper it was just another move she made without hesitation.
Soren's body stiffened half a degree.
Then he forced himself to relax, because reacting would only entertain her more, and he refused to give her that satisfaction when his face was already betraying him.
Esper started pulling him forward, boots clicking lightly against the stone as she set the pace.
"Essy, what are you—" he started, suspicion returning automatically.
She turned her head toward him with a grin so bright it felt like a weapon.
"Let's go on a date!" she declared.
————「❤︎」————