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Before he knew it, Hayate had been cajoled into joining Kurosaki at another mixer. Just to even out the numbers, Kurosaki said. It would be a valuable learning experience, Kurosaki said. Please please pretty please, Kurosaki said.
So Hayate went, and it was every bit as… okayish as the last. The girls were all nice and pretty and probably fashionable (in ways Hayate didn't fully understand), but they were very energetic as well. Hayate found himself running out of charge shortly after the second round of drinks and appetizers were served.
Just like last time, one of the girls asked Hayate if they could exchange contact information. Hayate was pretty sure it wasn't the same girl from last time, but he was also pretty sure she had the same hairstyle as the girl from last time.
He could only hope it was a different girl, because he had to decline again.
"I'm really sorry," he said. "But I forgot my phone at home this morning."
He must have sounded genuinely apologetic, which he was, because the girl quickly shook her head and said, "Oh, that's fine! That's… that's totally okay. I understand, Ichikura-kun."
Since his energy levels really were thoroughly depleted by the end of dinner, he begged off attending the afterparty again. Kurosaki didn't try to strongarm him into staying, so Hayate managed to slip away with a quick goodbye while the others huddled outside the izakaya and debated over where they would go next.
Hayate wasn't too familiar with the area, but he was pretty sure he at least knew which direction the nearest station was in. He'd just started rummaging through his backpack, searching for his phone so he could look up more specific directions, when he heard a familiar voice call out his name.
"Hayate-kun."
Hayate looked up and followed that voice to his source. Though he didn't know it, his whole face lit up when he saw Mima standing outside a donburi restaurant just two doors down from the izakaya Hayate had just left.
Though he didn't know this either, they were still close enough to the izakaya that two of the girls from the mixer stopped their conversation and started to stare as Mima approached him.
"Mima-san," Hayate said. He still had his backpack open, with one arm shoved inside, but he'd forgotten all about his search for his phone. "What a coincidence. Were you out for dinner?"
Mima nodded and looked over his shoulder, to where a few other people in office-appropriate clothing were chatting outside the donburi place. "With some colleagues, yes. It's quite a nice surprise to run into you here."
Hayate just sort of glittered at Mima for a moment, feeling soothed and even a little reenergized. It wasn't until Mima nodded at his backpack that Hayate remembered he still had it open in his arms.
"Looking for your keys again?" Mima asked with a faint, warm smile on his lips.
Hayate shook his head with a sheepish grin. He might have felt like he was being teased, had it been anyone else asking that. Maybe he did still feel a little teased now, but he didn't mind if it was coming from Mima.
"No, I have them right here." Hayate reached into his pocket and produced his keys, as though to prove he could actually keep track of them once in a while. The leather of the hedgehog keychain, which had grown soft with wear in the weeks since he'd put it on his keys, brushed over his knuckles. "The keychain helps a lot."
Mima's smile grew a little, enough to crinkle the corners of his eyes. He wasn't wearing his glasses that night, so those little crinkles were extra visible and made him look extra handsome.
"I was looking for my phone," Hayate explained as he started to sift through the things in his backpack again. "I'm not too familiar with this area, so I was going to look up directions to the nearest station."
"I see," Mima said. "Do you remember when you last used it?"
Hayate thought for a moment, then murmured, "I think it was when that girl asked to exchange contact information, and I…"
He trailed off and froze as mortification filled him up from head to toe. He'd left his phone at home that morning. And he'd just said that, not too long ago. How had he managed to forget that he'd forgotten?
If he were Souma, maybe he could have laughed it off. But he wasn't, so he could only stand there as a pink flush gradually crept into his cheeks.
"Hayate-kun?" Mima prompted.
There was a touch of concern to his voice, one that made Hayate quickly shake his head.
"It's nothing, it's alright," Hayate said. He zipped up his backpack and stared at his own shoes for a moment before peeking up at Mima with an embarrassed half-smile, half-grimace. "I just remembered. I left it at home this morning."
"Ah." Mima's shoulders dropped a little, as though with relief. Had he been worrying about Hayate? He was, as always, much too kind. "Well, it's good that you know where it is. Maybe…"
Hayate looked on curiously as Mima opened his own bag to find something.
"Maybe a charm would help with that as well," Mima said, producing a small cell phone strap still wrapped in plastic. He offered it to Hayate and explained, "It's a sample of a piece of promotional merchandise our company ordered for a new game we're marketing. We were all given a few extras to take home, but I wasn't sure what I would do with them."
Hayate reached out and took the charm in both hands. It was a cute little animal mascot—a hedgehog, just like his keychain—that was designed to look like bread. He stared at it, thoroughly awed by its cuteness, and didn't even realize he hadn't said anything until Mima spoke again.
"Ah, if it's too cute…"
"No!" Hayate blurted out, quickly folding his fingers over the charm. "I really like it. Thank you, Mima-san. I'm sure it'll help just like the keychain."
Mima smiled again. "I'll be glad if it does."
"I'm going to put it on my phone right away," Hayate promised.
Mima suddenly looked a little amused. Hayate didn't know why, until he remembered what he'd forgotten yet again.
He grimaced and flushed an even deeper shade of red this time. "I mean… as soon as I get home. To my phone."
"If you don't mind," Mima said, "we could walk to the station together? I'll be catching a train home as well, and I am rather familiar with this area."
Hayate looked up and met Mima's smiling eyes, feeling awed all over again. Mima was always so reliable, so cool. If Hayate couldn't grow up to be someone like Mima, he was glad to at least have someone like Mima in his life.
"Yes, please," Hayate said as he slipped his backpack on again. "I'd appreciate that very much, Mima-san."
It wasn't until a few days later, after a weekend had passed, that Hayate saw Kurosaki again. Hayate was absently squishing the soft new charm on his phone when Kurosaki plopped down next to him in the lecture hall of the one class they shared.
"You know," Kurosaki said.
Hayate looked up. "Hm?"
They still had a few minutes left before class was due to start. Kurosaki spent two of those minutes hemming and hawing, seemingly trying to find the right words, before just blurting it out.
"You know, if you're seeing someone, you can just tell me. I wouldn't be inviting you to mixers if I knew you were taken."
Hayate blinked. That, he felt, should have been obvious. Did it need to be said that Kurosaki wouldn't invite him on group dates, if he were already dating someone?
"And I'm not the sort to judge!" Kurosaki added hastily. "You can date whoever you want. I support you, man. That's what friends do."
Hayate blinked again. "I… see. Thank you?"
That seemed to be the right thing to say, because Kurosaki grinned and clapped him on the back.
"As long as you know," Kurosaki said.
Hayate nodded slowly and answered, with some uncertainty, "I know."
If he started dating someone, he could tell Kurosaki, and Kurosaki would stop inviting him to mixers. That was what Kurosaki meant, right?
That made sense.
Hayate got that.
It would be quite some time before he discovered he had not, in fact, gotten anything at all.