probably not

They all sat at the table, a crimson blush on all their faces. Sato Hashimoto sat across from Akira Kirigakure, and Rokoru Ishiara sat across from Saya Ueno. One of the seconds-years in the Archery club had asked Saya to help out with their class event in the cultural festival, but she neglected to tell any of the other three that it was supposed to be a group date café. Naturally, almost no one had bothered to come by, and they were supposed to “date” to attract people to come to their room. Six students that were actually in the class sat in a table on the other side of the room, away from the wide-open door. Apparently, they were supposed to be the poster children of the café, but nobody there considered them a good example.

Rokoru sat quietly in his chair, arms folded across his broad chest and eyes directed downwards as Saya ogled him nervously, scratching and stretching the threads in the coat draped over her smaller body. One of the people running things had requested that Rokoru give Saya his uniform’s coat so they’d look more like a couple, but the issue was, he ran out of clean shirts that morning and had to wear a shirt he had when he was a first-year. The buttons barely closed, revealing through cracks inbetween the meeting sections parts of his abdomen. Nobody noticed it but the girl bleeding out on the other side of the table.

Akira sat in silent rage, furious that they’d pair him with a guy. Rokoru, the bastard, gets his personal fangirl while he got the oblivious city boy. The look of pure disdain on his face was enough to prevent any of the café ‘staff’ to give him or Sato any ‘suggestions’, lest what they say enrage him further. Sato merely stared, changing from person to person randomly as he tightly gripped the fabric of his pants. Though, he was the only one to try to initiate a conversation, stammering out a question:

“G-girls, what kind of guy do you l-like…?”

Saya averted her gaze immediately, biting her lip to the point where it looked like it would start bleeding. She attempted to stammer out an answer but failed to do so, ending up with a weak “R-Roko...” that nobody really heard. Akira, though initially absolutely against answering, gave a mischievous smirk before feigning embarrasement as he answered, not breaking eye contact with the club president as he said it:

“Well, I like guys who are strong, the leader type, dominant, a bit on the thick sid—“ Rokoru’s chair skidded across the wood as he launched of his seat, knocking the table a bit as his knees collided with it on the upswing. He walked as fast as he could away from the table, practically dying of embarrassment, frustration, and anger.

“One down,” Sato whispered to himself.

Saya looked on in a bit of shock at the now empty chair, completely befuddled as to why her baby got so worked up so quickly. She sunk down into her chair, hiding away from the other two guys in Rokoru’s jacket that was much too big for a girl like her. Sato quickly came up with a plan to escape. He’d need to get rid of Akira and Saya and they’d basically kick him out with them. But Rokoru’s exit was hardly his fault, only as a result of his question. He’d need to take matters into his own hands. And with a new-found purpose, Sato shot Akira determined look until the boy finally noticed it and glared back. Sato covered his mouth with his hand to try to look bashful about his ‘confession.’

“Akira… now that Rokoru’s gone, I have something… something to tell you.” Akira’s glare intensified at what he thought Sato would say next. “I-I, I… I love y—“

For the second time, a chair skidded across the classroom floor and a fleeting person knocked the table a bit as they fled the scene. “Two down, one to go.” Sato whispered again as he watched one of the staff try to get Akira to stay without success. A gasp brought his attention back to the last person; Saya stared in exasperation, mouth agape.

“Y-y-y-y-you’re not r-r-really…” The girl stammered out, having difficulty getting the last word out of her mouth. Sato merely shook his head at her, assuring her that he didn’t bat for that team. She still looked disgruntled, however; possibly because she figured out what he was trying to do. Though, she was cleverer than him, and had a plan to attempt to save the group date café. The younger girl pulled out her phone, navigating through the pages and apps to find what she was looking for, and held it out to Sato, who took it tentatively and observed what she was showing her.

On the phone’s screen was a cute pug dog riding on a sled with several other pugs being dragged around the snow-covered field. Sato blew a sharp breath of air out of his nose and donned a legitimate smile on his face. After the video was over, he returned it to Saya, but she immediately scrolled down and gave it back to Sato after another video started playing. Sato had a warm smile after finishing the additional pug video, this time not returning to phone to her at first. “I-I have more, if you want to watch more…” Sato nodded his head awkwardly. Saya scooted her chair around the table until she ended up beside Sato, phone inbetween both of them, joyous expressions on both of them. Sato because he had a soft-spot for dogs, and Saya because her plan had worked.

They really did look like a couple.