what am i doing? she asks herself for the third time as she enters the class. it's her free day off—she doesn't work on sundays—and normally, she would have spent it doing something else. watching dramas, eating, catching up on sleep.

but here she is, in a class for learning sign language, at 6am in the morning.

she tries her best to learn everything she can—and by the end of the class after two hours, it's safe to say she's successful in learning it.

as she stares at the paper, her notes from the lesson, in her hands, she can't help but grin at how happy inumaki will be when she signs her first sentence to him.

all of a sudden, she feels a buzz on her body. it's her phone, in her pocket, and she pulls it out. the person calling is her colleague, and she frowns at the contact before swiping answer. "hello?" she says.

"h-hi! there's this weird guy who keeps talking about fish... and seaweed! he's asking to see you, and i don't know what to do. he's holding up the queue," y/n's coworker said, his voice trembling. he's a new worker, so it's normal for him to be worked up over being unable to handle the queue.

but this is an emergency. "um, can you describe him to me?" she asks, already slipping on her coat to head out.

"he has white hair, a really high collar, and big eyes... um, he keeps looking around. it looks like he's wearing school uniform—!"

inumaki! "i'll head over," she says, ending the call and rushing out.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 🧋 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

"inumaki!" is the first name y/n says when she enters the cafe. the white-haired boy turns around, face lighting up when he catches sight of her. he waves to her, and tilts his head like he's saying come over. she does, and pulls on her apron, saying, "you want your usual?"

her coworker is stunned, but keeps quiet because he's too nervous to be dealing with strange customers.

"salmon," inumaki says in reply and she hurriedly makes his hot chocolate and boba. it's safe to say her coworker is completely baffled by now, confused by inumaki's character, choice of words and drinks.

"what are you doing? this is your shift, you know," y/n says to the boy who's gone soft in the legs. "o-oh!" he stumbles forward, "i'll take care of the rest!"

she sighs, removing her apron and closing her fingers around inumaki's wrist. "come on," she tells him as she leads him out the store, stopping at a nearby park. she sits on a bench, and beckons for him to sit beside her. his eyes are round and curious as he stares at her.

"i don't work on sundays," she tells him.

"...tuna." he says, taking a closer look at her. dark circles hang from below her eyes like bruises, and it's not that he'd know, but it's because she slept late but woke up at six to attend the class for sign language.

"mustard leaf?" he asks. are you okay? she's tired but grins at him nevertheless. "i'm okay," she says, lifting her hands to sign, it's good to see you!

only she's messed up 'to' and 'good', so what she signed is it's to good see you!

at first he glows, excited and pleasantly surprised at the prospect of her learning sign language. then he realises the mistake, and giggles into the collar of his uniform, a hand covering his mouth although it's already covered by his collar.

you got it wrong, he signs to her. reaching over to take her hands into his, he adjusts her hands for her to explain the mistake.

"oh!" she laughs, smiling sheepishly. it's good to see you! she tries again and tilts her head at him.

he nods his head for affirmation. i'm happy to see you too!

he pulls down his collar to take a sip of his drink, and sends her a grin when he catches her staring.

her heart skips a beat. it's attractive, she thinks and doesn't realise she's holding her breath until she can't breathe. she chokes on air, inhaling huge amounts and he pats her back lightly. "mustard leaf?"

she nods, and says in between coughs, "i'm okay."

you didn't call me, he signs to her when she's regained her composure. he pulls out his phone and points to it, then signs, i gave you my number and said to call.

"oh!" eyes widening, she placed a hand on the back of her neck awkwardly as she explained, "i was really busy since the morning. i was taking the classes for sign language."

he nods in understanding. how much have you learnt?

"more than i thought i would have!" she laughs, "i can read really well, because i already had some prior knowledge, but i can't sign all that well." she looks at her hands like they're responsible for something.

i can teach you, he says, i'm an expert.

she laughs. "an expert? i'm lucky i learned that phrase this morning," she relaxes against the bench. "okay, you can teach me. i have the whole day off today, anyway."

spending it with me?

"yes," she says, "let's spend it together."

inumaki nods and looks back down at his hands, which are trembling with happiness, his face red and lips curled upwards.