As their individual subjects wrapped themselves throughout the day. Science, maths, chemistry, history, English, etc. Marlan rushed to the exit door, which is basically just both of the available doors of the room; he can just come out with the one nearest to him. He no longer even took the time to wave goodbye to Kurt and the others; he packed his school supplies earlier, before the class even concluded, before lazily resting his head on his armchair, planning how Iris's and his walk from school would go this time. "I need to come up with a new idea for today," he thought. "Maybe going to that coffee shop? Though I think it's bad and overpriced, though. At least that's what my cousin told me, and she does explore a lot. She could be right, but at the moment, that's all I could afford. She said that the least expensive coffee they have there was 100 pesos, and according to my little experience with these scams, I can predict that they may have a medium variant for 150. I could afford two of those, heh." He felt absolutely proud and confident coming up with that. After finishing his way towards Irish's room halfway through, he immediately spotted her undeniable silhouette, still as graceful as when they parted ways before class, her whole posture seemingly as straight as it always is as she stands tall with both of her arms in front of her, clasped together.
"Iris!" He yelled out, still metres away from her with an energetic and tall wave. And as the distance between them shortened, Marlan noticed something off with her. Her eyes look like they have just been sucked by an emotion-eating demon; her face is as dead as a poverty-living street vendor who failed to sell at least half of their product for the day. He slowed down just a little bit, unaware of what he should do. Marlan is not used to witnessing Iris like this, this pathetic and vulnerable, because for him, she has always been like a goddess, an unreachable ancient goddess that's radiating with the most delicate and beautiful aura around her as she humbly descends from the sky above to grace our mere lowly and pitiful eyes, heart and mind out of the kindness of her heart. But right now, she looks no more different than them, undistinguishable. "Iris?" he finally asked as the distance between them shortened to merely an inch. Her head did not turn to meet his eyes; she merely turned her lifeless gaze onto him as fast as an ordinary turtle. "Are you alright?" He asked softly, clearly genuinely worried. And for a while, she did not give him any response; she merely stared across the pathway where Claire used to walk towards the exit. "Y-yes. I am… Should we get going now?" She finally responded, her voice as soft as Marlan's but just dead. The crack in her voice did not go unnoticed by Marlan's ears, though. Yet seeing her as fragile as an old mirror that has been mass-produced to sell more at the lowest price, along with his inexperience with dealing with complex and personal emotions such as this, he chose not to say any word about it to her. "Yeah… Shall we?" He answered to her as he politely and gently extended his right arm and hand to her. For about three or more seconds, Iris hesitated before finally accepting his offer with her trembling arm.
When they arrived at the café, it was understandably full of customers. All of the seats inside the first floor were taken, and so were the ones on the rooftop, with the only available table in front, near the road itself, where cars, motors, and random people can just casually walk around. Every customer was doing their own thing as Iris and Marlan casually walked into the shop to order their drinks. Marlan originally thought of just ordering everything himself, yet the thought of leaving Iris alone outside with a bunch of people they both know nothing about was just too risky and stupid for him, so he didn't let go of her now relaxed hand and made her go inside with him. "Which one would you like?" He asked softly as they stood in front of the gigantic menu stand that was positioned in front of the counter to its right. side. "I'll go with cappuccino," she replied, though now her voice seems a lot more stable and calmer, as if her walk and her hand-holding with Marlan all the way here actually gave her the presence she currently craves after her eventful day at school. Marlan just stared at her with his eyes passionately glued to hers for about a second before finally letting his face melt into a warm smile with a coating of relief all over it. "Alright then, I'll go with a Macha. All medium. No additional options." As Marlan confirmed their order to the staff and got her receipt, the only thing they need to do now is find a seat outside the store. Marlan's eyes immediately started to jump around the seats outside, and with just about five seconds, he finally found one. At the side of the left near the window is a table that could hold four people in total with two seats facing each other as a pair. "Oh, there's one over there," he gladly announced to her with his voice carefully soft and tender as to make her feel more comfortable. "Oh, then let's take it," she replied just as softly, though Marlan could still not help but notice the shattered tone in her voice. As they waited for the staff to deliver their drinks, Marlan carefully asked her about her day at school. Iris simply answered with vague and almost useless information; she merely talked about how the teachers acted towards them, how their section was once again scolded by one of their teachers for throwing the trash at the back of their class on just the dustpan instead of grabbing a bin from the faculty, and ranting about how undignified they are and that they should not disrespect their parent's image with that behaviour. She described how her classmates would just throw about anything over there: siomai sauce, chicken bones, leftover lunch, drinks and much more disgusting filth. "Is that so, man? That teacher must be very strict." He replied with unknowing stupidity, completely missing the mark. "She's actually very nice…" Iris replied, though she noticed Marlan's 'error', to put it lightly. She dared not to speak about it to him directly out of fear that she might have just misinterpreted his answer, wanting him to not be mad at her as well. She merely decided to change the topic to something else. "How's yours, though?" she asked. "Umm, it wasn't that bad; my friend almost got caught cheating on our surprise quiz earlier. He had a piece of paper with all the answers on it." He told her with a huge grin on his face, clearly amused and having thoroughly enjoyed that event. "What about you then? How did it go for you?" "It was alright; after all, I did study for a little bit, just the ones I forgot or lost confidence in actually knowing. I bet my score would be high there; I finished third after all." He replied ever so casually, with no hint of the usual arrogance that some might immediately display after sharing such a feat with another studying individual such as them. Then, before he could ask another question of her, their drinks had finally arrived. It was delivered by a young guy, maybe in his 20s and in college already, with a face so clear you'd expect him to have at least experimented with thousands of skincare products since he was released from his mother's womb. His jawline is also visible, with his eyes matching his face's features well. Hence why the second that innocent guy got near their table, Marlan simply wished for them to take their leave as soon as they could. "Show-off," Marlan thought to himself, with his eyes involuntarily twitching just a little as he took and delivered Iri's drink to her, and of course his. As the ignorant worker happily smiled at them and warmly thanked them for going to their café, they immediately took off to service another customer. The words "Thank goodness he's gone" immediately formed inside his consciousness as he walked away from them. "Hmm, their cappuccino here is decent," Iris delightedly claimed in front of the wondering dreamer in front of her. With her eyes finally regaining some of their former life and her lips finally gaining the strength to naturally lift themselves even higher than before. It is just like how you'd witness an utterly dried-up lake gain its life and water completely after not seeing it for a week. This sudden change in her face immediately put Marlan's mind at ease, with his eyes softening just a little bit as they instinctively glued themselves to her radiant and goddess-like face that he's been accustomed to witnessing since before he could do proper multiplication and division. The human-looking girl that he met earlier at school and had ordered within his café is finally half-gone, with just a little bit of its presence lingering around at the moment. "I'm glad you're finally returning, Iris. You look so undeniably pretty again, untouchable and unreachable, someone who's most definitely impossible to be in any sort of relationship with. I don't ever wish to see that expression you had earlier ever again, but if somehow it unfortunately returned, I will make sure that I will give you everything I have and will have to once again push it away, just like I did now," he thought to himself. "I wonder, can I now ask her again about what happened today that made her like that?"