[Kei]
By the time they stepped out of the ramen shop, the rain had stopped completely.
The streets still shimmered beneath the streetlights, thin silver reflections stretching across the pavement.
Cool air brushed against Kei's face, carrying the fading scent of rain and broth and cigarette smoke drifting from somewhere farther down the block.
Behind them, the ramen shop owner called out cheerfully:
"Come again, you two."
No-Ah immediately kept walking faster.
Kei glanced sideways at her.
"...Running away from allegations?"
"I'm ignoring him."
"You got flustered."
"I didn't."
"You absolutely did."
No-Ah shoved her hands deeper into her coat pockets.
"You're annoying when alcohol removes your survival instinct."
Kei smiled faintly.
"That's not a denial."
She shot him a flat look.
The city felt unusually quiet this late at night.
Most stores were dark now, metal shutters pulled halfway down over windows. Cars passed only occasionally, headlights sliding across the wet roads before disappearing again.
Kei walked beside her without thinking much about it.
Or maybe thinking too much.
Hard to tell tonight.
For a while, neither of them spoke.
But the silence wasn't awkward.
That was the dangerous part.
It would've been easier if things felt strained or unnatural between them.
Instead, their footsteps settled into an easy rhythm almost immediately.
No-Ah eventually glanced sideways at him.
"You walking in a straight line yet?"
"Barely."
"Concerning."
"I have excellent balance emotionally."
"That sentence alone disproves it."
A quiet laugh escaped him.
The sound lingered briefly in the cold air.
No-Ah looked ahead again, though Kei noticed the corner of her mouth curl slightly before disappearing.
Interesting.
They crossed another street.
Water dripped steadily from overhead signs onto the sidewalk below.
Kei shoved his hands deeper into his pockets against the cold.
Then frowned slightly.
"...Wait."
No-Ah glanced at him.
"What?"
"You knew exactly where I lived earlier."
A beat of silence.
Then:
"We've literally walked each other home before."
"Oh."
Kei thought about it for a second.
"...Right."
No-Ah stared at him.
"The alcohol has dissolved your brain."
"That's dramatic."
"You forgot your own apartment location."
"I remembered eventually."
"Barely."
Kei smiled faintly to himself.
The warmth from the ramen still lingered beneath his ribs now, dulling some of the exhaustion weighing down his body.
Beside him, No-Ah adjusted the strap of her bag slightly higher on her shoulder.
Kei noticed the subtle stiffness in the movement.
"...Long shift?"
No-Ah exhaled softly.
"Sixteen hours."
Kei blinked once.
"...That's illegal."
"Probably."
"And you still decided to deal with me afterward?"
"You looked like you'd collapse into traffic."
"That's almost affectionate."
"It wasn't."
"But close."
No-Ah looked unimpressed.
Kei liked that she rarely reacted dramatically to him.
Most people either got intimidated, irritated, or overly careful around him eventually.
No-Ah mostly just looked mildly exhausted by his existence.
Strangely refreshing.
A gust of wind swept down the street suddenly, colder than before.
No-Ah suppressed a small shiver almost immediately afterward.
Tiny movement.
Easy to miss.
Kei noticed anyway.
Without thinking much about it, he pulled off his coat and held it out toward her.
No-Ah looked at it. Then at him.
"...What are you doing?"
"Human decency."
"You'll freeze."
"I'm drunk. I barely know what temperature is right now."
"I'm not taking your coat."
Kei sighed dramatically.
"You bought me ramen. Let me maintain some dignity as a man."
"You never had dignity."
"That's hurtful."
No-Ah stared at him for another second before finally taking the coat reluctantly.
The sleeves were slightly too large on her.
Kei immediately regretted noticing that.
Dangerous observation.
No-Ah settled the coat around herself carefully.
"...Thanks."
The quiet sincerity in her voice caught him off guard slightly.
Kei looked away first.
"No problem."
The streetlights painted pale reflections across the wet roads beside them as they continued walking.
No-Ah kept her gaze forward, hands tucked into the sleeves of his coat now.
The sight did something strange to his chest.
Annoying.
After a moment, Kei spoke more quietly.
"...Why does everybody act like you're dangerous?"
No-Ah didn't answer immediately.
The silence stretched between them as they walked beneath another flickering streetlight.
Then finally:
"Because people around me tend to get hurt."
Kei frowned slightly.
"That's vague."
"It was intentional."
"You always do that."
"You always keep asking anyway."
Kei let out a quiet laugh through his nose.
Fair enough.
They turned another corner.
Their apartment buildings were only a little farther now.
The familiar neighborhood streets felt quieter than the rest of the city somehow.
Safer maybe.
Or maybe that was just the exhaustion talking.
No-Ah slowed slightly beside him.
"You should drink water before sleeping."
"You sound like my doctor."
"You absolutely do not have a doctor."
"...That's fair."
"And take painkillers before your hangover gets worse."
Kei looked genuinely offended.
"You know a lot about this."
"I know what alcohol poisoning looks like."
"Again with the judgment."
"It remains deserved."
Kei smiled faintly.
Then after a brief silence, more quietly:
"...Tonight would've been worse without you."
The words slipped out before he could stop them.
Honest enough that No-Ah looked at him properly again.
Kei realized immediately that the alcohol had destroyed whatever self-control he normally possessed.
No-Ah held his gaze for half a second too long.
Then looked away first.
"...You're definitely drunk."
Kei laughed softly.
"Probably."
☆ ☆ ☆
[Yun-Ra]
No-Ah wasn't at home.
That alone was strange.
Yun-Ra stood outside the apartment door for a few extra seconds, fingers still hovering near the buzzer like the timing might fix itself if she waited long enough.
No response.
She tried again.
Still nothing.
A faint irritation started to build in her chest.
No-Ah didn't "not answer." Not unless she had a reason.
Yun-Ra checked her phone again.
Group project message still unread.
Of course.
"…Seriously."
She exhaled and stepped back from the door.
No-Ah wasn't careless. She wasn't the type to disappear without saying anything.
Which meant she was either:
busy, or
deliberately unreachable.
Neither option helped Yun-Ra's mood.
Especially not during a group project week.
She shoved her phone into her pocket and started walking.
If No-Ah wouldn't come to her, she'd just find her.
The night air outside was cool, damp in a way that hinted rain had only recently stopped.
Streetlights reflected faintly off the pavement.
Yun-Ra walked with purpose, eyes scanning ahead more than the sidewalks themselves.
No-Ah wasn't hard to recognize once you knew her habits.
Late shifts. Quiet places. Avoidance of unnecessary social contact.
Which narrowed the possibilities down significantly.
"…Convenience store? No. She'd text if she was there."
Yun-Ra muttered to herself, turning a corner.
That was when she saw the glow.
Warm. Yellow. Small ramen shop on the corner.
She slowed without meaning to.
Two figures inside the window.
At first, she almost didn't process it.
Then she did.
No-Ah.
Sitting inside.
Yun-Ra stopped walking.
Relief should have come first.
Instead, something else did.
Because No-Ah wasn't alone.
Across from her sat someone else.
A man.
Yun-Ra blinked once.
He was leaning back slightly in the booth, posture relaxed in a way that didn't match the image she usually associated with No-Ah's company.
They were talking.
Not formally.
Not stiffly.
Just… naturally.
Yun-Ra tilted her head slightly, trying to place him.
He looked vaguely familiar, but the angle wasn't clear enough.
Still—
The way No-Ah was sitting there made something in Yun-Ra's chest tighten.
No-Ah didn't "sit like that" with people.
Not comfortably.
Not like she belonged in the moment.
Yun-Ra frowned.
"…Who is that?"
She lingered outside longer than she intended.
Inside, the man laughed at something.
No-Ah didn't react much—but she didn't shut it down either.
That alone was strange.
Yun-Ra crossed her arms slowly.
Her eyes narrowed slightly as she studied him through the glass.
Something about him felt—
familiar in a way she couldn't immediately place.
She watched him shift slightly in his seat.
The angle of his face changed just enough for the light to catch it.
And then—
Yun-Ra paused.
Her brows knit together.
"…Wait."
A beat.
She leaned a little closer to the window.
The expression.
The posture.
The way he moved his hand when he spoke—
Recognition didn't come all at once.
It came in fragments.
Like pieces clicking into place one by one against her will.
No way.
No way.
Her fingers tightened slightly around her phone.
"…Kei?"
The name slipped out before she could stop it.
And suddenly everything snapped into focus.
The same Kei she had seen before.
The same Kei she had talked about too much.
The same Kei she had been mildly—persistently—interested in for reasons she didn't fully analyze.
Now sitting in a ramen shop at night.
With No-Ah.
Laughing.
Talking.
Like this was normal.
Yun-Ra didn't move.
She just stared.
When they finally left the shop, she stepped back instinctively, slipping into shadow without thinking.
Kei and No-Ah came out together.
Warm light from inside faded behind them, replaced by cold streetlamp glow.
They didn't separate immediately.
They just… walked.
Side by side.
Yun-Ra followed at a distance she told herself was reasonable.
It wasn't stalking.
It was observation.
There was a difference.
They talked occasionally.
Nothing loud.
Nothing dramatic.
Which made it worse somehow.
Because it didn't look like anything was happening.
And yet it clearly was.
Yun-Ra's gaze sharpened as she tracked them turning down quieter streets.
No-Ah and Kei matched pace too easily.
Too naturally.
Like it wasn't the first time.
That detail lodged itself uncomfortably in her thoughts.
Then Kei slowed slightly.
Yun-Ra watched as he removed his coat.
A pause.
He offered it to No-Ah.
No-Ah hesitated.
Then took it.
Yun-Ra stopped walking entirely.
"…Huh?"
The sound was barely audible.
But it escaped anyway.
Her eyes followed the movement carefully.
No-Ah adjusting the coat.
Kei looking away like it meant nothing.
But it didn't look like nothing.
Not at all.
Yun-Ra's grip tightened slightly on her phone again.
Something unfamiliar settled in her chest.
Not anger yet.
Not fully.
Just… awareness.
They kept walking.
Closer now to the end of the route.
Yun-Ra stayed behind, slower than before.
Less certain.
The distance between her and them felt different now.
Heavier.
Like she had crossed into something she wasn't supposed to be watching.
Kei and No-Ah turned down a final stretch of street.
Their pace slowed.
This was where it ended.
Yun-Ra stopped at the corner.
Far enough not to be seen.
Close enough not to leave.
Kei said something.
No-Ah replied.
A brief pause.
Then Kei laughed softly again.
That same easy sound.
Yun-Ra exhaled slowly.
"…So that's what it is."
Not fully understanding it.
Not yet.
But seeing it.
And that was enough to make her stomach tighten in a way she didn't like.
Because if Kei was becoming something in this story—
she was suddenly no longer the closest person watching it unfold.
☆ ☆ ☆