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[GOOD BYE, LILI... Finally reaching the pinnacle point: death by Being Overwhelmed By Kashuu. It's okay, it was bound to happen eventually. Better her than Leon or... or something.

But Kashuu won't tease her this time, at least!! Mostly because he really is grateful that she stuck up for him loudly and proudly. It was cute, okay! Cute and touching. His heart felt a single doki that day.]

I dunno, I think it's pretty important to say "thank you" for something like this. [IT IS. Even if Lili turns into dust, ah... Someone help her. Someone stop him?!]

...Here-- [Setting the plate down for her!

And when he does that, the top fork slides off of the one it was hiding and clatters onto the desk. Oh...

DAMMIT MUTSU.]

It's not, it's not...!!

[Augh don't make her throw a five year old tantrum where she stomps her foot on the floor or something, Kashuu.... But no, she has too much dignity for that even as she lowers her hands and keeps her gaze on the floor and says with fierce honesty:]

It's only natural, isn't it? It speaks ill of someone who is rude to another who doesn't deserve it.

[As if she doesn't break this rule every single day? Also wouldn't this rule only apply to friends, Lili.... but she's going to glance over when she hears the clatter now and just fuss some more?!]

Th-That guy....!

[did he do this just to embarrass her

is mutsu some evil mastermind conspiring against Lili

what is it]

[IT IS, IT IS!! But he's not going to argue at least, since he's feeling marginally merciful...

Mostly because he's focusing on this second fork and now he can see there are two pieces and his expression just screws up briefly like he wants to punch someone. MUTSU, SPECIFICALLY. But alas, he's probably long gone by now... All the way down by the dojo or something.]

He's always doing stuff like this!

[Being a jerk!! But then not being as jerkish as he seems... BUT STILL BEING A JERK.]

Do you mean going out of his way to be troublesome and annoying?

[Because regardless of Kashuu's answer, she clearly agrees.

Except.... it does make her feel a little bit better to know that there are two pieces on the plate now, at least. So upon further inspection, she sighs.]

The smaller piece is likely intended for you, right? Such immaturity....

I'll take that slice.

Pretty much!

[Still rude to Mutsu... But clearly he has leeway this time since Mutsu was rude to him first when he was just minding his innocent business!!

He'll shake his head in response to that, though.]

It's fine, you can take it. I can't really handle a lot of sugar in one go, anyway. It's too sweet for me.

[Honestly, he's not much of a fan of sweets at all... He just wanted to SPITE MUTSU AND HIS CAKE, so the smaller piece works out just fine for him.]

[ . . . . what. Lili fusses a little bit at that. And here's a bit of where the angry politician comes out because-]

He clearly wanted you to have the piece without the strawberry though.... That's unfair! I'll take it so that you can have the one he intended for me. That sounds infinitely more satisfying.

[EVEN IF MUTSU'S NOT HERE AND DOESN'T KNOW......]

[ON THE ONE HAND

He can certainly understand the need for petty revenge... He does it all the time? It's supremely satisfying!! Her angry politician is basically on the same page as his tantruming 5 year old. ...But on the other, he really doesn't like sweets enough to be able to enjoy a piece that large, so this is truly a conundrum.]

I can just get another strawberry, y'know... [He'll STEAL ONE FROM ANOTHER PIECE--

As long as they're not labeled and as long as there isn't only one piece left because then it's definitely Haru's.]

[ . . . well.

He's not wrong.

So Lili moves to procure the fork that's still on the plate, carefully picking up the strawberry from her larger piece and then depositing it on top of Kashuu's smaller piece.

. . .

And then she wordlessly turns to go back and study now, good work team.]

[Ah, Lili... He'll remember this moment fondly, okay. The moment Lili sacrificed the BEST PART OF THE CAKE just for him...]

...Thanks.

[He doesn't do it to be embarrassing, he just does it reflexively (most of the time), Stop Him.

Either way, while she works, he'll eat his piece of cake, though he eats around the strawberry for now in case she changes her mind.]

[Even that thanks is met with a grumpy little:] Sh-Shut up.

[BUT OTHERWISE, definitely going to occupy herself with her studying and reading because she doesn't want to talk about it?!

Mental note: maybe Kashuu likes strawberries.

She will consider bringing him more strawberries.

Changing her mind doesn't seem to even occur to her.]

[THANKS, TSUNTSUN LILI...

Kashuu will finish up his cake in silence too, though... And when Lili doesn't seem to be having any second thoughts or glancing over furtively with the air of Give Me Back My Strawberry, he'll eat that, too! It's definitely the best part... Mostly because she gave it to him and he treasures any gift he receives!!

He isn't saying anything but he's definitely doing that thing again where he's so pleased with something that he's practically emanating an air of embarrassing sunshine, ah.]

[ . . . . . . . . . . . .

Okay, that's hard to ignore. It makes her look up from her textbook and narrow her eyes a little bit because she just doesn't understand?]

What are you so happy about now....

[Lili don't ask questions you're not even sure you want the answer to.]

[LILI, DO YOU REALLY WANT HIM TO ANSWER...

Too late either way since he's going to, but still.]

That was a good strawberry! I'm happy you gave it to me. It was really nice of you, yeah? [She didn't have to, but she did! And now he got a tasty snack!!

Also, since he's not being modest for the sake of trying to get her to keep her strawberry anymore, he'll just add:] The strawberry's my favorite part.

[AUGH, NO SHE DIDN'T WANT THIS.

It's a lot of praise that she doesn't.... know how to respond to?! It's all so sincere and earnest and dumb and altogether too much. It's not like it was particularly nice of her, god!!]

D-Don't be an idiot....

It didn't particularly matter to me so of course--

[Of course he'd get the strawberry?!]

... Say so next time!

[Lili's reactions to him being a moron will never be any less funny than they are now, honestly...]

Say what next time? [Ask for the strawberry?? Gosh. Meanwhile he just totally ignores the insult... It just slides off his back like water these days, he's dealing with that many tsuns.]

[TSUNS INTENSELY.]

Say which part is your favorite, obviously!

[OBVIOUSLY.

SO SHE CAN GIVE IT TO HIM.

DUH.]

[THIS IS GETTING TOO TSUN EVEN FOR HIM.]

What, you wanna know what my favorite part of everything is? Or just cakes?

[He'll tell her, either way... Even if he didn't get rewarded with the choicest pieces in the end HE'D STILL TELL HER.]

[THAT'S TOO MUCH-]

Everything - do you think I have all the time in the day for this....?! [Except god if he started listing them off then she wouldn't stop him. BUT BEFORE THAT CAN HAPPEN-]

No. Just.... if we run across something else you [like, enjoy, find happiness in] prefer.

[Nailed it.]

[Good thing she cuts him off before he can start then, because he'd totally just list off like 1000 things...]

Oh! Sure, sure, I can do that. But only if you promise to do the same thing, o-kay?

[It can be some sort of bizarre learning, team-building exercise!]

[ . . . . ? ]

My favorites?

[ . . . . and even after all this time-]

What does that matter to you?

[These are the moments where everyone thinks she really does sound like Leon.]

I can't believe you can say something like that with a straight face. [GOD, LILI. But here we go, the straightforward bulldozer answer:]

'Cause you're my friend and I wanna know more about you! The things you like or the things you don't like, what foods are your favorites, what colors you think are the prettiest... That kinda stuff!

[TOO MUCH OF A BULLDOZER.]

We're not--!

[FRIENDS, THAT IS.... Except it's probably rather telling that she can't actually say the word. They might be friends. But she can't accept that just yet.]

Those are such shallow things... it doesn't matter, does it?

[even though she just asked him to pretty much do the same

professional hypocrite: lili an]

[When will Lili actually call him a friend without clamming up before she even gets to the word, that's the true question of the hour...

But he waves that sentence away easily, punk that he is.]

Of course it matters! They're not shallow things. Those're the kind of things that make up a person, yeah? Being able to have things where you can say "I like this" or "I don't like this" is really important.

[Not shallow at all, gosh!!]

Even colors?

[wow guess who sounds like she doesn't believe him]

Obviously! But that's good for practical reasons too, 'cause then you can pick out stuff in someone's favorite color when you buy them things.

[BELIEVE IT, LILI.]

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