Aiko was impossible to miss. Red hair in long twintails, tied with little black ribbons that bounced with every step. She wore a cropped white hoodie unzipped halfway, showing a bright pink sports bra underneath, and tiny black athletic shorts that barely covered the tops of her thighs. White sneakers with pink laces. A thin silver chain around her ankle.
And the scent hit a second later, sweet, fruity, like ripe strawberries and summer candy, cutting through the burnt-coffee air like a slap.
Every eye in the small café followed her for a heartbeat. The old man at the corner table lowered his paper. The bored guy behind the counter stopped wiping the same glass he'd been wiping for ten minutes. Even the whispering couple paused.
Aiko didn't seem to notice... or didn't care. Her green eyes scanned the room quickly, landed on Nash and Rei, and she froze for half a second, like she'd been caught doing something she wasn't supposed to.
Then the tsundere mask came back.
