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"A goukon?" said Makoto. "After what happened last time?"
"With you?", said Ageha.
"There are some new girls in town," said Konoe, and winked at them both. Makoto blushed; Ageha let out a whoop of excitement, but cut it short, face falling.
"What about Kiyoi?"
"He said he'll be busy, but he's given us all permission - so long as I get you both home in time for bed. And Masazaku's away, so..." He shrugged elegantly.
Ageha yelled in excitement again, and hugged Makoto, then Konoe, before dragging his friend off to get ready.
"It's not until tomorrow!" Konoe's laughter followed them upstairs.
----
The restaurant was busy. Konoe ushered Ageha and Makoto past the queue and upstairs to the private room; three girls were already sitting around a large table.
Konoe murmured into Ageha's ear. "I must join my friends here. If you sit at this table, here -" he pointed at a table set for two, screened from the larger table by an assortment of ferns, "- I'll demonstrate to you the secrets of my success. Your friend Masakazu is very sweet, but he is not a true master of the art of seduction."
"You said we could meet girls!" Ageha wailed, and was quickly shushed by Konoe.
"And so you can - later. It is not good to rush these things - you must learn patience if you wish to see true success. Now, take your seats; my ladies await!"
Makoto was just fast enough to muffle Ageha's plaintive cry. "But what about our ladies?"
----
The service was excellent; nobody's glass went unfilled, no napkin was left fallen, and and every request was attended to without the presence of hovering waiters to cramp anyone's style.
Not that Ageha noticed.
"Makoto! What's he doing? I can't hear him!"
"He's - I think he's making a crane out of his napkin. I can't quite see - it could be an octopus..."
"Octopuses aren't romantic! I bet it's a flower! Or - or a samurai! I bet it's a samurai!"
Ageha abruptly snatched Makoto's napkin and began to fiddle with it. Shortly afterwards, as delighted cries of admiration began to drift over from the main table, he sat back, a look of satisfaction on his face. Snatching up his creation, he marched over to Konoe, and deposited it in front of him.
"Look! It's Godzilla! He can eat your silly samurai in a single bite!"
Konoe raised an elegant eyebrow.
"My samurai, you say? You overestimate my meagre abilities; I only have this." He gestured modestly towards a small, but perfectly formed, replica of Mount Fuji. The light from the candles gave the impression of a cloudless sunrise over its snowy peak. "You have - Godzilla, did you say? How - sweet." He turned to the girls . "Riko, Nobuko, Chihiro, may I introduce Ageha? His guardian has entrusted him and young Makoto over there to my care tonight. My friend is a good man, to be raising two children on his own; I feel it is the least I can do, to watch over them on occasion."
Ageha pouted. He looked around, then snatched up the dish of chilli sauce and smeared it over his napkin.
"There! Godzilla's eaten all the peasants in the village! See?"
The girls giggled behind their hands; Konoe reached over and patted Ageha's hand. "Yes. Yes, I see. Ah! But you should return to Makoto, for it appears that the desserts have arrived." He turned back to the crowd of girls. "Ah, the impetuousness of youth! Would that we could all be so carefree and unconcerned of the opinion of others!"
Ageha gaped, outrage written across his face. "We're not children! I'm almost a proper grown-up! I've had - dozens - of girlfriends, and so has Makoto! Makoto! Come here!"
As Makoto cautiously approached, Ageha grabbed him and clung to his arm. "Look! We. Aren't. Children." Dropping his hold, he slung his arm instead around Makoto's shoulders. "We're nearly as tall as Konoe, and our teachers say that we're some of the best students in the year! Well, Makoto is, and he helps me," he added in an undertone.
"Ageha, we should sit down. Come on, people are staring." Makoto, with an effort, dragged Ageha back to their table; as they sat, he kept tight hold of Ageha's hand as girlish cries of "They're so sweet!" drifted over from the other side of the ferns.
----
Ageha and Makoto continued to watch Konoe over dessert, as the girls drifted ever-closer to him. Somehow, he managed to pay attention to them all, never letting any appear ignored and not favouring any one over the others. At times, he'd gaze gently into one's eyes and murmur endearments, too quietly to be overheard.
"What's he saying?", muttered Ageha in frustration.
"Quoting poetry, I expect. Masakazu says that's very romantic. Do you remember any from school?"
"Only Bashou, and he wouldn't impress anyone." Ageha thought briefly; his face lit up, he stood, pushing his chair back with purpose, and walked over to Konoe and his friends.
"A rose by any other name would - um - still have thorns?" he announced loudly to the nearest of the girls.
She looked confused; Konoe gently covered her hand with his, then stood and laid his arm across Ageha's shoulders.
"Then boys have been studying Shakespeare at school, isn't that right, Ageha? It is surely understandable that he has been overwhelmed by the romance of the evening, and abandons his young friend to solitude. Why, I quite sympathise; I myself find it hard to concentrate when faced with a beauty such as yours." He raised her hand to his lips and, kissing it slowly and gently, produced a single long-stemmed rosebud from behind his back.
"...Would smell as sweet!" Konoe and Ageha jumped as a soft whisper drifted out from behind the fern. Konoe turned.
"Makoto? Would you care to join us?"
Blushing furiously, Makoto emerged.
"The quote is, A rose by any other name would smell as sweet," he muttered, half to his feet and half to Ageha. "We only learned it yesterday." Nobuko gasped a quiet "Oh!", excitement gleaming in her eyes; Riko clasped her hands together, while Chihiro clapped happily.
"You see, Ageha? You should pay attention in class - you see how a poetic turn of phrase can show your romantic side?" The girls squeaked delightedly again. "Makoto, I must discuss some matters with my friends here - please, would you excuse us?" Konoe nodded towards their table; Makoto noticed he still held the hand of the girl to whom he had presented the rose.
----
Ageha took a deep breath; sensing he was about to say something unfortunate, Makoto quickly dragged him away and into the toilets.
"Ageha! The girls - they're too old for us! Some of them are eighteen! We should have stayed at home, with Kiyoi..." His voice trailed off, as he sadly imagined what might have been.
"He stole our girls!" Ageha was outraged. "He hid us behind a bush and stole our girls! At least Masakazu lets us talk to them - give me your phone, quick!"
Makoto was startled enough that he had handed over his phone without thinking about it.
"Ageha, what -"
"Kiyoi! Kiyoi, it's me! Yes, we're having a lovely time, but we'd like to come home now please. Yes, everything's fine. Yes, there are plenty of girls here. Really it's fine. But - but Makoto's had enough - he's feeling tired -"
"Ageha!"
"And Konoe's busy getting Shakespeare right, so he can't drive us, and - and I don't want Makoto to be the only one going home early -"
"Ageha!"
"- So please could you come and get us? Now? Please, Kiyoi? Please?" He held his breath, biting his lip. "Yay! Thanks, Kiyoi! I promise I'll do my homework on time next week! Bye!" He hung up and handed back Makoto's phone, grinning from ear to ear.
"Thanks a lot", said Makoto.
"It's all Konoe's fault! If he hadn't stolen all our girls - we were doing fine until he interfered! She smiled at me and everything!"
Makoto pushed himself up onto the counter, and listened to Ageha rage.
----
Not half an hour later, by which time Ageha had calmed down enough to be mostly silent and Makoto had started to worry about the results should Konoe need to visit the bathroom for more traditional purposes, there was a quiet knock on the door. It opened just far enough to admit Kiyoi, who closed it firmly behind him.
As Kiyoi spoke soothingly to Ageha, Makoto realised that something was - different. The occasional sounds of laughter and excitement from the main room had stopped, and he had to strain his hearing to its limit to make out that hushed whispers had taken its place.
"Makoto? Are you ready to go as well?" Makoto thought he'd never heard such a silly question. He smiled and nodded at Kiyoi, and allowed himself to be ushered out of the room.
As they came within sight of the main table, even the whispering ceased and six pairs of eyes followed the three of them to the stairs. Sneaking a look, Makoto thought he'd never seen anyone's eyes get quite as wide as Nobuko's were, and he was certain that Konoe had a distinct air of discomposure about him. He heard more than one stifled gasp as Kiyoi bowed farewell to the party.
As they started down the stairs, through the closed door floated squeals of "Who is that?", "Konoe-kun, do you know him?", "He looks so distinguished!", and "Oh, please bring him along next week!", and Makoto was quite, quite sure he saw Kiyoi's ears turn a delicate shade of pink.
Makoto smiled to himself, and knew he'd remember that long past the time when memories of the earlier part of the night had been forgotten.