Lovers Avenue was filled with cheerful music and the fragrance of flowers.
Outside an open-air restaurant, beneath a parasol, beside a dining table.
Sephiroth, dressed casually, sat in a chair with a sigh. His gaze swept over the couples around the restaurant, all openly flaunting their affection.
Then he glanced at Maynard, the broad-built, dark-skinned man seated across from him.
"Damn it! Why do I have to be stationed in a place like this... and with you, no less!?
Maynard, could you please go sit at the next table? Don't sit at mine..."
"Why?"
The dark-skinned giant, wearing a short-sleeved shirt, shorts, and a baseball cap, scratched his head with a puzzled expression.
Sephiroth covered his face with one hand, his tone full of helplessness.
"Because even if people mistake me for a lonely single, I don't want them mistaking me for gay...
This is a couples-themed restaurant. Could you sit at another table, please?"
If he had a choice, he would have wanted to eat lunch somewhere else!
However...
The damn thing was, every restaurant on this street was couples-themed!
So no matter which one he chose, the result would be the same...
"Ahem!"
Maynard looked around. Only after noticing the strange looks the nearby couples kept casting their way did he smile awkwardly, get up, and move to another table.
Sephiroth sighed softly. He picked up the menu on the table and took a look, only to fall silent again.
The menu was filled with dish names reeking of cheesy romance, making him feel uncomfortable.
Humans were creatures easily influenced by the crowd and the atmosphere!
Before seeing all those couples around him, he had not felt much of anything. But after spending an entire morning on Lovers Avenue...
Empty, lonely, cold!
Right now, he just wanted to