Conversations resumed cautiously. Chopsticks clicked against bowls. Someone laughed awkwardly from a nearby table as if trying to erase the tension lingering in the air.

Kaito pinched the bridge of his nose. Then looked down at his soaked shirt and the ruined bowl of ramen.

"...No," he decided.

Haru raised an eyebrow.

"No?"

"My expensive ramen..."

For a second, Haru simply stared. Then another reluctant laugh escaped him.

"I'm requesting a replacement." Kaito request to the manager.

The manager, who was still hovering nearby looking apologetic enough to personally rebuild the restaurant from scratch, immediately agree to replace the meal free of charge.

"Excellent. My faith in civilization has partially recovered."

The manager looked visibly relieved.

A few minutes later, after arranging for a fresh bowl to be prepared, Kaito glanced toward Haru.

"Give me ten minutes."

"Where are you going?"

"To my car."

"You have a spare shirt in your car?"

Kaito gave him a look. "Haru."

"What?"

"I work with people professionally."

That somehow explained nothing. Without another word, Kaito disappeared outside.

By the time Kaito returned, his hair was mostly dry.

The soaked button-up shirt had been replaced by a simple black T-shirt beneath a light jacket.

Unfortunately. The previous version of Kaito had been amusing.

Kaito carried his replacement ramen toward Haru's table and sat down across from him. The bowl released a pleasant cloud of steam. Kaito stared at it for a moment.

"Round two."

Haru shook his head.

"You are treating this like a rematch."

"It is a rematch."

The first few minutes passed quietly.

Both of them ate. For once neither felt any pressure to fill the silence. The restaurant hummed comfortably around them.

Outside, city lights reflected against rain-dark streets.

Haru focused on his food and Kaito focused on recovering the dignity stolen from him earlier.

Slowly, the knot inside Haru's chest loosened.

They finished their food nearly at the same time.

Kaito set down his chopsticks and leaned back slightly.

"That was significantly better."

"You mean uninterrupted."

"Exactly."

The table fell quiet again. This silence felt different like an expectant.

Kaito noticed immediately. "You have that face."

Haru frowned. "What face?"

"The face where people make when they are carrying something around and pretending they aren't."

"...I don't have a face like that."

"You absolutely do."

Unfortunately, Kaito was right. Haru looked down briefly at the empty bowl before speaking.

"There's a patient."

Kaito waited.

"A VIP patient."

"He specifically requested me."

That finally earned a reaction. Kaito's eyebrows rose slightly.

"Congratulations?"

"It isn't congratulations."

"No?"

"No."

Haru sighed. Then explained everything.

Vin Laurent.

The surgery, consultation, request, fear, uncertainty and possibility of failure.

Kaito listened quietly without interrupting. Only asking questions occasionally.

When Haru finished speaking, the table fell silent again.

Kaito folded his arms.

"So the question is whether you should take the surgery."

"Yes."

"And you don't know."

"No."

Another pause.

Then Haru looked away. "...I tossed a coin."

The silence that followed was so long Haru briefly considered leaving the restaurant.

Kaito blinked once. Then twice.

"Haru."

"I know."

"You tossed a coin."

"It sounds worse when you say it out loud."

"It sounds exactly as bad as it is."

Heat rose to Haru's face. For several seconds he couldn't even meet Kaito's eyes.

"I wasn't actually going to let the coin decide."

Kaito stared. "Then why toss it?"

"...I don't know."

"That's a lie."

The answer arrived instantly.

Haru sighed heavily.

"I wanted it to tell me what I already wanted."

Kaito's expression softened slightly. "There it is."

The answer surprised Haru. 

"What?"

"The real reason."

Haru frowned.

Kaito leaned forward slightly. "You weren't asking the coin to make the decision."

He tapped the table once. "You were hoping for permission."

The words landed with uncomfortable accuracy.

Because...yes. Maybe that was exactly what he had been doing. Not searching for an answer but searching for certainty. Searching for someone or something to remove the risk from his hands.

Kaito continued quietly. 

"Haru, every major decision comes with uncertainty."

"Easy for you to say."

"No." Kaito shook his head. "It's not."

His gaze remained steady.

"There's no version of this where you're guaranteed not to get hurt."

Kaito folded his arms.

"You either do the surgery and accept the risk... or refuse it and accept the later risk instead."

The restaurant noise seemed to fade into the background.

Kaito's voice remained calm. "You keep looking for a way to avoid regret."

Haru swallowed. Because that was true too.

The coin, statistics and the consultations. Every part of this process.

All attempts to protect himself from regret.

But Kaito's next words struck even harder. "That's impossible."

"You don't get to choose a future with no risk of pain."

The words settled heavily between them.

"You only get to choose which risk you can live with."

For a long moment neither spoke.

Haru stared toward the dark glass. Thinking.

The failed surgery and the patient he lost.

Then there's people he had saved.

The countless hours spent learning medicine.

The fear and responsibility.

The reason he became a surgeon in the first place.

Eventually he spoke, quietly.

"If I do this..."

Kaito waited.

"...I want the decision to be mine."

A small smile appeared on Kaito's face. "There you go."

Something inside Haru settled then.

Whatever happened next would belong to him.

His decision.

And strangely enough... that thought felt less frightening now.