It wasn't a very popular café. It was situated far from the city centre and its most crowded places, with only a primary school and a small park where they played football every weekend in its nearest vicinity. He would perhaps never have found it, if not for a stroke of luck.

He rested his chin on his palm, his gaze locked on the view outside. It was raining, and there were people with colourful umbrellas walking down the street. Just like during their first visit here…

He furrowed his brow. That afternoon they had been coming back with Jomy and Sam after a match, when they had been caught in a downpour. They had found shelter here, and since the coffee was pretty good, they sometimes dropped in here together, but usually Keith came alone.

Quite to his surprise he had discovered that he actually liked coffee. There was something obscurely familiar in its intense aroma and specific taste, something warm and familiar, and…

Homelike?

He sighed softly, twirling a plastic spoon in his fingers. Nonsense. Seriously, someone like him should not give in to such irrational explanations that easily. In this case it was undoubtedly about the essential oils that coffee beans contained and their influence on his sense of smell. Especially since sixteen year old Keith Anyan hardly ever drank coffee in his life. And most certainly not at his family home…

A car went down the street, its lights reflected in raindrops streaming down the window. Keith watched them shimmering: they looked like stars, a sight that also made him long for… something.

He looked away from the window, tapping on the table with the end of his spoon. Recently, he kept catching himself on reacting in ways he wasn't used to; after all, he always perceived the world in a rational manner. One thing he was sure of, however - it all had started when…

When he had met Jomy.

He rested his forehead on his folded hands. Jomy Marcus Shin. The boy Keith knew against all logic, though he hadn't even known about his existence. When they had met for the first time that day, they had both been unable to keep their tears from flowing, although they had had no idea why.

Keith closed his eyes. He remembered what he had felt back then - felt, not understood - that this meeting could not have been a mere coincidence. That once they had both been a part of something extremely important, in which they had played the key roles - and it was not important if they had been friends or enemies back then. What really mattered was that they could just live now, no matter what had happened in the past.

Keith's heart skipped a beat, when he thought of it. He remembered that when he had realized it for the first time, the world, though still the same, had suddenly seemed more precious to him. It was hard to explain in a rational manner, but the lines had turned sharper, the colours more vivid, the sounds deeper. Everything seemed more real and more full of life, and yet…

And yet, at the same time, he had this inexplicable feeling that something was lacking. Before, until meeting Jomy had awakened the part of him that was aware of the past even if didn't remember it, he had never felt this way. He had led an ordinary teen life with its typical problems, and there had been no place for being carried away by emotions. Now, however, he felt it all the more: the lack of something important, yet unclear, that made his own world almost painfully incomplete. Just like a puzzle without the final piece, necessary to give a meaning to it.

He managed a lopsided smile (maintaining a healthy distance from himself was also something relatively new to him). Who would have thought: him, the always logical and analytic Keith Anyan and such irrational musings! Still, no matter how he looked at it, this strange emptiness still existed, waiting to be filled.

And here, in this remote café, it was filled with a smell.

Keith let his hands drop to the table, before picking up the spoon once again. He could barely believe it himself, but it certainly felt this way. Whenever he came here, the omnipresent smell of coffee seemed to take shape, and sometimes Keith could almost see its form out of the corner of his eye. Yet every time he tried to take a closer look, the smell dissolved into a logical, rational and scientific mixture of furans, diffused in the air.

He straightened up in his seat, and stole a glance at his watch. All these thinking only intensified his desire for a coffee. Actually, he had been waiting quite lon-...

'Your coffee, sir. Please, be careful, it's really hot…'

Keith froze. He knew that voice, and at the same time he was sure that he had not heard it neither here, nor at any moment in his present life.

He didn't turn his head abruptly; quite to the contrary, he looked up very, very slowly, careful not to let this moment flee. As though he could not believe he had truly heard it.

Slim figure. An all too familiar halo of fair hair. Eyes in the colour of liquid gold. And a tray with a cardboard cup of coffee held in a slender hand. Just as if light and smell merged together, and…

But it was no illusion. No hallucination of any kind. Before him stood a flesh and blood human being.

Keith Anyan let out a tentative breath. Meeting Jomy had felt like an awakening from a deep sleep. Now he could swear his whole world was created anew at this very moment. And although everything seemed the same from a rational point view, for Keith it changed forever.

There was no emptiness anymore. There was…

'Matsuka', he whispered. He felt as if everything - the light, the warmth, the closeness, the smell and taste of coffee - was enclosed in this simple name. 'Jonah Matsuka.'

The boy didn't look surprised, though Keith Anyan never even glanced at the plaque with his name. Pale golden eyes gazed at him softly.

'We…' Keith found it necessary to explain. 'We have met before. Once.'

A simple nod in reply. Fair hair billowed slightly, covering the boy's right eye.

'Yes. We have.'

'You know then who I am?'

Another nod. A gentle smile found its way on tender lips.

Keith Anyan hesitated. What exactly should he… No, what he wanted to say right now? Even if he knew how to talk about feelings, then…

'I'm happy I have found you, Keith.'

He closed his eyes for a moment, too moved to say anything. Yes. These were the right words…

He looked at Matsuka again, and smiled. From the bottom of his heart.

'I've.. been looking for you as well', he admitted.

This time the boy's golden eyes widened in surprise for a split second, before sparkling even brighter.

'Your coffee's getting cold', Jonah said, handing him the cup. Keith only nodded, and took a sip. It was delicious, and he briefly wondered if it was because Matsuka had served it. The next moment, however, he firmly ordered himself to stop with the unnecessary musings. They didn't matter anymore, and neither did he care if something was rational or not. Here and now, while drinking fragrant coffee under Matsuka's gentle golden gaze, Keith Anyan felt like someone who had finally returned home after years of wandering.

It seemed happiness had nothing to do with logic and common sense, after all.