My Romance Life System

Kofi stood in the kitchen, looking into the refrigerator. It was not as empty as it used to be, but it was not full either. They had milk, eggs, and some vegetables, but they were running low on essentials. He closed the door and turned around. Thea was sitting on the couch, her sketchbook open on her lap, but her pencil was still.

He walked into the living room. "Hey, we need to get groceries."

She looked up from the page, her expression unreadable. "Okay."

"I was thinking we could go to the supermarket at the mall. They have more stuff than the convenience store."

She just gave a small nod, closing her sketchbook.

'This is still weird. But it's less weird than it was.'

"You can get ready," he said. "I'll be ready in a few."

She stood up and walked to her room without a word. Kofi went to his own room and grabbed his wallet and keys from the desk. He looked at his reflection in the dark screen of his computer monitor for a second.

'Alright. Let's do this.'

---

The supermarket was bright and loud. Thea walked a step behind Kofi, her hands shoved deep into the pockets of her jeans. She kept her head down, her eyes scanning the linoleum floor tiles. Kofi grabbed a shopping cart, the wheels making a rattling sound as he pushed it forward.

"Okay," he said, pulling a crumpled list from his pocket. "First, we need rice. And maybe some more onions."

He started walking toward the produce section. Thea followed, a silent shadow trailing behind the noisy cart. They moved through the aisles, Kofi grabbing items from the shelves and placing them in the cart. He tried to start a conversation a few times.

"Do you like bell peppers?"

"...No."

"What about carrots?"

"...They're okay."

'This is going great. A real sparkling conversation.'

They were in the aisle for tea and coffee when he saw her.

Yuna was standing in front of the shelves, her back to them. She had her headphones on, her head bobbing slightly to a silent beat. She was staring intently at a box of herbal tea, as if it held the secrets to the universe.

'Oh, crap. It's the final boss of the Literature Club.'

His first instinct was to just turn the cart around and walk away. Yuna did not seem like the type of person who enjoyed surprise encounters in the grocery store. But then he looked at Thea, who had not even noticed, her attention still fixed on the floor.

'Nina said we need to show her it's safe outside.'

He let out a quiet sigh. This was probably a terrible idea.

He pushed the cart forward, stopping a few feet away from Yuna. He reached out and tapped her on the shoulder.

She jumped, spinning around with a look of pure annoyance on her face. The look intensified when she saw who it was. She pulled her headphones down around her neck.

"What do you want?"

"Hey, Yuna. Fancy meeting you here."

"It's a grocery store. People buy groceries here. It's not fancy, it's mundane."

'Right. Of course, that's her response.'

"I just wanted to say hi," he said.

Yuna's eyes flicked from his face to Thea, who had frozen behind the shopping cart, looking like a startled animal. Yuna's expression did not change. "You've said it. Now you can go."

She turned back to the tea shelf, dismissing them completely.

Kofi stood there for a moment. This was not going well. He was about to give up and push the cart away when Thea took a small, hesitant step forward.

She pointed a single, trembling finger at a box of jasmine tea on the bottom shelf.

"...That one is good," she whispered.

The words were so quiet that Kofi barely heard them. But Yuna heard them.

She turned her head slowly, looking at Thea properly for the first time. She looked from Thea's face down to the box of tea, then back again. Her gaze was sharp, analytical.

"You've had it?" Yuna asked.

Thea gave a small, jerky nod. "My... my mom used to drink it."

Yuna just stared at her for a long moment. Then, she reached down, picked up the box of jasmine tea, and put it in her own small shopping basket. She looked at Kofi.

"You're in my way."

She pushed past their cart and continued down the aisle without another word.

Kofi watched her go, then looked at Thea. Thea was staring at the spot on the shelf where the tea had been, a lost look on her face.

'Well, that was a disaster.'

He pushed the cart forward, and they continued their own shopping in silence. They were in the snack aisle, Kofi trying to decide between two different brands of potato chips, when Yuna reappeared.

She stopped her basket right next to their cart, blocking their path. She was holding a bag of shrimp-flavored crackers.

"These are better than the potato chips," she stated, not looking at him. "They have more umami."

Kofi just blinked at her. "Uh, thanks for the tip."

She did not move. She just stood there, staring at the shelf of crackers. Thea was on the other side of the cart, pretending to be intensely interested in a bag of pretzels.

"Are you two just going to stand there all day?" Yuna asked, finally looking at them. "Some of us have things to do."

"We're just getting some snacks," Kofi said.

"Fine," Yuna said with a sigh that was full of a deep, profound suffering. "I'll help. Because you are both clearly incompetent."

She began pointing at items on the shelf. "Those are too salty. Those are for children. Get these." She tossed a bag of wasabi peas into his cart.

Kofi just looked at the bag of peas, then at her. "What is happening right now?"

"I am providing a public service," she said, her tone completely flat. "Your snack choices are a cry for help. Now, are we done here?"

'I guess she's shopping with us now?'

Thea was watching the exchange, her expression a mix of confusion and something else. It was almost... amusement. A tiny, almost imperceptible smile touched her lips for a second before disappearing.

"Okay," Kofi said, deciding to just accept this new, weird reality. "What about drinks?"

Yuna let out another long-suffering sigh. "Don't even get me started on your beverage choices. Let's go."

She turned and pushed her basket toward the drink aisle, not waiting to see if they were following. Kofi looked at Thea, who just gave a small shrug. They followed the tiny, grumpy general to the next section of the store.

The shopping trip became a strange, three-person operation. Yuna would point to an item, declare it superior to all other options, and Kofi would put it in the cart. Thea remained silent, but she was watching everything, a quiet observer to the bizarre dynamic unfolding around her.

They were in the frozen foods section, Yuna lecturing Kofi on the proper way to select a pint of ice cream ('You have to check for ice crystals. It's a sign of poor temperature control.'), when she suddenly froze.

Her hand, which had been reaching for a container of green tea ice cream, stopped mid-air. Her entire body went rigid. Her face, which had been set in its usual expression of mild annoyance, was now completely pale.

She was staring at the end of the aisle.

Kofi looked over, trying to see what had caused such a drastic reaction. Thea looked up from the floor, her own curiosity piqued.

At the far end of the aisle, standing in front of the frozen pizzas, was a boy. He was tall, with messy black hair and a bored expression. He was wearing their school's uniform.

Kofi did not recognize him. But Yuna clearly did. Her breath hitched, a small, sharp sound in the quiet hum of the freezers.

The boy looked up, his gaze sweeping down the aisle. His eyes met Yuna's.

His bored expression did not change. He just gave a small, almost imperceptible nod in her direction, then turned his attention back to the pizzas as if he hadn't seen her at all.

Yuna took a sharp, stumbling step backward, bumping into their shopping cart and making it rattle. She quickly turned, her back to the boy, and stared at a freezer door with an intensity that was completely fake.

"I have to go," she whispered, her voice tight and strained. She abandoned her own basket, with the jasmine tea and the superior crackers, and just walked away, her pace fast and jerky, not looking back. She disappeared around the corner of the aisle, gone as suddenly as she had appeared.

Kofi and Thea stood in the frozen food aisle. Yuna was gone. The boy at the end of the aisle grabbed a frozen pizza, turned, and walked toward the checkout lanes without a second glance in their direction. He passed them as if they were just another part of the scenery.

Kofi watched him go, his mind a blank. 'What just happened?'

He looked at the small shopping basket sitting abandoned on the floor. It held a box of jasmine tea, a bag of shrimp-flavored crackers, and a pint of green tea ice cream.

The silence in the aisle was suddenly very loud.

He looked over at Thea. She was staring at the space where Yuna had been standing, her expression one of quiet shock.

Kofi cleared his throat. "Well, that was weird."

Thea finally looked at him, her eyes wide with a confusion that mirrored his own. "…Who was that?"

"I have no idea," he admitted. "I've never seen him before."

She looked back down the empty aisle. "…She looked really scared."

"Yeah," he said. "She did." He pushed their cart forward a few steps and bent down, picking up Yuna's abandoned basket. He began transferring her items into their cart.

Thea watched him. "What are you doing?"

"I can't just leave her stuff here," he said, placing the ice cream carefully in the cart.

He straightened up. "I think we have enough. Let's go."

She just nodded, and they pushed the cart toward the checkout.