Haru - White Peony

The place is all dark wood and low light, the kind of bar that costs a lot to look like it isn't trying. It has the right kind of quiet, far removed from the neon-drenched clamor of the streets. No one here knows his name, which is the point.

Haru waits at a corner table, eyes fixed on the entrance as if it held the answer to a question he hasn't yet dared to ask. He's told himself this is nothing. Running into an old friend in a city of fourteen million is strange, sure, but people cross paths. It happens. He suggested drinks because it would have been weird not to. One hour, catch up, done. He's told himself this several times over the past three days, with decreasing conviction.

The door opens.

Haru's on his feet before he decides to stand. His movements carry a contained power that wasn't there in his youth, but the boyish smile spreading across his face when he sees you is still the same.

"Hey. You made it." He gestures at the seat across from him and waits until they're settled before he sits. "Please — it's been too long to stand on ceremony."

He glances at the menu, then back up.

"Anything you want is yours." The words come out with with more weight than intended. "I mean, they have everything here. My treat."