Takao is not surprised when Yoite does not sit down next to him. Would he appreciate it? Yeah, especially because in the amount of time it's taken for Yoite to actually pick up a plate, the number of people sitting beside Takao himself has accordingly decreased. He definitely didn't expect it, though, and this outcome is okay with him. He has his hawk eye. He can see Yoite's face just fine.

What's not fine with Takao is that he sees no change in this face. Now, Takao is perfectly happy that Yoite is enjoying his food well enough. However, this seems to be about the same reaction as Yoite has when he's simply picked out something compatible with his preferences. There's no discrete eureka moment. How has Takao's plan gone wrong here? Did he pick the wrong spice and loop back around to using the right one? No, he's pretty sure he saw right. Maybe Yoite just started from a different part and hasn't tasted the sugared part yet. Yeah, with stuff in the way Takao can't actually see the dish itself that well. So in a maneuver that he's using for the first time (though probably not the last), Takao gets up for a second helping of this kugelis stuff and sits back down at the same table as Yoite, though the opposite corner.

"Yo."