There were a few awkward things Maki had encountered in her life. Her talking about Jin and him stumbling inside the café hearing that was one of them. Meisa and Jin had opted to staying out of the café to her true comfort; Maki just hoped that they’d be able to talk things through.

Since Suzuka and Mirai just started school, she would be outside of the café and dealing with the customers. She’d already talked to Kazuya that he’d be in-charge of the while she stayed in the dining room. It was just a few minutes when a couple entered the café. Maki guessed that they were heading to work but stopped by to dine at Wits. Come to think of it, she’d seen them many times dining at her café before.

“Ohayo! welcome to Wits!” With her natural smile, Maki led the couple to a table for two then presented them with their menus. The couple slowly nodded their heads in thanks and so Maki returned to a nearby spot by the cashier, giving the couple some time to choose their orders. She could hear Kazuya cooking and broiling inside the cafeteria, preparing for the incoming orders. It was a known fact and not just herself bragging to her own conscience but Wits was actually becoming very popular around town. She had to admit, she was proud with herself.

“Anou sumimasen?”

Ah, the couple had finished picking. She approached them, notepad ready in her hand. “Hai, ma’am, sir…”

“I’ll have the omurice please…” The man asked, smiling softly. It seemed like the omurice was very popular. Maki waited for the woman to order but the latter followed up with a question.

“Anou, what do you recommend?”

“Ah, we have excellent breakfast meals ma’am why don’t you try our Breakfast ala Mirai.” Maki smiled, gesturing to the menu. “It’s miso soup with nori and steamed rice.”

The woman lit up with joy and obvious hunger at Maki’s recommendation. “That’s sounds nice, please, one order of that.”

The process went as it was, Maki jotted down their orders, passed it over to Kazuya who cooked the meals in 10 minutes.

“Hai your orders… please enjoy!” Maki placed the plates in-front of the couple then bowed and moved back to the counter. She’d barely twisted her foot to return to her position when she heard the couple praising the food.

“Mm! this is so good!”

“I love how soft the egg is…”

It couldn’t be helped that Maki smiled once again at them then bounded for the kitchen. She couldn’t wait to tell Kazuya all about this!

“Kazuya they love your cooking!” she told the man as she bounded inside the kitchen. Hopefully the couple didn’t see her losing her control like that.

Kazuya was evidently surprised as seen from his expression but was changed into a proud yet small smile. “Maji de? Yokatta!” he looked to the ground as if saying a silent prayer of thanks while wiping his hands clean with a towel. “It was your recipe though!”

“Naah.” Maki brushed it off with a wave of her hand. “Actually those dishes are Mirai’s favorites that’s why I enjoy making them…” she leaned off on one of the kitchen’s tables, looking to thin air as is she was reminiscing.

Kazuya allowed himself to watch Maki for a while. The woman was so deep in thought that she didn’t even notice that he was looking at her. He decided to snap her back into reality. “You must be very close with you sister huh?”

“Huh, what?”

Kazuya chuckled, his teeth showing while he smiled.

Maki too laughed at herself, realizing that she was spacing out. “Yeah you could say that. I mean, I love her to bits you know. Plus I can tell she loves me too.” The calm façade Maki had caused Kazuya to earn some of that calmness himself. But then Maki cocked her head to the side in wonder before turning back to the other chef inside the room.

“Ne, Kazuya, I hope I’m not being a little snoopy or anything but, how come I don’t know anything about your family?”

“Oh… uh…”

“Sumimasen!” Saved by a call. Kazuya was so glad he didn’t have to answer that question for the couple outside had been calling.

=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o

Seeing the many students roaming around the university, Mirai could feel the bile climbing up . This was how she was when she was nervous but it didn’t show most of the time. Their first class was Art Appreciation, she was leading the way with the schedule in her hands while Ryosuke followed her. Frankly she was getting annoyed with all the stares headed their way.

“Would you not walk with me!” Mirai asked in an annoyed tone as she whirled around to look at Ryosuke.

The latter was sort of taken aback but covered it up with a small chuckle. “Eh nande? What’s wrong? We are together aren’t we?”

Mirai didn’t know if her heart was beating fast because of annoyance with the term or sheer bliss. She shook her thoughts away, coming back into game mode. “We know each other yes but people keep looking at you!”

“At me?” Ryosuke was generally confused. “Don’t you think they’re looking at you?”

That caught her off-guard. The thought of her being what people stopped and turned to look at never crossed her mind. Not that she was bad looking or anything but she was used to either Suzuka or her three onee-chans at home being the ones called beautiful and getting all the attention. And why should this case be any different?

“I think your glasses are lopsided Ryosuke, please fix them before you get things out of order.” With that, she moved away, returning to her mission of finding the Art Appreciation room.

A few turns here and there and a lot of asking questions, they were able to find their classroom. University was beginning to sink in to her systems. High school classroom in Japan were much different and she began to feel her stomach churning. Unfortunately she didn’t know if it was from excitement or something else.

Students were already packing inside and there were only a few seats left. She made her way over to the second row with Ryosuke still following.

“Will you ever stop following me?”

“No.” And Ryosuke answered with the smuggest of smiles.

Rolling her eyes, Mirai sat down then divided her pens and pencils orderly on her desk. Yeah it was geeky what she was doing but she considered it an inheritance character from her mother and her onee-chan.

“Ohayo gozaimasu!!!” A man, seemingly in his late twenties entered the room with a huge smile on his face. He settled his case down on the teacher’s table while all the other students got ready.

“Welcome to Meiji university!” The man announced proudly. He grabbed the white board marker from his pencil case and started writing kanji letters on the board. “My name is Nakamaru Yuichi and I will be your Art Appreciation teacher and your class adviser.”

Learning of this, Mirai wasn’t sure if she was happy or not, she’ll see how this man turns out to be. From her point of view, just looking at Nakamaru-sensei showed that he knew art plus he had that cute-older brother type of look.

“Now for your first activity…” The students groaned before Nakamaru-sensei could continue. He just laughed and motioned for them to calm down. “Now now, I know you guys aren’t in the study mood yet so this is just a little game… I’m going to partner you up.” He gestured with his hands before pulling up a box of handcuffs. Apprehensive as the students looked, he continued. “I’m not going to arrest you or anything but I am going to join you and your partner together with these handcuffs.”

Mirai raised her eyebrows. Well this looked fun. Nakamaru-sensei checked his record book for a minute and then started explaining further. “I will ask you to draw anything but with one’s right hand, handcuffed to the other’s left.”

This is exciting. Mirai leaned a little forward on her desk and waited. She turned to her right to see Ryosuke looking at her.

“You think we’ll be partners?”

“No idea…” Mirai replied.

“Ah! Here we go then!” Nakamaru-sensei shot up, calling the names one by one. When he finally got to Mirai…

“Ah here, Horikita Mirai, you are with…. Hayashi Kento.”

Both Mirai and Ryosuke whirled around to see who Kento was. They saw a young man at the back, smiling softly and giving Mirai a soft wave. Not knowing what to do Mirai shyly waved back then faced front once again, waiting for Nakamaru-sensei to finish.

Mirai could see Ryosuke was looking to the sides and he wasn’t even paying attention, he was just glaring at the floor.

“Okay! Go to your partners! I’ll give you 45 minutes to finish one drawing!” Nakamaru-sensei yelled over the noise. Slowly, Miria went to her partner. She couldn’t help but look back at Ryosuke though who still had that grim look on her face.

“Hi!” Her thoughts were cut oof when she came face to face with Kento.

“Oh uh, hello…”

“So should we get started?” He asked, holding up the toy handcuff Nakamaru-sensei had already given to him. Mirai had to admit. This guy was cute too. And he had a nice aura around him.

She smiled. “Yeah, let’s get to it…”

“I’m Kento by the way…” He introduced himself.

She nodded her head. “Mirai…”

=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=

Erika rarely did anything on her days off. She was the sort of person to just stay in. But she wouldn’t stay cooped up in her room all day. So she decided to get her of the bed, throwing the random magazine she was reading on top of her bedside table before putting on a sweater and headind downstairs to see what the was happening in the café.

Apparently It was a very busy day and Maki was doing her best to accommodate every customer.

“I’ll be right with you sir!” Maki had passed by not even knowing that Erika was standing there.

“Maki-chan can I help with something?!” Erika called out, causing Maki to stop midway as she held a tray with her.

“Ah Erika-chan!” Obviously in a hurry. Maki smiled apologetically as she bowed her head. “Anou, I’m alright here, but can you somehow help Kazuya inside the kitchen? Arigato!” She was gone in a heartbeat, running to serve up more food.

Erika stood there, not knowing what to do. Honest to Kami-sama, she really didn’t want an encounter with Kazuya not after what he saw just that morning. But she wouldn’t be able to do anything, Maki needed help and she’d do anything for her friend. She breathed in and her pride and embarrassment before marching to the kitchen.

“Hey Kazuya--”

“Argh!!!!”

“Oh my gosh are you alright?!” Apparently Erika had all the timing in the world, since the moment she walked inside the kitchen, Kazuya had accidentally cut his thumb.

Luckily she had fast instincts too. “Hayaku! Cover it with this!” She grabbed her handkerchief and approached the young chef, giving the cloth to protect his thumb. She applied pressure even though Kazuya was enduring some of the pain by just closing his eyes.

“We need to get you to the hospital!” Erika said. Her eyes wandered off and she saw some of Kazuya’s blood beside the shrimp he was supposed to be cutting and not his thumb.

“No no, Maki-chan needs help I can’t got to the hospital now!” Kazuya defended as he and Erika headed for the fridge, still holding unto his thumb.

“You’ll get an infection!”

“Just give me something to wrap around this!”

The urgency in his voice was so great that she didn’t need to be told twice. She knew there were rubberbands hanging by the cooking utensils so with quick-thinking, Erika bounded and grabbed a couple of pieces of the rubber before helping Kazuya with his thumb.

“Kazuya, it’s still dangerous, you might get an infection…” she reminded him.

Still bandaging, Kazuya tried to show that he was alright by smiling, though it was obviously strained. “Daijoubou desu yo. I’ll just finish this dish and then stop.” He returned to the shrimp, working just as fast if he weren’t injured.

Erika stayed there, not knowing what to do anymore but look. Somehow, seeing Kazuya being hard-working like that, added more points of him for her.

=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=

The park had such fine atmosphere that morning. The leaves dancing to the wind’s rhythm, the ducks swimming along, some people walking along; it was all perfect for couples to enjoy watching. Too bad Meisa and Jin weren’t one so to speak.

“Meisa, if you need to tell me something just say it out straight.” Jin sighed. He had his shoulders hunched, escaping the cold weather, or rather, the cold shoulder he was receiving from Meisa. “I’m not a kid; you can tell me anything.”

It was the way Meisa looked at him that got him slightly taken aback. “Hey, what’s wrong?” He asked again when Meisa avoided his eyes.

Breathing in, the beautiful woman, turned to him, as if ready for anything. “This whole thing we’re doing, it has to stop.”

“What, us--”

“Don’t!” She stopped him before he said anything. “Just… just don’t. I can’t live with this relationship Jin… no more please…”

“Meisa you’re the one who wanted this!” Jin moved around as they stopped in the middle of the park. He held on to her arms but she still refused to look at him.

She was able to lift her head and look at him but it was full of pain. “Yes, that’s the point… I don’t want you to experience this relationship.” She pulled her arms away from his grip. “Gomenasai…” And with that, she ran away, leaving Jin alone.

=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=

The day was beginning to end. Mirai was so thankful that she got through for the first day, she met a new friend too!

“I’ll see you later ne Umika-chan!” she bid her new friend good-bye.

“Un! You too Mirai-chan!” Umika waved back. She was already boarding the bus.

Now that she was alone, Mirai was able to think for herself. It bothered her so much that Ryosuke suddenly just disappeared from view, they had about half of their classes together for that day but he didn’t approach her for the second class. Not that she was expecting… well actually she was.

“Ah hi there Mirai-chan…” She almost thought it was Ryosuke from the tone of voice but this one was much deeper and she knew that voice all too well.

She turned around to come face to face with Tomohisa who had a tired looking Ryosuke behind him.

“Are you heading home?” Tomohisa asked her. He dangled a set of keys in-front of her then pointed to a nice looking Suzuki car. “I offered Ryosuke a ride home, would you like me to drop you off?”

=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Maki was still panicking after she saw all that blood that Kazuya lost and he still didn’t tell her; waiting for half an hour before he did.

“I’m fine Maki, good thing Erika was there.” Kazuya said while he sat down on one of the café tables, people wouldn’t be packing in for dinner for a few more hours so they had the place to themselves.

“Just make sure you won’t get an infection.” Erika pouted. She was the one who actually saw Kazuya almost chopping one of his limbs off so she was still kind of shaky.

“At least you’re okay now.” Maki sighed. They had a doctor come over and check on Kazuya who patched him up quick and just gave antibiotics for the possible infection.

The door suddenly opened. They all thought it would finally be Meisa since she was gone the whole morning and now it was already afternoon.

“Hi Maki-nee…” Miria stood by the doorway, looking timid while Tomohisa and Ryosuke stood behind her.

It was at this moment that Maki felt her feet grow hard in nervousness, seeing Tomohisa and how ruggedly yet dashingly handsome he looked.

========================================================================

AN: SO tired. it's hard being a 3rd year medical technology student :p I'll try to update again though :D please bear with me! comments please! thank you!