"I'm so glad that's all over!" Hikari sighs happily, sinking into the couch.

"No kidding," agrees Hayato. "Things can finally go back to normal."

"Well, as normal as they can be with Yankumi around," his girlfriend jokes, returning Hayato's smile to his tired face. The last four days have been quite... dramatic and stressful for Kurogin's 3D. Not only did Hayato and Hikari go through their first lovers' spat, but Ryu's father nearly took him out of school and expell the rest of the guys!

"We're going on dates with Momo girls!" hoots Hayato, shouting it to the skies.

"Excuse me?!" growls Hikari, hands on her hips as she glares at her boyfriend of two days. They JUST got together, and he's wanting to go meet girls already?

"Ri-chan, perfect!" he smiles, throwing an arm over her shoulders. "My lady on a date with me for St. White's Day!" A small knot forms in her stomach, guilty that she assumed such a thing about him when he just wanted a date with her on a special day.

"Aw, Hayat--" Hikari gets cut off by her boyfriend's outburst.

"Imagine it! Me, in the middle of a group of girls!" he exclaims, painting a random picture in the air. "My main lady next to me, and other girls surrounding us. What a wonderous feeling!" He closes his eyes to imagine the scene, drooling. Appalled by the thought, Hikari punches Hayato in the head and stomps off ahead. "What?! RI-CHAN!"

"Idiot," Ryu teases and walks faster to catch up to Hikari.

"Let's go on a date," Hikari suddenly blurts out, catching Hayato's attention.

"What?" he asks, sitting up erect with interest. "You want to go on a date?" Despite them being a couple, she still feels embarrassed to act like a girl around him. For instance, her asking for a date made her feel embarrassed since she seems like such a tomboy. Blood rushes to her cheeks as she struggles to form words. Hayato couldn't help but chuckle at how cute and un-Hikari-like she was being. His eyes fall upon her hands that she fiddled with in her lap.

"I-I... said th-that maybe we should g-go on a da..." her voice trails off on the word.

"What?" Hayato asks in a taunting tone, even though he knows perfectly well what she is asking. She throws a harsh glare at him before replying.

"Let's go on a..." she trails off again. Hearing Hayato snicker at her difficult time, she takes in a deep breath before turning to him with a serious expression. "Date. Let's go on a date." This time she is finally able to say it, causing Hayato to stop snickering and look at her with a smile.

"Let's do it," he agrees, gleefully embracing her. "Just wondering though, why do you want to go on a date?"

"We're a couple now, isn't that what couples do?" retorts Hikari. Seeing his unfaltering stare, she rolls her eyes. "Fine, I guess it's because I wanted to spend some time with you and because of what's been happening, we never got a chance for it to be just us. And since things finally calmed down, maybe we should take the chance and go on a date before something happens."

"Let's go on a date tomorrow then," suggests Hayato. "It'll be Sunday, so we won't have to bother with old Yankumi. Where do you want to go?"

"Well it's not karaoke, because you blew my ears out," says Hikari, remember their karaoke night with Momo girls. "We don't need to go to expensive restaurants because we don't have the money anyways."

"So what does that leave us?" asks Hayato.

"I got it!" exclaims Hikari, jumping up from her seat. "Let's have a cheap date."

"A what date?" asks a confused Hayto.

"A cheap date," repeats Hikari. "A date where we go to get to know each other and spend time together, not try to impress the other with our money or something."

"Oh that's great!" cheers Hayato, going over the idea in his head. "I'm almost broke anyways." He continues grinning, not noticing a glare.

"So...I guess I'll see you tomorrow for the date then?" Hikari asks for confirmation.

"Tomorrow," Hayato repeats,holding his arms out. "Meet me at the arcade?" Confusion makes its way onto Hikari's face as Hayato just stands there awkwardly with his arms out.

"What?" she asks, slightly creeped out. He smiles cutely at her and wiggles his arms, gesturing that he wanted a hug. Rolling her eyes she approaches his arms to give him a small hug, but is taken completely by surprise when he holds her tightly and spins her in the air. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

"I see couples do this in movies all the time and wanted to try it!" Hayato laughs at his girlfriend violently beating on his back to put her down. When he finally releases her, Hikari grabs his arm. flips him over, and puts him in a lock on the ground.

"You scared me!" she shouts angrily at him.

"So this is how it's like to have Ri-chan as a girlfriend," he sighs happily, not even caring that she might dislocate his shoulder at an second.

 

~The Next Day~

 

Hayato made sure that he got to the front of the arcade bright and early. Well, if you call a thirty minute start bright and early.... Occasionally he glances around for a ponytail, but hasn't seen the correct ponytail that belongs to Hikari.

"Hayato!" a slightly deep, yet feminine voice calls out. He turns to see a pretty cute girl standing in front of him. However, instead of the ponytail he was expecting, the girl had her hair down and curled. She wore a girly woven sweater that is slightly too big for her, which is why it slides off her shoulders a little. It wasn't noticeable, but for Hayato, it was. The girl also had shorts on, showing off her long and toned legs. Hayato couldn't help but take notice of the light make up on her face, it didn't cake her face or anything, but it did outline her best features. She clears before replying in a slightly higher voice, not too high, but high enough to sound like girly girls. "Hayato." Hayato just stares at her breathlessly for a second before snapping out of it.

"Hello? S-sorry, but I'm waiting for m-my girlfriend," he stutters, causing the girl to smile and take his hand. Sweat makes its way down his head. What if Hikari comes and sees this girl? What if she misunderstands?

"I am your girlfriend," the girl says, but then looks down at her feet shyly.

'WHAT?! WHEN DID I GET ANOTHER GIRLFRIEND?!' Hayato mentally screams. 'Did Ryu spike my drink?! Wait... I never went clubbing or go anywhere near that stuff. Ryu wouldn't do that either.' As he searches his mind for who the girl could be, a voice interrupts them.

"Ri-chan!" Takeda yells.

'Ri-chan?' wonders Hayato, looking back down at the girl. He compares her face to Hikari's and finally realizes that the new girl indeed IS Hikari.

"Takeda?" she asks, confused as he hugs her.

"Ri-chan?" asks Hayato, pointing. Growling, Hikari flicks his nose.

"Who else, you moron?" she retorts. Yup, that's his Ri-chan alright.

"RI-CHAN!" Hayato squeals in a 'manly' tone, joining Takeda in embracing her.

"RI-CHAN!" two other voices yell and two figures come out of the arcade. Behind them is an amused Ryu, who looks at the group with embarrassment as people pass by looking at them strangely.

"What are you guys doing here?!" Hikari demands angrily, pushing them all off.

"Ri-chan looks pretty today," sighs Tsucchi.

"Don't call me Ri-chan!" threatens the shorter girl, flipping him over. As the giant boy groans on the ground, Hikari looks back at her boyfriend. "Why are they here?"

"Hayato invited us," answers Takeda. "Why are you so dressed up today?"

"Ri-chan and I are on our first da--" Hayato gets cut off when Hikari growls "NOTHING!" and drags him inside the arcade with her. The guys follow behind.

They began playing games and whenever Hikari felt like beating one of them up, Sayo's voice would lecture her within her mind as she remembers their 'lessons' the night before. Once in a while, she'd try to be girly by either brushing her fingers against Hayato's shoulder, only to be earned a strange look from said boy. She also tried to giggle when Hayato cracks a joke, but found herself slightly naseous from the action. However Hikari has been feeling slightly annoyed because since Hayato invited the gang to join them, it made this date no longer a date. What made it worse is that Hayato seemed to be ignoring her more and more as the date progressed. Finally she couldn't take it anymore and drags him out of the arcade with her whlie commanding the other boys to stay inside.

"What is wrong with you?!" she demands as Hayato just wears an annoyed expression with his hands in his pockets. "Why have you been ignoring me those past few hours?!"

"Because you're not the Ri-chan I wanted to go on a date with," he answers bluntly.

"This isn't a da-- Okay no, one problem at a time," she tells herself, taking deep breaths. "What do you mean I'm not the Ri-chan you wanted to date?"

"This?" he points out, showing her a lock of her curled hair. "I get that girls want to dress up for dates and such, and I'm not going to lecture you on that because I appreciate you wanting to look nice for me. But I don't want to see you becoming like one of those girls the world is filled with, the kind who giggles  at the guy she likes, the kind who worries about how much she eats, or the kind who constantly worries about how she looks like."

"But I thought you like those kinds of girls?" Hikari asks, choking up a bit. Sighing, Hayato tucks a strand of hair behind her ear.

"I used to," he answers almost shamefully. "But then I looked at you closer and realized I wanted a girl who fights back. Yeah, those girls are nice to look at, but after a while it gets boring because they aren't the one for me."

"Oh," she lets out.

"So don't worry about it," he says, combing her hair with his fingers. "Don't try to be like the other girls. Now let's go back to our date okay?" At the word, her mood falls again.

"Actually, I want to go home," replies Hikari. "Let's go on a date another time." Before he could ask why, Hikari has already run off.

"What's wrong with her?" he wonders aloud, getting a strange stare from a kid. "Yeah I'm talking to myself! Got a problem?!" The kid quickly tears up and runs to his mom who glares at the scary boy. He walks back into the arcade where his friends were playing the claw game, except Ryu. Seeing Hayato return alone, Ryu smirks.

"She finally left?" Ryu asks, confusing Hayato.

"What?" he returns.

"You figure out what you did wrong yet?" repeats Ryu, leaning on the wall, with his imfamous all knowing smirk.

"What do you mean?" asks Hayato, again. "If you mean me ignoring her it's because--"

"I know," interrupts Ryu. "But that's not what I meant." Hayato thinks hard about it but could not understand at all. What else did he do wrong? "This was supposed to be your date right?" The other guys stop immediately at the word.

"This was your date?!" exclaims Kousuke, surprised.

"Yeah, and?" asks Hayato, still not getting it.

"But you invited us," Takeda points out.

"Yeah, we all get that!" the leader yells impatiently. "So what is wrong?!"

"A date is supposed to be only for couples," explains Tsucchi, making a heart with his hands.

"Or people trying to become couples," chimes in Takeda, dreaming of Maki. They sigh, seeing Hayato unable to connect the dots.

"Ri-chan is mad that you invited us to your date," explains Ryu in a simple manner.

"THIS is why you're my best friend!" Hayato exclaims, missing the point. "You tell it to me straight out!"

"You're missing the point!" Kousuke scolds, shaking him.

"You have a lot to learn about girls, my friend," Takeda sighs.

"How did you even make it that far with Maya?" wonders Tsucchi.

"We just made out all month," answers Hayato.

"Call Ri-chan and plan another date on Tuesday!" orders Tsucchi, throwing him a phone. "We will teach you how to go on an actual date tonight and tomorrow after school!" The guys bunch up to plan things while Hayato calls his girlfriend.

 

~Wednesday~

 

"I promise I'll get the date right this time!" Hayato swears, dragging his girlfriend by the arm out of their school.

"No..." Hikari whines, struggling. "Last time didn't go so well though..."

"Let's just redo it!" he replies optimistically. "I got the perfect cheap date planned out." He pulls her over to a field nearby with dandelions.

"Girls LOVE flowers, but since she wants a cheap date, pick her flowers from the ground," Tsucchi advises, picking up a nearby flower and sniffing it. "She will love you for the flowers."

"For you!" offers Hayato, picking a dandelion and tucking it into her hair. "You look wonderful." Hikari blushes a bit and nods a thanks to him.

"I guess we can redo our fir-- AH!" Her gratitude becomes replaced with panic as a few ants crawl out from inside the fluff of the dandelion. "GET THEM OFF ME NOW!"

"SORRY!" apologizes Hayato quickly, slapping the ants off one by one, not even noticing that he's been slapping Hikari on the head. By the time all the ants were gone, glares from Hikari had burned holes in his head. "Let's just get on with it, shall we?" His nervousness begins to build after the first set back, but he is still determined to give Hikari the best first date!

"What were you thinking about going to the arcade?" chastises Kosuke. "Arcades are anything BUT cheap! If you want cheap, bring her to a park." He winks at the annoyed leader.

"But then wouldn't she expect me to spend some money on the date?" asks Hayato, confused, only for Kosuke to shrug.

"Park is free man," he points out. "Can't get cheaper than that." He had a point... So Hayato begins to think about the idea of a date at the park. It would be romantic right? Walking around a park, occasionally wrestling, and then play some catch, sounds nice, right?

"Ri-chan does like the park too," Tsucchi chimes in.

"Here we are!" announces Hayato, happily. "The park! Why have a date inside when the weather is almost as beautiful as my girlfriend?"

"It's a nice day today, isn't it?" agrees Hikari, leaning against Hayato. "So what are we doing?" Color drains from his face.

"How about a walk?" he asks, taking her hand. However on instinct, Hikari flips him the second her grabs her hand.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean it!" she apologizes nervously.

"It's okay, I fell for you," Hayato jokes. Shaking her head, Hikari helps him up off the ground. It was just like Hayato to throw out a corny joke.

"Oh look at the sky," Hikari points out, tracing along the pink in the sky. "It looks so pretty."

"I see something beautiful too," Hayato says breathlessly. Thinking he was talking about her, Hikari blushes and shyly tucks a strand of hair away.

"You think I'm beautiful?" she asks. Hearing no response, she turns towards Hayato, only to see an empty space. "Hayato?" She spins around to find him gazing a a motorcycle.

"So beautiful," he breathes out, drooling. "OW!" He jumps at the contact of Hikari's fist to his head. "What was that for?!"

"You're paying more attention to a bike than your girlfriend!" she shouts.

"Are you jealous?" taunts Hayato, smirking smugly. His answer is a nice trip to the ground, courtesy of Toda Hikari.

"NO!" Hikari lies defensively, turning a bright red. Suddenly Hayato pulls her down too. "HEY!"

"You don't flip me like that and get away with it!" Hayato threatens, putting her in a lock by pulling her arm and wrapping his legs around her waist.

"What are you two doing?" a gruffly voice demands. A huge shadow falls upon the couple as they look up to see a biker the size of a dinosaur. Mouths opened, but nothing ever came out. "GET AWAY FROM MY BIKE!"

"Yes sir!" Hayato squeaks. Hikari immediately gets up as Hayato slowly stands up. However when he accidentally trips and his foot hits the wheel on the bike, the giant biker growls. The couple exchanges a glance and proceed to trip the biker before running off.

"You idiot!" growls Hikari. "You could've gotten us killed!"

"Yes, but who else can say they almost got killed on their first date?" grins Hayato, trying to save his . "Are you hungry?"

"And maybe you can make it romantic by making lunch for her!" Takeda suggests. His idea is met by silence. Then all at once, everyone bursts out in loud laughter, except Ryu who just smirked at the idea of Hayato cooking.

"It's not a bad idea, but how can I do that when I can't cook?!" Hayato sobs dramatically, shaking Takeda by his collar. That's when the solution hits him. A mischievous glint shines in his eyes as he turns to his best friend. "Ryu...." His singing causes Ryu to cringe, and with this tone, it just means Hayato wants a favor.

"No," Ryu immediately declines.

"But you haven't even heard my request!" exclaims Hayato wildly.

"After last time? No," comes the response.

"What happened last time?" asks Kosuke, leaning on a Tsucchi that is fanning himself.

"Hayato liked this girl and asked for Ryu to act like a defenseless victim for Hayato to save and impress her," laughs Takeda, remembering Hayato's last favor.

"What happened?" Tsucchi joins in, wanting to hear more.

"Turns out the girl took taikwondo and she saved Ryu on her own," Takeda answers. "And she fell for Ryu instead."

"Wouldn't leave me alone for four years," groans Ryu, rubbing his head at the memory.

"Please Ryu?" begs Hayato, getting on his knees. "Please cook a lunch for Ri-chan and me! PLEASE!" His pleads now turn into long exhales of the "e" in the word. "PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE--"

"FINE!" Ryu suddenly yells angrily, shocking Tsucchi and Kosuke. Takeda and Hayato already knew that was the only way to shut up Hayato, plus the same thing had happened thirteen years ago.

"Thank you!" Hayato squales in a manly voice, hugging and jumping on Ryu until said male pushes him off.

"I'll set up a picnic for you two at the park on Wednesday," Ryu agrees. "It'll be under a sakura tree."

"TA DA!" Hayato imitates a fanfare while gesturing a large blanket with a picnic basket under it.

"I gotta admit, this date's been pretty nice, even though the flowers got ants on me and you nearly got me killed," she smirks, teasing him. Hikari sits down first and allows Hayato to open the picnic basket and get their food out. Watching him take out food, she gets a strange feeling when Hayato's face becomes confused. "What's wrong?"

"Ryu told me he made us some onigiri and a bento," Hayato states. "But in here are only salad, some fruit, and a giant ham." Feeling quick and light taps on his arm, he looks at his girlfriend. "What?"

"I think I know why Ryu's food isn't in here," she says, pointing across from them. Hayato looks to see a picnic under a tree in front of them. He then lifts his head to see the sky above them.

"It'll be under a sakura tree."

Ryu's voice echoes within his mind.

"Then whose picnic is this?" wonders Hayato.

"His!" cries Hikari, pulling Hayato to his feet. Stomping towards them is the biker from earlier with a lady behind him.

"You two will pay for touching my bike and stealing my food!" he roars.

"You idiot!" Hikari yells into Hayato's face.

"Formation B?" asks Hayato, shrugging. Letting out a sigh of annoyance, Hikari had no choice but to nod. Hearing this, the biker laughs and gets ready for anything they had. "NOW!" He throws the basket into the biker's face and the two run around the biker. And with Hayato being Hayato, he runs to Ryu's basket, grabs it, and takes off behind Hikari.

"YOU TWO KIDS GET BACK HERE!" the biker screeches, chasing them.

They ran what seemed like five miles, although it was only five blocks, before stopping for breath.

"I can't believe you did that!" laughs Hikari, collapsing on the ground.

"Did you see his face?!" Hayato reminds her, bending over as he pants loudly.

"How could I? You threw the basket into his face and I didn't dare look at him while we ran," jokes the girl. Once they finally catch their breaths, Hayato turns to her sadly.

"I'm really sorry Ri-chan, I just wanted to give you the perfect first date," he says, chestfallen. Smiling softly, Hikari gets off the ground and hugs him. "Ri-chan?"

"It wasn't exactly what I expected but it is an unforgetable date. Who else can say they nearly got killed their first date?" she jokes. Hikari's words brightens up his face as a grin forms again.

SLAM!

"Ow..." Hayato groans.

"Although you did nearly got us killed twice, so this is your prize," taunts Hikari, standing over him. "And this." Before he could ask what else, Hikari kneels down to the ground and places a kiss on his lips, putting him in a trance. Energy back, Hayato leaps into the air happily. "Come on, idiot, let's go back."

"We can't let all this good food go to waste though," Hayato reminds her, taking out a rice ball. "Here, I'll feed you."

"No."

"Say 'ahhh'."

"No."

"Ahhh."

"Cheese and crackers, idiots, I said no!"

"You want cheese and crackers then?"

"NO!"

"Fine! I'll force feed you!"

CHOMP!

"OW! RI-CHAN WHY WOULD YOU EAT MY FINGER BUT NOT RYU'S FOOD?!"