It's a very sunny day today in Japan. I lie in my bed still sound asleep, until I'm awoken by the loud beeping of my alarm clock. I roll over to turn it off, but it's on my desk which is more than arm's length from my bed, so as I reach for it, I end up scooting to close to the edge and I fall out of my bed. I groan in annoyance and stand up and turn off my alarm clock. I glance around my room looking at the shelfs, mostly full of useless junk, and at my desk, which has some papers and some books scattered across it. As I'm looking around, I smell what smells like some good ol' bacon and eggs cooking in the kitchen. I open the door to my room.

When I arrive at the living room, I find my aunt, Mikuru, cooking the bacon and eggs I smelled earlier. "Good morning Chrono." She greets me with a generous smile.

"Morning Mikuru…" I say lazily, still half asleep, and I slump down in a chair at the dining table.

"I figured since you do so much for the apartment when I'm gone, I thought I'd treat you to a nice breakfast." Mikuru tells me place the plate in front of me.

"Thanks for the food." I say, thanking Mikuru and that I can have this food in the first place. When I finish eating, I sit up and make my way to the bathroom to have my morning shower to rejuvenate me, then I get dressed in my room, gather my papers and books and toss them into my book bag so I'm ready for school.

As I'm heading for the front door to leave, Mikuru stops me. "Hold on Chrono, there's something I want to talk to you about real quick."

"Okay." I tell her, agreeing to listen. She takes me to the dining table to talk.

"Now Chrono," Mikuru starts to speak hesitantly, twiddling her thumbs, "I know I probably shouldn't be talking about this, and it's probably none of my business…" I tilt my head in question, "…have you considered getting a girlfriend?" This takes me slightly by surprise and I nearly choke on my inhale.

"Wh-Why does it matter?" I cross my arms in embarrassment. Literally, I've just gotten up and am getting ready to go to school and Mikuru talks to me about girlfriends?!

"Well, you're at that age when you should start dating," she explains, "and you should probably start dating now so you can start building a relationship with someone so you can marry at a reasonable age."

I don't really know how to respond to this, so I quickly try to deny it, "This is none of your business Mikuru." After I say this, Mikuru stands up from her chair and comes to place a hand on my shoulder.

"Well at least give what I told you some thought, because you're gonna need a girlfriend soon." She tells me. Then I stand up and head for the front door to go to school.

I walk down the sidewalk on my usual path to school. The spring cheery blossoms are falling from the trees all around me; I actually kinda puts me at ease. As I arrive at school, I hear a voice call my name, "Chrono!" I look in the direction of the voice, and I see a long green-haired girl running toward me.

"Tokoha!" I wave her down as she reaches me. The two of us usually meet up in front of the school we go to and walk in together, but we don't really hang out except at lunch and when we leave since we only have one class together. But little I know, that today was the start of something special between us.

As I walk down the school hallway heading to my next class, I overhear this couple talking to each other. "Hey, did you hear about that new Date Mania place?" the guy asks.

"No I didn't. What's it like?" I girl asks back.

"It's this huge building just a little ways from here in the United Sanctuary district. It's got everything from an arcade, to a pool, to restaurants, to anything else people do on dates." I stop walking when I hear this part and start to listen more closely.

"Oh my gosh! That sounds awesome!" The girl cheerfully replies, "but is it expensive?"

"Well you can only get in if you've bought tickets. It just so happens that I've been saving up my allowance to buy us tickets to go together." The guy then holds up the tickets he bought.

"Oh, you're such a sweetie!" she holds onto his arm and the two of them walk away. Just then I think back to what Mikuru told me this morning, 'you should probably start dating now so you can start building a relationship with someone…' If it's a place specifically for dating couples, I guess I could try dating, but who should I take?"

It's now lunch time and I go to the rooftop, my usual lunch spot. When I get up there, I see Tokoha already getting ready to eat, like she was waiting on me. "Hey Chrono!" She waves at me and I go over and sit down next to her.

"Hey Tokoha." I then take out my lunch, say my blessing, and begin to eat. The entire time we're up there eating, we just chat about different things, like school, Vanguard, etcetera. Then we hear the bell ring for the next class period.

"Well I got to get to class." She tells me as she sits up and grabs her bag.

As she starts to head for the door to go downstairs, something hits me, mentally. I could ask Tokoha to go to that Date Mania place. I mean, we've been best friends for a long time, but I don't know what her reaction would be to me asking her on a date, but you'll never know unless you try. "Hey Tokoha…" I call out causing her to stop an turn to face me.

"Yeah?" My heart is pounding, this is kind of nerve racking. This isn't going to be as easy as I thought it was going to be.

"Umm… there's this really cool place not far from here," I slightly stutter my words, "I was wondering…" Tokoha tilts her head at me and I can barely muster my thoughts, "…would you like to… you know… go there with me this weekend?" I finish. There's no going back now.

"Sure," She replies enthusiastically, "what's it called?" She asks me.

"It's called… Date Mania…" her eyes then widen as if she's shocked by what I said.

"Date… Mania…?" She sounds like she's questioning the name. "Chrono… are you asking me on a date?" She's caught on… both our faces are bright red.

"Umm… yes… would you like to go a date with me this weekend?" I ask her restating my previous question. Tokoha puts a hand to her mouth as if she's thinking. After a few seconds of nothing but the outdoor breeze, she finally speaks.

"Sure, I'd love that." She then gives me a cute smile. "When this weekend?" She asks me.

"Umm, how about this Saturday?

"Sounds great!" She nods in agreement.

"Then it's a date. Let's meet at the train station at about eight-thirty."

"Okay. I'll see you Saturday." She then turns and walks away.

Once she's finally gone I jump up and shout, "Alright!" I just made a date with Tokoha. Let's just hope it goes well.

Next Time:

Chrono and Tokoha meet up at the train station getting ready to go to Date Mania, but the train is kind of crowded, so things end up getting awkward between them…

TURN 2: The Train Ride