Akari smoothed out her grey skirt as the autumn gust began to pick up. There she sat in a picnic table in the outdoors, where she found more comfortable than the loud cafeteria inside, full of girls chattering and enjoying themselves.

There were many advantages and disadvantages to going in an all girls school in the next town over. The advantages; there were no fights over boys. small class sizes, everyone knew everybody, there were no secrets that created big drama, well, drama wasn't really an issue at all. Even the teachers and staff were really nice. The school was old, but it had an ancient beauty to it.

As there were many pros, there were also many cons. There were no cute boys, even if they had a sister school. Not that Akari was interested in that though. The school was far away from home, there was barely any privacy between classmates, news spread like wild fire, and attending an old school meant there were always haunted stories about it. This was a list that gone through Akari's mind multiple times, which she tried to weigh the pros and cons together to see if it worth going to a school that took a twenty minute commute. She still ended up going there, because her mother insisted that she should, as had studied there as a student herself.

Masumi, one of the friends Akari had made when she enrolled in the all girl's school, sat across from her at the picnic table, with her books spread out on the table as they ate lunch. Chitanda Masumi was your stereotypical intelligent bespectacled character, or one would think by her appearance. All having her head buried in a books, wearing glasses, excelling at academics. Just after day of knowing her, boy did Akari have wrong judgement. On the inside, Masumi was an outgoing, gossip girl that knew all the trending fashion and was an expert of romance.

Not wanting to be teased, Akari had steered clear on telling her anything about Taiki, her best and childhood friend. As she was a year younger than him, he had gone to middle school before she did, and she had thought she would go to the same school as him after she got out of elementary school. Oh was she wrong, as she ended up going to an all girl's school. She could try and get into the same highschool as Taiki, but such a possibility was not that simple. Not to mention the fact that she was also attached to her all girl's school, after being here for a year now. The school she was enrolled to now also had a highschool, while Taiki would probably go to Shinonome East Highschool

Why was she even thinking about Taiki anyway?!Her relationship with Taiki was just an innocent friendship, and nothing more. Okay, maybe he was a genius, had a brave and loyal heart, not to mention he was handsome… Akari shook her head in embarrassment. She needed to stop thinking of the idiot.

She was so flustered, that she had barely heard Masumi request to use her phone. Akari unconsciously handed her the cellphone, still trying to get Taiki out of her head.

"Ooooh, Akari! What do we have here, a boyfriend? Definitely looks like a boyfriend…"

"What?!" Her head shot up in confusion. Her expression went from surprise to mortification as she remembered that her home screen was a selfie that her and Taiki had took together once the last time they were together.

"He's just a friend!" Masumi arched her eyebrow with a smug smile.

"Are you sure about that? Looks like your photo album has a bunch of pictures of you and him together." She teased while clicking through the phone. Akari felt heat rush to her face as she tried to get the phone back from across the table.

"Masumi! Give me my phone back!"

"Nuh-uh! Not until you tell me who your sexy boyfriend is and who the rest of those hot guys are. Why did you keep him a secret?" The redhead only blushed even more when her friend described him in that fashion. She never really saw Taiki as 'sexy' and it made her flustered just having the thought. Akari felt to young to label Taiki with such words.

"Taiki isn't my boyfriend! He's just a childhood friend!"

"His name is Taiki huh? Well, let me meet this Taiki, so I can see if he's an acceptable boyfriend for you. I can't let my cute Akari to go out with some douche bag." Masumi declares while flipping the pink phone shut. Hanging from was a cute phone chain which Taiki had one that matched on his phone. If her friend was going to meet him, then she was not allowing him take his phone out. Ever.

"He isn't a douche bag, nor is he my boyfriend! And hand over my phone already!"

The score was four to six, the first 10 minute half ending in two minutes. Team Xros Heart was one basket behind, and were aiming to tie the score before half time. The cause of the other team getting a point was due to Tagiru and Yuu's bickering, over trivial matters, like every other time they started to argue. A time out was needed, to cool the both of their heads. Before the face off when the basketball would be thrown up in the air by the referee, Taiki called a time out.

"What was the point of that time out, Taiki-san?" Yuu asked while walking over to the side of the court.

"Yeah! Even though Yuu's tired, we can win without him!" Tagiru exclaimed. Yuu turned and glared at him.

"The one who's tired is you, idiot! What was with that trip that you did at the beginning of the game, over nothing?!"

"Huh?! You're the one who lost the ball when I was clearly open that one time!" The two began to argue again, pointing out each other's mistakes that had occurred through out the first half.

"The two of you need to cool your heads so we can keep playing. Basketball is a team sport, and teamworkis needed so we can win." Taiki said while cutting them off without turning to look at them. The two younger players stopped and looked at their senior. Before they could answer, someone called out Taiki's name.

"Hi Taiki." Akari said from the other side of the fence. With her was another girl wearing the same school uniform, a friend of her's probably. Taiki smiled and walked closer to the fence to greet his friend.

"Hey, Akari."

"You're covered in sweat, are you in a middle of a game?" She asked, trying to make small talk. Masumi was making it hard for her though because she kept making amused faces at Akari from behind her book.

The blonde had been teasing her to no end as they took the subway to Shinonome Station, and had smirked at her when Taiki walked over to them. The only reason she pulled out her book moments before Taiki had gotten over to them was so she could hide her amusement. Akari was sure of it.

"Oh, yeah." Taiki had forgotten all about that when he saw his best friend. Seeing her made him really happy, because he hasn't seen her in a while. "We're in the first half, though it's about to end. We took a time out so Yuu and Tagiru could cool their heads off." He turned and looked over his shoulder, just to find Tagiru making kissing faces. Taiki blushed immediately and turned back to Akari, his face still red.

"U-uh, well, I'll be going now… You can come and talk us during half time if want." He stammered while leaving the both of them by the fence.

Masumi snapped her book shut and smiled at Akari.

"That was an interesting encounter. He's even hotter up close." Akari rolled her eyes. "His friend over there, with the goggles, even he can see your relationship!"

"Tagiru? He's just trying to get any chance to see his older classmate flustered.

"Older classmate, huh? But that Tagiru looks the same age as us. What year is your friend in?"

"He's in 9th grade."

"Oooh, really? We should go in and cheer for them up close." Masumi went into the court with a strange look on her face, and Akari followed her in with doubt. The girl was planning something.

After their time out, Xros Heart got another basket before half time, tying the score like they had planned. This had earned them cheers from their fans - mostly fans of either Taiki or Yuu. Most of them were girls. During the second half, team Xros Heart pulled ahead, ending the game with a score of ten to six.

Their fans began to leave as soon the game ended. Taiki was scanning the little crowd as it dispersed and he found both Akari and her friend. He locked eye contact with Akari, who started to walk over to them with her friend, who he still didn't know the name of. Tagiru noticed this and grinned.

"Taiki-san is staring at Akari-san again~ Oh look she's coming over! Taiki-san and Akari-san sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g." It was a childish tease, but it made Taiki's face heat up. Whenever Tagiru teased him about Akari, he was always flustered and it was a way to get Taiki out of his usually calm composure. He need to work on that.

When the redhead got to Taiki, she went through her 'Taiki' manager bag and shoved him a bottle of water.

"You're dehydrated. Drink that." There it was, Sergeant Akari who always ordered him around, even though it was for his own good. He chuckled and took the water bottle out her hand and gulped down the water.

"Thanks. I can always rely on you, Akari. I seriously can't live without you." He said nonchalantly while handing her back the bottle with a smile.

"You idiot! Stop saying such things with a straight face!" She swiped the bottle with him with her hand, her face heating up. Akari's friend giggled and nudged her with her elbow.

"He says he can't live without you. It's love Akari, that is totally love." Taiki's face turned the same shade as Akari's and rubbed the back of his neck.

"I don't think I've met you yet, but I'm Kudou Taiki." He held out his hand to shake. The bespectacled blonde looked at him, smiled, and shook his hand.

"Oh, I know. Akari has told me all about you." Akari looked to the side. More like forced her to tell. "I'm Chitanda Masumi, Akari's best friend. Don't worry, I won't steal her from you." Masumi said while winking. Taiki chuckled nervously.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Chitanda, but I think I should get back to my teammates." Tagiru walked up to his senior and hit him on the back with a smirk with Yuu trailing behind him.

"No, It's okay, Taiki-san! You can talk to your girlfriend's friend as long as you want." The brunette turned to him and glared at him, his face still red.

"Tagiru, Yuu, the two of you are dehydrated too. You guys should drink some water." Akari also handed them bottles of water, ignoring Tagiru's comment. They took it gratefully, and like Taiki, finished the bottles quickly.

"What's with this Taiki! Even your juniors are thristy! You are really bad at taking care of them." Akari chided. He ran his hand through hair and smiled sheepishly.

"Sorry. We all finished our water bottles earlier." She sighed while shaking her head.

"You need to be more prepared! Like I've said multiple times before, I'm not always around to help you like this. Going to another school makes it harder to take care of you, and who knows what's going to happen if you over work yourself!" Akari kept rambling on about his health as Taiki listened while smiling.

Masumi shuffled over to Yuu and Tagiru, and spoke up. "Are they always like this?" The two of them nodded. "Aww, so cute! I'm still mad I haven't known anything about this until today." Yuu raised his eyebrow.

"But you just said that you were best friends with Akari-san..? I'm Yuu by the way."

"Yeah, well, she was hiding it from me. I just found out on accident when I saw her home screen photo. It was a picture of Kudou-san and Akari." The blonde answered with a grin. Tagiru eyes went wide.

"I want to see this picture!" He ran over to Akari and asked her if she could see her phone. She looked skeptic at first, but handed it over anyway. When he opened it, he saw the picture and grinned.

"You were right Chitanda-san, her home screen is a picture of Taiki-san and Akari-san! Oh, she even has the same key chain as T- " Akari's eyes went wide and she grabbed the phone from him.

"Can I see the picture?" Taiki asked while looking at Akari as she fumbled with her phone.

"It's just the one that we took together last time, no biggie." Taiki nodded and took out his phone. The red cell phone had a phone chain that was almost identical to the one hanging from Akari's pink phone. The redhead smacked her forehead mentally. That idiot! Showing off that they had same phone chain was going to lead to more teasing.

Oblivious, Taiki looked up from his phone and asked, "Could you send me the picture, I don't think I have it yet." Masumi and Tagiru grinned again when they saw the matching phone chains. Akari looked at them and sighed before sending him the picture. Taiki could be a genius at times, but also an unknowing idiot at others.

Masumi found the two really cute, and it was really fun to tease Akari about this. Tagiru walked back to Yuu and Masumi with a crazy grin on his face.

"They have matching charms! And I saw the picture! You should have seen it, Yuu!" Yuu shook his head in disbelief.

"Tagiru, you should stop bothering them. There could be a reason why they aren't telling each other their feelings. Even though you can't exactly be sure they even have love for each other."

"But, every time I tease him about it, he gets flustered!" Tagiru countered. Yuu was ruining the fun of it.

"Also, has he denied that he had feelings for her? Kudou-san hasn't done that when I remarked that earlier. The same with Akari." Masumi added a matter of factly , while pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose.

"Yeah yeah!" Tagiru agreed, wanting to prove Yuu wrong for once. The blonde haired boy just sighed in defeat.

"Well? You would have to prove it. If the two of you can get one of them to confess to the other and then the other to accept, then I'll believe you." He said while picking up his sports bag.

"Challenge Accepted!" Both Masumi and Tagiru yelled, making Yuu cover his ears. The blonde boy hadn't actually meant what he said, but he should have known they would do that. Even if he didn't know Masumi for long, she seemed to be that type of person. Akari and Taiki turned to the three of them with confused looks on their faces.

"What are you guys yelling about?" Taiki asked while putting his phone back into his pocket. Akari looked at Masumi with raised eyebrows, asking her the same thing.

"It's nothing Taiki-san!" Tagiru said quickly after grabbing his sports bag. "See you tomorrow at school!" Grabbing Yuu, Tagriu dragged him out of the basketball court.

"Wait!" Masumi yelled as she ran after the two of them. How were her and Tagiru going to plan if she didn't know his phone number?

"Masumi, where are you going?!" Akari called out, as her friend was ditching her.

"I'll be right back, don't worry!" The blonde said over her shoulder leaving Akari with Taiki to wait. Akari and Taiki watched her leave looked at each other, and laughed.

"You have a nice friend, Akari." Taiki commented while chuckling. Akari just nodded and smiled.

"She can be annoying at times, but Masumi is actually really nice. I wonder what she's doing with Tagiru though." The redhead sighed. Akari thought she was planning something. She knew her friend, and her suspicion of her friend was more of a very close to accurate prediction. Masumi always liked to deal with romance, acting as a 'matchmaker'.

"Ahaha, I see. Well, Akari, I wanna ask-"

"AKARIIII! LET'S GO NOW! I'M GOING TO MISS MY ANIME! IT'S GONNA START AT 5:45!" Masumi screamed while running toward the two, not allowing Taiki to finish his sentence. Before Akari could ask him to continue, she was dragged away by a frantic Chitanda Masumi.

Akari was in a bit of a foul mood for not being able to find out what Taiki was going to say to her, but she was also confused with Masumi's giddy nature. She tried to ask what she was doing with Tagiru and Yuu, but all she got were vague answers. The redhead decided to drop it, but she was very doubtful of the blonde's motives.

Tagiru grinned as he looked at Masumi's number saved into his cell phone. He had just gotten the number of a girl! This was a first for the boy, and it got him excited.

"Stop grinning at your phone, it's getting creepy." Yuu said after a while walking beside Tagiru. He sighed as he thought about what he had just set in motion. Yuu would have to apologize to Taiki later, when it was all done. Tagiru had ignored his comment, and was still in his little carefree world.

The brunnette stopped abruptly, making Yuu accidentally bump into him.

"What is it now?" Yuu asked, getting annoyed. Tagiru turned to him with sparkles in his eyes.

"You're going to help me with my plan!"

"What?! No I'm not! Why don't you get Gumdramon to help you?"

"Gumdramon only comes with me in Digi Quartz when I'm spying. You're the one with the smarts here, so you can help me plan." Yuu sighed again. Well, there was no harm to it. There was a possibility that this was going to be fun.

"Fine. I'll help you with your stupid plan."