Beep-beep. The tone of my car and the flashing of its headlights signaled that it was unlocked. I swung my keys around my finger by their key-chain. Modern technology was amazing.

Hopping into the front seat of my midnight blue, 2011 Audi A5, I popped my keys into the ignition and cranked up the radio. A high-pitched, up-beat tune started playing, and the first word that came to mind was Buono!, the name of the band currently playing. It was some song called Take it Easy. I was going to change the station, but thought better of it. After all, this was Amu's favorite band, and if all went according to plan, I was going to have to get used to their singing. I decided to, like the name of the song, just take it easy.

After adjusting my mirrors and buckling up- safety first- I slowly pulled out of my parking space. Driving past several other cars, I exited my apartment's parking garage and hit the road. The streets weren't as backed up as usual, so I decided to have a little fun and pass the speed limit up by like- oh, ten or twenty mph. So much for safety. Don't freak out, I didn't kill anyone.

I drove into down town, girly music blasting, windows open, wind blowing in my face. Various shops and stores cruised by, each one bustling with costumers armed to the teeth with shopping bags and souvenirs. After all, this was Tokyo. Stores were never dead in Tokyo.

Excitement began coiling in my stomach as my destination grew closer. A red brick building with white awnings above every door crawled into view. Pulling into the parking lot of the building, I read the neon letters scrawled out above the building's roof: Asona's Accessories.

I stepped out of the car, clicking the 'lock' button and eliciting another beep-beep from it. Opening the front door of Asona's, I strode into the store, taking in the display case covered walls and elegant décor as a bell rang above my head, announcing my arrival.

As I approached the front counter, the man working it turned away from what he was doing to face me. He smiled. "Back again, Kukai?" he asked, his gold eyes gleaming.

"Yeah Nagi, I'm back," I said, smiling at him. "But this time, I actually know what I want." The purpled-haired attendant's smile widened. I had already been to this accessory store several times before, and by some miracle, Nagi has managed to put up with me each and every time. In fact, I've been here so often, I didn't even have to use my GPS to get here, not that I ever used it.

"Oh yeah? And what would that be, exactly?" he asked, one eyebrow rising higher than the other in curiosity. I grinned at him. Unzipping my jacket, I pulled a slip of paper from my inner left pocket. I unfolded the magazine cut-out and laid it down on the desk in front of Nagi. He studied the picture for a second and whistled.

"That would be this." I said. Nagi spun the picture around to face him. He pulled a pair of glasses from the pocket of his coat, putting them on. He looked at the picture more closely, taking in every detail as if it were the real thing.

"Size 5, please," I asked, staring at the picture, smiling. Nagi nodded, still gazing at it as well, before walking out from behind the counter.

"Could you wait a moment?" he asked, "I have to remember where that one is." He stopped and put his hand to his chin, thinking for a moment before uttering a quiet 'ah-hah' and striding over to a display case on the resting on the right wall of the room. I followed Nagi over as he drew a set of keys from his front coat pocket, the same one that held the glasses. Flipping through them, he came to a rest at medium sized key, and lowered it to the lock of the case. After shoving it into the opening, Nagi turned the key, a soft click soon following.

He slid the glass door of the case open, skimming his hand over rows of merchandise before coming to a stop in the center of the display.

He picked up a little silvery-colored ring and removed it from the case. "You got lucky. That's the last size 5 we have in stock right now," he said before giving it to me. I took the small, white gold ring in my hands, turning it over with my thumb and index finger. The heart-shaped diamond on the front gleamed, the alternating line of smaller diamonds and mystic topaz surrounding it providing a perfect accent. God, I sounded like such a girl.

I followed Nagi back up to the front desk and handed him the piece of jewelry. He started to ring up the price but stopped. "Did you want to pick out a box to go with it?"

I stared at him, open-mouthed. "Dude, it takes me over a month to pick out the ring, and now you're asking me asking me to find a box too?" I ask him. He just shrugs.

"Well, yeah. I mean, this is a very important event. You have to hav-"

"Nagi, it was a rhetorical question," I said, cutting him off. "You pick one out." Again, he shrugged. As I waited for him to find a suitable box for the ring, I barely noticed it when someone else walked into the room- that is at least, until they announced their arrival with a loud scoff.

"Back again, Mr. Souma?" the man asked. I turned to face him. It was Fujiku, Nagi's stuck-up, snob of a boss. I gave him a nonchalant wave.

"What's up, Fujiku? How have you been?" I asked, although I didn't really care. He huffed.

"That's Mr. Fujiku. And I was doing just fine, until you showed up." Ouch. That hurt… not really. "Looking around some more? Or did you actually come to buy something this time?" he asked, annoyed. I grinned at him, which only seemed to further irritate him.

"Yeah, I did actually," I replied, gesturing to Nagi, who had just finished placing my ring in a box. Guess he found one. He stuffed the box in a bag and continued ringing up my purchase.

"And your total is-"

"I don't even want to know!" I yelled with a hand up, effectively stopping him before he could tell me the price. I wanted to be out of the store before I knew the cost, so I wouldn't try to return the ring due to price-tag shock. "Just take my credit card and get it over with," I told him, handing over the square of plastic. Again, Fujiku snorted.

"How irresponsible. How is a bum like you even able to afford a ring like that?" he asked, looking me up and down. I guess he was associating my appearance with my wealth. I may have been a professional soccer player, but I still dressed like a bit of a street kid.

"Um, Mr. Fujiku… do you watch sports? At all?" Nagi asked. "Mr. Souma is kind of… world renowned you know…" he said a little less than matter-o-factly. Ah, Nagi. Always one to help.

"Renowned for what? Being a street bum? Wasting his money?" Fujiku said with a smirk. Now that made me angry. And considering I was rarely one to get upset, that was an accomplishment.

"Listen, pal, this isn't a waste of money!" I yelled at him. He could dis me, my clothes, or my brother for all I cared. But if he was suggesting I was wasting my money on Amu, he had another thing coming.

"This ring cost a lot. I wouldn't buy it for just anything. I'm paying for it, and if you won't take my money then that's fine with me!" Actually, it wasn't, 'cause if I didn't pay, then I wouldn't get the ring. But I was seriously pissed at Fujiku, and something needed to be said to a guy like him.

He gave me a stunned look before sticking his pointy nose up in the air and huffing again. "Mr. Fujisaki, give the man his purchase so he may leave." And without a backwards glance, he walked out the door he came in from.

I sighed and banged my head on a display glass.

"Nagi, I have absolutely positively no idea how you put up with him," I said. Nagi chuckled.

"He's the owner's son. Kinda have to." Although I had no clue as to how, it was true. Fujiku was Mrs. Asona's son. But they had, like, nothing in common! While Asona was probably one of the kindest, sweetest, funniest, most interesting old lady's you would ever meet, Fujiku was a bitter, snobby, humorless, jerk who lived off his mother's money. What could you do?

Pulling myself off of the case, I walked back up to the front desk, where Nagi handed me the bag. I smiled at him.

"Thanks, man," I said, and he smiled back.

"Now be careful with that Kukai," he told me. "Although Fujiku is wrong about a lot of things, he was right about that ring being expensive. And it's the last one we have. If you lose it, you're not getting another one for a while, if you even decide to do that." Nagi looked seriously concerned. He really was a nice guy. Then again, it could've just been that he knew how irresponsible I was…

Nonetheless, I gave him a reassuring nod and one of my signature, goofy smiles. "Don't worry, I will be." I started to turn and head for the door, but stopped. I looked back at Nagi, who was currently studying some piece of jewelry. When he noticed I hadn't left yet, he looked up. "What's wrong?"

I averted my eyes and looked down at the bag in my hands. "Nothing really. I was just wondering…" I didn't finish. The question almost seemed kind of odd.

"Wondering what?" he asked, lowering the necklace in his hands, curiosity etched into his voice.

Now, I may not have known Nagi for very long, but for the month that I had, he had been a pretty good guy. He was… a friend. Not just some store attendant anymore. So, odd or not, I had to ask him. "…Did you wanna come to the wedding?"

When I looked back at him, his mouth was hanging slightly open, his glasses falling down the bridge of his nose. Nagi cleared his throat and went back to studying his jewelry. He didn't answer for a few seconds.

"I don't know Kukai, I haven't even met the girl yet," he said, seeming particularly focused on one portion of the necklace's chain. I scoffed, sounding a little too much like Fujiku.

"Half my family hasn't met the girl yet. You'll be fine," I reassured him. He still looked a bit unsure. It was a wedding for Pete's sake! What was so bad about it?

"Kukai, I've only known you for a month," he protested. I groaned.

"And yet you're already a better friend to me than at least 75% of my entire team," I countered.

"Okay, now that's just sad," he said.

"Worse than half my family not knowing my girlfriend-hopefully-soon-to-be-fiancé? I don't think so."

"Touché."

I shoved my hands into my pockets. "Come on, Nagi. Please?" I gave him my best puppy-dog-sparkly-eyes face.

"Kukai, I'm not stupid, that's not going to work," Nagi said, but he looked unsure of himself. I kept it up.

"Please?" I blinked a couple of times, just for good measure. He slapped himself on the forehead.

"Alright, alright already, I'll go!" Nagi said, and I smiled to myself. I couldn't believe that worked. I guess Amu was rubbing off on me. It always worked when she did it. "…If she says yes that is." My smile faded.

"Aw, way to ruin the mood!" I said, and he laughed. I turned away from the desk and headed for the door. "Whatever!" Before I exited I looked back at him. "So you'll come, right?"

He sighed, and I was afraid he would change his mind, but he smiled up at me. "Yeah, I'll be there."

I punched the air happily. Strolling out the door, I began to whistle. I had the ring, I had the new friend, and soon-hopefully- I'd have the girl. I pulled the box from the plastic bag Nagi had put it in. It was a small, mahogany case with rounded edges and little swirly designs carved into its top. It looked like a good quality box.

…That reminded me. I still hadn't looked at the total cost of my purchase. I climbed into my car and started it up, pulling out of the Asona's Accessories' parking lot. Man, was it hot in that car. I rolled down the windows to let some air in.

Once I was on the road, I used my free hand- the one that wasn't on the wheel- to pull the receipt from the bag.

I struggled to hold both it and the box in my hand while driving. Carefully, I turned the slip of paper over…

…Eight thousand seven hundred and fifty five dollars…

Eight thousand seven hundred and fifty five dollars!

I nearly screamed. That… was a lot of money… maybe I should've looked at the receipt beforehand… No, no. It's all for her, It's all for her. This is for Amu, It's all for her-

Plop! Something fell out my car window. My body went rigid. Slowly, I turned my head to look at my hand. My hand, which was now holding a receipt, and nothing more…

"OH MY GOD!" this time I really did scream. I slammed on my car's brakes, swerving out of control and nearly hitting the car in front of me. Luckily, there was no one behind me. I scrambled out of my car, leaving it sitting in the middle of the road while I tried to fix probably the biggest mistake I had ever made in my life! Okay, scratch the 'probably'. It was the biggest mistake I'd ever made in my life.

Where is it, where is it, where is it, where is it, where is it? Holy crap, where the heck could it be?

I ran up the street, desperately searching for the small mahogany box. "I didn't drop it that far back! Where the heck could it have-"

Sitting dead-center in the middle of the street, about fifty or so yards up the road, was my box. I ran for it like a maniac. But then again, if you couldn't call me one for nearly losing my girlfriend's engagement ring, then what could you call me?

As I dashed down the street, I silently prayed that a car wouldn't appear out of nowhere and crush the box- or me- before I got there. Of course that didn't happen.

When I was about thirty yards away, a truck turned onto the avenue and started heading straight for the ring. It just had to be a truck, didn't it? And not just some small, pickup truck. A full-blown, two ton, trailer-and-all truck. Great.

Frantic, I poured on the speed, and at this point, I was either feeling really confident, or really stupid. I couldn't tell which. But it didn't exactly matter, because I was still doing it. I was still running straight into what could very well be my death. Again, great.

My mind reeled. The truck was mere feet away, but so was I. In one crazy attempt, I jumped. Jumped right in front of the truck, jumped right on top of the ring. Grabbing it, I rolled out of the way as fast as I could, the truck- honking -missing me by just inches.

I slammed into the street curb, my momentum taking me farther than I had planned. For a second, I just laid there, thinking there was a very good possibility that I was dead. Then I realized the throbbing pain in my head, and knew that I wasn't

I opened my eyes, not recalling that I had closed them in the first place. Slowly, I looked down. I uncurled my fist, which had been wrapped so tightly around the box, my knuckles had turned white. But it was there. It was there, and not flattened under the wheel of some truck. I stood up and dusted my jeans off as if nothing had even happened. Yup, that's me. Nonchalance is my middle name…

Okay, really? I wasn't kidding anyone with that. That was the single most terrifying thing I had ever done in my entire life! I can't believe I wasn't bawling right then. And nonchalance? Please! I was freaking out!

When my initial fear factor moment was over, I checked to make sure no part of me was broken. Arms, legs, hips, nose, ribs, collarbone… head… okay, I'm alright. I sighed in relief. And then I did something only and idiot would do. I danced around in the middle of the road like a deranged freak yelling, "I'M ALRIGHT! I'M ALRIGHT!"

After that was all out of my system, and after I got yelled at by a few passersby to 'get out of the street!' I finally decided to check out the box and see if it was alright too.

I slowly opened the lid. The interior of the mahogany case was slightly cracked, and the ring sat in the velvet cushion in a lopsided fashion, but overall, it was fine. I might have needed to buy a new box, but the ring was still intact. Good.

I walked back down the street to my car and climbed in, surprised that it hadn't been hit for its location or ticketed by a cop yet. I drove back to my apartment and as soon as I walked in the door put the box in the safest place I could think of- my soccer duffle bag.

And no, it is not gross. For your information, I air that bag out weekly and wash all the clothes that go into it daily. Plus, it's not like I could keep it anywhere else. Amu and I did share an apartment, and that was practically the only thing that was mine. As in mine, mine- excluding my clothes and a few other things. We had one of those 'what's mine is yours' relationships.

When that was done I strolled into my bedroom, flipped on the TV, changed into some comfy clothes and flopped onto my bed. Now I could finally just relax…

Riiiiiiiiinnngg!

Until the phone rang that was.

Riiiiiiiiinnngg!

I groaned, throwing my pillow at it in hopes that it would silence its shrill ringing.

Riiiiiiiiinnngg!

No such luck.

Riiiiiiiiinnngg!

"Alright, be quiet! I'm coming already!" I slumped out of bed and walked over to the dock on the wall. Picking the phone up, I clicked the 'talk' button and muttered a harsh, "What?" into the speaker. I was not in the mood to talk to whoever was on the other end of the line.

"Jeez, brutal much?" the voice on the receiving end chuckled. It was Tadase. Only he would laugh at my grumpiness.

"Yeah, well I have a reason, ya know," I told him, sounding a little less hostile this time. Tadase was my best friend; I didn't want to scare him off.

"And what, might I ask, would that be?" he wondered, and I sighed into the phone.

"Well, for starters, I finally got it," I said with a half smile as I referred to Amu's ring. I heard Tadase draw in a breath from the other end of the line. He, along with Utau, Rima, and my parents, had been waiting forever for me to pick out a stupid ring.

"You got it? Whe-"

Beep-beep-beep. I pulled the phone away from my ear and looked at the screen to check the caller ID. Incoming call: Hoshina, Utau 713-5743. Bringing it back to my head, I spoke into the phone again.

"Hold on Tadase. Utau's calling. I'm gonna put us on three-way," I told Tadase before clicking 'talk' for a second time.

"Hey Souma, did you get it?" Utau asked as soon as my thumb lifted off the button.

Before I could reply, Tadase was answering for me. "He got it." He had a habit of doing that.

"Oh My God, I am so happy for you! Which one did you get?" Utau, although not always the girliest woman on the planet, cared a lot about my getting engaged to Amu. It's like she had some switch or something that was flipped whenever the word 'engagement' or 'wedding' or 'proposal' was mentioned. If Amu picked her as a bride's maid, forget get Bridezilla, we'd have Maidzilla on our hands.

"The heart one, you know, with the mystic topaz accents?" I said. Again, I sounded like I was of the other gender when saying this. But Utau had helped me pick out the ring, so she would know what I was talking about. Aside from Tadase- and Amu of course- she was my closest friend. And seeing as she was a girl, she was very helpful with all of this proposal stuff.

"Yes! Take that you blonde shorty! Rima owes me fifty bucks!" she screamed into the phone, and I had to pull it away from my ear so as not to have any permanent damage done to it. Typical woman.

Rima as well as Utau had been helping me out. I really appreciated it, and got a lot done because of them. But their competitiveness got the better of them both when it came to picking out the ring, and so they ended up making a bet on which one I would choose. Apparently Utau just won.

"So what," Tadase broke in, cutting off Utau's shouts of joy, "exactly was it that made you so irritable earlier Kukai?"

I hit myself in the head, having totally forgotten about that until just now. These two people tended to do that to me. "Well yeah. It's like I said. I got the ring…"

"Uh-huh," both Tadase and Utau said in unison.

"But nearly killed myself trying to get it home safely…" The line went silent. "Yeah, I almost got hit by a truck…" It was awkward, so instead of waiting for them to answer, I just told them the entire story, not stopping once to listen for their reactions."Sooo… that's pretty much it."

"Wow, Kukai. That's bad. Even for you," Utau was the first to speak up. "I think you set a new record for 'stupidest thing ever done on the face of this earth'." So much for sympathy. Then again, this was Utau. Tadase would be more understanding.

"I hate to admit it, but she's right Kukai. That was bad." Or not… So glad to know I had my friend's support.

"I mean Kukai, think about it. This was just your first day of having the ring. When are you proposing to Amu?" Utau asked me, surprise and mock pity practically dripping from her tone.

"I don't know. I haven't even figured out what to do yet. Maybe next week," I said, already starting to panic over the fact that I didn't have a proposal idea. "Why?"

"How are you gonna deal with that ring for a whole seven days? I mean, knowing you, you'll have it gone by tomorrow!"

After that little comment I just hung up.