Author's Note-Hiro's supposed to be about 18 in this story.

Hiro is sitting alone and eating what passes for sushi at Berkeley's cafeteria. Not many people take meals at 3 p.m., but he has a two-hour break between classes and nothing better to do.

"Hi, Hiro." Before he can blink, Cora Kurihara slides into the seat across from him as if the two of them are friends are something. Which they're not, Hiro is pretty certain.

She chews and swallows a piece of sushi. "Wow, this is pathetic," she says matter-of-factly. "My oba-chan would have a heart attack."

Hiro racks his brain for possible justification behind Cora's weirdly familiar behavior. They've had classes together and exchanged maybe a few dozen words. She's one of those people who actually pays attention in lecture, takes notes, and asks questions that professors can answer. In other words, she's not as smart as Hiro. Normally Cora wouldn't even be a blip on his radar, but girls are a rare breed in physics, math, and computer science classes.

"Um. Hi," he says. He's strongly tempted to ask Cora why she's speaking to him.

"I missed class yesterday. Is the test still on Friday?" Cora pops another sushi roll into her mouth and looks at him expectantly.

"Yeah, it's still Friday."

"Damn. I haven't started studying yet. Rehearsals have been a nightmare." She takes a long drag at her milkshake.

The silence stretches on, as if she expects him to say something.

"Uh, Cora? I don't help people study for free." Hiro wants to get that one out of the way as soon as possible.

Unexpectedly, she looks amused. "Hiro, I don't need a tutor. You and I have another problem." Her gaze remains direct and friendly.

"We do?"

"I'd like to have sex with you, but that might be a bad idea." She runs a finger around the rim of her glass. Her voice is matter-of-fact, as if she's asking to borrow quarters for the laundry machine.

Hiro's brain floods with shock, terror, hope, skepticism, confusion, and desire. He now understands what a computer experiences during a system crash.

"By the way, if you're gay, then now would be the time to let me know." She takes another slurp of sugared dairy and waits expectantly.

"Um. I'm not." Under the circumstances, Hiro's impressed with himself for producing a coherent sentence.

"Good. Allow me to explain." Cora puts her glass down. It thunks against the plastic tray. "I'm double majoring in dance and compsci. I probably don't have time for an actual boyfriend, so I'll settle for a sex buddy." She pauses a moment to allow that one to sink in. "Luckily, you seem to fit the requirements." She starts ticking them off on her fingers. "We don't have the same friends, so there's less potential drama if it goes badly. You're single. Cute. Almost definitely a virgin, so no STDs. You're in shape and intelligent, two qualities that don't go hand in hand often enough. With all that swordfighting, your cardio might actually be good enough to keep up with me." She folds her hands. "There's just the one aforementioned problem."

Hiro, like most males, doesn't intuitively grasp the concept that sex leads to problems. "What? That I might not want to have sex with you?" he hazards.

"Oh, please." Cora looks at him with less scorn and more amused pity.

Hiro wonders if this is what it feels like to give a wrong answer in class. He feels a faint spark of something like empathy, but it's drowned out in a tide of lust and confusion.

She slurps at her milkshake. "I don't think we have enough in common."

Hiro considers the depressing truth of this. Based on this conversation alone, you could probably fill a book with things that make him and Cora uncommon. A really thick book, like Encyclopaedia Britannica or the Game of Thrones boxed set. "We have classes," he suggests.

"No, no." She waves an impatient hand. "I'm talking about actual interests. Something we can converse about."

"Oh." He pauses. "I thought you just wanted sex, not a boyfriend."

"Have you ever tried sex with someone you can't hold a conversation with? No, don't answer that. I really don't care. I personally need to at least be on friendly terms with a guy before I orgasm. Nothing ruins the moment like awkward silence. But all I know about your interests are programming and swords, and those won't work as conversational fodder."

"Why not? I can talk about those indefinitely."

"Exactly." Cora slurps up some more milkshake. "You can talk about them indefinitely. I can't. Conversation involves back and forth, not one lone asshole rambling on. Everything I know about swords comes from that old movie Throne of Blood."

Hiro clutches at this one sign that Cora might be a member of his species. "The original? Or the remake?"

Cora raises an eyebrow. "There's a remake?"

"Yeah, it just came out last week," he says. "I was gonna go-we could see it. Together. Then we could talk about it. Like, over dinner or something."

He's surprised to hear those words coming out of his mouth. By total accident, they almost sound like the kind of thing you'd say to ask someone out on a date. Good thing, too, or else it probably wouldn't have happened.

She seems to be thinking along similar lines. She chuckles, and the sound of it suddenly fills Hiro with an unfamiliar, giddy warmth. It catches his attention. He wants to feel it again.

"Wow, catch you off guard and you can be charming," she says, and drains the rest of her milkshake. She cocks her head. "I meant it when I said I probably don't have time for a boyfriend."

"Do you have time for a date that ends in sex?"

Cora smiles wryly. "Honestly, probably not this week. I've only got two hours of free time."

"Oh. Well, the movie's an hour and forty-five minutes, and it takes about five to get to the theater, so-"

The mirth on Cora's face makes him regret calculating out loud.

"I have a higher opinion of your stamina, so let's take that, what, five minute fuck off the table." She smiles at HIro. "Looks like we have to choose between sex or the movie."

Somewhere, buried deep under layers of hormones and what passes for male logic, a tiny bell chimes a warning that this might be a test. "I'd like to do both at some point," he says honestly. And, even more honestly: "but If forced to choose, I'll take the sex."

Cora's lips quiver. "You're a lucky boy, Hiro Protagonist."

"Hey, you just found your sex buddy. Aren't you lucky, too?"

Cora bursts into laughter. It occurs to Hiro that she was holding it in. "You found the one girl in the world who wants sex more than an actual relationship, Hiro. And you're too dumb-or too smart, I can't decide which-to appreciate it." She briskly pops a chunk of brownie into her mouth. "So, what times are you free this week? My slots are 5:15 to 7:15 on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and 11 pm to 1 am on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday."

Hiro pauses. "Today's Tuesday."

Cora grins. "Is that an offer?"

Hiro's heart thuds like a carnival mallet in a game of whack-a-mole "Yes."

"Excellent." She sticks out her hand. He automatically takes it. They shake. "I'll text you my dorm number." She picks up her tray and begins to leave.

"Wait a minute." Hiro holds up his hand, still tingling from her touch. "Is one movie enough? That was all we needed to have in common?"

"Oh, I probably should have clarified. Silly me." Cora shakes her head, dark ponytail whipping back and forth. "It's barely enough for one fuck. You squeaked by on accidental charm."

"Oh." Hiro considers this. "So we're not long-term sex buddies yet? This is still a one-time thing?"

"Call it an audition." She smirks.

"An audition for my conversational skills? Or my sex?"

"Both." She walks off. "I'd worry more about the conversation part. Being less of an asshole would help you in that area considerably."

"One more thing-don't you need my number?" Hiro yells.

"I already have it." She doesn't bother looking back.

Author's Note-Confession: This was originally written as fanfiction for Neal Stephenson's novel "Snow Crash," which also stars a protagonist called Hiro. I published it under "Big Hero 6" because 1) This site doesn't have categories for Neal Stephenson 2) I'm currently too lazy to request that they add him 3) A friend unversed in Stephenson read and assumed this was for "Big Hero 6, so it seems to work.

I'm debating just how much lemon the next chapter will contain, so reviewers' input will be taken into consideration (unless they contain puns on the word input. Use some creativity, guys.)