"Tetsuo-kun, may I ask you a question?"

Tetsuo started sweating. He had run into Rio by accident in the school halls, that morning, and that alone brightened up his day.
And the very same Rio wanted to ask something to him! Lessons hadn't even started, and he could already tell that that day was going to be great.

… Or so he thought. Panic quickly took his excitement's place as soon as Rio spoke again.
"I noticed you've been challenging everyone lately – not only Yuuma, but Durbe, Mihael, even my brother, too.
But you never asked me to duel once." she said, as composed as ever.
"Odd." she added after a brief pause. "I recall you once wanted to duel me, someday. Am I wrong?"

Tetsuo was avoiding challenging her, and for a very precise reason, too. But since he simply couldn't bring himself to tell the truth yet, he tried to tell her a little white lie.
"I- yeah, you see, I thought... you are a really busy person, and I didn't want to bother you with-"
Rio interrupted him.
"Are you scared of dueling with me?"

She wasn't teasing him. She was dead serious... And looked a little worried. She hadn't forgot that day, and she was certain that neither did Tetsuo.
The day they dueled, the day she kind of... killed him.

Sure, the Numeron Code set things right, once the war had ended, but she couldn't blame Tetsuo if he was still shocked by what happened.

"W-what?" asked Tetsuo, startled..
"No, don't worry, I completely understand." said Rio warmly. "I mean, after our duel, you-"
"That's not it at all!" exclaimed Tetsuo so loudly he made some students turn in his direction. "How could I ever be scared of the kind and gentle Rio-san?!"

"Oh..."
Rio was a bit confused, but relieved. She still did wonder why he was challenging so many strong duelists one after another.
She was about to speak, but Tetsuo was faster.

"Well, um, you see... the real reason is..." he started.

The right words seemed to not want to come out his mouth. How was he going to explain everything to her?

After the war, everyone went back to school almost as nothing had really happened. Thanks to the Numeron Code, nothing much had changed in their lives.
Mihael and the former Seven Barian Emperors started attending at their school, and all the fighting and pain became just a memory.
The newcomers and the Kamishiro twins were among the most popular students of the school. While someone (mostly Alit and Girag) was flattered by that special attentions, others, such as Rio, were not. After all, popularity just gave her troubles.

Rio had a bunch of persistent fans, who apparently just couldn't help but make her angry with their antics and constant pestering.

Tetsuo didn't want to be like them. He wanted to make sure to be a worthy opponent for Rio, and thus he decided he would've challenged her only when he knew he was ready.
All because he wanted to show her the he could still grow a lot as a duelist, and that she gave him a reason to push his limits.
He wanted to thank her, but every time he thought about being honest with her and simply tell her everything, his face would turn bright red, and he would start sputtering nonsense phrases. The only way he had to express his feelings to her right now were duels.

Unluckily for him, Rio was an excellent duelist, and she had already crushed him once.
I could never prove her how much I changed because of her, like this. he said to himself. I still need to practice if I want to reach her with my feelings!

His plan consisted in challenging all their friends. In a couple of months, by challenging such formidable foes, he made amazing progresses. Even Shark once agreed on having a quick duel with him.

Tetsuo knew he still had a long way to go, though, since almost every opponent, who was just as strong as Rio, could still win rather quickly...

"You're still much stronger than me, Rio-san." he started, after taking a deep breath. "During our duel, I was pathetic- because I'm still not good enough." he quickly added, in order to not give her the time to contradict him.
"I'd like to give you a duel that us both can enjoy. A-and maybe, if I manage to win, I could finally find the strength to..." He was about to tell her that he would've liked to take her out on a date, but he stopped, and shook his head. That wasn't that important, at the moment.
"Please, just give me a little more time to improve! There is something I must tell you, but I must make sure to be able to give my all in our duel, first."

The girl smiled softly at him. He seemed really determinate and sincere, so she decided to accept his explanation.
"Of course."

Tetsuo nodded at her. "Thank you for understanding, Rio-san! Well then, I should go-"
"Speaking of, Tetsuo-kun." she said before he could take his leave. "Since I won our duel, I think I earned a prize."
"A prize?"

"You see, they just opened a new cafe downtown, and I still haven't got the chance to try it out. We could go take a look today, after lessons. I have some work to get done first, but I should be free around 5 o'clock. Shall we meet at the gates by then?"
Tetsuo took a few seconds to process the information he had just received. "Wh- yes, of course!" he shouted once he realized that Rio was asking him to spend some time together.

"Very well, then! I'll see you this afternoon."
Rio greeted him with a smile and walked away, leaving him daydreaming in the middle of the hall.
"No... this is no dream! I have a date with Rio-san!"

That wasn't his main goal at the moment, but that surely motivated him a lot more.

"Tetsuo? What are you doing, standing there with that face?"
He turned. Yuuma had arrived, and he was staring at him with a puzzled look.
"Yuuma! Amazing timing! From now on, you must duel with me twice as more!"
"Twice as more? Y-yes, of course! But may I ask you why-"
Yuuma never got to finish is sentence.
Tetsuo had already dashed off to class, shouting "Wait for me, Rio-san!", leaving him alone.

"Man, I really don't understand what's in that guy's head..."

...
Some little author's notes
I'm sorry about grammar errors and everything, I really do. (I know nothing of English grammar, my English skills just... happened...)
I wanted to explain and write many other things, but even though they come out smoothly and clear in Italian, it's kind of difficult for me to translate them properly in another language.

I'm also not good at writing proper fan fictions. I tried more than once, but I just seem to not be able to get the grip of it. But I really wanted to write something about sunlikeshipping, so there it is!

Also, I was planning on changing the title into something on the lines of "through a duel", but this fiction was written with the idea of "prize → date" ringing into my head. Even though the prize is now completely secondary... "orz