She'd been convinced by Heisuke to come out one Friday night to go out drinking with his senpai and other doctors from the hospital. Chizuru-chan, Souji-kun and Hajime-kun would all be there, so she should be okay…

She was always so shy around new people, so she was a little worried.

"Ah, Etsu!" Heisuke waved over to her when he spotted her come in. "Over here!" He was sitting next to two men, a tall red-haired man with amber eyes, and another with reddish-brown hair and captivating blue eyes. Heisuke had made some very attractive friends…

She smiled widely and high-fived Heisuke in greeting. "It's been a while, Heisuke-kun!" Nonetheless, she was happy to see him, since quite some time had passed. He was in med school now, and she was busy teaching. It had been a while since she'd gone out to have fun.

"Sit, sit, these two are my Senpai, Nagakura Shinpachi," he gestured to the reddish-brown haired man, his biceps caught her eyes. "And this is Harada Sanosuke." The red-haired man gave her a wink. "This is my childhood friend, Miura Etsu."

She flushed and sat next to Heisuke, bowing her head slightly. "It's nice to meet the both of you."

"Ah, nice to meet you." Sanosuke gave her a gentle smile. "Didn't know Heisuke was hiding a cute girlfriend."

"We're not dating!" The pair chorused. People always assumed that they were, and it bothered them since they saw each other as siblings. Their mothers had been best friends since high school, and when Heisuke's father abandoned him and his mother, they went to live with Etsu and her parents.

Neither of them was showing any signs of lying, so Sanosuke gave it up. Seems like they weren't interested in each other romantically. "So, Miura-chan, what do you do for a living?" He saw Shinpachi sit up straighter to pay attention from the corner of his eye. There he goes again…

"Ah, I'm an elementary school teacher, I teach first grade!" She smiled brightly. She loved her job, even though the children in her class, her kids, could be a bit of a handful sometimes, she had nothing but patience for them.

Heisuke nodded proudly. "Yeah, she's a really dedicated teacher!"

"What about the both of you, Harada-san, Nagakura-san?"

"I'm the hospital's psychologist. I treat patients and the staff."

"I'm a physical therapist and a nutritionist! I make sure our patients exercise and eat well!" Shinpachi grinned, beaming with pride.

Heisuke snickered. "They look more like delinquents though!"

Sanosuke smacked Heisuke on the back. "Oi, we've shed our pasts, don't go making us look bad in front of Miura-chan!"

"That's right! Tell 'im, Sano! We're good law-abiding citizens that help people!" Shinpachi high-fived Sanosuke.

Etsu giggled a bit at their interaction. It seemed like the three of them were a fun combination. She was having fun talking to Heisuke's new friends, especially Shinpachi. In turn, he asked her a lot of questions about her kids, which made her rather chatty. Usually, she preferred to listen to get to know people better, but when people touched the subject of her job, she couldn't shut up about how cute and amazing her kids were. "Ah, I see Chizuru-chan over there, I think I'll stop by to say hi. I'll be back." She stood up, leaving her purse on the seat.

"She's real cute." Shinpachi grinned.

"That she is," Sanosuke chuckled, "You certainly seem interested."

"Nah-uh, Shinpatsu-san! She's off limits!" Heisuke gave him a slight glare. Shinpachi wasn't a bad guy, per se, but he certainly did date around a lot. He had a new girlfriend every few weeks. Etsu was too special to be just a fling.

"What're ya talking about, Heisuke? It's her choice to make!" Shinpachi crossed his arms.

"I'm looking out for her!" Heisuke scratched the back of his head, looking over to make sure Etsu was still preoccupied with making small-talk with Chizuru and Souji. "Look," He sighed. "When we were in high school, Etsu confessed to some idiot. I heard the whole thing from start to finish. He said some…" He swallowed some curses. "…things to her. Horrible things. Since then, she's been a little afraid to kinda put herself out there. That's why I don't want her dating just any guy." He clenched his fists at the memory.

Sanosuke and Shinpachi remained silent for a few moments.

"You socked him, right?"

Heisuke looked up at Sanosuke and nodded. "Souji came with me. Hajime-kun didn't help us beat the crap outta him, but he did stop us from completely beating the shit outta him. He wasn't completely helpless, got a few blows in too."

"Heisuke, you know me! I treat women with nothing but respect. I'm just lookin' around for the right girl, that's why I'm always dating." Shinpachi looked over at Etsu. "Just her number. I'll take her out on just one date. I am looking for something serious, ya know."

Heisuke sighed, knowing what he said was true. "Well, that's up to her if she wants. If she asks me about you, I'm not gonna play wingman though."

After she'd gone around to greet everyone, she came back to the table. Shinpachi was the only one remaining there. "Ah, Nagakura-san, where did they go?"

"They got up for some more drinks." He shrugged, drinking the rest of his beer. "Can I buy you a drink?"

She quickly shook her head. "Oh, no thank you. I'm not much of a drinker." She had some interesting habits when she was drunk, like biting the person next to her, so she'd rather not drink in a public setting and cause a disturbance.

She and Shinpachi made more conversation, both trying to find out as much as they could about each other before the night ended.

—

"Heisuke-kun?" Etsu knocked on the open door to his shared office. "I brought you, Harada-san and Nagakura-san some lunch…I was hoping we could eat together…"

More like with just Shinpatsu-san. "I'm a little busy, so I'll eat here, you can ask Sano-san and Shinpatsu-san. They usually hang out in Sano-san's office for lunch. Thanks, Etsu." Heisuke grinned, peeking inside his bento, his favorite onigiri! You owe me, Shinpatsu-san.

Etsu wished him luck and skipped to Harada-san's office, hoping she'd see a certain reddish-brown haired man. Her heart fluttered at the thought of him in his green scrubs, his arms completely exposed for her to admire. Ah, he looked so strong…to be in those arms…what would it feel like?

"Oh? Miura-chan, come in." Sanosuke welcomed her in. "Lunch again? Thanks, Miura-chan. Eating a home-cooked meal is definitely better than going down to the cafeteria to eat." He gave her a warm smile. She'd been coming nearly everyday for a month after they'd met.

"It's no trouble! C-can I ask where Nagakura-san is?" She placed his bento box on his desk.

Sanosuke suspected that this excuse of bringing them lunch was an attempt to woo Shinpachi. Well, he did believe in the saying, "the way to man's heart is through his stomach." She was definitely interested in him, but wasn't confident enough in proclaiming her feelings in an assertive way. She was waiting for Shinpachi to make the first move, but the guy could be kind of dense. He internally sighed, there he goes again, analyzing people and playing matchmaker. "He's probably at the gym. You can check there."

Her smile brightened. "Thank you, Harada-san!" She heard him bark another word of thanks before she dashed to the elevator.

Her face ran smack dab into someone's firm chest. "Oh, watch out there!" She felt a strong arm wrap around her waist to keep her from falling backwards.

Her light brown eyes looked up, meeting blue ones, a blush immediately spread across her face. "N-Nagakura-san!"

"Ah! Etsu-chan!" Shinpachi grinned at her. "Ran right into me, where were you off to in such a hurry?"

"…I brought you lunch. Harada-san and Heisuke-kun are too busy today to eat together today." Honestly, she wasn't too disappointed about that.

They wound up going outside to sit on a bench to enjoy their lunch in the nice weather. It was spring, the cherry blossoms were in bloom, the cold weather was subtly disappearing.

"Pita pocket sandwiches?! Etsu-chan, you're too good to me!" Shinpachi immediately took a bite as soon as it was in his hands. "You're helping me watch my calorie count too!"

Etsu blushed at his compliments, hiding behind her pink scarf. "I heard from Heisuke-kun that you keep track of what you eat…"

He nodded eagerly. "I'm kinda trying a new thing. I'm making myself go through different diets to recommend to my patients, since there are some that might be allergic or have difficulty of thinking of dishes to eat that fit into their calorie count." Shinpachi grinned and placed his hand on her head. "Thanks, really, all this month, you've given me a different dish to try. I've written them down in some of my meal plans for my patients."

This time, she buried her face in her hands. "Y-you're welcome, Nagakura-san." Yet another thing to admire about him, how dedicated he was to helping others.

Shinpachi took one of her hands in his, pulling it away from her face to stare into her eyes. He took a deep breath. "…So…um, well, I don't want you getting the wrong idea or anything that it's just for the food or anything, but I really enjoy talking to you, Etsu."

Etsu lowered her other hand and looked up at him, tilting her head in slight confusion. "Nagakura-san?"

"Will you go out with me?"

Blink. Once, twice. What?

Did she hear him correctly?

"…That is if you're interested! If you don't wanna go on a date with me, that's fine too…" He rubbed the back of his neck, his cheeks dusted with a light pink. "…But I…really like you, ya know…"

"You…like me?"

Shinpachi looked back at her, her light brown eyes were wide. He set his sandwich down and took both of her hands in his. "Of course! I really like you! So…will you go on a date with me this Friday?"

His large hands made hers feel so small…She honestly couldn't believe what was going on. Why? Why did he like her?

But hell, she was going to go for it. She was interested in him, she liked him too.

Shinpachi grew nervous, the more the silence dragged on.

"…Yes, Friday sounds great, Nagakura-san!" She gave his hands a light squeeze, smiling slightly at him.