I feel like Rima's been glaring at me more today. More than the average amount of twenty glares per day, at least.

At first, I was kind of confused as to why her I-hate-you-Nagihiko-please-go-die levels suddenly went so much higher than normal, especially since we seemed to be getting along pretty fine on the bus yesterday. Well, we got along pretty fine as in she didn't glare at me for an entire five minutes.

She's even the one who invited me for parfaits (for the second time!), too. Even though I'm going to be paying for—um—everything, like I did last time, it's still pretty nice finding out that she actually somewhat enjoys my presence.

But then I realized that the influx of her I-hate-you-Nagihiko-please-go-die levels might've been caused by what I told her yesterday as she got off the bus.

"I'd never forget a date with you."

I still don't know what prompted me to say something like that to her, but her reaction to it was both terrifying and hilarious. I knew from the moment I saw her expression that I was mostly likely going to get brutally attacked and possibly murdered by the fanboys she'll unleash upon me the next day. But at the same time, the pure surprise on her face convinced me that it was worth it.

I almost laugh in the middle of the Guardian meeting from that memory.

Speaking of Rima, I think she heard my attempt to smother up my laughter—I guess that's to be expected, since her seat is beside mine in the Royal Garden—as she sends me another one of her signature death glares.

"What are you laughing about?" she hisses.

"I wasn't laughing." I innocently tilt my head. "Why would I be laughing?"

She snorts, turning her attention back to Tadase, who's leading the discussion.

I quietly sigh, eager for this Guardian meeting to be over. I still make sure to look like I'm paying attention to what Tadase's talking about, even though my thoughts are completely elsewhere.

Almost instinctively, my eyes dart to catch a glimpse of Rima from the edge of my vision. She's seated neatly on the chair, eyes closed as she elegantly takes a sip of her tea.

I blink with a small shake my head. I need to stop looking at her so much. I'm pretty sure Amu's already noticed how often my gaze and attention gets drawn towards Rima.

And as if I called it down upon myself, Amu catches my gaze and grins. I look away with a slight roll of my eyes before I quickly scan the room to make sure nobody noticed Amu's very conspicuous smile.

Luckily though, Rima's boredly eating a tea biscuit, and Yaya's head is buried in her arms in what appears to be a nap. I suppress a sigh of a relief. Yeah, I really need to stop looking at Rima so much. Especially if I want Amu to stop being so obvious.

I'm already going to be spending most of my afternoon with Rima after school today anyways.

A smile fights its way onto my face at that thought, but I quickly subdue it. As happy as I feel about my upcoming plans, people are definitely going to question me if they see me smiling to myself during a Guardian meeting about the school's trash disposal issue.

I force my attention back to what Tadase's saying. He's talking about brainstorming ways we can encourage students to sort their waste. Sometimes, I wonder how he's able to be so dedicated to Guardian activities. Lots of people consider me to be really responsible and hardworking, but even I'd find it hard to spend fifty minutes non stop talking about trash disposal.

Tadase straightens his thick stack of paper. "Okay, and that should be all for today."

"Oh, are we done?" Yaya lifts her head from her arms, blinking rapidly. It wouldn't be surprising if she slept through the entire meeting. "But Tadase, what's that stack of paper for? It's big and thick and heavy and scary-looking."

"Yeah, I'm kind of curious too actually," Amu says. "You always come to Guardian meetings with it while we never bring anything."

"Oh." Tadase sheepishly looks down at the stack of paper in his hands. "It's all blank. I just bring it around to look cool and responsible and stuff." He hastily shoves them into his schoolbag. "That's not important though. The next meeting is in two days. Bye!" He quickly runs out of the Royal Garden.

Amu confusedly blinks at Tadase's retreating figure. "That's, uh... interesting..." She shrugs and picks up her schoolbag. "Anyways, Yaya and I need to go now so we'll be leaving. See you tomorrow!"

"Bye Rima! Bye Nagi!" Yaya calls as she and Amu leave the Royal Garden, but not before Amu can look back and give me a final smirk. I return that with the most unamused facial expression I can physically make.

A few moments later, and it's just me and Rima left in the Royal Garden. She didn't seem to notice the exchange of facial expressions between me and Amu as she takes a last sip of her tea. Then she gingerly sets down her empty teacup and a soft, delicate clink echoes from it.

It's a pretty interesting contrast, seeing her handle something so gently and with care as opposed to the cold, indifferent way she treats me. When there isn't a murderous intent burning in her eyes, she has an air that's almost fragile. But I don't think she'll ever look at me with anything but a killing intent, I remark with an inward chuckle.

"Let's go." She rises from her seat and makes her way towards the exit. "The parfait shop I want to go to today is kind of far. It's at the plaza."

I catch up with her. "We're not going to the one near the school?"

"We went there last time, remember? It's boring going to the same place every time. I want to try something else."

"If you really want to go to new places," I say, "we could make this a thing, and try to visit every parfait shop in the city by the end of the year."

I listen to my own words echo in my head, intrigued by them.

I just straight up verbalized an idea that I just came up with right in the moment, with an impulse that was almost uncharacteristic. On a careless whim that didn't care about the consequences or implications its actions might cause. A whim that followed emotions and feelings rather than logic and careful thought—one that does things just for fun, just like Rhythm does.

When I'm with her, it sometimes feels like I become a prolonged Character Changed version of myself.

She raises an eyebrow with mild interest. "How many bus tickets would you have to borrow from me in order for that to happen?"

"It doesn't have to be bus tickets. We could go just for fun."

"Well, if you don't mind paying for every single parfait we buy, then go ahead." Rima smiles sweetly.

I smile back. "Of course."

"It's usually the guy who pays for the date, after all."

I almost say it, but I manage to bite it back. God, there should be a limit to how Rhythm-like I'm allowed to be. Besides, what I said about dates yesterday probably triggered her enough already.

As we walk past the school gates, my attention gets seized by the bright red-and-white bus that drives by us on the road.

"We're going to miss the bus," Rima says, worry making her voice a slight pitch higher than normal. She breaks into a run, and I follow.

Our bus stop's located only a couple of blocks down the sidewalk, but the bus is already there, rumbling to a halt. I can make out just three or four people waiting at the stop—definitely not enough to buy us the time to reach it.

I shoot a quick backwards glance at my Guardian Character. "Rhythm!"

Rhythm flashes an eager grin. "Okay!"

A small pop sounds out as his signature blue headphones materialize around my neck. Then a split second later, I go from sprinting across the sidewalk to practically shooting across it with a rush of unnatural speed.

"Wait, Nagihiko!" Rima shouts, but her voice is already blurring past me along with the landscape. In a matter of heartbeats, I'm at the bus stop, skidding to a standstill.

The bus's doors had just swung open, waiting as some passengers get off the bus. Well, they were getting off, but now all the people around me are just frozen in the middle of whatever they were doing, bewildered stares fixed on me.

Rhythm, please don't embarrass me.

I walk to stand right in front of bus's open doors and lock eyes with the driver. Even though I'm slightly panting, a pleased smirk forms on my face. "Too slow."

Why does Rhythm find it necessary to do this? I don't even know.

But I guess he could've made me do something a lot more absurd, like challenging the bus to a race or something. Thinking about it, that's actually a very plausible scenario, since he has a tendency get way too extra for my liking whenever he has a bit of fun.

The bus driver's staring at me, eyes wide with a bit of confusion and a lot of "what the hell did I just witness?"

"So, uh," he finally says nervously, "are you going to get on?"

Thankfully, Rhythm ends the Character Change before he makes me do something even more crazy and frighten the poor bus driver even more.

"Oh—I'm so sorry. I'll wait for the passengers to get off first." I hastily step to the side and the people resume getting off the bus, although some of them continue to keep their gazes fixed on me with baffled expressions.

I look back at Rima. She's still three or four blocks away from the bus stop, but now she's walking instead of running. And I think she's glaring at me. So my deduction is that she may or may not have become very ticked at me for Character Changing and leaving her behind like that. Oops.

"Sorry sir, but would it be fine if you waited a minute for my friend to catch up?" I give the bus driver a polite smile, hoping to make up for the sassy, brash first impression of myself that Rhythm created.

"S-Sure." The bus driver slowly nods.

"Thank you so much." I dip my head in gratitude, dropping a bus ticket into the fare box.

As we wait for Rima to catch up, the driver's nervously eyeing me, as if expecting me to suddenly snap and flip over the bus or something. I guess that's understandable—especially considering the fact that I dashed into the scene with a level of speed that was probably abnormal for a human being.

Rhythm and his wildness is going to be the death of me someday.

Fortunately for the bus driver, it doesn't take too long for Rima to catch up. She pays, and we enter the bus as I apologize to the bus driver for making him wait. I kind of want to apologize for possibly traumatizing him too.

"Okay," Rima says as finds a seat in the back. "How about you never leave me alone like that again?"

I sit down in the seat across from her. "What do you mean?"

"When we were running. What do you think?" She lets out an angry huff, staring down at my feet. She looks very tempted to kick my shin. "Do you know how stupid I look when I run? I only started running because I thought you'd be running with me. Not fly off and leave me to run alone by myself like an idiot."

I can't help but laugh. Really hard. Rima hisses and actually kicks my shin, but it only makes me laugh harder.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I don't even know why that was so funny." I manage to control my laughter, but a bit of it still comes out as snickers as I speak. "But we wouldn't have made the bus otherwise."

"I don't mind waiting," Rima says stubbornly.

I sigh with good-natured frustration. "You know, this bus comes once every half hour."

"So?"

"And you're not allowed to get home too late, correct?"

"Not really, I guess." Rima shrugs.

"And we already came out later than normal," I point out, "since we had another Guardian meeting today." Rima's sulky expression fades into understanding and a bit of surprise.

"Well... okay fine." She makes a frustrated sigh. "Yes, it would've been really annoying if we missed the bus. Happy?"

"So am I forgiven for leaving you?" I ask with a smile.

"Nope."

"I'll buy you more parfaits?"

Rima smirks, playfully pretending to consider giving me forgiveness. "Maybe."

"Knew it." I grin. "I've figured out your pattern, Rima."

"Oh no." She rolls her eyes. "And I thought I'd hidden it so well."

"You just can't beat my amazing observation skills, unfortunately for you—"

"Fortunately for me, that means more free parfaits," she says smugly, cutting me off.

I raise an eyebrow, making sure to match her in smugness. "I thought that was where it was fortunate for me."

She slightly frowns. "Do you actually enjoy spending money like this?"

"Well, I never really go out anyways." I hesitate, wondering if I should mention that the main reason is because it means I get to spend time with her—something that I struggle with obtaining because of her wary parents, as well as the normally aloof attitude she has towards me.

But within the past two days, I've figured out that her I-hate-you-Nagihiko-please-go-die levels tend to sharply rise if I let my Rhythm instinct take over too much. I think I'll give her a break.

"Next stop: Cephie Plaza."

I press the stop button. The bus ride this time felt shorter than normal. Rima and I exit the bus and walk to the plaza. The parfait shop's pretty easy to find—bubbly, lively white and blue amidst the mature greys and browns of banks, convenience stores, and the supermarket.

A soft chime rings through the room as we enter the shop.

"Welcome!" A cheerful voice immediately greets us. It belongs to a girl who's waiting at the counter. I notice how she's wearing a scarf even though she's indoors. Interesting.

Without delay, Rima makes her way to the display of parfaits beside the counter, carefully examining each one with an intriguing level of intensity. I guess it's just something she's passionate about, just like comedy or gag manga.

I idly walk behind her to look at the variety of parfaits as well. All of them have bright colours and elaborate toppings. The matcha one looks pretty nice in particular.

"Matcha," Rima suddenly says, firmly. "I want matcha."

I nod, amused, as I pull out my wallet and go to the counter. "Two matcha parfaits, please."

"Sure!" The girl gives me my change before proceeding to make our parfaits. Rima walks over to stand beside me as we wait. She narrows her eyes as she watches the parfait girl take out two cups, both of them with the green matcha label.

"Stop copying me," Rima mutters.

"Hey, I wanted matcha too." I shrug. "Maybe we're just into the same things."

Rima makes an indignant hmph. "That's not true, because I'm not into crossdressing like you are."

"You're never going to let that go, are you?" I sigh.

"Nope." She smiles at me, although the malicious aura that emanates from her is pretty noticeable.

The parfait girl holds up two matcha parfaits. "Here you go!"

We thank her, taking the parfaits before finding a table at the back to sit at. We eat in silence, and I watch as she takes bites out of her parfait with an almost childlike happiness. Once again, my mind absentmindedly wonders what it'd be like to be treated that warmly by her.

"Rima, why do you hate me so much?" I ask, half-teasing, but also half-curious. From what I've seen so far, I seem to be the only person who she glares at with so much... passion.

She frowns. "You're just... different."

I chuckle. "Is that different in a good way or a bad way?"

"Hm. Mediocre."

"Care to elaborate?"

Rima looks at me thoughtfully. "You're the only one who's able to annoy me so much. And so often." She pauses. "But... it's not that bad, really."

"Hm," I say. "So does that mean I should try annoy you more?"

Her expression immediately hardens into her typical glare. "There's only so much I can tolerate before I unleash my army of fanboys upon you to deliver my wrath."

"Oh god." I have way too many memories of Rima's fanboys dangerously glowering at me whenever I'm seen with her. It's kind of scary how often I see them, actually. "Anything but that, please."

"Good." Rima smiles, looking quite satisfied. Then she sets down down her spoon, slightly leaning forward. "Now, can I ask you a question?"

"Hm?"

"Were you Character Changed?" She gazes at me steadily. Strangely, it's not a look of irritation or spite. Instead, her eyes are searching, like she's genuinely seeking an answer.

"'Character Changed'?" I blink, instinctively feigning confusion. But I'm pretty sure I already know what she's referring to. "You mean..."

"When I was getting off the bus," she says, eyes flickering to the side for a split second, almost like she's flustered mentioning it. If she is, she's hiding it well. "The stupid thing you said."

"Oh." I slightly smile. "No, I wasn't Character Changed. It was me."

Rima looks at me, and then lets out a small groan. "Your Guardian Character's a shameless flirt, but I didn't know that you were, too."

"It was the perfect opportunity, though." I laugh. "Sorry, but it was just too tempting."

She rolls her eyes. "You're becoming more and more like Rhythm each day."

"I know. It's unhealthy," I say with a sigh. "Help me, Rima."

"Hey!" Rhythm floats down to pout at us. "Don't say it like it's a bad thing!"

I glare at him. "How is it a good thing?"

Rhythm smugly grins at me. "Well, I'm popular with the girls."

"We clearly have different priorities here," I mutter.

"Nagihiko's already popular with girls though," Rima says, matter-of-factly. "He has a fanclub with like three million members. Although I'm pretty sure that at least a third of them are guys."

"Uh... I think they just mistake me for Nadeshiko," I say with a small laugh. "And I don't really care about being popular."

"As long as one girl likes you, then you're fine, right?" Rima says, head tilted slightly. I just blink at her for a few moments, taken aback by how straightforwardly she said it.

"You still remember that?" I finally ask. We had the exact same conversation a few months ago, after our graduation ceremony. It was a pretty nice one.

I think that was when I started looking at Rima more.

"Of course." Rima smiles. "All the more to blackmail you with." Despite what she's saying, her smile's actually... friendly. It's the warm smile that always makes me feel like it was worth it to endure the usual coldness she treats me with, if it meant that I could see it.

Something inside of me stops thinking rationally.

"I never said who she was," I say. I gaze at her, searching the depths of her eyes for some kind of answer. Or a response.

"I don't want to know," she scoffs, but her eyes darts away hesitantly. Anxiously.

"I'm not ready to know."

The unspoken words that linger in the hush after that is pretty clear. That's understandable, especially with the way she responded to Kirishima's confession last year.

She's not ready for any of this yet. I need to give her more time.

"Sorry." I lean back in my chair, stretching. "That was too sudden."

Rima continues staring at me. "She's not Amu, right?"

It's my turn to be surprised. I thought she'd be relieved for me to stop, but now, she's the one who's venturing into this topic.

"She's... not Amu." I hold her gaze.

Rima doesn't break contact, and then that's when the rational part of me comes to its senses—panicked and disgruntled.

I told myself last night that I wouldn't do anything rash when we go out for parfaits the next day. To not do anything that'd make Rima feel uncomfortable—especially if I wanted to continue doing things like this with her.

Why can I never stop myself from showing my feelings around her?

I'm stupid.

Then, suddenly, Rima's expression becomes amused. "Eat your parfait. You've barely eaten it."

"Oh—" I blink, then look down. She's right. It's barely half done.

"You're so bad." Rima rolls her eyes, but a teasing smile remains on her face. "If you don't finish it, I'm going to get mad."

I slowly eat a spoonful of my parfait.

"I'm the one who bought it though," I mutter, taking another bite.

"Don't waste food," she says simply, holding up her empty parfait cup. "See? I'm already done."

It doesn't take too long for me to finish my parfait. I look back up at Rima, who's idly scrolling through her phone. Then it rings, and she quickly answers it. "Hello?"

I pick up both empty parfait cups make my way towards the trash can.

"Nagi, that was so smooth," Rhythms whispers to me, grinning. "I'm proud of you."

"Thanks, I guess." I stare down at the empty cups. "I hope she doesn't hate me after this, though. She's the one who changed the topic."

"Nah. If anything, she just didn't know how to react to it." Rhythm gives me a thumbs up. "I'm getting good vibes, trust me. I'm a pro at this type of stuff."

I let out a huff. "If you say so, you stupid flirt..."

When I return to the table, Rima has all her things packed, her schoolbag swung across her shoulder. "Sorry, I need to go now." She tucks her phone into her pocket. "My mother's waiting outside."

"Oh, okay." I smile, even though can't help but feel a small stone of disappointment form inside of me. "See you tomorrow."

Rima regards me curiously for a second, and then smiles back.

"I said you were a mediocre kind of different," she says, "but you're actually above mediocre."

I blink, confused. But before I can say anything else, she runs out of the parfait shop.

What does that even mean?

*The "as long as one girl likes you" conversation thing refers a part in the Shugo Chara manga (last chapter), where before the wedding, Rima and Nagihiko are talking and that topic is brought up.

Thanks for reading! Any reviews/feedback would really mean a lot to me. Hope you enjoyed!