The next morning Souji was on his way to school, the mid July heat already suffocating the small town of Inaba. He listened to the chatter of the students around him, some planning out what to do after school, others complaining about school, but most of it was about the recent murder of his homeroom teacher, Kinshiro Morooka. He wasn't the most likeable guy around, but to know someone that was murdered is still pretty nerve-wracking.

Then he remembered his new homeroom teacher, Noriko Kashiwagi. Souji couldn't help but cringe at the thought of her. She always gave him this look in class that made him feel as if a thousand showers would never make him clean…

"Hey! Wait up!"

Souji spun around to see a boy with wild hair and a pair of headphones around his neck run up to him, his backpack bouncing around.

"Dude, didn't you hear me call you? I was yelling so much that everyone except you was staring at me!" the boy panted as they continued up the hill to school.

"Sorry, Yosuke, I was just thinking about something," Souji said with a sheepish grin.

"You're always thinking about something. If it's not school, it's shadows, if it's not shadows, it's a club, if it's not—"

"Alright, alright, I get it, I can't help that I'm always busy!"

Yosuke sighed. "I just don't get how you can balance so much stuff all at once. Oh well, at least you don't have a girlfriend to worry about."

Souji snickered. "Yeah, that'll throw off the balance of everything."

Inside his head he was apologizing to Yukiko for saying such a thing.

--

"Oh, there they are!"

Yukiko was already sitting at her desk talking with her best friend, a girl with short, light-brown hair and a green track jacket wrapped around her waist. It was her friend who had called out Souji's and Yosuke's arrival.

"Hey, g'morning you two," Yosuke greeted the two girls as he sat down at his own desk. Souji did the same and sat in the desk in front of Yosuke's. He noticed that Yukiko was looking at him intently, and he shot her a look to hint at her to not look suspicious. She shook her head back to reality and tried to act as natural as possible.

"S-so, um, Chie, are you busy today? Why don't we, um, do something after school?" she said, an unnatural smile plastered to her face. Her friend gave her a strange look.

"Uh, Yukiko? Don't you have work at the inn today? You're usually busy on Fridays," Chie reminded her flustered friend.

"Huh? Oh, right, sorry Chie, we'll just have to hang out another time," Yukiko said with nervous laughter. She quickly turned to sit forward in her chair, worried that she had overdone acting casual. Chie, however, got up and stood by her friend, placing her hand over her forehead.

"You seem a bit warm, maybe you caught a summer cold? You'd better go see the school nurse."

"I-I'm fine, Chie! Don't worry about it," Yukiko said quickly, her face burning a brighter red. "I'll be okay, I just—"

Just then Kashiwagi entered the room causing all the students to rush to their seats. Souji smiled to himself as he caught a glimpse of his girlfriend's face.

I guess red really does suit her, he thought idly to himself as his teacher began to take roll.

--

Lunch time came, and by then the classroom was broiling the students alive. Souji was about to get out of his seat when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket.

"Let's have lunch on the roof together," the message read. His eyes lit up when he saw that Yukiko was the sender and looked up in time to see her pocket her own cell phone and leave the classroom with her boxed lunch in hand. Souji clicked his phone shut and headed for the hallway where he was stopped by the newest member of his group of friends, the pop idol Rise Kujikawa.

"Senpai, are you busy today? Let's go shopping after school!" she said as she bounced happily on her toes. Before he could reply she had already skipped off, only to have her spot refilled by another student.

"Hey, wanna train today? We have to be in top condition to beat shadows, right?" Chie left to find a place to eat, leaving Souji to contemplate working today or hanging out with his friends. As he turned toward the stairs yet another student approached him.

"Let's grab something to eat at Junes later, huh? My treat!" Yosuke said as he passed by without stopping. When he felt that it was okay for him to move, Souji made his way up the stairs to the roof where he found Yukiko sitting alone with her lunch box in her lap.

"Sorry I'm late, I hope you weren't waiting too long," he said as he took a seat next to her. The sun's heat was worse up here than inside and there was no breeze to cut through the thick humidity. He flapped his collar a bit for a little air flow.

"Oh, not at all! Actually, I'm sorry I made such a commotion this morning, and sorry for asking you to join me on such a hot day," she said as she opened her lunch box. Inside was some slightly mushy rice and what looked like an attempt at octopus weeners.

"I hope it came out okay," she said as she pulled out her chop sticks. "The head chef showed me how to cut them to look like octopi, but—" she tried to explain, but Souji had already grabbed one that resembled a massacred sea cucumber and popped it in his mouth. She watched as his face pulled into some interesting looks.

"Another failure, I suppose," she said glumly as she shut the box. Souji finished eating the strangely-cut hot dog and said, "You know, it's unhealthy to apologize too much. Actually, it wasn't so bad. Maybe a little undercooked, but it was much better than that first omelet."

"R-Really?" she asked softly, and he nodded as he took the lunch box from her. He reopened it, took up her chop sticks and picked up another one of the massacred sea cucumbers.

"Here," he said as he held it up to her. "Ah…"

Yukiko took one good look at his face and started to snicker. Souji had his mouth wide open when he offered her the tiny morsel and she couldn't help but laugh at how cute he looked.

"Pfft… Souji-kun… your face…" she gasped between laughs. He soon realized how ridiculous he looked and laughed along with her. When she finally calmed down she opened her mouth to try her own cooking.

"Oh, you're right! It's not as bad as I thought," she said thoughtfully as Souji tried some of her rice.

"Told you so. Nngh!" Souji choked on the small chunk of rice he tried, but when he bit down on it he discovered something incredibly hard inside. Only some of the rice was mushy while the rest was solid from being overcooked. Yukiko took the chop sticks and poked at her own rice.

"Whoops, I guess I took so much time working on the hot dogs that I completely forgot about the rice!" she explained as Souji struggled with the rice. They eventually decided to toss out the rice after they finished the octopus weeners.

"Thanks, Yukiko-san. You've really improved," he said as he stood up.

"You're welcome, but hot dogs usually come prepared, so it doesn't really count," she replied as she put the lunch box away.

"I dunno, it still requires some work to cook those things."

"Yeah, I guess. Either way, I'm glad we were able to spend some time like this," she smiled as she stood up.

"Me too, but if we're going to keep our relationship quiet, we probably can't do this very often," he said with a frown.

"That's true. I'm fine as long as we can spend even a little time together."

Souji felt a bit of sadness from her words. He knew that she didn't mind him spending time with their other friends, or him working whenever he had extra time, but just knowing that they couldn't spend much time together was what hurt most. He watched as she strode over to the side of the roof and look out over the small town.

"Yukiko-san?"

"It really is beautiful, isn't it? I'm glad I decided not to leave."

She whirled around to face him, a smile on her face. "Next time we get to eat lunch again, I'll make you something even better! Then you'll have something to look forward to."

Souji chuckled. "I always look forward to spending time with you," he said as he walked up to her. "But I guess food helps."

He brushed her bangs away as he planted a small kiss on her forehead. When he stepped away she was blushing again. He moved toward the exit, leaving her standing frozen to the spot.

"By the way," he called out as he reached for the door handle, "That's for yesterday."

She remained on the roof until her face finally returned to normal.

--

After school Yukiko quickly left to help out at her family's inn. Chie got up and decided to walk her friend home, while Yosuke went to answer his cell phone. When he returned he told Souji that he wasn't able to hang out that day due to his father needing more workers at Junes.

"I guess I'll get you that steak another time. See ya!" Yosuke said as he slung his bag over his shoulder and left. Souji eventually took up his school bag and left his classroom, almost running into a very large girl with short brown hair.

"Oh, Hanako-san, sorry," he said as he squeezed past her large frame. The girl watched him dreamily as he descended the stairs. He looked around the first floor and spotted Rise eyeing the fire alarm.

"No, I shouldn't touch it," he heard her mumble to herself. "I'm an idol, and I should be setting a good example…"

"Then let's remove all temptation by going on that shopping trip?" Souji offered, startling the young girl.

"Oh, Senpai! You saw that?" she said with a guilty smile. The two left the school to explore what the neighboring city had to offer.

--

"So, what was the deal with this morning?"

Chie and Yukiko were walking briskly towards the Amagi Inn with Chie interrogating her friend the entire way. Yukiko was walking as fast as she could to avoid the questions.

"I'm sure it was just as you said, Chie," she replied without looking at her friend. "A slight fever was probably all it was."

"Are you sure? You seemed fine before, so—"

The girl in red was growing tired of her friend's questions but was pleased to see her concern for her well being. "Chie, I'm fine, really. Don't worry so much about it."

She smiled at Chie who continued to look at her with furrowed eyebrows. With a sigh she admitted defeat and her eyebrows relaxed.

"I'm sorry, Yukiko, it's just that, after I learned how you really felt when you got thrown into the TV, I just…"

Yukiko slowed her pace to listen to her best friend. "Chie…"

The short-haired girl eventually slowed her pace to a stop. "…I just felt so bad that even though you're my best friend, I had no idea what you were going through."

Yukiko put her hands on Chie's shoulders. "Chie, that was a long time ago. I don't feel that way anymore."

"I know, but since then I promised myself that I wouldn't let you feel like that ever again."

"Oh Chie, since then I haven't felt like that at all. You've done a great job in protecting me," Yukiko reassured her friend. "I'm sorry if I worried you, but don't worry—nothing's wrong with me."

I guess keeping our relationship secret is more difficult for me than it is for Souji-kun, she thought to herself as she gave her friend a hug. Chie, forgive me for not saying anything. I'm just not ready for everyone to know about us yet.

"I know how to make it up to you," she said as she pulled away from her friend. "Tonight they're serving barbecue to our guests and our head chef usually has me try some. If you like, we can get a few skewers to see if you like it; he's always looking for new opinions."

Chie's face quickly lit up at her friend's offer and agreed to try some. As they continued towards Yukiko's inn they talked more about the topic, understanding more and more about each other. Yukiko was truly glad to have such an amazing friend, and just as happy that she had such an understanding boyfriend who helped her realize that moving away was possibly one of the worst decisions she could have regretted.

--

Author's note: I am still taking suggestions. Thank you to those who sent me suggestions! I already know what to do with a few of them! I promise that it'll get a little more interesting later. Thank you all again!