"Kyoko?" Up until that point, the ride back to the flat had been silent. She turned to him, her eyes had dried and she looked thoughtful.

"Yes?" To her credit, her voice didn't even crack. If he didn't know any better he would say that she was calm and happy and today was a normal day. For a second he wondered if that was a result of her acting, then tried to shake himself to get himself back on track.

"Do you still want to stop by the supermarket to pick up something to eat?"

She looked surprised for a brief second and then quickly agreed. She had forgotten that she agreed to fix him some breakfast, but really it would be lunch by now. Brunch, if you were being generous.

Kyoko mused that this meant she should probably fix something like sandwiches, which would require some bread and deli meats and she should probably make a salad to go with it with tomatoes and cucumbers. She tried to remember if there was anything he didn't like to eat, but couldn't stay focused.

She went back over the events in the last couple hours. This was the second time in her life that so much had changed in so little time. She felt like in some way she had betrayed the owner's faith in her. Not to mention, she had promised herself that she wasn't going to fall in love again, so what exactly was her behaviour last night? It was obvious that she was already head over heels for him. This was a nightmare. Nothing good ever comes from falling in love.

"We're here." Ren announced as he turned the engine of and looked at her with concern. Probably trying to decide whether she was calm enough to come into the store. "I can just go in and grab a few things while you wait in the car if you want."

She didn't look at him but replied, "No, it's fine, I'll come in with you." The fact that she didn't want to meet his eyes hurt him and he swallowed painfully. She was so precious to him and he had gone and ruined everything.

They got out of the car and Ren grabbed a basket as they walked through the automatic doors into the freezing grocery store. Kyoko probably would have wrapped her arms around her at the cold if good posture weren't so deeply ingrained in her.

"I was thinking we should have sandwiches since it's already past noon. If that's alright with you." She was oddly polite as if he were a customer or something.

"Yeah, that sounds good. I have some bread back at the flat, but we could pick up some ham and lettuce. What kind of sandwiches do you like?"

"Ham would be perfectly acceptable." Ren was starting to grow seriously concerned as Kyoko attempted to distance herself even further from him. What happened to the girl that was laughing at him for looking like a puppy just that morning?

Meanwhile, Kyoko was desperately trying to reel in her emotions and gain control of the situation. She had decided that she would make lunch as agreed, but after that, her relationship with Tsuruga-senpai would need to return to the way they were before. She couldn't afford to be falling in love right now, and certainly not with someone so high-profile. What if that lady that had seen them that morning had been a reporter or something? That would have ruined his reputation.

She picked out the ingredients with efficiency and Ren payed for them. Then they returned to the flat as Ren tried to figure out what to say to her.

When Kyoko stepped through the threshold, she nearly dropped the groceries as the reality of what had transpired here came back in full force. She remembered his warm breath as he whispered, "I love you." She remembered the look on his face as he kissed her skin and the feel of him around her and inside her. In the light of the afternoon, in the clean kitchen, it felt unbearably awkward and embarrassing. The fact that she had wanted it enough to think she was dreaming was a whole other can of worms entirely. Her face was probably a thousand shades of red as she set the groceries on the counter that she had been having sex on the night before. The word "sex" seemed so detached from herself that it was strange to even think it.

Ren had already started taking out plates and slices of bread to start making his sandwich. He reached into the bag in front of her and the rustling broke her out of her thoughts. She looked up at him without thinking and their eyes met. She blushed even more if that was possible, and Ren startled into blushing, too, when he realized why. He tried to cough to cover his embarrassment and Kyoko schooled her expression back into that of a hostess at an inn.

He stared at the counter a bit and then asked, "Do you want to make our sandwiches in the living room instead?" She nodded agreeably and placed the food on a tray before quietly moving to the living room, setting the tray down gracefully as she sat and began making a sandwich. He followed after her and started eating while considering what to say.

Ren's phone suddenly started ringing, making both of them jump. Ren picked up and answered with practised ease. Yashiro greeted him on the other end. "So, how was your celebration with Mogami-san last night?"

Ren cringed a little, not sure how to respond. He must have waited too long because Yashiro picked up on the weird mood. "What's wrong, normally you would be all gentlemanly denying it at this point. What happened?"

Ren glanced at Kyoko who had just started eating her sandwich, paying no attention to him, then stood and walked to his bedroom for some more privacy. "Ren? You still there?"

"Yes, Yashiro-san."

"Then what happened?"

"Kyoko came over last night…" Ren started then realized something. "Yashiro-san, you wouldn't happen to be the one that asked her to do that, would you?!"

Yashiro was considering that maybe he shouldn't incriminate himself, because it doesn't sound like it turned out well, but there's was no point since it was pretty obvious he was the mastermind. "I asked her to fix you some dinner so you two could celebrate together."

Ren tried to remember his gentlemanly facade, but Yashiro was testing his patience. "Unfortunately, I was unaware that I would be receiving company and was not at my best when Kyoko came over."

"'Kyoko'? When did you start calling her 'Kyoko'?" Yashiro was confused now. Did something good happen or not? Ren made it sound like something bad might have happened, but if he was calling her Kyoko now, then it couldn't really be all that bad, could it?

"I'm sorry, I meant Mogami-san."

"You don't have to apologize to me!"

"In any case, did you have some business with me?"

"I just wanted to check in and see how last night went, but you're free for the next couple days since the shooting is over and your next job doesn't start for a few days, so enjoy the free time while it lasts, I guess."

"If that's all, then…"

"Wait! You didn't tell me what happened!" Yashiro practically whined through the phone.

"I will let you know if it concerns you." With that, Ren hung up on his decidedly nosy manager. Why did he always have to try and meddle?

Ren walked back into the living room and collapsed onto the couch, not caring about his image. Kyoko noticed how frazzled he looked and felt bad for not noticing before how he might feel about this whole situation.

"Tsuruga-senpai? I think we need to talk about what to do next." In that moment, Kyoko gained Ren's full attention, and she felt her heart rate increase as she continued. "I don't have any intention of telling anyone about what happened last night and I think that returning to our senpai kouhai relationship is the best solution."

"Are you saying we should pretend it never happened?" His heart squeezed a little, remembering her sleeping form curled next to him juxtaposed to the girl sitting in front of him, talking about being with him as if it was some stain that she's decided to cover up since she can't get it out. "Was it really that awful?" He knew he had no right to ask her that, but he couldn't help himself.

Now Kyoko was confused because surely he would want to pretend it never happened more than anyone. "It's not a matter of whether it was awful or not."

"So why do you want to forget about it so badly?"

"What else would you have us do?"

"Well, I was thinking we could start dating." He tried to sound confident, but he was panicking at where this was going. He couldn't even look her in the eye as he said it, but when she didn't respond immediately, he glanced at her. She looked horrified like he just said he killed her dog or something.

"What in the world are you thinking!? Do you know what it would do to your career if the tabloids got ahold of it!? The fans you would lose if they knew you were dating and dating a newbie, nonetheless! There would be angry mobs with pitchforks!" She could almost sense the angry waves now. Her time in middle school with Sho's fans would be nothing compared to Ren's fans.

Ren on the other hand, was faintly surprised and relieved that beside that, she didn't seem to have any rejection to dating him. "We could date secretly then." He realized that this was easier said than done, but it was worth a shot.

Kyoko didn't get it. Why would he go so far for her? She couldn't figure out if it was out of some strange sense of responsibility or guilt or if he genuinely did want to date her. It was safer to assume the former, but his whispered 'I love you' niggled at the back of her mind.

"Tsuruga-senpai."

"Yes?"

"There is something I would like to have clarified."

"Okay?"

"Do you… want me to date you?" That was about as delicately as she could put it.

"Yes?" Ren was kind of nonplussed. He wouldn't have offered if he didn't want to do it.

"Just let me clarify one more time. You want me to date you. Meaning you want to date me. Meaning you have romantic feelings for me." Her voice got progressively higher as she continued, and Ren could see that the trainwreck was imminent. This really wasn't how he ever imagined this going. Not that he really ever imagined asking her to go out with him in the first place since she was pretty off-limits. After last night though, all bets were off since all the limits he had put on himself had essentially been ripped to shreds. He sighed. If only Yashiro would keep his nose out of his business. No, it's not his fault.

"Yes, I have romantic feelings for you and want to date you, Kyoko." There was absolutely no point in denying it now, so he might as well own up to it.

She 'eep'-ed like a deer in the headlights. Of course on some level, she was overjoyed, but on a much more realistic level, what was she supposed to do? The fact of the matter was that they really couldn't afford to be dating and she really couldn't afford to fall in love again even if it was a little late for that now.

Ren was looking at her like he'd already given up and her heart twisted at the sight. Why did this have to be so complicated? Maybe it didn't. She thought it over and what would really change if they started dating secretly? Things would largely stay the same, right? They might meet up a bit more often than before, but that's hardly a bad thing. If any paparazzi caught them together, they could just play it off as just being friendly coworkers. The only thing that would really be different is Ren knowing how she felt about him, which would likely make Ren happy, but she was still trying to create herself and didn't want to be in love.

She looked up at him, having reached a conclusion. He had been watching her go through a wide range of expressions and braced himself for her answer, his stomach knotted tightly.

"I understand and I want to date you, too, but secretly, of course." As the words left her mouth, she felt herself get redder and redder and she was pretty sure she was fizzling as she tried to maintain a calm expression.

His jaw dropped in shock, and he tried to cover his blush with his hand, completely at a loss for words. This meant they could be together, right now, at this very moment, and that he would get to wake up to her snuggled against him, and that she loved him, too.

He practically fell off the couch and crossed over to her, embracing her tightly and then pulling back only to smile down at her with one of his killer smiles before gently lifting her chin up so he could kiss her.

After all this time, it felt incredibly like there was this pressure building up from trying to hold it all in and now it could break free. He couldn't get enough of being so close to her and knowing her warmth and softness and the knowledge that she loved him. That she chose him. That she wanted to be with him as much as he wanted to be with her was the single most satisfying thing.

He broke the kiss, still grinning at her. She looked bewildered and blinked a few times, trying to process the gentle kisses and strong arms that still held her. She couldn't quite catch her breath as she looked up at him smiling at her as if he was the most blissfully content person alive.

All of her warning signals started going off and she was beginning to think that maybe she hadn't fully understood the full ramifications and how dangerous this might be for her heart.