One morning soon after summer break ended, while rinsing the breakfast dishes and singing loudly with the radio, her mother called, through the not entirely melodious noise, "Konomi-chan! Telephone!"

"Yikes! I didn't hear it ring!" She swiftly dried her hands and picked up the receiver. "Hello?"

"God, you have a terrible singing voice!" came the grumpy reply.

Konomi held the phone in front of her and stared at it a minute before pulling it back to her head. "Irie-kun?"

"Do you know how much trouble I went to, finding your phone number? I finally had to ask the baka, and she and Mom have been making weird plans ever since."

"You asked Kotoko-sensei—? Oh, my number. Yes, sorry," she bowed an apology, even though she was on the phone, "I don't have the same last name as my parents. It's a long story…"

"Did I say I wanted to hear it? Anyway," he cleared his throat, "the college that Onii-chan and Baka attend is having their Fall Festival. I thought if you wanted to see her, I could take you there. She'll probably be making a spectacle of herself again," he muttered.

"A festival!" She suddenly perked up. "With games and food?"

"Uh, yeah," he answered. "Don't tell me you're one of those…"

"I just love festival food!" she exclaimed. "Where should I meet you?" After getting the details and hanging up, she bounced up and down with glee then halted herself abruptly. Why was she getting so excited over seeing Yuuki, of all people? Oh, well, she sighed, it was probably overflow of happiness at getting to see Kotoko-sensei and Naoki-sensei again.

"Puppy!" was the first thing out of her mouth when they met up. Yuuki looked startled, then concerned, but Chibi was taking quite well the enthusiastic girl now hanging on his massive neck.

"Uh, you like dogs, I guess," he surmised with a smirk.

Konomi rubbed her nose on Chibi's ear. "I love them! But Mom is allergic so I can't have any furry pets. What's his name?"

"Chibi," he said, waiting for her response.

"Really?" she asked. "Really-really?" Then she turned to the Saint Bernard. "Yes, you are a sweet Chibi puppy, aren't you? Yes, you are, you are! Mmmm!" She scratched behind his ears as she baby-talked.

"Uh, I thought you wanted to see Bak—uh, Kotoko."

"Right!" She jumped up, keeping a hand on Chibi. The dog in return turned his head and licked her arm lovingly. "Will Naoki-sensei be here as well?"

"He didn't really want to, but Kotoko nagged him into it."

"Aw, I doubt that!" she countered. "He didn't seem like such a mean person when I saw him." She slanted him a look. "Not like his little brother."

"Hey! Who you calling mean?" he blustered. "Didn't I invite you out today?"

"Yes, you did. And just meeting this darling made my day!" She bent down and hugged Chibi again. "So where are Kotoko-sensei and Naoki-sensei?"

"Urgh!" he growled. "Stop calling that baka 'sensei'!" He pointed. "Probably near the tennis courts. They're having a sort of Pro-Am tournament today with a car for the grand prize."

"Ooh!" she breathed. "I didn't know college festivals had such big prizes."

Yuuki snorted. "They don't. Onii-chan says that it's some scheme of a retired sempai-turned-auto-salesman for advertisement. The guy doesn't really think he'll lose out on it, since he's playing in the tournament as well."

"I thought Kotoko-san said that Naoki-sensei was a great tennis player."

"Yeah." Yuuki grinned. "But Sudo-sempai appointed him as referee so he can't play. And Kotoko really sucks at tennis."

Konomi sighed. "That's too bad. It would be nice to see someone I know winning."

"Winning?" He laughed. "Her match is going to be the shortest on record. Look, here she comes! Even she knows she hasn't a chance."

Sure enough, Kotoko appeared before them fairly down-hearted. "Stupid Sudo-san," she complained. "Irie-kun and I could have beaten him this time—I'm sure!"

"So, who's your partner?" asked Konomi.

"My friend, Chris-san," Kotoko turned and waved to a blonde girl who looked distinctly out of place among all the Japanese students. "She's English and says that she has played a little tennis before."

"A little—!" Yuuki laughed. "You're going to need a lot more than that!"

"Good day, Yuuki-kun-chan!" Chris ran over and bowed to them. "Is this your little sweetheart?"

Konomi's eyes bugged out. Yuuki leaned over. "Her Japanese isn't that good, so don't get your hopes up."

"As if!" she snapped then turned and bowed to the girl. "I am Sagawa Konomi. Pleased to meet you. So, you are playing tennis today?"

"Ah, yes, desu!" She made a small frown." I am a little out of practice. When I was at school in Paris, I used to play with my neighbor Serena-san, but that was a few months ago, right before I came to Japan. But," she gave them a big smile, "I will do my best so Kotoko can win that car, desu!"

"Why does she say 'desu' so often?" Konomi whispered over Chibi's back.

Yuuki shrugged. "Gaijin," he said, "and her Japanese is about the same level as Kotoko's English, to boot!"

Konomi gave him a small shove. "Hah! You need to stop insulting everyone. And by the way, I thought you said there was going to be food here?"

"What? You expect me to pay for you to eat?"

"Of course not!" She laughed, not seeing his face fall slightly. "But we might as well stock up if we're going to be watching tennis matches for the next hour or so."

Several teams won and lost before Kotoko and Chris entered the court. After a minute of play, Konomi turned to Yuuki. "Which one of them was supposed to be the 'Pro' in the 'Pro-Am' team?"

All the Class A leader could manage was a slack-jawed, "Wow."

The two players—Kotoko appearing slightly thunderstruck—waved to the younger pair in the stands. "We won the first one, neh?" Chris called. "I'm not so bad, huh?"

"Hey, Yuuki," Konomi shoved his arm. "Earlier, didn't she say 'Serena-san'? You don't think—"

He shot a look at her. "Can't be."

The unlikely duo swept the succeeding bouts and met their opponents for the final match at the net.

"Oh-ho!" cackled the mustachioed man that Yuuki pointed out as Sudo, the creator of the event. "Blessed with an amazing partner as you are, I'm still impressed that you made it this far, Aihara."

Spearing him with a steely gaze, Kotoko countered, "You've used all kinds of dirty tricks to get here, but it all ends now. That car is ours."

"So you've busted out the big talk, eh, Aihara? Don't make me laugh, you eternal ball-fetcher!"

"Stop calling me Aihara already! I am Irie Kotoko—victor in love!" It almost appeared as if the two were going to escalate their argument to the physical level.

"Enough personal chit-chat," said the less-than-enthusiastic referee. "One-set match, Matsumoto/Sudo vs. Irie/Robbins."

"My," Konomi confided to Yuuki, "this is just like a movie. Too bad we ate all the popcorn."

"Here," he handed over a box, "I have some takoyaki left."

"Ooh, thanks!" She gleefully opened it.

"Such a glutton," he muttered. "Just like someone else I know."

Konomi and Yuuki walked side-by-side through the twilight, Konomi holding Chibi's leash. "Thank you for inviting me today," she said with a smile. "I enjoyed the festival and food, and of course, meeting this baby!" She leaned down and patted Chibi's back.

"Yeah," he replied.

"Why did Kotoko-san give Chris-san the car?" she asked. "She acted like she really wanted it."

Yuuki shuddered. "Just the thought of that baka behind the wheel is enough to give me nightmares for a month!"

"Meanie!" she laughed.

"You don't know her! I think Onii-chan was relieved too. He sure wasn't trying to convince her otherwise."

"Your brother's so lucky to have someone like Kotoko-san," she said wistfully.

He asked warily, "Huh? Did someone slip you sake instead of juice?"

"Well, here's my house," she said. She handed the leash to Yuuki and bent down and cuddled Chibi's face. "Bye-bye, sweetheart!" She stood and held out her hand to Yuuki. "Thanks again for inviting me."

He looked down at his feet after releasing it. "Uh, if sometime you'd like to, uh, get together and walk Chibi with me—"

"Yes, yes!" She almost leaped for joy.

"Then, do you have a cell number? So I don't have to bother your mom," he hastily added.

"Sure," she said, giving it to him. "So, can I call you, too?"

He lifted his chin and looked away. "I guess that'll be all right. But not too often!"

"Don't worry," she laughed and waved as she opened the gate. "Bye-bye!"

Yuuki and the dog turned toward their neighborhood. "How about that?" he asked the animal. "I think she likes you more than she likes me." He sniffed. "Not that I want her to like me, though!"