The next day, they were all busy working on their different tasks.
Mr. Hyoudou was visiting a friend to talk about music for the ball, Mrs. Saito was thinking of people to invite, Mr. Saito was flipping through pages of snacks, trying to decide which would be served, Tomo was meeting up with their top florist, Mrs. Hyoudou was looking through aisles of decorations and Aoi was in the midst of her dance lessons.
They were hard at work, determined for the ball to turn out a success.
Aoi didn't want to look foolish, so he was trying his best remember the coach's movements and imitate them. By the end of the lesson, he was beat.
I am so tired. Who knew that dancing could be so much work?
Mrs. Saito entered the room.
"Oh, here you are! We were just meeting up for dinner. Come now, the boys are waiting in the main hall."
She pulled him upwards by the arm and helped him steady himself.
He was yanked down halls, until they ran into his mother.
"What's taking so long? I came to get you. The boys are getting impatient."
They were almost there, when the doorbell rang.
"Oh no!"
Mrs. Saito began to panic.
"You two can't be seen! It's supposed to be a secret!"
She pulled them over to a wall and knocked the same pattern as before.
"Follow this up to the bugging room. There you can watch everything and you'll know when you can come down. See you in a little while!"
They rushed up the stairs, eager to see what was going on downstairs.
The reached the monitors just in time to see the door open.
The workers gave them weird looks, but didn't say anything against it.
The moment the butler opened doors, a little girl slipped in through the crack and pushed past him.
She scanned the people in the room, before settling her eyes on Tomo.
"Tomo!" she screeched.
She jumped on to her, effectively knocking her backwards a few feet.
"Tomo! It's been so long!"
"It was only a week Aichi."
She slapped her arm playfully.
"How many times have I told you? Call me Kokoa!"
Ah... so this is Kokoa Aichi.
"I got you something!"
She slipped a small blue box into Tomo's hand.
"Oh, uh... thanks. Where are your parents?"
"They are just out in the limo. They are kind of busy, but I begged them to let me come see you!"
"Oh, that's too bad."
"Yeah, I can only see you for a minute. But it's better than nothing."
She really does like Tomo...
"I have to go now, but I hope you like your present! Until we see each other again."
She grabbed Tomo's face and gave her a kiss on the cheek that made a big 'smooch' sound.
She skipped out of the mansion, humming merrily.
"Come on, let's go back."
They exited the hidden passage and finally made their way towards the main hall that was only ten meters ahead of them.
Tomo was standing still, obviously shocked.
"Tomo? Tomo?" her father called.
She came back to reality.
"Sorry. She just always shocks me. She is just so impulsive."
Aoi felt something prickle in his stomach.
"Come on. Let's just go for dinner."
"Oh! Those are nice."
The girls and Aoi were currently inside of the jewellers, looking at rings. They were trying to hurry, as the boys were waiting outside.
She's said that about the last seven pairs.
"Oh! These are the ones! You two! Come look at these!"
Mrs. Saito waved them over to the display.
They peered inside of the glass.
Laying on the soft, red material was the rings.
One was gold and one was silver. The silver one was obviously Tomo's as it was just a plain band. The gold one on the other hand, was multiple thin gold strips, woven delicately around each other.
Aoi gasped.
They're beautiful...
Mrs. Saito turned back to the man, after seeing the look on Aoi's face.
"We'll take them."
"Sorry we took so long."
"It's no problem. We were just discussing some more business."
They all entered the limo and sat down in random seats.
"Why must you talk about that so much? You should have some fun every once in a while."
"It becomes a habit. Why do you talk about the engagement so much?"
"Because it's important! And I find it fun to plan everything."
"Mine is important too and I do think my job is quite interesting."
The other four just sat, watching the Saito couple in their heated conversation. They were clearly having a disagreement of some sort.
"Mother, Father, you should both probably calm down."
"Sorry. Aside from that topic, is everything ready for tomorrow?"
"Yes, dear. You've already gone over everything thrice."
"Sorry about that too. I just want it to be perfect."
"Don't worry Mother. Because you were in charge, I'm sure it will be."
"Thank you, my boy! Your outfits for tomorrow will look excellent together."
This spiked up some curiosity in Aoi.
"About that, why aren't we allowed to see each other's outfit?"
"Because. I want you two to marvel at the sight of each other tomorrow. That way, you will keep looking at one another. This will give everyone the impression that you are in fact in love."
They glowed red.
Tomo tried to push down some of her embarrassment.
"Right..."