The night sky blanketed the world in semi-darkness, providing only the stars and moon as a source of light. Most people, however, were in lit homes. Electricity was a glorious thing, providing power to the world, lighting it after dark. With it, people could continue to work, laugh, walk…love…as the moon rose higher and higher. On the topic of love, night was when the magic of love shined the most, providing comfort and joy to couples everywhere. True love, most of the times, shines brighter in the night than in the day. However…there was another type of love could shine next to true love at night. This love, though as bright as true love, shone a slightly different shade of light, though its level of intensity was close to its counterpart. Ryuuji Takasu was in a situation where he had to make this type of love shine. He had to make his fake relationship with Ami Kawashima shine as bright as true love, for the time being. However, he was not sure how long he could keep it up, especially now that how the situation had evolved.

Ryuuji was lying down on some blankets on the polished wooden floor of his room. His head rested against his pillow, and he wanted to go asleep. He had even turned off the lights to try to sleep, but it failed. All he could do was look at his flip phone, staring at the message Ami sent him.

"Already gave him my number," stated the text. "I know this is weird…but we have to do it. That way he can leave me alone, so Takasu…have you sent it?"

Ryuuji thought about the consequences of this. This…game…that Hakuoh Fujita had proposed gave Ami the opportunity to free her life from him. However, it also gave her the opportunity for her image to fail if she could not convince Hakuoh that Ryuuji and her were a real couple…or at least acted like one on a date. Also, they could not strategize about how to convince Hakuoh that they were a legitimate couple on the date. Plus, they had to bring Taiga Aisaka along, not mentioning to her it was a date. The more Ryuuji thought about it, the more he was unsure about this game. There was more fire to it.

Kawashima, thought Ryuuji, is this game really going to drive him away? Is he really going to say if we win or lose and uphold his promises? Is it so important to keep your image as something you're not?

He continued to look at his phone and sighed. He entered his phone number in a text and sent it to Hakuoh.

Ryuuji got up the next morning and looked at his clock. He saw it to be six fifty. He rose to his feet and put his blankets away. He entered the bathroom and got ready for school. By the time it was done, the time was seven thirty. He entered the living room and opened the curtains of the glass sliding door. The view of through his window was a wall of another building with a window with red curtains behind it. He sighed.

She probably hasn't woken up yet.

He walked out onto the wooden balcony and called out to the person behind the window of the huge building.

"Taiga! Hey, Taiga! Wake up!"

There was no response.

"Taiga! Taiga!"

The curtains behind the window swayed to the side to reveal an annoyed, mess-up-haired Taiga. She looked down at Ryuuji with dopey eyes and bared a morning grudge at Ryuuji. She opened the window and just stared at Ryuuji. Feeling uncomfortable, Ryuuji started to speak.

"Finally! Hey, get dressed and come over for-"

"I had a dream about you," she interrupted coldly. "And Stupidchi too. You were the dad, Stupidchi was the mom, and I was the adopted child."

"… Adopted child?"

"Yeah. It was strange. However, it was stranger that you and Stupidchi would act like a couple."

Taiga soon blushed and paused for a bit. Irritated by such thoughts, she narrowed her eyes and shouted at Ryuuji.

"Playing, hu-hugging, and k-k-ki-kissing! Arrgh! You two are such horny dogs!"

And with that, Taiga slammed her window shut and covered the inside with the curtains. Ryuuji just stood there, confused at what just happened. He got Taiga's dream, but he was bewildered by her reaction towards it. Soon, the curtains were pushed out of the way and the window opened again.

"Make eggs with sausage for breakfast, you stupid dog."

Ryuuji looked up at Taiga, only to see her cover the closed window with her curtains again. Ryuuji shook his head slightly and sighed. He walked back into the house to make some breakfast, knowing Taiga would probably get mad that her eggs would be served with toast instead of sausage.

Ryuuji sat thinking as his teacher gave a lecture on Japanese history. They were talking about the beginning of World War II and how the involvement of Japan on the Axis Alliance affected the battle on the islands along the Pacific Ocean. However, Ryuuji's mind was somewhere else. During lunch, when Ryuuji and Ami were getting drinks from the vending machine, they received a text from Hakuoh. All morning long, he had not confronted the two, which gave them both a sign of relief. However, that did not mean he was not always watching. Hakuoh probably thought it would be best if they received the text when they were together.

A date this Sunday, thought Ryuuji. And Taiga has to come along… Man, this isn't going to be good. Taiga's already in a bad mood, and I can tell she's irritated with this whole date thing. I even feel that Kushieda is annoyed by all this. This is probably because Taiga told her. God, my chances with Kushieda are getting worse and worse. She rejected me, she hardly acknowledges me, and the bypass conversation we had on the bridge when I was walking Kawashima home felt more like a threat to me if I made Taiga mad.

Ryuuji looked back and saw a glimpse of Taiga. Her eyes seemed dead as she just stared out to the front of the room, looking as if she was paying attention. Her eyes then caught something. She looked back at Ryuuji and narrowed her eyes. Scared, Ryuuji looked back forward.

Why is she mad? It's not my fault she had that dream that dream that Kawashima and I were…were…husband and…wi…wife.

He then glanced at the other side of him to look back at Ami. The princess of the classroom was not really paying attention. She was writing something completely different than on what the teacher was saying, only pausing on moments of thinking. Ryuuji looked back forward and, as a zombie, decided to continue his note-taking. Still, his mind wondered off.

Kawashima seems to be writing down something irrelevant to the class. It could be about our next move. I don't know what's she's thinking though. Hakuoh is directing the date through text. How can she write up a plan when she's not in control of it?

A note was soon thrown on his desk from the person behind him. He got the note and unfolded it. The note was from Ami.

So…it's this Sunday. Takasu, after all this, you probably need to get a new number. I'm sorry. Just tell them someone is stalking you or sending you threats to your phone. If they say no, I'll help… I know I'm being selfish about this, but please bear with me. Sometimes, it is best people don't see the real you. They may not like what they see.

He looked back to see Ami looking off at the window. As if sensing his stare, she turned to look at him with a serious, kind of saddened, face. To Ryuuji, it felt like those few seconds of looking at each other were several minutes of knowing one another. It was interrupted by something splatting on the back of Ryuuji's head. He sharply plucked it out of his hair and turned to look at Taiga. Her eyes narrowed. She then put her hands in front of her face. Her hands showed each other's palms and straightened fingers. She then jerked her wrists so that her hands rotated forward at a right angle. She then dropped her left hand and pointed her finger at Ryuuji from her right hand. She dropped the finger and turned back to pay attention to the teacher. Ryuuji heaved to himself and looked down at the paper Ami sent him.

Ami had seen Taiga launch the small split-wad at Ryuuji. She smiled to herself, but soon, she dropped it. She looked over at Ryuuji and then back at Taiga. She then looked down, thinking on how to handle the situation without ruining their relationship. She knew that this whole scheme had caused Taiga a bunch of stress, yet she still allowed for Ryuuji and her to continue. Ami appreciated what Taiga was doing for her…but sometimes, she wished things were slightly different. Even though she supported the idea that Ryuuji and Taiga should be together because of their trust to each other, Ami wished that she was in Taiga's position. Ami wished that this relationship with Ryuuji was not forced, but wanted for the need to be together. In the beginning, she jumped into the idea because of fear of Hakuoh, but the more she thought about it, the more she realized that either Taiga or she was going to get hurt.

A paper dropped onto her desk from the person in front of her. She recognized it to be the note she sent Ryuuji. She snatched it up and unfolded it.

People true to each other don't hide from each other.

Ami smiled.

Takasu is really motivating and caring about others. That's what I like about him, even if he is very dense when it comes to love... In the end though, someone will get hurt.

School had ended for the day, and the trio had walked out of the school grounds. They were now at the small park where Ryuuji and Taiga had saw Ami on a swing. The small park of only one concreted pathway provided a bench where Ami decided to sit on. Taiga sat next to her as Ryuuji continued to stand, towering over them. Ami faced Taiga and smiled.

"Taiga, I want to thank you for letting me borrowing Takasu. I really appreciate it."

"Sure, whatever. That guy gives me the creep anyways. I can see why you were kind of scared. It reminds me of that person you chased when we were cleaning up the neighborhood."

"Right. So, to make it up to you, both of you, how about we go out this Sunday?"

Taiga thought about it.

"Both of us? Does that mean Ryuuji is coming along?"

"Um, yes."

Taiga glanced over at Ryuuji and then back at Ami.

"Why?"

"Um… Well… Just in case we bonk into Fujita."

"That creep? Hah! What is Ryuuji going to do anyways? Ryuuji is not the fighting type, you know. More like a tall twig."

Ryuuji grunted to himself.

"But if Hakuoh sees us with Ryuuji, he will leave us alone."

"But didn't you two convince him that you were together yesterday when you went to talk with him?"

"Ye-Yes, but he'll be in town still. Knowing him, he'll be walking around and we might bonk into him. So, Ryuuji needs to be there. I also need to thank Ryuuji, and I figured I can thank you both at the same time than separately."

Taiga thought about it, knowing that Ami will thank Ryuuji alone if he did not tag along Sunday. She shot a quick glance at Ryuuji and then faced back at Ami.

"Fine. This way is probably better since I can keep an eye on him."

That Kawashima, thought Ryuuji, knows how to manipulate a person.

"Alright. You two will meet me at the mall plaza on Sunday at, maybe, eleven, and then I'll take you around that area… Um, can both of you walk me home? Just in case he's around."

Taiga sighed.

"Alright. I guess it can't be helped or anything. Just keep your hands to yourself."

Ami nodded and shortly glanced up at Ryuuji when Taiga was marking the date and time on her phone. She winked at him with a smile. Ryuuji looked the other way and rested his forehead on the palm of his lifted hand.

And Taiga fell for it without any more questions.