"Aya-chan, you're going home already?"

Ayaka looks back from the coat rack inside the musicians' dressing room, pausing in the middle of retrieving her white coat, as her friend, Honoka Minami trots over.

"Oh, yes, Minami-chan." Ayaka quips back as she shrugs her coat over her shoulders, buttoning it up halfway. She carries her clutch under one arm as she checks her reflection one last time in front of the vanity mirror. Satisfied, she turns to her dark-haired friend and smiles. "…I've got a date~"

Minami blinks her brown eyes in wonder at Ayaka's statement, but before she could utter a reply, the brunette had already wrenched the door open as she bid farewell.

"See you in school, Minami-chan~!" Ayaka cheerfully calls out, flashing her friend a dazzling smile. In a swish of blue skirts, Kurosawa Ayaka leaves the backstage hall in particularly high spirits.

Ayaka makes her way to the exit, the sound of her heels going 'clack-clack-clack' across the tiled floors as she paced. Majority of the performers had gone ahead after the closing ceremonies, and the term rankings were not going to be released until the day after tomorrow, so the entrance hall was relatively empty of people.

Save for one person who had caught the pianist's eye.

"Hi, Chuuya~" Ayaka calls out cheerfully, running towards the male waiting for her at the entrance of the hall. Her pace goes slower as soon as she was within two meters away from Chuuya. A small smile curls up at the corner of her lips. "Did you wait long?"

"Ah, I did." Chuuya replies back snarkily, straightening his posture as he levels Ayaka's stare with a glare. "You've got guts to make me wait, woman."

His head tilts upwards a bit, the height difference between the two of them stretching out a bit because of the added height Ayaka's heels gave her. The girl notices this and smirks, making Chuuya raise an eyebrow at her expression.

"What's that irritating grin for?" The male remarks back and Ayaka raises a hand over her heart, a mock expression of sympathy plastered on her face as fake tears pooled from her lids.

"Poor you, Chuuya." Ayaka sniffs, startling her male companion. "You have to look up when you want to talk to me, boohoo."

Said remark irked the male and out of irritation, Chuuya steps on her feet. Ayaka yelps.

"Ow! What was that for?" Ayaka cries out, teetering in her steps as the pain takes over her system. She looks at Chuuya, about to make another comment but the male was emitting a very dangerous aura.

"Say that I'm short again woman, and I swear I will punch the living daylights outta you." Chuuya spats out venomously, his blue eyes glinting dangerously as he glared hatefully at the girl. Ayaka laughs nervously, raising both of her arms in surrender, in an attempt to placate his anger.

"I got it, I got it, Chuuya." Ayaka replies, smiling nervously as her hand reaches into her clutch, bringing out a credit card. "I'll go buy some ballerina flats straight away so that I'll be at least your height…?"

At that remark, Chuuya finally snaps.

"I DON'T NEED THAT KIND OF CONSIDERATION FROM YOU, KUROSAWAAA!"

"Aww, come onnnnn~"

"No!"

Ayaka pouts as she turns around, crossing her hands in front of her chest as she pins a sulky glance at Chuuya who was walking behind her. The two had barely exited the hall when Ayaka invited the male out for a meal.

"I get it, I'm sorry~ That was an off-handed comment earlier~~" Ayaka whines, stomping her feet childishly. "As repayment, let me treat you to dinner, okay? Chuuya, pleeassse?"

Chuuya turns, his arms hidden behind his back, as he glares at the woman in front of him again. He sighs exasperatedly.

If I turn down her offer, then she'll probably hound me with protests throughout the night. Chuuya groans. Ugh, I don't want that and there's the other matter of this….

His grip tightens on the small bouquet of lilacs he had purchased from a nearby flower shop earlier. It was rare of him to be like this, but Chuuya felt she deserved to be rewarded for her efforts. She had entertained him with her piano playing, after all.

He had intended to give it to her earlier, but she had pissed him off so he held off on the attempt, keeping the bouquet hidden behind his back. Thankfully, the idiot woman hadn't noticed yet as she continued to pout and whine childishly in front of him.

"Tsk, fine." The male finally gives in, sighing exasperatedly. "But before that, here."

"Wha—wait!"

Chuuya tosses the bouquet unceremoniously to the female, who had caught it in her arms, all the while stumbling in her steps. He turns his head to the side, averting his gaze away from her just as she started to inspect the carefully arranged flowers. A confused expressions settles on Ayaka's face as she scrutinizes his gift.

"Flowers…?" Ayaka muses, her blue eyes widening slightly at the bouquet she held in her arms. A bunch of pale violet blossoms peeked from the silver wrapping paper, accentuated with a teal ribbon to hold it in place. Her blue eyes shifted to the male. "You got me flowers, Chuuya?"

This sudden touch of sentimentality was so unlike him that he regretted the decision to buy her flowers immediately. A flush of embarrassment rests on his face and Chuuya turns his head harshly towards her.

"Look, if you don't want it just throw it away—"

"Thank you."

Ayaka interrupts his outburst, and Chuuya stops as he sees a gentle smile rest on her face. She hugs the bouquet close to her chest, her smile genuine and pure as her blue eyes sparkled with genuine emotion.

"No one's ever done something like this for me before." Ayaka murmurs as she nudges her nose to the flowers, inhaling there scent slightly. A small blush blooms on her cheeks as she looks up to level her gaze with Chuuya's, the same gentle smile on her face. "Thanks for this, really."

What the hell… Chuuya mutters in his mind, feeling his cheeks grow warmer. So she can make those kinds of expressions, too….

"Chuuya?" Ayaka's voice breaks him out of his reverie, and he sees that a sonfused expression settled on the girl's face. "What's wrong? Your face is really red?"

Shit. He curses in his head and he hastily covers half of his face with his hand. "I'm f-fine. No need to fuss."

Ayaka blinks, and for a moment there she looked like she wanted to pry further but stops at the last moment. She sighs, and with a flourish, steps over to him and hooks her right arm with his. The male nearly trips with shock at her sudden movement.

"Wha-what are you doing?!" He stammers out and Ayaka only smiles as she leads him to the direction of a small restaurant.

"Yosh~ Let's go eat!" Ayaka cheers, raising her arm holding the bouquet in the air. "The alcohol's on you, Chuuya~!"

"Wha—wait! Damn woman, you never listen to anything I say!"