Lexi here. Sorry for the wait! Finals and projects and work, oh my! Well here's the chapter, hope you enjoy!

Chapter 11: Mochi

I rushed down the road, upset that I'd be late to my meeting with Sou. The rest of the week had flown by, and it seemed that some of the gossip had died down at the university. Everything was returning to normal. Or at least as close as it could get. Ichirou had been acting stranger than usual, and I couldn't figure out why. The café was closed today so that the Manager could do inventory, and I'd stayed to help close up, which is why I was literally running to try and make it. I caught sight of the Abekawa store, and began waving to someone waiting out front the same size and shape of Sou. They turned, and I stopped in my tracks when I saw it was Shindou.

He shaded his eyes and I hid behind a lamppost. Luckily for me, he hadn't spotted me. He waved at a face in the crowd, and then smacked his forehead as a figure toppled in the crowd, face planting. I watched as Shindou ran over to them, and guessed that it was Ichirou. As Shindou lifted the figure up I realized my guess had been right. Shindou popped something into Ichirou's mouth, and Ichirou woke, pushing Shindou away and standing on his own. They spoke to each other, and both headed into the Abekawa bakery. I stood there in shock. I couldn't believe that they were meeting each other. Especially since Ichirou had seemed so angry towards Shindou. I sat on the ground, trying to process this discovery. It was there that Sou found me, wiping a stray tear off my cheek.

I had almost made it to the Abekawa bakery before passing out in the street. I awoke from consciousness and opened my eyes, expecting Uru. Instead it was the face of Shindou. I immediately pushed him away as all my violent emotions rose up in me, out of control due to my not fully conscious state.

"Ichirou…why? I was just trying to help.." Shindou's impassive face didn't betray the tone of upset in his voice.

"Just don't touch me. I don't want you to get close to me." I gestured towards the bakery, anxious to get this confrontation over with. "Let's go in." I open the door and Shindou stalks through and I follow, both of us sitting unobtrusively in a corner of the shop.

"Ichirou, I did just want us to talk. I thought we were friends. I wanted- I want us to still be friends. Can we talk about everything that happened?" I sighed and shook my head.

"It's not that simple. You can't just expect everyone to accept your happiness, especially when you trampled on others'!" I banged my fist on the table before realizing how worked up I had gotten. I'm sure I had the same glare in my eyes That I had had back then. "I apologize. Shindou-san, I had counted you among my best friends. I stayed friends with you even as I watched you with the girl of my dreams. And then youout of the blue dump her. Even though she waited three years. Three years of her life. And three years of mine, keeping an eye out for her and for you, making sure no other guys got close…." I sigh, leaning back. "You didn't even confide in me. I don't know how after all of this you can still consider yourself a friend." Shindou hid his face in his hands, his voice coming out ragged.

"Ichirou. I didn't want to hurt anyone. I mean that." I looked at this man, really looking at him, and guessed that this past couple weeks had been hard on him too, even if he was the cause of the trouble.

"If you had told us before arriving, if you had dumped Uru before becoming officially engaged, if you had done these things and treated us like friends and family, perhaps I would be less angry now. However, because things are the way they are, I am angry enough to not want to be your friend. Perhaps someday in the far future. But for now, stay out of Uru's life and out of mine. You've caused too much pain for either of us to want to see you now." I stood, wanting to leave as soon as I could. Shindou reached out an arm to stop me even as the meddling Abekawa elder, their father, blocked me from leaving.

"Mochi? It cools the temper!" He offered, waving the sweets in my face. I knew I wasn't going to be able to escape, so I sat back down with a sigh.

"Make it several." I ordered, and he nodded, placing the tray on the table and scampering away as Shindou began to speak.

I spun Sakura around gleefully, temporarily putting my troubles on hold to enjoy this little trip.

"Uru, Sakura-chan, I don't care if you two play, but could you not do it in the store? People're starin." Sou gestured to the crowd of people staring as they walked by and I grudgingly put Sakura back down.

"So Sou, what do you need to buy?" Sou held up a list.

"Flour, baking powder, fruit, tea, and a buncha other things my elder bro forgot to buy last trip." He sighed. "Sakura-chan isn't allowed to go on shopping trips with him now, cause elsewise he forgets to buy what he's supposed to and just spoils Sakura-chan here." Sakura smiled and pointed at the candy aisle.

"Can we get some candy for later, Sou-niichan?" Sou looked into her sparkling eyes and nodded.

"But after this no more!" Sou grabbed Sakura's hand and grabbed mine as well. I was startled by this, and got flustered, trying to figure out if I should take my hand back or not. Sou blushed when he looked over at me. "It's so we don't get separated," he mumbled. We walked for a little bit hand in hand as Sakura tried to decide between sweets. I laughed, and Sou turned and smiled at me. It almost felt like we were a family, with Sakura and Sou talking and me carrying the basket of groceries. I smiled at the thought. It was kind of nice to have another family, almost reminding me of my happier days at the café. I squeezed Sou's hand as we walked and looked at him.

"What?" His face was reddened as he glanced at me.

"Thank you for letting me regain a piece of happiness." I beamed at him, grateful that he had invited me along on this trip. Sou flushed and began to stutter, and Sakura-chan started giggling. I thought that I could spend many days just like this.

I woke up from unconsciousness again, the father of the Abekawas standing over me with another mochi.

"You're awake! Shindou-san left 15 minutes ago. He told me to wake you and give you this." He handed me a large envelope and the rest of the mochi before walking back to the counter to argue with the elder Abewkawa brother for flirting with girls. I sighed and opened the envelope, figuring if I looked at it now I could just toss it out later. My conversation with Shindou hadn't gone well up until I passed out. He just looked guilty, I was just angry. Few words were said, interspersed with long, awkward, tense pauses in between. But I told myself I'd do anything to ensure Uru's happiness. And I did. At least I'd managed to stay awake until Shindou had agreed to stay away from Uru unless she approached him first. Admittedly Café Bonheur was a neutral place since we didn't want to make Manager feel awkward, but it turns out poor "Satsuki" was avoiding Manager. I shook my head and tore open the envelope.

Inside was a long written letter with a wedding invitation attached. There was another letter with a note from Shindou asking me to give it to his father, and a small photograph of me, Shindou, and Uru together, smiling. I went to tear the photo in half, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I popped more mochi in my mouth and angrily shoved everything back in the envelope, deciding to leave. I pretended I couldn't notice that my eyes were leaking. I went to open the door and ran into Uru. The last person I wanted to see.

This one may be kind of short, and I know it's been forever since I last updated. You can blame my professors for assigning papers and finals week for that. But I'm home now so I will try to update more often, at least around work and all of the other things I have to do.