On Friday, I returned Ryu-chan the favor from the day before, and took him to the arcade he took me just about a month ago after he was done with exams. We played with the slots and other machines there. This time I participated more than last time, and had fun playing despite being infinitely inferior in skill to him. We exchanged our tickets for popsicles and candy as our prizes.

When we were on our way out of the shopping mall, I took a glimpse of the purikura booths and stopped in my trail. It had only been one month since we took our awkward pictures together, and yet I felt like so much had happened since then.

"Don't be ashamed about feeling awkward around me," Ryu-chan had said to me back then. "It's a matter of time. We'll get used to each other soon, don't worry."

Indeed. He must be a prophet of some sort, much like I was born with weather-predicting powers, ironically, instead of the channeling ones characteristic of the Fey clan. I couldn't feel more comfortable than when I spend time with him, now.

Ryu-chan noticed that I had stopped walking, and turned on the spot to face where I was standing.

"Do you want to take purikura?" he asked.

"No, I was just deep in thought, that's all," I said, smiling.

He approached me and took his cell phone out of his pocket. It was a blue phone with a small screen and number keypad. He flipped it over so that I could see its back. Just from the bright pink color, I could tell what it was.

"It's our picture," I exclaimed but then frowned.

He had chosen none other than the awkwardest one. It was the one where I had linked arms with him, but hadn't been able to raise my face to see the camera, and Ryu-chan was smiling looking down to my head.

"Why this one?" I asked, half-complaining.

"I think it was the cutest one," he winked. "When I see it, it makes me smile, just thinking how much effort it must've taken you to cling to my arm like that."

"Well..." I said, looking at a point on the floor to my side. "It definitely was embarrassing. Looking back to it, I'm not sure whether to laugh at my awkwardness or wish such picture didn't exist."

"Laugh at your awkwardness," he said.

"Can't you swap it for one of the first two? I'm pretty sure those looked slightly better."

"Nope, I can't," he said, grinning mischievously. "But I could swap it out for a new one."

Ryu-chan nodded his head toward the purikura machines. I agreed to take pictures with him again, because I was feeling confident that this time we would get some more normal-looking pictures. At least, there was no way we could take a worse picture than the one he had pasted on the back of his phone.

Except, I was once again proven too naïve.

The first three pictures, in fact, turned out pretty great. We were both smiling at the camera, and those weren't forced or stiff like the ones we had taken a month ago. I was pretty happy with how the photoshoot was going, because somehow we really looked like a couple.

Then, Ryu-chan played me another one of his infamous pranks. He suggested we try the pose that the couple in the purikura machine's advertisement were doing. The pose had a cute girl with curly twin tails hugging a young man from the back, so that their faces roughly aligned horizontally. It was a little embarrassing, but I was up for the challenge. Ryu-chan kneeled on the floor so that I could place my arms around him and my face roughly on top of his shoulder.

We held the pose until the machine said 3... 2... 1... and took the picture. Until the "3", we were looking quite cute like the couple in the advertisement, even if my smile was a little more stiff than when we took the other three pictures. When the machine said "2", Ryu-chan's face suddenly turned and at "1", I felt his nose and lips touching my cheek. Needless to say that I forgot to smile for the picture.

As soon as the picture was taken, I jumped off his back and touched my cheek with my right hand. Ryu-chan stood up from the floor, but his mouth was grinning with satisfaction. It suddenly hit me that he had planned to prank me from the very beginning when he suggested we take a new set of pictures.

"W-w-what was that," I said, having trouble to articulate my words.

"That was..." he said and paused a moment before continuing his sentence. "The new picture for my phone."

"Why must you always..." I started but didn't know how to end.

"You didn't like it?" he asked. "If you didn't, I'll apologize and never do it again."

I opened my mouth but no voice came out of it. I closed it, thought about what to say for a moment, and opened it again.

"Um... I guess... I... You don't have to apologize," I said, not really looking at him.

Before he could say anything, I exited the booth and went over to where the panels to decorate the pictures were located. I scrolled through the pictures and found the last one. Ryu-chan had his eyes closed while mine doubled in size for the both of us.

In the end, he decorated the fourth picture, and replaced the old picture on his phone with this new one, which was equally as awkward. He overruled every one of my objections.

On our way home, Ryu-chan avoided the topic of purikura entirely, and instead talked about his internship that was coming up this Monday. He told me that he had to make preparations during the weekend, and so he couldn't go out with me this time.

"They sent me a lot of articles to read before I come on Monday," he said. "They're a small law firm, but they take educating the next generation very seriously."

"Good luck with those. I'm sure the experience will be worth it."

"Yes. I'm most looking forward to watching my mentors in court," he said with a sparkling expression.

The word court brought me flashbacks of my sister, and my eyes instinctively went to Ryu-chan's pendant. Ever since the incident at the cafeteria, when I accidentally eavesdropped on the conversation between him and Yasui-san, I hadn't mustered neither the courage to take from him something he valued so much nor a useful reason to even ask for it. However, I felt like this could be a good chance.

"I'm assuming you'd want to wear formal clothing," I said, with as casual a tone as I could. "I can keep that pendant of yours until the internship is over."

"What are you saying, Chii-chan," he laughed. "This pendant now feels like an extension of me. I'll wear it. Otherwise I won't feel like myself in the office or courtroom."

"But... I think it's too flashy," I insisted.

Ryu-chan grabbed the heart-shaped pendant, and for a moment I thought he'd give it to me, but he slipped it underneath his shirt instead. I could slightly see its shape protruding in the shirt.

"If it comes down to it, I'll hide it like that," he said.

There was no argument to be made on that, so I just shut my mouth on the topic. I'll have to try something, but first I have to think of something that might work, I thought.

"The field trip to the District Court won't take place until at least a week from Monday," he said. "I wonder if I'll get lucky and see Mitsurugi prosecuting in one of those occasions."

That's right, I thought. He has a prosecutor friend.

"Does he prosecute in that District Court?" I asked him.

"Yep. Actually, I chose that law firm to intern in because they have many cases lined up in that District Court," Ryu-chan giggled shyly.

"So that's how it was," I said, mildly surprised. "I hope you'll get lucky. You might be able to talk to him even."

"That's probably pushing it a tad bit," he said, scratching his head. "By the way, would you come with me to watch the court case with me, if I find out Mitsurugi will be prosecuting?"

His invitation caught me off-guard, so I only responded with a surprised "Me?"

"Yep. Even if we don't get to talk, it would be great if you could match the name with his face. You already met Yahari, so it's only natural that you met Mitsurugi."

Even though I had no understanding of law, or previously any interest in it other than preventing my sister from being incriminated, I couldn't say no to Ryu-chan. He looked so excited with the prospect of possibly seeing his childhood friend, who also happened to inspire him to choose his current studies. Besides, he had spoken of him a few times already, and it would be a lie if I said I had zero curiosity to know what he was like.

"Alright, let me know if and when that case happens," I said. "I'll go with you."

My response made him increasingly happy. I really loved seeing him smile like that.

We didn't see each other the whole week after we parted that day. I had anticipated it, but I felt quite lonely in practice. Still, Ryu-chan called me every night to ask me how my day had gone and to tell me about the things he had done and learned in his internship. It wasn't the same as meeting in person, but it was nice to at least hear his voice.

The first day, I had stayed home so I had nothing much to tell him other than that I cooked a salmon fillet for lunch and dinner, but he had a lot more to tell me. He told me about his mentor, who was an old woman that mostly treated him like a grandson but also didn't hesitate to give him a lot of tasks to keep him busy during work hours. He told me that she had an assistant, a man five years his senior, who didn't talk much but took a break every hour or so to smoke.

Over the next days, I made sure to be more productive during the day. I went to the park for a run everyday, when I never did. When Tomoko invited our friends and me to go shopping, I said yes right away. On that occasion, I found a poster of Wish Upon A Star in the clearance section of one of the bookstores, so I bought it for him, thinking that if he didn't want it, I could keep it. Then, I also went grocery shopping. That was all I could do, since I wanted to have something new to tell him every night, but also there weren't many things I felt like doing without his company, because that would just make me feel even more lonely.

On Friday, he started our call with a lot of excitement.

"I have great news," he said. "Mitsurugi will prosecute on Wednesday next week!"

Even through the phone, I could tell his face was beaming.

"I'm glad to hear that," I said.

"You haven't changed your mind about coming, right?"

"Not at all. What time should I be ready? Where are we meeting?"

"Let's meet at 9 in the morning in front of your building," he said.

I made a note on my calendar. He proceeded to ask me about my day and our conversation shifted to me cooking some chicken teriyaki. He remembered that it was my favorite food, so I took the chance to ask him about his favorite food.

"I eat everything," he said. "But if I had to choose one item, I think it'd be sausages."

I made a mental note of this and carried on with the conversation. He told me that given his busy schedule next week would prevent him from seeing me this weekend again, but promised that he would have time next weekend. I was honestly pretty bummed. I hadn't seen him since last Friday, and if we didn't see each other Saturday or Sunday, that would mean we didn't see each other for over a week. Perhaps he heard the disappointment in my voice, because he then told me that we could go eat teriyaki chicken at a restaurant the next time we met. That didn't raise my spirits much, maybe because I had already eaten that for dinner today.

"Love you," he said before cutting the call.

The next morning, I woke up early even though I didn't have class or anything. It so happens that when you can sleep in is the time when you don't feel like sleeping in. So I woke up and ate breakfast while skimming news headlines.

"Hm? What's this? Summer Festival on August 30th," I read. "That sounds like fun. I hope Ryu-chan can come with me."

Even though I lived in a traditional Japanese temple for all of my life, I had never been to a Japanese-style festival. It sounded like fun, just from seeing the pictures from last year's event.

When I was done with breakfast, I put my dishes inside the sink and washed them immediately. When I was lathering the dishes, it stood out to me that it had been a good number of weeks already, and yet Ryu-chan had never told me what he had seen inside my apartment that scared him away, the day he brought me his English course notes. I shrugged it off, however. He didn't run away when he came over to dry his hair and shirt, so it must've been a one-time thing, I thought.

I cleaned my room, and my vacuum accidentally knocked over the Wish Upon A Star poster I had rolled up in a corner. Since I went to the shopping mall on Tuesday, I had already forgotten its existence. I took the roll in my hands and stared it for a bit.

Perhaps this could give me an excuse, I thought.

I was a little nervous to execute the "excuse" but I encouraged myself all the while I cooked sausages and prepared a bento box. It took me longer than it should have, because I backed down on the idea about five times, but in the end I changed clothes and left my apartment.

I headed to the cafe where Yahari-san worked. I hadn't come since last week when they took a couple of pictures of me to use as advertisement, so when I saw my face plastered on a sign in front of the cafe, I felt embarrassed. I didn't expect that they would zoom into my face that much.

When I went inside, a kid standing on a chair looked at me and pointed a finger.

"Aaah, that's the big sis from the poster," she said.

"Kaori, sit down," said her mother, pulling the hem of her pink dress.

I waited at the entrance until I saw Yahari-san pass by.

"Well, hello! Chinami-chan," he said. "Have you come alone today?"

"Um, actually... I didn't come to eat," I explained. "Do you happen to know Ryu-chan's address?"

That's right. Ryu-chan had escorted me to and from college most mornings and afternoons, but I had never been to his place because it was farther from college than my apartment building was. I had also never asked him where he lived, and now was resorting to asking his best friend, since I felt weird asking him directly. Perhaps I wanted to surprise him... perhaps I wanted to get back at him for surprising me at the purikura booth. Or perhaps none of that. Who knows?

"Should've guessed you wouldn't pay me a visit without a reason," Yahari-san shrugged and wrote the address on the notebook he jotted down customers' orders. He ripped the page and handed it to me.

I thanked him and left the cafe.

I used my trusty Google Maps to navigate my way to his apartment building... except Yahari-san had forgotten to write the apartment number, so I had to check the names on the mailboxes to know where I was supposed to go. His apartment was 302.

When I stood in front of the door, next to the plate that read Naruhodo in 3 menacing Japanese characters, I almost went home right away. Then I pulled myself back with a lot of effort and forced myself to ring the bell. The zipping sound was heard and now I realized that I had nowhere to hide now that I had pressed the button of doom. Was it too late to do a ding dong dash? Before I could make my mind up, however, the door opened and Ryu-chan caught me doing the running-man pose.

"Chii-chan? What are you doing here?" he said, satisfactorily surprised. He was wearing dark blue PJs, even though it was noon. He had a bad case of bed hair and I could tell he hadn't shaved this morning. I looked away from him so he wouldn't feel embarrassed about looking like he just woke up. I was only paying him a doctor's visit anyway.

"I- I brought you some stuff," I said.

I stood upright and took out the rolled-up poster and the bento box from my bag. Ryu-chan took both of them and still stood dumbfounded.

"The poster... Remember I told you about it a few days ago? It's a Wish Upon A Star movie poster," I said. "And the bento... well, you told me you like sausages so I made some for you. I mean, not just sausages, but some other stuff too."

Even though I had gotten to see Ryu-chan caught largely off-guard like I anticipated, I was regretting doing this by the minute. I couldn't carry a conversation by myself unless he snapped out of it.

"Thank you," he finally said. "I'm sorry, I just didn't expect this at all. My apartment is a little messy, but would you like to come in?"

"No, don't worry. I just came to bring you these," I said. "I wouldn't want to intrude. You need to get good rest."

"It's not intrusion at all," he laughed and checked the clock on the counter behind him. "It's a little past noon. I'd love to have lunch with you, if you're free."

"Um, I only prepared one bento box," I said, feeling dumb. I didn't plan to stay for long, so I was going to eat at home.

"I was making lunch for myself. Your favorite chicken teriyaki. I felt like cooking it when we talked about it yesterday... Do you mind eating it two days in a row?"

"Not at all. Honestly I could live on teriyaki chicken," I said. This was a truth I didn't need to hide.

"Then come on in," he said and I followed him inside.

The apartment was a studio bedroom with a small kitchen appended to it, not unlike Chinami's apartment. At the end of a short and narrow corridor, I saw Ryu-chan's unmade bed. Next to it was a low table with two cushions on the floor, and the TV was on the opposite side of the table. A pretty laidback atmosphere, with blue and light blue pretty much dominating the colors, but some objects, like the cushions on the floor were a reddish pink, which contrasted a lot with the rest of the setup.

I entered the kitchen, which was full of the familiar smell of teriyaki sauce. The chicken was sizzling on the pan. It looked like they'd be ready to eat in around 10 minutes. I opened the rice cooker and found fresh white rice inside.

I noticed that we had both fallen silent, and raised my eyes to see what Ryu-chan was doing. He was standing near the door connecting the kitchen to the corridor, watching me. As soon as our gazes met, he broke eye contact and blushed a little.

"Sorry for staring," he said. "It's just that I'd never invited a girl to my apartment."

"It's okay," I said, almost blushing myself. "Shall I pour some tea?"

He walked into the kitchen and grabbed a can of green tea leaves and a pot.

"I can make it if you want," he offered, but I refused it. If one thing I was confident in, that would be my tea making skills, which were polished since childhood.

When the chicken and tea were done, I microwaved Ryu-chan's bento box while I served rice and chicken for myself. He helped me carry all the stuff over to the low table. We sat down on the pink cushions and Ryu-chan turned on the TV. They were doing one of those loud entertainment shows, where well-known actors and singers participated in games and quizzes. I served the tea, and was pleased when I saw that one of the tea stalks on Ryu-chan's cup was standing upright*.

"Since I don't have a dining table with proper chairs, I got creative on the placement of these cushions," he commented. "You can recline back on my bed."

He demonstrated it by stretching his legs beneath the table and using the side of his bed as a backrest. Then, he noticed that I was sitting in seiza**, and shook his head.

"You don't have to be formal. It's not like we're in a tea ceremony," he said, and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Right," I said and sat with my legs bent to the side.

"Sure that's a comfortable position? I think you should take advantage of my invention," he said, tapping on the side of his bed.

I could almost hear Sister Bikini exclaiming in indignation, but I accepted Ryu-chan's offer and sat with my legs stretched and reclined backward. We looked at each other and chuckled.

"Now, let's eat," he said and took the bento box. "Wow, this looks delicious. Thanks again."

We spent a nice time- eating, talking and laughing at the TV. At some point after we finished eating and were just drinking tea, Ryu-chan made a passing comment about how relaxed I appeared.

"In my case, the nerves got the best of me and couldn't step into your room that first time," he said, scratching his head.

I remembered the Sunday a while back when I had invited him in and he up and left with sudden haste. So it hadn't been my dirty dishes or messy closet that had scared him away, I thought. I found it a little funny that despite him always seeming like he had the situation under control, especially in those early days of our acquaintance, he still had things that showed his inexperience in dating. Even if I could only notice them in retrospect...

"But that means I'm actually psychic and can foretell the future," he said with odd confidence. "After all, I said you'd get used to me soon."

"I wouldn't exactly call it soon," I said with slight embarrassment. "It took me a solid few weeks... despite having dated before."

I added the last part because I remembered I had to stay in character.

"It was soon enough," he corrected and winked.

I bit my lips so that I could prevent a smile from creeping in.

The afternoon passed in peace, until the entertainment show ended and I felt like had to go home.

However, I was no longer bummed, because I Wednesday was right around the corner.

*In traditional tea ceremony, I've been told that upright tea stalks is a sign of good luck.

**Seiza = 正座 = the formal way of sitting on a tatami. It involves bending both legs and placing the calves beneath one's thighs/butt, while maintaining a straight back.

- Characters -

Ryuichi Naruhodo = Phoenix Wright

Ayame Hazakurain = Iris

Masashi Yahari = Larry Butz

Reiji Mitsurugi = Miles Edgeworth

Chinami Miyanagi = Dahlia Hawthorne

Kikuzou Nonda = Doug Swallow