Chapter 2

RIKA POV

[The next day...]

As part of my plan today, Hanyuu will keep Satoko company while I head off to the front of the Shrine Grounds to meet with my friends. They could understand the situation I got myself into.

As expected, Keiichi, Rena and Mion showed up. I promptly explained my predicament to them.

"Alright, so let me get this straight," Keiichi asked. "You seemed to have fallen in love with Satoko and now you are asking us for advice on relationships. Is that right?"

"Meep. That's it."

"Right, well..." Keiichi still seemed confused about it regardless. "It might be because I'm a boy, but I don't really get how you could fall for someone like Satoko. Isn't she a girl? I thought you would actually be falling for Okamura for once."

"Keiichi, you shouldn't say stuff like that," Rena butted in before Keiichi could say anything else. "Rika should feel free to fall in love with anyone she rightfully desires. Hau."

"That's right, Rena," Mion spoke up shortly after. "I'm not sure if my family are fine with this type of relationship, but personally, I don't really mind that much about it."

Keiichi realised his wrong doings. "Huh, you guys are right. I guess I will have to tell Tomita and Okamura the bad news."

I couldn't help but think that the idea Keiichi brought up seemed awful, yet humorous.

"Heheh, I'll allow that, Kei-chan. Right now, however, we have a more important matter to discuss. So, any ideas?"

Rena stepped up and offered her first tip. "I would just ask them out on a trip to somewhere I would be most familiar with. For example, I would take Keiichi out with me to the junkyard for a picnic atop my secret hideout. Hehe."

"Woah, hey, I thought we were going out as friends! You said it yourself, they were just friendly picnics you invited me to because you felt generous."

"Well yeah, that is the reason I invited you, I was just saying it as an example. Although... if you want, we could... Hauuuuu~."

"Urgh, I'll think about it."

Rena became her flustered self once Keiichi uttered that sentence. I swear that Keiichi was shuddering in fear at that moment.

"Rena is right," Mion added. "Girls love a good scenic trip where could sit and chat with you. That probably explains some of Keiichi's regular visits to Angel Mort."

"Oioi, why me again? Geez, I feel like I'm being targeted. If you're saying that, then there's probably something that you're not telling me, hmm?"

"I may not be saying it, but it could be that I'm inferring it." Mion made a wink gesture towards Keiichi.

"Anyway, before I get too off subject, there is something else that you could do to get to Satoko's heart: every girl would like a little gift as a token of appreciation. Just like when Kei-san gave me that doll that one. By the way, I really appreciated that, Keiichi."

"U-um yeah, no problem I guess."

"Hauu, that's right! Girls love gifts, just the type of thing that they could take home and think about you all day with and... and... haauuu~."

"Yeah, a gift is a great idea actually. Heck, you two are conveniently living together, so this will be easy to organize. No need to unexpectedly come up to each other's houses and what not."

"Exactly! This will be a piece of cake, I just know it!"

"Wow, thank you for all the nice suggestions. Meep. Although, I'm not sure if that is enough to help me impress Satoko. What if she doesn't like that kind of stuff?"

"Hey, Rika. You're both still pretty young," Keiichi reassured. "I'm sure you could be impressed by anything at your ages. Even then, if you need more advise, I bet the villagers - heck, even some of our other pals would be able to give out some suggestions, for instance-"

"Everyone's favourite twin, Shion Sonozaki!"

Out of nowhere, Shion exclaimed, walking out form under the shadow of the Shrine. How did none of us notice her coming around here?

"Eh?! Shion?! What are you doing here?" Mion asked just exactly what was on my mind.

"Well... I was just passing by, checking up with Satoko to see if she was fine. And don't worry, Rika-chan, I've heard everything, but I won't tell. Hehehe."

Rena greeted, "Since you're here anyways, would you like to share something that could help Rika-chan here? Would you?"

"Hmm, you should know by now that I do have experience in this field, being in love with Satoko's brother and all. Sure, all the suggestions that have been thrown around just now seem like great suggestions, but I bet this will take great preparation.

For now, though, when all else fails, you'll just have to be the one to look out for her; comfort her when she needs it; be there when she wants you to. Eventually, you could probably make your move, but I wouldn't know about getting that far.

Oh dear, maybe I got a bit sidetracked there. I guess I wasn't really much help with that after all."

"No no, Shion-san," I retaliated. "I think that was some wonderful advice at least."

"Oh, you think so? I'm glad."

But really, everyone gave me some really good advice and tips on how to pull this off. I couldn't ask for better friends.

"But, even with all this advice, I still feel unprepared for all this. I want to get advice from other people."

"Well, there's people like Irie and Tomitake, you could ask them," Keiichi suggested. "That is, if they would even know anything about this in the first place."

Mion suggested further, "Granny might also know something about this, although I don't think you'd really want to take advice from her, especially about a topic such as this." Shion agreed thoroughly.

"Right then, I'll go to the clinic to speak with Irie-san. Thank you guys again for your advice."

"Of course we tried our best to give you advice. It's just simply what we should do as friends, after all."

"Right, Keiichi. Well, I'll be going now. I'll keep on fighting for her heart! Nipah~~!"

I waved back to my friends as I headed off joyously. My my, this is going better than I have ever expected. At this rate, I may pull this off by the end of the week. Only time will tell however...

"So, Kei-chan, about that date..."

"Hey, I thought we weren't going to discuss that."

"Haaauu. The only one who's going to take Keiichi home will be me. I will take him home!"

"Oh, not again."

Shion left the group to their own devices.

SATOKO POV

[Above the Main Shrine grounds]

I couldn't hear what they were saying since they were so far away from the overview area, but by the looks of things, they seemed to have a discussion of their own without me being involved. Considering this, they could be discussing something related to me if they didn't invite me to talk. I would've gone to join their conversation, but Hanyuu advised against it.

"Au, how do I explain? Th- They're discussing private matters that you wouldn't be able to understand, I guess."

"Hmm, sure, perhaps that was what Rika told you anyways. Still, it seems kind of odd, why would they want to discuss about me? Was it something I've said or done?"

"Ah, no no no, nothing like that, auauau."

"This just brings up more confusion."

Just then, Shion appeared from the path down to the shrine. "Oh, there you are Satoko. I just came by to check up on you. Have you been eating your greens?"

"Um, yeah sure. Say, you were down their with the club just then. Perhaps you may know what they were discussing just now."

"Hm, oh yeah. Well... um... we were just planning a big surprise for you. Not anything like a Birthday party or anything. But, we can't tell you because it's a surprise. Yeah, that's it."

"Huh, if that's the case, what could it possibly be celebrating? I can't think of one reason you guys would be doing this."

"Uuuummmm... T-That's right, it's a surprise, so we can't even tell you what it's for, right, yeah! Hehehe."

Shion appeared to be sweating. Clearly, there was more to this surprise than meets the eye.

"Alright, enough with the tricks. Even I could identify a lie coming from you. But if you won't tell me about that discussion, so be it."

"Yeah, you're kind of right. But really, I can't tell you; Rika is afraid you might get upset about it. You'll just have to take my word for it."

I looked at Hanyuu, who was nodding in agreement.

"Alright, I'll take your word for it. Although, maybe it would be best if I ask Rika about this; I know she'll be honest with me if the matter isn't too serious. By the way, where did she head off to just now?"

"Rika is headed to the clinic."

"Huh? Oh, I suppose I couldn't possibly ask you about that. No matter, I'll just head there myself. Later!"

"W-Wait a moment, Satoko..."

I rushed off without a moment's notice. Just what is up with Rika and this discussion possibly involving me? This all seems strange.

Come to think of it, she has been acting odd lately. She seems to stare off into space more often than usual. Not only that, she appears... flustered? Once she snaps out of it, she seems to act that way. Even last night, Rika seemed a little closer to me than usual, in fact, it felt like that. Could it be...?

I could only hypothesise what all this really meant. I might be what I think it is, on one hand, but in the other, I could be interpreting this incorrectly.

Oh my, perhaps my emotions...

are also getting a bit mixed up too.