Having reached back to his apartment, Kazutora dropped himself on the bed. Fluttering of the butterflies in his stomach had overridden his physical exhaustion for a while, and gave him the wings to rush to Shibuya, stand in line patiently for over two hours, then rush to Fuyuko's place, and back, but now that he calmed down, that splitting headache from the day before started pounding in his temples again the moment he lied down. He made a groaning effort to reach for the painkillers, and before he knew it, he was asleep again.

A beeping sound of his phone woke him up at 21:37. One received message. Sender unknown.

_Hanemiya-san, thank you so much! The cookies were delicious!

Before he managed to process what was going on in his half awake state, the phone beeped again.

_It's Tsukishiro Fuyuko, btw. (21:38)

"Wait... am I dreaming?!" Checking his surroundings and confirming that he's in his room and very much awake, and remembering how the day went, the realization of the fact that she's messaging him gave him that well known cutting feeling in the abdomen.

_I heard from Fuyu-nii you were on a sick leave. Is everything ok? (21:44)

His heart rate just went through the ceiling. He bit into his fist not to let out a girly squeal. After a few moments of freaking out about his reply, he finally wrote back.

_Thank you so much for writing back, Tsukishiro-san. I'm more than happy to hear you liked the cookies. I was worried about it. ^_^' (21:47)

_Btw, I'm fine, and I will be right back to work tomorrow morning. Please do not worry about me. (21:49)

_Glad to hear that, Hanemiya-san! (21:51)

_Say, is it ok with you if I come by the shop tomorrow? (21:52)

"OMG, does this mean I can see her tomorrow?!" - he was ecstatic.

_I could not think of a time, place, or reason when, where, and why it wouldn't be ok for you to come, especially if I get to see you! (21:53)

_I'm so sorry if that was unnecessary and selfish from me, I didn't mean any offense. (22:11)

"We're texting... holy, shit, we're texting!" was pretty much the only thought in his head for the last 30 odd minutes. "But why isn't she responding...? Did I say something wrong? Fuck... If I screwed this up and she's angry for some reason, I'll never forgive myself, and Chifuyu's gonna kill me! Aww, shit... shit! What do I do...?" - He started biting his nails again.

22:23, still no reply.

22:39. It's been almost an hour already... "What's going on...? Should I message her again? Will that make me seem pushy, or annoying? Should I really leave it be? Maybe I should apologize again, after all... Maybe she's just busy. Or doesn't feel like talking to me..." As he was torturing himself with thoughts of that kind, his phone beeped.

_Sorry for the late reply, I was in the shower. ^_^' I'm gonna go get some sleep, see you tomorrow! (22:41)

"...in the shower..." the mental image of Fuyuko in the shower raised the blood pressure in the lower part of his body. "Aww, shit... I'm in deep trouble now..."

_No problem at all. :) I look forward to seeing you again! Sweet dreams! (22:43)

"Why did she have to tell me that? Was it on purpose? Could it mean that she sees me the same was I see her?" - he let his thoughts run wild for a while, getting him even more excited. "Could she... have been thinking of me in the shower?" - he blushed at his own thought. "Nah, no way... Get real, Kazutora! As if she'd ever like you like that to begin with! Besides, she's not that kind of a girl, who'd deliberately provoke someone! Don't be disrespectful!" - He tried shaking off the lewd thoughts. "But, still... what if...?" - the tiny voice deep inside his mind was obstinate. He slapped his face with both hands. "No. Stop it. Just stop! Stop thinking about it!"

But there was no way he could stop thinking about it now. The flood gate was opened, so to speak, and a tsunami of thoughts and images of Fuyuko overflowed his mind. He couldn't help but wonder what her slim body looked like underneath those dark clothes she always wore, what her naked skin felt like to touch, to kiss, to feel against his own... As the sudden rush of lust overwhelmed him like never before, he had to deal with its physical manifestation, and imagining the touch of her wet skin helped him solve the problem in no time. He fell soundly asleep soon after.