Daydreamer: This will mostly revolve around Tamao and Horohoro in the past (which is italicized) and their date. Hao and Ren won't make any appearances but it is still kinda important. So I hope you enjoy.

Chapter 7: Moving On?

Tamao stood alone as she waited nervously, feeling like her heart could jump out of her. And her fingers fidgeted to keep her from pacing. She wished she hadn't come so early. She thought it would help her get ready but it seems to be doing the opposite. She took another deep breath to calm down, but it didn't really help.

"Tamao!" The called girl looked up and could already feel herself blush. Horohoro came running over and panted for air when he stopped. She couldn't turn back now. Once the bluenette finally caught his breath, he looked at her with his big grin.

"Was I late?"
"Um, n-no."

"Cool, I'm actually on time for something. So what'd you wanna talk about?" Tamao forced a giggle even though she felt like her stomach was twisted. She really didn't know how to start so it was best to just say it.

"Horohoro-kun, I, um I..."

"What's up, Tamao?"

"I-I...um...I...I love you!" After so much stuttering, which embarassed her too much, Tamao quickly told her message. She suddenly felt uplifted but immediately felt another weight fall on her. Horohoro stood dumbfounded, stunned at her sudden confession. And then he looked bewildered, and Tamao's heart began to sink deeply.

"I thought you loved Yoh."

"You're my closest friend who's a boy, and always comforted and made me happy when I was crushed about Yoh-kun. I eventually got over him, or rather say gave him up, but then I realized..." Tamao's cheeks turned redder and Horohoro's turned a bit pink. But he couldn't quite give an answer. That hurt Tamao a bit and she held back tears. Right before those tears fell, Horohoro spoke again.

"Three days."

"Eh?"

"Give me three days. I'll answer you then, I promise."

"...Ok." And so, Horohoro thought about it for those three days. His heart is what made him so lost. He loved Ren, not Tamao, and would choose the Chinese over her. So why didn't he? Because he was scared. Though he didn't really love Tamao, it was true that she's the closest friend out of every girl he knew. He at least knew that she loved him so choosing her wouldn't really be a bad thing. While Ren on the other hand, he didn't know if the Chinese loved him back. Choosing Ren would mean taking a chance. A risk to being broken. And who knows, maybe by giving Tamao a chance, Horohoro might grow to love her back. And so, three days later...

"Tamao?"

"Yes, Horohoro-kun?"

"I'm...sorry. I can't"

Horohoro leaned back on a tree as he looked back on that time, about two years ago. For a while, he thought about going to Tamao. For a while, it seemed right. But then the night before meeting her again, he realized it's wrong. It happened when he thought about Tamao's placement. He soon saw that she was somewhere he was trying to run from. Unlike him who was trying to go the easy way out, Tamao was facing her fear. Like him, she knew well of the chance of rejection. But still, she confronted Horohoro with her true feelings and didn't try to run away with dishonesty. And though he knew he was going to hurt her, Horohoro turned her down. But his eyes were opened to do what Tamao did; comfront Ren with his heart.

"Horohoro-kun!" Horohoro was quickly pulled out of his deep thoughts as Tamao came to him.

"Gomen-nasai. Did I make you wait?" The girl asked apologetically. But Horohoro smiled in return.

"Nah, not at all."

XxXxXx AT THE CAKE PLACE XxXxXx

The two sat at a table with cake in front of both of them. Tamao ordered a piece of chocolate cake and so did Horohoro along with cheese cake, strawberry short cake, and apple pie. As they ate, Tamao couldn't help but giggle at how excitedly Horohoro munched down. His child-like manner was always so cute, she couldn't resist. Plus, it always made her feel rewarded when he ate like that with food she cooked for him. Those moments highlighted even her darkest days.

"Did I do something funny?" Horohoro asked as he paused from eating and looked at Tamao. She shook her head in answer and held back giggles when she noticed a bit of cream at the corner of his mouth. She grabbed a napkin and gently wiped if off.

"No, but you look funny with cream on your face."

"Heh, thanks. So how's it been lately?"

"Nothing much. Classes are the same, some hard, some not. The onsen is busy sometimes, but Anna-san likes it that way. Yoh-kun does most of the work, including the cleaning. And Manta helps around sometimes too."

"I bet Anna makes him." Horohoro said and Tamao smiled with a slight nod. She never liked to speak ill of Anna, or anyone at all. Horohoro just laughed, not even surprised that some things haven't changed.

"So how's it been with you?"

"Uh...not much." Horohoro answered. He brought up some stories about the funniest embarassing moments that happened in class that he's seen, some of which happened to him. And he went on with the craziest things he's witnessed at parties, some of them even he's amazed they got away with. Or at least he did. And Tamao listened through it all in fascinated interest, laughing most of the time as she did. All in all, they were having a great time.

However, the pink haired girl didn't ask her question for the conversation to go this way. When she asked How's it been with you?, she was really asking How have you been since you and Ren broke up? and that also meant What happened?. She thought he'd understand, and he possibly did, but he was able to smoothly bring the subject in a different direction. She wished she could be more straight forward with what she wanted to say instead of always being so bottled up. But then again, she didn't want to make things uneasy when they haven't seen each other for so long. And remembering Horohoro calling it a date just made it harder, especially since she still had feelings for him.

"Tamao? Are you there?"

"Eh?" Tamao looked blank as she returned to Horohoro. She actually was listening, but somehow she pulled out her thoughts she had at the back of her head and went a bit too deep without realizing it. She looked at him apologetically and sank in her chair a bit. But Horohoro smiled like he was unbothered.

"It's alright."

"Gomen-nasai. What did you say?"

"Are you good with biology? I don't get more than half the stuff we're doing.

"Maybe because you sleep half the time?"

"Hm...maybe."

"You don't get enough sleep with all the fun you're always having." Tamao said scoldingly but Horohoro just rolled his eyes.

"So could you help me?"

"Sure, but I'm helping, not giving answers."

"Fine fine. When can we start?"

"When are you open?"

"How about tomorow? I gotta get a lot done before we get into something new."

"Alright, then meet me at the library tomorow after classes." The two decided to leave once the plan of tutoring was set. Horohoro payed for the cakes and tea and walked Tamao home. They said their goodbyes, and Tamao went to her room and sighed when she sat down on her bed. She had fun, she honestly did. But she was disappointed that in the end she couldn't find out what happened between Ren and Horohoro. But at the same time, she missed moments like today. It took her so long to get over Yoh. She wondered if she'd ever get over Horohoro. Especially now that she had a chance.

TSUZUKU

Daydreamer: I wasn't quite sure of what kind of classes colleges have so I randomly chose biology. The next chapter will include these two along with Ren and Hao. Horohoro is just taking things slow with Tamao. They're good friends but he doesn't really want to just jump to things too fast, you know? Things will get more complicated, but I assure you, an end will come later. I hope you enjoyed this.