The moment Liz and Takeshi entered the cafeteria for breakfast, every head in the room turned. That is to say, Mark glanced in their direction. Amy was still asleep, leaving him alone until then. He looked back down to his breakfast, a broad grin making it hard to eat his cereal. The other two served themselves from the buffet, lost in each others' eyes. They didn't even notice Mark until he walked up behind Takeshi and punched him on the shoulder.

"Way to go, slugger! I always knew you had it in you."

He walked away, leaving Takeshi confused for a moment, before catching Liz's eye again. He sighed contentedly, already forgetting what Mark had said.

Liz took Takeshi by the hand, and they sat down at a table in the corner. After a couple minutes of just sitting silently, staring at each other, Takeshi burst out laughing, and was quickly followed by Liz.

Liz found her voice first. "Takeshi? What's so funny?"

He was still chuckling, and wiped his eye before answering. "We better eat, or our food will get cold!" This brought a new round of laughter from Liz, but she started eating after the hilarity had passed.

Amy, now awake, walked in. Luca was in one of her arms, meowing hungrily. Amy jumped, and started to hide when she saw the two lovers in the corner, before realizing that it was finally okay if they saw her.

Luca quieted when he saw them as well. He let out a hiccup, sounding almost like a derisive snort, and looked up at Amy. She looked down, and giggled at the look of betrayal on his face.

"What? I have some secrets too, Luca!" His eyes widened momentarily, and he meowed again before stuffing his face in Amy's arm.

"Oh come on, Luca. You shouldn't give if you can't receive. It's not my fault I can keep a secret better than you." He glared up at her. "I guess it's a human thing."

Amy was quite pleased with herself, and whistled a happy tune while she walked down the street a couple of minutes later. Luca needed more cat food, and Takeshi and Liz had left the Satomi building not long after breakfast. She knew where they had gone, and it was on her way to the pet store, so she decided to do just a bit more spying.

And there they were, in the very romantic park just blocks away from everywhere worth going. As it happened, it was where Takeshi had first met Fantine. Now, Takeshi had returned for a rendezvous with a very different person. The two of them were sitting apart from everyone else, snuggling on a bench under a large cherry tree.

As Amy watched, a crowd of young girls swarmed around the pink-leafed tree and surrounded Takeshi and Liz. In a matter of seconds, Liz was pushed out of the crowd, and the girls tightened around Takeshi. Screams and declarations of undying love could be faintly heard as Liz fumed, outside the circle of fans. She put her hands on her hips, and elbowed her way in, none too gently. The girls just glared at her.

Amy barely caught a little of what Liz said as she dragged Takeshi away. It was something like "Back off, you little bloodsuckers, he's mine now!"

The fans drifted away, seeing that Liz was not going to share Takeshi. Liz pulled Takeshi around a tree, and they were gone from sight.

Well! Amy thought to herself, At least now Takeshi doesn't need a disguise to keep rabid fans away from him. She snickered. He's got his very own guard dog, as fierce as they come!

Liz was puffing in anger by the time she got Takeshi out of sight of the pack of fans that had jumped them. Now that she and Takeshi were together, it seemed like everyone had something to say about it. Takeshi might have forgotten Mark's comment, but Liz hadn't missed it. Or the wink André had given him as they left the Satomi building. Or Takeshi's sister screaming to him, saying that she was glad he finally got some backbone. Had everyone known about her feelings for Takeshi?

Takeshi was finally allowed to have his arm back when Liz stopped by another bench. She checked the surrounding bushes for any young, female surprises, and sat down next to him. She was still steamed, he could tell.

"Could you believe that? The nerve of them! I should go back there and-"

Takeshi put up his hand to stop her. "Come on, Liz. They're just kids, they don't know what they're doing." He smirked. "What, are you jealous?"

"WHAT!" Liz shouted, then regained control (barely). "Don't act all high and mighty with me, Takeshi, you'd go crazy if that kind of thing happened to me."

"Give me a break. When was the last time you were rushed by a horde of screaming fans?" Seeing Liz's frown, he adopted a sarcastic tone. "I guess I'm just more popular than you."

"You've got to be kidding me! I've got just as many fans as you do, they're just not little girls. I'm constantly getting mobbed by eager young men, begging for my attention." Not far away, a group of boys about Takeshi's age were huddled together, whispering and occasionally nodding in Liz's direction. The whispering intensified when they saw her looking at them, and one started walking towards her, to the jeers of his friends.

Liz turned back to Takeshi triumphantly. "See, there you are. One of my many fans. He probably wants an autograph." As soon as the boy was within speaking distance, she struck a pose. "Sorry, no autographs, I'm not really in the mood." He continued. "Oh, well, if you insist." She took out a pen. "Now, what do you want me to sign? Five dollars for my name, ten to personalize."

But the boy kept walking, not even noticing Liz. She turned to follow him, and went rigid when she saw his target.

"You've got to be kidding me!"

Sitting on another bench, just a couple of meters away, sat Fantine and Cunningham. The boy walked up to Fantine, and smiled nervously.

"Uh, Miss Fantine? I'm a huge fan, and I was, um, wondering if I could get your autograph."

Fantine looked up at him through big sunglasses, faking surprise. "Oh! I guess my disguise can't fool such a devoted admirer." She flashed him a dazzlingly white smile. "But I'm sorry, autographs aren't really my thing. I'll tell you what, you can go and tell all your friends that I like a man with some backbone. You fit the bill quite nicely." He blushed, and ran back to his cluster of friends. They walked away, laughing, then staring in disbelief at their bold comrade.

Fantine followed him with her eyes, but stopped when she saw Liz. She elbowed Cunningham, but he just rubbed his side and slumped. Takeshi had perked up at the sound of Fantine's voice, and Liz thought she saw a cowlick spring up on top of his head.

Fantine stood up, and waved at Takeshi, who had turned to look. He waved back, before Liz punched him in the shoulder. "Ow!"

"Don't even think about it." she growled through clenched teeth. Liz heard a giggle, coming from directly behind her. She whirled.

Amy didn't have time to duck back into the bushes before Liz saw her. "Amy?"

Amy stepped forward, into full view of the assembled pilots. She blushed, and Cunningham turned around, finally interested.

"Hey, Liz. Takeshi. What a coincidence, huh?"

Takeshi, who didn't seem to be bothered by the awkward situation, smiled at her. "Oh, Amy, I forgot to thank you for setting up that training session. It's too bad you couldn't come, but we were just fine without you." Liz's jaw hit the ground.

She stared at Amy suspiciously. "Wait, Amy told you to invite me to train with you?"

"Of course! She was supposed to come too, but I guess she had something else to do." Amy giggled again, but nervously this time. Cunningham guffawed.

He stifled his laughter when Liz glared at him. She walked over to Amy, and whispered in her ear.

"You have a lot of explaining to do, Amy. I won't go into it now, but we're going to have to have a long talk once we get back to the Satomi building." She backed up. "Come on, Takeshi. I'm getting hungry, and I'd rather have lunch somewhere more private."

She grabbed him by the arm again, and he was helpless as she pulled him out of the park and down the street.

Fantine started to walk away, but turned back to Cunningham. "Alex? Are you coming?" she said, almost as an afterthought.

"Yeah, yeah. Just a second."

Fantine walked past Amy, and whispered as she passed by. "Good job. She's just what he needed." She was gone before Amy could say anything.

Cunning ham followed a couple seconds later. He stopped in front of Amy. "Amy Stapleton, right? Pleased to meet you. It's amazing to have heard so much about you, and to finally see your skills in action firsthand. I hope we see each other again sometime." He shook her hand.

As he jogged away after Fantine, Amy felt something between her fingers. She held up her hand, and found a small fold of paper. She opened it, and read a phone number followed by Cunningham's name. Is this what I think it is? She gaped in the direction he had run off in, and stuck up her chin in indignation. The nerve of him!

She threw out the paper in a trash can on her way out.

Jeremy Vardeman had taken Amy's usual role in this scene. He was sitting on the edge of a large fountain, enjoying the spectacle over Laura Milan's shoulder.

"What is it, Jeremy?" She turned around, and saw only an empty field.

He shook his head, chuckling under his breath. "Oh, nothing. I just can't wait until our race with Team Satomi. It's sure to be interesting."

"You're telling me! Our first race out of the IG-2, and we're already facing the pro league champions. We'll be lucky to not just choke under the pressure. I mean, they're the Team Satomi!"

Jeremy gave a laugh of defiance. "Oh, I think they're just as human as you or me."

"Yeah, but they're anything but normal."

"I couldn't agree with you more."