"And you guys say we take forever to get changed," Sachiko teased when Shota and Takashi finally emerged. "Was there a line for the showers or something?"

"Something like that, yeah," Shota said agreeably.

"Well, let's go, then," Kaede said. "Otherwise we're going to have to wait for the next bus."

As they headed across the courtyard, Shota cast a thoughtful look over at Sachiko. "Hey, are you still gonna go into Nigeyashi today, Sachi?"

Sachiko shook her head. "Nope. Obviously my plans for the day are cancelled," she said, rolling her eyes dramatically, "So I'm just gonna head home."

"Well, what if we all did something, instead?" he suggested, earning him surprised looks from Sachiko and Kaede and a suspicious one from Takashi. "Something to celebrate you getting rid of a guy who doesn't appreciate karate."

Sachiko giggled. "Isn't that kinda dramatic, Shota?"

"So? We're teenagers, we're supposed to be dramatic. I don't have anything I've gotta do until this evening," he said, looking at the others. "How about you guys?"

"I'm free," Kaede agreed after a moment, smiling. "That sounds like fun, what do you think, Sachi?"

"I'd have to check with Mom, and I don't have my wallet on me," Sachiko began, but Shota promptly scoffed.

"We can cover a bus ticket and lunch, Sachi, don't worry about it. Why don't you call your mom now and check?" he asked, then looked at Takashi innocently. "How about you, Takashi? Free to hang out and help celebrate Sachiko's newfound freedom?"

It was clear from Takashi's facial expression that he wanted to clobber Shota, but Sachiko and Kaede were looking at their phones and both missed it. But after a moment, he nodded.

"Yeah, I've got nothing going on."

"Good! Then we'll do...something, as long as Sachi's mom's ok with it."

Sachiko's conversation with Tohru was brief, and she was grinning as she tucked her phone back in her pocket. "Mom's good with it!"

"Awesome," Shota said. "By the time we get back into Nigeyashi it'll be lunch time; you guys wanna get some food first?"

They all glanced around at each other and shrugged, all making generally agreeable noises.

"I know Emi's busy, but do you want to see if Sato can meet us?" Kaede asked, referring to Shota's twin sister and a former karateka. Sato had dropped out of karate when middle school started, preferring to join a school club instead, but she'd stayed friends with the rest of them and was in the same class as Kaede in high school.

But Shota shook his head. "Nah, she's busy today," he said so innocently that Takashi could almost believe this wasn't a setup. As it was, he didn't know whether to be annoyed or impressed by Shota's machinations; when Shota had suggested they both 'think things over,' Takashi had sort of expected it to be for longer than ten minutes.

"Bummer," Sachiko said as they made their way to town. "It'd be nice to hang out with Sato for a change, I feel like it's been forever since I've seen her."

"And whose fault is that? You're the one who's almost always the busiest, Sachi" Kaede teased.

"Hey, I'm not any busier than you guys," Sachiko said "We've all got school, we've all got homework, we've all got karate; you're all in the dojo almost as much as me, and Taka even goes on Sundays, too," Sachiko said, elbowing him with a big grin that made his heart flop. "Yeah, I had my stuff with Rei for a while, but that's all over, and it's not like Emi's not out with Isao right now and Shota's not gonna be out with Kameko later today anyway, right?" she asked, smirking over at Shota.

"Right," Shota agreed with a grin. "But Sato'd probably be happy to hang out sometime, Sachi, assuming you've got time before you jump into your next relationship."

Takashi was confident now that Shota was doing it on purpose. And he just had to listen as Sachiko laughed...

"Hey, it's not like people probably even know we broke up yet. I doubt anyone's gonna be diving across homeroom to ask me out anytime soon, so maybe I'll hit Sato up," she said, grinning. "For the foreseeable future, all of my Saturdays are free, after karate."

Shota bought Sachiko a ticket, and they all boarded the bus.

"So, what sounds good for lunch, Sachi?" Shota asked, earning a shrug.

"Since I'm not paying, I'm good with whatever," Sachiko said, looking around expectantly at the others.

"What about beef bowl?" Kaede asked. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm pretty hungry after this morning."

"Yeah, it was a pretty good workout today, wasn't it?" Sachiko asked, her tone so full of satisfaction that it made them all laugh, including Sachiko herself. "What? I like to work up a sweat, so sue me."

"Pretty sure we were all sweaty enough by the end," Kaede agreed. "My hair kept sticking to my forehead the entire last hour, it was really annoying."

"You know you can deal with that by shaving your head, right?" Shota asked, earning a snort from Kaede.

"Or remembering to put my headband back in my bag," she responded, and they all laughed.

"You were super intense during sparring today, Taka," Sachiko commented, earning a somewhat surprised look from Takashi. "And all day, really," she added after a moment. "Everything ok?"

Takashi blinked, then nodded his head. "Yeah, just...kinda tired this morning, that's all. I keep spacing out, sorry," he said, feeling that that was close enough to the truth.

"I wish I had your focus when I'm tired," Kaede remarked, then looked around at them all. "So, beef bowl?" she repeated, and they all agreed.


As the bus wound its way to Nigeyashi, Takashi couldn't help but glare at Shota. He knew what was going on, and it had absolutely nothing to do with celebrating; he could see the setup coming from a mile away, though he didn't know exactly where it would come from, or when.

He supposed he should be glad he had a friend who cared so much, but he could also fully believe Shota when he said Takashi was painful to watch; considering how stupidly obvious Takashi sometimes felt, he could only imagine what Shota, who knew about Takashi's feelings, had to feel himself.

It wasn't that Takashi liked feeling this way He and Sachiko been friends since before they'd started school, for crying out loud, back since they were all just a bunch of twerpy kids. There had been a whole swarm of them, way back when they'd started, but as they'd progressed, those numbers had shrunk.

Some kids had dropped out. Others had kept going, but hadn't advanced as fast, or didn't attend as many classes. Sometimes both. Takashi had always been grateful for the fact that his father had fond memories of his own time in karate and was willing to let Takashi put in so much time; though he only lived in Nigeyashi, it still took forty-five minutes to get from the Sakamoto house to the dojo, and that was a bit of a time commitment, especially when Takashi was just starting out and too young to get to the dojo alone.

Takashi had been happy to take all the time he could get. He'd fallen in love with karate from the first time he'd put on his gi, and he'd been energetic and eager to advance.

It had been embarrassing, back when he was a little kid, to have so many girls in his class, especially when those girls were as good as him...or possibly even better. Girls weren't even supposed to do karate; none of the karate movies he liked to watch with his dad ever had girls in them, after all.

As it happened, though, the very first instructor they had at the dojo was a woman, and he quickly came to grudgingly admire Sensei Sasaki's skill. He still wasn't about to let the girl students beat him, though, and he did his best to make every single class period count. He hadn't always been in the same class as Shota, Kaede, and Emi; there had been times where one or more of them was a level behind the rest. Due to the dojo's age requirement to test for dan rank and the timing of the belt tests, poor Kaede had had to wait six months after Sachiko and Takashi and three months after Shota and Emi to reach dan, a fact that had rankled her deeply the entire time.

Takashi was two months older than Sachiko, but they'd started at roughly the same time because his parents thought it would be best to start him once his older sister's new school year began. Sachiko, of course, had begun the very first class she could after turning five. But for the entire rest of their dojo career, the two of them had always been together, testing and advancing to each new level at exactly the same time.

In the beginning, she'd annoyed him. It had been bad enough to have so many girls in his class to begin with, but he'd consoled his five-year-old ego with the knowledge that he was bound to be better than them.

He wasn't.

It wasn't just Sachiko, admittedly. As it turns out, being a boy did not give him any particular edge, not at five, anyway. He'd been good enough; better than many. But he wasn't the best, and as much as it rankled him to admit it, some of the girls were better, and that included Sachiko.

Sachiko had always been confident, and her confidence had made her skill particularly galling in a way that made her the worst out of any of them. It didn't help that even his stubborn youthful self could tell that she had talent...and that was annoying.

Things made a lot more sense when he realized that her dad was one of the dojo's teachers. Takashi's dad had taken karate all the way up until high school, but he'd had to stop due to the distance between his high school and his dojo and always regretted it. Sachiko might be a girl, but there was no way she hadn't gotten extra training, having a father who practiced karate for a living.

The first time he properly met Sensei Sohma, Takashi was in awe. Sensei Sasaki had been a good teacher and he'd gotten a solid start from her, but Sensei Sohma was a lot more what Takashi had always imagined when he thought about a karateka, even with his unusual looks. Takashi had always been excited to learn from Sensei Sohma, who always made everything fun, made everything interesting, and broke things down into easily manageable pieces. Sensei Sohma was also fierce competitor, and Takashi had always loved watching him whenever he had the opportunity to see the dans train or compete.

Eventually, Takashi had been willing to admit that maybe Sachiko came by her skill justly, girl or no.

Sachiko was aware he'd underestimated her at first, and she'd never let that go, or held back from rubbing his face in it whenever she outperformed him. Takashi himself was just as bad in response, and it always became quickly apparent to their new instructors whenever they advanced that the two of them would always go for the jugular. As they'd aged and ranked up, their rivalry had only gotten stronger.

But even though the two of them had always been competitive, it hadn't taken too long for that rivalry to become friendly. They both liked karate too much; even if Sachiko was a girl, Takashi had loved talking to her. And as they'd all gotten older, it had felt natural, being her friend.

He couldn't say exactly when it was that things had changed. Probably puberty, as cliched and embarrassing as it was to admit; when his voice cracked and dropped, he started battling with body odor, and shot up several inches what almost felt like overnight. Suddenly they weren't all the same anymore, he and his dojo friends. Yeah, in the important ways nothing had changed; they were still all the same people, with the same passion for karate and the same goofy senses of humor. Mostly.

Around that time was when a few of their friends at the dojo had dropped away, including Shota's sister, Sato. And it sucked, losing them, but the girls that stayed were suddenly girls.

It was small, and stupid, and practically panic-inducing. But one day, all at once, Sachiko had looked at him while laughing about something...and he'd realized she was a girl: the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen.

Outwardly, nothing had changed; they were still fierce rivals when they were up against each other and staunch supporters when they weren't. They still hung out with all their friends, talked and laughed...and Takashi watched, silently, trying not to feel anything as Sachiko started to date other guys.

Shota had cottoned onto it sometime during the year they all turned fifteen, though how, Takashi still had no idea. He'd always thought he'd done a good job hiding it; he honestly wished he could move past it, but so far there hadn't been a single girl who'd grabbed his attention like the one who'd always been his friend.

Fortunately, Shota was the only one who seemed to notice. In spite of the fact dating had become a hot topic for Sachiko, Kaede, and Emi sometime around the time they all made dan, none of them had picked up on what Shota said with exasperation was so pathetically obvious.

For that, Takashi could be grateful.

For nearly three years now, he'd quietly carried a torch for Sachiko Sohma, ever since they were in middle school. There was no one else who could touch her, from her sweet voice that could trash talk with the best of them to her angelic face that could watch as she kicked a two-hundred-pound man on his ass; her openly joyful, unabashedly teasing personality to her wicked karate skill that made her a furious competitor against guys easily twice her size. Her infectious smile that always made him want to smile back, no matter how stupid the reason. She was smart, strong, fun, beautiful, and driven; completely unique, and completely amazing.

And maybe Shota had a point. Takashi had always held back on saying anything because he loved their friendship, and the thought of doing anything to hurt it was terrifying. If Sachiko pulled away from him and stopped wanting to even be friends, he felt like he might actually die. But at the same time...

No...Shota was right. Sachiko wasn't one to tease, or mess with his emotions on purpose. If she knew he was serious, then even if she turned him down she was bound to be nice about it. She'd always been one of the most honest people he'd ever known; good or bad, she'd tell him the truth.

Even if he didn't want to hear it.

And then...whatever she said, they could both move on.


"Be honest, Shota," Sachiko said sometime later as she, Shota, and Takashi watched Kaede determinedly let her bowling ball fly. "You've just really been wanting to go bowling and Kameko doesn't like it, right?"

Shota gave Sachiko a grin. "Maybe. But whatever my reason, it's still fun, right?"

"For sure," Sachiko agreed. "I feel like it's been ages since we've all been here. Too bad Emi couldn't," she said as Kaede walked back to the rest of them, shaking her head. "We've gotta make sure we take some good selfies to send and show her what she's missing!"

"That's a good idea," Kaede said, perking up. "I bet if we did it now, she might even drag Isao over to join us!"

"Let poor Isao enjoy his date, Kaede," Shota said quickly. "We can rub Emi's nose in our fun later, right?"

"Right," Sachiko said with a giggle as she stood up to take her turn. "That's what she gets for taking piano lessons on Saturday mornings, anyway."

Kaede took the seat Sachiko had vacated between Shota and Takashi, and the three of them watched as Sachiko hefted her bowling ball and took careful aim, then quickly wound up and let it go. As all the pins went flying, Sachiko let out a little whoop and pumped her fist, turning back to the others with that bright, infectious grin that always made Takashi's heart flip.

He was so far gone it wasn't even funny, Takashi thought with an internal sigh. Or maybe he just felt that way because he'd finally made up his mind to do something about it...whenever he finally got the opportunity.

"You really suck sometimes, did you know that, Sachiko?" Kaede asked, shaking her head as Sachiko's strike appeared on the electronic scoring display.

"What, 'cause I'm good at bowling?" Sachiko asked, still grinning, and Kaede stuck her tongue out at her.

"Among other things."

"Hey, I come by my bowling skills fairly. It's genetic," Sachiko said, taking Shota's seat as he rose to take his turn.

"There's no such thing as a bowling gene, Sachi," Kaede said, giggling, and Sachiko shrugged.

"Maybe not bowling specifically, but all the things that make you good at bowling. Hajime's the same way, and we both get it from Daddy."

"So you're saying bowling night with the Sohma family is ridiculous?" Kaede asked, and Sachiko giggled in turn.

"'Ridiculous' is probably a pretty good word for it; Mom and Katsuro've both knocked themselves over before, and I think the last time Mom's been bowling she nearly dropped the ball on her foot. Meanwhile, Daddy could probably just poke the ball with his foot and get a strike, it's really not fair," she said, sighing dramatically.

"I can see Sensei Sohma being good at stuff like this," Shota commented, coming back and taking Takashi's place. "My family's all pretty average, I think, but we haven't all been bowling together since Sato and I were kids."

"I don't think my whole family's ever been bowling," Kaede said after thinking a minute. "I remember Mom bringing us when we were little, but I've got no idea what kind of bowler Dad would be. I'm guessing terrible," she said with a giggle.

"What about you, Taka?" Sachiko asked as he came back over.

"What about me what?" he asked, somewhat startled by the question; he'd admittedly be spending far more of their time at the bowling alley thinking about other things than he cared to acknowledge.

"Is your family any good at bowling, or just you?" Sachiko asked, her tone patient as Takashi took Kaede's vacated seat beside her.

"Oh. My dad's pretty good, and so's Takane," he said, referring to his older sister. "Dad'd bring us bowling when we were kids sometime, when he was giving Mom a break."

"Aww, that must've been fun for you guys," Sachiko said with a smile. "Daddy didn't take us all out too much without Mom," she said, after thinking about it for a little bit. "But I think that was 'cause Katsuro didn't like a lot of the same stuff as me and Hajime, so usually we'd either do stuff all together as a family or else it'd be just me and Hajime with Daddy. Or just one of us with Daddy!"

She hadn't minded in the slightest; if anything, she'd always openly preferred not having to share her father's attention.

Sachiko took her turn at the pins next, then took Shota's seat on Takashi's other side. But this time, she was looking thoughtful as she sat down.

"Are you sure everything's ok, Taka?" she asked, looking at him. "You're being super quiet today, and it's starting to freak me out."

Kaede was frowning at him too now. "You know, she's right, Takashi. Anything you want to talk about? You know we're always here for you!"

Absolutely not, no thank you.

"I'm fine, it's nothing," he said, shaking his head. "It's like I said earlier, I'm just really tired today for some reason."

"Hopefully you're not starting to come down with something," Kaede said. "It is autumn, after all."

Takashi was aware that Sachiko was looking at him skeptically, and he couldn't really blame her; she'd said something very similar only just the day before, and she hadn't exactly been 'fine' herself.

He blamed Shota for this, too.

"Maybe," Takashi admitted, realizing Kaede was waiting for some kind of response. But he was spared having to say anything else by his turn at the pins, and as he picked up his ball he took a deep breath. He really needed to do a better job focusing; he could already tell that Sachiko was onto something, and he didn't want to make her any more suspicious of him than she already was.


They had finished their second game and had just agreed to play a third when Shota suddenly and decisively stood up.

"I think we need some snacks, what do you guys think?"

"You guys're paying, so I'm good with whatever," Sachiko said, grinning, while Takashi and Kaede both shrugged and made noncommittal noises that did nothing to dampen Shota's enthusiasm.

"Alright, then, snacks it is. Kaede, can you come with me and help? You guys," he said, looking pointedly at Sachiko and Takashi, "can stay here and make sure nobody takes our lane."

The look Takashi gave Shota in response was borderline panicked, but Kaede was already rising to go with Shota, who was definitely smirking. And as the two of them walked away, Takashi had to gulp; as much as anyone could be in a busy bowling alley...he and Sachiko were alone.

Though he wasn't the one prepared to take advantage.

"Seriously Taka, it's fine if you don't wanna talk about it, I promise," Sachiko stressed, pivoting in her seat to give him a serious look. "But will you just actually admit something's up? You've been acting weird all day, and I just wanna know you're gonna be ok. I won't even be offended if you actually don't wanna be here," she said, smiling teasingly.

"It's not that," Takashi said immediately, shifting awkwardly in his seat. "I do wanna be here, it's just..."

He stared at her for a moment, trying to think about what to say. She was looking at him expectantly, her expression once more serious, and he had the fleeting thought of how rare it was, seeing her so concerned. Usually Sachiko was so light-hearted, smiling and laughing and teasing; even when she was competing, it was with a smile. It was strange, seeing her like this...but also nice to know she cared enough to worry.

He'd been dancing around for long enough; he might as well just do it. He'd never been a coward, but he was sure acting like one.

"Sachi, would you ever wanna go out with me? Like, on a date?"

He'd totally shocked her, he could tell. Her eyes flared almost once, and she straightened up slightly to stare at him, her expression incredulous. It then started to relax into something far more familiar, that playful and teasing look he so strongly associated with her...then she hesitated as she studied Takashi's own face.

He'd been worried she'd think he was messing with her, and he could tell she'd definitely assumed that, at least at first. But he was totally serious, and that seriousness had been reflected in both his voice and his expression; he knew even without a mirror that he had to look impossibly awkward, torn as he was between sincerity, hope and anxiety.

"You mean like...for real?" she asked carefully after a moment, and he nodded.

"Yeah. Like, an actual date, just us."

He could tell from her expression that the idea was completely new to her, and he didn't know quite how to feel about that. Yeah, they'd been friends for a really long time, but he was still a guy; she was the one who'd stood there in karate class that morning and asked a whole group of guys, him included, if they'd ever consider dating her.

Well, Emi had asked, technically, but it had still been about Sachiko and she'd still been there.

Sachiko's mind had gone to a similar place. "If it's 'cause you feel sorry for me after this morning, you know you don't have to, right? Emi was just messing around, it's not like my feelings were hurt or anything."

He shook his head. "No, it's not that. I just...well, you're not dating anyone, and I'm not dating anyone, and I think...we'd have fun together," he said, trailing off into a somewhat awkward mumble.

Yeah, he definitely would not have been thought 'smooth' if he'd spoken up that morning.

She was still studying him, chewing thoughtfully on the inside of her lip. "Can I get back to you on this?"

He'd been expecting one of two answers: yes, or no. Variations on those answers, yes, but still one of those two things. The uncertainty had been intimidating, but at least after asking, he'd finally know.

Her asking him for time was unexpected, and at first he could only stare at her. Then after a moment he took a breath and nodded.

"Yeah, sure, that's fine. Whatever you need to do."

Of course she'd want to think about it; obviously she'd never thought about it before, and she probably didn't want to mess up their friendship any more than he did. It made sense, her wanting to think about it. It was a good thing, her wanting to think about it.

He'd said what he needed to say. He'd put himself out there, finally, and asked her out. It had taken a long time to get to this point, he could be patient and give her time...

Even if it sucked.