"Hana!" I clicked my tongue as I walked around my room. I looked under my bed to see if my cat was hiding there, but she wasn't. I sighed as I moved to get up. "Hana, I have your food," I called out. There was no response. "Hana." I sighed and placed her food bowl down on her mat. "Okay, well, here's your food. I need to go now." As if that was her own cue, she bolted out from hiding to immediately start eating her food. I sighed. "Really?" I bent over and gently trailed my fingertips over her back. "Bye, bye, Hana."

I did a quick check to make sure Hana had everything before going into my bathroom to make sure that I still looked good to go meet up with Haruhi. I fixed my hair and my blouse before spinning around and posing in the mirror. I giggled to myself and run out of the bathroom, leaving it open for Hana. I ran out of my room, closing the door, and going through the halls. I quickly went down the stairs, humming to myself.

"Oh, Mistress Emiya. There you are!"

I jumped off the last step and twirled myself around my personal maid. "Hello, Suki-san!"

She laughed and held out my purse to me. "Here is your purse. Your phone along with your wallet is already in it."

"Thank you, Suki-san." I took my purse and adjusted the strap before putting it over my head and under my arm.

"If you'd like, I can come with you."

I shook my head. "That's alright. I can take care of myself."

"If you wish. Your father is already waiting to drop you off."

"Okay! I'll see you later, 'kay?" I told her as I made my way towards the front door. "Oh, and make sure you take care of Hana."

She nodded. "Of course. Have fun, Mistress Emiya."

I waved to her as I exited my home. I saw my father's car waiting at the front and I ran towards it. Once I reached it, I opened the passenger door and got inside. I snapped on my seatbelt and looked at my father, who was giving me a side eye. "What? What is it?"

He shook his head and started to drive. "You're growing up too fast. I don't like it. You need to stop."

I giggled. "Papa, I need to grow up."

"You don't need to. You can just stay as my little baby forever."

"No matter how old I get, I'll still be your baby."

He nodded with a smile. "That's right. See, Emiya, you understand it. Kaya and Nikko just get mad at me when I tell them that." I giggled. "Hey, where does your friend live?"

"She lives near where we used to live, at the Huisu Apartment Complex," I told him as I pulled out my phone from my purse. I pulled up the messages between me and Haruhi to show my father the address she sent me. "This is where she lives."

He glanced at my phone before nodding. "Okay." He blew out a puff of air and turned at a corner. "Emiya, do you do anything at school?"

"I'm the secretary of my class."

"No, no. Like clubs or activities?"

"Oh," I thought for a second. "Not really. The only thing that I really did was that sports event yesterday."

"Why don't you try joining a club?"

I looked at him. "Why?"

"Why? Well, wouldn't it be fun to be in a club?"

I furrowed my eyebrows and immediately thought of what this might be about. "Papa, do you just want to get me out of the house?"

"No, that's not what I-"

"You don't want me to be in the house while you talk about me, is that it?"

"Now, Emiya-"

"I want you to tell me." He sighed and I could see him getting frustrated. "Do you really expect me to trust you when you won't tell me anything?"

He stayed silent for a moment before finally speaking up. "It's nothing, Emiya. Your mother had a stupid idea and I'm trying to settle it with her. That's all. I didn't want her to come and force you into it. I wanted you to think for yourself." He paused. "And I think joining a club would be good for you."

"What was her idea?"

He waved my question away. "That's not important."

"But-"

"If it ever becomes a problem, I'll tell you. That's a promise."

I sighed. "Okay." I fiddled with the butterfly charm on my phone. "I never really thought about the clubs at my school. I'll try to join one."

"You don't have to if you don't want to."

"No, it's fine. I'm sure that there's something that I'll like." I paused. "Were you in any clubs when you were in school?"

"Ah, well… I was in two clubs; the Culinary Club and the Karate Club. I spent most of my time in the culinary room, though."

I nodded. "Oh! I think that's where she lives," I told him, pointing towards an apartment complex.

He pulled up to the curb and parked the car. "Go ahead and check. I'll wait right here, just in case."

"Okay," I said as I hopped out of the car. I placed my phone back in my bag before adjusting my bag strap and walked through the gate. I ran up the stairs and looked at all the names on the doors as I walked past them. I stopped at the one labeled 'Fujioka' and knocked on the door.

"I'm coming!" I recognized the voice as Haruhi's and I turned to my father, giving him a thumbs up.

I saw him nod and he waved before driving off. I turned back to the door just in time for it to open to reveal Haruhi. "Hi, Haruhi!"

"Hi, Emiya." She patted the pocket on her cocoa-colored hoodie and sighed. "Uh, hold on. I'm gonna go grab my wallet real quick." She ran back inside before running back out. "Okay, I'm ready," She told me as she closed and locked the door. "I hope you found my place okay."

"I did." She started to walk towards the stairs and I followed her. "So, what's the plan for today?"

"Well," She looked at me and smiled, "I wanted to keep it as a surprise for you, but we are going to the grocery store last."

I pouted. "That's not fair. At least tell me where we're going to first."

"Nope."

"Aw, Haruhi."

She laughed and grabbed my hand. "You'll just have to wait and see, Emiya." She started to lead me alongside her.

I looked down at our intertwined hands and felt my face become warm. I covered my mouth with my free hand. What am I doing? It's wrong to be feeling like this about a girl...

She looked at me and pointed across the street. "Don't worry we're almost there."

I nodded and smiled, scared that my voice would show that I was getting nervous.

...Right?

I followed her as she led me around the area. We were walking through the neighborhood before we entered the shopping district. "We're almost there," she told me. After walking for a bit, she looked at me. "Okay, close your eyes."

"Why?"

"You'll see."

I smiled and did as I was told. With my free arm, I held onto Haruhi so it would be easier to lead me to wherever we were going. We stopped and I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. "Are we there?"

"Yeah, you can open your eyes now."

I opened them and looked up at the building that we were standing in front of. It took me a second or two to realize what it was. "A rollerskating rink?" I clasped my hands together and smiled. "I haven't been rollerskating in ages! I used to be super good!"

She chuckled. "Yeah, so you've said. It felt like I was reading your entire life story when you were texting me."

I blushed in embarrassment. "I'm sorry about that. I guess I was just a bit too excited for today."

"It's fine. I actually thought that it was kinda cute of you." My eyes widened slightly and I felt my face become very red. "Well, why don't we go inside," Haruhi said as she opened the door.

"Yeah." I followed her inside. She walked up to the counter and I looked around in awe. "Wow, they changed up this place so much."

"Yes, for two, please."

I whipped around and ran over to Haruhi. "Wait!" I grabbed her wrist as she was about to hand the employee her money. "Let me pay for my entry."

She gently pulled my hand away from hers. "It's fine." She held her change back towards the employee.

"No," I huffed and started to rummage through my purse to pull out my own change. "Aha!" I pulled it out and held it towards the employee. "Here, I can just pay for my own."

"Emiya, it's fine. Just let me pay."

"But it won't be fair."

"Who cares?"

The employee giggled and we both turned to look at her. She waved it off. "I'm sorry. You two are such a cute couple, I couldn't help it." I opened and closed my mouth, suddenly speechless. "You know, we do have a promotion today where couples get in for the price of one."

"Oh, well if that's the case," Haruhi pushed my hand down and gave the employee her money. "I'll pay."

The employee took the cash and returned any remaining change. "I hope you two have a great time."

"Thank you." Haruhi took my hand and led me towards the rink. Once we were far away enough from the employee, Haruhi turned to me and pulled me close to her. "I'm sorry about that. I know you probably didn't want to pretend to be a couple, but-"

I was so nervous that I had begun to laugh out of habit. I was actually a little happy that we were mistaken for a couple. "It's fine. Why don't we start skating, yeah?"

She nodded. "Yeah."

We went over to the counter to get our skates before moving to sit on a bench to put them on. "I wonder if I'm still on top of it," I told Haruhi as I pushed myself up. "Okay, let's go!" I went to move forward, but immediately slipped on the skates and landed face first.

"Emiya!"

I pushed myself up and rubbed my chin. I tried to laugh the pain away as Haruhi tried to help me up. "I guess I'm not as good as I remember." I fixed my skirt before slowly sliding against the wall down to the floor.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." I crawled over to a bench that was close to the rink and pulled myself up there. "I just gotta get used to it." I almost slipped again which caused me to grip onto the bench tightly.

"Here. Let me help." I looked at Haruhi, who had her hand held out to me. I carefully placed my hand in hers and she helped me stand upright. She wrapped her left arm around the small of my back to lead me into the rink. "You got it now?"

I nodded. "I think so." C'mon, Emiya, just shift your weight back and forth. Haruhi let go of my back but continued to hold my hand. I smiled at Haruhi. "Thank you, Haruhi."

"No problem."

We both continued to skate around the rink, hand in hand, having fun and making small conversations. The few hours that we had together felt like a few minutes…. I wish that I could spend more time with her like this.

~~~

"I had a lot of fun," I told Haruhi as I pulled on my shoes.

"I'm glad." She stood up and adjusted her clothes. "We should get going though."

"I'm coming." I made sure I had all my things with me before following her out of the building. "So, are we heading to the grocery store now?"

"That's the plan."

There was a loud growl that made me pause. I started to giggle at the embarrassed look on Haruhi's face. "Are you hungry? If you want, I know this really nice place that we can go to for lunch. I get to pay, though, since you paid for us to go rollerskating."

"That's fine. We can just go to the store."

"We could, but isn't better to go to the store with a full stomach rather than an empty one?"

She thought for a moment. "I guess you're right," she said with a shrug. "Okay, we can go eat."

"Yes!" I took her hand and started to pull her along with me. "I know exactly where it is. Just follow me." I looked back and forth across the different stores and restaurants until I found the place I was looking for. I pointed at it and led Haruhi inside. "Here we are!"

I heard a loud gasp from behind me. "Oh, dearie me! Is that you, Emiya?" I was suddenly squeezed into a hug. "Oh, you've grown so big!" I was released from the person's grip and I could finally see their face. "Why, you grew up to be such a cutie."

I smiled. "Thank you, Taguchi-san. It's really nice to see you again."

"Oh, come, come. Have a seat." The ecstatic elderly woman led us to a table. "Here you go, dearies." Taguchi-san gave us our menus and gently patted my shoulder. "I'll be right back." She shuffled off towards the kitchen and loudly announced my presence. "Oh, Toma~! It's Emiya! Don't you remember her?"

"No, I don't," A male voice replied to her.

"Aw, you don't remember? It's that girl that you had a crush on back in primary school and junior high."

"Baba, even if I did remember, I wouldn't want you yelling that for the entire county to hear!" Haruhi and I giggled to ourselves after hearing that.

"Hello, how are you two doing today?" I turned my attention to the girl who stood in front of us.

I tilted my head slightly. "Handa?"

The girl smiled. "Yup."

"Wow! You dyed your hair! It's very pretty."

She twirled a lock of her dark silver hair around her finger. "Thank you. Now, what would you like to drink?"

I looked back down at the menu while Haruhi answered. "I'll have Genmaicha tea."

"And I'll have a melon soda," I added.

"Alright, I'll give you two a few more minutes with the menu while I get your drinks."

"Thank you." I looked over the menu over and over again, trying to decide what I had wanted to eat.

"So, you've been here before?"

"When I was younger, yes. The last time I came here with my family, though, was about two years ago."

"I'm guessing that you were close to the workers here."

I nodded. "I was friends with Taguchi-san's grandchildren and just like Hikaru and Kaoru, they're twins. Not identical, but… what's the word?"

"Fraternal?"

"Yes, fraternal twins."

"Y'know… I noticed that you make friends really easily. Like when you met Hani-senpai and Kaoru, they talked about you like they knew you for ages. I don't know. You have some sort of effect on people that makes them like you."

"You think?"

"Yeah. You must have a lot of friends, right?"

I nodded before gently scratching my cheek in thought. "Ah, well, I think everybody is my friend no matter what. It really all comes down to whether they're a good friend or a bad one."

"Huh. That's an interesting way to think."

"Here are your drinks. A melon soda and Genmaicha tea." Handa placed down the soda in front of me and placed an empty cup in front of Haruhi. She grabbed a teapot from her tray and set it in between us. "There you go. Are you two ready to order?"

Haruhi and I looked at each other before nodding. "I'll have a pork miso ramen," I told her.

"Can I get a chicken katsu?"

"Of course. I'll have them out as soon as I can."

Just as Handa walked off towards the kitchen, her grandmother came back to us with a bright smile. "So, Emiya, who is this handsome young man?"

I started to sway my body gently back and forth, thinking of whether to correct her or not. "This is my friend, Haruhi."

"Oh, a friend?" She leaned towards me and whispered, "It's okay to tell me he's your boyfriend, Emiya."

I waved her away. "Haruhi is my friend."

"Baba, leave them alone!"

"You're supposed to be cooking, Toma! Stay out of my conversations!"

"So, Taguchi-san," She turned back to me. "How is the restaurant holding up without Seno-san?"

A sad look crossed her face. "Right now, it's not so good. You see my restaurant. You two are our only customers. When Seno passed away, everything was fine, but that special spark that we used to have is gone." She sighed. "I have to close down soon. I feel bad for the twins. They work so hard to keep their father's restaurant open, but we can't keep going or else we'll be in deep debt."

I immediately felt bad for bringing up the topic. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault, sweetie."

There was an awkward silence that followed and I watched Haruhi as she poured herself a cup of tea before starting to sip at it.

Finally, Handa came over with our plates and placed them down. "Here's your order. Please enjoy."

"Yes, please do enjoy," Taguchi-san added before walking away with her granddaughter.

"Thank you for the meal." Haruhi and I thanked them. I started to eat my soup in silence.

"Wow, this is really good. I don't understand why they're closing down."

I shrugged. "It used to be way better."

"Better?"

I nodded. "Seno-san did something different with his recipes, but he never told anyone about it, so it can never really be recreated unless someone bought every single ingredient and cooked every single meal."

She chuckled. "Reminds me of a group of people."

"What?"

"It's nothing."

I tapped my bottom lip with my spoon. "Um, I was wondering, Haruhi… I don't mean to offend you or anything, but you are a girl, right?"

Haruhi froze for a second. "Oh, you noticed." I noticed? What the heck is that supposed to mean? "Yes, I am. I'm actually a little surprised."

"I'm sorry, was I not supposed to say anything?"

"No, you're fine. Everyone I've met at school are pretty dense so they don't actually realize that I'm a girl. I wouldn't really care if they did find out."

"Were you trying to purposely hide it from me today or do you usually dress like this?" I realized how horrible that sounded. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that in a bad way."

She laughed. "You're fine, Emiya. You don't need to keep on apologizing." She paused to take a sip of her drink. "Honestly, it's a little bit of both. Kyoya wanted me to try to hide it from you."

"Why?"

"It's a whole "secret" in our club."

"Oh, well, I'll be happy to help keep your secret."

"I don't really care if you tell anyone, to be honest."

"Haruhi, you're no fun. Let me keep the secret."

She shrugged. "Whatever you want."

I grumbled to myself about how unfun she was, which only made her chuckle and playfully roll her eyes.

We ended up finishing our meal quickly and we sat there making small talk as we waited.

"Here's your check," Handa placed the tab down and I immediately snatched it before Haruhi could touch it. I gave her the amount that I needed to pay, including tips, and stuck my tongue out at Haruhi. "Here's your change and a copy of the receipt. Have a good day."

I looked down at it and smiled when I saw that Handa had put hers and her brother's number on it. I folded it and placed it in my bag before standing up. "Shopping?"

Haruhi followed my lead, nodding. "Shopping."

We went to walk out of the small restaurant and I waved goodbye to Taguchi-san and Handa. "Bye, bye! It was nice seeing you!"

"You too, sweetie. Come back to see us anytime."

"Okay!" We exited the restaurant and started to walk leisurely towards the grocery store. "So, what are we gonna get?"

"Well, I definitely need more vegetables and meat. Maybe some milk."

I felt my bag start to vibrate. "Oh, hold on." I pulled out my phone and saw that it was my mother. I answered and put my phone to my ear. "Hello?"

"Emiya, where are you?"

"What do you mean? I'm with my friend. Didn't papa tell you?"

"No. I need you home now, though."

I sighed. "Okay."

"I'm sorry, sweetie, but it's really important."

"No, it's fine, mama. I'll head home now."

"Okay, I'll see you in a few. I love you."

"Yeah, I love you too." I hung up and turned to Haruhi. "I'm really sorry."

"It's fine. If you need to go, then you need to go."

"I had a lot of fun today. I hope we can hang out again sometime soon."

"Me too."

I gave her a hug before letting go and waving goodbye to her as I walked away. I started to call my father to come and pick me up. "Papa, why are you so forgetful?"

"Hah? What do you mean?"

Geez… I looked back to where Haruhi once stood with a sad look before sighing. "Can you come to pick me up?"