Kyouhei couldn't believe he was taking part in the truth and dare game. Actually, one of his aims in life was to avoid it. But still, he had volunteered. How could he not? The occasion was unhoped for. Sunako was joining in. He was upstairs when he heard her friend suggest the game. He couldn't resist. Really. He knew it would bother Sunako, but well, who cared?

The five teenagers were circled around an old empty bottle of wine. Sunako's friends were excited, whereas she was silent, even defiant. She hated this game as much as Kyouhei did. What was the point of it? As a principle, she always chose "truth" over "dare". She had nothing to hide, and she didn't want to do humiliating things. All the more so, since that irritating boy was part of the game.

They chose the player who would begin the game by rolling two dice. The one with the highest number would spin the bottle first. With a 6 and a 5, Nanako began. After a few seconds, the bottle stopped to Noriko.

'Truth or dare?'

'Truth.'

The eyes of Nanako filled with malice as she prepared to talk.

'How far did you go with Tarou-sempai?'

Noriko blushed very deeply. How could she answer such a personal question? And in front of such a handsome boy! Moreover, how could she tell her friends that actually, they had never made out? Maybe it was one of the reasons why Tarou-kun avoided her recently. She didn't feel ready. Not yet. She could feel the gazes of the other players scrutinizing her, but she obstinately kept her eyes fixed to the floor.

Sunako felt sorry for her friend. She could see that she didn't want to answer the question, but felt forced by the rule of the game. But still, how could one answer such an intimate question? Did they all even need to know about this? She knew the first kiss was very important for everyone, especially girls, but she never felt she had to inform anyone about her first kiss, and she didn't feel it had changed anything in her life. Sunako emerged from her thoughts when she heard a high-pitched shrill.

'Sunako, what did you say? You already kissed someone?'

Crap, she had been thinking aloud again. When would she lose the habit of muttering to herself? She looked at her friends, but couldn't say a thing. For some reason, she felt apologetic.

Kyouhei couldn't keep his eyes away from Sunako. He was flabbergasted. How was it that he was not even aware of this? He thought he knew everything about her. Now that he thought about it, she had not been shocked about giving away her first kiss when they had kissed for the first time. She had been more horrified that is was by him, he remembered with bitterness. Who could have been her first? Wasn't her first love Takeshi-kun? As much as he was curious about it, Sunako was right: it was nobody's business but hers. It only concerned her and, well, this mysterious guy. Sunako's friends, however, weren't as considerate as him and harassed her with questions. Chihiko's stroke Sunako most particularly:

'Didn't you say that Takeshi-kun was your first love?'

Sunako could see her friend was hurt. She knew Chihiko suffered from being single. Like her, she never had had a boyfriend. And like her, she didn't consider herself as a pretty girl, contrary to Noriko and Nanako. Chihiko was not very tall and had been overweight since she was a little girl. Her plump face always wore a smile, but Sunako could see beyond her seeming cheerfulness. She envied the slim girls who never had any problems with their weight. Of course, she had tried many kinds of diet, but none would do. Even if she did lose a few kilos, she would put it back a few days later. She was resigned now, but still, she felt that Nature was unfair. She wanted to find love. More than anything, she envied couples. She would swallow any manga which tackled the topic of love, and wished such romances would happen to her. The quest for love did not only concern Sunako, both of them wanted a boyfriend. It was the reason why she felt so upset when she heard Sunako had already kissed someone. How could she hide such a thing to her? Was she the only one who had never had a boyfriend?

Sunako tried to justify herself and explain the situation, but she didn't have the chance.

'Oh gosh, don't you have any notion of privacy?' Kyouhei asked in a sigh, addressing Sunako's friends.

He had noticed the tension that the situation had created. He understood the outline of the problem. Sunako and her friends were close, they had no secrets for each other, and her friend was hurt not to know a thing she judged so important. To imagine Sunako to be so close to someone as to tell her everything was strange, but well, again, she wasn't the girl he would know two years later.

Nanako looked at him with awe (like all the girls that would look at him) but also a bit of disdain, as though the thing she was about to tell him, he ought to have already known.

'There is no such thing as privacy between friends.'

'That is preposterous.' Kyouhei muttered.

He had talked to himself, and wasn't sure whether the girls had heard him. But if they did, they didn't say anything. A silence followed. Kyouhei began to feel uneasy and was about to suggest spinning the bottle again when Sunako talked.

'You know, it wasn't such a big deal. I was six, and it was just a goodbye kiss.'

She was addressing Chihiko, who was still mad at her.

'How can it not be a big deal? You kissed someone! And what is it about this goodbye kiss?'

'Well, it was my neighbor who was seven years old. His father was transferred to Tokyo and he had to move. I often saw my mother kiss my father on the lips, my mother would sometimes kiss me that way, and my aunt would often kiss men like this. So I thought it was how people showed their affection to someone, regardless of love. There was nothing more to it I swear.'

Kyouhei had forgotten how naïve Sunako could be sometimes. But well, maybe she wasn't wrong. You indeed show your affection through a kiss. Maybe that was the reason why she had reacted so violently to his. The act of kissing may be precious to her after all, and she had pushed him away when she believed him insincere.

'Hey,' he said, 'shall we spin the bottle?'

The game continued smoothly, and no one mentioned the topic of guys and kisses again. Kyouhei had to admit that it was quite fun. He didn't really care about the "truth" part, since he didn't know the girls, but the challenges were truly entertaining. Since Sunako's revelations, everyone chose "dare". He successively saw Chihiko imitate a cat, Noriko doing a headstand (she remained in this position for nine seconds, something that Kyouhei thought quite impressive), Nanako had to crawl like a snake. Sunako's challenge was particularly vicious, in Kyouhei's opinion and to his delight. She had to recite the times table thrice.

'And if you make only one mistake,' Nanako had added, 'you will have to run around the house for five minutes.'

As expected by her sadistic friends, after the table of five, Sunako was lost. The friends went outside and laughed as she, covered from head to toe with warm clothes, ran as slowly as she could.

'It's a good thing I'm wearing trousers,' Sunako thought for these five minutes.

Of course, all the girls, except for Sunako, tried to aim at Kyouhei when they span the bottle.

Only Chihiko succeeded. When he chose "truth", she thought carefully before saying what she wanted to know.

'What kind of girl do you like?' she asked finally.

Kyouhei wondered why she wanted to know this. Did she expect him to describe her? He had chosen truth, and he would tell the truth. He had never thought of the kind of girl he liked. He had never been interested in a girl before Sunako. He thought them boring. He couldn't care less about beauty. He could never be with Noi, because she was quite annoying. Why did he want to be with Sunako?

'I like girls who are determined. They must know what they are doing, and why. I want girls who smile and know how to enjoy life, without any restrictions.'

None of the girls made any comment, but they kept that in mind.

The game ended at six, when Sunako's mother came back. They had been playing for an hour and a half. The girls chatted together for a while, mostly about Kyouhei. Sunako was relieved that they didn't ask her any questions about their relationship. She had been upset enough when, every time Kyouhei had spun the bottle, she had been chosen. She even wondered if he did it on purpose (as a matter of fact, he did, he had had a lot of training in the various host clubs he had worked at; he had to choose the most fortunate client), but he never asked her anything humiliating or dangerous. Strangely enough, he often asked her to pull diverse faces, and seemed contented with it.

The girls left an hour later, apparently very happy.

'We will do it again, promise?' Noriko asked, to which Sunako nodded vehemently with a cheerful smile.

Still, when she closed the main door after her friends' departure, she felt relieved. It had been a nice afternoon.

She was about to go back to her room when someone seized her arm.

'Didn't you forget something?' Kyouhei asked.

Sunako thought about it. 'Thank you?' she tried.

'You're welcome, but I wasn't talking about this. You have a date with me, and it starts now.'