The game ends when the mayor starts his speech. Last I checked, there were about five minutes left 'til then, but that feels like ages ago. Regardless, Sora and I have to keep trudging on. The game is tied, fourteen to fourteen. It's been a hard-fought battle; the momentum keeps swinging between our two teams. Sora and I started out pretty strong, with a 5-0 lead, but somehow, Tidus and Wakka fought back and surpassed us, pushing the score to 5-8, in their favor. We were able to put an end to their storm and tied the game up, and it's just been going back and forth like a pendulum between our teams since then.

Next score wins it.

"Alright bro, we gotta stay focused," I tell Sora, grabbing his shoulder to really get the message through, while we huddle to come up with our strategy.

"Right!" he responds, passionately, as he clenches his fist. "Plan of action?"

"Well, we're on the defensive right now," I observe. "They're probably going to try to pull the same shit they did last year, with Wakka and that power throw that sent you flying and left you pretty much incapacitated."

"What makes you so sure they're gonna try it again?"

"They're too predictable. Don't you pay attention when you spar with them? Sure, they've gotten a lot stronger over time, but their techniques are all always and still are the same. They always use the same attacks when they're desperate. And sure, that move worked for them last year, but we're a year wiser and stronger now."

"Alright, so what do you think we should do?"

"Don't go for the interception like you tried last time, or we're gonna end up with the same situation. But pretend that you are."

"Huh?"

"Tidus was right behind you last year, to grab the Frisbee or something in case you missed it, to prevent an out-of-bounds. This time around, we set up the play the same way we did—I try to distract Wakka, while you pretend to try to go for that Frisbee. Tidus isn't going to actually go for it, 'cause he knows he's gonna go flying if he tries to grab it, too. He'd just try to swat it to the ground, and then pick it up and run as a fail-safe; their first choice is for you to try grabbing it and put you out of action."

"Okay, so I pretend to go for it, but…oh, I tackle Tidus?"

"Yep. Get Tidus out of the way, and the Frisbee goes right out of bounds and it's our possession. We huddle again and come up with our strategy then."

"Got it!"

"Let's do this!" We bump fists and walk back onto our makeshift field. Tidus and Wakka are already there, looking pretty lax; only another sign that they're probably just recycling strategies.

"Alright, you guys ready?" asks Garnet, our chosen referee. I give her a thumbs up while Sora gives her a nod; I don't see what Tidus is up to but I hear Wakka let out some intense battle cry.

"Alright, go!" She blows the whistle, and I am off to cover Wakka. I'm pretty fast; I could run the approximate 150-foot gap and tackle him to the ground before he throws, but that would constitute a foul. Which sucks, since the one thing Wakka is better at than me is jumping, so it's hard to cover him when he's the one throwing. I start waving my hands out around like a maniac, hoping my wingspan will be long enough to possibly prevent the hard throw when he goes up for the jump.

It's futile. Dude goes up like a rocket, and obnoxiously yells as he does his power-throw. The disc flies straight out of his hand as fast as lightning. All I can do now is watch.

What I see before me looks almost like a slow-motion highlight reel. As planned, Sora's running towards the Frisbee, two steps ahead of Tidus; he's the faster one, anyway. The disc is getting closer and closer, and Sora stops, just as planned. Alright, now he just has to turn around and tackle Tidus—

Wait, what?

Why is he just standing there?

"Sora!" I yell, trying to get his attention. This is not according to the plan. Instead of reacting, he gives me a wink.

In that flash, Tidus jumps in front of Sora, as predicted, and goes to try to swat the Frisbee; with his fist, he punches it with all his might. The Frisbee plops right onto the ground in front of him, and Tidus falls hard and lands right behind him. Sora, you genius! In an instant, he's all over it. He dives and comes up big.

"Riku!" Sora yells, as he positions himself for the hail-mary.

"Alright!" I begin to sprint towards our goal line, and make sure to shove dumbstruck Wakka out of the way hard as I do so. It takes me around five seconds to cover about 40 or 50 feet, when I begin to turn around and see the disc flying at me. I catch it easily, and am just about to celebrate, when I look down and notice I haven't crossed the goal line.

Dammit.

"Sora, run!" I scream, as I point a couple feet behind me to where the goal line actually is. With Tidus slow to get up, he understands immediately and takes off. I don't think I've ever seen him run so fast.

He runs straight down the "field" as quickly as his legs can carry him. Tidus has gotten up and is desperately trying to catch up to Sora, but there's no way. Before he can even dream of closing the gap, Wakka starts making a dash to tackle my teammate as well. I open my mouth to yell to warn him, but Sora's got the foresight to leapfrog over Wakka, while simultaneously shoving him back into Tidus. He is home free.

I don't think I've ever been so proud of him.

He as his arms raised in victory as he comes up to cross the line, and quickly stretches out a hand to me so he can grab the Frisbee. With his foot across the line, I hand it over. I hear the whistle blow.

Victory.

"YES!" Sora howls, ecstatically. "We did it, Riku!"

"You're the MVP, bro!" I reply, as I pull him into a one-armed hug. I finally notice the noise from the spectators; didn't realize there were so many, all huddled near the opposite goal line. They've erupted into some loud cheering, and Sora removes himself from the hug and jogs towards them, basking in the moment. I follow.

"Race ya there!" I challenge him. Before I can start sprinting, I feel him jump on to my back. "…A piggy back ride?"

"I'm beat, bro," he whines. "Plus, look, they love it!" he perks back up. I notice that the crowd begins cheering even louder.

Alright, I guess I'll roll with it.

"Born free, free as the wind!" Sora starts to sing, as we reach the halfway point.

"Singing is not one of your talents, man," I snap.

"I'm better than you probably are!" he snaps back, pounding my head with his fist as he does so. I just sigh as he continues with the song. He is the MVP, after all.

When we finally reach the crowd, Tidus and Wakka are the first ones to catch up to us. Sora finally jumps off my back.

"Can't believe we lost, man," Wakka sighs.

"Yeah…still, you guys played great!" Tidus chimes.

"Yeah, great game, guys," I reply, as I stick out my arm for a handshake.

"We totally owned you guys in the end though," jeers Sora, as he holds his hand out as well, ever the easily inflated ego.

"Heh, we'll get you next year," sneers Tidus, as he grabs my hand. "After all, now we're tied, 1-1."

"Don't wanna start the trash-talk too early," I wink. "Like you said, we're tied. Sora and I are the most recent winners, so don't you think we have the upper hand right now?"

"Well, I guess it's like you said, we're just gonna have to see! 'Til next year!" he responds, pumping his fist. I give him a nod as he and Wakka retreat into the crowd.

"Sora! Riku!" I hear Kairi call out. I turn to see her running towards us. "Congrats, you guys were amazing!"

"Hey, thanks babe!" Sora beams as she approaches.

"Couldn't have done it without Sora's quick thinking," I add. Sora's grin gets even bigger and goofier than it just was. I choose to boost Sora's ego in front of Kairi because, hey, gotta have your bro's back when he's with his woman.

"Amaya did say that you looked pretty surprised when Sora decided to cleverly just stand there," she smirks at me, as she wraps her arms around her boyfriend. He looks like he's on cloud nine.

"We're still on about that?" I groan. The nice thing about the game was that I could drown out every other thought, and refocus all my attention. I almost forgot about all the stupid shit that happened earlier today.

"Hey, great job, guys," a familiar husky voice says. I look over to see none other than the aforementioned person, big smile plastered on her face. I feel the familiar unwelcome heat rush to my face. Dammit. And she's surrounded by two other girls, probably her friends.

"You guys watched the game?" asks Sora.

"Yeah, wouldn't have missed it!" one of her friends chirps, her face turning as pink as her hair. Closer look reveals it's Serah; she's had a huge crush on me for a really long time, but her sister—who I also dated once—scares the bejeezus out me. I explained that fact to her when she tried giving me a valentine last year, and let her down easy, but it's apparent she still might have a thing for me. I mean, not that I blame her.

"It was a really fun time," adds the girl with the sand-colored hair. Can't say I can remember her name, but I've seen her around campus a couple of times.

"Glad you guys enjoyed it," I reply to them. Serah's face turns even pinker.

"Hey, the mayor's speech starts soon," says sandy, as if sensing Serah's discomfort. "We should head over."

"You guys go on ahead, Ashe and Serah, I'll catch up with you there!" Amaya responds. Oh, right, sandy's name is Ashe. The two nod cheerily and head off. I notice the crowd is starting to dwindle a bit.

Oh, wait, Amaya's hanging here for a bit? With us? Crap.

Lucky for me, a bunch of people come up to us and start chatting us up, congratulating us on winning. Amaya's off in the corner standing with Kairi—which I have to admit kind of concerns me, but then again, as ridiculous as today's been, it's not like she's blown my cover. I'll just continue to trust she won't; getting my mind off that and focusing on all these other people is a lot easier.

Ten minutes later, pretty much everyone's gone towards the stage on the shore, to hear Kairi's dad's address. Kairi and Sora are still here, but Amaya's disappeared. I inwardly let out a sigh of relief, but at the same, I have to say I'm a little disappointed.

"Guess we should head over now, huh?" I ask the two of them.

"In a bit," Kairi interjects.

"Your dad's giving his speech, though," I reply, a little confused.

"It's the same thing pretty much every year," she rolls her eyes. "Even he hates giving it. Anyway, we need to talk."

I hate that line so much. It almost never bodes well.

"Do I even want to know what this is about?" I cringe.

"My sister," Sora responds, stupid grin still on his face. Kairi looks a little sterner, though, so I can't tell how serious this exactly is.

"As you can infer from me telling you her evaluation of Sora's brilliance in his game-winning play, Amaya and I spent some time talking during your game," states Kairi.

"Oh boy!" I reply sarcastically.

"She knows you're interested in her," she smirks. Damn. I mean, I kind of figured considering Amaya pointed out the fact that I was flirting with her, but I was kind of hoping that that went over her head. Guess she's not that dense. Which, I mean, isn't a bad thing, but…

"Good for you, she's interested, too," Sora finishes for her.

"Wait, what?" I blurt.

"Like I said, the two of us were talking during the game," Kairi starts up again. "She was analyzing your guys' game-play and whatnot, and I noticed that she pointed out what you were doing more than anyone else on the field."

"Hey, look, he's smiling!" Sora interrupts, pointing at me. Crap, I didn't even notice.

"Shut up!" I counter, trying to revert back to a straight face. Good thing it's pretty dark out; I can feel the blood rushing to my face, but they won't be able to tell.

"Stop acting like a kindergartener who's afraid of cooties," scoffs Kairi.

"Alright, alright," I reply, irritated. I mean, she is right. "Just continue on with that you were saying." She snorts and then begins again.

"Anyway, I pointed that out to her, and she got a little flustered. She was blushing a little, too." Ha, that's actually really cute. "I prodded a little further, and she confessed that she thought you were…interesting, was the word she chose."

"But she was blushing, right? That can only bode well for me."

"Well, yeah. She said that she thought you were good-looking—"

"Of course."

"She also said you were kind of a dork." She stops talking right there, trying to stifle her laughter.

"…and?"

"You should see your face!" she starts cackling. Sora joins in.

"Amaya definitely got the 'dork' part right!" he guffaws. I hit him on the head. Hard. That gets them both to stop. "Ah, what the hell, Riku?!" he winces, rubbing the tender area with his hand.

"Hit you twice as hard 'cause I can't hit Kairi," I reason. I straighten up my posture and make sure to keep my expression as rigid as I can. "Ahem, anyway, you were saying?"

"Well, she said she had a feeling that you were interested in her, but couldn't be a hundred percent sure 'cause you kept shifting between being all shy and confused to stupid and show-offy," Kairi continues. Alright, so she only kind of caught on. But not completely, so I guess I have some sort of dignity left. "She said something along the lines of the fact that she thought you were kind of hard to figure out, but at the same time, it was cute, and she said you were fun to talk to."

"So basically, I'm good-looking, mysterious, cute, and fun to talk to in her book?" I recap.

"And a dork," Sora adds, with a stupid smirk. I glare at him and he puts his arms up in defense, scared that I'm gonna hit him again.

"Yeah, she said she'd like to get to know you better!" Kairi grins. "So, what are you waiting for?"

I pause for a moment, not really sure how to respond. What am I waiting for?

"Is there…something that you don't like about her, maybe?" Sora inquires, with a tone of concern in his voice.

"Mm…I guess…maybe I'm just not used to feeling like some sort of…dork, for lack of a better term," I confess. "I mean, let's be honest, I'm usually pretty good with girls and get my way with them. Either that, or they're too ridiculous for me and I just give up with them. But, this time, it's some sort of strange combination of that, and I don't really know whether I dig it or not."

"So, you're scared since you think she might actually be girlfriend material?" Kairi prods.

"Something like that, I guess," I shrug. She's pretty much hit the nail on the head, to be honest. "But, like you guys said, asking her out on a date isn't like some sort of marriage proposal…she's interested in me, she's pretty cool, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested in her, too, so…I guess I'll go for it."

"Really?!" Sora exclaims, stupid grin wider than ever.

"Yeah," I reply, calmly. "I mean, I'm still a little iffy about it but…if I don't go for it, I know I'm going to regret it." I think back to how, admittedly, crushed I was to see Stella with someone else, before I even got my chance with her. As much as I hate admitting to Kairi being right, she was; I can't let something like that happen to me again. Gotta take my chances.

"Well, what are you waiting for? She's standing near the lobster booth," Kairi smirks.

"Wait, she's expecting me?"

"Yeah, yeah, you can thank me later, just go!" she shoos. I open my mouth to protest—I mean, what the hell would she have done if I wasn't interested?—but she just shoves me to get me to turn around and go. It's futile at this point; starting an argument with Kairi right now is a total waste of energy. I groan and head off.

"Good luck, man!" I hear Sora encourage from behind me. "Just be yourself. And be honest with her! She appreciates that!" I wave an arm up to acknowledge him. I can hear them high-fiving, snickering in celebration. It annoys me to no end.

But I'll be honest; I'll have to thank both of them, if this works out. Later, of course. Can't stroke their egos too much, now, can I?

I stick my hands in my pockets as I make my way over to the designated booths. I realize I'm faced with a new dilemma: how exactly am I supposed to ask her out? I mean, yeah, popping the question is one thing and seems simple enough, but it really is quite complex. What wording should I use? What kind of tone of voice should I use? My demeanor?

Ugh, maybe I'm over-thinking it. It really shouldn't be this hard; I've done it a ton of times before. As much as I hate to admit it, I think I'm gonna have to take Sora's advice on this one—I'll just be myself, and go with the flow. It's gotten me this far, right?

I'm a few yards away from the booth when I finally see her. She doesn't seem to notice me yet; her attention is turned to the woman manning the stand. Looks like she's ordering something. I stop for a second and take a good look at her.

No denying, she's a good-looking girl, but, there's something about the way she smiles, the way her eyes light up when she talks, the way she brings her hand up to her mouth when she laughs, that hair-twirling habit of hers, the way she carries herself, her soft-spoken voice…It's cheesy, but, dare I say it, she really is beautiful.

And according to Kairi, she's interested in me. I guess I really would have to be stupid to not go for it.

"Oh, hey, Riku!" she turns to wave at me.

You got this, Riku. Just go with the flow.

"Hey, what're you up to?" I ask, as I approach her.

"Just getting something to eat. It's been a long day!" she replies, heartily. "Can't wait for the fireworks show to start."

"Yeah, that's any minute now, huh?" She nods her head.

"Miss, here's your order," chimes the booth-lady.

"Oh, thank you!" she responds. She reaches out her hands to get what looks like two red cardboard containers of stuffed lobster tail.

Damn, reminds me that I am hungry.

"Here you go, Riku!" She hands one of the containers over to me.

"Wait, what?" Girl read my mind, holy crap. I mean, not that I'm complaining, but how did she know to get my favorite?

"I figured you'd be hungry, since you just played a really intense game," she beams. "Kairi said something about stuffed lobster tail being your favorite."

I really do have to thank her later.

"Oh…thanks, you really didn't have to," I reply, trying to make sure my voice doesn't waver. "Let me pay you back!"

"Don't worry about it, it's a present!"

"A present for what?"

"Does there always have to be a reason when you give a gift to someone?" she asks, smiling as she starts digging her spoon into her lobster.

"Heh, I guess not…thanks a lot," I smile back at her.

"Wanna go get a place to sit closer to the shore? It's easier to sit and eat and, like you said, fireworks should be starting any minute!"

"Yeah, sure," I reply. "Lead the way." She smiles as she goes a couple of steps ahead of me, probably taking it as a return of the favor of her previously giving me the lead, while we were still looking for Sora and Kairi. Little does she know, it's actually an excuse to—

"You're not checking out my butt, are you?" Crap. She turns around, eyebrow raised.

"Come on, give me a little more…alright, fine, I was," I confess. According to Sora, honesty's the best policy, right? "Does it help if I say I can't see anything because of your sarong?" It's kind of true. The stupid thing is hanging in the way and its folds, along with the dim lighting, are obscuring everything. Still, the way the fabric smoothes over her backside-area…she's definitely got a little somethin'-somethin', if ya catch my drift. Can't complain about that.

She sighs as she turns back around, but I definitely see a hint of a smile. No lecture on how sleazy and rude I probably was being? I take it I'm forgiven.

Ha, she totally digs me.

"Damn, it's crowded," she observes, as we approach the shore. Everyone's sitting, huddled in their little groups waiting for the show to begin. The view from here is perfect; the sky is perfectly clear tonight and the ocean waves are calm. I see a couple of kids playing around and splashing in the water, and others running around with glow sticks and the like. Sure brings back memories. People are pretty chatty, and the ambience is definitely laid-back—perfect end to a pretty wild day, if I do say so myself.

I notice Serah and Ashe with a few other girls clustered not too far away from us. I'd really rather not sit with that crowd. That could get pretty awkward.

"Hey, why don't we sit over there?" she gestures to a spot well behind that group. Sweet.

"Sounds like a plan," I reply, as I begin walking over. She catches up with me right away as we reach the designated area.

"Good thing the shore's so big," she observes. "Otherwise, with this many people, it would be almost impossible to get a good view."

"Yeah, definitely." I start digging into my lobster tail. The buttery meat melts right in my mouth. I'm practically in a state of euphoria as I experience all its light, lemony, and crispy texture and flavors.

"How is it?" she inquires, watching me eat.

"Amazing, as always," I reply. "Thanks again."

"No problem, I'm really glad you like it!" she grins.

"Can't go wrong with this." I take another spoonful, while I finalize my game-plan. Not that I think this is some sort of game, but, I gotta come up with a way to make this go as smoothly as possible. As much as I hate confessions, I have a feeling this is going to work to my advantage here. "Oh, and, by the way, I just wanted to apologize for earlier. I acted kinda shady and—"

"Don't worry about it," she interjects, shaking her head. "It's normal to act a little awkward around people you don't know too well." Oh, girl, if that's what you're thinking, then that is perfectly fine by me. I'll take that over a corny confession any day.

She takes her own bite of lobster-tail stuffing. "Wow, this is really good! I haven't had this in so long."

"It's not my favorite for no reason," I respond. She just giggles.

"I'll definitely have to ask you for more food recommendations, then," she says, savoring another spoonful.

"Well, have you been to that new restaurant, The Hidden Dragon? They have some pretty good food." Great place. Went there last weekend with a group of friends to celebrate getting done with that stupid sociology exam I had.

"Oh yeah?"

And now, I go in for the kill.

"If you're free this Friday night…"

"I'd love to!" she beams.

Success!

And before I can respond, I hear a deafening 'boom.' The first firework's gone off. Holy crap, that timing couldn't have been cheesier.

"Holy crap, that timing couldn't have been cheesier," she scoffs.

You know…I have a good feeling about this.

"And, yeah, that's that story," I conclude.

"Oh, how sweet!" Aunt Elmyra croons.

"Very cute," Stella nods in agreement.

Okay, so I might have left out a few details. And put a couple more in. But, come on, 'Guy gets introduced to his best friend's sister at a fireworks show, best friend sees connection, introduces guy and girl, and they have a blast on their eventual first date together' sounds so much better than that mostly train wreck of the real story, right?

"It's nice that things seem to be going so well for the two of you," Aunt Elmyra beams.

"Y-yeah," I reply, as I scratch the back of my neck. Don't get me wrong, she's a sweet old lady, but the fact that she's happier than even Sora is most of the time is a little overwhelming.

"So…you're here buying flowers for her, right?" Stella inquires. Oh, right, that's what I was in here for.

"Yeah…problem is, I'm not really sure what to get her," I admit.

"Hmm, roses are always a safe bet," she suggests.

"I wanna be a little more original than that." At least I remember that roses are definitely not Amaya's favorite.

"Aww, okay, then. Why don't you take a look around? Maybe something will stand out," she proposes.

"And we're always here if you have any inquiries! It's not too busy right now—as you can see, no one else in the store right now—so we're all yours if you need assistance!" chimes in Aunt Elmyra.

"Sounds like a plan." I walk over to look at shelves upon shelves of flowers. There're way too many varieties here, and the fact that I know jack-shit isn't helping me choose. At this point, though, I can't really walk out of here empty-handed. And flowers aren't exactly cheap, so it's not like I can buy some and throw 'em out to avoid Amaya finding out about me forgetting whatever her favorites are. I'm really in a pickle here. I guess I'm just gonna have to follow her advice, for the case of 'guy who doesn't know girl's favorite flowers.' That pretentious 'language of flowers' shit, or whatever. Hey, maybe if I'm lucky, she and I are on the same wavelength and I pick the right ones. If anything, at least she'll know I remembered part of what she said that day.

Let's see, step one. Pick flowers I'm drawn to…huh, those are pretty funky. They're these purple and white flowers, with some petals folded all the way up and others drooping down. According to the card, folded and placed in front of the vase that contains the flowers, they're…oh, these are irises. Kairi said something about wanting them for her graduation party. Wow, so I can remember that.

Whatever, let's see what the meaning is…'Wisdom, courage,' and 'admiration.' Wisdom? I mean, sure, Amaya's pretty smart, but 'wise' is kind of more suited to elderly people and owls, and I don't really want to associate that kind of image with the girl I'm dating. Courage? Hm, don't know her well enough yet for that one. And then admiration's is a bit overkill, to be honest. These are a no. But I'm sure they'll look nice at Kairi's party.

Alright, another look around…sunflowers? Nah, those give me a 'Sora' vibe, and to be honest, equating Amaya and Sora kind of freaks me out. So that's another no.

Oh, these look kind of sophisticated. They come in a bunch of different colors; some even have two colors, with this cool-looking border at the tips of the sort of scrunched up petals. Card says they're carnations. 'Fascination, distinction' and…'love'? Yeah, that's a no-go.

Hmm…oh, here are the ones Sora got for Kairi. They're called alstroemeria, but it looks like they're some type of lily. 'Friendship, devotion.' Hm…it works for Sora and Kairi, but I don't think that's quite right for us.

Alright, speed round. I'm just gonna go around and read some more cards. 'Camellia: admiration, perfection.' That's a little too much. 'Daffodil: unrequited love.' Just no. 'Hydrangea: thank you for understanding.' Understanding what? 'Chrysanthemum: I love.' Nope. 'Orchid: beauty, love?" Nope. 'Primrose: I can't live without you.' Oh, come on, that's just sad. 'Tulip: Perfect lover.'

…Are there any flowers that aren't some disgusting confession of undying love of the sorts?

"You having any trouble, Riku?" I hear Stella's silvery voice inquire.

"Yeah. To be honest, I'm not really feeling a lot of these. They're a bit too…sappy."

"Hmm, well, did you make sure to look at the cards specific to the color of each flower?" Sure enough, there are also separate cards dangling from each vase containing the varying colors of each species of flowers. Well, this got a whole lot more obnoxiously complicated. "Even though the general meaning of the flower might be kind of 'sappy,' when you look at the specific colors, you might get something with a totally different meaning. Take roses, for example. Generally, they're used to confess love, but there are some colors that might not mean that. For example, the yellow ones stand for something along the lines of 'everlasting friendship.'"

Well, hey, that might be a good birthday gift or something for Kairi, but that's irrelevant right now.

"I guess I'll take another look around. Thanks for your help," I nod.

"Yeah, let me know if you need anything else!" She makes her way to tend to some other flowers.

Guess I'll take another scan around the room then. Hm…

Oh, those look interesting. They look…kinda like daisies, but with a lot more petals and tons of different colors. Card says—

I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket. I take it out and, hey, whaddaya know? Text Message: Amaya. The formatting of that last text I sent her must have pissed her off to no end.

"You can be really obnoxious sometimes. -_-" Oh, the sweet satisfaction of getting on the nerves of a grammar-nazi. I decide to text back with a winky face. She'll get over it when she sees me and whatever flowers I pick out for her, right?

Anyway, right, card. It says: 'Aster: patience…' Huh. That actually might work. She's put up with any shit I've given her so far. Let's see, there's also: 'daintiness' and…well, who would have guessed? 'Love.' So close. So, so close.

"Something the matter, dear?" Aunt Elmyra asks, concerned. "Oh, aster flowers? These are lovely! Did you know that their name is derived from another word meaning 'star'?"

Stars, huh? I think back to that really good conversation Amaya and I had, on our first—no, sorry, second date, about my little star theory. I don't know. It just felt like the first time we really connected. As corny as it is, these flowers actually might have been perfect.

"The gift of flowers is such a beautiful thing, especially when one puts so much thought into it, like you are," she continues. "It shows that you really care about this girl."

No, woman, I'm putting this much thought into it because of Amaya's annoying know-it-all tendencies and the fact that it would be impolite to walk out of here empty-handed after you and Stella hounded me with all those questions. But, of course, it would also be kind of rude to actually say that out loud.

Not that I don't care about Amaya, either, though, of course, but…hm...

You know what? I'll go for it. Most of the meaning fits well. If—no, when Amaya quizzes me about the symbolism or whatever, I'll just leave the 'love' part out. I mean, it's not like she has the meaning of every single flower memorized, right?

Actually, I wouldn't put that past her, to be honest.

Whatever, I just want to get out of here.

"Could I get a bouquet of these, please? I think she'll like them," I explain, trying to keep up whatever expectations this woman has got for me.

"Why, certainly, dear! Give me a couple of minutes and I can whip something up for you! Any other flowers you'd like to add?"

Ha, like I'd want to complicate this crap any further.

"No, I think these will do," I reply, politely. "If you used a bunch of different colors of it, though, that might be cool." If anything, at least it'll look like I tried a little harder.

"Of course! And Stella can ring you up while you're waiting."

"Thank you." I walk over to the little cash register in the corner, where Stella's sitting, checking out her fingernails or something.

"Oh, you all set?" she asks, when she notices me standing there.

"Yeah, just a bouquet of aster flowers," I reply.

"Ooh, nice choice," she beams, giving me a thumbs up. Heh, a year ago, I would have had a heart attack from that.

Crushes are one of the worst things to ever be imposed on mankind. Good thing I'm over that shit.

"That'll be…600 munny," she calculates. Holy crap, this shit doesn't come cheap. My night better be good.

"Here ya go," I sigh, as I hand over the munny.

"Thank you!" she chirps, as she puts it in the register. "Mrs. Gainsborough should be out soon with your bouquet—oh, there she is!" Damn, that was fast. Not that I mind. I see the elderly lady coming around the shelves. The bouquet looks pretty great, in my opinion. Purple, blue, pink, and white flowers stick out all over the place. Amaya better like it.

"Here you go, dear," she practically sings as she hands the flowers over to me.

"Thanks a lot," I reply, as I accept them. Alright, time to get out of this place. "You guys have a good evening." I wave and spin around to walk out the door.

"You, too, Riku! I'll see you around!" I hear Stella say.

"Have a great night, darling," Aunt Elmyra chimes in. I turn my head one more time to give them a smile as I leave.

Now that I've gotten this crap out of the way, it's time to finally get on with my night.

A/N: Annnnnd we're finally back to our actual plot xD Haha sorry about the meandering to that huge flashback; it honestly was originally planned to be about 1,000 words, and then end with the ending in this chapter, but I ended up getting so many ideas while I was writing it out, that that would have ended up being a 20,000 word chapter aha. But I hope you enjoyed those scenes! It was also kind of my way of including a little more Sora and Kairi, since they're listed as my other main characters.

I finished this a lot faster than I thought I would o_o I guess studying for biochemistry got my creative juices flowing idk

That last part of the flashback was kinda fluffy, but let me know what you think about that. Riku fluff is hard. That, and I still hope Amaya retains her likability. Like, really, tell me if you feel she needs to be burned at the Sue-stake at any point.

So yeah, next chapter we finally get to the plot. And we get to meet Haru! Follow/fav to keep up with whatever ridiculous shenanigans that have Riku face-palming in the next chapters! Really hope you enjoyed this, and don't forget to leave a review to let me know what you think! Characterizations are always something I'm super duper paranoid about, so definitely give me your opinions on those, and motivate me to keep writing so you get faster updates. Or you can tell me how much this sucked and how I should never, ever write again, you're entitled to your feelings.

Shoutouts: Thank you so much relena soulheart (darling), ANP Productions (my favorite), mystic moogle (aka 'person who always puts a smile on my face) and ultimatebrat (bae and the straw to my berry) for reviewing the last chapter!