Tatsuki stayed with Orihime in her dorm room all weekend long. The girls watched movies, ate junk food, and just hung out together. They talked about everything from Tatsuki teaching karate, to Orihime getting lost on campus, and even the cute boys they had met since starting university. They talked about everything except for what happened Friday night.

Tatsuki could tell that Orihime was putting on a brave face. Tatsuki would catch her at moments, looking distraught for just a moment, before turning on her cheerful and happy face.

As Tatsuki packed up her stuff Sunday afternoon, she looked Orihime in the eyes with a very concerned expression.

"You sure you're okay?"

Orihime nodded. "Yes, Tatsuki-chan. You don't have to worry about me. You taught me self defense, remember?" She struck a defensive karate pose and stuck out her tongue.

Tatsuki chuckled. When Orihime had left Grimmjow, Tatsuki had taken it upon herself to teach Orihime numerous self defense tactics. Orihime was quite proficient at it, but there was a difference between throwing Tatsuki to the ground in a dojo and defending herself from her violent ex in a public place.

Tatsuki brought Orihime in for a big hug and said, "If you ever see him again, you better call me right away."

Orihime nodded and said bye to her friend.

Just 5 minutes later, Orihime heard a knock at her door. She went to the door and was surprised to see Ishida standing in the hall between their two rooms, looking a bit timid with his book bag slung over one shoulder.

"Oh! Hello, Ishida-kun."

"Hello, Inoue-san. I hope I'm not bothering you."

Orihime shook her head and stepped aside. "Not at all! My room is a bit messy, but you're welcome to come in."

Ishida blushed discretely and pushed his glasses up his face. "Uhm, actually Inoue-san, I came by to ask if you if you wanted to study together."

"Oh, perfect! Tatsuki-chan was here all weekend so I haven't reviewed any course material yet." Orihime turned into her room, leaving Ishida holding the door open. She quickly made her bed and tidied up, pushing aside the things on her desk. She then pulled out her desk chair and looked expectantly at Ishida. "You can sit here Ishida-kun, I like studying on my bed."

Ishida, who had been expecting to study in a library, was surprised at Orihime's invitation. He stepped into Orihime's room and let the door close behind him. "Would you not be more comfortable studying in the library, Inoue-san?"

Orihime considered this, then shook her head. "I think I learn best by thinking aloud and I know that it can be annoying for others in a library. Is it okay if we study in here? If it's too messy, we could go to your room."

The thought of studying alone with Inoue in his own room made Ishida's heart skip a beat. "No, this is fine Inoue-san. Your room isn't messy."

So the two settled in and opened their books, Ishida sitting at Orihime's desk and Orihime sitting atop her bed. For the courses they shared, they reviewed the relevant chapters, chatting often about the concepts and their homework. For one of their assignments, they were supposed to discuss the various stages of sleep and their dreams.

"Do you dream often, Inoue-san?"

"Mhm!" Orihime nodded. "I have incredibly vivid dreams. For a long time they were mostly nightmares, but not so much anymore!"

Ishida nodded thoughtfully.

"What about you Ishida-kun?"

"Me? No, I don't really dream."

Orihime put her books down and looked at Ishida wide-eyed. "You don't dream?"

"Not really. Is that weird?"

Orihime considered this. "I… guess not. I'm just surprised. I thought everyone dreamed."

Ishida looked thoughtfully at his textbook. "It seems like there's research that's proven that everyone dreams, but not everyone remembers them by the time they wake up. This text even has tips on how you can remember dreams more easily."

Orihime's eyes lit up and she smiled at Ishida. "You should try them! The tips to remember your dreams."

Looking down at her own copy of the text, she read aloud, "…interrupted REM sleep can cause better dream recall. Oh! There's an idea."

"Hmm?"

"Why don't you fall asleep and then I can wake you up mid-REM sleep and we can see if you remember your dreams!"

"Eh?"

Orihime slipped off her bed, moved her textbooks out of the way, and patted the bed.

"Would you like to take a nap, Ishida-kun?"

Ishida stood up flustered. "Huh? I-in your bed?"

"Mhm! Or we could take a nap in your room."

"W-we?"

"Oh, right. I guess you would take the nap and I'd observe you. Ooh! I've never done a sleep observation before. This will be fun!" Orihime grabbed her notebook and a couple pens.

Ishida rushed to collect his things, still processing Orihime's proposal and cursing his brain's immediate shutdown when Orihime misspoke of them taking a nap together.

As Orihime opened her door, both she and Ishida were surprised to see Ichigo standing there, his hand raised as if he was just about to knock on the door. Ichigo locked eyes with Ishida, both seeming to wonder why the other was there.

"Kurosaki-kun!" Orihime exclaimed. "Ishida-kun and I were just working on our psychology homework. Do you want to come to Ishida's room and take a nap too?"

"Huh?" Ichigo replied dumbfounded.

Orihime pointed to the psychology textbook. "Our psych homework on sleep cycles and dreams. Ishida-kun doesn't remember his dreams so I thought we could do a little sleep study and experiment to see if we can help him remember his dreams."

"Uh…" Ichigo looked to Ishida with a questioning look, to which Ishida responded with a slight shrug of his shoulders as if to say, "I have no idea what's going on." Ichigo looked back at an excited Orihime and gave a half-smile, "… sure."

With a couple of adjustments to Ishida's impeccably tidy room, the three were ready for the impromptu sleep study. Orihime had brought over her desk chair from her room and it was placed next to where Ichigo was sitting on one side of Ishida's bed. They had closed the curtains and turned on the small desk lamp at Ishida's desk to provide some light for Orihime and Ichigo to make notes. Ishida was lying down on his bed, his smartwatch around his wrist, and his phone in Orihime's lap with his fitness tracker app opened on it to keep track of his heartrate. After discovering that Ichigo also did not remember his dreams often, Orihime had suggested that Ichigo and Ishida take the nap together, to which both protested. Orihime finally conceded that Ishida's bed was too small, and decided that if it went well, they could replicate the study with Ichigo.

As Ishida lay in his bed, he tried to calm himself by being as still as possible, willing himself to sleep, so as to get out of this bizarre situation as quickly as possible. Orihime in the meanwhile was excitedly glancing between Ishida, her notes, and Ishida's phone in her lap, scanning for some indication of his falling asleep. Ichigo for his part was still baffled by this scenario and wondered if Ishida could even fall asleep under the expectant gaze of Orihime.

Ichigo leaned over to Orihime and whispered, "Should we maybe leave him alone to actually fall asleep?"

Orihime, without moving her gaze off of Ishida whispered back, "But I don't want to miss anything." Glancing down at Ishida's phone, she excitedly reached out to Ichigo and pointed at the screen which indicated that Ishida's heartrate had gone down in the last few seconds.

Ichigo doubted that his friend was actually asleep but nodded encouragingly at the auburn-haired beauty. He leaned over to her again and whispered, "How will we know when his REM sleep has started? Should we open his eyes or something?"

Orihime supressed a giggle and Ishida resisted rolling his closed eyes. "No," she replied in a whisper, "We'll just do it based on time and what the average person's sleep cycle is. So we'll wake him up in 70 minutes or so."

Both Ishida and Ichigo internally groaned at this, one wondering if he could pretend to sleep for so long and both wondering how exactly they had gotten into this situation.

Orihime was happily recording notes on the sleep study and Ichigo, who had been unconsciously staring at Orihime, smiled to himself noting how happy she looked. When he had gone to her room earlier that day, he had been quite anxious. He was still frustrated with himself for not being a better friend to her on Friday. His meeting with Tatsuki, Chad, and Ishida Saturday morning resulting with the "Keep Orihime Safe" plan had made him feel empowered to do better. That afternoon, he had readied himself to find her still upset, potentially crying, and though he didn't feel totally prepared to deal with a crying woman, he had been surprised to see her in high spirits and with Ishida. As part of the plan, Ichigo and Ishida had volunteered to keep a close eye on Orihime. Since they lived in the same dorm and had some of the same classes, it was the least suspicious way to ensure Orihime was rarely alone. Tatsuki had texted that afternoon when she left Orihime's, which was an invitation for Ichigo or Ishida to check in on Orihime sometime later. Ichigo had waited a full two hours and 13 minutes before going down to her room. Ishida, it appeared, had not waited as long.

Throughout his reflection, Ichigo continued to stare at Orihime and she, finally noticing his gaze and growing a little uncomfortable under it, looked to him tentatively. "I-is there something on my face, Kurosaki-kun?"

Ichigo shook his head. Orihime blushed. "Th-then why are you staring at me, Kurosaki-kun?"

Because you're adorable, he thought to himself as he turned his gaze away from Orihime. "Sorry," he said in a low voice, "I didn't mean to stare."

Ishida at this point was becoming uncomfortable and annoyed. The whispered conversations, the questioning of whether Ichigo was staring at her – it all made Ishida suspicious that Ichigo was noticing what he himself had begun to notice: Orihime, in addition to being an incredibly attractive woman, was intelligent, kind, and sweet.

As Ishida started strategizing of how he could 'wake up' and disrupt whatever was taking place between the two, all three friends heard a knock outside in the hall. It wasn't a knock on Ishida's door, but it was close enough, perhaps across the hall. Just as the thought dawned on them that it could be a knock on Orihime's door, a deep voice was heard out in the hall. "Inoue-san? It's Sado."

Before Ishida or Ichigo had time to register, Orihime had quietly sprinted to the door and opened it as quietly as possible. "Sado-kun, shh! I'm in here."

Sado turned around confusedly and pointed to her door. "I thought this was your room."

Orihime blushed slightly at the recollection that she was in fact in another man's room. "It is, but Kurosaki-kun and I are observing Ishida-kun for a sleep study."

Sado peered into the room and noted his two friends, one lying in bed and the other sitting at his bedside. Sado turned back to Orihime and gestured to the bag he was holding and in a lowered voice asked, "Have you eaten yet? I brought you some food." As if on cue, a loud rumbling came from Orihime's stomach, as if her body was reacting to the heavenly scent coming from the bag Sado was holding.

Orihime looked sheepishly from the food back to Ichigo and Ishida still 'asleep' on the bed.

Ichigo got up and started whispering, "It's okay, Inoue. You can take a break and I'll cont-"

Ishida interrupted with an over-the-top yawn and sat up in bed. "Hm? Inoue-san?"

Ichigo rolled his eyes at his friend. So he wasn't asleep after all.

Orihime rushed to his side and looked at the time. "Oh no, Ishida-kun! Were we too loud? I wasn't going to wake you for another 45 minutes."

Ishida rubbed his eyes. "Yea, I think it might've been too loud. Maybe it would've been better if you were the only observer, Inoue-san." Orihime nodded thoughtfully while Ichigo rolled his eyes yet again. Ishida would not have usually said something so direct but having Ichigo interrupt his study session and then Sado also show up was getting on his nerves.

Ishida put his glasses on and turned his gaze towards Sado. "Sado-kun, is that you? What brings you here?"

Sado shifted his weight slightly, before replying, "I came to see Inoue-san."

Sado then turned to Orihime and put a hand on her shoulder. "I asked Arisawa-san for your number and texted you. Did you not see it?"

"Ehh?" Orihime reached for her phone and went to her messages. She had in fact missed several messages from Sado, the last of which read, I'm worried about you. I'm coming by with some dinner.

Orihime blushed and turned to Sado. "I'm so sorry I missed your texts. This is so thoughtful of you."

Now both Ishida and Ichigo were staring at the other two and wondering what exactly was happening here. Sado had so casually put his hand on Orihime's shoulder and so directly expressed his concern for her. Had something happened between the two? Both Ichigo and Ishida inwardly groaned at the prospect of competing with another good friend for Orihime's attention.

Orihime, not noticing the rising tensions in the room seemed to be contemplating something thoughtfully. "Thank you for the food, Sado-kun. I'm trying to think of how we can all have dinner together." A thought popped into her mind and she exclaimed, "Ah, I know! You all stay put, I'll be right back." She then ran off, leaving the three friends in the slightly darkened room.

Ishida got out of bed and went to the light switch to turn it on. The three friends stood in silence for a few moments before Ishida broke it. "So, is this all a part of the plan? Arisawa-san's 'Keep Orihime Safe' plan?"

Sado shifted his weight and Ichigo's brows furrowed as he considered this. Ishida continued, "If it is, we should coordinate our efforts so that we're not all crowding Inoue-san at the same time. We can't all be with her at all times."

Sado and Ichigo nodded thoughtfully as Ishida continued. "If this is not part of the plan… well I think we'd all agree to let the best man win," he paused, "but we have to prioritise Inoue-san's safety. Agreed?" to which both Ichigo and Sado firmly nodded.

Just then, Orihime was heard outside of the door mumbling loudly but incoherently. Ishida opened the door to see Orihime with a big paper bag in her arms and a small plastic bag that she held in her mouth. Ishida smiled and suppressing a laugh, took the plastic bag from her allowing her to speak. "I went down to the cafeteria right before they closed and the nice chefs actually said I could take all the food that I wanted! I hope I got enough for us all."

The four of them opened up the bag that Orihime had gotten and the food Sado had brought and had a feast of odds and ends: tacos from Sado's café, udon, rice bowls, and more. Orihime lamented that there was no red bean paste in sight, but they all otherwise had a satiating meal together.

As the friends began clearing the dirty dishes, Ichigo's phone rang. Seeing it was Yuzu, he excused himself from the group to take the call in his room. Shortly after, Sado admitted he needed to prep some food for the café for the next day and also left. Ishida was about to offer to bring Orihime's chair back to her room for her, when he noticed Orihime looking a bit distracted and slightly… disappointed?

"Inoue-san?" he asked, "Is everything okay?"

Orihime looked at him and nodded. "Yes! Everything is fine." She paused. "I was just thinking that we didn't get to finish the sleep study. A-and I've read that sleeping after you eat can lead to some pretty outlandish dreams! So, I was thinking that if we were to do the sleep study now…" she trailed off, not quite meeting Ishida's gaze.

It was with these words that Orihime sparked inner turmoil for Ishida – to ask her to stay or to leave. The way Orihime had trailed off and her sudden shyness seemed to him like she wanted to spend more time with him. More time with him - in his company (the fact that he would be asleep in this scenario did not quite register). He knew he had other coursework to review and that sleeping right now could throw off his sleep schedule for the entire week, but how could he disappoint her? Orihime with her bright exuberance and warmth wanted to stay in his company for a little while longer. After a few more moments, the inner turmoil ended and his decision was made. If Orihime wanted to stay, he would not refuse.

In the meanwhile, Orihime was completely unaware of the inner turmoil she was causing Ishida. Partly because she had no idea of her own allure and partly because she herself was freaking out. The entire weekend Orihime had been putting on a brave face for Tatsuki – never talking about what had happened on Friday night, never mentioning Grimmjow, and never letting a worried look settle on her face for long. When Tatsuki had left that afternoon, it took Orihime a moment to realize that if left alone with her own thoughts, she might very well think of nothing but Grimmjow. When Ishida had arrived at her door, she was so relieved – relieved to see a friend and most importantly, a distraction from her own distress. Ichigo and Sado's arrivals were similarly welcomed. But now, at the end of the day, when faced with the prospect of being alone, Orihime was still afraid. And so under the pretense of conducting a sleep study, she had selfishly asked Ishida if she could stay for a bit longer. After what felt like a whole minute after her trailing off, she dared to look up and meet Ishida's gaze. He smiled at her and with four words kept the tides of her dark isolation at bay, if only temporarily. "Sure," he began, his usually cool blue eyes shimmering with warmth as he looked directly at her, "you can stay."

Orihime once more sat in a chair beside Ishida's bed, with her notebook and Ishida's phone in her lap. Now that it was dark outside, they had pushed the curtains open and Orihime was treated to the view from Ishida's room. Whereas Orihime's room across the hall looked onto the measly quad and other student's rooms, Ishida's view was of the campus and extended so far so as to give a good view of the night sky. Ishida had requested Orihime to keep her gaze in that direction as he changed into more comfortable clothes. When he had agreed to continuing the sleep study, he sheepishly admitted that he hadn't really fallen asleep earlier. He surmised that not being in his pajamas could have been a factor. Orihime had turned slightly pink at his suggestion of changing, and though she had offered to leave his room, he said it would suffice for her to turn around and for him to stand behind his closet door. Despite this, she had unintentionally caught a glimpse of Ishida shirtless as he removed his button up shirt. They had still been chatting and she had momentarily forgot to not look at him. Once she had caught a glimpse, however, her focus lingered on him long enough for her to feel embarrassed for staring. She had pegged Ishida as a slim man who was more studious than sporty, but noting his toned body, she guessed that he probably excelled at both.

So now, as she sat beside his sleeping figure, at night, and without Ichigo to distract her, she truly had nothing to do but observe him, admire him, and feel the full weight of embarrassment for having asked to watch him sleep.

As time went on and Orihime's embarrassment subsided, she began to notice the differences between Ishida's earlier 'sleeping' and what was happening now. Before, he had maintained meticulous stillness and a neutral expression on his face that Orihime had grown accustomed to in their brief friendship. Now, in his sleeping state, she noted how he changed position every so often, from lying on his back to curling up on his right side, to curling up on his left side. His facial expressions also differed, from wincing at sounds coming from outside his door when he had first fallen asleep, to a calm serenity that Orihime found slightly disarming. At some point, Ishida even took his pillow from under his head and hugged it warmly, nuzzling his face into it, making Orihime fight off a set of giggles that were threatening to erupt in response to his cute behaviour.

After calming herself down and looking down at Ishida's phone, Orihime noted that roughly 70 minutes had now passed since Ishida fell asleep. Given the slight rise in Ishida's heartrate, she guessed that he was now in REM sleep, meaning that it was time to wake him up and ask him about his dreams.

Orihime proceeded to try and wake up Ishida, to no avail. She had started with saying his name *no response*, then saying his name at a louder volume *no response*, to yelling "we're late for the exam!" *no response*. She surmised that the next escalation would be to try physical tactics. She began by patting him on the shoulder *no response*, then shaking his shoulder lightly *no response*, then shaking his shoulder rigorously *no response*. Then fearing that somehow he had stopped breathing and that's why he wasn't waking up, she brought her face very close to his and shook his shoulder rigorously while nearly crying his name. He finally stirred, cracked his eyes open groggily, and pulled her into his bed, wrapping his arms tightly around her.

At first Orihime was shocked into stillness, then shock turned into gratitude that Ishida was not in fact dead, which then turned into embarrassment that she was now in his arms. In his bed.

"I-Ishida-kun?" She asked tentatively.

Ishida responded by pulling her in close and nuzzling her neck, a similar gesture to what she had seen him do to his pillow earlier that night. Soon after, she heard his deep breathing return, and guessed that he was in fact still asleep. She tried to wriggle out of his arms but was, all of a sudden, conscious of waking him up.

Ishida-kun never mentioned being a heavy sleeper, she thought to herself, therefore he must have been really tired. And I! I actually made him stay up longer to do this stupid sleep study with me. Selfish, selfish Orihime! She chastised herself. She let herself relax in his arms and came to a conclusion. I will wait for Ishida-kun to release me and then I'll return to my room. There's no need for me to exhaust him or rob him of anymore of his sleep!

Soon afterwards, however, Orihime was finding it more and more difficult to stay awake. She herself had been quite exhausted after the weekend and she had discovered that Ishida's arms were incredibly comfortable. Furthermore, Orihime couldn't help but smell him… something about his cologne or maybe his deodorant or detergent, whatever it was, there was some unique scent that belonged to Ishida. As she laid in his bed and in his arms, each breath she took was filled with that uniquely Ishida scent and Orihime found it quite comforting. A few minutes later and Orihime also fell asleep, nestling in towards Ishida.

Ishida felt himself waking up and was surprised to feel as though he had remembered his dream. In his dream, he was in bed with Orihime and they had cuddled sweetly. Though he would never tell Orihime all the details, he was amazed at how many details of his dream he remembered upon waking. He had felt her and smelled her – the brain was truly an inexplicable and imaginative creator! He smiled to himself imagining her response to him remembering his dream.

"Inoue-san…" he mumbled groggily, "I… remember my dream." He then opened his eyes to see that he had not in fact stopped dreaming. Because just a little farther away, facing him, was a sleeping Orihime. His arm was around her waist, his hand warm against the small of her back. Her hair was glistening in the early morning sun and her lips were parted just so, with her warm breath reaching Ishida's chest. All of a sudden, Ishida was fully awake and hyper aware. In most circumstances, Ishida was a quick thinker, who could respond to any situation appropriately in milliseconds. At this moment, however, his brain was short circuiting. He could not recollect how Orihime got here, nor could he sort out what he should do next. After collecting himself, he took a quick survey of his surroundings (as much as he could look around without moving or disturbing Orihime). They were still in his room, it appeared, and both he and Orihime were in the same clothes from last night, making it unlikely that he had forgotten some fooling around from last night that led to this situation (if they were going to fool around, Ishida wanted to remember it clearly).

As discretely as he could, Ishida sighed deeply. Because he had fallen asleep thinking she would wake him up later, he hadn't set an alarm and therefore had no idea what time it was or if he had already missed his first class of the day. Ishida shared all his classes with Ichigo, and so even if the professor did not note his absence, he would need to come up with some excuse to tell Ichigo as to why he missed class. Tallying up the pros and cons of all the possible next steps, Ishida then decided that he needed to get out of bed, find out what time it was and then wake up Orihime. He slowly removed his hand from the small of her back and she immediately began to stir. Ishida continued to retract his arm, roll over, and sit up on his bed, before quickly getting out of the bed. By the time he turned back to see if Orihime had been disturbed, he saw an awake and beet-red Orihime looking embarrassed and distressed.

"I-Ishida-kun! I-I'm s-so sorry!" she exclaimed before she pulled the cover up and over her head hiding herself.

Ishida quickly went back to the bed to try and reassure her. "N-not at all, Inoue-san. Please."

Orihime then gasped and threw the covers off herself in a revelation. "What time is it?!"

"Uh, I haven't checked yet." Seeing his phone on his chair, he went over to it. "It's 9:55 am, Inoue-san."

"Oh, for the love of wasabi!" She exclaimed and then turned to Ishida. "I am so so sorry Ishida-kun. Do you have class this morning?" She asked guiltily.

"There was a lecture at 9am, but I'm sure I can borrow Kurosaki's notes. My next class is not until 11." Orihime responded with a whine. "D-do you have class Inoue-san?"

"Thankfully, no." Then she stopped moving and all colour drained from her face. "Oh wait. I had that Psych tutorial at 9am!"

Tsukishima sat in his shared office in the Psychology department, tapping his pencil on his desk repeatedly. His officemates, and one in particular, were getting annoyed at his incessant tapping. A few taps later, one of his officemates finally snapped.

"Are you gonna keep tapping that thing all day?" A girl with magenta pigtails asked impatiently.

Tsukishima did not reply, which only incensed the girl further.

"Hey!" she exclaimed. "I'm talking to you!"

As if to save the whole office from the impending implosion, a soft but panicked knock was heard at the door.

"Tch." The magenta-haired girl scoffed as she went to get the door. She opened it to a very cute girl, and the magenta-haired girl wondered if she had walked straight out of a movie or a manga. The girl was panting, slightly out of breath, with long auburn hair that looked as if she had just run out of the shower. She wore a simple but stylish flowing black dress with a trench coat over it that was tied at the waist. Overcoming the breathtaking sight, the girl finally asked, "What do you want?"

"I-is this Tsukishima-san's office?"

"Tch." The magenta-haired girl replied, walking away from the door and calling for Tsukishima.

Tsukishima had stood up from his desk after hearing his name called. His pencil had rolled off his desk and onto the floor. He quickly grabbed his jacket and walked out of his office, bringing the pretty auburn-haired girl away from his office and down the hall.

"Tsukishima-san!" Orihime exclaimed, still a bit out of breath. "Where are we going?"

He paused now that they were away from his office. "Hm? I'm guessing you're here to apologize for not attending my mandatory tutorial and for not calling me?"

"Eh?" Orihime asked, but followed up with a quick, "Y-yes."

"My officemates are nosy people." He stated. "So I figured we could talk about this elsewhere. Do you have another class to get to?"

"No.. my next class is at 1pm."

"Perfect. My favourite café also does lunch."

A few minutes later, Orhime was standing across the street from Sado's café, completely at a loss for words. "Ts-Tsukishima-san!" she exclaimed.

"Hmm?"

"I cannot go into that café with you."

"Why not?"

"B-because I cannot." She planted her feet. "I'll gladly go to lunch with you, but not in that café."

"Are you sure? It's the best coffee and best Mexican food you'll find – maybe in the entire region"

"I'm sure."

"Okay, then," he sighed, "My second favourite café is around the corner."

A few minutes later, they had settled in a cozy corner of the student-run café with two cappuccinos and a sandwich each in front of them.

"Now, Inoue-san," began Tsukishima. "Do you care to tell me where you were this morning?"

Orihime reflexively blushed and looked down at her lap and Tsukishima had to stop himself from blurting out immediate forgiveness. "I-I slept in." She began and then looked up at him suddenly. "I'm really really sorry and I would really appreciate you letting me make it up."

"Hmm. I believe your sincerity Inoue-san, but the course curriculum is really quite strict."

Orihime looked down again dejectedly and sighed.

"Uh, b-but I could try talking to Aizen-kyouju and see if we can make an exception."

Orihime looked up again, hopeful. "Really? You would do that Tsukishima-san? I would really appreciate that."

Tsukishima smiled at her warmly. He briefly wondered about the ethical implications of what he was suggesting but quickly pushed it aside. It was only one tutorial, he thought. And while the curriculum was strict, he knew that Aizen had a reputation for placing the results of his research lab above the rules of the classroom or the university for that matter.

"Inoue-san," Tsukishima began, "I will need to confirm with Aizen-kyouju, but how would you feel about making up for this missed tutorial by volunteering for the psychology department's lab work?"

"Really?" Orihime asked. "That sounds like a great experience!"

They finished their lunches relatively quickly, more quickly than Tsukishima had anticipated. For her part, Orihime hadn't yet had breakfast and so wolfed down her sandwich very quickly. Their conversation was surface level and polite, no romantic sparks had flown between the two to Tsukishima's disappointment. Tsukishima assumed that it must be because it was in the middle of the day – nothing romantic ever happened in the middle of the day!

As they were leaving the café, Tsukishima felt emboldened by his reasoning and stopped a few steps out of the door.

"Inoue-san."

"Yes, Tsukishima-san?"

"I have to admit, this was not really the first date I had in mind."

Orihime immediately blushed and began stammering. "Eh? W-was this supposed to be a f-first date?"

Tsukishima smiled at her cute blush. "I thought it might be, but your reaction tells me otherwise." He paused and sighed. "Which I guess is a bit reassuring." Orihime looked at him confusedly. "It means I still have a chance at impressing you on our first date. Are you busy on Friday?"

Orihime was a bit taken aback and could not respond right away. On the one hand, the lunch had been pleasant enough and she didn't feel like Tsukishima was as creepy as she had immediately assumed he was the night at the bar. On the other hand, he was her TA, and her life had become so complicated as of late, with Grimmjow reappearing before her, and her romantic interactions with her newly made male friends. It was all so complicated!

She sighed and looked sympathetically at Tsukishima. Anticipating her rejection, he spoke, "I know it may seem forward of me, but I'd really like to take you to dinner, Inoue-san." An idea popped into his mind and he continued, "if anything, you can think of it as a psychology experiment."

Orihime smiled despite herself and raised one eyebrow. "Oh, really? How so?"

"Well, I was thinking that maybe one reason we didn't have any romantic sparks was because it was in the middle of the day and you didn't know it was a date. Friday night would be a different scenario and we would be testing if knowing it is a date beforehand alters how the date goes. This is purely a scientific test." Orihime giggled lightly. "What do you say, Inoue-san?"

"Fine." She conceded. "For the sake of science."

Tsukishima and Orihime walked together for a bit longer, exchanging numbers and finalizing the time of the date for Friday, before parting ways.

Orihime smiled to herself as she walked towards Himawari Hall, thinking that it had been a very long time since she had had a date to look forward to! She had only had two boyfriends in the past… a childhood friend in elementary school (they hadn't gone on any actual dates) and Grimmjow in high school. Though he did take her out on dates early in their relationship, the dynamic had quickly shifted, and by the time they had started living together, he rarely took her out for a proper date at all (Orihime required that a proper date include a delicious dinner. It need not be fancy or expensive, but a date should always include food!).

In this daydreamy train of thought, she continued walking before stopping in her tracks as a shocking shade of blue entered her periphery and she quickly hid behind the closest tree. Her heart pounding in her chest, she peered around the tree and to her great fear recognized the source of the colour closer to Himawari Hall – Grimmjow.

A/N: Ahh! I hope you're still reading and enjoying. To those who have sent reviews, thank you thank you thank you! I am working up the courage to reply, so thank you for your words and know that I appreciate every comment and piece of feedback.