The longest wait in Chiaki's life had once upon a time been the countdown to the new Magic Quest game, which was touted as being an RPG with near endless hours of game play and a story on such an epic scale that it would blow away even the most seasoned game veterans. She remembered each day leading up to the release being longer then the last, and of course she remembered waiting in a massive line with people camped out for days. She remembered challenging people to gaming contests in order to jump ahead in line, finally reaching a good spot. She remembered getting the game, already signed by the lead director.

The game of course ended up being over hyped and filled to the brim with glitches, but that wasn't quite the point. That long wait felt like nothing compared to sitting on the bench and wondering if Naegi would actually arrive like he had promised. It was already ten minutes into the lunch period, which of course wasn't saying much since they were given nearly a full hour of time to enjoy their meals. This was a special allowance the Academy had made, due to a great number of Ultimate students having strange eating habits.

Ten minutes of course wasn't a massive amount of time, any number of factors could lead to someone being ten minutes behind. Maybe he had run into a friend, or found someone who tripped and needed help up. Heck he could have tripped himself and sprained his leg. But the human mind goes to the worst possibility first before working backwards to something more calm and even minded. And with her current history of friends made by this certain bench she had begun to expect that the young man with the kind smile and bright attitude wouldn't be showing up.

She had already made her peace with it when the minute timer clicked over to eleven minutes on her gaming device, distracting her from the flurry of blows delivered by an A.I. controlled enemy on the fighting game she was playing. Of course seeing as she was playing the bottom tier character this would normally be an easy thing to do. Not so much when the Ultimate Gamer was controlling said character. A small sigh escaped her lips as she prepared to reset the game and burn through the rest of the meal period by taking out her sadness on the variety of strange characters within the game. However before she could properly ready herself a voice cut through the air.

"Nanami, hey there sorry i'm late!" Makoto Naegi waved toward her with an easygoing smile, holding a plastic bag with the brand name of a close by convenience store on it.

For a moment the young woman could only look at Makoto with confusion as the worst case scenario in her mind came to a halt. He was here, which wouldn't make any sense if he wasn't going to show up. She blinked back something that felt strangely warm and unpleasant from her eyes before giving a small nod of her head toward him. Words weren't coming easily for her right now, so she decided to simply remain quiet and see if he would pick up the conversation.

Thankfully for her Makoto had already picked up that she was more of a quiet type, and sat down without worry. "Sorry I was a bit late, I noticed yesterday that you didn't have anything to eat and the local store was having a sale on pre-made bento, so I figured 'hey why not' you know?" he pulled one out for him and offered her the other.

The girl looked at the box and felt her confusion only grow more, staring at it as if the box filled with food were an alien object being handed to her by a short grey creature with only three fingers. Chiaki was no stranger to receiving food, after all she was in a class with the Ultimate Chef, so having food offered to her wasn't an event that was rare. But for some reason getting food from Makoto, the same guy who had been listed in her mind as never showing up not a full minute ago, was causing her brain to misfire in confusion.

The hesitation didn't pass Makoto's notice, and a small frown came over his face. "Oh do you not like bento boxes?"

Did she not like bento boxes? Chiaki felt as if her brain were caught in a loop where it would take anything the young man said and run it through as if searching for some hidden meaning behind it. Of course she enjoyed most of the things inside of the average bento, and even the things she didn't directly enjoy tended to be a simple side product. Not to mention it was easier to open one that was premade while in the middle of a raid or tournament. So if she were to answer the question it would be yes, she did like bento, yet despite knowing the answer she couldn't get her mouth to properly verbalize a single word. Instead she simply gave a nod and put her Joyboy into her pocket before taking the box and opening it, looking into the food as if she would find an answer to lifes infinite mysteries within.

To his credit Makoto rolled with the strange behavior as well as one could expect him to. He opened his own and cracked the pair of chopsticks, which sadly didn't go straight down the middle, but as cheap chopsticks are want to do ended up leaving a significant chunk from one of them stuck on the other. "Itadakimasu!" he happily announced before starting to eat.

"Thank you!" Chiaki suddenly said, the tempo of her voice surprising even her. More confusing was she couldn't catch her own meaning behind saying it. Was she saying thank you for the meal? For the company? For something else completely different? "...um...itadakimasu." she said in a small voice suddenly intent on filling her mouth with so much food that there wouldn't be a chance for it to go on its own.

The two ate in relative silence, enjoying the meal until they had both had their fill, putting the boxes back into the bag to be disposed of at a later time. "So Nanami, what would you like to do with the rest of the lunch period?" Makoto asked in his own good natured way.

Chiaki reached into her school bag and pulled out her golden Joyboy X, along with the usual grey model, that looked only a little worse for wear given its age as third generation handheld device. "I was thinking...we could play games together?"

Makoto's face lit up and he nodded, putting his hand forward to accept the normal grey device, but instead had the golden version pushed into his hands. "Nanami?" he asked in a confused tone.

"Which kinds of games did you play back then?" she asked, not having a second thought about the situation. Games at the very least was an activity that she would always feel comfortable with.

Makoto didn't want to offend her by saying anything more about the game, so he simply decided to roll with it for the moment. "Hm, I remember we played a lot of games against each other, when we weren't just playing by ourselves. So I guess fighting games, racing games, and collectible mon type games. My family isn't very wealthy, so we could only have so many things to play you know?"

She gave a nod and reached into her bag, pulling out two copies of an old fighting game and offered one to him. Since the Joyboy games still replied on batteries for their internal structure there was always an increased chance that one would go inactive, so she made sure her collection had two of any older generation game. "Then should we start with this one?"

Makoto smiled at the title of the game and gave a thumbs up. "Yeah, just remember I won't be going easy on you, not even a little!" the way he spoke was instilled with such confidence that it gave Chiaki a smile.

"Then I guess I won't hold back either, okay?" she replied.

Makoto let out a small laugh. "Well since your a tournament level player maybe hold back on me a little?" She gave him a small glare that implied there would be no mercy for him, no matter what. "Or uh...you know what, just do your best."

And so the two of them began to play against each other, happily ignoring the rest of the world to focus on the game. Makoto actually managed to be a bit surprising, pushing Chiaki to actually have to use the skills that made her an Ultimate. Of course he never won, but occasionally he could drop her character to about half health, and there wasn't a single match that she managed to land a perfect against her.

She was so happy she wanted to jump for joy and proclaim that this was the best day ever.

So often either people underestimated her and would be destroyed utterly by a barrage of attacks, or would see how great she was at a game and give up trying to actually beat her, leading to an easy win. Even her own classmates, who she cared about deeply, didn't believe they could actually beat her in a game. And yet Makoto took every loss like a learning opportunity, never falling into depression even as he lost for the tenth time. He would smile at the game, say that she did great, and get ready for the next match. He was in the moment and enjoying himself, and that let him stand against her in a way that most others wouldn't have had the chance for.

And maybe it was her utter joy in that moment that caused her to say the next thing.

"I guess I win again, right Hinata?" the words slipped past her lips before she could even think of them, having become an automatic response when she had been sitting here with Hinata and playing games. But saying his name at that moment made her feel bad for some reason. "I um...I mean Naegi, that was a good game."

Makoto blinked at her before resting the handheld on his lap. "Hinata...that is the name of the friend you have been waiting for right?"

She gave a small nod, looking away to hide a blush that had come to her cheeks. Why did she have to be so dumb, the two of them had been having a lot of fun but suddenly calling him by another guys name was sure to make things really awkward. She wanted to pound her head against a wall until the part that was supposed to know how to interact with people would start working again.

There was silence between the two of them for an extended period before Makoto suddenly slapped his forehead. "I can't believe I didn't think of that yesterday!" he offered her a grin. "If he has been missing for that long then I know of someone who could probably find him for you."

"Find him?"

"Yeah one of my classmates is the Ultimate Detective, if you put a needle in a haystack she would reach in and pull it out on the first try," his voice held quite a bit of pride for his classmate. "Plus since she solved all of the missing pets cases in the city I bet she would love to take up a new case. You just need to bribe her with sweets and she will take the case."

"She would?" Chiaki had always hoped Hinata would come back, or at least that she would get some news of him from another source. But regardless of that hope she had accepted in the darker parts of her heart that the odds of him coming back were close to zero. But now, if there was some chance of finding him and asking why he didn't come back.

"Yeah, I can ask her to come with me tomorrow and..." Makoto didn't get to finish his train of thought as Chiaki suddenly threw her arms around him in a tight hug. The blush that came across his face was noticeable by any standards.

"Thank you, thank you so much Makoto!" the idea of seeing the first gaming friend she had made at the school again, of being able to talk to him again. That idea made her happier then she could have imagined.

His blush only increased as she used his first name, something he was only used to having a few of his classmates do, and never in such a way like she had just now. "D-don't worry about it, what are friends for right?"

She broke the hug and used the sleeve of her jacket to brush off a few happy tears that had begun to form. "Thats right...I think." in truth she didn't have enough experience with needing favors from friends to know what exactly friends were for.

"No reason to sound so unsure." the school bell chimed, bringing an end to the lunch period. "Ah man, its already been an hour?" Makoto stood up and offered her back the golden Joyboy X, only for her to wave her hand in refusal.

"You need a bit more practice," she pulled out a small box and offered it to him. "That way when we play games again we can have more fun."

"But...isn't this a special prize?" he didn't know exactly how to feel about taking something so unique from her.

She gave a shake of her head and a smile. "It is, but I will see you tomorrow, so its not like it will be gone for long."

He only hesitated for a moment longer before putting the device in the box and then into his coats pocket. "Right, and then when Kyoko finds your friend the three of us will all play games together, I might not be able to beat you yet, but I bet I could fair a bit better against someone else."

She simply smiled in response and stood up, brushing herself off. "Tomorrow then Naegi?"

"Definitely!" Makoto turned around and started to walk off, but stopped after a few steps. "Hey um...Nanami?"

"Hm?"

"Do you think from now on...if it wouldn't be too weird...that you could call me Makoto?" he turned to look at her, an embarrassed look on his face. "I don't know why, but hearing you use my first name made me really happy."

She blinked but gave him a nod. "Of course, but if I am going to do that then...you should call me Chiaki, okay Makoto?"

"Chiaki," he gave her a bright smile and turned around, walking away from the bench and off toward his class.

"Do I like it?" Chiaki asked herself, looking down toward the discarded bento box bag. "I think... I do."

So by popular demand here is the second chapter of this happy little experiment. Next chapters highlights will include a reaction from both classes about these little meet ups, Kyoko's investigation, and of course more cute nerds. Please leave a review if you are interested in seeing more of this, favorite to show the love, and follow for more cute chapters.

P.S. Do these dorks have a ship name? This might be one of the rarest rarepairs I have ever written for.