"Ours"

It was finally spring. There wasn't much snow that had to melt, but the warm weather was such a relief that everyone wore short-sleeved shirts that day. They stood in the sun, wishing that their skin would burn, just a little, to remind them of the coming summer.

Of course Risa Harada was happy. She was almost ecstatic. Wearing her gym shorts under her school's uniform skirt, she jumped down the steps of the building, clicking her heels. Her friends laughed at her and talked about how excited they were for the weather. At the sight of someone in particular, Risa excused herself from her friends and walked over to Daisuke Niwa.

"Hello, you two!" she directed the salutation to Daisuke and Satoshi Hiwatari, who was looking the other way. "Excited for the spring?"

"Of course we are!" Daisuke said, grinning. From the corner of his eye, he spotted Riku Harada, and stopped to wait up for her.

"What about you, Hiwatari-kun?" Risa asked, bumping into him with her shoulder. He awoke from his daze and looked down at her.

"Autumn is actually my favorite season," he replied calmly. "But spring does have its benefits."

"Like the feeling of happiness it gives some people?" Risa ventured.

Satoshi shrugged one shoulder lightly. "The sakura should be blooming soon as well."

Risa beamed and gasped. "Oh! Our sakura! It'll be so nice to eat outside again like we used to do. You reading your books, pretending to be gay-"

"Let's not discuss that."

"-and then Seahara-san thought we were dating!" Risa sighed in nostalgic joy. "It'll be good to eat outside on our bench again."

Satoshi couldn't help but make a comment. "Our sakura? Our bench?"

Risa's smile immediately dimmed, and she felt herself blushing. "G-gomen! I-I didn't mean it like that! It was just... Almost an instinctive reaction..."

He had to smile at her. Small as it was, it was quite a lot for the young man who didn't show emotions. "Do you want to call it our sakura?"

"No! A-ah, I mean-! U-um... Technically it doesn't belong to us, and-"

"I'd like to call it our sakura," Satoshi cut in, looking back towards the sidewalk. "I see nothing wrong with it."

Risa was silent for a moment, trying to control her blush. She nodded a bit too much and sputtered out, "H-hai! I would like that too..."