Chapter 4

I went straight home after gym today.

I usually stay a half an hour after school ends to read in the library. But I can't risk running into Sakura again, or worse, Ryouta.

My parents work late; both until 8:00. I'm left with the chore of making dinner for the family during the weekdays, which I'm horrible at. I only know how to cook two dishes; beef curry, which my dad taught me to make, and takoyaki. I don't have the energy to cook tonight. I'll call for takeout later.

I changed out of my school uniform and into some regular clothes: a sweater (it got colder after gym. It's been an unusual March) and jeans. I went down into the living room and began to dial the number for takeout, when the doorbell rang. Who could that be? Are my parents home early? I walked to the door an opened it.

"Kasuga-san!"

"Ryouta?" I can't believe he's here! "What are you doing here?"

"If you're up to it, I know this great takoyaki stand nearby. Are you hungry? I'll pay for it." he asked. I'm so happy to see him!

"Um...Sure. I'd love to. Just let me get my coat. You wanna come in?" Why did I invite him inside? I'm so nervous, I'm probably gonna say something stupid! And did he not see what a fool I made of myself in gym earlier?

"Yeah, sure." he replied.

I went to the closet and put on my coat and a pink scarf. "Alright. Let's go." I said.

It was about a five minute walk into the city. We were both so nervous that we didn't know what to talk about on the way. It was so awkward. When we got to the stand, Ryouta was the first in line.

"You can go sit over at that bench over there if you'd like." he said.

"It's alright. We're the only ones on line." I said back.

Ryouta ordered the takoyaki and paid for the both of us. We sat on a bench to the right of the stand. Just the smell of the takoyaki made me more hungry.

"It's pretty crowded in the city today." I said, trying to make small talk. Duh. It's always crowded in Osaka.

"Yeah. You wouldn't expect so many people to be out when it's this cold." he said back. I don't know why he doesn't think I'm an idiot. I took a bite of my takoyaki, but chewed and swallowed it immediately.

"Ow! Mine are steaming!"

"Oh. Here, want one of mine?" he asked.

He held out one takoyaki on a toothpick towards me. Is he trying to feed it to me? My stomach jumped. He's trying to feed me takoyaki!

"Sure. Thanks." I said quietly. I opened my mouth and ate the takoyaki right of the toothpick, thankful that this one was a better temperature.

"I'm sorry about what happened to you at gym. Mrs. Oyajii is a pretty strict teacher." he said. What about the crud Sakura made up about me? Maybe he didn't hear her.

"Yeah. She is..." I said.

I tried another one of my takoyaki, which had cooled down. I started looking out at the crowd of people walking by and saw a familiar face.

Damn. Sakura. And she's headed this way.

She walked up to us and smiled all too innocently. "Hi Ryouta!" she said, completely ignoring me.

"Hi Sakura-san." Ryouta answered. He doesn't call me by my first name...

"I'm sorry to bother you when you have company, but I don't know your phone number, so I couldn't call you. I wanted to know if you wanted to go out with me sometime. Maybe go see a movie?" she asked. My heart plummeted.

"Um...ok. How's Saturday?" he asked. Ryouta, don't!

"Perfect. Here's my number." she handed him a piece of paper.

"Ok. I'll call you so we can schedule a time." he said.

"Cool. See you soon!" she said smiling.

She began walking away. While Ryouta wasn't looking, she turned her head and looked at me. She mouthed something to me, which to my despair, I understood.

"Eat your heart out, Chibi-chan."