"What an incredible race we saw today, folks!" Benjamin's voice cried out. "Even without their star forward, Team Satomi still finds a way to win!"

"Due to the extreme hot weather that swarmed over the track today, the asphalt surface began to show signs of wear and tear. While the first two races went off without a hitch, by the time Teams Satomi and Velshtein went at it, the condition of the track had taken a turn for the worst. The pavement was seen to be buckling in several places, but the race was run nonetheless."

"Early on it was a hammer and tong duel between the two Forwards, Takeshi and Cunningham. Each pilot traded blow after blow before and after the pit sequence had been activated. They built up a big lead over the rest of the mechs when shortly into the start of the third lap, Takeshi's mech began to slow noticeably."

"The explanation given by the Team was that a piece of broken asphalt had damaged one of the mech's stabilizers which made it harder for Takeshi to control and slowing the mech considerably."

"Any normal pilot would have dropped back and given in to the throngs of defeat, but not Takeshi! Using some of the most amazing piloting we've ever seen, and with a damaged mech to boot, Takeshi was able to hold Cunningham up just enough for the rest of Team Satomi to catch up."

"Midfielder Amy Stapleton managed to pass Cunningham, and Takeshi immediately dropped back, having pushed his mech as far as he could in its condition. Cunningham tried valiantly to catch the young Midfielder, but couldn't manage to pull out a last second pass. Amy took first ahead of Cunningham and Liz Ricarro managed to finish fourth and gain one decisive point, which gave Team Satomi the victory!"

"With their undefeated record still intact, Team Satomi heads into the final week of the regular season needing only to beat their old nemesis, Team White Snow, in order secure-."

"Alright, so let me get this straight." Liz switched off the radio and plunged the briefing room into silence. She was leaning up against the chalkboard abreast from Jessie while Takeshi and Amy sat in two of the room's desks. "You're saying that Mark and Miss Satomi are trying to go out on a date?"

Jessie nodded. "That's exactly what I'm saying, Liz. I heard them talking on the phone about it."

Liz folded her arms. "Are you sure that's what you heard, Jessie? You sure they weren't talking about something else"

"Yes! I absolutely remember Miss Satomi saying that she really wanted to go out. And the way Miss Satomi was talking, it can't be anything other than that."

"Are you sure it was Mark on the phone, then?" Amy asked.

"Miss Satomi told me herself that it was him."

"Then it must be true," Amy said. "Why else would she tell you that it was him?"

"Well…" Jessie wasn't about to reveal that she had eavesdropped on a conversation that she probably shouldn't have.

"I knew it!" All three women turned toward Takeshi.

"What did you know, Takeshi?" Liz asked.

He grinned. "I knew he had the hots for her!"

"Wait…you knew Mark was attracted to Miss Satomi?" Jessie inquired.

"I wouldn't say that much," Takeshi admitted. He then explained, "A couple of weeks ago before the season started I was doing some practice runs in the simulator and I talked with Mark afterwards."

"About what?"

"Uh…women."

Liz shook her head. "Men…all you think about is sex."

"We weren't talking about that!" Takeshi exclaimed. "I was talking about with Mark about his relationship prospects and he was kind of…dodging the conversation so to speak. But then when I brought up Miss Satomi, his whole demeanor changed."

"How?"

"He starting acting a little strange, almost like I had crossed a line of some sort."

"And that's when he told you he had feelings for her?" Jessie asked.

"No. He didn't say that he had feelings for Miss Satomi. What struck me was he didn't say that he didn't have feelings for her. Normally if a guy's got no interest in a girl he'll say it right away and Mark didn't do that."

"I get it," Amy said.

"And then to top it off he told me directly that he thought she was pretty."

Liz snorted. "Of course he did. He'd been an idiot to say otherwise."

"And it explains why they were so eager to be together at the banquet a few weeks ago," Amy added. "I think Jessie may be right about this."

"So do you believe me now?" Jessie asked.

Liz sighed. "I guess all the facts point to one place."

"Yeah, but I don't see the problem, Jessie," Takeshi said. "If they want to go on a date, why don't they just do it?"

"That's what I wanted to talk to you guys about," Jessie replied. "You guys all know how busy the two of them are during the season. Miss Satomi's either working in her office or out meeting with sponsors and clients, and Mark almost never leaves the shop. When you look at it like that, they don't have any free-time."

"Oh, so it's a time issue then," Liz realized.

Jessie nodded. "I heard them say that it may be better for them to wait until the season ends-."

"But that's not going to be any different," Liz interrupted. "You know how busy the two of them are in the off-season."

"Miss Satomi does other work for the parent company as well as the race team," Amy said.

"And Mark locks himself in his apartment for who knows how long while he works on the designs for next year's mechs," Takeshi finished. "You aren't kidding when you said they have no time."

"So what do you want us to do?" Liz asked Jessie.

"Well…I thought that maybe we could set them up."

"On a date?"

"Yeah. You know…we get them together at some place where they can be alone and somewhere we know they'll have a good time…and we just give them the time of their lives," Jessie said.

"You want us to set-up Mark and Miss Satomi on a date?" Takeshi asked again.

"Well, it wouldn't be something like we just give them tickets somewhere and then that's it. We'd make sure it would be somewhere that the two of them would really enjoy."

"Like where?"

"Like…a restaurant." Jessie smiled. "Takeshi! Don't you have an endorsement deal with that parlor that overlooks the racetrack?"

"Vincent's? Yeah, I do. I only did a couple of newspaper advertisements and commercials for them though."

"But you have a lot of clout with their owners, right?"

Takeshi shrugged. "I guess you could say that."

"Do you think you could make them a private reservation?" Jessie asked.

Takeshi thought about it. "Probably." He chuckled. "Then again, I could probably get it so that they'd be the only ones in the restaurant."

"So you'd be willing to do it?"

"For them? Sure."

"Alright, wait a second!" Liz stepped forward and got in Takeshi's face.

"Liz?"

"You're willing to use all your clout with the big guys to make a private reservation for someone else? Why haven't you done that for me yet?"

"Uh…Liz…!" Takeshi looked and was frightened. "I-I was going to…i-it was going to be a surprise. I-I'd never do something like that if I didn't have it mind for you…!"

Liz smiled. "Good. Count me in on the plan, Jessie."

"Thanks, Liz."

She leaned down close to Takeshi. "And I'm also going to look forward to our private date, Takeshi."

Takeshi remained frozen for several seconds.

He then hung his head in defeat. "I'll help too, Jessie."