Author's note: I'm probably going to be off by a long shot, but I'm trying not to be too pretentious. Let me know how I do.

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"K-Kouji?" She whispered. He was unmistakable, the nonchalant air, the confident pose, and his eyes still glinting with determination. He was only…taller.

He said nothing, deep blue eyes looking gently into hers.

"Kouji, is that you?" She repeated; taking slow steps toward the stairs he was standing on.

He uncrossed his arms and his lips parted, but no sound came out, instead, he began taking slow steps down to her.

It's him She thought in shock. The one she had been thinking about all day. He still…did he recognize her?

"Remember me?" She asked softly.

He smiled gently. "Izumi."

She smiled back. He did remember her. Her heart skipped a beat. It was just like she imagined it-that is, imagined their meeting. Not too many words, recognition, and then…But she felt shy around him, she felt like they had been together for all these ten years, but she still felt shy and uneasy. And it was a pleasant feeling.

They both walked on the rail-less stairs. Izumi up and Kouji down. She felt like she was in the middle of a fairytale, but she still had her doubts.

At long last, they met in the middle, on the same step. They stood for several moments, surveying the other and moving not an inch.

Izumi stared into his eyes, but could not read them. She knew that he remembered her, and she could tell that he still liked her and accepted her, but was it enough?

"How have you been?" She inquired.

"Fine." He replied simply. "I just finished school today."

"I just finished last week." She said, smiling. "College. Graduation was only three days ago."

"My graduation is next week." He told her.

She was surprised, she never thought that Kouji would go through an accelerated program, he seemed the type that would want to get as much out of school as possible.

"I'm getting my master's next week." He added smugly. He didn't really want to brag, but he knew that Izumi respected his intelligence.

"Wow…" She mused, looking sidelong and twirling her hair.

What's the matter with her? He thought. She isn't anything like I remembered.

Izumi looked into his eyes. "I'm sorry, Kouji, there's just been a lot on my mind lately."

He nodded dumbly. She had just read his mind.

She sighed. "Takuya proposed to me yesterday."

His eyes widened. "And…"

"You must think I'm crazy." She paused. "You must've heard what was going on between us."

"Actually…no." He said. But he had suspected.

She turned away. "We've been dating for three years."

Why was she stalling? He tried to subtly look at her left hand.

She noticed, however, and smiled sheepishly. "I told him I'd think it over."

He looked at her questioningly.

"I-I wasn't sure why." She began and averted his eyes. "But now…"

She raised her gaze, but said nothing. He searched her eyes, feeling more bewildered than he had ever been in his life. Advanced mathematics I can deal with, girls, I cannot.

"Kouji, you must think I'm crazy." She said again. "You must think I'm acting really strange. You must be…"

"Izumi…I…" He interrupted.

"You must not like me anymore because I'm acting like one of those shy, coy girls you told me that you didn't like." She went on, ignoring him. "You must…"

"Izumi!" He reached out a hand to shake her, but before his hand touched her, she stopped talking.

He wouldn't. She thought. He won't touch me now that I've stopped talking.

She was quite wrong.

Kouji's hand hovered over her shoulder for a few seconds, and then, instead of resting his hand on her shoulder, he completely took her into his arms.

Why do I still…why don't I mind that she's acting this way? She explained what happened, and I…I understood.

Izumi froze. He wasn't acting at all like the person she remembered, but-she relaxed in his arms-she liked it.

"Izumi, I…" But before he could say anything, the door above him opened and someone entered.

"Izumi! There you are!" The light was flowing in so brightly that there was no distinguishing the person there. "We were worried sick."

Whoever was there ran down to meet her. When she saw who it was, she released Kouji quickly and smiled uncomfortably at their visitor.

"I'm sorry, mom." She said. "How did you find me?"

"Well, we were coming to meet you at the airport, but we were a little late and we couldn't find your gate." Mrs. Orimoto began to explain. "And then we saw you leave, and we took the train after yours."

"But…how did you find me?" Izumi raised her eyebrows.

"Tomoki saw you enter the train station and we happened to bump into him some three stops after yours." Her mother finally answered.

"Okay…" She rolled her eyes and looked apologetically at Kouji.

Now this is better…He smiled at her. "Go ahead Izumi."

As she was being dragged away by her mother, she shouted back. "Call me!"

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Author's note: Wow…that was a really long chapter for me. I hope that wasn't too bad, but let me know anyway. I haven't gotten a review since…uh…let's not go there. Anyway, enjoy!