The next day at the mall, all she could think of was her date with Eiji. Kome seemed worried.

"What's the matter, Sayomi-chan? You've been spaced out for like, 10 minutes now."
"Oh, it's just...Ryoma set me up on a date with Eiji...and I'm sorta nervous."

"What's to be nervous about, you're super cool!"
"But Eiji-senpai is a third year and he's so cute and-"
"Sayomi-chan, calm down. Just be yourself and I'm sure the date will go fine. In the worst case scenario, he'll hate you!"
"Um...was that supposed to be comforting?"

"Er, well what I meant to say was...you can't really blame him if he hates the date because it wasn't really of his free will!" she laughed nervously.

"Yeah, like that's much better..." she muttered in english.

Eiji approached the two calmly and waved.

"Hi! Ready to go?"
"Sure. But where are we going?"
"Dunno. Wanna go get something to eat?"

"Um...okay. Bye Kome-chan!"

"Have fun Sayomi-chan! And don't forget to tell me all about it!"

Eiji showed Sayomi a few stores downtown before taking her to a small cafe. Sayomi stared down at the table, never meeting Eiji's gaze.

"Hey...what's the matter?"

"No-nothing! I'm fine, I-"
"Tell me what's on your mind right now."

"I just-I think you're so cute and if I looked at you, I'd be blushing a lot like I am now..."

"You wanna know something?"
"What?"
"I think you're cute too." he winked and smiled.

Sayomi's face reddened even more.

"And you're amazing at tennis. I've never seen anyone else play like you do."
"What do you mean by that?"
"The only other person I know that does all those flips and dives and stuff is well, me. Hell, there are some things you do that I can't."

"R-really?"

"Yeah. Do you think you could teach me some of it?"

"O-only if you teach me how you spin your racket around your wrist."

"Sayomi-sama, you are so amazing!"

Eiji stared at her, mumbling a few things. She looked at him oddly, wondering what he was saying. Noticing this, he cleared his throat.

"Why don't we go over to the tennis courts now?"

"S-sure." she was again avoiding Eiji's gaze.

"What's on your mind? You can tell me anything, and I'd love to know what you're thinking."

"What's on my mind? Well um...y-you are."

"It's not anything bad, is it?" he joked.

"No, no, nothing bad. It's just...you were all crazy for me yesterday and a little bit today and...it sort of overwhelms me...but I still..."

"You still what?"

"Even though it was kind of scary, I still feel the same way I did before."

"And how would that be?"

"You're really funny and outgoing and cute and...and..."

"Sayomi, could I ask you something?"

"Okay."

"Could I give you a quick kiss, just once?"

Sayomi's face turned bright red and she was as stiff as a baord.

"I'm dreaming...don't pinch me..."

"You're awake Sayomi-chan. So how about the answer?"

"I...I...I...yes."

"Great, you're so amazing! I mean...that's cool."

"But why don't we go somewhere less public, like maybe your house?"
"Trust me, if we go to my house, it'll be even more public." he laughed.

"Why?"
"Well I'm not sure if you knew this, but at my house there's my mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, two older brothers and two older sisters. Plus my sister's dog and my grandma's parakeet."

"Wow, that's a lot."

"Yeah, tell me about it."

"So I guess...it happens here then..."
"Yeah..."

"Right now, my friend Leah would probably say, 'Oh would you two just make out already?!' or something along those lines." she giggled.

"Who's Leah?"
"Just one of my friends from back in Canada."

"Oh, well then why don't we do what Leah would want?..."

Eiji awkwardly leaned in and kissed her. She put her hand to her lips and blushed again. Eiji cleared his throat.

"Now that I've gotten that out of my system..."
"And mine..." she muttered.

"Now I don't have to go home and wonder what it would have been like."

"And um...how was it?"

"It really meant a lot to me. How about you?"
"It meant a lot to me too. And it means a lot that you took the time to go out with me today."

"The pleasure is all mine. After I saw you practicing, I just had to meet you."
"Y-you saw me practicing? When?"

"Two days ago when you were at the tennis courts. I was about to leave, but then I saw you...and then all this happened."

"Um...Eiji-kun, do you play singles tennis at all?"

"I don't really prefer singles-wait, you called me Eiji-kun."
"So?"
"You usually call me Eiji-senpai."

"Does it matter?"
"Not really, it's just that it's a bit odd since it's not what you usually all me."

"So do you play singles?"
"Nah, singles is too lonely for me. Why?"
"I was just wondering if you wanted to play a quick game of singles with me..."

Eiji thought for a moment. He didn't really like to play singles, but if he accepted, he could play against Sayomi.

"I'm sorry, but singles is just too lonely for me. I'd really love to play against you again though, and O'Chibi could be your partner again."

"That'd be fun, but I really want to play singles with you. I'll make you a deal: I'll play doubles again if you play singles with me."

"Alright, fine. But not today. Maybe another time."

"Okay, I look forward to it." she smiled.

"Sealed with a kiss?" he suggested playfully.

"Eiji-senpai, you said once!"

"Aww, so that's a no?"
"I never said that!"

Eiji slowly leaned in towards Sayomi, both their hearts pounding as they got closer.

"Now it's a promise." she smiled.

"So how about we go over to the tennis courts and you teach me some things?"

"What? I'm your kohai and you want me to teach you things?"

"Of course. I may be able to do a lot of flashy stuff, but so can you. And you can do more than I can!"

"I-I can?"
"Yeah, like that one-handed cartwheel yesterday. I'll admit that I can't do that."

"Well I still want you to teach me how you spin your racket around your wrist. That's really cool."