A/N: Hey guys! I'm really sorry that I haven't updated for a long time, but my school has fanfiction(dot)com blocked so I can't upload anything. And I've been extra busy with school, getting used to my new school and working hard. So this chapter is longer than usual, hope you like it!

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN SHUGO CHARA.

Chapter 8 – The Super-Awesome Fun Outing

Amu gripped her boyfriend's hand tightly as they walked towards the park. Nagihiko looked like he noticed how Amu was acting quite tense today and Amu loosened her hold quickly.

"What's wrong?" Nagihiko asked quietly, frowning slightly.

Amu shook her head, though she knew she was quite unconvincing, and smiled. "Nothing..." Nagihiko showed signs that he wanted to say something, but he kept quiet, and Amu was grateful for that.

She was not sure that Nagihiko would want to discuss how Tadase's return was bothering her. She felt a little guilty about breaking up with him, but she guessed that that was what everyone who split up with someone felt. But that didn't mean they couldn't just be friends, right?

With that thought, she smiled more sincerely and pulled Nagihiko along to the park.

Nagihiko, who was surprised at the change of attitude allowed himself to be steered by Amu, though the frown on his features had stayed for a second longer.

XOXOXO

Rima lay on her bed, feeling thoroughly exhausted. It was finally Friday, no more school for two whole days, Rima thought feeling free. And tonight was the special for her favourite comedy show. She could just sit in her room, bring up a few snacks and watch it all night. It wasn't her usual room, though. Since her mother had won most of the custody for Rima, she stayed at her old house which belonged to her mother. But she was allowed to stay at her dad's place on alternate weekends. It had been hard at first, but she learned to cope.

She stared happily at her homework-free school-bag. The last two weeks had been crammed with homework and assignments that Rima had no time to think or worry about her other problems. Okay, admittedly, Rima had been able to sneak on some thoughts of Nagihiko during lessons but only for a very short while. Amu and Nagihiko were both acting as usual...with their perfect-couple atmosphere that Rima learned to escape from.

Recently nearly all her projects were with Tadase, because he was the only one in her class she knew that didn't fawn over her or threw jealous looks at her. That and the fact that Amu wasn't free to be her partner anymore because she was busy spending time with Nagihiko.

Stupid Nagihiko, she thought.

The house phone rang and because her dad was at work, she had to go and get it. "Hello. This is the Mashiro Residence. Who am I speaking to?"

"It's Louis, is your father at home? Can I speak to him-?" said a squeaky voice.

"No," Rima answered shortly. "He'll call you back later." She put down the phone, feeling quite annoyed that she had to walk all the way to the phone for nothing.

Louis was her dad's American business partner and her dad had been complaining was calling too much. She couldn't blame her dad, Louis's voice was really annoying.

Just then, Utada Hikaru's voice floated out from Rima's room and Rima ran back to her room to answer her hand phone. "Hi."

"Rima-tan!" came Yaya's voice. "Remember that super awesome outing I was planning?"

Remember it? It was quite impossible to forget it, with Yaya reminding her about it every single day. "Yes, what about it?"

"I already asked everyone and they're all free except Kukai. The super awesome outing takes place tomorrow. Don't be late!" And before Rima could say anything else, Yaya hung up. Kusu-kusu giggled.

Rima sighed. "Three...two...one." Before Utada Hikaru's voice could be heard Rima pressed the answer button.

"Oh yeah, we're meeting at the usual amusement park at eleven o'clock. Bye," said Yaya's voice quickly before hanging up again.

Rima smiled at Yaya's forgetfulness before lying back down on her bed. Her bed was queen sized in both her mum and dad's houses, with both having simple red sheets and pillows. She felt quite comfortable on her bed at the moment and felt like she might just lay there for fifteen minutes.

The house phone rang again. "Rima-chan!" said Kusu-Kusu.

"Yeah, I've got it." Rima let out another sigh, got up again and walked to the living room where the annoying Louis was probably waiting to be answered.

XOXOXO

Yaya tapped her foot impatiently while Rima and Amu were on their respective phones. "Where are the guys? Aren't guys supposed to be earlier than girls?" Yaya looked around at Amu and Rima and when no one answered her she stamped her foot down.

"Guyyys!" she whined, with Pepe imitating her owner.

"What's the matter Yaya-chan?" asked Nagihiko, as he, Kairi and Tadase walked up to them. Rima focused on her phone's screen after a quick glance at Nagihiko. Amu, on the other hand, stopped playing around on her phone and hugged Nagihiko at once. Rima gripped her phone hard and Tadase looked away trying not to make his discomfort look too obvious, Yaya rolled her eyes at their lovey-dovey-ness, and Kairi – he was busy being distressed that he was almost late.

"So what do you guys want to do first?" Yaya asked the group.

Rima finally put her phone away after Nagihiko and Amu released each other and looked around. There were lots of stalls that had been put up in addition to the rides, mostly with red and yellow striped roof-tops and different games or food. Everyone here were mostly little kids with their parents being dragged along with them. Rima frowned slightly.

"Why don't we go on the - " Tadase was about to suggest when he was interrupted.

"The carousel!" Yaya chirped, not waiting for the Tadae to finish. She ran to the cue, waving for the others to come over.

"Yay!" cried all the charas, flying over.

"...Aren't we a bit too old for that?" Rima said.

Nagihiko shrugged. "It doesn't have an age limit so it'll be fine." He glanced at Rima. "Besides, even if it did, you could pass as a nine-year old."

Rima glared at his joke at her height. "Say that again and you're dead."

Amu sweat-dropped. "C'mon guys, the cue's getting longer."

"That's right, we have to be 4.54 minutes faster than usual now," said Kairi. The other three sweat-dropped as well.

The group joined Yaya who was standing in front of a horse with pink ribbons and was glaring at a girl with brown pig-tails.

"I want this pony, you're too old anyway!" the girl yelled at Yaya.

Yaya crossed her arms. "No! I got here first and I want it!"

"Yaya-senpai, perhaps it's better to let her have it," Kairi muttered.

"No!" cried Yaya and Pepe in unison.

"Only we can ride the cutest pony," announced Pepe. She floated in front of the little girl who couldn't see her and glared at her.

"There are lots of other cute ponies," Tadase told Yaya, trying to calm her down.

The little girl gasped. "Onii-san!" She started hugging Tadase. Tadase looked at the girl looking completely dumbfounded.

"Er – do you know this girl?" Nagihiko asked, staring down at the girl.

Rima, who was the most used to obsessed fans said, "Who cares."

"Hey, actually, she looks kinda familiar..." Amu said, tilting her head a bit. A picture of a five-year old girl came to mind.

"Amu-chan, it's that girl from the aquarium!" Exclaimed Ran with her pom-poms in front of her face.

"...Chisa-chan!" Amu and Tadase said at the same time.

"You remembered my name!" squealed Chisa squeezing Tadase to almost-suffocation. "Now we can be married and live happily ever after forever and ever."

Chisa glared at Amu and Amu glared back. Then Amu stopped after remembering the reason that she and the little girl hadn't gotten along. Amu stepped closer to Nagihiko.

Rima looked around. "Am I missing something here?"

"Long story," laughed Amu waving it aside. "It doesn't really matter."

Well, Rima thought it did matter since now Amu was refusing to look at either Chisa or Tadase and Tadase was staring down at the ground.

Chisa, who innocently did not really know what the problem was, said, "Can we ride on the same horse, Prince?"

Tadase twitched. "Prince?"

Oh shoot, Rima didn't have a bucket near her.

"Did you just say 'Prince?'" Tadase started trembling. Kiseki flew up beside Tadase.

Tadase jumped up on a horse on the carousel. "I am a King! You shall not belittle me to such a thing like a prince. Commoners who dare classify me with such things as princes are not worthy!" Tadase started his evil laugh.

Chisa looked horrified at what happened to her 'prince' and ran to her mum.

"Yes!" cheered Yaya getting onto the horse with the pink ribbons. "Thanks Tadase."

But he wasn't finished yet. "I will ride this steed and conquer the whole country, and then, the whole world! Hahahahahaha!"

"Oi, kid! Sit down, the ride's about to start!" the control-man said. Tadase's chara change wore off and Tadase, looking quite embarrassed, sat down on his horse. Kairi, who said it was his obligation as the Jack, tried comforting Tadase, though it was hard when Yaya was sitting on the horse next to him shouting "Whee!"

RIma, who's horse had stopped at mid-height, had difficulty getting onto it. "Stupid thing..."

Nagihiko, who was tall and had no trouble getting onto his horse called from in front of her, "Don't worry, you'll get taller soon!"

RIma mouthed, "You are dead" as Amu helped Rima get on and sat on the horse next to her. The ride started up playing a cheery tune that was always on all carousels. Rima remembered when she used to go on the carousels together with her parents. She always begged to sit on top of her mum's lap because she was afraid of riding alone. Rima shook her head. No point in thinking about things that was long gone. After the event with Tadase's outburst, Rima found the ride dull (Yaya was the one enjoying the ride the most, of course) and she was glad to get off when it ended.

Not that the next ride was better. Yaya was fully in charge of where the group was going. They went on a giant spinning tea cup ride where all of them could fit in one cup. Nagihiko chara changed with Rizumu at Yaya's request and started spinning the tea-cup with all his might. Rima felt like she was going to be sick. Kairi looked like he was struggling to keep his composure while Amu was just screaming her head off.

Then they went to 'The House of Mirrors'. Yaya, Amu and the charas kept making funny faces at the mirrors, which twisted their expression too look more comical than they already were. Rima walked in front of a mirror that made her look tall.

Nagihiko came up next to her and pointed at the mirror. "So is that why you chose that mirror? It does make you look talker."

"Enough with the height jokes," snapped Rima. Then she smirked. "So is that why you chose that mirror? If you want to be fatter I'm sure it won't be hard for you."

Nagihiko looked at his reflection and saw that his mirror made him look much wider. "Very funny."

"Yes, it is," Rima said, continuing to walk.

"- and that's how it creates the reflection shown," Kairi concluded his long-drawn explanation which only Tadase was left to pretend to listen to.

"Um – I think the others have gone ahead of us," Tadase stated.

Kairi looked around. "No! We're getting behind!" And they ran to catch up with the others.

After that they walked around looking at the stalls when Nagihiko was randomly chosen to sit in a box with water beneath him. "Damn it, I hate this game."

"I don't think it's that bad," said Rima, grinning as she threw the ball which hit the bulls-eye, causing Nagihiko to fall into the pool of water.

The others laughed when Nagihiko got out and was soaking wet. Nagihiko eventually laughed too, good-naturedly.

"I don't think that the water is clean," Rima commented quietly. "Because I think I smell something rotten in there."

"I'm sure that there isn't anything there Fujisaki-san," Tadase said, though he didn't sound too sure.

"It actually could have something," said Kairi, peering over at Nagihiko.

"Don't worry, they're only joking," Amu assured Nagihiko with a comforting smile.

"I wasn't," Rima said gruffly, though she didn't think she was heard.

"Hey look! There's another ride." Yaya exclaimed, pointing at another ride. It was the 'Tunnel of Love'.

"That's for couples Yaya," Kairi said. "And the only couple here is Nagihiko and Amu. They could go if they want to."

Nagihiko and Amu immediately turned red.

Yaya pouted. "Aww, but it has hearts and flowers and everything!"

"You can go ahead if you want to Yuiki-san. Me, Sanjou-kun and Mashiro-san will wait here." Tadase suggested.

"But there's gotta be two people! Kairi, you're coming with me and Amu and Nagi are going together." Kairi turned slightly pink and muttered incoherent words.

Amu waved her hands frantically. "No! I don't want to go there." She looked at her charas for help but they just shrugged. "It's...it's...dark! Yeah, it's too dark in there!"

"Oh right, Amu-chi's scared of the dark." Yaya sighed. Then she looked up and grinned. "Then let's go on that!" Yaya pointed at a giant Ferris wheel with a look triumphant look. "Everyone can go on that because no one's scared of heights." Which was true, thought Rima, because everyone present have been on very tall buildings before or even flew.

"I don't know," said Amu doubtfully. "The compartments look really small."

"It's fine, it's fine," Yaya assured her.

Rima didn't have any problems with Ferris Wheels and neither did the others so they decided to start walking towards it. After a few minutes, Rima began to feel tired. The Ferris Wheel's cue was all the way on the other side of the park and it looked much farther than it looked. Then Yaya started running, and Rima heard something about the Ferris Wheel going to start. Kairi, followed Yaya, not wanting to be late again. Tadase, Amu and Nagihiko walked at normal speed since they weren't that bothered. Rima started having to run every few paces to catch up with them, until she finally had to stop.

"Are you okay?" asked Kusu-kusu worriedly.

"Yeah," she replied, still panting.

Damn it, I wish I could call my slaves, she thought. She was bent over with her hands on her knees and was panting. A scowl made its way to her face. It was always her that was left behind. She heard footsteps coming towards her and she looked up and raised her eyebrows.

"Your legs still aren't long enough, are they?" teased Nagihiko.

Rima didn't even have the energy to make up a comeback. "Just go ahead. I'll catch up."

"I'll wait, someone has to right? Plus if I left you Amu will be mad."

Again, Rima felt too tired to argue so she let him wait for her while she caught her breath. When her breathing was back to normal she stood up straight and nodded at Nagihiko and they started walking towards the line.

Nagihiko looked over the line. "I can't see Yaya-chan or Sanjou-kun."

"They've probably gone on together already." And she looked up and could just make out a pair of people with orange and green hair. She looked at the line too. "Hey – I think Amu-chan and Hotori-kun just got on."

Kusu-kusu, Temari and Rizumu floated closer to the box that shifted up. "Yep, it's them," said Rizumu.

"I guess that means I'm stuck with you," said Nagihiko.

And then it hit Rima that they were going to be alone on a ride that could sometimes be considered just as romantic as a Tunnel of Love. No, two just-friends can go on a Ferris Wheel. It's fine. No one said that the person who invented Ferris Wheels meant it to be romantic or anything, she thought to herself.

The couple in front of them were going in their box when Rima noticed a small little girl holding hands with both of them. The control-woman nodded kindly at the family before letting them in the box. The father carried the girl onto his lap while the mother smiled happily at the both of them.

Rima then felt a sort of pain in her heart that wasn't related to Nagihiko. But this time she didn't hide her expression, so Nagihiko tried to give her a comforting smile. She did not return it.

They entered their box silently and as the Ferris Wheel started moving, Rima stared out of her window. It felt like as the box moved and she was getting away from the ground the feeling of pain lifted slightly too, slightly, but not completely. Still, it was quite comforting to watch everything get smaller and smaller as they got higher and higher. Their ride stopped at almost the peak of the Ferris Wheel, the spot that everyone always wished they could have.

"You know," Nagihiko said after a few minutes of silence. "You can talk to me about whatever's bothering you."

Rima turned to face Nagihiko. Their conversations so far had been light because of her fear of saying something wrong. But this matter...it was different from what she was normally worried about, and it wouldn't hurt anyone else.

"Okay," Rima said. "I'll tell you."

xxxxxx

"Wah! Now we're near the bottom again," Yaya said sadly. She was standing up with her hands against the glass and Pepe floating beside her.

"We did stay at the top for a long time," Kairi, who was sitting down, stated.

"It wasn't that long. Let's go again!"

"I don't think we should."

"Please?"

"No, Yaya-sempai."

Yaya sighed. "I never get what I want."

Kairi had to smile at that. "We've been going wherever you wanted the whole day."

"Not the whole day. We didn't go in the Tunnel of Love, remember?"

Kairi shook his head. "That's only for couples, Yaya-senpai."

"It's not fair," said Yaya stubbornly. "Rides should be for everybody." Pepe nodded her head in agreement. "And they should make these compartments bigger. At least four people should be able to go in one box. Or six. Then we could all go together!" She looked down outside her window. "Or maybe not, since Rima-tan was kinda slow. I think Rima-tan had to go with Nagi."

She felt sorry for Rima, after Rima had been trying to avoid Nagi for some time. She looked at Kairi. "Oh yeah, didn't you like Amu-chan or something like that?"

Kairi turned pink at the sudden random question. Musashi smiled in a secret ninja-like manner. Kairi adjusted his glasses and coughed. "Well that's – not anymore." He coughed again.

"Eh? Really?" said Yaya looking more interested. "Why not?"

Kairi grew flustered at the intense curiosity of Yaya's expression. "It doesn't really matter." He fiddled with his glasses again. "Anyway, Hinamori-san seems to be happy with Fujisaki-kun."

Yaya nodded. "Oh, that reminds me! Tadase and Amu-chi are in the same box." She looked up as if she could see them. "Poor Tadase and Amu."

Kairi knew what she meant nodded grimly.

xxxxxx

In Tadase and Amu's compartment it wasn't completely quiet, but mostly because the charas were having a small argument, which was of course started by Kiseki.

"Commoners, get out of the way, I cannot see the view from here," Kiseki complained.

"But Kiseki, there are other sides of glass," Ran said.

The tiny king shook his head. "But a king needs to have the perfect view, and I say the view you four are at is the best one."

"You can just come next to us," said Miki sensibly.

"Fine," Kiseki said, admitting defeat and flying next to Miki.

"Ooh, look, it's a bird-desu," Suu said. "Look Amu-chan."

When Amu did not reply Suu turned around. "Amu-chan?"

Amu was looking down at her feet at fiddling around with her fingers. She still couldn't even look at Tadase. Was it really that hard to start a normal conversation? It was just that stupid little girl. She made the atmosphere awkward, just reminding both her and Tadase about their outing at the aquarium. That was when Amu didn't really know Tadase much and was star struck by him. She even called it a 'date' in her mind. Of course, all that was in the past, Amu reminded herself.

After debating herself about it for a while, she lifted her head up slightly so that she could look at Tadase. He was leaning against his hand and was looking outside. It didn't look like he was going to start a conversation any time soon. Amu took a deep breath.

"Um...Tadase-kun?"

Tadase continued staring outside. Amu was thinking that he didn't hear her when he finally faced her. "Is something wrong, Hinamori-san?"

"Ah, of course not!" Amu shook her head. "I was – er – just wondering how you were. We haven't really talked much since you've got back."

"Oh, well, I guess I'm fine. My mum's really glad to be back at our home. We had housekeepers take care of the house while we were away."

Amu nodded to show she was listening. She even managed to smile a bit. It wasn't that hard to talk to Tadase as she thought. Sure, when she first met him she couldn't get a word out when he was around, but later they were even able to joke around together. "So how's your grandma?"

"She's doing great. She was staying at our house when we were away."

"I didn't know that! But it must get kinda lonely."

"She's still strong for her age, and we called her every week." Tadase had called her every week too, Amu remembered. "And Kiyo really likes it here too."

Kiyo - that was a girl's name. She wondered who Kiyo was. Amu would ask but that would make her look like she was nosy.

"Kukai's already seen her. Maybe I'll let you all meet Kiyo some time."

Introducing Kiyo to them? Were they that close that he wanted to introduce him to everyone? Tadase probably met her when he was away. Come to think of it, he hadn't used any honorific when he was talking about her, and he always used honorifics for everyone. Did she come here with him?

"Amu-chan, are you alright?" After hearing her name, Amu stared at Tadase. But it didn't look like he said anything.

"Oi, earth to Amu-chan!" Suddenly she noticed that it was her charas who were talking to her. Dia looked worried."You were staring into space or something."

Amu, feeling embarrassed that she was caught looking blankly at nothing, turned slightly pink. Tadase didn't seem to notice anything strange so it wasn't like it really mattered.

"So, is Kiyo in our year?" Amu asked in a would-be-casual tone.

Tadase looked confused by her question. "What?"

"Kiyo, the girl you were talking about."

Tadase stared at Amu for a second then let out a laugh. "Kiyo is my new dog, Hinamori-san."

Just then, Amu felt quite silly. But then, how was she supposed to know that it was Tadase's dog? "I didn't know you got a dog," she mumbled.

Tadase smiled. "Well, I always wanted another one." Amu remembered that Tadase mentioned that once before...he left. "I was going to call you and tell you about it...but..." He stopped speaking and looked down awkwardly. Amu couldn't really blame him. They didn't talk after that.

But the silence felt uncomfortable to Amu. There was no sound. Amu realized that the charas had also stopped talking and were talking and were looking solemnly at the two of them.

Maybe silence was better. Words that shouldn't be said would remain in thoughts that way.

xxxxxx

In Rima's and Nagihiko's compartment, however, there was no absence of sound. Rima's voice was trembling with hurt, anger, and a sense of betrayal that she thought was long gone. "How could he?" she repeated for about the fifth time, though with no less emotion.

"Oh my," said Temari, while Rizumu had his hands in his pockets and shook his head.

Nagihiko sat there looking overwhelmed by how much Rima was yelling. After hearing her story though, he could understand.

Rima walked up to the phone and picked it up grudgingly. "Hello," she said. "Mashiro residence."

But instead of a man's voice it was a woman's. "Hello. Is your dad home?"

"No. Who are you?" she asked.

"I'm Aki Midorika ...well I guess you could call me a friend of your father. You must be Rima-chan, he's told me a lot about you."

"My dad talked about me – to you?" She didn't think her dad would talk to people he worked with about her. She assumed he was working with her anyway.

"Yes, he talked about you when we were looking at the houses."

RIma's eyes narrowed. "What houses?"

"Oh! Didn't you know? Your dad is planning to buy a new house, I wanted him to buy the one across the road but he insisted on the one without a swimming pool."

Her dad was planning to buy a new house and she never heard about it. And this woman sounded pretty close to her dad. It couldn't be that he was dating this woman or something. It couldn't be.

"I'm sorry, I have to go. Bye." Before Midorika could respond, Rima hung up.

Her head throbbed as she thought about what she just heard. It couldn't be, it just couldn't.

Rima felt sick just thinking about that phone call. She clenched her fists so hard that she knew there would be marks when, and if, she ever unclenched them.

"I don't even know who this woman is," Rima said venomously. Even though she wasn't directing her anger at Nagihiko, he looked like he thought it was.

"Maybe he had been dating this woman for a while - " Rima glared at Nagihiko furiously as his voice trailed off. "-and wanted to surprise you..."

"He has no right to! He should have told me that he was seeing someone. He should have told me that he wanted to move in with that woman who's probably some worthless bi-"

"Rima-chan!" Kusu-kusu said anxiously. She had had a grim expression the whole time and had not said a word until now.

"It's probably true! What about me? Is he just going to forget about me after saying everything was going to be normal? And what about Mama? Isn't he going to think about her!" Rima glared at Nagihiko with more intensity, as if challenging him to answer her.

Nagihiko looked outside, sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "Remember that day at the carnival?" He looked at her this time. "Your mum and your dad...their destinies can't be changed by anyone. They've already moved on in their lives."

She jumped to her feet. "They shouldn't have then! Everything was fine as it was before." Her voice was so loud that it was as if she was blaming all of this on Nagihiko. Of course her feelings had already been on edge before this because of Nagihiko. But this and that were two different things.

"But Rima-chan," Nagihiko said softly. "There's nothing you can do."

Silence.

"I know," said Rima so quietly that Nagihiko was surprised, after hearing her shout so loud. Only then did Nagihiko realize that tear was running down Rima's face. "I know."

And Nagihiko was right. It wasn't any of her business. Her parents could do whatever they wanted with their lives, just as she could with hers.

But still...It's not fair to me. It just isn't fair.

Rima felt a warm hand brush her face and she froze. Nagihiko had wiped a tear away.

He sat back in his seat and chuckled slightly. "I don't think your memory is very good." Rima stared at him. "I told you right? Tears don't suit you."

Rima, feeling slightly embarrassed that she had actually cried in front of Nagihiko wiped her hand on the back of her sleeve. "I knew that."

"Yay!" cheered the charas, seeing that Rima wasn't crying anymore.

Nagihiko rubbed the back of his head. "And – well – you have all of us. And Amu-chan wouldn't like to see you cry. She would probably think it was my fault or something like that."

Rima smiled. "Thank you, Nagihiko. I appreciate it." And that was the sincerest thing she had said to him since a long time.

Nagihiko smiled back. "See, that's better."

The compartment stopped and both Rima and Nagihiko stumbled slightly. The compartment door opened and the two of them and their charas walked out to where Amu and the rest were already waiting.

"That was fun!" Yaya chirped happily. "How'd you guys like it? Oh - " Yaya looked carefully at Rima. "Rima-tan, your eyes look red!"

"What happened?" Amu said immediately at seeing her friend's state.

Nagihiko looked at Rima, who had resumed her usual indifferent expression. "Nagihiko told me I was short. Again. And my eyes grew tired of looking at his face."

"W-what? I never said you were short. Well, not just now!" Nagihiko tried to argue, though he didn't sound convincing since he wasn't prepared to argue with Rima at that moment.

"Nagihiko, did you?" Amu asked putting on a serious expression. Nagihiko saw out of the corner of his eyes that Rima was smirking.

Nagihiko caught on and put on a smug expression as well. "She's just trying to hide the fact that fell down after being too clumsy."

"Is that true, Rima?" asked Amu looking between the two.

"...yes." She gave a fake sigh. "It was worth a try."

The others laughed good-naturedly. Kairi coughed softly and made a show of checking his watch. "I think it's time to go now."

Amu checked her phone. "Shoot! I'm going to be late for dinner."

She looked at Nagihiko who checked his watch. "Yeah, I should be getting home too."

"Hold up!" Yaya said. "If we're going to go, you guys gotta tell me. Was this a super-awesome fun day!"

"YEAH!" the charas cheered.

Yaya looked at the others threateningly. "Well?"

"Ahaha...we did have a lot of fun, Yuiki-san," Tadase replied nervously. Yaya looked unconvinced.

"R-really! We did," Amu said, sweat-dropping with the rest.

"Okay!" Yaya held up a victory sign. "Mission complete." She looked around. "Me and Rima-tan are walking home together!" Before Rima could agree or protest, Yaya grabbed her arm and sped away.

After a distance away from the park, Yaya and Pepe were still congratulating themselves at a job well done. Rima and Kusu-kusu looked at each other at laughed.

"Hmm? Why are you in such a good mood?" asked Yaya.

Rima turned her face neutral again. "I'm not."

"Hey! Did something happen in the compartment?"

"No."

"It has to do with Nagi, doesn't it?"

Rima smiled. "No."

"Wahhh! Tell me, Rima-tan!"

Rima shook her head. "I just felt like smiling, that's all." Yaya looked utterly disbelieving. Rima grinned. "Besides, a smile suits me more."

A/N: That was a little happier than my other chapters in some ways. After writing this, I'm excited to write the next one, it's gonna get more interesting next chapter 8D Please Review!