Mizu looked out the window. Class was almost over, and Mizu really wanted it to be over. A couple of minutes later, Rika came over to talk to Mizu. "Mizu-chama!" Mizu looked up from her doodles of hearts and arrows to look at the little girl. "Rika-chan. Hey." Mizu said smiling. "Mizu." Rika said. All of a sudden Rika's voice became calm yet stern…like an adult. "You are the Shrine maiden right? Then you should know…." Mizu looked startled for a moment. "About the curse…right?" Rika looked down. "Yes. Year after year, someone dies….and someone disappears. It's just not right. If you are the shrine maiden now. You can't escape. But the easiest thing for you, is to know…what happens…and what happened in the future." Mizu looked confused. Rika started to walk away. A sudden shock went through Mizu's veins. "Happened? But the future hasn't come…." Rika stopped walking.

"Hasn't it?" She said in that same adult voice.

She continued walking out of the class room. Rika left Mizu in a state of confusion.

A sudden thought came to Mizu. "Ah! Maybe Keiichi knows about it…." She got up but before she could walk out the door, Keiichi came running in. He stopped after noticing Mizu was there. "Ah, Keiichi!" She walked up to him a little. "I was just going to find you! I wanted to ask you something--"

He quickly hugged Mizu. "Eh…..Eh…ehh? K...Keiichi! What are you doing?" Keiichi tried to explain, but he said it too fast. "M…Mion's looking for me! She remembered I didn't win yesterdays punishment game and now she's coming to look for me!" Mizu looked at the corner of her eye to the rested head of her new boyfriend on her shoulder. She sound feel his heartbeat and his soft breathing. She closed her eyes tightly. It was still embarrassing for her even if everyone knew they were going out now. She heard running footsteps. "Keeiii-chaaannn!!! I know where you are!" It was Mion. Soon enough, Mion ran into the room. "Oh! What's this?! Kei-chan having a romantic moment? If I had a penny…I'd have one penny! Ha!" Keiichi let go of Mizu, but didn't let go, he just loosened his grip. Mizu's heat beat fast. "My first hug with Keiichi…" She thought. Keiichi mumbled something about how Mion always finds him. "C'mon Kei-chan. What a lame way of trying to hide. Dude, if you were getting married I'd call you out here to do the punishment! Now c'mon!" "Fine! I'm coming." He mumbled. He leaned at Mizu and whispered in her ear, "As long as it's nothing damaging my health, wait for me outside, k?" Mizu blushed. "O…okay…" She watched Keiichi walk off with Mion into the homeroom.

4:00 P.M.

Mizu did what Keiichi told her and waited at the gate for him. She watched the sky turn gold, and the clouds pink. The wind blew a little, and she thought of Keiichi.

Her Keiichi.

She started humming a song her Mom would sing to her always when she was sad. "Smile, Smile, Don't drown yourself. Cry, Cry, Don't be afraid, all in good time my eternal summer…"

She got the same weightless feeling again. That feeling she didn't know if she loved or hated. But if she thought of Keiichi, she guessed she loved it.

She heard footsteps. She turned around to see who it was. Keiichi was walking with one hand over his face and he was looking down. "They got me. And they told me to say something to you." he moved his hand from his face and looked up. "Meow….I'm a cat." Mizu blushed as she looked at the cute animal markings on his face. "K..Keiichi! Th…They drew whiskers on you….and rings around your eyes…." She said. "I know that." Keiichi said with a defeated miserable voice. "They also told me to tell you something else but I'll tell you on the way home." Mizu smiled. "M'Kay!" Keiichi walked with his head down and opened the gate up. Mizu walked past Keiichi while looking at his animal markings in the corner of her eye. When Keiichi closed the gate behind him Mizu stopped. "Ne, Keiichi. Are you going to tell me now?" Keiichi looked up at her. "Not yet. I'm trying to think of what to say." Mizu blushed. "O…okay." Mizu looked down and then looked up. "K…Keiichi…!"

Keiichi had started holding Mizu's waist.

Keiichi looked at her. "What?" He asked. Mizu looked down. "N...nothing…" He continued to hold Mizu at her waist. Mizu's heart beat fast. She prayed Keiichi wouldn't notice. After a couple of minutes he let go and stopped walking. Mizu stopped with him. "Mizu. Wanna come to my house? My parents would like to meet ya." Mizu blushed. "s…sure." Keiichi took Mizu's hand and started running. "C'mon! I wanna get this stuff off of my face too." Mizu smiled.

After a couple minutes of running, They finally reached Keiichi's house. It was a lot larger than Mizu's, but then again she spent the night in a small house along side of the shrine.

"Oh! Who's this Keiichi?" Mizu saw a woman walking up to them. The woman looked down and noticed they were holding hands. "Oh? Is she your girlfriend?" Keiichi blushed. "Y…yeah…but mom don't--" Keiichi's mom bent over a little to look at Mizu. Mizu blushed a little. "I'm…Mizu…" She said quietly, afraid to speak in fear of what Keiichi's mom would say. Keiichi's mom smiled. "Oh! Keiichi! This is Mizu? I've heard your name multiple times the past week or two…" Keiichi started to drag Mizu away from his overly obsessed mother. "Bye, mom!" He shouted as he brought Mizu up the stairs. Mizu wanted to hold his arm, but since his mom was in the house and probably watching….

They got to Keiichi's room. He opened the door and smiled. "There! Yep! This is where I spend the night." Mizu smiled. "Wow! My room is so tiny compared to this!" She looked at the wall clock, the phone, and the unmade futon on the floor. Keiichi smiled. "I'm gonna go wash this off my face. I'm shocked my mom didn't say anything. I guess she's just used to viewing the results of my failures." Mizu laughed a little. Keiichi walked out of the room. She looked around the room and lay down on his futon. It was nice to relax. "I hope he doesn't come back right away and sees me lying here…" She sat up again, and viewed the room. "Why? Do I feel as if I've been here…?" She heard the door close. She turned and looked at Keiichi. "Mizu. I'm going to tell you what they told me to tell you…" Mizu's heart beat fast. "What is it...?" She asked. Keiichi turned to her. He walked down and sat on the futon with her. He laughed a little to him self. "What?" Mizu asked. "Are you going to lie to me?" Keiichi smiled. "No! It's just a hard thing to bring up." Mizu blushed. "Well what is it?" Keiichi looked at her and then down after a moment, he looked back up and blushed. "Mizu…Um…" Mizu leaned at him. "What?" Keiichi closed his eyes. "Please don't get weirded out if I say it okay? They didn't word anything for me, I thought of what to say, alright?" Mizu nodded. "Yeah." Keiichi blushed a little. "Close your eyes." He said. Mizu closed her eyes, willing to do so to hear what he had to say. Keiichi closed his again, and took mizu's hand. Mizu opened her eyes for a moment, but closed them after observing what he did.

Keiichi leaned in and kissed Mizu on the lips. Keiichi blushed and looked down. "That was what I had to say…." He said. Mizu blushed. "K...Keiichi…" She looked away quickly, in shock, but not upset. "I'm sorry Mizu! I won't do it agai-" Keiichi said, trying to apologize. Mizu lunged in and hugged him. "Keiichi!" Keiichi's heart beat fast, and this time Mizu could hear it pounding against his warm chest. Mizu clenched his shirt. "If that's all you had to say." She smiled. "Say it more." She said. Keiichi smiled. "I will." Mizu looked down. "Hey Keiichi. Doesn't Rika live alone?" Keiichi looked down at her. "Yeah. With Satoko though. Why?" Mizu looked up at him. "It's nothing. I thought she was just lonely or something. She's really a sweet girl!" Keiichi smiled. "Yep!" There was a knock on the door. "Mizu! There's someone at the door for you, they say their name is…..

Rika Furude."