The week went by pretty quickly. After that conversion with Hakuoh, Ryuuji and Ami did not hear from him or spoke to him. However, the feeling that he was watching them was more than enough for them to be weary of him. Ryuuji and Ami kept up the act of a couple even more, but they never hugged or kissed even once. Sure, they held hands and sometimes Ami would wrap around his arm, but they had never experienced an emotional hug off or on campus. And it was not like Taiga would let anything like that pass by her.

During the week, Ryuuji grew a little more concern about Taiga's actions towards this fake fling. She even went as far as tripping Kawashima down a step because she was way too close to Ryuuji. However, the small klutz ended up tripping Ryuuji too. Ryuuji managed to break Ami's fall by catching her, as he also fell, but ended up hitting the back of his head on the school floor. A small bump appeared on his head. Though his hair covered it to the point where it was unnoticeable, it still hurt. Of course, instead of taking him to the nurse, the two girls started to argue about the situation. Ryuuji excused himself as they seemed to ignore him and walked to the nurse. It only took Ami a few moments after Ryuuji left that he needed to go to the nurse. She caught up with him as he neared the nurse's office. Before entering, he sighed and commented to her how childish she just acted right now, which caused her to smile slightly when he was not looking. At dinnertime, Taiga half-assed an apology and decided to make it up by helping Ryuuji clean after dinner. That all happened on Wednesday.

By Friday, Ryuuji was getting nervous about the date that would be spied on. When he was in lecture towards the end of the day, he shot glances at Hakuoh, who sat near the rear door of the classroom. After two glances, Hakuoh acknowledged him and smiled deviously. He then looked to his right. Ryuuji followed his eyes and saw Ami. She was looking to the front of the class and noticed Ryuuji looking at her. She formed a smile and secretly waved her hand. He smiled but soon stopped when he felt a white eraser bang against his head bump. Irritated, he crunched his teeth and rubbed his bump. He scornfully looked back at Taiga as was about to flip at her through eye contact when he noticed she was looking stiffly forward. He looked back forward to see the teacher's cold stare. Feeling a little tensed, he lowered his head and continued to take notes.

Saturday did bring some relaxation though. The four hour session the school would hold that Saturday got canceled. However, Ryuuji wasted no time into putting in a couple of hours studying. He had gone alone since Taiga and Ami had planned to do something else than studying. Ryuuji was fine by studying by himself at Sudobuk's, a coffee shop that was quite popular with the students. He ordered some coffee and hit the books on math and science, two subjects he was good but not great in. He spent some time working on this word problem that he had struggled on when he first learned the concept behind the problem. His notebooks, which he was doing the problem on, and his math notes were on the table not too far apart from each other. He sipped his coffee as he thought about the problem.

"Let's see," he whispered so quietly that he could barely hear himself. "I have a trapezoid here. I know that the total optimal area of this shape is two hundred and sixteen meters squared, the perimeter is eight-five meters, and that the angles at the bottom of the trapezoid are sixty degrees. I also know that the top of the trapezoid is two-thirds as long as the bottom of it. The goal is to find the dimensions of the trapezoid… I feel that I have to use systems of equations and trigonometry to solve it."

Ryuuji sighed.

"Let's see. Should take about ten minutes. Maybe fifteen."

"You're that slow."

Ryuuji, recognizing that voice, turned to his left. His face displayed no emotion as he was greeted with a sinister smile from Hakuoh. The pretty boy had a large expresso in his hand and sat on the bar stool next to Ryuuji. He faced the big window, looking out at the people walking by the shop. He sighed in relief.

"Oh, boy. Saturday and no class. That school is becoming a real drag. Honestly, your educational standards are quite far below. And plus, the grade of the food is just for peasants. Honestly, those who go there are either poor or losers. The last place anyone would ever find Princess Kawashima."

"Then leave," said Ryuuji without facing Hakuoh.

Hakuoh shook his head slyly.

"I'll stay until this whole situation gets sorted out. Speaking of which, where is your so-called girlfriend?"

"Ami said that her aunt invited her to hang out and went shopping."

"Oh, really? Mm… Kawashima is still the same stuck-up princess. It was a pain to go shopping with her. Either she would gawk at the mirror or she would spend thirty minutes on what outfit to get. So annoying."

Ryuuji turned at Hakuoh, slightly of irritated.

"True she may do that, but that's because you didn't encourage her to be herself."

"…So are you telling me she's herself now? She hides her act at school and puts on her fake persona that is adult-like. She is, however, hiding from the truth, waiting for someone as gullible as you to fall for this fake Kawashima."

Ryuuji shook his head.

"You're wrong. I knew Ami, the real Ami, at the start of our friendship. I know she gets irritated easily, is bossy, thinks too much of herself, and does stupid mistakes. She is childish, though can be kind and loving."

Hakuoh smirked.

"Bet she'll get offended by what her boyfriend said. The first part only."

"No. She had heard me call her childish before. Besides, she's the last person to believe anything from you."

"You're probably right, but I do have another target…or targets."

Ryuuji looked curiously at him as Hakuoh continued to talk.

"Your classmates were pretty gullible to fall for the whole couple act you and Kawashima put together. No one even furthered questioned on your sudden relationship. You basically lied, and they believed you. Either they have a high level of trust for you, or they are just gullible. I choose the latter of the two. I wonder, if I spread it as a heroic gossip on how you defended Kawashima from this bully picking on her, I wonder how Aisaka would feel."

Ryuuji clenched his fist, but he still remained calm.

"Why would you mention Taiga, and what's with you making us bring her on this game? She has nothing to do with this."

"Oh, but doesn't she know?"

Ryuuji slightly lowered his head.

"Yeah, she does. When Ami asked me to go out with her, Taiga was in the room. Listen, it's just between Ami with her boyfriend. No one else, so call off the part of the rules where we had to bring Taiga along."

"Did you already invite her?"

"Um… Kind of."

Hakuoh lightly shook his head.

"Then it would be wrong to not let her come after you invited her. If you did say no, what makes you think that she won't grow suspicious and follow you, just like that day at the mall?"

"I told you that Taiga did not follow us. I trust her, and she wouldn't do that."

"And I got video footage backing me up. Who are you going to believe? The trust of a friend and taking their word, or what you can see in this world?"

Ryuuji did not reply and packed up his belongings. Hakuoh just sat watching him as he put his books in his case. Ryuuji got off of the bar stool and faced Hakuoh one more time. Out of respect, he excused himself and left the coffee shop. Hakuoh just looked out the window and smiled.

The key to make sure Kawashima fails this ordeal is you, Takasu. And seeing how you stand you for Aisaka even more than Kawashima… Boy, his first name is Ryuuji…like a dragon right? There is one creature can make the mighty dragon fall, and that's a phoenix. Takasu, you will fail by my strings of manipulation I will put on Aisaka, and then both Kawashima's and your lives will be over.

Taiga and Ryuuji were almost to the plaza of the mall where Ami told them to meet her. Taiga walked next to Ryuuji, kind of content about this whole deal. Though she would not spend it alone with Ryuuji, she would be able to hang out with him for the afternoon. This confused her even more about what she felt towards him. Ever since she made the wish of this love for Ryuuji to disappear as a New Year's wish, it seemed it was gradually failing. She wanted it to disappear, and that was a part of the reason why she agreed Ami could use him as her boyfriend. Yet, it had backfired. Today would hopefully be the day she would hang out with Ryuuji, realize he was not for her, and focus on getting Kitamura.

"Say, Ryuuji?" Taiga spoke as they crossed a bridge to the mall plaza. "During these past few days, do you feel that you got close to Stupidchi?"

"What?" Ryuuji slightly blushed. "What do you mean?"

Ryuuji looked down at Taiga and noticed that she was facing the floor, hiding her face from him. Curiosity made him question her.

"Are you…um…jealous?"

"Jeal-jealous?" Taiga retorted. "Why would I…why would I be jealous? You and Stupidchi are getting close, but it's too close... Wait, I don't mean it like that! Wrong, wrong idea, you stupid dog! It's just…um…"

"Taiga, just calm down. I know we haven't done much as friends like before. Once this is over, everything will go back to normal, the way it used to be. I will help you reach out to Kitamura as thanks for all this."

Friends… Just friends…

"…Ye-yeah," said Taiga with a hint of sadness unnoticed by Ryuuji. "An-an-and you better!"

The two friends crossed over the bridge and walked down the stairs. They took their steps onto the cemented plaza of the mall and looked around. At the lamppost that had a clock on it, they saw Ami. She was wearing blue pants that reached beyond her knees, showing some leg skin. She wore a blouse she obtained from Hawaii during her photo session. The blouse was an orange blouse with a yellow flower, that seemed native to Hawaii, on the top left of it. Ami noticed them as well and waved hello at them without gaining attention from anyone else. They approached her.

"Hi, Ami," said Ryuuji.

Taiga caught that with her sharp ears and faced him with an irritated face.

"Why are you calling her by her first name? It's just us three."

"Oh, well…"

"What's wrong with Ryuuji calling me by my first name?" wondered Ami. "He calls you by your first name, and you aren't dating him."

Taiga could not reply as a blush of embarrassment covered her face. She looked down as she clenched her right hand.

"But Taiga, don't you think you're dressed for the wrong season?" asked Ami.

Taiga was dressed in a white blouse with spaghetti straps and a long, egg white colored skirt. She wore a small, light red formal jacket over her blouse that was not buttoned up. Her honey blond hair was combed down and wavy, almost touching her shins. She wore slightly lifted, light brown shoes that were not exactly high heels. Taiga huffed.

"I feel comfortable in this. Besides, pants don't really suit me."

Ami smiled and then turned her attention to Ryuuji. Her wide smile shrunk a little, and he knew why. He had received a text from Hakuoh earlier, telling him what to do first on this arranged date. They were supposed to go to an outlet at the mall. Ami was supposed to try on a couple of dresses, and Ryuuji was supposed to comment on them and give her suggestions. He gave her a confident look and nodded. She slightly blushed and looked back down at Taiga.

"Say Taiga, want to try on some outfits?"

"Outfits? That seems like what you want to do. Isn't this outing supposed to be what we want to do?"

"But it's the New Year, Taiga. Don't you want to get at least one outfit for the year?"

Taiga thought about it. Though Stupidchi's favorite thing to do was shopping, Taiga was as well tempted by it, being the new year and all. She looked away from Ami and replied.

"I guess…you have a point."

"Well, then. C'mon."

Ami started walking towards the entrance of the mall. Ryuuji and Taiga followed. Only a few feet behind them, blending in the crowds of people, was a man wearing a red t-shirt with a frontal image of a tiger's striking stance. He wore dark blue pants and black tennis shoes. He smiled.

"Well," he whispered to himself. "Let this game begin."

Ryuuji checked his phone again as he waited for Ami and Taiga to change into the outfits they had chosen, though Taiga's outfit was more forced upon her more than her own opinion. No new messages from Hakuoh had appeared. He looked up at the changing rooms of the clothing department and sighed. He was getting tired of all the womanly whispers around him, slightly embarrassed.

"Hey, that's a creepy guy."

"Yeah, but he entered in with his wife and kid."

"Wife and kid?"

"Yeah. The blue-haired woman with him is his wife, and the small girl was their kid. Oh, they looked like a good family, even though the husband has those weird eyes."

"Are you sure? There's no ring on his finger."

"Mm… You're right… It could be one of those unmarried couples. You know have kids and just leave together."

"But isn't that bad? I mean with no marriage, could it mean that they are in an open relationship and had the kid by mistake?"

"Maybe. If I were him then, I would try to keep that beautiful girl of his and make sure she doesn't good away."

"Yeah. She was pretty. And that girl too. If he was more handsome, they could all be a family of models."

Ryuuji sighed and dully looked in front of him. He waited…and waited…and waited until Ami was the first one to pop out of the changing room. She wore a violet summer dress that had been trimmed at the bottom to make the bottom outline of the dress wavy. She smiled at herself as she looked at the mirror.

"This dress is so cute! Say, Ryuuji, what do you think?"

Ryuuji looked at her appearance and smiled.

"I think it looks great on you. Though, it could be me or is it too much purple?"

Ami half-closed her eyes.

"W-what?"

Ryuuji, intimidated by the aura Ami was now emitting, nervously smiled.

"I think a light purple blouse with a white, medium-length skirt would look a little better."

Ami narrowed her eyes. Ryuuji rubbed the back of his neck out of fear and tried to smile.

"I need a summer dress, Ryuuji, not a skirt. Besides, I don't want to happen to be stereotypical and trip so that people notice my…my…um, you know."

Ami looked down in embarrassment.

"Um, that can happen with a dress too," commented Ryuuji. "But...don't you wear bloomers when you wear a dress?"

Ami did not reply and continued to look down as her blush grew. Ryuuji sighed and looked around. On a rack near him was a dress similar to what Ami wore, but it was a baby blue color with embroidered flowers towards the bottom of the dress. The dress was also smaller than what Ami was wearing, so below Ami's knees would be bare. The dress would cover her collar bones but not her shoulders. Also, the collar of the dress was big, but it was not that big to reveal any cleavage. Ryuuji smiled and displayed the dress in front of her.

"How about this one?"

Ami looked at it, shocked at Ryuuji's suggestion. She then smiled. She gently snatched from his hand.

"Sheesh. When did you know about good clothing? It's unexpected from you."

"Huh?"

Ryuuji took a moment to realize what she meant and looked down at his own outfit. It was just a faded blue t-shirt with a maroon red color image of a few Japanese characters across the chest. He wore light brown pants that looked like a cheaper version of Dickies pants. The shoes he wore were white with a black sole outline. He looked back at Ami.

"Well, I'm not rich like you two, so I can't afford much."

Ami's smile dropped a tad. She looked down at the dress Ryuuji picked for her and realized he was right. Though he was poor, it did not mean his taste in clothing was pathetic. She looked back up at him.

"Alright. I'll try it on."

She turned around and entered the dressing room again. As she closed the door, Ryuuji noticed another door opening. He looked to see Taiga walking out with her outfit. Ryuuji slightly blushed in amazement at what he saw. Taiga had one a pink summer dress that was wavy at the bottom. The dress covered her shoulder blades, but the sleeves were short enough for her to lift her arm out in any direction and make her smooth armpits seeable. The collar of the dress did not even reach the area of her chest. A turquoise slash went across her waist. Taiga was looking away in shyness.

"W-well… H-h-how's this?"

Ryuuji just continued to stare at Taiga, clueless on what to say. Annoyed by the silence, Taiga faced the boy with narrowed eyes.

"Hey, stop star-staring, you dog!"

Ryuuji snapped out of it and smiled.

"Sorry. That looks great on you, Taiga."

Taiga tilted her head down and tapped her index fingers repeatedly together, slightly flushed.

"Real-Really?"

"Yeah. I mean if Kitamura was here, he would be enthralled."

Taiga's beaming expression, formed by Ryuuji's first compliment, slightly faded away. She tried her best to hide this fact, not only from Ryuuji, but herself as well.

"Okay then. I made my decision then."

From the dressing room, Ami had heard their conversation. She looked down at the dress she wore and grinned.

Good at picking dresses, but you sure are dense about her feelings.

Ami opened the door and emerged out of the dressing room.

"So, what do you think?"

Ryuuji looked at the dress he recommended and smiled.

"It looks good on you, Ami. Bet your model friends would be jealous by how it looks on you."

"Oh, please," said Ami in her fake persona. "Thank you, Ryuuji."

Taiga quickly caught that last comment and clenched her right fist. She huffed and starting walking towards the dressing room again. Ami reached out for her hand and stopped her.

"Hey, Taiga," said Ami nicely. "I didn't get a chance to see you fully in that dress. Turn around."

"No thanks. I'm going to change out of this."

"C'mon, Taiga. Don't be like that."

"That dress looks good on you, Taiga," said Ryuuji. "Besides, Ami is right that she hasn't seen it completely on you. You should let her."

"Why should I get a model's criticism?"

Ami narrowed her eyes.

"Model or not, I want to see."

Ami pulled Taiga around and had a frontal view of the Palm-Top Tiger. Ami smiled and looked back at Ryuuji.

"Say, Ryuuji. I think she looks very cute."

Taiga gritted her teeth.

"Don't you agree with me?"

Ryuuji looked at Ami, confused at what she was doing. He was reluctant on responding since he figured Hakuoh would consider this first part a fail if he commented on Taiga's appearance being as cute as Ami's appearance. But the more he thought about it, he realized that he had already done what Hakuoh had asked. Plus, complimenting Taiga's appearance was not part of the rules. Ryuuji calmly formed a smile.

"I do."

Taiga, taken back by his words, flushed as her eyes widened. She quickly turned around and started to walk to the dressing room. She spoke as her face remained hidden from their view.

"Then…I'll buy it..."

Taiga entered the room to change back into her outfit. Ryuuji smiled, but he soon felt someone staring at him. He faced the slyly smiling Ami. His checks reddened.

"Oh my," she said cheerfully in model mode. "I made him blush. Oh, Ryuuji, you look kind of cute when you do that."

"Qu-quiet!" Ryuuji responded in a hushed voice.

Ami continued to smile, which made Ryuuji silently annoyed. She turned around and spoke.

"I'll go change, and I think I'll buy what you gave me... You know...you should come shopping with me more often."

Ami looked back Ryuuji and wicked, causing Ryuuji to coyly rub the back of his head. Ami then entered the changing room. Soon, the door of the changing room where Taiga was in opened, and Taiga walked out with her original outfit on. She held the outfit she had tried on in her right hand. She approached Ryuuji and slyly smiled.

"Guess not everything for Stupidchi's mouth is complete bull."

She then looked down, unsure of herself.

"Are you sure I looked good in this?"

Ryuuji was at first shocked by her behavior, but he quickly put on a confident face and nodded.

"Yeah."

Taiga continued to look at Ryuuji's feet, but it was for a different reason.

"Thanks," she shyly uttered. "I-I'll go pay for it."

She then left to pay the outfit at the counter. Ryuuji watched her from where he stood, still kind of confused on Taiga's behavior.

"She's been shy the whole time," he said to himself. "I wonder- Ouch!"

He turned back to see whole had smacked his back. Of course, he should have guessed it would be his fake girlfriend. Ami playfully grinned and lightly knocked the top of her head with her fist. Before she could say something, their phones vibrated, telling them they got new messages. Only Ryuuji got his out, since the messages were the same. He looked at it and seemed unemotionally about it. It felt like déjà vu to him.

"Looks like we're going to the arcade again," he said, handing the phone to Ami. "Just need to play a few games together."

As Ami read it to confirm, Ryuuji's phone vibrated again. It was another text from Hakuoh. What was strange about it was that Ryuuji's phone only vibrated. Ryuuji looked over Ami's shoulder to see the incoming message.

"Should I open it?" asked Ami.

Weird. Takasu got a text from him, and I didn't. Maybe Fujita saw us only using his phone. It makes sense, but…I don't know.

"Another one? Open it."

Ami glanced back at Ryuuji.

"I don't know."

"He probably sees us using the same phone, so he decided to send one text message instead of two. Let's see what he said."

Ami opened the text. Both read it and then grew nervously in shock as they finished reading it. Ami looked back to see Ryuuji's startling reaction. She handed back the phone to him. Ryuuji slowly reached for it and looked at the message again. Wordlessly, Ami started walking to the counter, depth in thought what Ryuuji was going to do. Ryuuji glanced up and looked at both girls he was out with. He looked back at the message to confirm his subtask at the arcade.

At the end of your time at the arcade, stop by one of the crane games and try to win the prize. Don't worry, I'll tell you how to win and what machine is already rigged for you, but that's not the only task. You only get to win one prize. That prize…you must give it to one of the girls as the other sees.

A/N: Thanks guys and gals for keeping up with the updates and your support. This story is going to end in about 2-5 chapters. I appreciate reviews, commenting on how you guys like the story or something that does not fit. These new few chapters will be about 1500-4000 words, except for the last one, which will most likely be an epilogue and would give you an accurate idea when the story takes place. So far, there are clues that suggest it takes place after winter break. I'll leave it to you to confirm it. Thanks for your support again.