[A/N] - Hope that wasn't too long of a wait for any of you!

Please read the note after this chapter.

And so the story continues...


She hoped sleep would help her forget the outrageous things Nobu-chan had suggested. However, the next morning she was just as nervous and embarrassed as she had been the previous night. Her stomach was in knots by the time she got off the bus.

As Otani's University towered over her, she began feeling very nervous. Her boyfriend wasn't so far away anymore.

Like he had asked her a while ago, she went to the bench with the water fountain next to it and sat. He would be getting out of class in ten minutes and didn't want her getting lost by looking around for him.

Risa looked around and saw lots of people her age walking around, laughing and talking. One couple came down the sidewalk where she sat and kissed romantically. She sighed and sat forward, her chin resting on her palms, watching them walk away hand-in-hand.

They sure were cute together. The girl with black straight hair tied back in a bun and the boy with shaggy brown hair. Risa wondered if Otani looked at her the way that man looked at his girlfriend.

With a sour pout, she knew he didn't.

"Hey there," came a voice in front of her. Risa looked up and saw a tall, good-looking guy smiling at her. "What's your name?"

"Ah- um…Koizumi Risa," she said politely and sat up.

"You sure are cute, Risa. Wanna come hang in my dorm with me for a while?"

"Haa? We just met and you are already calling me Risa?" she asked, pointing her finger at him in a dire accusation.

He laughed. "Come with me, we'll have all sorts of fun."

"What kind of perverted things are you suggesting?" she asked, standing up and putting her hands on her hips.

His eyes widened. "I know you! You're that model that posed with Mimi-chan!"

"What? How do you know?"

His smiled grew wide. "You were in a magazine! Do you have a boyfriend?"

She huffed. "Yes, I do. He should be here any second now, so why don't you get lost?"

He took a step closer and his smile grew more dangerous now that he thought she was a model.

"You are really cute, Risa. There are lots of things we can do together…come with me to my room."

"No, don't come closer!"

"Come on, don't be shy…"

"I'm warning you! I know karate!" She held out an arm, pointing her hands in what she thought was a defense stance.

His hand clasped around her wrist and she closed her eyes and whimpered.

"Let me go!"

Smack!

Risa opened her eyes. The hand was gone and so was the man. Instead, in his place…

"Otani," she breathed.

His face was angry and his hand was drawn back in a fist.

"What the hell were you doing?" he yelled at the man on the ground who was rubbing his jaw.

"What's your problem man?" he spat back. "What are you, her boyfriend?"

"Yeah, I am!" Otani challenged, stepping toward him. The man stood up and brushed himself off.

"Are you serious? You're the model's…why'd you choose a shrimp like him?" he asked Risa.

There was almost an audible snap.

"GET OUT OF HERE!" Otani exploded and the man took off.

"Rabid leprechaun! Rabid leprechaun!"

"Who's a leprechaun?!" Otani shook his fist after him.

"O- Otani…" she reached for him.

He turned sharply. "What?!"

She pulled her hand back. He huffed and she waited as he cooled off.

She noticed several things about him that were different. His hair was a lighter red now. Risa suspected he had been out playing basketball and the sun had given him lighter hair and a slightly darker completion. Seeing him again after so long…

He still hadn't grown.

"You are such a bother," he muttered. "All I asked was for you to sit here patiently and look at the mess you've got me into."

"How is this my fault?!"

"If you weren't so tall, you wouldn't've lured him in."

"He talked to me because he thought I was the most beautiful girl he's seen!"

"Who's beautiful, now?"

Risa huffed and crossed her arms. "He saw me in a magazine with Mimi-chan. He thought I was cute, unlike my midget boyfriend."

This was not the reunion Risa had envisioned. She had pictured a big hug and flowers...it was Nobu-chan's fault for putting those images in her mind in the first place and now she was disappointed.

"Kah!" Otani suddenly gasped a second later and gripped his heart. "That was scary."

Risa glanced at him. "I thought you were very manly," she admitted grudgingly.

He scratched the back of his head, embarrassed but secretly pleased, and straightened up.

"You want a tour?" he asked after a moment.

Risa, still angry, nodded and walked in front of him.

"How can I give the tour if you're so far…?" he asked later as she stormed ahead of him.

"Walk faster then."

Suddenly, he took her hand and stopped her.

"I'm sorry," he said seriously and all her anger disappeared.

She sighed and smiled slightly. "Me too. I don't want to cause trouble for you while I'm here. I want you to relax from work and have lots of fun!"

Otani then gave her an odd look she'd never seen him give her before. His eyes squinted slightly and his mouth twitched as if he was going to smile, but then thought better of it. He then shook his head and turned red, starting the tour.

He pointed out the dining hall and the restaurant with karaoke and the basketball courts. After a while, Risa complained that her feet hurt.

"You shouldn't've worn heels," he muttered.

"These are really short heels though! I have to look good at all times now that I'm a stylist. Otherwise, people won't take me seriously."

Otani looked down at her bunny ring and smiled slightly, but didn't comment.

"Alright then, let's go to my dorm."

They walked a little in silence and suddenly, Risa's heart broke into a sprint.

"W- What're we going to do there?" she asked frantically.

He looked up at her confused. "What're you on about?"

"Why are you bringing me there?!"

"So you can rest your feet! Why're you being so weird?"

"I- that…uh…I'm not weird," she muttered sourly. Nobu-chan!

"So strange…"

"Who's strange?!"

"Don't yell- people are studying. Here we are."

They stopped bickering and Risa stopped in front of a door. He punched in the code to his room and opened it.

"Ah! So tidy!" Risa cried, stepping in and taking it all in.

There were two desks, both neat and tidy. There was a small TV on the windowsill and a poster of Umibouzu over it. Risa took a step toward the bunk beds and recognized Otani's dark blue sheets on the bottom bunk.

She flopped onto it.

"So comfy! This room is so cute!"

Otani was leaning back on the door coolly, smiling smugly.

"It's really cool, isn't it?"

"Really, really cool!"

"Did you see my poster?"

"Umibouzu!" she cried simply and he grinned.

They grinned at each other for a moment. They faded into small smiles and Risa looked down.

"I missed you a lot, Otani. Are you happy to see me?"

"A-Asking so suddenly…" he muttered, growing red.

"Are you?" she asked seriously. He glanced over at her and noticed the familiar vulnerable look on her face. He sighed and crossed the room to sit next to her.

"I missed you."

She smiled warmly, comforted by his words. "I want this to be the best weekend since you've been here," she declared.

His face grew serious. "You better work hard then."

She clenched her fist in front of her. "I always work super hard at the things I want most!"

He smiled and then yawned, falling backwards onto his bed.

"O- Otani?" Risa asked, concerned.

"I'm just tired," he assured.

The seconds ticked by and she awkwardly rubbed her hands together.

Slowly, nerves overtook her body.

"Hey, Koizumi…"

"No!" she cried, standing. "No! I can't! I'm sorry if I'm disobeying the conductor or God himself! I can't aboard the Sin Express!"

He sat up, perplexed. "What are you talking about? I was going to ask if you were hungry."

Her expression of panic fell away. "Y- You were going to ask if I was hungry?"

"Yeah. I know it was a long trip over here. What was with conduc- ?"

"Oh nothing…um…I'm fine."

He gave her a suspicious look, but then fell backwards on the bed. "So weird."

She 'hmphed', crossed the room to sit safely at his desk, and began poking around.

"Hey, what're you doing?" Otani complained. "This isn't your house."

"I'm just looking around."

He sat up and crossed the room as she opened one of the drawers.

"What's this?" she asked interestedly.

"Nothing!" he cried, shutting the drawer quickly, his face scarlet. "Mind your own business!"

"I want to see! There was something that had my name on it!"

"It wasn't anything!"

"Come on, Otani-"

"Let's go walk around some more."

He yanked her out of his room and down the stairwell. Only then did he feel safe letting her go.

"So forceful..." Koizumi muttered, rubbing her wrist. He rubbed the back of his neck.

"Let's go sing karoke," he offered suddenly, changing the subject. "We haven't done that in ages."

Risa glanced at him and suddenly gave him a blinding smile. "Sure!"

He grabbed her hand and began walking.

"Atsushi-kun!"

Suddenly, they both spun around to see a girl with black hair stand from one of the benches. Risa recognized her immediately. The girl that had been holding hands with her boyfriend when she first got here.

"Atsushi-kun, do you want to sit with me for a second? Who's this?" she asked suspiciously, as she got closer.

Risa realized how pretty the girl was. A cute pointy nose, dark red lips, long thick eyelashes. She fluttered them at Otani.

"This is Koizumi."

She glanced at their clasped hands and Otani moved their hands out of view. Risa looked at him, her eyebrows furrowed and the girl smiled smugly.

"Is this your girlfriend?" she asked sweetly.

"Yeah, I am," Risa said forcefully, irritated that Otani hadn't said so himself.

"You're so tall and cute," the girl commented. "I'm Harashi Miki. It's nice to meet you."

Risa held out a tentative hand and she shook it.

"I'm going to lunch Otani. You want to join me?"

Risa glared at the girl. "We're going to go sing karaoke."

"Oh is that so?"

Otani smiled quickly at her. "Sorry."

Koizumi glared at him. Why was he being so nice to her?

"Nice to meet you," Risa said quickly and pulled Otani toward the restaurant they had passed earlier.

"Otani, who was that?"

"Miki. She's one of my friends here." She didn't miss that he called her by her first name. She huffed.

"She's really cute," Risa muttered and Otani looked up at the sky.

"You think so?"

She pouted angrily and they sat down for a moment. She was getting moody, but then remembered her proclamation she had made earlier. The best weekend ever and it had started so poorly. She wasn't being the girlfriend she wanted to be- the kind that helped her boyfriend take his mind off of studying and relaxed together. She had to make things right quickly.

"Let's go sing an Umibouzu song!" Risa cried suddenly.

Otani turned to her and smiled, as if he had expected she would get over her mood swing soon. They stood and Risa declared it was a race and took off down the road.

"Not fair," he said winded when they arrived outside the restaurant. "You're legs are too long."

"It's actually because your not fast enough."

"You lookin' for a fight?" he asked angrily and she gave a 'fu fu fu' laugh before dodging his snatching hands and entering the building.

They sang and danced for a long time, effectively getting them both in good moods as they walked back to Otani's dorm.

"That last song was the best," Otani commented smiling.

"I love Umibouzu."

"Me too."

They sighed and got to the front of the building when Miki appeared again.

"Atsushi-kun," she asked, her eyes troubled. "Can we talk for a minute?"

Otani glanced at Risa. "Do you mind?"

She almost said yes, but she didn't want to be a bother.

"Sure, go ahead," she forced a smile and the two of them walked behind the building.

They talked for fifteen minutes when Otani finally made his way back to Risa.

"What was that about?" she asked immediately.

"Miki broke up with her boyfriend and was upset," he explained and Risa's jaw dropped.

"I saw them this morning holding hands!"

"They broke up after that, she said."

Risa's eyes grew wide. Another competitor for Otani's heart, perhaps?

"Come on," he sighed, hoping she wasn't jealous and began ascending the stairwell. Risa follwed behind him quietly, thinking.

Otani got out an inflatable air mattress for him to sleep on. Girls weren't allowed to spend the night in boy's dorms unless they were on different beds.

She got into her pajamas and lay down in Otani's bed. It smelled like him and she snuggled her face into the pillow.

Otani sat on his bed and sighed.

"I'm ready for the best weekend ever," he commented.

"Good. Are you tired?" she asked.

There was a pause.

"Not really," he answered quietly, something weird in his voice.

She smiled. "Get some sleep; you need to be energized for tomorrow!"

It was quiet except for the soft snores of Otani'sroommate who was asleep in the top bunk. Then there was a sigh that came from Otani. Risa snuggled her face closer to his pillow.

"I missed you Otani. I love you the most."

He rolled over and was suddenly glad it was very dark. "Me too."


[A/N] - Wahh! I hope those sneaky sex indications were subtle! Since this is such an innocent love story, I don't want it to be so heavy and sexual, because that's not who they are. Their relationship is a combination of humorous stubbornness and a soft innocent romance and I'm trying to incorporate both without too much of one another.

God it's hard, what do you guys think of it? Criticism is welcome as long as it's polite and with good intentions of me trying to improve my writing.

Thanks for reading and please leave a review! :D