Taro and Ryoko made it through half the movie before Taro was startled by a loud knock on the door.

Ryoko wasn't fazed a bit. "Dinner's here!" she said cheerfully.

Taro stood up. "Be right back." He walked to the door while Ryoko dashed to the VCR and pressed the STOP button.

When he returned, holding the pizza box, the pretty schoolgirl was there waiting for him on the couch with a sweet smile. For a second, Taro paused. How could this be happening? He could tell that the girl sensed his hesitation, but she didn't move and she didn't say a word.

Taro inhaled, savoring the smell emanating from the box. "It smells good. Jalapenos and pineapple is a pretty strange topping choice. But I'll try it."

"It's a very good combination." Ryoko put her hands in her lap. "A mixture of spicy and sweet. It really stimulates the taste buds."

Since there wasn't a table in the small cabin, Taro retrieved a chair from the kitchen and set it in front of the couch. He set the pizza box down on it. Then he watched with amazement as his mysterious and alluring companion bent forward to open the box, her long shiny hair cascading over her shoulder like a waterfall.

"I've always loved the smell of pizza," Ryoko said next. "I really miss it."

Taro couldn't hold it in any more. "Miss Asakura. Are you real? Or am I imagining you?"

Ryoko giggled sweetly and picked up a piece of pizza. "Why did you pick a school uniform, Taro? For me to wear. Nobody does that." She took a healthy bite.

"What do most people pick?" Taro took his turn at answering a question with a question.

Ryoko chewed the pizza and swallowed it before she spoke. "I don't always give them the option. But when I do, most people just stare at me... like mute idiots." She took another bite. This time she spoke as she chewed, though she covered her mouth as she formed the words. "Some suggest that I just wear socks… or something along those lines."

Taro's eyes got big. "No kidding! Do you do it?"

Ryoko gave Taro a cute smile while squinting. "You'd like that?"

"No. Not really… I mean, I would… of course… you're very pretty… but that's not why I came here."

Ryoko laughed at Taro's honest, nervous answer. "No, of course I don't do it! When they suggest that, I just go back to bed. And then they turn off the show."

"What type of school uniform is that? I mean, from what school? I don't recognize it."

Ryoko picked up the pizza box, put it on her lap, and flipped it open in Taro's direction like an alligator's mouth. "Eat some pizza." Ryoko winked. "Pretty please? I guarantee you'll like it."

Taro shook his head and reached for a slice. He stuffed the corner into his mouth and took a bite. The sharp taste of the jalapeno made him pucker, but soon a sweet juicy piece of pineapple countered that impulse. His eyes lit up. "Wow! This is really great!"

"Told ya." Ryoko put the box back on the chair. She turned to Taro. "Why did you come here tonight?"

"To get away. Sometimes I get blocked and I just need to get away." Taro shrugged. "So I went for a long drive."

"But why did you come here?"

"Just dumb luck really. I made some turns and took some roads heading into the mountains that looked scenic. Then I saw these cabins and the 'Vacancy' sign lit up in the front office window." Taro stopped talking for a few seconds. He could tell Ryoko wasn't buying his story. So he continued. With the truth.

"Okay. I found it on the Internet. Look, I know that these aren't really vacation cabins. I know why people come here." He patted the sofa. "I'm sure the sleeper mattress under here is pretty gross, and I'm not feeling great about these cushions, either. But it was a very cheap place to crash. Especially this unit. They practically gave it away." Ryoko nodded. "Because of some recent peculiar… um… death that occurred in here last week. But I don't have a lot of money, and I don't believe in ghosts, and like I said I really needed to get out of the city for a night, so..."

Ryoko got up, walked over to the VCR, and hit the PLAY button. She sat back down on the couch and put her index finger over her lips, signaling it was time for silence once again. The two sat quietly and ate pizza as the movie progressed.

"Thanks for dinner," Ryoko said sweetly after swallowing her last bite. She slid across the sofa cushion to Taro's side… and rested her head on his shoulder when he put his arm back around her.

When Taro awoke the next morning, he was alone, reclining in his spot on the sofa. Sunlight streamed in through a cracked window, revealing the dust hanging suspended in the air. The first thing Taro noticed after lowering his eyes was static pulsing on the TV screen; its speakers now filling the room with soothing white noise. He shook his head. "What a crazy dream."

Then he looked down and noticed the wool blanket covering him. The makeshift chair-table was gone - he turned his head quickly to the right - and back in the kitchen where it belonged. The end of a neatly folded pizza box jutted out of the garbage can sitting next to the chair. When he turned back to his left, to the place where his mysterious imaginary companion had been sitting, he saw an empty cushion… with a red video tape case resting neatly in the middle of it.

He picked up the case with a smile, then verified that it still held the red tape. When he stepped through the door five minutes later, the tape was snug and safe in the inside pocket of his jacket.