CHAPTER THIRTEEN – LUNCH FOR TWO (SayoHiro)

As he and Sayori made their way to his apartment, Akihiro felt like everything was a surreal dream. They had stayed at each other's place and even slept over a few times in the past, though that was the time when they were kids, when their parents were still in Kanto. Back then, they had separate rooms to sleep in, so it was all good. Now, as junior high school students, they had never asked one another to stay at their place for an entire day. Usually, visits before or after school were enough, and they never really lasted for more than a couple of hours.

Sayori, however, seemed to have packed more than just a few things. As Akihiro watched her earlier, she appeared to have put in quite a few pairs of clothes and her personal belongings inside one of her spare bags. Akihiro, however, didn't say anything; he guessed that perhaps she was just preparing for the idea of staying at Akihiro's place overnight.

Overnight. The mere thought of it made Akihiro's heart beat faster. His apartment was not unlike Sayori's; the bedroom, kitchen and dining area were all practically linked together in a single space, with the bathroom being the only part of the unit that had its own area and door. The unit was as spacious as can be for a single occupant and comfortable for two people, though Akihiro was trying to figure out how and where Sayori could stay while she was in there, and where she would sleep if things did lead to an overnight stay. Every thought led back to his bed, which had enough space for two people. Akihiro decided to forego thinking about it for now before he collapsed from nervousness. Thankfully, Sayori's question managed to ease his mind a little.

"Are we gonna eat out for lunch?" she asked.

Akihiro looked at her. "We just had breakfast and you're already thinking about lunch?"

Sayori frowned. "I'm just planning ahead, okay. . ."

"Well, to be honest, I haven't given that much thought," said Akihiro. "I mean, where I'm gonna eat and all. I was thinking about just buying food from outside and eating it back at my place like I always do, but since you're staying there, that might change. . ."

"You can cook, though," Sayori pointed out.

Akihiro shrugged. "If we're talking about frying stuff, then sure, I'm a good chef. But I dunno any fancy recipes that I can try. Might have to look up a few on the internet first."

"Maybe I can help?" Sayori asked hopefully.

"Help eat up everything before we even get it on a plate?" Akihiro shot back jokingly. "I dunno about that. . ."

Sayori hit him with her bag. "I meant helping you cook, meanie."

Akihiro laughed. "Well, before we even begin looking for recipes and going out to buy ingredients, I need to take a bit of a break first. Still feel a bit sleepy. Besides, you also need a break after what happened earlier," he pointed out.

"H-Hey, I'm feeling a lot better, okay?" Sayori remarked. Before they had left, she had tried her best to cover up the mark of the lump on her forehead by arranging her bangs slightly; in plain sight, it looked as if she had never hit her head.

In almost no time at all, they had arrived. Akihiro was slightly thankful that his room looked less messy than it usually should have been, though he had left his bed in disarray instead of immediately tidying it up. Again, his apartment unit wasn't that different from Sayori's, with the main difference being that it was slightly more simplistic with a lack of color and decorations. Sayori's apartment had a few potted plants, a couple of picture frames and, of course, her colorful roster of stuffed animals; Akihiro's only had a few books on a shelf, a calendar and the single stuffed bear that Sayori had given as a gift. The apartment's minimalistic aura, however, didn't seem to bother Sayori at all, even with her love for color and decorations. At times, Sayori remarked that the simple nature of Akihiro's room merely reflected his laid-back personality.

Almost immediately after getting back inside his apartment unit, Akihiro jumped into his bed and let out a long, relaxed sigh. "Hello, bed. I missed you."

"I'm sure it missed you too," Sayori remarked earnestly. Upon catching sight of the teddy bear sitting next to Akihiro's computer monitor, she quickly walked up to it and picked it up. "Hello, Mr. Bear!" she said happily as she cradled the bear in her arms like it was a baby. "Is Akihiro taking good care of you? He'd better, or he'll never hear the end of it!"

"He's only been here for a night, Sayori," Akihiro remarked with a small laugh.

Sayori looked at him. "Take good care of him, okay? Treat him like how you treat me."

"You mean I should feed him once every three hours and help him with his homework every other night?"

"Ah! D-Don't listen to him, Mr. Bear!" Sayori cried out, pouting at Akihiro as she covered the bear's ears with her hand. "He's just being his usual mean self. He's actually really—"

"Lame-brained? Lazy? Terrible at a lot of things?" Akihiro offered mirthfully.

"I was gonna say 'sweet,'" said Sayori with a smile.

Akihiro felt himself turning red again. "Way to turn it w-weird, Sayori . . ." he mumbled.

"Eh?" As usual, Sayori didn't seem to mind the immediate effects of some of her words. "But it's true! You do all kinds of sweet things for me!"

Akihiro covered his face with his blanket to hide his mounting embarrassment. "I'll just rest now," he muttered.

Sayori laughed. "Um, is it alright if I use your computer?" she asked as she set down the teddy bear. "While you're resting, I can start looking for something we can cook. . ."

"Yeah, sure, go ahead," said Akihiro, waving his hand.

For the next fifteen minutes, there was relative silence as Akihiro closed his eyes and Sayori browsed online. Far from falling asleep or even napping, however, Akihiro found that he couldn't even go back to being drowsy. Unwittingly, he took this time to reflect on everything Sayori had said earlier, and what he had said in reply.

By all aspects, Akihiro found nothing wrong with what they had told one another. It was the truth, and the truth was bound to be an uncomfortable thing sometimes. Akihiro was just . . . astounded by the degree of intimacy behind their conversation. It was just like their conversation at the Starlight, but cranked up a few notches. Again, never before had they ever discussed Sayori getting a boyfriend or him getting a girlfriend, even in jest. Even Akihiro found this slightly weird, considering how the two of them liked to talk about practically anything under the sun.

At times, Akihiro wondered whether Sayori ever saw the actual effects or sentiments behind what she was saying. When she admitted that she didn't want to have a boyfriend because she wanted her best friend more . . . Akihiro reddened in his blankets once more. No, she's just saying she likes the company of her best friend more, that's all, just like how you like her company better than any girl's. But somehow, in his hearing, the words didn't seem to hold a lot of weight, especially since he knew that Sayori could never lie about such things. Meeting a new girl and becoming fast friends with her sounded nice, but Akihiro simply couldn't see just how that would lead to him asking that girl out. Everything just seemed to lead back to Sayori.

Do I . . . Do I like her?

Quietly, Akihiro cast a glance at her. Sayori was cheerfully humming to herself as she scrolled through pages of cooking recipes. She looked as oblivious and carefree as she always did whenever she was doing something she liked. She was still wearing the same clothes that Akihiro found her in earlier that morning, though now with a small white jacket to ward off the morning cold. Akihiro decided to take this time to look at her in a whole different way.

Somehow, even as he looked at Sayori in this manner, Akihiro couldn't find anything else to say about her. In his eyes, Sayori was a girl who had little to hide. She was open about mostly anything and untroubled about anything in the world. She always liked making friends and being nice to people, even though she had very few friends outside of school and only one best friend. She was also innocent, treating the world with an almost-childlike mentality that made her personality endearing but also made her slightly more sensitive compared to others. Akihiro knew this from experience; there were quite a few times in their youth that he had made Sayori cry by teasing her, as she always imagined that what she was being teased for was real.

Akihiro shifted gears in silence, thinking about what he would do for his best friend. For starters, what he had said earlier was true to the core: he always looked out for Sayori. He knew that she was prone to being ridiculed or laughed at for the innocent and naïve way she approached things and people, and he was always there to protect her and make sure that no one ever mocked her. If anyone else ever tried insulting Sayori on a more personal level and to hurt her with him around . . . well, they'll have another thing coming. Back when he and Sayori were ten years old, he had gotten into a fight after one of their schoolmates in elementary school began bullying Sayori. Though Akihiro had gone home that day with a warning from the principal, a scolding from his parents and a few bruises on his face, no one ever bullied Sayori again from that point forth. The fact that the bully went home worse for wear than he did was a plus to that.

Akihiro exhaled determinedly. Somehow, he felt comfortable that what he had said, no matter how intimate or how awkward it was, it was the truth, and he owed Sayori nothing less as her best friend. Perhaps he only felt embarrassed about it because, as he had mused, they had never discussed such things before. Even now, as he stared at Sayori and mulled over these thoughts, he couldn't help but feel his heart beat faster.

As for her looks . . .

"Akihiro?" Sayori's voice rang out.

Akihiro was knocked out of his reverie before he could address that thought. Quickly, he sat bolt upright on his bed, as if he had been caught red-handed doing something. "Y-Yeah?" he said nervously. He looked over at the computer screen and was thankful to discover that Sayori still had her back turned to him.

"How do you feel about cooking teriyaki?" asked Sayori.

"Uh . . . Teriyaki sounds good," said Akihiro.

"It's one of the easier recipes that I keep coming back to," Sayori went on. "Same with oyakodon and katsudon . . ."

"How about you?" Akihiro offered. "What do you have in mind?"

"Well, I kinda want oyakodon," said Sayori. "I mean, it's also pretty easy to make, plus the ingredients don't seem to cost that much. . ."

"Hold on, let me take a look," said Akihiro. He stood up and made his way towards the computer and next to Sayori. Once there, she scooted a little to the left so that he could lean towards the monitor to look at what she had looked up. Even so, she shifted nervously in her seat. Akihiro mused that perhaps it was because he was very close to her at the moment, and admittedly, he seemed to feel just as nervous as she was.

He took hold of the computer mouse with his right hand and held onto the back of his computer chair with his left. "So," he began. "Which are they?"

"Ah, w-well . . ." Sayori stammered. "Hold on, let me just—"

As she said this, she reached out instinctively to take the mouse and switch over to the other tabs she had opened. As Akihiro was now holding the computer mouse, however, she accidentally held his hand instead of the mouse. Akihiro, meanwhile, froze when he felt Sayori's palm momentarily cuddle around the top of his hand. For a moment, the two of them looked at each other, and Akihiro saw Sayori turn red.

Instead of drawing his hand away, Akihiro decided to help Sayori by not making her feel awkward. With a smile, he wiggled his hand out from under Sayori's palm and placed it atop her hand instead. "Alright, show me," he said.

Sayori turned even redder, but she smiled nonetheless. "A-Alright, over here . . ."

As she tapped and scrolled with the mouse, Akihiro held back a laugh as he saw that Sayori had at least seven tabs opened, all of them on various cooking websites. Food often outranked academics for Sayori, and she'd rather read recipes and stare at pictures of delectable dishes for hours rather than study for an exam. In his case, it was practically the same, except with video games instead of food.

The oyakodon recipe that Sayori had pointed out looked both easy to make and delicious, while both the teriyaki and katsudon required a bit more work and ingredients. Regardless of how much of the ingredients were already at hand, however, a trip to the grocery was still needed so that the two of them could buy some rice and chicken.

"So it's the oyakodon for you, and the teriyaki for me," said Akihiro as he looked over the web pages one more time.

"Don't you want the katsudon?" asked Sayori. "I know that's your favorite."

"Well, I do," Akihiro acquiesced. "But I always order katsudon whenever I eat out, so a fresh change might be good. Besides, I always wanna try what you suggest."

Sayori smiled ruefully. "You're humoring me again."

"Hey, I'm serious, alright?" said Akihiro. "Anyway, if that's final, then I guess we can go out and buy what we need."

"A-Alright, let's go!" said Sayori excitedly. For a moment, as they stepped away from the computer, Akihiro wondered if she waited for his hand to leave hers before she let go of the mouse.

As Sayori perused the ingredients on the grocery's shelves, she was wondering just how fast her heart was beating now, and for how long it has been going at such a pace. She felt ridiculously happy indeed, and almost lightheaded to the point where this trip to the grocery hit harder than the bump she took on her head. Going out with Akihiro after school was one thing, and staying over at his apartment for the weekend was quite another. To add to this, they were even cooking their own lunch and eating it together. At school, the two of them rarely got the chance to eat together, as Sayori often sat with her classmates while Akihiro discussed gaming matters with his online friends at another table. If this isn't what boyfriends and girlfriends do, I don't know what is!

Akihiro had gone to one side of the grocery to look for some chicken fillets and rice, while Sayori made her way to the condiments section for some mirin, sake and dashi. A shopping basket hung around her left arm, already holding the onions, ginger and scallions they needed for the dishes. It didn't take long before she found what she was looking for, just as Akihiro was coming back carrying with him a small pack of deboned chicken fillets and a bag of white rice.

"Got everything else?" Akihiro asked as he put the chicken and rice in the shopping basket.

"Yep!" replied Sayori.

"Yeah, that looks like everything we need," Akihiro muttered as he looked at everything they had picked. "Good thing we brought home the other eggs I bought earlier. C'mon, I'll take the basket."

"Ah, no, it's alright!" said Sayori almost breathlessly. "I can manage!"

Akihiro smiled. "Then we'll carry it together."

Sayori was almost beside herself with bliss as the two of them made their way to the counter, one hand each on the basket as they carried it between them. Privately, she thanked Akihiro for at least giving her a few chances to prove herself useful, especially on a big day like today. If she couldn't shoulder everything on her own like she wanted, splitting the effort in half with Akihiro was the next best thing. As she glanced down at their shopping basket, her eyes fell on his hand, and she remembered the warmth and gentleness of his palm and fingers when he held her hand—how many times she kept coming back to that thought today, she didn't know for sure.

Together, they placed the shopping basket onto the counter and began unloading their ingredients. The older woman who was manning the counter gazed at them with a knowing expression on her lined face. She smiled. "Is this a friend of yours, Akihiro?" she asked Akihiro.

"Yes, Mrs. Mori. My best friend, actually," Akihiro replied, smiling back. "Her name is Sayori."

"G-Good morning, ma'am," said Sayori both politely and cheerily.

The woman nodded, her eyes seemingly twinkling alongside her smile. "A pleasure to meet you, Sayori! Akihiro here's one of my grocery's best customers. Never fails to buy what he needs every week, though I must admit this is the first time he's ever brought anyone else here with him."

Sayori nodded as well, smiling. Though this particular grocery was not that far from her own apartment, she bought her necessities from another shop that was closer. Akihiro and Mrs. Mori exchanged a few more cordial words as their groceries were punched one by one on the cash register. When everything was taken care of, the two of them took out their wallets—Sayori had managed to convince Akihiro earlier to split the bill of their groceries with her. When Akihiro looked as if he wanted to pay for everything on his own again, she shot him a grumpy look, and he desisted.

As they were leaving the grocery—with Akihiro insisting on carrying the groceries alone—a portly old woman who was exiting the grocery along with them suddenly dropped one of the bags she was carrying. Some canned goods and vegetables rolled across the floor. Sayori and Akihiro quickly hurried up to help her retrieve them. The woman took the goods back gratefully with hands trembling from tremors, peering at them with her oversized spectacles.

"Thank you, darlings," she said in a weary voice that matched her age. "It's hard to keep track of everything you're holding when you're pushing eighty."

"Do you have someone accompanying you, ma'am?" asked Sayori with concern.

"No, but I manage. Been going out alone for the past ten years now since my husband died," said the woman. "My daughter's at work, so I can only rely on myself to go out and get some groceries while she's gone. It's slow-going, but it'll do."

"Do you want us to help you get a ride home?" asked Akihiro.

The woman smiled gratefully. "That's mighty sweet of you two."

They escorted the old woman up to the nearby street corner and stayed with her as they hailed a cab. Akihiro stood by them, holding all of their grocery bags while Sayori held the woman by the arm gently. When a cab had arrived, the woman turned back to them and once again voiced her gratitude.

"It was nothing, ma'am," said Akihiro as he placed the bags inside the cab next to the woman's seat. "We're glad to help."

"I hope I'll run into you two again the next time I go back here," she said. Before she entered the cab, she looked around as if to check and see if anyone else was listening. She leaned in and whispered with a grin, "Take it from me, you two make a very good couple."

Sayori's face flushed. She glanced at Akihiro, who quickly looked away with a face redder than hers. With a shy smile, Sayori remarked, "We're just b-best friends, ma'am."

The old lady seemed to have noticed them blush. She laughed and waved her hand airily. "Don't be too shy about love. The world needs more of it!"

When the cab had left, Akihiro turned to her. "Well . . . I guess . . . time to, um . . . go home?" he asked in a would-be casual voice.

"Sure thing," Sayori replied, the blush still burning on her cheeks and ears.

With the rice boiling away in a pot on the stove, the two of them set about preparing their ingredients. Akihiro was carefully slicing the chicken into equal portions while Sayori was peeling some garlic, ginger and a few of the onions. When this was done, she stared at her handiwork for a moment, wondering how best to chop up the vegetables. Determined to keep going and not ask Akihiro for help, Sayori picked up one of the peeled onions and readied the kitchen knife she was holding. Thick or thin? She thought for a moment just what sizes the onions were in both recipes. To play it safe, she decided to try out a first cut.

As she pressed the knife onto the onion, however, the onion just rolled to one side. "Ah!" she muttered, grabbing the onion before it rolled off her chopping board. Carefully, she tried again, but the onion seemed to take on a life of its own as it rolled away before she could even cut her knife into it.

"Fiddlesticks," Sayori grumbled.

"You have to press the knife quick so that it cuts into the onion before it rolls," said Akihiro as he was cutting up the last of his chicken fillets. "And you push the knife forward. You don't drag it back."

"It figures," said Sayori; she had been trying to cut the onion by dragging the knife back in an effort to saw it in half. She held the onion fast with her left hand and propped the knife blade right atop it, but she found that she couldn't move the knife now out of fear of cutting her fingers.

"Here, I'll show you."

Sayori realized that Akihiro had just finished his work, with the fillets neatly arranged atop his chopping board. Akihiro took one of the onions and placed it next to the chicken. "You just . . . push and slice," he said, demonstrating everything in one smooth motion as he pushed the knife's blade forward. Sayori marveled at how easily the onion parted with Akihiro's slice.

"You're really good at this, Akihiro!" said Sayori.

Akihiro looked sheepish. "Just some internet pointers, like I said. Try it out, go ahead."

Sayori looked back at her own onion and breathed deeply. She closed her eyes and pushed forward with her knife. She felt the edge of the blade touch the chopping board's surface firmly, and somehow she knew she had done it. When she opened her eyes once more, however, she saw that she only managed to slide the knife down the onion's side without even cutting anything.

"Darn it!" she hissed. When Akihiro burst out laughing, she stamped her foot in frustration. "Don't l-laugh at me, it's not like I'm as good as you are!"

"Okay, okay, sorry," said Akihiro, still snickering as he moved closer to Sayori. "I shouldn't be laughing, really, because this was how I started out as well. Anyway, just keep trying, you'll get it!"

It took two more minutes before Sayori even got to slice her first onion. She went back and forth from worrying about cutting her fingers to trying to hold the onion firmly in place before it started rolling again. When she finally saw the kitchen knife strike true and cut the onion cleanly in half, she cried out excitedly. "Finally!"

"Well done," said Akihiro with a grin. "I took care of the rest while you were busy, by the way."

"E-Eh?" Sayori looked up and saw that, indeed, Akihiro had already cut up most of the onions and garlic by himself while Sayori was busy concentrating on her single onion.

She frowned at Akihiro. "I was supposed t-to do all that!"

"Well, if I waited for you, it'd be well past lunch by the time we're done!" said Akihiro, laughing.

Sayori stamped her foot once more. "Once a meanie, always a meanie!" she sulked.

"But that's only because there's something else you need to do," said Akihiro quickly. "Something more important!"

Sayori glowered at him. "And w-what's that?"

Akihiro jabbed his thumb over at the stove. "You will cook."

Sayori's frustration stopped at that moment. She had always wanted to try cooking on her own, and this was her first chance to do so. As a child, she had often watched her mother cook in the kitchen; it had been like watching a master at work, and from that moment onwards, Sayori treated food and cooking with enthusiasm. After all, a food lover has to have at least a bit of knowledge and skill when it comes to cooking as well as eating, right?

But as always, Sayori decided to put the risks into light first. "I might mess it up!" she cried out. She could not quite forget that the first time she tried cooking some rice alone, her apartment almost went up in flames.

"Well, as long as you don't poison or burn us both, we'll be fine," Akihiro joked. "But seriously, it's alright! The recipes looked pretty easy from what I saw. Besides, I'll be standing by to help you, okay?"

"A-Are you sure?" asked Sayori.

"There's a fire extinguisher right outside my apartment unit, if you're worried," Akihiro kidded.

"Very reassuring, Akihiro," said Sayori dryly.

The two of them decided to start with the teriyaki first—Akihiro assured Sayori that no matter what the outcome tasted like, it was entirely understandable because this was both their first time cooking something that went beyond scrambled eggs and bacon. Also, Akihiro remarked that at least if one dish was to be ruined, it would be the dish he would be eating. This made Sayori determined enough to try her very best. To prepare for everything, she went back online and copied down the instructions of the two recipes onto a piece of paper from one of Akihiro's notebooks.

The smells of both the oyakodon and the teriyaki soon filled the kitchen, causing Sayori's stomach to rumble. She had indeed taken on everything by herself, with Akihiro being relegated to a more minor role of getting what Sayori needed or stirring something that needed stirring. Multiple times, Sayori perused the written instructions she had prepared to make sure that she didn't miss anything. As she seasoned and tasted everything to check if things were at the right flavors, Akihiro checked on the rice and prepared the bowls they would be eating out of. In around twenty minutes, everything was done.

"Finally!" Sayori exclaimed. "That's that!"

"And we didn't burn my place to the ground!" said Akihiro cheerily. "But seriously, that just looks really awesome."

Sayori blushed. Indeed, the two rice bowls that now sat atop one of Akihiro's kitchen counters would not have looked out of place at a typical donburi diner: the teriyaki with its thick brown bull-dog sauce and tender chicken fillets, and the oyakodon with a combination of stewed chicken, onions and egg, all topped with chopped scallions for garnishing. To Sayori, the whole experience felt like finishing and passing a school project with flying colors.

Once they sat down and began eating, Sayori's surprise deepened as she realized that their dishes tasted as beautifully as they looked. One bite of the oyakodon sent her taste buds into bliss, and she closed her eyes as she chewed slowly and intently, savoring every little morsel. Across her from the table, Akihiro also looked enraptured as he ate the teriyaki, chewing more slowly than he usually did.

"Holy crap, Sayori," he mumbled. "I think we may have just had a breakthrough."

Sayori chewed more modestly this time, though she replied with her mouth still full. "I can't argue with that, Akihiro. It's like someone else cooked them!"

"Well, don't forget, you cooked them," said Akihiro, pointing his spoon at her for emphasis. "The next time you tell me you're not good at anything, I'm gonna remind you of what you did today."

Sayori gave him a rueful smile. "Now you're just patronizing me, Akihiro."

Akihiro frowned at her remark. "Do you have any idea what this teriyaki tastes like? I wouldn't mind eating something like this all the time. That's how good it is."

"W-Well, if I could only cook food for you all the t-time, I would, Akihiro . . ." Sayori murmured bashfully.

Akihiro looked up at her, a spoonful of teriyaki halting halfway towards his mouth. "I d-dunno about that, Sayori . . ." he commented evasively.

"Oh, come on, it's true!" Sayori cried out. "It's for m-my best friend, anyway!"

"Y-Yeah, I know," said Akihiro. "It's just that . . . ah, forget it."

"What is it?" asked Sayori. "Is t-there something wrong with what I said?"

"No, no! Nothing at all!" Akihiro replied quickly. "It's j-just that . . . um . . . I've been thinking about . . . a-about a few things . . ."

Though Sayori expected him to reveal just what exactly he was talking and thinking about, Akihiro didn't elaborate any further, and she decided to let it be for now. The two of them continued eating in relative silence, punctuating it only to convince one another to try each other's dishes. Again, Sayori was astonished at how good the teriyaki tasted, just like Akihiro had said, while Akihiro complimented her once more on her first time cooking once he had a couple of mouthfuls of oyakodon.

They finished eating at around twenty minutes past noontime. Sayori helped Akihiro clean up the table of their bowls and any of the kitchen equipment and utensils they used to prepare. All these went into the kitchen sink, and Akihiro immediately went forward and offered to wash up everything while Sayori rested.

"I want you to rest because . . . well, we're going somewhere," said Akihiro as he scrubbed the dishes clean with a soapy sponge. "I kinda have something planned for today, and it sure beats staying indoors playing Dungeon Delvers all day while you watch me. That is, if you're feeling up to it," he added.

"What is it?" asked Sayori.

"I'll keep it a secret . . ." Akihiro replied with a wink. "At least until we get there."

"Oh, come on!" Now Sayori's interest was truly piqued. He had surprised her most effectively yesterday with their sudden trips to the arcade and the night market, so she wondered what else Akihiro may have planned. "Can you at least give me a clue?"

Akihiro chuckled. "I dunno how I can do that without giving things away," he replied. "But all I can say is . . . well, let's just say you might love it. Or not, that's still a possibility."

"W-Well, if it was anything like yesterday . . . maybe I will love it," said Sayori hopefully.

Akihiro looked back at her, a knowing grin crossing his face. "I'll let you be the judge of that," was all he said in reply.