CHAPTER SIXTEEN – DAIJOUBU (SayoHiro)

Was it all a dream? Was it just one of her innermost thoughts overriding her senses and distorting reality? Was it a trick that the universe was trying to pull on her? Sayori expected to wake up at any moment in her bed, surrounded by wayward pillows and blankets, welcoming the day after oversleeping for two hours. And yet, somehow, the warmth of Akihiro's hand as he guided her through the streets of downtown seemed more real than anything she had ever felt, and that made her ridiculously happy.

Was it official now? Was it final? Was it confirmed? No other words were spoken, and yet Sayori felt that so much had been relayed and expressed in so little time. She didn't even care that it happened in a convenience store of all places, just like she didn't care if people started staring at them as they hugged each other. It was as if her doubts were chased away all of a sudden, ushering forth emotions and sentiments that she had been keeping in the dark for so long. Her eyes had accordingly followed suit, releasing tears of pure joy.

Sayori was so caught up in the euphoria of what had transpired that she barely realized that she and Akihiro had arrived back at his place. The two of them had decided to forego trying out Monika's suggestion of going to the Cocoa Connection until later that day, as they were both rather dirty and sweaty from playing tag and wading out in the creek earlier. Moreover, Akihiro's hand injury and Sayori's tearfulness at everything that had just transpired caused them to reckon that a couple of hours of rest at most were needed.

Akihiro closed the door silently. "Just rest, alright?" he said earnestly. "I'll just look for something in the bathroom for this," he added, holding up his injured hand.

"Ah, I'll take c-care of that!" said Sayori. "You rest."

Hurrying past Akihiro before he could even do anything, she went inside the bathroom and quickly looked for whatever she would need in Akihiro's medicine cabinet. Luckily, there was a small box of sterilized gauze pads and a roll of medical tape ready for use. When she went out of the bathroom, Akihiro had followed her command and was sitting at the foot of his bed. His wound was still exposed, though it was no longer bleeding. Once more, Sayori cleansed it with isopropyl alcohol before drying it and wrapping it in a gauze pad. A couple of times, she fumbled with the medical tape, prompting Akihiro to help her with his free hand. As she held onto his hands while covering up the wound, Sayori could not help but smile.

When Akihiro's hand was finally wrapped up, Sayori straightened up and sat near him on the bed. "It's alright if we d-don't go out to eat l-later on," she remarked. "Taking me back by the creek . . . I think that you've already done a lot for me for today, Akihiro."

"Nonsense, Sayori," said Akihiro as he flexed his injured hand a little, getting used to the feel of the gauze pad. "I told you that we're going out to eat, alright? We just need to clean up a bit, and then we can go when you're ready. That is, if you want to go out with me," he added nervously.

"Of course I d-do, Akihiro!" Sayori gave him a reassuring grin. "I just want you to rest for today, o-okay? Besides, there's always next time!"

Privately, as excited as she was at the thought of going to a place like the Cocoa Connection with Akihiro, Sayori felt rather nervous. As Monika had remarked candidly earlier, the bistro was a favorite haunt for couples, and Sayori somehow felt embarrassed at the thought of Akihiro being seen by his friends or classmates with her at such a place while having a date—for what else could it be? Akihiro might end up being mortified too much once people begin assuming that she was his girlfriend. Monika already seemed to guess what was up between them earlier at the convenience store—what more when they run into other people?

"Well, if you say so. . ." Akihiro's voice seemed to sound a bit crestfallen as he replied. Sayori looked up at him quickly.

"It's okay with me, really!" she cried out. "I just . . . I'm just worried about . . ."

"About what?"

Many things. "I just don't want you to overspend or strain yourself b-because of me, Akihiro. It might be t-too much already," Sayori replied quietly.

"There you go again, dummy." Akihiro reached out and laid his hand softly on her shoulder. "I told you, my weekly allowance will come in tomorrow, so there's no need to worry too much about money, okay? And as for the time and effort I spend having fun with you, well, I do it because I want to be with you and not because it's my obligation as your best friend or your . . . y-your, um. . ."

Akihiro's words trailed off, though Sayori knew what he had tried saying. "Well, I know, but . . . won't it be embarrassing?" she asked.

Akihiro stared at her. "Why would I be embarrassed to go out with you of all people, Sayori? Are you . . . Are you still thinking about those things you told me yesterday?"

"Well, in a way, yes. . ." Sayori fidgeted with her hands.

Akihiro grasped both of her hands gently and looked directly in her eyes. "Sayori, if it takes me a lifetime to prove exactly how much fun I have when we go out together to eat or have fun, I'll be fine with that," he said softly. "I know it's pretty awkward, because . . . because we've never done anything like this . . . like a couple. I don't even know if we're already a c-couple now, and maybe I'm just afraid to ask. . . But all that matters right now for me is that you're happy, alright?"

She blushed. "I understand," she said with a smile. "And I really, really appreciate that, Akihiro. You d-don't know how happy I am right now. . ."

"Me too, Sayori." Akihiro's hands held hers tighter. "Me too."

Even though Sayori insisted that he should get some rest, Akihiro soon found himself playing a quiet session of Dungeon Delvers while Sayori napped peacefully on his bed. His injured hand found it rather difficult to press the keys on his keyboard as quickly as he normally did, but he didn't mind. Every few minutes, he'd glance at Sayori and smile whenever he saw how adorable she looked while sleeping.

He had done it. He had acquiesced to his feelings. During the later years of his close friendship with Sayori, Akihiro saw that he had unconsciously set aside the fact that he liked Sayori very much in favor of treating her as his innocent, bubbly and clumsy best friend. Their encounter at the convenience store earlier opened him up to the thoughts that he did like Sayori more than as a friend. Akihiro mused that perhaps it wasn't made obvious immediately because he had never experienced anything like liking a girl the way he liked Sayori, both as a friend and as someone more.

He glanced back at Sayori again. She was hugging one of his pillows tightly, her mouth slightly open as her chest rose and fell with each breath she made. The longer he stared, the less he could concentrate on Dungeon Delvers, so Akihiro decided to save, quit the game for now and clean himself up while she was sleeping. Quietly, he went inside the bathroom and readied himself to take a bath so as to wash off the dirt and sweat he had accumulated from playing tag with Sayori by the creek earlier. He carefully took off the gauze pad that Sayori had used to treat his hand with, intending to reuse it, and laid it on a dry surface. After looking once more at Sayori's napping figure, he closed the bathroom door with a smile.

In ten minutes, he was done. He dressed up in the bathroom—a black shirt and a pair of clean blue cargo shorts as he privately cursed his lack of better clothes for later—and peeked out into his room. Sayori was still sleeping, though this time her back was turned to him. Akihiro stole his way back towards his desk and sat there to cover his wound again. As he was doing so, he heard Sayori behind him, mumbling, "Akihiro. . ."

Akihiro stopped for a moment and looked at her. Sayori was still napping, but he could see that she was starting to toss and turn a bit in her sleep. She groaned again, "A-Akihiro . . . No, p-please . . . D-Don't go . . ."

He frowned thoughtfully. Is she having a nightmare? As he sat there musing, however, Sayori kept going. "N-No, Akihiro . . . Don't g-go . . . Sorry . . . Please, s-sorry. . ."

The rising tone of her voice started to worry Akihiro. He finished re-dressing his injury, got up from his chair and hurried next to her, kneeling by the bed. "Sayori?" he said softly. "H-Hey, wake up, dummy. You're having a nightmare. . ."

Sayori, however, didn't budge. "Akihiro!" she cried out. "Akihiro, p-please . . . !"

"Sayori," said Akihiro more firmly. He grasped her shoulder and shook her gently. "Sayori, wake up."

"N-No . . . ! Akihiro . . . ! I'm sorry! Akihiro!" The way Sayori screamed his name shook Akihiro to his core. Not wanting to witness more of this, he raised his voice and shook her more insistently.

"Sayori, wake up!"

Thankfully, Sayori's eyes snapped open. With a small scream, she scrambled upwards, kicking at the bedsheets as she scooted backwards against the bed's headboard. She wrapped her arms tightly around the pillow she had been embracing, breathing very quickly and looking around rather wildly, as if she had been running from something. It took Akihiro a few seconds before he could get her to look at him.

"Sayori, it's alright, it's me! I'm here!" He grasped her arms comfortingly. "I'm here! There's no need to worry!"

Sayori's breathing calmed down the longer she looked at him. He smiled encouragingly. "That's right, I'm here," he went on. "Everything's okay. Y-You were just having a bad dream, that's all."

Sayori's lip shook, and tears quickly formed at the corners of her blue eyes. In a flash, she dropped the pillow she was hugging and wrapped her arms around Akihiro instead. "Thank goodness," she exhaled, her voice breaking a little. "Thank goodness. . ."

Though he was rather taken aback at Sayori's hug, Akihiro didn't let her go. Instead, he embraced her in return. "It's alright, Sayori, everything's fine. Just a silly nightmare, that's all."

"It was h-horrible, Akihiro," Sayori whimpered into his shoulder. He felt his shirt grow a bit damp from her tears. "So horrible. . . I thought it was r-real. . ."

"It's not real, Sayori," Akihiro assured her. "See? I'm right here, dummy. I'm not going anywhere, don't worry. . ."

It took five more minutes before Sayori calmed down entirely. Akihiro never let her go from his embrace, even as his knees and legs began straining beneath him. He caressed her back and began soothing her with more words of reassurance and a few jokes here and there. When she stopped crying at last, she broke free from Akihiro's embrace and began wiping her tears with the back of her hand.

"That's it, deep breaths," said Akihiro as he sat next to her on the bed. "Don't worry too much about it, alright? Besides, we still have that Cocoa Connection place to try out later. If you wanna clean up and get ready, I can wait for you right here. Won't matter what time we go there, as long as we go, okay? Besides, it wouldn't be the same eating cake without your commentary around!"

"You're b-being silly again, you know?" said Sayori. "And I t-thought we were supposed to go some other time. . ."

"Sayori, you say 'let's go some other time,' but your eyes are telling me 'I wonder what kind of cake and pastries they serve there,'" said Akihiro hearteningly.

"Meanie, meanie, meanie!" Sayori cried out as she pinched his arm petulantly. "And s-so what if I want to? We can always g-go there next time, right?"

"Well, after that bad dream you had, the first thing I want to do right now is to make you happy, okay?" said Akihiro. "Anyway, I said earlier that we're going out to eat, and I don't want to go back on that, not after everything that happened today."

Sayori bit her lip. She blinked quickly a few times as tears started forming on her eyes again. "Ah, d-don't cry!" said Akihiro. "Don't start crying again, p-please!"

"I know, I'm s-sorry," said Sayori with a tearful laugh. "You're r-really sweet, Akihiro, and it's just making me tear up even more. This is why . . . w-why I. . ."

But instead of finishing her words, Sayori closed her eyes tightly and pulled Akihiro back into another tight embrace. Akihiro grinned as he hugged her back, knowing that at that moment, words were already unnecessary.

It was half past three when Sayori went inside Akihiro's bathroom to take a bath and clean herself up, carrying her bag of clothes and things with her so that she'd dress up in the bathroom immediately after bathing like Akihiro did. In the meantime, Akihiro booted Dungeon Delvers back up and continued playing in relative silence. As he hacked and slashed his way through one of the game's many dungeons, waiting for his Barbarian character to finally level up, he could hear Sayori happily humming from inside the bathroom, and he'd hear her laugh out loud whenever he would swear loudly because of the game.

Sayori took five minutes longer than he did. Akihiro didn't look behind him as he heard the bathroom door open even as he knew that Sayori would be already dressed, thinking to give Sayori a bit more privacy and wait for her to finish completely. When Sayori finally spoke up, however, she sounded rather nervous.

"Um . . . Akihiro?"

Putting the game on pause, Akihiro turned around. "Okay, so you're done dress—"

The words caught in Akihiro's throat as he saw what Sayori was wearing now: a beautiful short-sleeved grey dress and a pair of black stockings that had the appearance of leggings. She had her bag slung around her left forearm, while her left arm was holding a long brown wool coat. This combination of clothing caught Akihiro off guard; never before had he seen Sayori wearing anything other than the most casual types of clothes that she usually wore and her school uniform. It lent her innocent beauty a more developed aura, something that made Akihiro's heart beat faster.

Sayori blushed and smiled at the same time. "Well, what d-do you think?"

Akihiro closed his half-open mouth and swallowed nervously. "Um. . . I . . . Er . . ." You look perfect.

"My mom bought them as a gift for me last year," Sayori continued, looking down at her clothes with awe like she was wearing a circus tent. "She always told m-me that I needed to start wearing better clothes. I n-never got around to trying them out f-for real until t-today. . ."

"Ah, I see. They're . . . Um. . ." Just say that she looks perfect, you idiot.

After a few more seconds of Akihiro being unable to reply coherently, Sayori looked sadly at him. "They . . . They don't suit me v-very well, right? Well, I guess y-you're right. . . Maybe I'll just change into something simpler or—"

"You look perfect, just like you always do, Sayori!"

As if out of instinct, Akihiro blurted out the words. A ringing silence fell upon them afterwards. Akihiro could only manage to stare into Sayori's eyes from where he was sitting, his face slowly burning up. Sayori stood motionless as well, her mouth slightly open in shock as color flooded her face.

"I mean, er . . . Y-You . . ." Akihiro stammered. For a moment, he wondered whether or not to keep going. If he rescinded his words, Sayori might feel bad about her efforts to get dressed like that. If he stuck with his statement, on the other hand, it might make things awkward. But it's true. She looks perfect, so why should I lie?

He gave her a smile. "I mean t-that, Sayori. You look p-perfect."

After a few more moments of stunned silence, Sayori fidgeted nervously. "You're just humoring me, A-Akihiro."

"I'm not, Sayori!" Akihiro quickly moved towards her and held her hands. Sayori's eyes blinked in surprise. "I know it sounds awkward, but you do look awesome right now. I'm just n-not used to seeing you wear clothes like this b-because we're always in our school uniforms or some ordinary clothes w-whenever we see each other, right?"

Sayori nodded. "I just didn't w-want you to think that I was . . . w-was . . ."

"Think that you're what?" asked Akihiro.

She bit her lip a little, hesitating to reply. "Trying t-too hard to look good f-for you," she finally stammered. "I mean, g-girlfriends are supposed to look good for t-their boyfriends, right?"

The admission startled Akihiro a little. Sayori looked away, shifting her feet a bit nervously as he kept looking straight at her. He spoke gently. "Sayori, no matter what you wear, you still look good to me, okay? I appreciate that you tried this hard to look good for our little trip downtown, but you don't have to do anything that you're not comfortable with. I wouldn't even care if we went downtown with you wearing your school uniform!"

Sayori kept staring at him nervously. "You r-really think so?"

"Sure!" said Akihiro. "Even if you're wearing your blazer that's already two sizes too small and has those little toothpaste stains on the collar," he added jokingly.

Sayori's eyes widened at his words. She pulled her hands free from Akihiro's, pouting as she turned her back to him. "You big m-meanie!" she cried out grumpily, stamping her foot.

Laughing, Akihiro quickly moved in front of her and gave her an apologetic hug even as she tried wriggling free. "I'm so sorry, Sayori, I couldn't resist!" he told her. "You're really cute when you're angry."

Sayori stopped struggling after a few more moments. "Still a meanie. . ." he heard her mumble even as she wrapped her arms around him in return.

The Cocoa Connection looked amazing when Sayori and Akihiro arrived in front of it around twenty minutes later. Its exterior consisted of varnished oak and grey brick walls, adorned with dark green awning and a neat array of planters on the front bearing flowered shrubs. The windows were tinted a light gray, and the entrance consisted of two wooden doors with brass doorknobs. Overall, the bistro gave off a very posh appearance that was vastly different from that of the cafés and diners the two of them have visited thus far.

The interior was no different; the floor was a combination of gleaming black marble and green carpets, while the walls were made of the same glossed timber that they saw outside, on which various decorations such as portraits and landscape paintings were displayed. Here and there, a number of stands and decorative tables were laden with little baubles such as statuettes and busts of historical figures, while shelves laden with a number of hardbound and paperback books stood at varying points of the bistro's main room. Lights came in the form of electric bulbs sitting in brass sconces on the walls, adding to the chic ambience. On one end of the bistro's main room was the staircase leading to the second floor; next to it was the main counter where orders were made and taken.

But what struck the two of them the most were the seats; instead of separate chairs flanking a table, there were cozy leather loveseats designed to have two people sit comfortably next to each other. Indeed, most of the two-seaters in the bistro's main room were already occupied by couples of varying ages, from high school students like them to working adults. They chatted happily as they ate cakes and drank coffee, and some of them had their arms wrapped around each other in a snug embrace as they did so.

Akihiro glanced sideways at Sayori, who was gazing around with an awestruck look on her face. He smiled at her wonder, though he also admittedly felt nervous about the thought of sitting so closely with her for the duration of their stay here. Still, he decided to press on and make sure that Sayori would feel comfortable with him, both as best friends and as an unofficial couple. When the two of them had picked out a good place to sit, they made their way to the counter to order.

"So many cakes and pastries!" Sayori exclaimed as she glanced up at the bistro's blackboard menu above the counter, with the items and prices written out in colorful chalk.

"And you wanted us to go here another time," Akihiro whispered facetiously into her ear. She pouted as she elbowed his side.

The clerk at the counter spoke up politely then. "Pardon me, ma'am, sir, but we have a special order that you can try: two slices of strawberry shortcake and two white chocolate lattes for a reduced price. It's a limited offer, and perfect for couples!"

"Ah, w-wait," Sayori said, blushing. "We're—"

"We'll try it," Akihiro interrupted cheerfully. "My girlfriend here loves strawberry shortcake."

As the clerk smiled back and punched in their order, Sayori looked at him, her cheeks suffused with color. "G-Girlfriend?" she stammered shyly.

Akihiro only smiled as he put his arm around her.

The two of them ate in relative silence for the first few minutes. Sayori kept glancing around the Cocoa Connection's interior, taking in everything with awe and occasionally punctuating the silence with remarks of how divine the strawberry shortcake tasted. Meanwhile, Akihiro had eyes only for her. He was still nervous about everything, especially with Sayori sitting so closely next to him, but this was slowly being drowned out by the happiness he felt at seeing her looking so cheerful in her bubbly, childlike way. Akihiro decided to lighten up the mood further by cracking a few jokes, particularly at how Sayori would often forget to chew as she stared at a painting or a decoration displayed on the bistro's walls. Sayori would respond huffily by pouting and turning her back to him, opening Akihiro up to the opportunity of hugging her once more as he apologized. As time passed, he sensed that perhaps the worries they had of appearing like a couple to all the people inside the bistro were misplaced; after all, what they were doing right now seemed no different from their past trips, such as at the Drive Brew and the Starlight, with the only differences being that he would hug her or hold her hand more frequently.

They stayed at the Cocoa Connection for almost an hour, particularly because Sayori shyly admitted that she wanted another order of strawberry shortcake. Akihiro was more than happy to oblige her, and he decided to make her feel comfortable about it by ordering a cake slice of his own. Though Sayori was quick to remind him worriedly about spending too much on her behalf, he assured her that he had enough money to get them by until his allowance arrived the following day.

When they left the Cocoa Connection and began walking towards the rest of downtown, Sayori looked at him. "Are we gonna go home now?" she asked timidly.

"Well, do you want to go home?" he asked.

Sayori fidgeted nervously with her fingers. "But we s-still have dinner to take care of, right?"

"There she is," said Akihiro, snickering. "Sayori, the girl who asks about dinner even after she's just finished eating two slices of strawberry shortcake and a latte."

"I'm only asking, okay?!" Sayori cried out resentfully. "No need to be a big m-meanie about it!"

"I know, I know." Akihiro patted her head gently. "We're gonna be cooking back at my place, alright? But for now, I want us to enjoy downtown a bit more before we go home."

"B-But . . . you've already done enough, Akihiro!" she remarked. "This might be t-too much for you!"

"Not really," he replied. "After all that happened earlier, and after that nightmare you had, I want this Saturday to be a really fun one for us—for you, Sayori."

With that, Akihiro slipped his arm around her again and pulled her into a comforting, protective embrace. He grinned at her, feeling happier the longer he stared into her blue eyes. Though Sayori smiled back, there was a wistful air to her expression—Akihiro sensed that she might be having more of the doubtful thoughts that were plaguing her mind ever since they ate at the Starlight. This made him want to do even more for her to be happy.

The resulting evening helped him prove just that.

Much like the impromptu trip they had yesterday after eating at the Starlight, Akihiro took Sayori on another jaunt downtown. They started off at the mall, which was crowded with many people going shopping for the weekend. Though Akihiro knew that Sayori wasn't the type of girl who liked to shop for clothes, he let her dictate where the two of them would be going. After a few minutes of initial uncertainty and shyness, Sayori soon found her groove by going to the places she liked: the mall's pet store and—as Akihiro half-expected—the food court. At the pet store, he watched with growing contentment as Sayori fawned over the numerous animals that other shoppers were perusing: cute puppies playfully trying to bunch over each other in their boxes, chubby cats gazing at people with lazy looks as they lay atop their beds, and birds singing merry melodies from behind their cages. As Sayori petted, cuddled and waved at the animals, Akihiro could not help but smile at how adorable she looked.

The food court was another bit of amusement as Akihiro wondered aloud why Sayori would bring him there of all places. With a determined flourish, Sayori told him that she simply wanted to look at the food stands there—something that Akihiro gleefully knew was a little lie on her part in an effort to not get teased by him.

"Oh, really?" he said in a playfully casual tone. "Then I guess you won't mind me getting an ice cream cone over there while you look at the food stands, eh? Hmm . . . I wonder if they have . . . strawberry. You like strawberry ice cream, right, Sayori?"

The change in Sayori's eyes was almost instantaneous. "S-Strawberry ice cream?"

"Yeah!" he said. "Sure could use one right now. Sweet, tasty strawberry ice cream. . . Such a shame, though. Eating ice cream all alone. . ."

He held in his laughs with an effort as Sayori fidgeted shyly. "Well, strawberry ice cream d-does sound good. . ." she murmured with an apologetic smile.

"Oh, but I thought you only wanted to go here to take a look at the food stands?" asked Akihiro lightheartedly.

"No, I want ice cream!" Sayori blurted out involuntarily. A moment later, she cupped her hand over her mouth and blushed. "I . . . I mean . . . Um. . ."

"And the truth comes out!" said Akihiro triumphantly, laughing. "What am I gonna do with you, Sayori?"

That earned him another one of her cute pouts and a pinch on the side to boot. "For starters, you can stop teasing me like t-that, meanie!" she cried out.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Akihiro said quickly, patting her head. "C'mon, I'll make it up to you. Let's go get that ice cream."

After ordering a strawberry ice cream cone apiece—with Sayori's having two scoops instead of one as a peace offering of sorts—the two of them began debating on what to cook for dinner later that night. Sayori now sounded a bit more confident about the thought of cooking after the feat they had managed earlier that day, though she also voiced her concern about not having any new recipes to try out. Akihiro found himself agreeing to her thoughts, noting that they did need to browse online for a simple but good recipe to cook before they could buy any ingredients. In the end, the two of them settled at ordering some takeout instead from one of the many ramen and donburi stands in the mall's food court.

With that, the two of them began making their way back to Akihiro's apartment, happily clutching the plastic bags where their takeout orders were, looking around at the mall's sights once again as they made their way outside. As they passed by a certain clothing store, the two of them ran into Monika and a tall, fiery-haired boy whom Akihiro recognized as a schoolmate of theirs.

"Hello again, you two!" said Monika cheerfully. "So, did you try out the Cocoa Connection like I suggested?"

"Yes!" replied Sayori. "It was really incredible, Monika. You sure know how to pick good places to go to around here!"

"I agree," said Akihiro. "Sayori here was really over the moon about their strawberry shortcakes." Sayori pinched him on the side once again, and he laughed along with Monika.

"Oh, where are my manners?" said Monika suddenly. She turned to her companion and put her hand on his arm in a friendly gesture. "This is Kenta Yamaguchi. I don't know if you guys were ever classmates with him, but he's that friend from 3-C that I was talking about earlier!"

Kenta, who was clad in a grey hoodie with matching black pants and sneakers, looked less boisterous and more laid-back than he usually appeared during school days—Akihiro knew this based from the fact that Kenta was often seen in the corridors, loudly joking and swaggering with his friends during lunchtimes at school. He sensed that this change in his behavior came because he was with Monika, and also because she had her hand on his arm.

"Pleasedtameetcha," said Kenta with a casual grin. Sayori and Akihiro smiled and greeted him back.

"So, where are you two going?" asked Monika.

"Well, we're going home now," replied Sayori. "Akihiro took me here to the mall to lounge around for a bit. How about you guys?"

"We'll stay here for a bit, I think," said Monika, checking her watch. "Kenta and I might eat dinner here instead of outside. Are you okay with that, Kenta?" she added, turning her beautiful gaze towards him.

"F-Fine by me!" said Kenta with a slight blush.

"Great!" She turned back towards Akihiro and Sayori. "Anyway, we'll be going now. Take care, you two! See you at school!"

With that, the four of them went their separate ways; Monika and Kenta to a good place to eat, Sayori and Akihiro towards the mall's exit. As they continued walking, however, Akihiro and Sayori heard Monika call out to them one more time.

"Hey, Sayori! Akihiro!"

Rather puzzled, the two of them looked back. "Yes, Monika?" asked Sayori.

Monika beamed. "I just have to say it: you two look really good together," she said with a wink. Beside her, Kenta grinned a little.

Akihiro found himself blushing at Monika's words, but not to the same level that Sayori was—when he looked at her, he saw that her face had turned scarlet in seconds. Akihiro spared Monika a sheepish grin, but before he could even say anything in return, Sayori grabbed his arm and led him away, huffing and puffing nervously as she did so. Akihiro looked back to see Monika giggling a little as she continued walking with Kenta.

Sayori's mortified silence continued as they exited the mall and walked outside. The chill of the evening was drawing on, and more people were out and about. "Are you okay?" asked Akihiro as she kept half-dragging him along the sidewalk. She slowed down her pace and looked at Akihiro, the redness still prevalent on her cheeks. For a moment, Akihiro marveled again at how positively adorable she looked in her embarrassment.

Sayori smiled beautifully at him, shifting her grip from his arm down to his hand. "Never better," she replied.