When Chisa slid into her seat in the class that Eri's uncle taught, she was in tears. Eri looked over at her with alarm, but Chisa quickly wiped her eyes and insisted, "I'm fine! Don't draw attention to me."
The class passed surprisingly quickly, but even though Eri was waiting to ask what was wrong, she was prevented when her uncle asked Chisa to stay behind. She reluctantly went on to her next class only when Chisa practically pushed her out the door.
After Eri was gone, Chisa turned to look at the teacher who knew her all too well, and asked rather miserably, "Am I going to flunk?"
Toriyama Kei looked at her unhappy face and replied gently, "Only if you don't make any sort of effort to fix things soon?"
Chisa avoided his eyes, but she straightened her shoulders and nodded.
He sighed, and walked over to lock the classroom door, before saying, "Come here Chi-chan."
She blinked and met his eyes with a questioning look.
"Give me a hug like you used to when you were little, and then tell me what's going on with you lately?" he suggested with wry amusement. "I know Eri hates school, and I've given up on trying to make her enjoy it, but you're different."
Chisa stared up at his too familiar face, and replied tartly, "You know that I'm not a little girl anymore, and if you hug me like that now I might assume you mean more?"
Kei walked forward and hugged her. She was too surprised to even think of resisting as he muttered unhappily, "That might be better than watching you cry over the endless series of jerks who keep hurting you."
She looked up at him in disbelief and complained accusingly, "You're just teasing me! If you really meant that, you'd have kissed me then."
He bent and kissed her.
His expression was wry as he asked, "So, tell me? Why are you crying again?"
Chisa stared up at him as she blurted, "The guy I've been seeing said he doesn't want me if he has to use condoms, and Eri is pregnant."
After a moment of shocked silence, Kei uttered a short curse and advised, "Dump him permanently." Then he asked rather faintly, "Eri is really pregnant? But she said she'd just started dating?"
Chisa admitted guiltily, "I probably shouldn't have told you."
"Does my sister know?" he asked worriedly.
"I don't know if she's told her mother," Chisa admitted. "She didn't want to talk about it, she said she needs time to get used to the idea."
"So do I," Eri's uncle agreed after a moment.
Chisa gazed at him and said seriously, "I meant it you know. I'm really going to take this the wrong way. You can't even pretend that you didn't know I had such a crush on you in highschool!"
Kei grinned at her suddenly. "Well, I was going to wait for you to finish growing up and figure out what you wanted from dating, but I don't think I can stand it." He told her just as seriously, "I'm sick of watching you cry over other men."
She lifted her face suggestively, and he kissed her again. After a bit, she pointed out between kisses, "You're not supposed to date your students."
"You'd damn well better pass my class, and not take any more from me then," he advised her seriously after another kiss.
"I think I might need private tutoring," she suggested.
He grinned at her brilliantly and informed her, "You're going to regret that."
Her heart pounded when she saw that grin, like it used to when she was in middle school and he was still a college student, and she said breathlessly, "I'm pretty sure I won't!"
She pushed him away from her suddenly, and he stared down at her with a confused expression. "Chisa?"
"I'm sorry," she insisted quickly as her fingers instinctively moved to her own lips. "But I really love you! I've been in love with you forever I think! And I don't want to do this on a day that some other man made me cry…"
Kei sighed, and then nodded. "I'll keep waiting for you if you promise not to date anyone else?" he offered.
Chisa looked up at him in surprise, and he touched his fingers to his own lips and then to hers. After a moment, she nodded wordlessly, and then he silently walked over and unlocked the door.
--
When she met up with Eri at their last class together, Chisa was smiling so brilliantly that Eri felt completely confused.
Chisa looked at Eri's face and said cheerfully, "Don't worry, everything is great! Better than it's ever been! I'm breaking up with that jerk who refuses to be careful, and everything is wonderful!"
"Okay?" Eri agreed helplessly. She'd never seen Chisa cheerful about a breakup before.
--
When Takumi picked Eri up for their date that night he grinned at her and whispered, "You look so beautiful tonight."
She looked at him in surprise and then looked down at herself and laughed. She was wearing a soft red knit shirt so fine it felt like a microfabric. "I'll try to wear red more often then?" she suggested.
He kissed her, and then insisted cheerfully, "Whatever you want to wear is fine Eri." After a moment he did admit, "Though I do love this one. It clings to your every curve."
For her 'surprise' date, Takumi took Eri out on the river. He'd hired a sailboat, and arranged both dinner and a short sail upriver.
She loved it, but still asked him a little anxiously, "Takumi, should we be spending this much with a baby coming?"
He just kissed her fingers and suggested, "Eri, maybe we should talk about money? This much is fine?"
She bit her lip, and replied uncertainly, "Not tonight? But I do love this, thank you."
Takumi returned Eri to her home that night very reluctantly, with many kisses.
--
The next day Eri had so much homework that Takumi came to her parents' place and then just sat and cuddled with her while she worked on it.
When she apologized, he asked quietly, "Eri, why do you think I'm unhappy like this?"
She looked at him for a moment and then suggested tentatively, "Because it's boring?"
"I'm sorry that you're bored. I'm not bored. I love watching your face change as you struggle through your homework," he replied with an amused grin.
She blushed and his grin widened. He tried to help her when he could, but it still took a long time. She was happy when he accepted her parents' invitation to stay for dinner, and after they'd eaten she asked regretfully, "I suppose you need to go home soon?"
Takumi looked at her consideringly. "Unless you're going to invite me to spend the night here?"
Eri blinked at him and asked, "Would you?"
He gazed at her with a startled expression, and insisted quickly, "Of course I would."
"I'd like that," she admitted shyly.
Her parents just smirked at them both when he glanced over for permission.
Eri asked her father for a yukata to lend Takumi, and it was amusingly short. Takumi took the family's laughter with good grace, and then he and Eri took the elevator up to the roof, and did their laundry together.
Eri got shy again when it was time to unroll the second futon, and make up their bed in the sleeping partition that she'd once shared with her sister. When they climbed into bed and she slid the screen shut, Takumi reached for her, and she caught his hands with hers.
"If we do that, they'll hear us," she protested in a whisper.
"I'll be quiet?" he suggested hopefully.
"You'll make me moan," she argued quietly.
"I'll cover your mouth," he promised.
She looked at him when he reached for her again, but she didn't resist.
--
They were as quiet as possible, and afterward Takumi curled around her and whispered, "I love you more everyday Eri."
He fell asleep contentedly, but Eri lay wrapped in his arms and felt guilty.
She felt even more guilty in the morning, when he apologized because he needed to leave too early to take her to the college. Especially when he explained apologetically that he needed to go back to his apartment first for his work things, even though he had clean clothes.
As she made her own way to the campus, Eri wrestled with the conflict between what she felt that she 'ought' to do and what she actually seemed to want to do.