She bought a crepe and ate it on her way to the school. She winced at the thought of the state of her bank account. But it was delicious anyway.

Hikaru showed Risa and Shizuoka the rough video during lunch, and asked if they knew what special significance five weeks had. Neither of them could think of anything.

"You didn't do anything at one month?" Shizuoka asked incredulously.

Hikaru shrugged.

Risa asked, "You went to the amusement park didn't you?"

Hikaru said, "A day early if you're counting from when I got my ear pierced, or at five and a half weeks if you count from when we met I think?" She sighed and said, "I can't believe I've known Kiri less than a couple months."

"Why?" Shizuoka asked.

"I can't quite remember how I lived without him," Hikaru replied ruefully.

Risa nodded. "I know what you mean. I still feel that way about Makoto."

"Did you celebrate at one month?" Hikaru asked curiously.

Risa blushed and said shyly, "We have celebrated each month."

Shizuoka questioned a little incredulously, "But you've been dating for like nine months now?"

Risa shrugged and said, "At six months we agreed to continue doing it for at least our first year."

Hikaru sighed. "I wonder if I'm an awful girlfriend."

Her friends insisted that she wasn't.

After school she stared dismally at the pile of homework. Then she tucked it into her bag and went grocery shopping. Kiri messaged while she was trying to decide between cucumbers or carrots.

'Are you avoiding calling me or did something come up?' he sent.

'I'm still buying groceries? Should I stop and call before I'm home?' she replied.

'No, I forgot, buy food first!" he demanded.

She laughed and the people near her stared. She shrugged and added both vegetables to her basket. She hurried through the rest of her shopping.

As soon as she got home she called and put the phone on speaker while she put food away.

Kiri answered after a little delay. "Hey, I'm sort of supervising the stage layout, so we may get interrupted some."

"Should I call back later?" Hikaru asked.

"No." Kiri replied, then said to someone else, "More to the right, farther, yes, like that."

Hikaru said after a moment, "I feel like maybe I'm not a very considerate girlfriend after talking to Risa and Shizuoka."

"What? Why?" Kiri asked.

She told him, "They were shocked that I didn't do anything at one month and Risa said she and Makoto are celebrating every month for the first year."

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Kiri replied, "Isn't it the guy's job to initiate that?"

"That doesn't seem fair," Hikaru argued.

Kiri laughed. "I love you," he said. "I did think about it, and if you want to do that kind of thing from now on, we can."

Hikaru was silent for a bit. Kiri gave a few more instructions to whoever was working on the stage area. She finished putting things in the refrigerator and then picked up the phone and carried it to the table.

"Hikaru?" Kiri asked.

"Yeah," she answered.

"What are you thinking?" he asked.

"I don't care which things we celebrate as long as we celebrate the ones you want to, but I'm afraid of missing the ones you want," she said finally.

Kiri paused before answering. "I'd like to celebrate our wedding anniversaries."

Hikaru blushed. She knew she was blushing because her face was on fire. She put her hands against her cheeks to cool them.

"Yeah," she agreed faintly.

He sighed.

"What about the five weeks?" she asked, but then added quickly, "If it's something you want to keep secret it's OK."

"It's worrying you?" he asked.

She hesitated, but replied, "If you'll tell me it's not something I'm already supposed to understand, I think I'll be able to stop worrying about it."

Kiri replied, "The only thing significant about it is that I'm marking time until something else. It's not something you need to guess, I kind of want to surprise you."

"OK," Hikaru replied with some relief.

Kiri asked teasingly, "Did you even realize it had been five weeks?"

"Not really," she replied, "I feel like it must be much longer, like how was I living without you?" Kiri inhaled deeply enough that she could hear it, and she added a little plaintively, "And how did I become so clingy that one day without contact made me feel so anxious?"

Kiri asked uncertainly, "Are you unhappy about it? I feel really happy about it."

Hikaru was silent for a bit.

Kiri said, "You don't have to answer."

"Sorry, I was thinking. I'm really happy about being with you. I'm not so happy about being too clingy," she replied.

"You're not very clingy," he assured her.

"I feel like I am," she said anxiously.

Kiri laughed and replied, "I suspect I'm the really clingy one in our relationship."

"What have you done that's clingy?" Hikaru asked curiously.

"If you're not aware yet, I don't want to tell you?" he said lightly.

Hikaru went silent again and Kiri said, "But if it's going to worry you, I can list a few things."

"I don't exactly feel worried, I just can't think of anything," she replied.

"I asked you to wear my ring, I feel anxious when I can't touch you, I demanded to sleep with you," he listed. Then he paused to give another set of instructions to the people working.

"Why are you counting from when I got my ear pierced instead of from when we met?" Hikaru asked when he seemed to be finished.

Kiri replied quietly, "Ah, this is going to sound kind of," he sighed and said, "possessive. I'm kind of possessive. I never really thought so before. But, well, I feel like that's when you agreed to belong to me. Because that's when you said I could never leave you."

Hikaru blushed again.

"Hikaru?" he asked anxiously.

"What?" she asked.

"You didn't say anything, does it bother you?" he asked.

"What? No," she replied quickly.

"Why did you go silent again?" he asked.

"It's a little embarrassing, but I'm really happy," she assured him.

"Oh," he said. "OK," he said and his voice seemed a little weird.

"Kiri?" Hikaru asked.

"I'm so glad I met you," he said in almost a whisper.

"Yeah," she agreed.

After awhile he said, "The video is good. I've never heard of your filmographer."

Embarrassed, Hikaru replied, "He usually does girly calendars and that kind of thing."

"What?" Kiri asked anxiously, "Does Takeda know?"

"I don't know, why, does it matter?" Hikaru asked.

"It may not…" Kiri trailed off. "Wait!" he exclaimed. "Hikaru, I'll talk to you later about seven maybe?"

"OK," she agreed.