Risa and Makoto arrived. Makoto grinned at Hikaru as Risa went into attack mode. "Who is he? Where did you meet him? When did you start dating?"

Hikaru flinched under the flood of questions but did her best to answer. "Takeshi Kiri. Um, on the street? And 3 days?"

Risa stared at her. "You didn't say anything on Friday. And what do you mean on the street? He picked you up?"

"Sorry, I was too embarrassed to tell you I probably had a date on Friday, and I think probably I picked him up?" Hikaru said.

Risa couldn't imagine Hikaru picking someone up and demanded that she describe how she'd met Kiri.

"I was walking to the bus stop and I saw him sitting on the flower bed border," Hikaru said, and stopped and blushed.

"And he approached you?" Risa asked with a frown.

"No, um, he posed, when he saw me looking," Hikaru said, embarrassed.

"That's a little weird," commented Risa. "Then what?"

"Um," Hikaru said.

Makoto laughed and said, "Risa love, Hikaru is too embarrassed to tell you how she picked him up."

Hikaru, painfully embarrassed, nodded.

"What on earth?" inquired Risa.

"I asked if I could kiss him," Hikaru blurted out.

Makoto laughed until tears came out of his eyes while Risa stared at her like she'd admitted to dancing in the street naked.

Hikaru sat there blushing.

Finally Risa asked, "So he kissed you?"

Hikaru nodded.

"And then he asked you out?" Risa pressed, wondering what on earth this guy must think of Hikaru.

Hikaru said, "Yes, later."

"What do you mean later?" Risa asked.

Hikaru summarized how her new step father had dragged her off, and how Kiri had delivered her bag the next morning. She confessed that he'd made the lunchbox, and then said, "Oh, I never told him thank you, or that the food was good yet."

Risa was offended that Hikaru hadn't told her everything at the time. Makoto just laughed and pointed out that Hikaru had at least told her she'd gotten a phone. That reminded Risa, who then demanded to see the phone.

"This looks really expensive," she said dubiously.

"It is," Hikaru agreed.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

"How old is this guy?" Risa asked.

"27," Hikaru answered.

"Hikaru!" Risa protested.

"I didn't realize he was that old at first, he looks younger, and it's not that bad," Hikaru protested in return.

"What does he look like then?" Risa asked grimly.

"Bet he's hot," said Makoto laughingly. When Risa glared at him he said, "She asked him to kiss her." And he laughed again.

Hikaru said, "We took a picture."

Risa opened the photos on the phone in her hand. "Oh my god Hikaru!" she exclaimed.

Hikaru blushed and said, "He said if I want to delete it I have to figure out how on my own."

Makoto peered over Risa's shoulder, grinned and asked, "Why do you want to delete it, it's cute."

Hikaru replied, "It's embarrassing."

"He doesn't look that old?" Risa asked dubiously.

Hikaru nodded. "When I first saw him in casual clothes I guessed maybe 23 at most, when I saw him in a suit, I thought maybe 25, it's not that much more."

Risa frowned at her, "Even if you didn't know how old he was, he must have known you're only in high school if you were still in uniform."

Hikaru nodded. Looking at her friend's frown she said, "He's really nice. He worries that I might let him push me into things, but he doesn't, he's always waiting for me and if I'm not comfortable he stops."

Risa looked, if anything, more worried. "What has he done that made you uncomfortable?"

Hikaru blushed and said, "Well, he bit my ear."

Makoto laughed.

"He bought you such an expensive phone," Risa worried.

Hikaru told her that Kiri had asked if he could get her the same thing he had to make it easier to learn.

"That seems reasonable," Makoto said. "What's your data limit?" he asked.

Hikaru looked at him blankly.

Makoto took the phone from Risa and showed Hikaru how to check her plan allowances. He whistled, "Never mind how much the phone costs, you have unlimited everything, that's freaking expensive."

"He uses his for work, and just added a line on his plan," Hikaru said, and told them the line amount.

"That's not bad," Risa said with surprise.

Makoto said, "Lucky." Then he showed Hikaru the web browser, and warned her, "Even though it's unlimited, there's usually some kind of restrictions if you stream a lot of stuff." Hikaru looked blank and he explained, "Like watching movies and stuff."

Hikaru said, "I don't think I need to do that."

Makoto said kindly, "You can some, just don't spend more than a few hours a month on that kind of stuff, you'll be fine."

Hikaru took her phone back gingerly. "Even though we already argued over how expensive it was, it makes me feel uncomfortable knowing it's even more expensive than I thought."

"It's not," Makoto reassured her. "The guy was already paying for all but the new line fee."

"OK," Hikaru said.

Risa asked, "You argued with him about buying the phone?"

Hikaru blushed. "I thought it was too expensive, but then I realized that he really didn't think it's expensive, so I gave in," she said.

Risa enquired, "Why was he buying you a phone in the first place?"

"Because he's really busy with his job, and often late, and like today, he got called in. He said he didn't think dating would work out if I didn't have a phone, and that if I was only getting it because he wanted it, that he should buy it," Hikaru explained.

Risa said reluctantly, "Well, that seems reasonable. But I want to meet him, because it all seems a little weird. And he looks too pretty."

"Too pretty?" Hikaru and Makoto asked together.

"Pretty guys are usually jerks," Risa said.

"Ryu-sensei isn't a jerk," Hikaru objected, giving the example of the prettiest man of her acquaintance.

"No, but he's freaking weird!" Risa replied.

Hikaru laughed and agreed, "OK, I'll ask him if he'll meet my friends."