Somehow I ended up ordering a club sandwich while Yumi pointed at something on the menu that resembled an oversized ice cream.

"It should be done in 15 minutes." The waitress smiled at us as she took away the menus.

Yumi sat staring at her lap while I looked out the window. What was I doing here? I didn't need another girl in my life straight after the two days of madness I had. And besides I hadn't officially stopped seeing Luna… yet. I felt a sudden twinge in my heart. Why did I still think about Luna? She was insane.

"Um…" Yumi fiddled anxiously with her hands before reaching into her purse and pulling out a box.

"Here." She offered the box towards me and stared down at her lap, refusing to say more.

I looked at the box confused. What was going on? Was it some kind of tradition to now give presents on a date that's been set up by friends? I took the box in my hands. "Thanks… what is it?"

"D-don't get me wrong, it's just an obligatory chocolate." Yumi said. I was still confused. Chocolate? Why would—

Suddenly it hit me and I looked around in awe. There were couples all over the place that I had not noticed before and the shopping mall was decorated in pink ribbons and heart shaped objects. In a large love heart painted at the bottom floor of the mall that was previously hidden by a crowd of people, were the words:

"Happy Valentine's Day!"

I had completely forgotten. Then that must mean… I looked at the box in my hands. Everything made sense now. Yumi must have had no date for Valentines so her friend dragged her along. And Eiji, thinking that Luna had dumped me, had planned everything from the start of the day while I was asleep!

"So what kind of things do you do?" Yumi stuttered, her eyes fluttering. She had light blue eyes. I could see she was nervous. This must be her first date or something.

"Uh…" What was I supposed to say to a question like that? "Well… I like to play arcades… I go to Hibiya High—”

"Hibiya High!” Yumi leaned forward from her chair, astounded. “T-then you must be really smart!”

"Haha…" Hibiya High was a school famous for its high level of standard. Normally you'd need to pass an entrance exam to enroll but you could also pay an extraordinary hefty admission fee for transfer students. It wasn’t any surprise which of the two I was. "I guess you could say that."

Yumi opened her mouth to say something more when thankfully the waitress suddenly appeared and placed a club sandwich on my side of the table.

"Thank you—"

I dropped my jaw at the sight of the giant strawberry parfait placed down in front of Yumi. It was enough to feed a normal person for a day. And I was suddenly aware of other couples eating the same thing… except they were eating it together. My club sandwich looked like a midnight snack next to her parfait.

"Are you sure you can finish all that?" I stammered.

"What?" Yumi asked confused. "Why not?"

I stared at the giant parfait. "It looks a bit big." I replied. "Especially for a girl your size."

Yumi paused for a second. "Are you calling me fat?"

"N-no." I said hastily, then I scrambled my brain for something to say. "You're very pretty, you're not fat." What the hell?!

Yumi’s cheeks immediately turned red, stunned. "W-what are you saying?!" She glanced down nervously, shifting on her chair.

I mentally slapped myself on the face. "Uh… sorry..."  I didn't know what else to say at this point.

Yumi sunk her head down trying to hide her red face and took a bite out of her parfait. "Jeez…"

I followed her lead and took a bite out of my sandwich in silence. My mind went back to thinking about Luna. She always seemed to be somewhere inside my thoughts. I didn't understand why. Was it possible that I still liked Luna? After all the crazy things that she did?

I chewed on the sandwich bitterly. I remembered Luna had said she was going to make me food today. Maybe I was just caught up in the atmosphere yesterday. I wasn't thinking straight and just kind of ran away without thinking. I felt a little crazy myself.

By the time I finished my sandwich, Yumi had finished her parfait at the same time which was surprising. I got out of my chair and paid for the meal with Eiji's money. Yumi followed me and we left the café together.

We stood outside silently. Why was she still following me? I had already paid for the meal… although it was Eiji's money. I had thought that she would want to leave as soon as possible after that random outburst by me. I waited for her to say something.

"Where are we going next?" Yumi finally said.

Well. That was unexpected. I looked around the shopping mall, scouring for ideas. Apparently, there was some kind of event at the bottom level. "Let's go check it out." I said pointing at the event.

Yumi nodded and we went down to the ground floor. The first thing I noticed when we arrived was that there was a lot of couples around. The second thing was that there was a large platform where everyone seemed to be looking at. The third thing was that there was a machine thing that a bunch of couples were lining up for. There was a sign at the top that read; "Lucky Love Draw. Are you lucky love enough?"

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

It was so cheesy and stupid. What kind of ridiculous name was that? I felt like leaving the place but a couple behind us ushered us forward and we somehow ended up being pushed into the queue. The couple in front of us was making out while waiting in the line and I saw Yumi averting her gaze, embarrassingly.

When it was finally our turn at the magical machine that everyone was queuing up for, it displayed a few sets of instructions on the screen such as entering your birth date and the time you've been going out for. Seeing as there was no option for "never" I clicked the "six months and less" button. After it was all done, it requested 500 yen which I unwillingly gave before it finally printed out a ticket with a number on it.

I took the ticket and we joined the crowd of couples as they waited eagerly for a timer on the stadium to count down. So this was basically a lottery disguised as a love event. Interesting. We waited a while longer before the count reached zero.

"It's the moment you've all been waiting for ladies and gentlemen!" A voice bellowed from the stadium. I saw a man dressed in a suit and holding a microphone coming out from behind the set. "Let's see which couple is going to be lucky love enough to win this year's lucky love draw!"

The crowd cheered. I didn't even know what the prize was. I hoped it involved something that could compensate for my 500 yen. I had to pay Eiji back for this.

"First off, we will have our complementary winners come up on stage." The man announced. He pressed a button on the board in front of him and I saw the screen where the countdown was previously displayed flashing. "And the winning numbers for our complementary prize are…"

I heard drums rolling in the background and the numbers on the screen began to slow down. Everyone seemed to be holding their breaths so I did the same.

"463!" The man declared as the numbers halted on the numbers 463. "Will number 463 come up to the stage please!"

I realised that I had not even looked at our number so I unraveled the piece of paper in my hand and looked at it. Not that I was expecting anything but… I heard people around us screaming. We were number 463.

"They're number 463!" Someone cried next to me in my ear, I saw Yumi covering her ears with her fingers with a painful expression on her face. That was probably a good idea. The crowd moved aside, making room for us to go forward. We walked hesitantly up to the stage. I didn't know what to think about the whole situation so I decided not to think instead.

When we managed to get up to the front, a few security guards in suits helped us onto the stage. Was this really happening?

"And here we have the winners for our complementary prize!" The announcer shook hands with us and we stood there looking out at the crowd as they cheered. The announcer went behind the stage and produced a large teddy bear about half the size of an adult male which shocked me. "Now before you get the prize, why don't you do a nice kiss for the crowd?"

Everyone began cheering in the crowd. This wasn't happening, was it? I didn't even want a teddy bear. Yumi's face went red but I could see her staring at the doll. I could tell that she wanted it.

"Look I know what you're thinking." I tried to say amidst the deafening chant of the crowd. "I will just buy you another doll at—"

Before I could finish my sentence, Yumi moved towards me, grabbing onto my face and planted a kiss on my cheek.

The crowd cheered again and the announcer started laughing. I was beyond speechless. He handed Yumi the teddy bear. "What a cute couple." He announced on the microphone.

Yumi blushed and we stepped down from the stage rejoining the crowd of people while I was still figuring out what the hell just happened. I guess Yumi must really love dolls.

In the end, they announced the numbers for the top three actual prizes which was something like a two week vacation to Hawaii. We left the shopping mall after it was all over and Yumi decided to exchange numbers with me.

"So… uh. I'll take you home then." I said, feeling awkward. Tomorrow was a school day and I needed to get home to prepare. It was already late in the afternoon. The streets were pretty clear now.

"Okay." Yumi beamed. She looked cute, carrying the bear behind her back and her cleavage was even more visible since she was leaning forward to carry the bear. She definitely had a bigger chest than Luna… What the hell was I thinking? I looked away embarrassed.

Yumi, noticing my averted gaze, grabbed my arm and pulled me towards her.

"Come on, it's this way." She said, I could I feel her chest pressing up against my arm.

We were about to walk when I saw someone standing in our way.

It was Luna.