Eri sat miserably through her first class on Monday. Once her bout of morning sickness had passed, she was starving. When her class finally ended, she ran to the vending machine and bought a flavored milk.

Her timing felt like it was off kilter. She gulped down the milk and made it to her next class on time, somehow, but she still felt out of place. She couldn't even describe what was wrong to herself, even though it was obviously the fact that she was pregnant, she was hardly the first student to show up to class pregnant.

Her sense of connection with time was not helped out when she and Chisa had lunch together a while later, because her uncle Kei approached them hesitantly, then asked nervously, "Can I join you?"

Eri gazed up at him questioningly, feeling shocked by the amount of uncertainty evident in his small question.

Chisa blushed scarlet and grabbed the edge of his sleeve before he could withdraw. She stared at the table as she whispered, "Please stay." Then she looked up at Eri and hissed, "Please tell him it's okay eat with us Eri!"

Eri gulped and then replied quickly, "Of course! Please join us!" After a minute she asked worriedly, "Why do you even need my permission?"

Her uncle and Chisa both blushed and neither of them looked at the other. After a minute Kei explained uncomfortably, "I'm the one who told you not to treat me casually at school. And Chisa is your best friend and I know that things are already stressful for you right now Eri, and I don't want to interfere between you."

Eri stared at him and Chisa blushed, but she also nodded in agreement. Eri shrugged, and after another a minute he looked up and met her eyes. After holding his gaze for a moment, Eri blushed and looked away.

"Just eat," she demanded. "Watching both of you be embarrassed about dating is more embarrassing than the idea of you dating."

"We're not actually dating yet," Kei complained.

Eri looked back at Chisa in open mouthed surprise.

Chisa blushed again and looked away from both of them as she explained very quietly, "I really love him Eri, I've always been in love with him, so I want to wait until we're done with his class until we start dating."

"I'm probably lucky she isn't demanding we wait until after she's finished with her degree," Kei told his niece with embarrassment.

Eri couldn't explain why she started to cry in response, but they both leapt to their feet in alarm within moments. Embarrassed, Kei hung back and let Chisa rush to Eri's side and hug her. Eri wanted to laugh at their small conflict, but she couldn't immediately stop the tears that had decided to start.

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"Do you hate it?" Chisa asked anxiously while Kei watched worriedly.

"No, I'm really happy for you," Eri sobbed as she explained confusingly, "but I already agreed to marry Takumi."

Chisa blinked in confusion, but after a moment she asked worriedly, "Do you not want to? You know you don't have to?"

Eri scrubbed at her tears and her uncle offered her a clean napkin, which she blew her nose into before answering, "I think I want to. I realized I really love him after I made him cry, and I know I never want to make him cry again. But I really wish that I wasn't pregnant so that we could do everything slowly like that," she explained miserably.

Kei sighed and covered his face in response.

Uncertainly Chisa suggested, "You can tell him that you want to wait even though you're pregnant?"

Kei looked up and agreed seriously, "If he loves you he'll wait until you're ready."

"I know he would wait for me, even though he gets impatient," Eri assured them unhappily. "But he wants to get married before the baby is born, and if we're getting married before it's born, I'd kind of like to do it before I get huge like onee-chan."

Chisa hugged her tightly and kissed her cheek and looked at Kei with a worried expression. He shrugged helplessly, but he asked, "Is there anything we can do Eri?"

Chisa looked at him and then suggested quickly, "Do you want to have a double wedding?"

Eri laughed as tears poured down her face, and she replied too forcefully, "No!" She glared at them both and added, "I definitely don't want to make you two hurry anything!"

"Okay," Kei agreed quickly, with more relief than he probably wanted either of them to see.

Chisa stuck her tongue out at him, but didn't release her hold on Eri until she managed to stop crying, and complained, "This is so embarrassing."

"Who cares?!" Kei demanded.

Chisa immediately nodded as Eri looked around in surprise, and saw that most people were actually politely avoiding looking at her table instead of staring openly. Eri looked at him and suggested, "You'll care if you're late for your own class?"

He bent and hugged her for a minute himself. "I won't," he promised.

She rolled her eyes at him but admitted unhappily, "This baby isn't going anywhere, so I can complain about it later, just go when it's time to go. I'll flunk if I lose any more points in my classes, even if Chisa won't."

He looked at her for a moment and then suggested seriously, "You could quit school."

Eri stared at him for a long moment, and then exclaimed, "Oh my god, are you really a teacher? What kind of teacher suggests that kind of thing?"

He kissed her cheek and replied seriously, "One whose niece hates school, and is already under more stress than she can stand."

Chisa hugged her from the other side and agreed, "You could try it anyway? Especially if you're going to get married and stay at home with the baby. You already said he wants to support you, and maybe you'd really like being a housewife? "

Eri shrugged and told them plaintively, "I think I should at least try to finish this semester?"

Kei nodded.

"Okay," Chisa agreed. Although she still insisted on dragging Eri off to her next class, before going on to her own.