"Yuusukekun..."
Kate was breathing shallowly and her hands were shaking. She couldn't stop her teeth from hesitating as she spoke.
"Yuusuke, I.. I th- mmm!" Kate cried out as her chattering teeth bit down on her tongue so hard that she could taste blood.

Yuusuke and Kate were sitting side by side on a park bench, watching the sun go down. Any passing stranger would have giggled at the two young persons, sitting so close together that their shoulders touched. "Young love is so cute." they would have said. But it was a quiet park, near a few stores that were rarely visited. There was a very romantic feel about this place, whether you visited alone, with a friend or with a partner, you'd have to agree.

"Kate, are you..?" Yuusuke soothed her with his calm voice, handing her a few tissues, which she hurriedly stuffed in her mouth. He stroked her spine with the back of his hand. It was a cold day in the park and neither of them had brought jackets.

"You know, Kate," Yuusuke started, softly, "I've never been such good friends with a foreign girl- infact I've never known a foreign girl. I really enjoy hearing about Australian culture and about yourself."
Kate looked up at Yuusuke hopefully, her lips parting slightly.
"Mainly about yourself. What is your favourite kind of music?"

Kate jumped up from her seat, put the tissues in the bin and turned swiftly into the music store nearby. Yuusuke followed like a trained dog.
They stopped in front of the most unlikely place for a regular teenager to stop by, in front of the classical music section... more specifically in front of all of Kabalevsky's Top 15 pieces.

Yuusuke raised his eyebrows for a second then lowered one.
"Kabalevsky?"
"Mhmm"
Yuusuke's grandmother listened to Kabalevsky when she wasn't listening to traditional Japanese music.
"That's very different. But I know that's a good thing."
Kate didn't quite believe him, but she kept to herself because she knew that Yuusuke only meant well.

"Yuusuke? What do yoh listen to most of the time?"
Yuusuke's hand twitched very suddenly and he looked away from Kate, taking in an unusually large breath, making Kate more suspicious.
"Heavy metal, mainly, you know..."
For a second he thought that Kate was squinting disbelievingly at him but she simply smiled broadly at him and looked away.

"May I borrow your phone to text Nakamura Sensei about school? I know your passcode." she said, with a rather flat tone.
He handed it over quickly, thinking  that he had made her upset somehow, or just really bored.

After a while of texting what seemed like a really long message, Kate finally looked up from his phone.
"Baby Metal." she mused. "Britney Spears, Kya-"
He snatched back the phone, muttering, "Kuso!" under his breath while Kate cackled loudly, catching the store owner's attention.

"You looked through my music!" he wailed loudly, while Kate cackled louder, coming close to tears. The store owner stared at them almost angrilly as Yuusuke ran around the shop and then outside, chasing Kate, out of breath from running and laughing. They ran around the park once, then ran around it again the other way. When he finally caught hold of her she told him it was now a game of tip and that he was "it". She laughed harder than before when Yuusuke asked her what she meant by "it" and if it was an insult.

About five minutes later, after they had settled down, Kate announced that she was going home.
"Bye, Yuusuke." she whispered, then paused like she was going to say something but didn't.
"Bye. I love you." whispered Yuusuke, equally as quietly. Kate's true 12 year old side came out as she threw back:
"As a friend?"
And there was a silence so long that Kate thought she just hadn't heard him say yes, and began walking away.

But just as she was reaching about ten metres away from Yuusuke, she could have sworn that he had, barely audibly, told her, "No."