I shook hands with Fideo, he smiled pleasingly.

"I'm satisfied with that amazing friendly match!" I grinned hearing his words. I know that there would never be a time that he would be contented with what he has for soccer.

"Yeah right," I sarcastically said that made him laugh.

"You know me too well," I punched his arm playfully.

"Of course I do, I'm you're best friend after all," I said with a stubborn tone.

"It was a relieving match, don't you think Yuuto-kun?" he looked at me and nodded with a simple smile. We sure did great out there.

"It sure was."

"We'll be taking our leave now," he shook hands with the others and left with a wave and a big smile. One by one, they began to enter a bus that was rented out exclusively for them. It was a bus going to the Airport.

"Bye!" we shouted back as we stared at their retreating bus.

"What now?"I asked while looking at my teammates. They all looked at each other while whispering among themselves.

"Everybody!" Aki and Haruna came in with another letter. Based from the texture that was used for the mail, it was from a certain somebody. Aside from Yuuto, I know that one specific boy would send out a letter as presentable as that.

"Let me guess-"I started off with my eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"-It came from Knights of Queen?" Kidou, Fudou and I said with a bored tone. Endou and the others laughed awkwardly at our reaction.

"D-do you have anything against them?" Endou said with an awkward smile. I shrugged my shoulder with my tongue stuck out.

"Don't really think so. I just hate wearing dress too often you know," I stated with an innocent smile. I noticed their judgemental stares that caused me to back away with a pouty look.

"H-hey! I don't think it's comfortable because I can't run around without having the fear of the skirt itself flying!" I exasperated.

"No kidding..." Kidou mumbled out.

"I saw your mother getting...angry last night," Kazemaru manage to squeeze out his voice.

"Yeah, I know. She has some temper when it comes to all the decorations not looking presentable," I explained as I felt myself getting paler at the thought of my mother, angry. That thought caused me to shiver.

"Oh! What Kawaguchi-san's guess was right! I-it really was-"

"We already know," we all said in unison, Aki laughed nervously and nodded.

"Of course! She already guessed it," she placed the invitation back to its envelope neatly.

"When is it?" I asked, hoping it would not be this week. I cannot stay still, and that only mean I wouls not allow myself to wear a dress twice a week. I prefer to run around freely more often than staying indoors, wearing a d*mn dress all day, all week and worse, all month.

"Next week," I sighed in relief, thanking the heavens for another chance of avoiding to wear a dress for this week.

We all went to our individual homes.

The mansion was quiet as usual.

"Welcome back, Chieko," I smiled and gave her my jacket.

"Thank you so much, Mana," she bowed and began to escort me to my room.

"So, what's up?" she laughed hearing my informal tone. Usually, a tone that casual is not tolerated in the manor.

"I do often question myself how Kimiko has this overly friendly way of talking. I am clearly sure that you are the answer."

"Pfft, we're kids, Mana. I don't think we're supposed to be too constricted with whatever the adults are doing," I said with a carefree voice. She opened the door for me and I quickly dashed my way to the coach, landing on while making a childish sound as I landed. I heard Mana's soft chuckle over my antics. I began to take off my stained and sweaty shirt and longer short to wherever it would land, leaving me in another layer of shirt that was colored black and another short that was the contrast to a longer short that was colored black as well.

"You should clean up for yourself too," Mana scolded but nonetheless, I knew she took them to take them to the laundry room.

What I like about Mana was that she sure was a blunt woman, she was supposed to be. She was the head among the maids in the manor. She has the responsibility to train and teach the younger maids what their jobs were supposed to be.

She was one of the few who was left. Aside from her, her younger sister,
Daiki and a few others, there were none left that had seen me growing up.

She is not afraid to tell me what I did wrong, which I am thankful for. I usually test a lot of our maids if ever they were going to scold us about our misconducts. I avoid those who were soft-hearted and just leave them to do their business.

This is why Mana was my personal maid. I only approached her if I needed something.

I even remembered I would promise to be more strict when it comes to finishing my hectic schedule to make Mana my personal caretaker.

"Please Chieko, go take a shower already. I finished preparing your bath, you must have finished slouching over there to death by then," I stifled a giggle. I like the way she portrayed her exaggerating and humorous but caring side all at the same time. It makes her more lovable.

I finally have the energy to stand up and drag myself to the bathroom to wash myself.

"That's good to see that you are finally womaning up now," I pouted and continued my way to wash myself up.

It was a nice shower, actually. Being all this freshened up after a sweaty match sure was great.

"Chieko, somebody under the name "Yuuyuu" has texted you. Such a nickname there," I blushed hearing Mana's voice behind the shower room. I sprinted to where I placed my bag to see Mana holding up my phone. I groaned and took it away from her, she did not even tried to stop me.

"Ah geez Mana, you don't have to point the obvious!" I moaned with a flustered face. She laughed and smirked.

"Is this youth I am seeing?" I shoved her away in a joking way before I opened my phone.

From: Yuuyuu
Subject: None
I was thinking if you want to hang out? Meet me in the park at 3.

I looked at the time on top of my messages to see it was still two.

To: Yuuyuu
Subject: Hang out
Course! Would love too, only us?

He replied back as I finished sending it to him. He sure was a person who replies fast.

From: Yuuyuu
Subject: Hang Out
You? What do you think?

If there was even an insert smirk here in sending messages, I would assume he would put it in.

To: Yuuyuu
Subject: Hang Out
Nah, I want us to be alone to talk about more about each other after all those years.

I guess.

"Was I acting too blunt?" I bit my lip and looked up at Mana. She sighed and gave a plain look.

"You actually were, I doubt that you would be replying a different message other than that respond though," she said as she began to walk up to my walk-in wardrobe.

"Oh please Mana, what is your opinion between the two of us," her eyebrow was raised elegantly. When was she even a mess?

"My opinion does not matter with whatever relationship between the two of you have," she explained while scrolling through my outfits.

"Aw come on Mana! You're entitled to your opinion! I always listen to your opinions too, remember?" her lips were like a straight line as she looked down on me.

"I think that your childhood memories with him are nice. I would not doubt that it would hinder you from anything in the future," I nodded, understanding her reasons.

"How about this, Mana?" Showing her a set of clothes I picked.

"Ridiculous, it's thirty-seven degrees outside, I think that wearing something more like a dress would be fit,"

"Are you trying to sway my opinion over the dress?"

"Yes, I tried, but I failed to do so."

"How about this?"

"It looks mismatched."

"It's a trend nowadays, Mana!"

"A trend that you do not have to follow."

"Right right. How about this one?"

"I just said that it is thirty-seven-"

"-aw come on, at least this once! I mean, it's breathable!"

"I supposed it is better, after your two suggested outfits, I say this is the best among them," I grinned and began changing to my choice of clothing.

"It fits your taste," I nodded in approval.

"Do you need a car?" I shook my head as we were on our way to the gate.

"It's only a few minutes walk away," I said while opening the gate by myself.

"Keep safe," I went to Mana and just hugged her tightly before leaving.

"Yuuto-kun!" I run up to him. If I was correct, I arrived specifically with fifteen minutes and forty-seven seconds before the clock has reached two.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, I didn't knew you would be here earlier than I am," he smiled and shook his head.

"I didn't wait that long," I smiled gently. He was trying to ease up my fret about making him wait long.

"You looked freshen up, I see," I looked at myself. I wore a vintage black tee shirt, a red jacket covering up, pairing my blue jean shorts, with combat boots. I slowly looked at his casual, and immediately blushed. He was wearing a red jacket, a black shirt, blue jeans and combat boots. I did not knew this was coming.

Yuuto noticed my quietness and looked at me, and then where I was looking at. He slowly looked at his own wear and looked at mine.

"W-we're almost..." he was a blushing mess, people around the park started to whisper to each other and smile in our direction.

"Oi, Kidou! Have you found your soulmate already?! That was fast!" a girl's voice reached the place where Kidou and I were standing. I blushed and puffed my cheeks.

She squeals and pinched my cheeks softly,
"Cute!~" she cooed while grinning. Another girl with red colored hair tried to prowl her away from me. I flashed them a smile, though it appeared a bit crooked because of the awkwardness at the sight.

"Um...pardon, but do I know you?" The girl who came cooing over Yuuto and I jumped in my front of my field of vision. The girl was really pretty in my opinion. She has a long blue hair, dark skin and a pair of grey violet eyes that was shining as she stared at me in the eye. She sure was getting in my bubble.

"The name's Urabe Rika! And this is the daughter of the prime minister of Japan, Zaizen Touko!"

"Nice to meet you," I bowed before I shook hands with Touko, who smiled back with full of cheerfulness. I looked at Rika, who was smiling like a love-sick girl with heart-shaped eyes, looking between Kidou and I.

"Cute!~" she squealed loudly, making the whispering louder among the group of people. I looked away, pouting in shame with a light blush brushed over my cheeks.

"Geez, Rika-" Touko was cut off by Rika quickly.

"I know, I'm the best match-maker in the world," she boasted with her hands on her chest, admiring herself while laughing. We looked at her with a worried expression as people began to whisper a lot more.

"Hey! Let's go there!" Rika pulled Touko by the arm and let her see what she was pointing.

"The Inazuma Ice Cream Parlor...?" I mumbled loudly, catching Yuuto's attention. I looked at him, catching his gaze and grinned .

"Sounds interesting," he smiled back and we nodded with Rika's recommendation.

"Welcome to the Inazuma Ice Cream parlor," the employee of the parlor welcomed us with a warm and welcoming smile. Rika whispered something to the girl, who blushed lightly and nodded. She squealed slightly before she recomposed herself. The girl led us to a table for two.

I sighed shakily and just shrugged my shoulders. I heard Rika just snickered and took her seat. Between our two tables, there was a little distance from our table to their's.

'Is she planning to do something?' I thought with doubt. This was only the first time I met this Urabe Rika but I might have a grasp of her personality already. Yet despite that, I still think I lack knowledge of her nature, she looked like she was the type of girl to pull surprises.

The same girl who welcomed us first took their orders before coming to our table.

"I would like Mint and Chocolate," I ordered. She nodded while taking it down.

"Vanilla," Yuuto ordered. She wrote his order down as well. I was surprised that she took a blank paper from the booklet she was using to write something down. I narrowed my eyes at the paper as if it would get burned if I glared hard enough.

'Play nice, Chieko!' I berated myself. I was keeping my head clear from negative thoughts until I heard a soft sound be on the table. It was the same piece of paper she was writing on earlier and it was in front of me. I took it slowly, taking my time to think what the possible letter it would be.

❝Urabe-san said that the two of you are cute, and I agree! Please don't get mad. ^-^❞

My mind was left blank. I was speechless. I bit my lip in order not to yell in embarrassment.

'You're not at home with Mana, don't act like a child,' I told myself once again. I was not going to lose my cool in a public place like this. I was already burning up as I kept on reading the small yet impactful piece of paper.

'Even if I was with Mana, she would've never kept quiet over...this!'

"Are you alright, Chieko?" I was snapped back to reality by Yuuto's voice. I laughed awkwardly while stuffing the paper in my pocket.

"It's nothing, Yuuto-kun," I smiled sweetly. Even with his goggles, I could still feel his eyes staring holes at me as if knowing I was hiding something. Yet with all those emotions he was carrying in his eyes, he just smiled and nodded.

Our orders shortly came and my eyes shimmered in delight; to say, my gift of sight was blessed. It was a scoop of each flavor, Mint and Chocolate with a lot of Chocolate syrup topped. Five candy-shaped penguins were placed all over the ice cream as if it was surrounding it. It reminded me of the same penguins I used to summon. A certain colored eyes and body, of course it would be such a shame to leave out the signature playful looks of my penguins.

"H-how did you know..." the crew smiled cheerfully.

"I always see you in your famous matches, especially the one live earlier, the friendly match with Italy's Orpheus! It was awesome!" she giggled and her eyes sparkled in admiration. I was shocked to hear that somebody would show this much admiration with my plays.

"Thank you," I said while bowing my head at her as a sign of respect. She bowed back and left.

"I never knew that Chieko has a fan," I stuck out my tongue with a blank look.

'Who would like a mess like this?'

"Oh please Yuuto-kun, she's probably some casual fan is all," I shrugged while eating one of the penguins. Its sweet flavor made me swoon.

"I never knew that you would show your "soft side" to somebody you just met," I shrugged my shoulders carelessly again.

"It naturally happens," I was able to say in between eating my ice cream.

"The ice cream here is phenomenal," I said as I continued to indulge in my two main ice cream. There were certain brands that did not stick through me within a span of months. As I kept on eating, it did not made me feel like I was fed up with its ingredients.

"Mm, it is!" Rika praised, Touko and Yuuto nodded while eating their orders.

"What did you get, Kidou-kun?"

"Violet penguins."

"Mine is like the shape of the Perfect Tower."

"That's cute! Mine is Tsūtenkaku!" I was surprised to hear her sighed depressingly.

"Ooh!~ I also want darling's face!" she whined and pouted. Touko and Yuuto laughed awkwardly.

"Who's, "Darling"?" I asked with a confused look. Kidou almost spit his drink out after he heard me question. He coughed and I patted his back with a worried expression.

"I-it's, I-Ichinose," he said in between laughs and coughs.

"K-Kazuya-kun...?"I muttered in a monotone voice. My brain was still processing the new found information.

"• • •" I bursted out in full laughter, shocking almost all of the customers in the parlor.

"S-seriously?" I threw a fit of giggles. Rika continued to pout with her furrowed eye rows.

"Hey!~ What's so funny with Darling?" she whined. I tried to stop my laugh but it did not stop. I was able to muster up enough energy to shake my hands as if saying there was nothing to laugh about.

"N-nothing!"