"I would like to make an official request from the bank."

You could hear a pin drop in the meeting hall at this totally unexpected statement.

"What? Are you serious?" That was Alice. She couldn't quite believe her ears. Ringo herself was shocked at Ryoko's words, but she still managed to note that the President never batted an eye. It was as if he had expected this. Perhaps he had.

Ryoko's request had caught everyone else off guard. She never asked for favors. She never even asked for help from her friends. Her fierce pride would only allow her to rely on herself and her strength and everyone in the room was well aware of that. To hear her ask for a favor—an official one at that- shocked them all speechless. Except the President, of course.

"And what, pray tell, is the exact nature of your request?" The bastard, he was going to make her explain the details in front of everyone, thought Ringo angrily. As if she wasn't embarrassed enough. Then again, this was how it was supposed to work at the bank anyway and Ryoko did make her request in front of the whole group knowing she would have to tell everyone everything. Ringo relaxed a bit at this thought as she waited for her friend to explain herself because she had no clue what Ryoko's plan was.

"Ryoshi is gone." While she took the time to collect herself after this statement, she did notice that no one in the room was surprised at this news. "I need to find him."

"Do you need for him to be brought back also? I'm not sure if that particular task would be feasible, even for us."

"No, I just want the bank to find his location." She stared straight ahead as she spoke, not looking directly at anyone.

"Interesting. May we ask why you wish to find him?" This question may seem exceptionally nosey and rude to outsiders, but it was the bank that was using it's resources for the client and asking why those resources were being used was not unreasonable. Understanding this, Ryoko was able to hold her temper. However, that didn't mean she agreed.

"No, the reason for this request is not important to the bank. It is only important to me."

Unperturbed, the President sat back in his chair as he responded responded. "I disagree with that assessment. However we do agree to take the job." Turning to Alice, he said, "I believe this falls under your skillset. How soon can you do it?"

She thought about it but just for a moment. "It will take a day or two. Ryoshi doesn't have much in the way of financial records to track, so I'll have to dig into his family's history a bit to find something useful."

"Very good." He turned back to Ryoko. "We will inform you as soon as your request is completed. With a curt nod, she turned on her heels and left the room with a very happy Ringo trailing behind her.

Off to the side of the room, Otsu was grinning from ear to ear and clapping her hands softly with glee. Just because she ran around in a maid outfit and acted dim didn't mean she was really dumb. She saw right away what Ryoko was going to do and she thoroughly approved. Judging by the faces left in the room, it was a thought shared by all of them. Even the President's smile widened just a bit.

Ryoshi soon found out that a new high school had opened up right next to the middle school he had attended as a child. It seems that a number of city folks recently had decided to live in the country since they could work from home over their computers. It was a more relaxing environment and they could always get to the city on the nearby train when they needed to. It wasn't exactly a population boom, but there were more school-aged children now to justify building a new high school. It was small and it hadn't opened long ago, but it was a start. Ryoshi decided that on Wednesday he would register and start classes as soon as possible. He really needed to continue his education and he wasn't sure he could handle being all alone with his thoughts at home all day every day.

He visited the new school the next day. He found it to be small as he expected, but new and very nice. It only had a couple of classrooms open, but it did have room for expansion if needed. A small school might be a nice change of pace from his city schooling.

He found that he recognized only a few people in the school office when he filled out his registration papers. Some of the locals that were tired of the mill came and got jobs here. The rest of the school staff that he saw, however, were strangers.

The receptionist that took his registration was one of those strangers. He guessed she was around his own age, though why she was working instead of in school he could not guess She was petite without being a stick figure and her chest (which he noticed for some reason) wasn't abnormally endowed (like Momoko's for instance), but she wasn't flat-chested either. In short, while she wasn't a beauty queen, she was exceptionally pleasant to look at. He was almost attracted to her. His pain was too fresh for thoughts like that though.

She smiled brightly at him as she took his paperwork. "Welcome back, Mr. Morino." He noticed that she didn't stare. Was that just her nature or did she know about him? Impossible. She couldn't have heard about him coming back that fast. He was imagining things.

"So, you're staying at your parents old house all alone? It must be hard being a bachelor."

Then again, maybe he wasn't imagining things. "No, it's fine, really. Being alone isn't a problem and I seem to manage okay. Oh, and please, call me Ryoshi." His words came out in a torrent, but he couldn't help it. She wasn't staring at him, but it was still a very pretty girl talking to him.

Her smile lit up even more. "I'll be glad to, Ryoshi. I'll have to stop over some time and cook you a nice dinner. I'm quite a good cook. And please, feel free to call me."

"Pardon me?" He felt that she may have left off something in her last statement.

"I said to please feel free to call me Miyu."

Ryoshi again found herself standing in the Otogi Bank's meeting room as a client instead of a member. "You've found him?"

"Yes, Alice has pinpointed his location. It took a little longer than anticipated, and for that I am truly sorry. His parents owned some property outside the city that Ryoshi has inherited." The President slid a folder across the desk to her. "Here is the address, as well as the bus and trains schedules you'll need to get there. You will also find some background on the town in case it's necessary."

A relieved Ryoko clutched the folder to her chest. "Thank you."

"You are most welcome. It's a shame that you will have to miss tomorrow's classes because of your illness, but I'm sure you will recover in time for school on Monday. Your absence will be taken care of, of course."

"Illness...?" Then she got it. He knew she would want to go as soon as possible and tomorrow was Friday, a school day. She would have gone anyway and he knew that too. He just made the necessary arrangements for her absence ahead of time. She was very grateful for his thoroughness and she hurried home to pack a bag for tomorrow.

It was about time for Ryoshi to start thinking about what to have for dinner. Then he remembered that Miyu had called him earlier that day and said not to eat because she was bringing over dinner. He had been so flustered that he couldn't come up with an excuse not to see her. He looked at the clock. It was almost 6pm. Did she say she was coming at 6 or 6:30?

At a little after 6, there was a knock on his door. Luckily, he had had time to clean up a bit beforehand. Plus, the house was still as clean as when he had arrived, so nothing needed done on that score.

He opened the door and froze. What greeted him was a vision in a midnight blue yukata . The deepness of the color contrasted with the whiteness of her skin, making her seem to glow. Her shoulder length hair was pinned back and a happy smile made her simply radiant. He was struck speechless. In her arms she carried a couple of boxes. He assumed it was tonight's dinner.

After a moment of watching him frozen, she prompted, "Can I come in?"

That woke him from his trance. "My apologies, please do come in." He led her into the dining area where they began to unpack dinner.

"Thank you so much for doing this, Miyu. I really appreciate it. And you...you look lovely tonight."

That smile of hers came back. "Why thank you! You look quite handsome yourself, sir."

This was going quite well, she thought. He really was as nice as she'd heard. He had such kind eyes too and a personality to match. He was kind of handsome too. She had just met him, but she thought she might be in love already.

The meal was wonderful, and plentiful. "Did you make this yourself? It's delicious."

"Thank you for saying so and yes, I did make it. I do love to cook." From there, the conversation turned to their histories. He learned how she came from a small city with her mother and that she had to work part time at the school while being tutored in the evenings to make up for the classes she missed. It depressed him to realize that Miyu had told him more about herself in the last hour than Royoko had told him in the all the months he'd known her.

Ryoshi really liked her. They hit it off and felt comfortable talking to each other almost right from the beginning. She seemed to like him too. Then he wondered how Ryoko would look in a yukata or what she might have made him for dinner even though she couldn't cook. These thoughts dampened his enthusiasm and Miyu noticed the change.

"What's wrong, Ryo-"

A knock at the door. They looked at each other, her eyes questioning and his confused. Who could that be, and at this hour?

Excusing himself, he left her at the table and went to the door. Opening it, he found himself unable to move again.

"I need to talk to you", said a brusque Ryoko as she pushed past him and strode into the house. At the entryway, she stopped. She saw the sandals on the floor next to his shoes. Very feminine sandals with little white flowers on the straps. She didn't want to find out any more, but she couldn't help herself. She kept walking until she found the kitchen. And Miyu.

She is certainly very pretty. It looks like she made dinner too. That was fast. Ryoshi hadn't even been here for a full week yet and here she was making dinner for him. In his house. Alone.

Her insides ached at the possible scenes that brought to mind. She fell back to the one emotion she was comfortable with: anger.

Ryoshi had gotten over his shock and came into the kitchen. He felt embarrassed and had the urge to start making apologies, but he didn't understand why he should be embarrassed nor did he know who he would be apologizing to.

In a strained voice, Ryoko asked "And who is this, Ryoshi?"

She was mad at him. Big surprise. But instead of being fearful, he began to get angry himself. He didn't do anything wrong and neither did Miyu. He had an angry retort at the tip of his tongue, but he bit it back. Creating a scene would just embarrass Miyu further.

"Miyu, this is one of my classmates from the city, Ryoko. Ryoko, this is my friend Miyu." The girls stared at each other silently, measuring each other. As if on cue they both nodded their heads slightly.

Miyu recovered herself first and forced a smile and began to put the dishes back in the boxes. "Well, thank you for having me over, Ryoshi. I think I'll leave you two alone to tal-" Ryoshi put a hand over hers to stop her. "No, you are my guest and I am enjoying your company. Ryoko can come back in the morning. She and I can talk then." Miyu was about to politely refuse, but then Ryoko turned on her heel and left the house. Ryoshi did not try to stop her.

Well, so much for that. He's still in love with this Ryoko person. I can see that. She probably hurt him through some misunderstanding and they will probably get back together. But, I won't write him off just yet. Oh, who am I kidding? This was over before it started. I'm going to cry myself to sleep over this one. I just know it.

They continued their dinner conversations, but Miyu could see that his heart wasn't into it. He was still thinking of her. It really did seem like the nice guys were all taken already. After a half an hour, helped him clean up after dinner, then she excused herself and left.

Ryoko stormed out of the house and past the waiting Ringo and onto the road that led back to town. Ringo ran to catch up. She was going to ask what happened, but her friend was talking to herself a bit loudly and it wasn't hard to piece things together.

"First, he leaves town without a word. I look for him for days so I can apologize but when I finally find him, he's having an intimate dinner with that-that girl as if they were newlyweds or something. Then he introduces her as his 'friend' while I am just 'a classmate'." She finally realizes that Ringo is walking with her (more like running to keep up, actually) and she informs her, "We're going home."

Ringo grabbed her sleeve and stopped her. "No, we are not going home yet." Ryoko, shocked at Ringo's furious tone, could only stare at her in disbelief. Ringo was almost trembling with anger.

"Yes, Ryoshi left without saying a word. Why wouldn't he? You had to look for him because you told him off in front of everyone. Yes, he seems to have met someone. Why are you surprised? He's a pretty handsome guy and anyone could tell after a short time with him that he's a nice and caring guy who any girl would feel lucky to have.

The question you should be asking yourself is whether you want to fight for him or just go home with your tail between your legs. Yuki was right. The time with Shiro hurt you very much, but you need to move past that. It's time to drop that crutch you've been carrying and walk on your own two feet. What are you going to do?"

Tears streamed down Ryoko's face as she fell into her friends' arms. "Ringo, I'm so scared! Seeing him with her hurt so bad! I know now that I love him but I'm afraid that he's moved on without me now."

Well, thank God she finally said it, Ringo thought as held Ryoko's and patted her hair consolingly. I think she's finally ready to fix this now.

The two friends stood for a long time in each others' arms before composing themselves enough to finish their walk back into town.

He woke early, as he usually did, surprised that despite the craziness of last night, he managed to get a good night's rest. He dressed and got ready for the day daring to hope that it would be a good day. Or, at least, not a bad day.

He had no idea what he should think about Ryoko's sudden appearance last night. It didn't make any sense to him why she would be here. Well, after last night, she had probably gone home again. His good mood lowered at that idea.

A knock at the door interrupted his thoughts and after last time someone knocked on his door he was uneasy about answering it. Maybe it was Miyu. She did leave her dishes here last night after he offered to clean them and get them back to her. Maybe she was so disgusted about last night that she just wanted to pick them up and be done with him. He couldn't blame her if she felt that way.

Opening the door, he got another shock. It was Ryoko again. This time she didn't just barge in. She stood there with her hands clasped in front of her as she looked calmly up at him. A very demure pose for her. What the heck is going on now? His head was starting to hurt trying to figure it out.

"May I speak with you? Is this a good time or should I come back later?" Who the hell was this?

Flustered, he replied "No, no, now is fine. Please come in." He led her to the living room, but neither of them felt comfortable enough to sit down.

She couldn't meet his eyes so her eyes darted around the room nervously as if she expected someone to jump out at her. After a few awkward moments, she took a deep breath and began what she had rehearsed in her mind for most of the last night.

"I...I apologize about the way I acted last night. I acted rudely to you and to Miyu and I apologize. I hope that I will be able to apologize to Miyu today too."

Ryoshi could only stare at her in wonder.

Another deep breath, finally meeting his eyes. "I also want to apologize about what I said to you at the bank. I offer no excuse, but I was upset about something else that day and I said things that I should not have said."

"You don't have to apologize for that, Ryoko. You were only telling me how you felt and I'm glad that you were honest with me." The sadness in his voice as he said this was clear.

"No! I was not being honest. Not with you and not with myself. You have to believe that! I understand if you don't ever want to see me again, but there is something else I need to tell you before I go. Something I should have told you a long time ago. I...I...I-"

She couldn't do it. She couldn't say it to him. All the fear and sadness welled up within her again and she couldn't take it. The room seemed to shrink in on her. She had to get away before she was swallowed up. She turned away abruptly and ran out of the house. Leaving behind an utterly confused Ryoshi.

Blinded by her tears, she kept running. Not down the road towards town, but into the forest. She ran until she was tired. She tried to clear her head as she walked aimlessly through the trees and brush, but she was interrupted by a loud noise. "What the hell was that?" It was the bellowing of a wild animal. An angry wild animal. And it had spotted her, lowering it's head as it began to run towards her.

She was a city girl, but even she knew that you don't try to fight a wild pig. Not even with kitty gloves, which she didn't have with her anyway. What you do is you run. Hopefully, faster than the pig. That's exactly what Ryoko did. She took off through the forest and back towards what she hoped was the direction of Ryoshi's cottage. If she could just reach it before getting trampled! She suddenly found herself outside of the forest and in a field of wildflowers and bush. They were knee-high and she had to highstep to get through them since there was no path.

She could no longer hear the pig behind her. Maybe it got distracted and forgot about her? It was then that she heard the bellow of the beast behind her. It had just come out of the forest in the same place she had just been. Fear helped her run faster. She never saw the rock that tripped her and sent her to the ground. Though the ground was covered in flowers and other plants, she still managed to hit her head hard enough to make her groggy. Her last thought before she blacked out was that she was going to be killed. By a pig. She almost laughed at the craziness of it.

Looking for Ryoko, Ryoshi finally spotted her from a distance. She had just left the forest at a run and was trying to high-step through the wildflower field. He could see the fear on her face clearly and it sent a chill through him. She was being chased by something, but what? Then he saw it. A wild pig. Doesn't sound dangerous, does it? But a wild pig can weigh up to 300 pounds and can trample someone to bits. They are deceptively fast and are surprisingly aggressive. A very large and fast one was chasing Ryoko.

His hands shook only for a moment as he loaded his slingshot. He wasn't going to kill it at this distance, but he could scare it off. Scare it away from Ryoko. His heart was pounding at the thought of her being ground into a pulp by the beast. He ruthlessly pushed those thoughts aside and concentrated on what he was doing. He pulled back on his shot and barely aimed before letting it fly. Even from this distance, he could hardly miss the broadside of a pig. He did not miss, as the creature let out a load roar and stopped in it's tracks, wildly looking around to find what struck it. Hearing some other noise behind it, the animal turned and charged back into the forest. It's angry bellows sounding farther and farther away. Ryoshi could breathe again. She was safe.

He turned to see where she was and his heart stopped again. Where did she go? She couldn't have gotten all the way through the field in the time it took him to ward off the pig. Where the hell was she? He spotted a Ryoko-sized depression in the flowers and could only guess that she must have fallen. She wasn't getting up, though. Was she hurt? He broke into a frantic run.

When she could open her eyes, she found that she was surrounded by wildflowers. A quick mental check told her that she wasn't trampled to bits either. But that wasn't what had her attention. Not only was she in a field of flowers, but somehow Ryoshi was there with her. Holding her in his arms. This couldn't be real. This was just the dream again, wasn't it? No, it wasn't the dream. She knew this because unlike the dream, her head hurt from when she struck the ground as she fell. It didn't hurt a lot, but it hurt enough for her not to want to try to get up just yet. Yeah, that's the reason she didn't want to get up. Didn't have anything to do with the fact that Ryoshi was holding her in his arms and looking at her just like he did in her dreams.

"Ryoshi, I love you." The words just spilled out and they felt as natural as if she'd said them a hundred times before.

Safe in his arms, she could finally say it. There was no fear, no pain. It felt good. Saying it felt as if a weight she didn't know was there had fallen away from her. She felt...happy.

She looked at him calmly, waiting. In her mind, however, she was rather impatient. Are you gonna kiss me or what? If you don't do it soon-

Before she could finish that thought, he was kissing her. It was finally happening. For real. He was kissing her like she was the most precious thing in the world. She, in turn, was kissing him as if she was afraid this was still her dream and she would soon wake up. She reached up and pulled his head down harder. This was way better than her dreams.

Too soon, it ended. He pulled his head back and looked over her with a worried expession. She had just hit her head, after all. "Are you all right? Does you're head hurt?" The worry in his voice made her so very happy.

For the first time ever, she truly smiled at him. A full, unreserved smile. It was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen in his life.

Still smiling, she said in a husky voice, "It only hurts when you stop". Just to make sure that the pain did not come back, she pulled him back down for another, much longer kiss.