Considering that she was young, reasonably attractive and – according to her friends – a nice person, Taniyama Mai really had the worst love life.

No matter how hard she tried, she had yet to get to the second date.

Right now, she was struggling for the first.

She glanced down at her phone. He was thirty minutes late. Michiru and Keiko had set her up with… What was his name? Shogo? Something like that anyway. They had shown her his picture and declared him 'seriously hot'. Mai was seriously regretting agreeing.

Partially because she really ought to have been starting her Psychology essay – she loved her degree, but boy did she hate essays. But primarily because the waitresses were giving her pitying looks.

It was horrible. She could see them just out of the corner of her eye. Two waitresses talking and pointedly not pointing at her, but signalling with their heads and quick glances.

Mai turned to look out of the window. Maybe the trains were really busy right now.

"Excuse me, would you like to order now?"

Mai's head spun around to see one of the waitresses.

"Um, no, I'll wait a few more minutes."

The waitress smiled and bowed before leaving. Mai watched her leave and then looked back out of the window.

Several people passed the little Italian restaurant. Mai's eyes followed them each in turn and she briefly wondered what their lives were like. Did people stand them up on dates? Or were they all happily married? In love? Cared for?

And then someone made eye contact with her.

He was a handsome man not much older than herself; tall, dark hair and striking blue eyes. He looked absolutely nothing like the photo Keiko and Michiru had showed Mai. She smiled quickly and looked back down at her phone. No text. No missed call. No reason for her date not to have arrived.

When she looked back up, the handsome man was gone. She sighed.

"Apologies, I was caught up at the office," a deep voice said. Mai looked around to see the handsome man about to take the seat opposite her. She stared.

"I'm sorry, but-" she began, but he cut her off.

"Just go along with it," he said with a face void of emotion. "What do you want to eat?"

Mai blinked twice. Then swallowed. What did she have to lose?

"I was thinking about the carbonara," she mumbled. "My friend said it was supposed to be good here."

She watched the man wave the waitress over.

"I'll take the vegetable lasagne, and she'll have the carbonara."

The waitress jotted down the order, shot Mai a wink and scooted off to the kitchens.

Mai continued to stare at the man.

"I know I am handsome, you don't have to stare."

Mai pouted furiously.

"I wasn't staring because of that," she muttered with a scowl.

"So you admit I'm handsome?"

She narrowed her eyes at the man.

"Well yes," she admitted.

"You have good taste."

Mai watched as he took the jug on the table and poured himself a glass of water.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"Shibuya Kazuya."

"I'm Taniyama Mai, nice to meet you."

He did not return the greeting, but instead, took a drink.

"What do you do?" he asked finally.

"I'm a student," Mai replied. She couldn't help but feel quite self-conscious. He was gazing at her with a penetrating intensity. "I study Psychology."

She registered the hint of a smirk dance across his face.

"Psychology," he repeated as if almost amused by the word.

"Look, if you are going to try and put down my subject just to get me to try and seek your approval, it's not going to work. I am not that desperate."

The smirk on his face only grew.

"And yet you had been waiting here for a man that wasn't going to appear for how long? Exactly?"

"He could turn up any minute," Mai retorted defensively. "Thirty minutes isn't that long."

She looked away. She did not regret waiting, what if Shogo really was just late? Mai wouldn't want to accidently stand someone else up!

"My mother is a psychologist," Kazuya said. "She would be delighted to hear I went on a date with someone who studied her subject."

"Or she might accuse you of trying to find a substitute for your Oedipus complex." The insult had escaped Mai's mouth before she had realised she'd opened her mouth. A silence ensued and to avoid the awkwardness, Mai poured herself a drink and took a sip.

"I have no desire to have sex with my mother," he said finally. Mai looked up at the sound of his voice. His eyes looked empty, she noticed.

Mai didn't know what to say, but she was perhaps starting to realise why she was still single. She really did suck at this whole 'going on a date' thing.

Fortunately, their meals arrived. Mai began eating to avoid looking at Kazuya.

Yet he ate slower than she did. Once she'd finished, she felt compelled to speak.

"What do you do?"

"I work at the university," he replied.

"Doing what?"

"Physics."

Mai replied with a face of disgust.

"I bet that's… Fun?"

"Not the word I would choose," Kazuya replied. "But if that is your adjective of choice, then so be it."

"What would you call it then?"

"Sufficient."

Mai blinked. What kind of an answer was that? She decided not to question it; this guy was officially weird.

"Why did you do this?" she asked, lowering her voice a little.

"I needed to eat," he replied simply.

"You could have dined alone."

"Well noticed."

"Why didn't you?"

"I prefer the view from here," he said. Mai watched as he finished the lasagne. "Would you care for dessert?"

"I should be getting back," Mai replied. "I have an essay to write."

Kazuya nodded and picked up the bill. Mai immediately made for her purse, but the young man did not wait for her. He headed to the till and paid.

"This was-" he began.

"Here, for my share," Mai said as she held out a few notes. Kazuya ignored them.

"Which station are you heading to?"

"None, I can walk back to the dorms from here."

"I will walk you."

Kazuya held the door open for Mai and she stepped out into the cold night air.

"You really don't have to," Mai insisted.

Kazuya ignored her words and began to walk beside her. Mai pouted, crossed her arms and stalked ahead. Kazuya's longer legs caught up easily.

"It is late; it would not be safe to let you walk home alone."

Almost as if to prove his point, Mai managed to trip over her own feet at that very moment.

"I'm fine," she stated as she righted herself. She tried her best to ignore his smirk. "Look, I don't mean to be rude, but I met you this evening. Even though you seem nice enough, you could be anyone. I'd really rather you didn't know where I lived."

Kazuya stopped dead. He blinked.

"Of course." He nodded. "I will go then."

He made to turn away, but Mai caught his arm.

"Thank you, for rescuing me back there. It's nice to know there are still kind people in the world." She blushed but did not look away. "I know that sounds a bit dramatic, but still. Thank you."

He nodded again and walked away. Mai watched him go for a minute and then started home.

Once back, she pulled out her mobile and checked through her texts. Still nothing from her no-show date, but there was several from her friends asking her how the date went. She replied; saying only that she would tell them everything tomorrow.

Mai slipped into something more comfortable and opened her laptop. Looking at the time, there was no way she was going to get much written tonight, but she could at least finish an outline.

Then a thought occurred to her.

What if she looked up her date…?

Not Shogo the no-show. Shibuya Kazuya.

He was certainly a bit odd. No, odd was the wrong word. Distant. He had been distant.

Mai typed his name into a search engine and glanced down the list. What was it he did? Physics?

But none of the results fit.

A shadow writer – an old man. A voice actor – a young man, but his picture didn't match. A car salesperson – a middle aged man. And so on.

Had she used the wrong kanji?

Mai looked for any alternative kanji spellings, but the results were still zilch.

She frowned and closed the browser. Sure, the guy had been odd, but he wasn't anywhere on the internet. Surely even if he wasn't on a social networking site, his name would be on a physics paper somewhere, right?

Author's note: Well the first 1000 or so words of this just sort of happened. And then with some guidance from AmyNChan (thank you so much!) I finished this chapter off and have plans for a longer story if you're all interested. Though I bet none of you could guess where it's going... (Except Amy, you aren't allowed to guess :P).

If you can, check out the film Clover. It's in Japanese and omg it is literally Mai and Noll. Like seriously. Just... Just watch it.

Calling Noll Kazuya was really weird. I don't think I've really done it before...

Anyway. Please review!