Hey Guys! Welcome to Sekaiichi Hatsukoi: AU What If? If you are new to the series then I recommend you read Sekaiichi Hatsukoi AU first or you will be very lost. If you are not new to the story and need a little guidance, this takes place the night of Mika's fifth birthday. Happy reading!

Disclaimer: Princesa Alisakura and I don't own SiH, but this is her story.

Masamune couldn't help but stare at the photo in his phone with a smile. It was night and that afternoon he had gotten a text that afternoon from Rika of their little girl enjoying his birthday gift that he got for her. He was so happy that Rika was slowly opening up to him as proof of the photo he got from her. It made him so happy that he made it his wallpaper. He just loved that picture mostly because it was the only good photo that he had of Mika. The other picture Mika was walking so he only got her back. At least in this one she's facing forward.

He remembered that day he found out that he was a father. He knew he wasn't supposed to let private life interfere with work, but it already was so he thought he might as well find out what Rika was doing. After he saw her walking up to the apartment building with a little girl with black hair he couldn't believe it. He knew right away that she was his. Everything was so similar between them. He was such in state of shock that he was sorta on auto-pilot for a while after that. When he realized what happened he had to get back to the office right away. Which was why he was in pretty bad shape when he confronted Rika. After he calmed down he realized that he missed out on a lot.

*Sigh*

It still bothers him obviously. Even though he has a child with his first love, he couldn't hold her, hug her or kiss her good night. He couldn't even be there for her surgery and now he even missed her fifth birthday. He really wants to be there for the rest, but he couldn't help, but feel the way he missed out on so much.

"I just wish I could had been there." He took one last look at the picture, before closing his phone and closed his eyes to get some sleep.

"-kun?"

"sa-kun?"

"MASA-KUN?!"

"Huh?" Masamune had dozed off a bit when he noticed his girlfriend, Oda Rika, was looking at him worryingly. Her shoulder length hair was a bit messy and her blouse was open due to their "activities".

"You were spacing out all of a sudden and you weren't answering my question for a while so I got nervous." She answered as she started to play with the crease in the sheets with her finger.

"Oh, I'm sorry Rika, the question caught me off guard. Could you say it again?" He lied. The truth is he didn't even here the question, he just didn't want her to think he was only in it for sex, rather than her feelings.

"I asked you, if you l-loved me. B-because even though you we've b-been going out since January, you never really say anything. So I guessed that maybe, Masa-kun was getting t-tired of m-me." The more she spoke her reason, her face was getting more and more red.

Masamune was stunned by this, but he wanted to reassure her. He simply ruffled her messy hair and asked her something.

"Does my kohai hate me?" He stopped messing with her hair and put his hands on her shoulders so he could get her answer.

"No! Not one bit!" She yelled.

"Then it's a stupid question to ask. Because I really do love you." He said as he leaned in to kiss her. He briefly noticed her eyes get a little glossy as if she was about to cry. The two were then laying down on the bed just merely enjoying each other's touch and kisses.

The next day Masamune was at the book store. He had read almost every book in the library whether good or bad and he had already read all of his books at home so he was looking for something new.

Then he spotted Rika checking out another section of the store. He does know she likes to read, at least that was the impression she gave him. He was about to go over and say 'hi', but then a guy came over and said hello. Rika turned to see who said hello and when she saw the guy, she gave him a hug.

This gave Masamune an uneasy feeling. He never felt jealousy like this before. He did with people's lives, but as for love, it was something very foreign to him. The boy was around his height and age with light brown hair and hatching eyes, he was good looking too, which heightened his jealousy. He wanted nothing more than to drag Rika away from his grip, because he could see that even though Rika had a friendly smile, this guy was way too happy to hold her in his arms.

After another second, the two broke apart and talked for a few minutes, then the guy left Rika to her shopping. That when Masamune saw his chance.

"You two seemed close." He commented, scaring Rika a bit.

"Ahh! Masa-kun?! What do mean?" She asked.

"That guy."

"Oh, you mean Ken-kun. Yeah we are. We've been friends since we could crawl. He's like an older brother to me." She said.

While that reassured him that Rika didn't like her friend like that, he couldn't help, but feel uneasy about Ken-kun. But then he noticed that Rika wasn't looking so good. She looked pale, her eyes were a little blood shot as is she didn't get much sleep and she had bags under her eyes to match.

"Are you okay?"

"Oh, yeah. Sorry. I guess I'm coming down with something. Don't worry. I'll be fine." She reassured him.

He really didn't like it, but he was never really to pry into people business, so he let it go for now. She would probably be fine in a few days.

She was not fine. Absolutely not fine. It had been about a week since he last seen Rika and she wasn't in school. She wasn't in the library where they would usually meet and he hadn't seen her around school so he could only assume that she was sick at home. But the fact that she hasn't been in school this whole week really worried him.

It was also her birthday and he got her a gift. He figured that she would be back by then so he brought it with him, but of course she wasn't.

He spotted a few people that Rika would occasionally hang out with, two guys and a girl, and he assumed that these were the friends that she was talking about. He thought that maybe they knew where she lived.

"Hey!" He walked up to them. "You guys are friends with Rika, right?"

"Hai." One of the guys answered.

"Do you know where she lives?" He asked.

"Hai." The girl got out her floral address book from her book bag. She wrote down the address in a blank piece of paper and handed it to him.

"If you're surprised when you get there, you're there." The other boy commented as they walked away.

Masamune was confused at first, but was happy that he got the address.

After school he didn't bother wasting time in the library today which was weird for him. He changed his clothes and took out the money that his parents gave him to pay for a taxi. Once he knew where her place was he could walk or take the train.

The cad driver looked at the address weird, but drove on anyway. It took a while to get to Rika's place, but he realized that he would have to take the train if it was taking this long. Once they pulled up to her house, it wasn't really a house it was manor. Her friends did say that if he was surprised, then he was in the right place, but he still was sure. He payed for the cab anyway and began to walk up to the gate.
He saw that the plate said 'Onodera' on it, and now he was confused. His girlfriend's name was Oda, wasn't it? He took a chance and pushed the buzzer anyway.

"Yes, young man?" A male voice spoke.

"I came to drop off a present, for Rika." He explained.

"Name and reason?"

"Saga Masamune and birthday."

"Oh, yes. Please come in through the front." The voice ordered. The gates began to open.

"Thank you very much." Though he was still confused. Did Rika's parents get divorced and was she switching back and forth between them. That would make sense.

He got to the double front door and rang the bell. He waited for a few minutes, until a woman in a maid's uniform opened the door.

"Please come in." She escorted him inside. The inside was very impressive, the ceiling was high and the place had two floor with multiple rooms. He never imagined that his sweet, down to earth Rika was living largely.

"The mistress and the master will be here shortly, can I get you anything while you wait?" The maid asked. He got a good look at the maid, to see something weird.

The maid was smiling, but her eyes were soulless. Almost as if she was a robot. He knew that her job probably wasn't the best in the world, but the more he thought about it the, more he felt like he couldn't breathe in the manor. The air was clean, but there was some pressure on him, like the weight of the world was on his shoulders, just by being in the manor.

"No thank you."

"Sakura! Who was at the door?!" A woman with black hair in a tight bun, came into view. Then followed by a man that had very similar features to Rika.

"This boy claims that he has a gift for Rika-sama, Sanada-sama." The maid explained with a bow. Sanada dismissed the maid to continue her chores.

"Who are you, boy?" She asked with cold eyes.

"I'm Saga Masamune. It's a pleasure to meet you." He declared with a bow, but the truth is he felt very uneasy.

"Saga Masamune? Ah. So you're the one that my daughter won't shut up about," "Huh?" "Though there isn't much to be bragging about." She commented looking over his clothes that weren't really suited to her taste.

"Sanada! Please this in no way to be treating a new guest." The man scolded. He came up to Masamune with a gentle smile that reminded him of Rika.

"I'm very sorry for my wife's behavior, I'm Onodera Hiroshi," He introduced himself. "And this is my wife Onodera Sanada."

"Hiroshi, you know I don't like Rika hanging around with boys other than Ken-kun." Sanada declared.

"Sanada, please. Saga-kun, Rika is practicing with the piano, but I'm sure she we love to see you." He began to escort him.

"Let her practice alone. Just because she got sick doesn't mean she can ignore her afternoon studies." Sanada declared.

"Sanada, please she still isn't feeling well, and I'm sure that she can take a break." Hiroshi explained as he continued to guide Masamune to Rika.

Masamune could understand how Rika was related to Hiroshi, but not to Sanada. She was rude and cruel for making Rika work even though she was still sick. He could tell that Hiroshi just wanted Rika to stop and rest, but Sanada practically forbad it.
"You know, I never knew that Rika was living in this this life style." Masamune commented trying to make conversation.

"If she didn't tell you, she probably didn't want you to know."

"How come?" "Is this why her name is different?"

"Rika gets self-conscious, when it comes to family status. If she didn't tell you about it, it's probably because she wanted you to like her at her best and her worst." He explained.

"I guess that makes sense."

As they were approaching their destination, he could hear piano music getting louder and louder.

"She's right through here. Don't worry about my wife that is just the way she is." He explained and walked away.

Masamune opened the door and saw Rika sitting at a black BB Grand Piano. Her fingers moved gracefully across the keys. (Sekaiichi Hatsukoi OST 1 track 15 is what she is playing)

She was wearing something that was very similar to her school uniform except it was zapped of color, long black socks, a black skirt, a white blouse, and grey sweater. She was even had her hair in a small bun. She almost looked like she was going to a funeral, at least in school she looked a little bit more comfortable. Which should be the opposite.

As he got closer he noticed that she was still pale and would just like to take a break. So he thought it should be right now.

"Rika?" He caught her attention as she nearly jumped ten feet in the air.

"Masa-kun? What are you doing here? I never gave you my address." She asked. He got good a look into her eyes for once and he didn't like what he saw. Her bags were bigger, the white of her eyes were red and they were about soulless as the maid that let him in, but there was a tiny sparkle.

"I wanted to give you your birthday present, but you weren't at school. So I asked your friends if I could get your address." He explained.

"O-oh. Thank you." She said as he took a seat next to her on the bench, causing her to blush.

"You know, I was a bit confused."

"Huh? How?"

"I saw your name on the check out cards, and your family name plate. Both are different. Care to explain?"

"Ahh! Um- well, I did that- because," He saw her begin to sweat a bit, he felt a bit bad for putting pressure on her since she was sick, but he wanted answers. "*sigh* I did that because I didn't want you to think I was creepy, a snobby rich girl checking out the same books as you, would had made me look like stalker." She explained.

"That only works if you use a different name each time, idiot." He said. Rika would had said something back, but he was right, she was an idiot.

"Look, I'll let it slide, but please no more lies." He compromised, he could call himself an idiot, but he loved her.

"Hai!" She smiled and all of her embarrassment went away in a second.

He took the opportunity to rake out the black box, though with all the money she has, he thought she may think of him as cheap.

"I know It's not much, but Happy Birthday." He said as he passed her the box.

Rika opened the box to reveal a cherry blossom hair clip. The single cherry blossom changed from white to pink. Even though it was cheap, she loved it none the less.

"I know it's not much, but-"

"I love it!" She declared right away. He just smiled and took the hair pin out of the box and slid it right into her hair. She blush a little when he did that and gave a tiny smile. The cherry blossom brought back a little color that she needed. He noticed that even though her eyes were still dull they were slowly coming back to life.

"You know, I still have to practice a bit more, but you're more than welcome to stay. You don't have to, my mother can be pretty demanding, so…"

"I would love to hear you play." He said. She smiled a bit before switching her sheet music to a different song. Once she found one she liked she began to play a more upbeat tune. (Sekaiichi Hatsukoi OST 2 track 5)

Masamune began to lean on her shoulder and closed his eyes as he listened to Rika play. Both thought that this was one of their peaceful moments that they would have. Little did they know is that they were very right.

Disclaimer: We don't own the story nor the music choices Rika was playing