Disclaimer: I really don't want this story to end, but it had to at some point. For those of you who wanted more... Ta-dah?

I Still Don't Understand Why You're All Obsessed With Balls

OMAKE: The Land of Embarassment and Breakfast (1)

"Senpai it's three in the afternoon, I've got a group project that I've still got to research for – please hang u-" (2)

"Kise, I am lost in the middle of nowhere, I've got no idea where I'm supposed to go, and people are giving me looks," Kasamatsu snapped down the phone; the hand not holding the aforementioned tightened around the strap of his backpack. Familiar Japanese rolling off his tongue was a welcome respite from the English everywhere.

Was this what Ria felt like at first? He wondered.

Near the end of his first semester at University, Kasamatsu Yukio had been offered the chance to study abroad. Keeping in touch with Ria over the his first year and her last year in high school – with both of them emailing each other frequently with music recommendations – Yukio had felt something within him start to surface.

What he'd felt that day in the café hadn't changed – but it also hadn't progressed.

Maybe because it hadn't had the opportunity to.

It was difficult to express your feelings through a webcam.

Or emails.

Or to someone half the world away.

Ria had told him that she would be moving from the eastern coast of England to the west, in order to study at the university of her choice. Surprise surprise, she was to be an undergraduate student in the Linguistics Department there come October. Yukio's own university back in Tokyo had pressed the prestige of studying abroad to students, and the glamour of knowing another country's language and customs ('Good for business', they'd said, '"Wow" your future employers!', they'd said), but they damn well hadn't mentioned how confusing everything would be.

Conversing with Ria had really helped to whip Yukio's English into shape, but he didn't feel all that confident approaching someone randomly on the street and asking for help. The streets there weren't like those in Japan – the people walked with pride and drawn, pinched faces, and Yukio realised that this was the 'stiff upper-lip' Ria rambled on about when she was asked about British culture.

That was to say that British people weren't haughty or unhelpful, they merely carried themselves in a way that made it difficult to determine who would give the best advice.

'If you're lost, confused about something, or feel you're in danger,' Ria had begun when Kise (who Yukio had put forth as the one to pester Ria about street-smarts under the guise of him possibly being asked to model abroad) inquired, 'then it's best to approach someone unassuming outside of a policeman. Shopkeepers, Taxi Drivers or mothers with their children are your best bet. Shopkeepers will have local knowledge, Taxi Drivers have the road layouts pretty much memorised and will either direct you or drive you there, and mothers with small children are a force to be reckoned with.'

When Kise had relayed all of this to Yukio, he'd forgotten one very important thing that Ria had told him.

'Old people are either standoffish or really nosy. They'll give you their life story, y'know?'

Yukio found a free space on a bench beside the – what was it called again? English was hard. Prom-something. Promunad- no. Prominade? That was it right? Prominade?

"Senpai, please. I'm seeing squiggles. At this point I'm sure I'm only running because of energy drinks, highlighter fumes, and spite," Kise moped, his voice crackling through the line.

Yukio's bushy eyebrows dipped in concern. "Fine. Good luck with your project. Eat something healthy, have a nap, and stop drinking that stuff – it'll rot your insides."

"Yes, yes, Okaa-San."

The call disconnected almost instantly, and Yukio stared down at his phone in disbelief. Rude, he thought, and placed the device back into his coat pocket.

"Are you alright there love?" Croaked a voice to Yukio's left. He started and swivelled slightly in that direction.

Beside him sat an elderly lady; her hair was cropped to her ears and set into gentle curls – they held a felt pinkish tinge, perhaps from the rinse the perm they had been placed in had caused this. Her skin, though fairer than his own, looked as though it were baked by the sun itself; freckles and sunspots were dotted about the wrinkles and folds on her exposed hands, her face, and her neck.

"A-ah, I think so?" Yukio replied shakily. "I am bit lost?"

"Ooh," the woman crooned. "Where do you need to be?"

"T-the University?"

"Oh I know that place," the woman said, nodding sagely but offering no directions.

The elderly man on her other side snorted. "He wants directions love."

(What was with everyone calling each other and Yukio 'Ruv-vu'? He was beginning to feel uncomfortable with all this affection…)

"I know that too, Harold. I'm just trying to make conversation," the woman snipped back.

The man – Harold – shook his head. He folded over the top of the newspaper spread across his lap to peer at Yukio. "It's about fifteen minutes in that direction. You can't miss it because there's signs everywhere."

Yukio stood, brushing off the backs of his trousers. "Ah, sankyou!"

Harold harrumphed.

True to the elderly man's words, Yukio followed the street signs to the university campus. Hopefully he'd catch a member of staff who could direct him to where he needed to be. Yukio hadn't actually told Ria about his most (for one semester) to the UK, so he also hoped that he didn't bump into her just yet either.

She'd come all the way to Japan – to study, but still – and now it was time for him to return the favour. Somehow, he had a feeling that once she graduated she'd move overseas anyway, but that was a way off yet and the webcam didn't do any justice and –

Yukio flushed slightly and shook his head.

He just wanted to see her in person again, and unless he got his act together and found the meeting place for international students – the sole reason he'd flown in on this day, because they were to be assigned a 'buddy' for the duration of their time at the university – he'd probably struggle to ever navigate around the place, let alone meet Ria again.

What if he'd got the wrong university?

Yukio felt dread pool into his gut.

"Whoah, you okay there mate?"

('Mate'?)

"I think so?" Yukio replied shakily to a sandy-white haired chap adjacent to where he stood. "I need to meet with other international students?"

"Oh cool, I'm actually on my way there now if you want to follow me? My name's Tom by the way."

"I am Yukio."

"You-Key-Oh?"

"Yukio, yes."

"Noice."

"San…kyou?"

"Don't know about you," Tom said as they wandered out of the theatre where the buddy-system lecture had been held, "But I'm starving."

Yukio felt his own stomach growl.

"That settles it," Tom clapped his hands together. "Breakfast time."

Tom led him to a small eatery on campus. It was clean, but a little worn around the edges; considering it wasn't part of a chain of businesses, Yukio wasn't surprised. The servers were polite and pleasant though, and they didn't mind at all when Yukio dithered about reading the menu.

"I don't…" Yukio said lamely, looking at the vast option. Tom nudged him in the ribs, murmuring a soft inquiry as to whether he had a healthy appetite. "Er, yes?"

"Brilliant," Tom beamed, nodding to the cashier and pulling out his wallet. "Two full English and a pot of tea, please."

Tom led a bewildered Yukio over to table close by to the eatery's wide, slightly steamed-up windows, refusing the international student's pleas about 'paying him back'. "It's no trouble mate, and anyway, I'm your buddy for this year. What kind of buddy would I be if I didn't help you out every now and again?"

Yukio pursed his lips but said no more on the matter.

"So anyway, how come you decided to study abroad?"

Smiling thinly as the server placed their breakfasts down onto the cramped table, Yukio glanced over to Tom as he chugged down his cup of tea – gasping as he finally came up for air. "When I was in high school there was exchange student. She was from Britain – her name is Ria."

Tom, who'd begun to tuck into his breakfast, choked onto the mouthful he'd just started to chew. He thumped at his chest with his fist; Yukio waited patiently for him to swallow his food, knowing that Tom surely had something to say.

He wasn't wrong.

"You're telling me you chose to study abroad because of some bird? Don't tell me – you're in love with her or something?"

"I am."

Tom blinked.

Yukio blinked. (He was honestly surprised he'd answered with that. His face and neck were reddening at an alarming rate.)

"Bloody hell…" Tom breathed, sounding giddy. A laugh wheezed out of his mouth. "Bloody hell, you're being serious-"

Yukio picked up his cutlery and began to eat.

"Jesus Christ, this is some movie bullshit."

Yukio hummed contemplatively around a mouthful of sausage and beans.

Tom, shaking off his initial shock, leant across the table. "Tell me more."

"Her name is Ria Robinson," Yukio complied. "She is blonde, a little shorter than me. She likes languages and music." Tom looked mystified, his eyes glazing over slightly at the absurdity of it all; to him, Yukio had set out on a fool's errand. "I play guitar, we bonded over knee socks."

"Nope, you've lost me again mate."

"Ria-Chi, it's useless. He's refusing to do what I suggest. He keeps waking me up at two in the morning, please just put me out of my misery already."

The first week of term was hectic, and outside of trying to find his way to classes, studying, paying off accommodation bills, regular buddy meetings with Tom, unpacking, and the horror that was grocery shopping, Yukio had little time to even email Ria let alone go out and find her. Tom had assured him that he'd ask around for a Fresher by that name but had so far found nothing.

Kise was a little more sympathetic (whenever he answered Yukio's calls), but only because he was finally free from high school commitments for the moment.

"Senpai, just message her already, please." If Yukio strained his ears, he was pretty sure he could hear Kise pouting on the other end of the phone. "It's midday here, how are you even awake right now?" (3)

Yukio was pretty sure he was still running by Japanese time. He'd not got around to adjusting his wristwatch yet either, so that didn't help matters.

The search for Ria was lacking enthusiasm and any fresh leads to her whereabouts, and Yukio toyed with just emailing the girl to end the torment. Then he realised, instead of trying to go it alone, that he should have done that in the first place. Convoluted plans were a distraction and doomed to fail, so why was he sat there thinking like Kise or something? Yukio was smarter than this.

Across from him in the same eatery they first went to, Tom slapped his hand onto the table. "Have you got a picture of her mate? Maybe we could show some people. Martha from my flat knows just about every Fresher from this year – she's a rep too, so she's likely to have come across her."

Yukio quickly scrabbled for his phone.

The tiny bell attached to the café's entrance, which alerted the staff to the arrival of customers, sounded off with a gentle tinkle. The slap of rubber soled shoes sped past where the two were sat towards the front counter. Every other step, the one of the rubber soles would squeak against the lino flooring, setting Yukio's teeth on edge.

"Here," Yukio gestured to the image displayed on his phone. He'd taken a photo of Ria and himself shortly before she had to leave. The pattern of her knee socks was still fresh in his mind.

Wordlessly, Tom pointed to the figure stood by the counter.

"Ria?!"

With much exaggeration, Ria turned to face him. She slapped both of her hands comically to her face, as though she were in genuine shock. "Yukio-Senpai?" She crooned, cocking her head to the side cutely.

Fortunately, she was distracted by the return of a member of staff sliding a polystyrene cup of steaming hot tea towards her. Tom shoulders were shaking with barely concealed laughter at the deathly red hue of Yukio's face. Ria thanked her server, before languidly making her way over to the pair.

"You idiot, why didn't you just tell me you were coming here?" She probed.

"'Baka'?" Tom inquired.

"Idiot," Ria and Yukio replied simultaneously. Tom 'Oh'd in understanding and awkwardly excused himself to go to his next lecture. Ria slid into his newly vacated seat.

"Do you know how many times I've had an emotional Kise sobbing down the phone at me with sleep depravation so far this week? Too many times at too early o'clock. Always after he's phoned you, Yukio-Senpai," Ria pointedly stared at Yukio over the rim of her cup. Steam wafted around her freckle-dusted features and curled about her eyes in a strange dance. Yukio found himself not able to look away, despite how flushed and embarrassment he felt from being found out. "Why didn't you just message me? It would have been easier than asking every Tom, Dick, and Harry out there if they knew me."

"I know a Tom," Yukio replied nonchalantly, gesturing to the seat she currently sat in which had earlier been said Tom's. "He's my buddy."

Ria nearly snorted tea out her nose. Though Yukio couldn't tell from one glance – seeing as he wasn't psychic, omnipotent, and, frankly, hopeless when it came to women who weren't Leah Robinson – there were many things she wished to tell him.

Things such as, 'How have you been?,' 'I've missed you so much!', 'Does Takumi send you those horrible summer break pictures he took? Because I really hope you've not seen the one where it looks like I've wet myself…', and 'Do you feel the same as I do?'.

Instead, with warmth in her eyes and a smile that sent him stuttering, she settled with; "So… heard any good music lately?"

Yukio plunged right into the conversation with practiced ease.

(1) Quote from Julian Barnes: "Britain: The land of embarrassment and breakfast."

(2) If it's three PM where Kise is, then it's around seven AM where Kasamatsu is.

(3) If it's midday with Kise, then it's somewhere around four in the morning with Kasamatsu.

I swear I'm done now. It's just that this has been playing through my thoughts, so I couldn't not write it.

Thank you once again to everyone who has read, reviewed, followed, and favourited this story. It's been one hell of wild ride.

Musical Inspiration:

"Synthesize Her" - TWRP, 'Together Through Time'