With there being a mere hour before the event to begin. Everyone was understandably stressing out in their preparation for it. For the girls, it meant that their afternoon was spent with makeup, dress fitting, and a quick little rehearsal of dance before leaving for the event which was to take place at night.

Surprisingly, despite each girl’s different ‘opinion’ of the matter. The way they all got ready was not all that different. After all, this wasn’t the night to be messing things up.

Meanwhile, Kouji himself was getting ready for the ball in his own way. That being with the aid of his headmistress before they left his home.

“Thanks for coming over.” He was grateful that someone like her could help. Sure, he could’ve asked his uncle, but that man was nothing compared to the knowledge of the lady running the school. “If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t look half as good as I do now.”

“Nonsense.” She downplayed her role. “It’s the man that makes the suit, not the other way around.” The woman played a bit around with his collar. “This really brings me back, you know.”

“Were you nervous too?” He asked, thinking back on what the young Isako must’ve been like on her first night. She seemed so put together now, but surely a teen version wasn’t nearly as experienced.

“Of course I was.” She admitted. “But not as much as your mother.” She told him about how this was shortly after she had met his father. Back then, they were dumb teens who were unsure about their own feelings of themselves, let alone of each other.

So she was heavily concerned about being able to do well and prove herself to the teachers. A lot of people were watching, and her family was going to there as well. Which added a lot more to the pressure she was feelings. “It was so bad, that she honestly considered hiding away from everyone else.”

“So, how’d she survive?” Kouji never thought of his mom like that. While their time was short, he always took her as one that could handle tough things, no matter what. She was the one that made him feel comforted when he was sad. Nothing ever seemed to scare her.

“Well, I was saving this picture for until this very moment.” Isako produced from her pocket, a photo with a pair of people in it. The girl was obvious, it was his mom of course. However, he couldn’t believe the boy standing besides her.

“Dad?” How could his father be there? This was the Winter ball, of course boys shouldn’t be there. “But…”

“When she needed him the most, he came.” It was a huge surprise to her, but his father really did sneak into his event at great risk. All just so that he could be with the girl he loved on her most important night.

“…” Kouji was near speechless. He couldn’t believe how great his parent really were for each other. “I can’t…” All of this made him feel really insignificant, nowhere near being the man his father was at this age. “Why are you telling me this now?” He asked, tears forming in his eyes.

“Sadly, they can’t impart on you the lessons they learned.” She told him. “But, I promise that I won’t allow Mamiko’s and Yuku’s son to not know his own parents.”

“Is that really fair though?” He was worried that something like that would be considered a compromising emotion of his enrollment with the school.

“There’s my position to you as a headmistress.” She put her hand over his head, pulling the boy close to hers. “But, I’ve learned that you need to give people what they need to success. Regardless of who they are, or who I am to them.”

“R-right.” He said. Those words were nice, but there was something else occupying his mind at the moment. That being the lack of space between them as she talked. If there was thing about this woman that any man could see, is that she was absolutely beautiful.

“Good.” She smiled about getting her point across and finished up getting his tie straight. “Well, that should be more than enough for the graders to pass you.” Isako stood back from him, but he had one more thing to talk about before they were to leave.

“Um.” He stopped her with his nervous little word. “I, um, well I hope you didn’t let what Waa say get to you.”

“Of course I didn’t.” She was a grown woman. So it was easy to brush off the words of a teenage girl.

“Good. Because… Well, I think that you’re… More than pretty enough for a man to like you.” Well, his wording wasn’t Shakespearean levels of put together. However, It was more than enough to get her feeling bashful from hearing them.

“You do?” She was taken aback with him telling her of that fact. “Oh, um, thank you for saying that.” Expressing her gratitude wasn’t easy. Her heart felt itself pick up pace a bit, which added to the guilt she felt about it as well. “I mean, I wouldn’t think that you would say that about a woman my age.”

“I know that you’re as old as my mom would be, but it’s…” Why did she need to say that, he thought. Having to discuss his feelings further just made it harder to get the words out from his mouth. “Well, it’s no big deal to me. That’s all.”

“Right, well. I suppose age isn’t a factor yet.” Now he was regretting saying it. All Kouji wanted to do was express his gratitude for her help, as well as for telling him more about his parents. But all that happened was things got a bit awkward between them. “Anyway, the two of us need to get going. I need to get there early.” Which was obvious, since she needed to be the one leading the rest of the staff for the procedures. “We can take my car.”

“I think I’ll just walk.” That was a silly idea with what he was wearing. Especially since they spent all that time making him look presentable. However, fear of being in a car, coupled with having to spend time with her alone after what just happened was too much. Kouji was just going to accept the consequences of whatever could happen on his way to the school.

Getting to school should be safe. After all, it wasn’t like he was worried about people jumping him on the way. It was a mostly safe neighborhood and he was confident in his fighting skills, even if he hasn’t used them in years. Not to mention that taking the train was going to be a part of it, which at this time didn’t have many people taking it. In fact, when he first got on, it appeared to be an empty train car.

That’s what he thought, but a second look showed him a girl sitting on the other end all by herself. Normally, he wouldn’t think of approaching her, but this one seemed to be wearing a really nice dress. An outfit like that meant she went to the academy as well, and was going to the ball. Though, it seemed a little odd to see one on the train. Surely her parents had some limo or whatever for her to take.

Since he was confused about the whole deal, he approached the girl. However, as he got closer, he started to realize who this girl was. Which, also made him realize that he might need glasses since he apparently couldn’t tell who she was until getting much closer.

“Teru?” It had to be her. That short red hair could only belong to that girl. At least, with all the girls that could possibly also go to the same school as him. “Is that you?”

She turned her head to look at him. Their eyes met, and he knew for certain that it was her. She also recognized him, but instead of saying anything. Teru simply got up from her seat and began to walk away from him.