In just two days, the news of Ayano-senpai and I started to date each other was spread around the entire school. I guess it was obvious since I always went to look for her at her classroom during lunchtime and after school is over just to see her being flustered.

   ‘We don’t have any appointment today either, right?’ I ask Nagano after the school ends on the third day.

   ‘No, we don’t.’ she confirms.

   That’s right. Against my will, the Love Consultation Club is still not disbanded even though my wish has been revoked. Well, I guess I could help out every once in a while, but I told the that my schedule will be tighter now.

   I sigh in relief. ‘Good. And I’m off from my part-time work too. That means I can go home right away.’

   ‘You’re just going on a date with Iseri-senpai again, aren’t you?’ she teases.

   ‘Yup.’ I tell her honestly.

   ‘Aww, where’s the fun in teasing you if you’re not going to be flustered about it?’

   ‘It’s not like there’s anything worth flustering about.’

   Kanae who overheard us puffs up her cheeks.

   ‘I still think you should have been together with Suzu-chan.’ she grumbles.

   ‘For the last time, Kanae. There’s nothing going onwith Suzu and I.’ I tell her.

   ‘Yup yup, we’re just friends~.’ Suzu agrees.

   ‘Now where am I going to look for inspirations to draw my romance mangas?’

   ‘Um, yourself? You got back with your boyfriend, remember?’ I remind her.

   That immediately brightens her up.

   ‘Oh, that’s right!’

   Yup, all those couples who were still broke up with each other got back together again since my wish is gone now. At least, most of them are. From what I heard, Shimada-sensei’s fiancee is still in jail for tricking her and multiple other vulnerable women.

   ‘In any case, I’m leaving now.’ I tell the girls.

   ‘See you tomorrow, Takkun~.’

   ‘Have fun on your date.’

   When I got to the classroom of the third years, one of Iseri-senpai’s friend was about to leave the classroom with her bag on her hand. She smiles excitedly the moment she sees me.

   ‘Hello there. Are you looking for someone?’ she asks me on purpose.

   ‘Is Ayano-senpai still inside?’

   ‘Yes she is. Hold on, I’ll call her right now.’

   She dives into the classroom like a missile.

   ‘HEY AYANO, YOUR BOYFRIEND IS HERE! AND HE CALLED YOU AYANO AGAIN!’ she says loudly.

   ‘Oh, that Takuya…’ I hear Ayano-senpai’s groaning all the way from here.

   ‘Come on Ayano, don’t keep him waiting!’

   ‘Exactly! And remember to be all lovey-dovey again!’

   I peep inside the classroom through the entrance. Ayano-senpai is being surrounded by her friends, who seem to be having the time of their life. She notices me and shoots me a ‘I’m so going to kill you later’ glare.

   ‘I’ll be seeing you girls tomorrow.’ she says to them before walking towards me.

   ‘Sure, have fun!’

   ‘Remember to tell us all the juicy romantic things the two of you did when we meet tomorrow!’

   ‘Hello there, Ayano-senpai.’ I greet her nonchalantly.

   She ignores me and walks right past me. I shrug and follow her from behind. We walk in silence for a while until we reach the secluded part of the courtyard. After making sure that no one is around, she puts down her bag and grabs my collar with both her hands.

   ‘Why, oh why do you insist on coming to my classroom and calling me Ayano in front of my friends even though I told you not to do them?’ she demands while shaking me vigorously.

   ‘Cause it’s fun seeing you being troubled.’

   She shakes me even more vigorously.

   ‘Urgh, why do I end up falling for a sadist like you?’

   ‘Senpai, I hate to interrupt your shaking, but you’re garnering attention.’

   She gasps and looks around. Some students are passing by the courtyard, and they’re staring right at us. She immediately let goes of me and picks up her bag.

   ‘...We’re leaving.’ she tells me while trying to be as calm as possible.

   ‘Right behind you.’

   Even though I said that, I begin to walk right next to her since I want to hold her hand.

   ‘May I hold your hand, senpai?’ I ask.

   ‘Why are you asking me? You can just go for it, you know?’ she tells me while blushing.

   ‘The last time I tried to hold you hand without giving you a heads-up, you were really freaked out.’ I remind her.

   She averts her eyes guiltily.

   ‘I-I’m sorry about that, okay? Just do it. I won’t freak out this time.’

   I slowly reach out my right hand towards her left.

   ‘My hand is just a few inches away from yours.’ I report.

   ‘Just get on with it.’

   ‘Now they’re less than an inch apart.’

   ‘Knock it off with the report already!’

   And our hands are connected.

   ‘Well, what do you know? You didn’t freak out this time.’

   ‘Of course not. I’m always improving.’ she tells me smugly.

   ‘Well, let’s go one step further, then.’

   She stops walking so abruptly I was pulled back since we were still holding hands. Naturally, her face is red again.

   ‘What exactly do you have in mind?’ she demands.

   ‘Why, holding hands while we’re walking around in public, of course. What kind of lewd things were you imagining?’ I ask innocently.

   She glares at me while gritting her teeth. I wait patiently until she starts to calm down.

   ‘...How about next Saturday? I have something that I need to buy near here.’ she tells me eventually.

   ‘I’ll try to take an off day, then.’

   ‘As for today, can you stop by for a bit? I have more bread that I need you to try.’

   ‘Sure. I’m off today anyway.’

   ‘Good.’

   When we reach Bittersweet Loaf, we find Gouda-san chatting leisurely with a couple of housewives. The eyes of the housewives lit up immediately the moment they see us.

   ‘Oh hello there, Ayano-chan.’ one of them greets with a huge smile on their face.

   ‘Good evening Gouda-san. And the two of you.’ Ayano-senpai greets the three of them formally.

   As for me, all I did was nod. I don’t work here, so I don’t have to be courteous.

   ‘Look at you, having a boyfriend now. Spring must have came earlier for you.’ a second one says.

   ‘I brought Takuya here to test out my new bread again.’ Ayano-senpai tells Gouda-san while doing her best to be polite.

   ‘That’s no problem at all. Please makes yourself at home, Bandou-kun.’ the owner of the bakery says.

   ‘Thank you, Gouda-san.’

   Ayano-senpai and I go inside the kitchen silently, with the three of them chatting as loudly as ever.

   ‘I’m so envious of you, Gouda-san! To think you get to witness that young couple being all lovey-dovey with each other!’ I hear the second housewife says without being bothered to lower down her volume.

   ‘I’m glad too. I mean, my own love luck suck, but a least I get to witness one between two people I trust a lot.’ Gouda-san laughs.

   ‘That Gouda-san should really get back to work instead of chatting away like that.’ Ayano-senpai grumbles softly.

   ‘Well, he most probably will once Miura-san comes back.’

   ‘Either way, I’m going to snitch on him to her for having so much fun on our expense.’

   For those of you who have forgotten, Bittersweet Loaf used to belong to Miura Ichiko-san, who was renowned as a talented baker. After I made my wish, she has disappeared and left the bakery to Gouda-san. One day after my wish was canceled, Gouda-san received a call from her. Apparently, she had been in India to have her cancer cured. She didn’t tell him since she didn’t want to worry him. When she contacted him again, her cancer was cured, and she can return to Japan next week. Now that I think about it, the two of them were somehow going out, or there’s no way my wish would have affected them. In any case, I’m happy for the two of them.

   While waiting for senpai to be done with her thing, I think up of a topic to talk to her with. I made the mistake of choosing to talk about JJBA since we got quite into a heated argument about who’s the best Jojo in the series.

   ‘It’s obviously Jonathan. He’s the only decent one among them. And to top it all off, he was the original Jojo.’ I tell her.

   ‘No no no. It’s obviously Joseph.’ she disagrees. ‘Sure, he was all old and withered in Part 4, but overall he was the coolest one.’

   ‘Well, he’s a jerk!’

   ‘And Jonathan couldn’t do a thing about Dio even when he was still a human!’

   In the end, we agreed to stop talking about this topic or anything related to JJBA at all before it ruins our relationship. It’s simply not worth it.

   ‘Say, when’s your birthday?’ she asks me all of a sudden.

   ‘Next month. On August 8.’

   ‘Oh, a double 8 I see.’

   ‘As if that actually means something. Why the sudden question?’

   ‘It’s not really sudden, is it? We barely know anything about each other even though we’re a couple.’ she reminds me.

   ‘True. I guess we can start now. When’s your birthday, senpai?’

   ‘November 15th.’

   ‘That’s quite a while away.’ I note.

   ‘I know. That means you have plenty of time to think what to give me for my birthday present.’

   ‘Oh, does that mean that you’ve already thought up mine?’

   She averts her eyes guiltily.

   ‘Um, not really.’

   ‘Well, you could always go for the “Your present is me.” thing while wrapping yourself in ribbons.’ I suggest in order to make things easier for her.

   Her face became the brightest shade of red at once.

   ‘What kind of lewd thing are you asking from your girlfriend?’ she demands.

   ‘I was just kidding, senpai.’

   ‘You sure didn’t sound like you were kidding!’

   Even though she said all that, she has the look of someone deep in thought. She’s definitely thinking about doing it for real. I kept quiet just in case. In any case, the date during Saturday comes first.

   We agreed to meet up in front of the train station at nine in the morning. I arrived at 8.30. At 8.45, Ayano-senpai arrives at our meeting spot too.

   ‘Have you waited for long?’ she asks the moment she sees me.

   ‘Do I lie to you, or give you an honest answer?’ I ask innocently.

   She gives me a look.

   ‘I just got here myself.’ I tell her.

   That satisfied her.

   ‘I do feel bad for being slightly late though.’

   ‘Late? You’re early too.’

   ‘I would have been earlier, but two guys tried to hit on me when I was on my way here.’

   I felt something snap inside me.

   ‘Do you remember what they look like, senpai?’ I ask her as calmly as I could.

   ‘Um, why do you want to know that?’

   ‘Isn’t it obvious? I’m going to give them a lesson for daring to hit on my girlfriend.’ I reply while cracking my fist.

   ‘Wait wait wait, those were college students.’ she tries her best to stop me.

   ‘No need to worry about me, senpai. I’ve been practicing Muay Thai for almost a decade now. I have lots of experience in street fights too.’ I inform her.

   ‘Now I’m worried for their safety. Just calm down and let it go, okay?’

   ‘...Okay.’

   ‘Now promise me that you won’t at any point of the date run off by yourself to search for them.’

   Drat. Did she read my thought or something? Is she a psychic?

   ‘I promise.’

   ‘Good. Now let’s get this date started.’

   We link arms, and I let senpai guide me to wherever that we’re going.

   ‘By the way, where are we going?’ I ask her.

   ‘To a bookstore. There’s a new recipe book that I want to buy.’

   ‘Um, senpai? This is the modern era where online shopping is a thing.’

   She develops a sudden interest at the ground.

   ‘I, um, I’m not really good with computers.’ she confesses.

   ‘Isn’t there anyone in your family who’s tech-savvy?’

   ‘Not at all. My parents are bad at technologies in general too. I’m slightly better since I can at least use a smartphone properly.’

   ‘Do you want me to come over one day and teach your entire family on at least the basics?’ I offer.

   ‘Nah, it’s fine. Besides, my father is too prideful to have a boy far younger than him teaching him about technology-’

   She pauses.

   ‘Did you just casually asked to meet my parents?’ she demands.

   ‘I did. Is that bad?’

   ‘Well, it’s not bad, but isn’t it too early? I need some more time to make mental preparation, you know?’

   ‘Senpai, this kind of thing is better handled with a “Well, let’s get this over with” attitude. The longer you drag it on, the harder it’s going to be.’ I advise.

   ‘Easy for you to say…’

   ‘Honestly, you should be glad that we’re only doing this once instead of the usual twice like every other normal couple.’

   She looks at me blankly as if she doesn’t know what I’m talking about. Then she finally remembered the conversation we had when my parents were brought up.

   ‘I’m sure you’ll make up with your parents in the future.’ she says optimistically.

   ‘...Maybe.’

   In all honesty, I don’t want to have anythign to do with them for the rest of my life. However, I don’t want to start an argument with senpai. That’s why I ended the conversation there and then.

   We soon reach the bookstore, and we search for the section where they display all the cookbooks. Senpai gets to searching at once.

   ‘So, what kind of cookbook are you searching for?’ I ask her since I want to help her look.

   ‘I want to look for those with French pastries.’

   ‘Are you trying to make different variations of French bread?’

   She rolls her eyes in annoyance.

   ‘Seriously, is French baguette the only thing you can think of when it comes to French pastries?’ she asks.

   ‘Pretty much.’

   ‘You and my parents probably share the same wavelength.’

   ‘Isn’t that a good thing? That mean we would get along.’

   ‘It’s not good if there’s one more person to give me headache.’

   Soon, I find a book which fits her criteria. I pass it to her so that she could inspect the content. She flips through the pages silently for a while.

   ‘This is what I needed.’ she concludes.

   ‘Good for you. Will it be sufficient or will you need more?’

   ‘One’s fine for now. I mean, there’s enough recipes in here.’

   ‘How many pages of them were dedicated to French baguette?’

   She rolls her eyes again.

   ‘Enough with the French baguette. Now come on, I’m going to pay for this.’

   After she did that, the two of us left the bookstore.

   ‘So, what are we going to do now?’ I ask her.

   ‘Isn’t it your job to come up with the schedule as the boyfriend?’

   ‘Normally, I would totally agree with you. However, this date was initiated by you, remember?’

   She freezes for a few seconds. She then looks at me apologetically.

   ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t think this through.’

   ‘Well, it’s fine. I thought that would be the case, so I came up with a plan for us.’

   She lets out a sigh of relief.

   ‘I’m so glad to hear it. So, what are we going to do now?’

   ‘First of all, we’re going to find ourselves a coffee shop or something.’

   ‘And then?’

   ‘We’ll sit down and exchange our hobbies, favorite past time and other things worth mentioning.’

   She furrows her eyebrows.

   ‘...What?’

   ‘I mean, you mentioned that we barely knew anything about each other. We should correct that the moment we have the chance.’

   ‘I guess that makes sense.’ she agrees.

   There was a fancy looking cake shop a few blocks away from the bookstore, so that where we’ve decided to enter. Once we’re given a seat, the waitress hands us a menu each and leave us so that we could read it in peace.

   ‘Are you actually going to get anything from here?’ senpai asks me.

   ‘We’re obliged to, right? So I’ll at least get a glass of iced chocolate or something.’

   ‘Good. That means you can have half a slice of cake that I order.’

   ‘Why aren’t you eating a whole slice of it yourself?’

   ‘Because I care about calories.’

   ‘Senpai, it’s just a single slice of cake.’

   ‘Listen here, Takuya. If you keep thinking “It’s just one slice” or “I’ll start diet once I’m done with all these”, you’ll become fat in no time.’

   ‘And yet you still want to eat some cake no matter the amount.’

   ‘...Girls are complicated that way, okay?’

   ‘Okay, okay. Please go ahead and order.’

   She ordered a slice of chocolate cake and a cup of coffee. I ordered a glass of iced chocolate.

   ‘So, what do you usually do to pass the time? Other than baking, that is.’ I ask her while we wait for our orders to arrive.

   ‘Well, I love to go to theme parks and get on rides.’

   ‘Ah. Figures.’

   ‘And you?’

   ‘Playing video games, cooking, just sitting there and do nothing.’

   ‘...The first two aside, what’s with the last one?’

   ‘It’s called relaxing, senpai. It’s similar to meditating, in a fashion.’

   ‘I’ve heard that boys could go hours without doing nor thinking anything. Looks like it was true.’

   ‘You bet it is.’

   And that’s how we spent the rest of the afternoon, just chatting and get to know each other better. You can’t really call this a date, but who cares?

   For the first few months, we were really happy. We constantly went on dates, we generally refused to separate from each other. And then the day arrived. The day when senpai decided to go to France.