After the dinner had finished, Takei proposed that he and Akari go out to a certain place while his grandparents head home ahead of them.

Akihiko and Ayame looked at each other and nodded with an impish smile on their faces that implied that they knew exactly what Takei was going to do.

Takei and Akari split up from them in front of the restaurant, with Takei grabbing Akari's hand and bringing her along to the place he had in mind.

"Would you like to inform me where we are going?" Akari cutely asked.

Takei shook his head in response. "It's a secret, so please bear with me. It'll be worth it."

Since walking all the way there would've taken an extremely long time, Takei called for a cab to take them to their destination.

Approximately 15 minutes later, they exited the cab at the foot of a hill that overlooked the small town with a large clearing to gaze upon the night sky without interruption.

Due to Akari being in high heels for the expensive and classy restaurant, Takei ended up carrying her up the not-so-steep hill.

"I'm not too heavy, am I?" Akari worriedly asked.

"It's okay, you're as light as a feather," Takei valiantly stated.

Akari wasn't literally as light as a feather, but Takei's exercise and muscle training had paid off and granted him the necessary strength to carry her without a sweat.

The old Takei definitely would've had trouble carrying a teenage girl all the way up a hill.

Once they were finally up the hill, Takei let Akari back down to the ground.

"We're here," Takei said. "Please have a glance at your surroundings and give me your honest opinion."

Doing as instructed, Akari looked over the small town that occupied this small area of the Earth.

She found it hard to understand that all those small dots and specks were actual living people walking about and living their lives.

From her bird's eye view, it felt as if she was a goddess looking down upon some mortals.

It wasn't from a negative or arrogant standpoint, rather, Akari was quite content with seeing all of them enjoy life to its fullest.

Each one of them had their story to tell, which made every individual unique and different to everyone else.

Under the divine rays of the moon light, she felt as if the moon was blessing everyone's will to live and enjoy life.

Even the stars were sparkling, which couldn't mean anything other than their continued support of the human race prospering and living happy lives.

"It's so amazing," Akari murmured. "Everyone's giving it their all."

"That's exactly what I was thinking," Takei smiled. "I came here often when I was little to clear my mind. Seeing all of those people giving their all helped me want to give it my all too. Back then, and now. That's why..."

Getting on one knee, Takei held out a black box in front of him.

Opening it with one hand, there were two matching silver rings inside of the small black box.

Akari was shocked to see Takei getting into a proposing stance, but was beyond elated to see what he was holding.

The two matching promise rings were something that had Akari's eyes sparkling.

"Akari," Takei began. "I love you so much. My heart beats like crazy whenever I see you. I have trouble suppressing my desire to spoil you rotten when I see you. I know that we haven't been dating for too long, but I can't see myself with anyone else. I can't love anyone else besides you and you alone!"

Seeing Takei get so passionate about his love for her made Akari immensely blush and smile like crazy.

"That's why I want to have you to myself. I don't want you to belong to anyone else. It's an ugly desire, I know, but it's one that's born from my love for you," Takei stated. "I know this isn't exactly a proposal or an expensive ring, but please accept this promise ring in the meantime. I promise you that I will get you a real ring when the real deal happens."

With bated breath, Takei looked up at Akari and hoped for the best.

Akari gingerly took the ring from the black box and looked at him with an expression beyond what could be considered a girlfriend's expression.

It wasn't just mere adolescent love in Akari's eyes, it was a forever type of love that would never die no matter the circumstances.

That's why Akari didn't have a girlfriend's expression, rather, she had an expression of a soulmate looking at their destined partner.

"Will you do me the honors of putting the ring on me?" Akari shyly asked.

"It will be my pleasure," Takei agreed, without a hint of hesitation.

Takei grabbed the ring from Akari and placed it on her ring finger.

In exchange, Akari did the same for him by placing the other promise ring on his ring finger.

Now that both of them were wearing matching rings, they happily looked at each other with bright expressions on their faces.

"Hehe, we match," Akari giggled.

Takei chuckled when he heard Akari say such a cute thing. "Yep, we do match. A little bit too well."

With promise rings worn by both parties, they could no longer be considered just boyfriend and girlfriend.

They were now officially a step ahead of just dating and were now approaching a more serious stage.

"I'm so happy and blessed to have you as my boyfriend," Akari blushed. "Takei, I love you so much."

With the mood as it is, their bodies naturally got closer and closer to the point where they were now less than an inch away from each other.

Just as their bodies got closer, so did their lips.

Without any reserve, Takei and Akari locked lips with each other and enjoyed the sweetness and warmth that the other provided.

Grasping each other's hands while interlocking lips, the two felt as if they were connected with one another.

After what seemed like forever, they let go of each other's lips and began to gasp for air.

"Haaah... Haah... Hah..."

Once their oxygen levels were stabilized, Takei and Akari looked at each other in the eye and smiled.

"Let's go home, shall we?"

"Yeah, to the place where we belong."

Grasping each other's hands once more, Takei and Akari steadily trekked forward to a beautiful future that held a myriad of possibilities for them.

—

New Idiot Couple Meter: 94 -> 100%

Promise rings! We're just that much closer to the marriage arc! (Disclaimer: I have no idea when that is going to be)

Serious-san: Yahoo!

Sugar-chan: Banzai! Banzai!

A/N: Afterword will be released when I got some time