Hina was quite cute. Her short orange hair along with her cheerful personality. Many of her classmates loved her. She was also very kind- the complete opposite of Miss Sakurai.

To put it in simpler terms, Hina was like the sun; bright, while Miss Sakurai was more like the moon- or maybe even the night sky; dark and cold.

A normal male would be overjoyed to date Hina, but it seems... Kiriyu isn't what you call a 'normal male'. Well, of course, he isn't. To date the demon teacher, how can one be normal if one does that? Sure, she isn't actually a devil, but at the time, it was only a gut feeling; he had no real way to prove she was a good person. Only after they started going out did he realize her true personality.

The very second he noticed the hand- Hina's hand, he immediately swiped his hand away, his face filled with discomfort. It felt like it would be wrong if he held her hand.

Hina turned her head up at him and saw his expression. Her expression also changes- her eyes widen and her mouth is left hanging.

She swallow's and looks down at the floor, sad. 

"I-I'm sorry..." She says, softly.

"A-ah, no... I..." He looks away. 

Hina was vividly hurt because of what he'd done. 

Back when they were kids, no matter where they'd go, as long as they were together, one of their hands would always be occupied- because they were being held by the others.

What happened to those times? Did aging change all of those happy memories? 

Scratch 'sad', Hina was on verge of crying. If that's the case, then she wishes she never aged at all.

It's not like Kiriyu hates the idea of holding her hand, specifically. Even if it was someone else- he would still have done the same. As long as it wasn't Miss Sakurai, that is.

The two stood there for a while. Many people walked passed them, some stared, wondering what happened, others didn't.

Eventually, the two continued their walk, silently.

Everything was ruined. She'd really done it now. A slight feeling of being hated swarms inside her- it felt like he was gonna hate her. She didn't want that. 

She'd just wanted to hang out with him like in the old days, she wanted to make happy memories with him as they'd done before, she just wanted to spend some more time with him. All she wanted was to be beside him. Was that so wrong? Was it wrong for her to think like that?

Was it wrong for her to act and think like a 'normal girl'? Was it for wrong for her to be one? Was it wrong for her to want to be with a 'normal boy'? What she got wrong was that he wasn't exactly normal. He was dense, he wasn't very smart, he was dating his own teacher! The only things he got going for him were his strength and his looks. His personality was pretty alright- though, to Hina he was perfect.

From a normal person's view, he was a little above an average male; like 7 or 8 or something, but to Hina, Kiriyu was a perfect 10- no, scratch that, a 12 out 10.

He always protected her when she was in trouble. Time and time again. 

She'd get bullied and almost immediately, he'd be there- almost as if he was stalking her. Though, there was no way he really did. She really believed that, and of course, she was correct. Kiriyu really didn't stalk her, He just happened to be there, somehow.

One could even say something connected the two together, maybe a string even. Unfortunately, it wasn't the special 'red string of fate' that she was hoping for. It could have been yellow: representing happiness. Maybe there really was that red string of fate when they were younger, maybe Kiriyu just cut it in half. If so, everything she wanted was ruined by that teacher of her: Miss Sakurai.

Because of her, Kiriyu is like this. He's different. He's not... him. He is, but he isn't. He's different. 

Without them realizing it themselves, the distance between them increased, both physically and mentally. 

This isn't how I want this day to go. Hina tells herself, gradually becoming sadder and sadder. 

Even if it was true that Miss Sakurai destroyed everything, she wanted to have fun with him one last time. While it would be great to have many more chances after this, Hina knew that it would be hard. She had to threaten him to get this 'date', to get another chance, will be much more difficult.

"I'm sorry about earlier, Kazu," She smiles wryly.

"Oh, ah, it's alright," That really surprised him.

He was just thinking about what she was apologizing for; attempting to hold her hand. Why would she do that? It probably wasn't an accident. 

Just as Kiriyu was about to dig further into this incident, Hina steps ahead of him and stands there, right in front of him. 

Hina was reluctant to do what she was about to do, but she knew she had to do it. There's no way she'll waste a day like this. There's no way she'll waste this last chance of hers.

'Have confidence in yourself!' She remembered the words Kiriyu once said to her in the past. She giggled inwardly as she remembered them. He probably didn't even know what those words meant. He was quite young after all. Even Hina, whom was quite smart hadn't fully understood what it meant at the time- she does now though.

Hina takes in a small breath and sticks out her pinky finger as if she was arranging a pinky promise.

Kiriyu stares at her, blankly, unsure what her intentions were.

She didn't move, her finger was still out. It's been a couple of seconds already. Hina was already starting to feel embarrassed. It almost felt like she was about to be rejected, again. 'Be strong!' Another thing Kiriyu told her. Those words got of rid of that embarrassment that was slowly making it's way through her body. Her face went from beat red back to normal; white.

After another 2-3 seconds, Kiriyu half-understood what she was trying to say; connect the pinkies, though, he doesn't remember making any promises with her, or anything that would require a promise.

He connects their pinkies and then Hina brings their hands down to waist level.

"This..." She starts. "...Should be alright, right?" She finishes, tilting her head to the side.