Hina was sitting again in front of the tea table. She had an open notebook in front of her and was making notes with a pen. Saki was sitting on the bed, avoiding making direct contact. That"s because Hina was wearing pajamas to sleep, and her legs, usually covered by her leggings, were completely exposed.

"My house is in the same direction as yours, so we can walk home together every day. And, that one street usually has no one around, so we might get to kiss once by day at least. Also, huh, we should search for a place where we can be alone at school."

"Do you really need to do that?" Saki asked, feeling her cheeks warming up.

"What? Planning? Of course! It"s important to be efficient."

"If only you would put that much effort in studying…"

Hina made a pout, looking at Saki. Ignoring her comments, she turned her attention back to the paper in front of her.

"We can meet some weekends, maybe? Oh, next weekend is Makkochi"s show, so that"s a big no! Oh yeah, we also won"t be using tongue, but that"s obvious..."

"Huh… Minoya…" Saki started to say, but Hina stopped her, moving her finger to one side and another.

"Hina," she said. "Being called Minoya by a cla.s.smate is weird."

"Hi-Hina…" Saki struggled to say it, but Hina"s response had a smile.

"Yes, Saki?"

"If it"s a place to be alone at school, I know about one."

Hina closed her notebook and sat beside Saki on the bed. The other girl moved a little away by instinct, receiving a condemning look. Yet, Hina pointed to her own lips while smiling.

"We should use this opportunity, too."

Saki put her finger on her own lips, gazing at Hina"s face. Her eyes were placed on the soft-looking pink lines that were her lips. The thoughts of their early kiss were still a mess in her head, and her heart wouldn"t stop beating as if desperate.

Looking around the room and realizing they were completely alone also helped to make her nervous. Hina looked at her, with certain impatience. Saki made mention to move in her direction, but stopped midway, freezing in her place.

With a sigh, Hina realized her partner wouldn"t be able to do it. So she herself moved in Saki"s way and joined their lips.

Saki could feel a warm softness in her own lips, and the sweet fragrance emanating from Hina"s her hair. Her body made mention of turn away, but Hina got a grip on her hand, to stop her.

After they moved away from each other, Hina looked at Saki in silence, sending a curious look.

"W-What?" Saki asked, moving slightly away.

"No… It"s just… Your lips are a little wet, so I can still feel them."

"O-Ok, that"s enough!" Saki said, standing up and ignoring Hina"s laugh.

"What are you doing?" Hina said, seeing Saki pull something from her closet.

"My bed, of course."

"What? Aren"t we going to sleep together?" Hina said while smiling and making twirls on her hair.

Saki ignored her and made her own bed on the floor. When she was ready, she lied on it and said goodnight to Hina. But the other girl sat on the bed, instead of lying down herself.

"Saki, Saki," she said, making Saki look at her. She pointed to her lips again before saying: "Goodnight kiss?"

96 kisses left

In their next school day, Saki took Hina to the place she would usually go alone to read. Saying that was perfect, Hina suggested for them to meet there at least once by day. It was usually a quiet place and no one would be around to bother them.

Of course, the kiss they shared in cla.s.s was still the school"s subject. No one took it as more than a joke, but since Saki was a target of gossips already and Hina was popular, it was inevitable that it would be a subject that lasted for weeks. But since the fact that Hina and Saki were still meeting each other was kept a secret, the gossips started to die after some time.

Aya and Sayaka were the only ones who knew about what Hina and Saki were doing, being Hina"s best friends. She told them about her times alone with Saki and about the notes she was making regarding their kisses on her smartphone. Sayaka gave her a reprimand answer but Aya just laughed, pointing out how Saki and Hina were having more kisses than she ever had with her boyfriends. "That"s why you always dump them after one week", Hina said.

Their kisses kept going daily. Mostly it was in their two safe s.p.a.ces, but sometimes it would be different. Like how they met alone in the back of the library, with Saki wondering what Hina was even doing there.

Once they met by chance in a convenience store. Hina was there with her mother and greeted Saki. When her mother looked away, Hina stole a kiss so suddenly that Saki let out a gasp. She blushed so much that Hina"s mother asked if she was okay. She could only think how kiss tasted like the chocolate flavored ice cream that Hina was eating.

During physical education in the pool, Hina pulled Saki underwater to kiss her there. When Saki asked for the reason for that, Hina just shrugged it off saying she was curious to know how it would feel.

Little by little, Saki started to get used to that routine. And she started to look forward to her school days, which was a new feeling for her.

51 kisses left

It was on a certain Sunday in which Saki was alone in her room reading a book. All that came to her mind was the memory of her kisses with Hina and a anxiety for the next day to come. She didn"t keep a list like Hina, and she was embarra.s.sed to ask, but she thought that wouldn"t last much. The whole anxiety didn"t let her concentrate on her book, so she gave up, closed it and decided she should get some air.

She ended up wandering around downtown without knowing what she would do as if just wanting to kill time. It was a nice day, so she had come out in her jean shorts and a blue shirt. She was starting to think that was stupid and planning to go home when a voice called out to her.

"Saki!"

Her heart skipped a beat while she looked behind to a smiling Hina who came running towards her wearing pleated skirt with accessories in form of stars flapping in the wind. She stopped in front of Saki. Her belly could be seen uncovered below her pink blouse. Behind her, Aya and Sayaka also walked in their direction.

"What a coincidence meeting you here," Hina said with a smile.

"I… I was just going back now, actually."

"Ehh?" Hina said, making a pouting face. "Come with us. We"re going to the Amus.e.m.e.nt Park."

"Hey, Hina!" Sayaka complained.

"What?" Hina said turning to her two friends. "She can"t?"

"I"m okay with that," Aya said, sending a smile to Saki.

Sayaka glared at Saki, but turning her eyes and meeting Hina"s face, she gave up with a sigh.

"Fine. I don"t mind," she said, avoiding looking at the other girls.

"No, it"s fine," Saki said. "I don"t want to bother you…"

"You won"t bother!" Hina said, grabbing Saki"s arm with both her hands, making her think about how soft and small Hina"s fingers were. She felt her heart skip again.

"I… I… Okay," Saki had the whole intention of refusing. Still, looking at Hina"s smile, she found herself unable to.

"Nice!" Hina said and pulled Saki along.

She couldn"t lie. The moment she saw Hina, her eyes were attracted to the girl"s lips. Even while walking beside her, she couldn"t stop herself from stealing glances of her face.

Sayaka didn"t look very pleased with the situation, and Saki realized the girl throwing glares at her. Aya, on the other side, had a smile on her face and at times would look to Hina and Saki. She looked like she was having fun with the situation.

Hina pulled Saki the whole way when they got inside the park. Although Saki couldn"t say she hated the attention, it was also making her nervous.

"So, so, so. What are we riding first?" Hina asked, with a bright smile.

"Well…" Aya said, but then linked arms with Sayaka and threw Hina a smile. "How about you two spend some time together, and we"ll walk around a bit."

"Hey," Saya tried to protest, but Aya whispered something in her ear. She sent a glance to Hina and said: "Well, you"re right."

And saying they would meet later, Aya and Sayaka walked away. Saki didn"t understand it at first, wondering if the girls were trying to let her alone with Hina, which didn"t make sense in her head. But soon the reason became clear. Hina pulled her into every single scary ride the park had and insisted to ride each of them twice. Being an indoors person who usually would only leave her room for going to school, at the end of the day Saki was exhausted.

When they met with Aya and Sayaka again, Aya had a sympathetic smile on her face.

"Sorry about that," she said, looking at Saki sitting exhausted on a bench.

"Is she always like that?" Saki asked after Hina went away with Sayaka to buy them crepes.

"Pretty much. She"s a… very energetic girl. So it"s nice that we met you. We could relax for once."

"Well, you"re welcome," Saki said in a sarcastic tone. Aya laughed.

"Actually, she has a weakness as well," and Aya approached to whispersomething on Saki"s ear.

When Hina and Sayaka came back, she pa.s.sed a crepe to Saki. It was chocolate flavored, and she said it was her choice. It was also the same flavor as hers. Pointing out that Hina never asked what she wanted, Saki ate it, hiding a smile.

"By the way," Saki said, turning to Hina. Yet, when she realized there was a little of chocolate on the girl"s lips, she turned her eyes away.

"Yeah?" Hina said.

"You"ve been pulling around me all the way today. Can I ask you to come with me for once?"

"Sure," Hina answered, putting the last piece of crepe in her mouth. "There"s still something I want to ride, but we can stop somewhere before that."

When Saki guided her to the place, Hina"s smile disappeared, and she gave a dread look to Saki.

"Really?" She said, looking at the building in front of her. The haunted house.

"I like those," Saki said. "But going alone is kinda…"

"Well, Aya is fine with those. You can accompany her, right?" Hina sent a pleading stare to Aya, but the girl just sighed.

"I don"t think it would be that fun with me. Also, I don"t know Shizuhara that well, so that would be awkward."

Hina opened her mouth to disagree, but seeing the smile on Aya"s face, she realized it was useless. And Sayaka would probably go with what Aya said. So she tried a last plead to Saki.

"Well, if that bothers you that much," Saki said.

Hina let out a sigh by hearing that again. She pulled Saki by the arm in direction of the haunted house"s entrance.

"Fine, let"s just end this."

As expected, at every creature or scare they met, Hina jumped scared. When they got to the middle of the way, Hina was holding Saki"s arm with such a strength close to her breast that Saki could even hear the girl"s heartbeat. But even more relevant, she could feel the girl"s soft body.

"Ahh, I can"t go on!" Hina said when the two of them were alone in a dark corridor. Without any warning, she pulled Saki"s face down in her direction and kissed her lips.

Saki jumped back as Hina looked at her, trying to find her in the dark. Hina leaped forward and grabbed Saki"s hand.

"Hey, don"t leave me alone!" she said. "But yeah… That made me calm down a little."

Saki thought she saw a smile on Hina"s face, even in that darkness.

When they finally came out of the house, Aya and Sayaka were waiting in the exit. Saki had a blush on her face while Hina looked calm and composed. Aya let out a snarky comment.

"Oh, I wonder what brought this change."

"It was scary at first, but then it became kinda fun," Hina said.

"So, can we go now," said Sayaka, still sending glares at Saki.

"Hum… Actually, there"s one last place I want to go," Hina said.

They got in front of the Ferris Wheel. Aya made an "Ohhh" while looking at Hina.

"You"re right. Leaving this one for last is symbolic," then Aya looked at Saki with a smile: "Don"t you think so, Shizuhara?"

"I… I don"t know what you mean," Saki was trying not to look at Hina.

"So, two by gondola, right?" Sayaka said approaching Hina, but Aya pulled her. Sayaka threw a condemning look at her.

"You come with me," Aya said, ignoring her friend"s eyes. "I don"t feel like riding it with Shizuhara would be very comfortable for us both. No offenses."

"I was planning to go with her, anyway," Hina said.

Aya and Sayaka got inside first, and when the next gondola opened up in front of them, Saki and Hina got inside. Instead of sitting across Saki, however, Hina sat beside her. As they started to move up, Saki still couldn"t face the girl by her side.

"You know, meeting you was coincidence, but it was fun. Maybe we should go out sometime," Hina said, making Saki look at her.

"You don"t need to both.."

Before Saki could stop, Hina put a finger on her lips, shutting her up.

"No, no, no. Stop taking it all upon yourself. I"m the one offering it, and I"m saying it was fun. That include the kisses, even if I messed up the numbers. And, huh…" Hina avoided her eyes while playing with her hair and said in an almost inaudible voice: "I"m sorry for trying to get out of it."

"You don"t…"

"No, it was my fault! At first, I thought it would be a little gross, but… Actually… It"s not gross at all. Well, it"s just kissing, after all. We already did half of it, and I think I"m getting used to it. So don"t worry, I don"t hate you for it."

They stopped talking. Saki realized some shine on Hina"s eyes as they approached the top, as if some planning was going on inside her head.

"Hey…" Saki said, realizing they were almost at the top. "Are you planning to…?"

"Kiss you on the top of the Ferris Wheel? Of course!"

"B-But… You know… They say that…"

"If a couple kisses on the top of the Ferris Wheel, they"ll be together forever? Don"t worry about that, we"re not even a couple. And besides…" As they arrived at the top Hina pulled Saki"s face closer and gave her a kiss. The two girls had red faces as they looked at each other. "I said I have fun with you, so whatever!"

When the two girls got out, Aya made fun of them because of their faces, even though she would swear they couldn"t see anything from their own gondola. Yet, it was late, so they decided to go home. Hina walked the whole way talking to Aya and Sayaka, while Saki was nervously in silence.

In a sudden movement, even though they were in the middle of the street and there were people around, Saki pulled Hina close to her and asked:

"Can you kiss me now?"

Hina looked confused, surveying around conscious of the people around them. They were in a commercial street, after all.

"Why…?" She said, but Saki grabbed her hand.

"Now...Please."

Hina did it. She hugged Saki and kissed her on the middle of the street, even though there were people looking straight at them. Sayaka tried to say something, but Aya stopped her. She also had a serious expression. Her eyes followed a girl who pa.s.sed by them holding hands with a boy their age. The girl"s eyes turned to the kissing scene but turned away fast. That moment, Saki gently pushed Hina away.

"Okay, what the h.e.l.l was that?!" Sayaka asked, furious.

"What?" Saki said, avoiding looking at any of the girls. Hina was still speechless, just looking at Saki without understanding anything. "That"s our deal, right?"

"Your deal was only doing it when no one was around, right?"

"No, that"s not what Hina proposed. That"s just what I wanted. So I can ask otherwise if I feel like it."

"If you feel like it? What do you think she…" But before Sayaka could finish, Aya touched her shoulder, making a sign for her to stop. Hina was just looking at them.

"Hey, Shizuhara," Aya said with a serious voice. "Wasn"t that girl who pa.s.sed by us just now your ex-girlfriend?"

"Eh?" It was Hina who reacted. She looked at Saki with expectation. Saki stood in silence.

"It was, right? There"s no way I wouldn"t recognize her. Sayaka, if you stopped being angry about all of this, you would realize it too," Sayaka threw a glare at Aya, who ignored it. "That boy was her boyfriend, I wonder…"

"I have to go," Saki said and tried to walk away, but Hina followed her. The four girls resumed their walk without saying anything back.

When they arrived at the point Hina and her friends should follow through another street, Hina grabbed Saki"s hand. Saki gave her a surprised look, but Hina smiled.

"I"ll take her home," she said. Sayaka tried to complain, but Aya pulled her away, leaving the two girls alone.

When they arrived at Saki"s house, Hina followed her to her room without saying anything. When the two girls were alone, Saki finally asked her:

"What"s up? If you just wanted to follow me home, then…"

Before Saki could say anything more, Hina approached her and held both her hands with strength and brought her face close to her. Her eyes were serious. Startled by it, Saki tried to pull back, but Hina didn"t let her grip.

"W-Wha…"

"You have a cute girl letting you kiss her lips and what you do with it? Use it to make some other girl jealous? Really, really?"

"I...I"m not…" Her words wouldn"t leave her mouth, as Hina"s eyes were throwing daggers at her.

"What a bad girl. Should a teach you a lesson?"

Before Saki could say anything, Hina grabbed her and kissed her mouth. This time, she let her tongue slip inside, too. As Saki tried to escape, Hina held her body with an unexpected strength coming from that little body.

It took maybe a whole minute. When Hina was done, Saki could still feel the softness and wetness of the girl"s tongue on her mouth. Her heart looked like it would explode and she had to bring the hand to her chest to calm down.

First Hina looked at her. Then a shocked expression crossed her face. She let a weak "I"m sorry", as she stormed out of the room before Saki could even react. Saki could only walk to her bed and throw herself on top it, hiding her head in her pillow so her face would stop burning.

48 kisses left

"You did what?!" Aya said suddenly the next day, as Hina told her story.

"I mean, it"s what we"ve been doing, right? Not big deal…"

"No, it"s not. It"s completely different. First of all, she didn"t agree with it, so you really should apologize."

"I did it already."

"You should do it again."

Hina stared at Aya, who gave her a judgemental look. Sayaka was close, but pretending to ignore everything. She didn"t give a glance in Hina"s direction.

"But I mean, don"t you get why that annoyed me?" Hina tried to justify herself after Aya"s look.

"Because you"re narcissistic and can"t understand how someone wouldn"t think only about you?"

"Well, that too… I mean, no! For example, what if your boyfriend asked you to kiss him in front of his ex-girlfriend, to make her jealous. Wouldn"t you be mad at him?"

"I"m not sure he would live enough for that…"

"Right?!"

"Still, she"s not your girlfriend, right, so she did nothing wrong. You know she can actually find another girlfriend, right? You two don"t have an actual relationship."

"I know, but still…" Hina made a pout while still trying to argue her case. Aya let out a sigh.

"Let me tell you a story, okay? About how I recognized that girl. And what I know about Shizuhara"s relationship with her."

"How do you even know about that?"

"How? How don"t you know? If you would pay attention to anything beyond your nose, there"s no way you wouldn"t have heard of it. It was the talk all over the city some months ago. Why do you think everyone knows about her...preferences?"

"Because you don"t mind your own business… I mean, sorry, please tell…"

Aya gave Hina a cold look, but then let out another sigh before starting:

"Her ex-girlfriend is the daughter of a famous politician living in our city. Her name is… I forgot."

"So famous…"

"Well, I don"t really care about them in particular. It doesn"t matter anyway. The point is that she started to date a girl, and that girl was Shizuhara. Of course, I don"t know the details. I just know what happened after that, as everyone else in town… well, except you."

Hina gave a scornful look while playing with her hair.

"I don"t care about… people like her, anyway."

"You really took a dislike for someone you hardly know, huh?" Aya said with a smile. "Anyway, it only became known that they were dating when they break up. Or she broke up with Shizuhara, I guess since she didn"t take it too well. The whole scandal happened because Shizuhara went to her ex"s home after that, to get some explanation. And that"s when everyone found out about their relationship."

"Saki did?!" Hina asked, giving a shocked look. "That Saki?! She can"t even do anything for herself if she thinks she"s bothering someone."

"Well, I"m not sure, but maybe that"s the reason why? I heard things got ugly. Her father even lost his job, or something. She was dealing with some powerful people, after all. In the end, she"s just a dumb teenager, like us."

"All because of that bland b.i.t.c.h? She was probably cheating on her even before that."

"That"s what the rumors say, at least. I admit I felt bad for Suzuhara at the time. Everyone in the whole city was talking about it… Well, except you, it seems."

Hina looked at Saki"s empty desk. The cla.s.s hadn"t started yet, and she still hadn"t arrived. She turned to the window, giving a sad look outside.

"I"ll apologize again," she said.

And when lunch time came, Hina waited until Saki got out of the cla.s.sroom. She followed after her and let a relieved sigh after realizing she was still going to the place they would always meet. When Hina approached Saki, she thought there was the same sign of relief in her eyes, but she was not sure.

She sat in silence beside Saki, opening her lunch box. Saki didn"t say anything either and for a long moment, the two girls only watched over the backyard in silence while eating. Hina was the first to talk, after finishing her lunch.

"I"m sorry," she said, avoiding to look at Saki.

"Again?" Saki also wouldn"t look directly at Hina, so both girls were looking in opposite directions.

"Yes. Yesterday it was suddenly and I… Still feel bad about it. Aya is right, I"m a giant narcissist."

Saki didn"t say anything, poking her lips with her finger and waiting. Hina still didn"t look at her as she talked, while playing with her hair. Her finger was shaking.

"So, yeah… About yesterday, I"m really sorry. What I did was disgusting, and you have all the right to hate me. And also… Sorry, but Aya told me about what happened, and I had no right to pry on your life."

The silence surrounded both girls. Saki didn"t say anything, and Hina was still struggling to keep talking. Still, she raised her voice when she continued.

"But you know what? I don"t think it"s right. I don"t like how you punish yourself when it wasn"t even your fault, to begin with. I"m sorry, I know, I"m a narcissist, so I don"t get it, but… Why do you think you"re bothering other just by following your feelings? Just by complaining when you were hurt? It"s not your fault, that…"

Hina stopped. She felt like she would start crying if she kept going. She tried to breathe hard, as she was feeling agitated.

"Thank you," Saki said. Her voice was calm.

When Hina looked at her, she felt Saki"s hands hold her face gently as she approached, brushing their lips together in a soft kiss. Hina felt her heartbeat rush, and when Saki distanced from her, her face was burning.

Looking at Hina"s reaction, Saki also blushed and looked away.

"W-What"s with that reaction?" Saki said, struggling with her words. "Huh… Y-You… T-This is like always, right?"

"It"s not," Hina said, and when Saki looked at her, she had a big smile on her red face. "This is the first time you kiss me. I"m always the one doing it."

"I-Is that so? I didn"t realize," she said, looking away from Hina again.

Hina didn"t say anything for some awkward minutes, and when her voice was back, she was very weak.

"Also, huh, it did bother me a little that you had a girlfriend before, I guess."

Saki gave her a confused look.

"I-I mean… I always thought that time in cla.s.s was your first kiss, too," Hina said while playing with her hair and looking at the ground.

"Well… Wait, too? Was that your first kiss?"

"Of course it was! What do you think my kisses are?!"

"Something you use to bargain for grades?"

"Ugh," Hina looked away uncomfortable.

"But you see… Although it wasn"t my first kiss, we probably did it more than I did with her now, anyway."

"Is that so?" Hina smiled, while trying to hide it from Saki. "So, so, so… Which one was better?" She asked, suddenly turning excited to Saki"s way.

"You mean…"

"Between me and her. Which kiss you like the best?"

"Only between you two?"

"Only? Wait… H-How many girls did you kiss?!"

Saki couldn"t resist and let a laugh out. She feared Hina would be annoyed, but the girl started to laugh with her.

The way Hina looked at her while laughing made Saki experience confusing feelings. She wanted to run away, but she also wanted to hug Hina firm in her arms. She controlled herself so she wouldn"t do either.

That was the moment Saki realizing she was falling for that girl. But she also knew that wouldn"t go anywhere. After all, their deal would end soon.

20 kisses left

"You think I can be her friend?" Hina asked Aya in the corridor, before the start of the cla.s.ses. They were waiting while Sayaka went to get something in the infirmary.

"What? Oh, you mean Shizuhara?" Aya said, taking her eyes from her smartphone.

"Yeah, Saki. I was thinking. We"re almost over with the kisses, but what should we do after that? I do have fun around her. I called her out again after the park, you know?"

"Oh, is that so?"

"We went on a shopping spree, although she only carried my bags. We also went to the movies because there was a movie I wanted to watch. Also, we went to eat that cake I wanted to…"

"So you pretty much only did things you wanted?"

"That"s…! Completely right… But!"

"Well, after such a long time together, she"s probably used to it."

"So… You think she would accept being my friend?"

Aya fell into silence. She stared at her smartphone with a stern face while touching the screen aimlessly.

"Again… You realize Shizuhara likes girls, right?"

"Yeah… So what?"

"I mean, have you thought about how she…" But Aya stopped and looked at Hina who waited with antic.i.p.ation for her answer. She gave her friend a smile. "You know what, forget it. It"s not my place to say anything. If you want to be her friend, ask her and find out what she thinks of it."

Hina gave a relieved smile.

"You"re right. I should just tell her already… But, I"ll still wait."

"Hmmm," made Aya, still waiting for Hina to continue.

"I mean, we still have 20 kisses left, and it would be awkward keep doing it if we"re officially friends. So I"ll tell her after the last one."

"I see, that makes sense, but Hina…" In a rare gesture of affection, Aya ruffled Hina"s hair. "I just want you to know, I"ll support you in any decision you make. And I"ll force Sayaka to stop being a b.i.t.c.h about it, either. So don"t hold yourself."

Hina slapped Aya"s hand away while smiling nervously.

"W-What are you saying?" Then she took her own smartphone and started touching it as Sayaka approached them. "But well, now I can"t wait to give her the last kiss."

Later that day, while Saki was heading to the place she would meet Hina as always, Sayaka was waiting for her. She made a signal with her hand, ordering the girl to stop.

"What is it?" Saki said. "Look, I know you don"t like me, but if you had a problem, you should talk with Hina instead."

"Hina, huh?" Sayaka gave an intimidating look at Saki but then relaxed her face in a smile. "Well, that"s fine. You"re almost over with all this, anyway, right?"

Saki didn"t say anything, still standing in her place.

"I mean, I heard it from Hina herself," Sayaka went on. "She just can"t wait for the last kiss. I guess she"s tired of it, after all. You do know, right? After this is all over, she has no reason to hang out with you. So you go back to like you were before."

"I…" For a moment, Saki hesitated. But then she lifted her face, staring straight into Sayaka"s eyes. "Of course I always knew that. Now, if you"ll let me go…" She walked past Sayaka, letting the other girl throwing an angry look at her back.

5 kisses left

"I don"t get it. I don"t get what she"s thinking," Hina said to her two friends. It was a Sunday afternoon and the three girls were sitting outside of a famous Cafe, eating cake. Hina was touching her smartphone, almost furiously. "She has been avoiding me the whole week. I thought we would finally be over with this, but she…!"

"Shizuhara?" Aya asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yeah, her! She"s not answering my messages. She"s no picking the phone. I don"t understand. Did I do something to her?"

"I can think of a lot of things, actually. But nothing new."

"And here I was excited to tell her how I feel…" Hina let out a sigh, leaving her phone on the table in front of her while she took a bite of her cafe. "That stupid Saki!"

Sayaka watched in silence while Aya grabbed Hina"s phone from the table and started using it. Hina didn"t care that she did it in the past.

"I mean, isn"t it better this way?" Sayaka said finally.

"How?" Hina looked astonished at Sayaka.

"Well, if she doesn"t want to do it anymore, you can just let it go. It"s her loss, right?"

"You don"t get it. I was planning to ask her to be my friend," Hina gave another bite on her cake, looking desolate. Sayaka made a confused face.

"What was that?" Sayaka asked. It was Aya who let out a sudden exclamation.

"Oh, that"s right! You weren"t with us that day. Actually, Hina was planning to keep being friends with her after it was all over."

"Huh? Why?" Sayaka said, throwing a confused look at Hina. Aya caught that up and faced her friend.

"Sayaka, did you…? Did you say something to her?"

"W-Why are you…?"

"You just look like you"re hiding something…"

At that moment, Hina looked at Sayaka too. She rose from her chair suddenly, making everyone look in their direction.

"Did you say something to her?" She asked with vigor.

"I… I just said what I heard… You looked excited to stop kissing her, so…" Sayaka was clearly nervous, trying to choose her word carefully.

"You idiot!" Hina shouted, not caring for the faces that turned in her direction. "Why would you…? Ah, of course, so that"s why…"

Hina let her body fall on her chair, putting a hand on her face. But her expression changed as she realized something.

"Wait a minute… When did you tell her that?"

"T-That day when I heard you on the hall…"

"Wait, so… Why is she only avoiding me now? That was weeks ago."

"Because she thinks you"ll start to avoid her," Aya said, not taking her eyes off Hina"s phone. "Since you only have five kisses left."

"Huh?! She doesn"t want me to avoid her, so she avoids me? Is she an idiot?"

"You"re supposed to be the idiot here. You can"t expect reason when love… Wait, I talked too much," Aya smiled, covering her mouth.

"Don"t say such absurd…" Sayaka started, but Aya looked at her with a sarcastic smile.

"Sayaka, dear, shut up for a second, ok?" Then she turned to Hina. "Say, Hina, are you missing kissing her?"

"Wha…" Hina reacted.

"I mean, your last kiss was two weeks ago, right? On a Friday. Below a cherry tree, with the wind caressing your cheeks. The nostalgic aroma of wet gra.s.s involving you two as her firm arms hold your waist and… wow," Aya was looking at Hina"s smartphone the whole time. The girl blushed.

"W-What are you even reading? Stop that…"

"No, like, when did your description become this detailed?"

"Huh?" Hina was visibly confused.

"I mean, like, here, look. Your very first entry in this… kiss note?... says "in the cla.s.sroom, never do it again", then "inside the stall; bathroom". It just stays like that for the first… at least 20 notes. But then you start to get a little more detailed. "Walking home, in the sun it"s hard to see her face". "After lunch, it tastes like strawberry this time". "On the mall, on a dark corner we can"t be seen, a serenade is playing. Her lips are shaking a little." Well, it starts to become pretty much a poem in the latest ones. Why is that?"

"T-That"s…" Hina"s face is bright red and she found it difficult to talk. "I haven"t thought about that, but now that you"re reading it, I guess it"s weird. I had fun writing and, huh… Thinking about… Huh…"

"It"s not weird at all. Being romantic," Aya gave Hina a smile.

Hina didn"t react. Listening to Aya reading her notes was the first time she realized what she was actually writing. She felt her heartbeat accelerate. Deep down she knew why her notes were getting more detailed. Why she spent more time building them.

"I wanted… to keep those moments for a little more time…" She said in loud voice, but only talking to herself. "I… Ah… I see… I am…"

Before she could finish, Aya rose from the chair and pointed to the other side of the street.

"Hina, look!" she said.

Hina turned to see Saki. She was staring directly at her, but when their eyes met, she ran away. As if losing control of her body, Hina started to run after her, too. Sayaka tried to yell at her, but Aya held her.

Saki started to run through the crowd on downtown, with Hina tailing after her. Hina thought she was more athletic, but she realized Saki"s long legs would give her a vantage against her, even if her physical condition wasn"t the best. Hina knew she couldn"t reach Saki. She could just wait for the next day and talk to her at school, and yet…

"Saki! You"re bothering everyone again!" She shouted. Saki stopped.

Without stop, Hina grabbed Saki"s hand and pulled her to an alley where the two found themselves alone.

"Finally," Hina said and, holding Saki"s wrists, kissed her five times, one after another. After the fifith one, she stared into Saki"s eyes. "100. We"re done."

Hina let go of Saki"s wrists. Looking at her face, she realized there were tears forming in her eyes. Trying to hide it, Saki tried to run away again, but Hina grabbed her arm again and pushed her back against the wall. Throwing her arms around Saki"s neck, Hina gave her another kiss.

Saki looked confused as Hina gave a step back and looked at her with a smile.

"Another one?" Saki said.

"Those last five were because I promised you," Hina said, her finger making round movements on her hair. "This one I"m giving to you because I want to."

"I...I don"t get it," Saki was visible perplexed, but the tears in her eyes had dried.

"Y-You see…" Hina gave a nervous smile, avoiding to look straight at Saki. "I, huh, I was planning to ask you to be my friend after this was over. Since I had fun with you and all. But after talking to Aya I realized I don"t really want that. So… That"s why… "She made an effort to lift her head and stare at Saki with a smile: "I"m giving you the privilege of having me as your girlfriend…"

A long silence pa.s.sed between them. During that time, only the voices of people walking in the sideways could be heard. The first to raise her voice was Saki, in an incredulous tone.

"What?! Why are you saying it as if I had won a prize?"

"So you don"t want it?" Hina yelled at her.

"Of course I want!" Saki shouted and hugged Hina close to her. She was so close that Hina could hear her fast heartbeats. "I swear, if you"re playing with me…"

"I"m not joking," Hina said with a gentle smile. She put her hands on Saki"s face and brought it closer to her, giving another kiss on her lips. "And this is number two."

0 kisses left

One week had pa.s.sed since Hina caught Saki on the street and became her girlfriend. She was at the same Cafe together with Aya and Sayaka again, but this time she was nervously looking at her smartphone all the time and surveying around.

She had told them first about her girlfriend. Aya was happy to hear it, but Sayaka still protested at first. Until Aya had a private talk with her and, for some reason Hina would never know, she changed her mind. She even said Saki that she was sorry. Luckily, Saki had not resentments against her, or she was just too happy to care.

Hina was wearing her best clothes and her feet couldn"t stay still, swinging below the table.

"Is your date late?" Aya asked.

"She"s not late. But I… Well, this is our first official date as… girlfriends," a big smile formed on her mouth as she said the word. "So I"m a little excited."

"Well, it"s amazing she"s not here yet," Sayaka said.

"By the way, Hina," Aya said, with a discrete smile on the corner of her mouth. "Are you still keeping that kisses note?"

"Oh, yeah," Hina took her smartphone and pa.s.sed it to Aya. "That was a little fun, so I thought I should keep doing it. Sometimes I take a photo, too. I"m not sure the counter is right, though. Sometimes I don"t remember making a note because I"m too...well, you know," she said with a smile.

"I see," Aya gave some touches on the screen. "Kiss number 134... Wow, 34 kisses in just one week? That"s something."

"34?" Hina asked with a confused face. "Oh, no, no, no. I"m not counting the first 100. I don"t think it would be fair, so I started from 1."

"Wait… You don"t mean," Sayaka started to say, but was interrupted when someone hugged Hina from behind, making her almost jump from her chair.

"Hey, Saki," Aya said, pa.s.sing the phone back to Hina. Sayaka just nodded at her.

"Hey, mind if I take this cute girl with me?" Saki pulled Hina by the hand. Hina linked arms with her.

"I"m sure they"ll be sad to lose my company, but a promise is a promise. So long, girls."

"Yeah," Aya said, waving to the two girls as they went to their date. When they disappear into the crowd, she turned to Sayaka. "134 kisses."

Sayaka also couldn"t take her eyes from the crowd where the girls disappeared, stupefied.

"In just one week..."