Year 1-10: The date

“So what have you planned for our date?” Satsuki and Riku were walking together.
“Because this was spontaneous, I just thought we could take a walk and maybe go to a café.” Riku wasn´t too sure about his plan, he had planned to have a picnic but with it being January and him not being a good cook he threw out that idea pretty fast. He had a feeling of it being a bit too little for a date, but Satsuki had reassured him. “It´s nice, talking is very important during a date anyway.” She smiled brightly at him.
“The café we´re going to has the best waffles you can imagine.” He tried to sound confident. Riku had learned of this café through talk from the twins, he hoped they wouldn´t show up to “support” him. He had made it quite clear to all of his friends to not go there or else… he still hadn´t come up with what he´d do and he hoped he didn´t need to.
“Wanna walk through the park?” Satsuki asked.
“Sure.” Riku wasn´t sure if a park in winter would be very interesting, but the snow covered trees and grass did look quite nice.
“I was really surprised you could get so loud.” Satsuki began. “The poor twins looked so scared.”
Riku blushed, he had hoped she´d forgotten about his outburst, he certainly wanted to forget about it. “I didn´t know I had so much build up anger.”
“Promise me to not yell at them anymore, ok? They seem like nice people.”
“I know.” Riku still didn´t believe that the twins would change much, but he tried to be hopeful.
“When did you find out about their secrets?” Satsuki asked after a short silence.
Riku didn´t particularly feel like talking about Yuki and Yuri on his date but Satsuki seemed to want to talk about them. “Yuri told me she had a crush on a girl in middle school, I think it was our first year. Yuki on the other hand, well I met him as a boy, only found out that he was trans after our falling out.”
“How did he even manage to go to middle school as a boy, I wasn´t allowed to even wear the girl´s uniform.”
“Their dad has some connections and they had some… interesting information on the principal.”
“They blackmailed him?” She seemed amused at the thought.
Riku nodded. “Kind of, but he was cheating on his wife so I certainly didn´t feel bad for him. Our high school seems a lot more lenient about that though.”
“It was still not easy. My parents had to convince the principal; he thought I was some kind of cross dresser first.” She sounded a bit sad about it. “But I´m used to that, most people think that.”
Riku wasn´t sure what to say, he never really thought too much about what life for someone like Satsuki must be like. “I don´t want to sound insensitive, but are you like on hormones?”
She looked sad. “No, let´s just say Japan isn´t the best country to be different in.”
Riku nodded, he had a lot of reading to do at home. Satsuki didn´t seem to want to talk about the legal side of her existence much but she happily talked about the familial side.
“When I came out to my older brother Makoto was super happy. He always wanted a sister anyway, he said.” She smiled.
“How did your parents react? Yukis dad seemed pretty cool with it. Oh I have to show you his work some time, he writes a lot about LGBT topics. Maybe he´d even want an interview…” Riku was starting to ramble.
“My parents didn´t mind, they were surprised at first but they cared for my wellbeing more than anything else. And you absolutely have to show me those articles.”
“Sure thing.”
“Let´s change the subject, ok?” She asked. “I don´t want to talk about myself the whole time. Let´s talk about you.”
Riku was confused, there wasn´t really anything interesting about him. “If you want to but I´m boring.”
“Tell me about your mother then. You don´t talk about her much.”
Riku was a bit taken aback, he didn´t speak about his mother often especially not to friends. He still got sad talking about her. “She was a nurse, always working hard and still made sure to spend as much time with me as possible. She was always smiling, trying to see the world in a positive light. She was just great. I don´t know how she could ever fall in love with my dad, he was always away for work, at least that´s what he always said. But my mom was kind and loving.” Riku started to tear up.
“My mom´s also a nurse.” Satsuki tried to change the subject again.
“We have something in common then, is your dad by any chance also an asshole?”
“No, he´s great.”

They finally had made their way to the café. Riku showed Satsuki the waffle selection he was talking about. They decided to order multiple and share them.
After that they walked around the shopping district. Satsuki tried on a few cute dresses; Riku bought Hitomi a few candles. They ended their date at a book store.
“I´m really happy you decided to write again. I can´t wait to get to read your new work.” Satsuki said looking at a few thrillers.
Riku couldn´t help but stare at the books: How deadly is the river?, Death Paradise, Bloody Murder Train. Riku didn´t know what those books could be about and he honestly didn´t want to know. “I´ll let you read it when I get published again.” He said after a while.
“Nozomi gets to read your manuscripts.” She pouted.
“Are you jealous about that?” Riku couldn´t help but bust smile.
She hit him lightly on the shoulder. “No. I just think your potential girlfriend should have some preferred treatment in that regard.”
Riku blushed. “Oh so you think your girlfriend material?”
“Of course. I was the one who asked you on two dates months before you even thought of it yourself.”
“They were high jacked by the others.”
“I was still fist with the dates.”
They giggled, trying not to be too loud as to not disturb the other customers.

Riku walked Satsuki home again. “So are we… you know?” Riku asked.
Satsuki smiled and gave him a kiss, this time on the mouth. “My brother is going to annoy the hell out of you, he doesn´t want my boyfriend to be jerk.”
Riku took a while to process what she had just said. “I´ll manage, my aunt´s the same by the way. I mean you are my first girlfriend after all.” He mustered up all his courage and kissed her back.
“Then it´s official. I hope you don’t have a problem with Nozomi knowing.”
“She´s your best friend and I don´t plan to have this be secret.”
Satsuki smiled. “Good, I didn´t plan on keeping it secret either.”
They said their goodbyes with a final kiss and Riku made his way home. While walking home he realized he´d either be the most hated guy in school or the most respected, with him dating the hottest girl in school now. Her admirers could be a pain, but Riku didn´t care his friends would be happy for him. Kishimoto would congratulate him. He smiled, he hadn´t felt this happy in a while. Now the reaming school year could end without trouble. He would be right in that assessment, the first time he would be right.
Riku opened his front door, walking into the kitchen. Hitomi was sitting there with a coffee and cookies. He sat down at the table. “So let me tell you about today…”