Review

(Knock, knock)

I opened my bedroom door. There I see my maid.

Sorry to bother you as you prepare for school, Master Kazuma. But your father wanted me to remind you that this afternoon you’ll be having your arrangement review.”

“Ah I see, I didn’t realize it was today. Thank you. I'll be there.”

She bows and takes her leave.

The arrangement review, I completely forgot. Then again, this is the first time my arrangement lasted longer than a week. If I recall, the point of this meeting is to reflect and check in on our progression.

Bzzzt. My phone buzzed. Oh, it’s a text from Rika.

Rika: Food _(:3 」∠)_
Me: Yeah, meet you on the roof later.

What’s with this emoticon, it’s so silly, I laughed. Anyways, I should head off to school.

As the lunch bell rang I went down to the crowded lunchroom, to pick up today’s bread of the day. Melon Pan. Once I picked up my bread, I noticed a familiar face in line waving me over.

“Kazuma-kun!”

“Oh hey, Tanaka. What are you doing in line? Forgot your lunch?”

Nope. It’s just I have never been here before. And since you usually get your lunches here, I just wanted to try it for once. But wow, it sure is crowded. Is it like this every day?

“Not really, you just picked the worst day to visit. Today, the cafeteria is selling their most popular bread, Melon Pan. It usually sells out pretty quickly, hence the crowd.”

“Ooh. Then I can't wait to try it.”

“Hmmm, looking at your place in line by the time you reach the counter it will be sold out. Here I’ll just share some of mine. It’ll be better to spend our lunchtime on the rooftop than in line.”

“Okay,” she smiles.

We both headed up to our usual spot on the roof.

I cut the bread in half.

“Here you go.”

Rika takes a large bite.

“Hmm deli...cio...us,” she said.

“Hey, don't speak with your mouth full.”

“Sorry, it’s just this bread is so delicious, no wonder you get it often.”

I notice Rika keeps glancing back and forth from her bag.

“Something wrong?”

“Well, today a German chef prepared my meal. He made a bread dish. Since I have extras, I was wondering if you would like to try some.”

“Sure, I'll give it a try. After all, you always offer me food every day, the least I could do is taste it.”

“Yay!”

Rika handed me a very dark, round piece of bread.

I took a bite.

Huh, it tastes really good. It’s sweet and I wasn’t expecting sunflower seeds. Mmm, it’s delicious.”

“I’m glad you like it. It's pumpernickel rye bread, which is pretty popular in Germany. I like it a lot too.”

"I can see why."

“Um Kazuma kun, would it be okay if I try feeding you? It is common for couples to feed each other sometimes.”

“I guess we could try it.”

“Here, try this other bread the chef made. Say ahhhhh~”

I open my mouth wide, she places a small piece of bread inside. I close my mouth slowly, being careful not to touch her delicate fingers.

“Mmm, delicious.” However, I wonder if it’s the bread itself or being fed that makes me feel this way.

“I’m glad you like it. That one was called Zwiebelbrot.”

“Zweib- how do you even pronounce that?”

“With a lot of practice, tee-hee”

Hmm, maybe I should try feeding her as well.

“Hey Tanaka, do you want some more melon pan?”

“Sure!”

“Then say ahhh~”

“Ahhh~”

I place the bread in her mouth.

“Mmm I think it tastes even sweeter this time, " she says.

“Hey Tanaka, I was wondering if you had your review yet.”

“Reviews, huh? It is around that time. Um, maybe tomorrow. It’s a bit hard following procedures with my parents abroad and all. What about you, have you had yours yet?”

“Not yet, I’m having mine later today.”

“Oh, that’s too bad. I was thinking since we don’t have club today, maybe we could try walking home together, but since you have your meeting.”

“Don’t worry about that. I don’t mind walking with you, the meeting is not till later in the evening so it should be fine.”

"Really, yay! But now that I think about it, we both live quite far from each other. So instead, let’s walk to the nearby park.”

Since the nearby park isn’t that far, I should be able to make it to the meeting in time.

“Sure, sounds good.”

After school, the two of us met and headed towards the park. We shared about our day and even debated which bread was best. As we were walking we approached an arcade.

“Oooh look, Kazuma-kun, an arcade. Can we go in? Please!”

We definitely shouldn’t.

“Sure I guess we could spend some time here.”

We first tried our hands at the claw machine, but we couldn’t beat it.

“Booo this machine is rigged.”

“Yes, and water is wet.”

“You don’t have to be so sarcastic, she says as she sticks her tongue.”

The plan was to stay in for just fifteen minutes, but it turned into two hours. Just as we were about to leave, Rika shouted.

“Ooh look it’s a Dance-Dance machine. Let’s try it!”

“I don’t know, I'm not really great at dancing.”

“If you can dance the tango you can definitely dance this machine. Please Kazuma-kun, I’ve always wanted to try this machine with a friend.”

“Alright, I give.”

The two of us begin to follow the beat. I never realized how difficult this machine can be. After many, many tries, we finally called it quits. With our tickets combined, we managed to get matching key-chains of a duck with an umbrella.

“We should head towards the park now, right?” She asked.

“Yeah let’s go,” I said.

But every time we try to make our way to the park. Rika kept getting distracted,

“Kazuma-kun, let's buy ice cream!”
“Kazuma-kun, can we see these figurines!”
“Kazuma-kun, look at these cute doggies!”
“Kazuma-kun, let’s get ice cream!”

“Didn’t we already get ice cream today?”

“You can never have too much ice cream.”

Eventually, we finally made our way to the park, but the sun was starting to set.

“Sorry, if it wasn’t for me we would have got to the park earlier.”

“Don’t worry about it. I had fun spending time with you. We could always come to the park another day.”

“Okay, that’s a promise then. Don’t forget!”

“I won't.”

“See you later Kazuma-kun.”

“You too.”

Soon enough Rika’s driver arrived to take her home. Mine arrived shortly as well.

I looked at the time on my phone. Oh, I’m really late. I took a deep breath and opened the doors to the grand meeting room.

There I see my father sitting on the couch. He is not amused.

“You’re late,” he said.

“I just returned from an outing with Tanaka.”

“No matter, while it's important to build your relationship, you can’t forget about your own responsibilities. Remember you are your own person. It’s important to balance your life. You were told earlier about this meeting. You are aware of its importance, yet you are late.“

“I still think it’s better to spend time with someone I care about than a pointless meeting.”

“What was that?”

“Never mind, it’s not like you understand anyway.”

He chuckles. "Oh really then enlighten me. Help me understand. Or perhaps it’s best to end this arrangement instead. If it is too distracting.”

“Fine.” You’ve been controlling me all my life, I’m going to end my relationship with Rika on my terms, not yours. For the next hour or so. I spent my time talking about Rika, the club we joined, and the memories we shared. It’s funny that during this whole time, I couldn’t stop smiling. I could have gone on, but my father interrupts.

“So have you decided to give her a gift?”

“A gift?”

It’s customary that by the time you hold the arrangement review, you have given her a gift. You see, your mother had many suitors. At the time, I wasn’t even thinking about courting her, but I really wanted to give her something special.”

“What was it?”

“A short film about her. Till this day it’s my favorite film I ever produced.”

“I see.”

“What I’m trying to say is Tanaka-san seems special to you. But probably has many suitors as well. It might be nice giving her an appreciation gift, that’s all.” With that, he got up and left.

Well, that was a bit unexpected but he does make a good point. Rika has done so much for me. Even if we don’t end up together I at least want to give her a gift.

The question is what do I give?