Great. Mizuno Ami must have left her. And she was only seven minutes late. Serena grimaced. "She'd better be still here," she said to herself. Oh, why did she have to meet Ami in Darien's school anyway?

"Ren," she heard Ami say. Over the years, her name had been reduced from a triple to a single syllable. She looked up from fishing her ID out of her pocket and inserting the card on her bag without checking. "Have you been waiting long?"

"No… I thought you'd gone without me." She smiled.

"Sounds like Rei to me," Ami answered. The girl had such a good nature.

Serena giggled. "'Guess we all need someone to keep us on our toes."

"And who would that be for you, Princess?"

Serena felt as if her body froze in midstep. Surely they wouldn't meet here? But it was him who spoke, she was sure.

"Oh, hi Darien. Never thought we'd meet here," Ami said.

Yeah, never, Serena silently conceded.

"This is such a big place after all," Ami continued.

"Small world," he replied. He turned to her. "I saw you drop this." IT was her ID. He was holding it out to her.

"My ID?" Serena was unaware she had said it out loud.

"Looks like it," Darien said.

"I'm so stupid." She was mentally cursing herself.

"Just my luck." He didn't sound patronizing.

Ami was amusedly listening to their exchange. Serena was looking at her ID as if seeing it for the first time. The electronic pic was taken years ago. She was just a freshman then. She looked so young. So unaffected. So different compared to what she felt now.

"Take good care of it. It'll be a nice souvenir someday. I was half-tempted to keep it, you know," Darien remarked.

He had left them before she could react. She and Ami were walking again.

"Ren?" That nickname again.

"Yes?"

"You're still blushing."