A nervous looking guy stood in front of me; by the looks of it he was an underclassman, I could hear students gossiping behind me. "Looks like another guy is going to ask Shirogane-kun out." I have had at least half of the student body come up to me and ask me out, of both genders, the girls asked me out when they thought I was a boy and now the boys now they know I am a girl. The way I dressed now had deterred the female students; I had to laugh as it seems I took over Yukiko-senpai's place as she had the infamous 'Amagi Challenge'.

I told Yu-senpai that I wanted to go out with someone who loved me for who I am; and not how I look, which I explained as I turned them down. Ok so maybe I also had a certain someone who I was hoping to ask me out, I wouldn't turn him down, I knew he saw me for me and was unashamedly shy around me sometimes though he was getting better. I have heard that the term 'Shirogane Challenge' muttered around the school, though I knew it could have only one real challenger and he would be the winner.

"Sorry I don't want to go out with you, there is someone I like." I said the poor underclassman bowed in apologies and left. I heard a laugh from behind me and I knew it was the one that belonged to Rise-san; she looked at me and sighed.

"Have you rejected all of the guys in school?" She asked looking at me

"Not all of them, sadly enough I am unsure if I will be asked out by the guy I want to." I said off-hand.

She was one of my closest friends in Yasogami high; who I really could talk to about this; I could talk to our female friends and senpai. But they are busy with College, and if I talked to Kanji-kun he'd completely miss the point of what I was going to say.

"Oho, so there is a guy who can win the Shirogane Challenge." Rise said looking at me with a smile. "He must be a lucky guy, to have Naoto Shirogane rooting for him to win her heart."

Rise looked at me with expectation; she wanted me to tell her who I had an interest in, she was trying her puppy eyes on me. She had pried out the information on who was dating who in our little group; Rise, Kanji and me were the ones who were single.

"Yo Rise Naoto, I thought you'd be on the way home already?" Kanji asked looking at us; he pushed the bridge of his glasses up. Kanji had finally joined the handicraft club in our second year, and he had become the president, it was a fitting position for him as he was the son of a textiles shop.

"I had to catch-up with homework, I am an Idol Kanji." Rise said

"I was studying in the library." I said looking at him

Kanji shrugged at looked at us; he looked like a gentleman, now that his hair was its natural colour and he was wearing glasses. I was a little afraid of him when we met, but that all vanished the instant he talked to me that first time. He put himself in danger to come and save me, in that laboratory.

"Well I gotta go." Rise said before she dashed off

Kanji smiled at me.

"Do you want to go Junes with me?" I asked Kanji spur-of-the-momently

He blushed a little and nodded,

"I suppose we could." He answered pretending to act all cool

It was endearing when he did that; he was trying to act all cool, to hide how nervous he was. The two of us walked side by side to the food court of Junes, Kanji sent me to find a table as he went to get us some takoyaki. I found a table that was relatively private; Inaba was relatively small, and that was part of its charm – yes, but not when you want to have a private conversation.

Kanji put the takoyaki on the table; and sat across from me; I picked up one of the picks and prodded one of the warm balls of octopus. They were tasty; I had to admit I rather liked takoyaki, I often bought some after I finished each day when I was on a case. Kanji watched me eat; he hadn't made a move to take any of it, there was another pick sat by the serving plate. I prodded a second ball and held it out to him.

"Kanji-kun it's really quite delicious, please eat some." I said, he blushed furiously before he gave in to my demand and ate the ball on the stick I held to him. He gasped at the heat and I couldn't help but laugh. Somehow I always felt comfortable around him nowadays, and was able to do something like this. The fact we were also sat in a relatively secluded space in the food court, also helped.

Once the takoyaki was all gone; we sat in silence for a few seconds, Kanji was embarrassed and looked at the table. Was he nervous, was he going to confess his feelings for me?

"Y'know I hear around school that there is the Shirogane Challenge." Kanji said

I sighed; why did he have to mention that, it was embarrassing.

"Sadly the males of Yasogami High have decided that I am a trophy to be won." I answered

"They ain't got a clue about ya'." Kanji said

That comment made me smile; he understood me, and I was happy.

"Kanji-kun…" I started

Kanji looked right into my eyes; he had a look of determination, I saw that look when he fought shadows. I smiled at him; he took a deep breath and nodded his head.

"Look, you can say no, and we can forget this ever happened." He started

I noticed he was a little nervous; he had his fist clenched on the table, I could have avoided the conversation altogether and skipped over the whole confession and kissed him then and there. Actions spoke louder than words after all, I had gotten brave after I fought my shadow.

"Would you consider being my…mpfh" He said

I decided that I would skip his confession and go straight to the kiss; he was a little startled but, he seemed to understand my answer and he responded in kind. I felt what seemed like electrical sparks, as the kiss, I rather enjoyed it. I stopped it and sat back in my seat, resting my hand on top of his.

"I'll take that as a yes?" He asked

I giggled and nodded; I reached into my pocket and pulled out my handkerchief. It was plain blue and monogrammed with my initials. I handed it to him, and he looked a little confused at it and I smiled.

"A champion gets a favour from the princess." I said "Congratulations my Emperor."

He took the handkerchief, and shook his head confused.

"You aren't a helpless princess." He replied

"That's why I like you Kanji." I said

A fortnight or so later; I was waiting for Kanji to finish his presidential duties, I was stood at my shoe locker. Sat inside was another letter; no doubt one asking me to meet them after school to ask me out, the student who wrote it walked up to me and the gossiping started again.

"Shirogane-senpai, I like you would you go out with me?" the poor underclassman asked looking at me with an earnest look in his eyes

"Sorry kid, she's with me." I heard Kanji's voice call behind me and rested his hand on my waist.

The underclassman looked a little terrified of Kanji; who must have given him a scary look, I turned to look at him and he indeed was staring daggers at the poor boy. I nudged Kanji with my elbow, who looked right down at me and blushed.

"Kanji, shall we go?" I asked smiling at him.

The last thing we heard before we left the school that day was:

"Looks like Tatsumi-senpai won the Shirogane Challenge."