Epilogue

She was late.

A little over a month later, on a warm evening in Juuban, Tokyo, Hashishita Shizuka stood outside the movie theatre, glancing impatiently at her watch. The plan had been to meet Minako at 8:15, with the movie starting at 8:30. It was now approaching 8:25, and there was still no sign of her. Shizuka had already entered the building and purchased the tickets for both of them. Where was she?

Shizuka sighed. She decided to give it another minute, and if Minako hadn't shown up by then, she'd go in by herself and hope that Minako would be able to find her.

"Shizuka-chaaaaaaan!"

She turned to see Minako charging towards her, her trademark red ribbon bouncing up and down atop her blonde head. Shizuka frowned as she noticed that she was with somebody. A boy, no less!

Shizuka smiled. Did Minako have a new boyfriend? She grinned as Minako screeched to a halt in front of her. She bent over, her hands on her knees, and panted in a most unladylike fashion for a few seconds, before standing straight again and grinning widely.

"Sorry I'm late!" she said apologetically. "I bumped into an old friend of mine!"

She shot the boy a glance. "Isn't that right, Susumu-kun?"

The boy known as Susumu nodded. "That's right," he concurred.

"Susumu-kun, this is my friend, Shizuka-chan," Minako told him.

He smiled at Shizuka, a smile that she returned. She noticed then that he really was a handsome boy, with striking eyes and a dazzling smile. He was tall, also, and looked athletic. His hair was nice, too, short and dark and just a little bit messy. She found herself blushing as he held out his hand politely. She hoped the evening light would obscure it.

"Pleased to meet you," he said, as he took her hand and shook it firmly.

"L-likewise," stuttered Shizuka, stammering in spite of her best efforts not to.

He ended the handshake about twenty minutes too early for Shizuka's tastes. She opened her mouth to remind Minako about the movie that was starting in only a couple of minutes, but stopped as Minako reached into her pocket and produced a small, rectangular object. Shizuka stared at it, trying to determine what it was.

"It's my pager!" Minako said by way of explanation. She scanned the screen on it, and then widened her eyes in an impressive display of shock. "Oh my!" she gasped. "Artemis has got stuck in a tree! I'll have to go and rescue him!"

She turned to walk away, and then made a show of turning back. She grinned sheepishly at Shizuka, who was staring at her, nonplussed. She hadn't known Minako owned a pager!

"Shizuka-chan…" said Minako, pressing her hands together as if offering a prayer. "I've got to go, this is an emergency," she said.

Shizuka sighed. "But I've already brought the tickets, and the movie starts in a few minutes!"

Minako's eyes lit up and she giggled deviously. "Well… I seem to recall from long, long ago that Susumu-kun here enjoys Fukami Rica movies just as much as I do," she said. She glanced at him again. "Isn't that right?"

Susumu nodded. "Sure," he said. Shizuka smiled at him again. He was so laid back and easy going!

"Well, then, it's settled!" Minako declared. "You two will see the movie while I rescue Artemis from the drain."

"Wasn't Artemis stuck in a tree?" Shizuka asked, with a tone of mock innocence that indicated she had no idea about her friends' obvious ploy.

Minako's eyes widened, and then she giggled, toying with the red ribbon in her hair. "I just looked again, he fell out of the tree but landed in a drain! Now he's really stuck!"

"Well, you'd better go and help him, then," replied Shizuka. The two of them exchanged a grin that conveyed not only to Minako that Shizuka knew about her plan and appreciated it, but also conveyed to Shizuka that Minako knew she knew about her plan, and she was very welcome.

"I'll see you later, then!" cried Minako. "Have fun, you two!"

With that, she raced away.

"Wait!" Shizuka cried after her quickly diminishing shape. "What about the ticket?"

"That's okay," said Susumu from beside her. "I'll pay for that."

Shizuka turned to him with a grin. "Thanks," she said. He smiled back, and boy, he was handsome, and for a moment Shizuka thought she was going to actually faint. She tore her eyes down to look at her watch, which told her it was 8:28. She looked back up at him. "We'd better get moving!" she said. "The movie starts in a couple of minutes."

He nodded once. "After you," he said, gesturing politely to the door.

Shizuka nodded and made her way to the entrance of the movie theatre, Susumu following close behind. As they made their way inside, side by side, Shizuka snatched the occasional glance at him. He didn't look much like Yukio, but he was incredibly handsome nonetheless. She thought back to her first boyfriend. He'd been wonderful, that was for sure. But while thinking of him gave her a fond feeling inside, it didn't hurt anymore.

"You want anything?" asked Susumu, pulling her out of her thoughts. She stopped and looked back to see him pointing towards the refreshment counter. Shizuka shook her head with a grateful smile. "Thanks," she replied, "but I'll be fine."

They continued on. Shizuka tried to resume her train of thought, but it had been derailed by Susumu and she couldn't for the life of her remember what she'd been thinking about in the first place. She snatched another glance up at him, and flushed red as he glanced back down at her. They both looked away, doing their best to conceal a grin and failing miserably.

They reached the screening room and stepped inside just as the movie was about to begin.

"Thanks, but I'll be fine."

And fine she was.

THE END