Two

Math books, check.

Lots of paper, check.

Pens, check.

Snacks and drinks, check check.

Clean study room, check.

No brothers, check.

Yokaze Rei sighed and flopped down on his bean bag. He had spent the whole afternoon making his study room presentable. Let the readers know, however, that his study was already presentable as it was. But Rei, being the courteous boy he was, wanted to make sure everything was OK whenever a visitor came. Be it the Emperor or his sloppy friends.

But this time, it was different. The visitor was going to be a girl. A girl was tidy. A girl was meticulous. This girl was Yukibana Midori. And he hardly knew Midori. If they had been friends from before, maybe he'd be more comfortable. But, no~. The only thing he knew about Midori was the fact that she had dazzling green eyes. Ones that he had never really looked into since the first time they met, due to their lack of correspondence. Not that he actually wanted to. They were just eyes, weren't they? Every person in the world had them.

Rei shot up from his position when there was a knock on the door. His brothers had always barged in without knocking, and his mother had always called him from outside. That meant one thing...

"Just a second!" Rei called, standing up. After one last glance around the room, he pulled the door open, and came face to face with Yukibana Midori. And there they were: the dazzling green eyes.

"Hi."

"Hi..."

"Uh...You're mother---"

"Miki-san!" came a voice from the living room.

"Oh, right," Midori corrected herself. "Miki-san told me I could go right in..."

It wasn't that Rei's mother didn't like to be called so, but she said she preferred to be called by her real name than her position, or "Yokaze-san", when it came to her sons' female friends. Not that Rei had many.

"Yeah, come in," Rei said politely, moving aside to let Midori walk in. She was dressed comfortably in a collared white shirt and black jeans, and her hair was tied up in a half ponytail. She put her blue bag on the floor and waited for Rei to ask for her to sit down before doing so. And when she did, she immediately took out her own studying materials out of her bag, without doing the room inspection that Rei expected. Well, that totally put Rei's idea about all girls being meticulous in doubt. But that apparently didn't mean that she didn't really look at it.

"Nice room," she commented after smoothing out her copy of the problem set. "Do you always receive your guests here?"

"Yeah," Rei replied. "Call me picky, but I don't really like people going in my room."

Midori smiled at him. "I know. That's our own private place, isn't it?"

"Yeah." Rei said almost absently.

She kept her smile for about two more seconds, then glanced at the papers on the table. "Well then, shall we get to work?"

They were halfway done when they heard Rei's mother shout "Kano!" outside. Then, the door suddenly flung open, and a little boy came running in.

"ONIICHAN!"

"Oof!"

Ah, yes. Rei's 5-year-old brother who has a knack for smashing into things... including Rei himself. Rei saw Midori look from him to the boy clinging to him like a lifeline. She seemed very amused.

"Mitsu-kun went to the skating rink yesterday, Oniichan, and he said it was so fun and everyone was sliding around, and he said it was so fun so I wanna go, too! I wanna go to the rink! Can you take me, please, Oniichan?" his brother pleaded in one breath.

"Kano..." Rei sighed. "I'm sort of busy right now."

"Kano, don't bother your Oniichan," Miki said at the doorway. "He's studying with your Midori-oneesan, see?"

"Are your studies more important than me, Oniichan? Are too busy for me, Oniichan?" Kano said in such a cute, innocent way, Rei wasn't even sure if the smaller boy knew what his statement implied. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Midori smile, and he instantly knew she was thinking the same thing.

"Honey, there are things your brother really has to do, but that doesn't mean you're any less important than them," Miki said, taking Kano's hand.

"I'll take you next time," Rei consoled his brother.

"Promise, Oniichan?"

"Promise."

Kano let go of him, and, to everyone's surprise, went to cling on to Midori. "You're going, too, right, Midori-oneechan?" Midori quickly turned to Rei.

"Ka-- Kano!" Rei and Miki exclaimed at the same time.

"If I can, I would." Midori answered safely. But Kano was not to be tricked.

"Can you?"

"Your Oniichan and I will talk about it," she said.

Satisfied with that answer, Kano let go of her, and hopped out of the room, Miki following him after an apology. Rei sighed heavily, and, unable to keep himself from doing so, put his head in his hands.

"You all right?"

Rei sighed again, then looked at Midori. "Sorry about that, but my brother---"

"Is a cute little boy," Midori finished for him with a smile. "Does he always say 'oniichan' in practically every sentence when he speaks to you?"

"You noticed, huh?"

"I think it's sweet."

"Yeah, well, thanks, but I don't really like being called sweet like that."

"I meant him."

A pause.

"That's what I said," Rei said, turning to his math notebook. Midori laughed again.

About two hours later, Rei flopped down on his bean bag for the second time that day. He had decided about an hour before that he was going to loosen up. Of course, after spending four mind-draining hours with someone in one room, who wouldn't? Midori herself had her arms and head on the table.

"Thank goodness that's over and done with," she said to the wall.

"Well, it's not like you really had a hard time," Rei said. "You're such a genius at math."

"I'm no genius, Yokaze."

"Yes, you are. Ever since we were in first grade, you always got a high score in math..."

"It wasn't so high..." Midori told him, playing with her hair. Honestly, she wasn't very comfortable getting compliments from him. Heck, she never DID speak to him before, did she?

"Keh. I don't know why you deny it. The only reason you're tired is because it's long."

"And you're not?"

"I'm tired because I stink at math."

"You know," Midori started, propping her chin on her hands, "Math isn't all that hard---"

"SEE?!" Rei said, pointing accusingly at her. "And you claim not to be a genius."

He fell on his knees dramatically, his one hand on his aching heart. "On the other hand, poor, unfortunate souls like us... cannot be spared from the sentence of a failing grade lest we be helped by a Math genius like Yukibana Midori..."

"Oei..." Midori interrupted, but Rei just raised a shaking fist in the air.

"Long live Yukibana-sama~!!!"

Midori rolled her eyes, and started gathering her things. "I should be going. It's already dark out."

"Are you OK on your own?" Rei asked, back to normal. "I could take you..."

"Yokaze-kun, my house is just five blocks away."

"That's five blocks!"

"Oh, honestly. Do you think girls are so defenseless?"

~~~

Rei had been standing alone on the porch for the past several minutes. The afternoon had definitely been interesting. He found out several things about Midori, like the fact that she was nice to talk to (even if they didn't talk about much aside from math). And that she had a way with kids. And that, aside from her dazzling eyes, she had a brilliant smile and a laugh that kept echoing in his head.

With a small smile tugging the corners of his lips, he put his hands in his pockets and stepped inside.

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