The day you were so anxious about has finally arrived. Kure is gonna confess to Rise today, and as a result of that, you'll probably have to explain your past to her. Needless to say, you had a hard time sleeping last night, terrified that you might lose Rise, one of the best people you've ever met in your life. With a sigh, you swing open the classroom door and slowly walk over to your seat. Rise, as usual, is sitting at her desk, using her phone. "Hey Senpai!" she says, as you sit down in your seat. She looks at you, and almost immediately, she begins looking worried. "Senpai? Are you okay? You seem... tired." she asks. "I'm fine. I just couldn't sleep much last night." you say, as you take out your things for class. "Jeez! You need to take better care of yourself Senpai!" she says, scolding you. You're happy to see that Rise cares about you. "I will." you say, as you look back at her and force a smile. After that, nothing of note happened. Classes passed by extremely slow. Eventually though, the final bell rang and everyone was released from class. "Hey Senpai, are you willing to tutor me today?" Rise asks. You are tired, sure, but you really enjoy your time tutoring her, so you can't refuse that offer. "Sure. We have exams coming up, so it'll be good review for me too." you say. "Yaay! Let's go Senpai!" she says, being very excited. You hope that you won't run into Kure. You make it to the school gate without a problem, and just as you begin thinking that he won't show up, that's when you see him, walking up to you and Rise. "Hey... Rise?" he asks. You're very surprised at how shy he seems. Guess he has a heart after all. "That's me. What's up?" she asks, seeming a little annoyed. "Can you come with me for a bit? I want to tell you something." he asks. "It'll only take a little bit." he says, smiling. "S-Sure?" Rise says, a little reluctant, but goes ahead and follows him anyway. They don't go very far, so you are able to hear what they are talking about. "So, what did you wanna tell me?" she asks, seeming pretty impatient. "Well... I want you to be my girlfriend." he says. That's Kure alright. Straight to the point. "Huh? I-I don't even know you." she says. You can see that Kure is a little surprised at her response, probably expecting her to accept, no questions asked. "Well... I'm Kure Hirai. First year. I am part of the basketball club and I am one of the most popular people in this school." he says. "Well, obviously you're not popular enough because I haven't heard anything about you." she says. Suddenly, Rise becomes a lot more serious. "Be honest here. Why do you wanna go out with me?" she asks. You get a cold sweat. Is she thinking of accepting? No, that can't be it. She was pretty rude to him just a moment ago. "Well... You ARE Risette, one of the most popular idols in Japan. Who wouldn't want to go out with you?" he says. "What if I wasn't Risette. What if I was just a regular girl. Would you still want to go out with me?" she asks. You can kinda see where she's going with this. "I mean... I don't know." he answers, scratching the back of his head. As he says that, Rise turns away and starts walking towards me. "We're done here. Goodbye." she says. "W-Wait! He made you hate me, didn't he?" Kure says, pointing at you. Rise suddenly stops and turns around. "Him? He never even mentioned a word about you to me." she says, looking very confused. "I know it's not true! He hates me! Don't be afraid to tell me! He won't do anything to you!" he continues, sounding pretty desperate. Soon, a crowd begins to form. "Dude. You're delusional. He would never threaten me. Get out of my sight." Rise says, as she runs over to me, and holds my hand. "Come on, let's go Senpai." she says, smiling at me. You look back at Kure. He is giving you a death stare. This is not good at all. "We should get out of here quick." you say, the both of you increasing your pace.

You arrive at Rise's room with her. She hasn't said a word to you since that whole incident happened. Is she just gonna ignore what just happened? Probably not. That's not like her. She doesn't seem to be mad or sad or anything like that though. "Hey Senpai. Now that we're here, can you tell me some things about that guy earlier?" she asked. She sat down at her low table and invited you to sit across from her. "Well... he used to be a friend of mine, a long time ago." you say. "Really? He said you hated him though. Is that true?" she asks. "No. I genuinely don't. He just thinks I do because of what happened in the past." you say, sighing. "Mind telling me what happened?" she asks, smiling at me. "If you want to, of course." she continues. "I'll tell you everything. It's pretty pathetic, but hey, at least you'll know." you say, taking a deep breath and beginning to talk about your past. "I wasn't always smart like I am now. In fact, when I was a kid, I used to be a delinquent. I always used to cause trouble. I didn't care about my education. Kure was my best friend back then." you say, looking at Rise's face as you do, as if to analyze her reactions. She looks pretty shocked. "That's surprising. I never would've guessed you were that kind of person." she says. "Anyways, the teachers hated me. They would always hold parent teacher conferences and try to get me to change. One day, they invited me along and asked what I wanted to be. I just said I wasn't sure and that was the end of that. After some time though, I needed some money to buy something, so I decided to try and tutor a person that was antisocial into improving his speaking skills, seeing as that's the only thing I was good at back then." you say. The child was about to go to middle school and you were in your first year of middle school. His parents were pretty happy when they found out that you were around his age and were willing to tutor him. "That's when I found out that I had a passion for teaching. So the next time I went to one of those conferences, I told them that I was interested in teaching. Then they gave me a crash course on what you need to be a teacher and how important it is to have good grades. Then my parents hired some tutors for me and I actually began to like studying and learning new things. However, since I was spending much of my free time doing that, I didn't really hang out with my friends anymore, including Kure. Nobody else cared, but he took things personally. He thought I hated him for some reason. Since then, he began being very rude to me and bullying me." you say. "That's horrible! Did you try telling him that you don't actually hate him?" she asks. "Yeah. I did. I even tried getting other people to tell him that. He just wouldn't listen." you say, sighing. "Anyways, he always tried to get me in trouble, spread rumors about me, try to get people to hate me, and all around just bullied me relentlessly. Eventually though, once I got into Yasogami High, he got assigned to a different class and I've barely seen him since. Occasionally around the hallways, but he never did anything to me. Until recently..." you continue. "I-Is it because of me?" Rise asks, putting two and two together and probably realizing the reason why Kure suddenly became interested in me again. "No. It's not your fault Rise. He just came up to me one day and told me to stop hanging out with you. He was the one that put that love letter in your locker a couple weeks ago. Then, just yesterday, on my way home, he threatened me again and said he's gonna confess to you today... and here we are." you say. You can see Rise's expression. She is pretty angry. "The nerve of that guy! He's horrible!" Rise says, going over to you and hugging you. "Pretty pathetic huh?" you say, chuckling. "No it's not!" Rise says, breaking the hug and looking up at you. "I've been bullied. I know how it's like. It's not pathetic at all. I'm here for you." Rise says, smiling at me. "Thanks Rise." you say, smiling back at her. "Anything for you, Senpai!" she says, giving me another hug. "Anyways, we didn't come here to tell stories. Let's start the tutoring." you say. "Awww, I wanted to spend more time lazing around!" she says, suddenly putting her head on your lap. This girl is just so good at cheering you up that it's unreal. "Alright, alright. But just a little longer." you say, looking down at her. "You know Senpai... remember when I told you that there's someone I like?" she asks. "Yeah. I remember. Did something happen?" you reply. "Well, I was thinking about confessing to him soon. I think he likes me back." she says. This kind of worries you. You're sure that Rise won't stop hanging out with you, even if she did get a boyfriend, but it would still kind of hurt you. "Well, I hope that he does like you back." you say. You're still Rise's friend, so you need to support her as much as possible, regardless of what happens. Suddenly, she jumps back up, as if she just got a sudden burst of energy. "Alright then! Let's start studying!" she says, going over to her spot across from you and opening her books.

A couple weeks later, things are still mostly the same. Exams just ended and summer vacation is around the corner. You've been talking to Rise about going to the beach, and she seemed pretty ecstatic about it. You haven't seen Kure since that incident happened so you're kinda worried about what he might be planning. You shouldn't be worrying about that right now though, seeing as you're in Okina City with Rise. You came here by scooter, and you were pretty impressed by how gracefully Rise handled her scooter. You'll be going to see a movie later, but for now, you're just looking for some swimming trunks to use at the beach. Speaking of the movies, you wonder how she'll react to what we're watching. The featured movie this month was a horror one, and at first, Rise seemed to not want to go, but suddenly, she just got a mischievous smile and agreed to go. Maybe she wants to try out new genres of movies? Well, it doesn't matter. In the end, you end up buying a pair of black swimming trunks and return to Rise. "Ready to go to the movies?" you say. "You're done already? Wow, that was quick Senpai!" she says, looking pretty surprised. "Well yeah. It doesn't take long for me to pick out some clothes." you reply. "Well, alright. Let's go then!" she says, as we exit the store and head towards the 30 Frame Movie Theater. We arrive, getting our tickets along with some popcorn and soda, sitting down at our assigned seats, waiting for the movie to start. "Do you like scary movies Senpai? she asks. "Well, I wouldn't say I like them, but I can handle them. Some of them are pretty enjoyable. What about you?" you ask. "Well... To be honest, they're not really my thing, but since you're here, I think I'll be fine." she says, smiling at me. After a couple minutes of silence, the movie starts. It has your typical horror plot. A group of teens go on a road-trip and they run out of gas in the middle of a forest. They go look for help, but they find out that a serial killer is after them. At every jumpscare or loud sound, you can feel Rise holding your arm tightly. You look at her and smile, which seems to calm her down a little bit. You have to give her credit, she must be really brave to do something like this. Eventually, the movie ends with the teens getting the killer arrested after he killed a couple of their friends. It was nothing too special, but a decent movie nonetheless. "So, how was it Rise?" you ask. "I-It was good. I'm glad you were here though, I couldn't have watched the entire thing if you weren't here Senpai." she says. After that, you returned home. You're both going to bed early today since tomorrow is the day you'll be going to the beach. You can barely contain your excitement.

Shichiri Beach. It took you quite a while to get here. At first, you weren't really sure if this was the right way, almost getting lost at a couple of times, but once you arrived, both you and Rise give a sigh of relief. You park your scooters and go over to get changed. It only takes you a minute or two, so you're at the beach way before Rise. And so, you keep waiting, your heart pounding like crazy. You start imagining all sorts of crazy scenarios, but once realizing what you're doing, you quickly discard them. "Yeah, like any of that will ever happen." you tell yourself. You get bored, so you decide to try making a sand castle. It's your first time coming here in years, so you're not very good at it. Eventually, in the distance, you can see Rise coming over, wearing her orange swimsuit that you bought for her birthday and carrying a bag, probably with sunscreen and other things. You can't stop looking at her. She's stunning. You suddenly feel like the luckiest guy in the world. You're sure that thousands of guys would kill to be in your position. Rise giggles as she finally reaches me, probably realizing that I've been staring at her for the longest time. You finally tear your eyes away, looking at the ground and blushing. "This feels so nice! What a perfect day to be on the beach!" Rise says, stretching a little bit and setting down some towels. "Senpai, would you mind putting some sunscreen on my back?" Rise says. This, of course, makes you pretty flustered, but there's no way you can say no to that. "Y-Yeah." you say, in a quiet voice, as you take the sunscreen from her and she turns around. You put some on your hand, and then gently apply it to Rise's back. Her skin is really smooth. You can't even believe that you're doing this. You start with her shoulders, and slowly go down, stopping a couple inches from her butt, not wanting to risk touching it. She seems to have noticed your hesitation. "Come on Senpai, go lower a little. I don't wanna get sunburned." she says, looking back at you and smiling mischievously. "A-Alright." you say. You're sweating. You take a deep breath, and start going lower. You apply it very carefully, eventually finishing. "Now it's my turn!" she says, grabbing the sunscreen from my hand and going behind me. Unlike me, she doesn't seem to care what she touches and applies it pretty quickly. She must've done this countless times, as opposed to you. In no time at all, she is finished. "Alright, time to go into the ocean!" she says, quickly running towards to ocean. You follow her and start playing with her. You splash each other with water, swim around peacefully, and overall just have a really good time. You eventually get out of the water and go over to have some lunch with Rise. You brought over some sandwiches and Rise's grandma gave us some tofu. "I never imagined this would be so fun! Thank you Senpai!" Rise says, as she prepares our lunch. "No problem. Glad you're enjoying this little trip." you tell her, smiling as you do so. "I have something pretty important to tell you later today. Would you mind hearing me out?" she asks. "Sure. You could just tell me now though." you say. You're pretty curious as to what she has to say. "N-No. I can't do that right now. I need a little time." she replies. What does she need time for? Is there something personal she hasn't told you? Well, it doesn't matter, you'll find out soon enough. You quickly eat your lunch and relax for a little bit, before heading back into the ocean. While in the water, you hear a scream. You look back at Rise. "Is everything okay? What happened?" you ask, very concerned. There's no one but you here, so is there something in the water maybe? "I-I..." you notice that Rise has a hard time speaking, and she's holding her hands to her chest. "M-My... bra!" she says, pointing over in the distance, and sure enough, there it is, floating casually. You quickly go over and grab it, taking it back to Rise. As you extend your arm out to hand it to her, she quickly turns you around and hides behind you, pressing her entire body against you. "W-W-What is it Rise?" you ask, not really sure how to react to what's happening. All sorts of thoughts pass through your mind as you wait for Rise to answer. "A cyclist was passing by. I-I didn't want them to see me like this. Thank you Senpai." she says, letting go of you, as the water quickly cools your back, it having been warmed up by Rise's chest. You extend your arm backwards and hand her the bra. "Phew. That was the first wardrode malfunction I ever had." Rise says, giggling.

Eventually, we finally start packing up after a very fun day. We look out over the ocean as the night slowly approaches. "Hey... Senpai?" Rise says, looking at me. "What is it?" you ask. "Remember how I said I have to tell you something?" she says. You can feel your heart beating a little faster for some reason. "Well... ummm... First of all, I would like to thank you for supporting me and being so kind to me ever since I got here in Inaba. You've been amazing and I've made countless unforgettable memories with you." she says. "And... You helped me realize who I truly am. I'm not just Risette and not just the girl from Inaba. Both of those are still me. Without you, this issue would've bugged me forever. Well, you know, since then, I kinda realized that... I've fallen in love with you." she continues. As you hear her last sentence, your heart skips a beat. "So... would you be my boyfriend?" she asks. This is unreal. You can see how embarrassed Rise is, it must've taken her days to prepare for this moment. And you know what you have to do. You get closer to her, and give her a really tight hug. "Of course I will Rise. You don't know how happy I am right now." you say. You break the embrace and get close to her face, looking right in her eyes. The atmosphere is perfect. She slowly leans in closer, eventually her soft lips meeting yours. You feel as though this moment last hours, even though in reality, it only lasts a couple seconds. You slowly step back, breaking the kiss. "Senpai... I love you." she says, looking at you. She has the most genuine and most beautiful smile you have ever seen. "I love you too Rise." you say, giving her a quick peck on the cheek. "Let's get back now. We wouldn't want to worry our parents." You say, and Rise responds with a nod.