Just a quick disclaimer before you start reading, you might notice that my writing style has changed quite a bit since the last part. That's because some people have pointed some flaws with my writing style to me, and I have tried fixing them. Please share your thoughts with me so that I can improve further and provide better stories for you all. Now enough of that, enjoy the story.

You finally arrive at your classroom door. You've been really excited for today, considering how great yesterday was. It was one hell of a day. Not only is the one and only Risette attending your class, but she also considers you her friend and has even hugged you! You try to calm your nerves a little, and you swing open the door.

"Heyyyy! You're here!" a very cute voice yells out, which could be none other than Rise. She gets up from her seat and runs up to you. "Hey Rise-chan. What's up?" you reply, slightly embarrassed at all the attention that you're receiving from her, not to mention that a lot of people are staring at you now. "Oh, nothing much. Also, I have a question for you." Rise says. "What is it?" you reply. You're very curious as to what her question might be. Either way, your heart is already pounding for pretty much no reason. "I was wondering, I know that we're in the same class, but... can I call you Senpai?" Rise asks, with a curious expression on her face, a little too loud for your liking. You can feel every student in the room giving you a death stare. "S-Senpai? Why would you want to call me that?" you ask her, confused by her reasoning. I mean, we are in the same class and I am only a month older than her, so it's definitely weird for her to call me that. "Awww... Do you not want me to call you that?" Rise says, a sad expression forming on her face. "No, no, no! You can call me whatever you want. I just wanna know the reasoning." You reply, trying your best to reassure Rise so that she can be happy again. When you said that, Rise suddenly got back to being her happy self. "Yaay! And it's just because... no reason!" Rise replies, laughing softly as she said that. God, she's just so cute!

After that was over, the teacher entered the room and we all rushed to our seats as he began the class. It was just review from the other day, so you had no problem with much of the assignments he gave us. Rise, however, seemed to be struggling a bit. You lean over to look at her paper and you quietly begin explaining one of the problems to her. You can see that she is listening very closely, nodding every so often. After that, you make her try the next problem on the paper, which she manages to solve, albeit it does take a little while. You decide to let her solve the rest of the paper on her own, and you go ahead and work on yours. The lunch bell rings and a lot of people leave the classroom. You get out your instant noodle cup, as per usual, and Rise gets out a little lunchbox. "I can see that you actually brought food today." You say to Rise. "That was a one time thing! It won't happen again!... probably." she says, a little embarrassed. "Senpai, how about you tell me some things about yourself now?" Rise says, as she unpacks her lunchbox, which seems to contain some tofu along with some other foods, likely made by her grandma. "Well, ummm... what do you wanna know about me?" You reply to her, not really sure what to tell her. "Well... do you have a girlfriend?" she asks. As she says that, you begin choking on the noodles that you just began eating. "S-Senpai? Are you okay?" Rise asks, very concerned at your sudden coughing. "Y-Yeah. I'm good." you reply after getting yourself back in order. "Geez, be more careful Senpai!" Rise says, as if she was a mother scolding her child. "Anyways, answer my question." she quickly says. "Ummm... I don't. Never had one either." you reply. "Why not? That's kinda surprising." she says, being slightly taken aback by your response. "Is it? I don't think it is." you reply to her, unsure why she thinks that. "I'm pretty average actually. I'm nothing special." you continue. "Oh, no need to be modest, Senpai! You're very smart and are also very kind and supporting to me!" Rise replies, giggling at the end. This sudden rapid fire wave of compliments takes you by surprise and you become extremely embarrassed, looking down at your noodle cup and increasing your eating pace. "Awww, you're like a little child, Senpai!" she says, laughing. "Anyways, do you have any friends you can introduce me to?" she asks, obviously very curious about me. "Well, not really." you reply, making eye contact with her again and slowing down your eating pace. "I used to have a friends, but some... stuff happened and now I have none pretty much." you continue, not really wanting to tell her the reason, since just thinking about it already makes you feel a little bit sad. "Awww, what happened?" she says, giving me a smile "If you don't mind telling me, that is." she continues, probably wanting to make sure that she doesn't make me feel uncomfortable. "I'll tell you another time." you reply, not really wanting to begin reciting your story, as it would take a while. "Oh alrighty then, no biggie!" Rise says, sensing that you don't want to talk about it and ending the conversation. After that, we just eat in silence.

School is finally over and you begin thinking about what to do today. Rise has to help her grandmother at the shop so she headed home as soon as the bell rang. You gather your things and you plan on going to your house so you can play some video games or something to relax. Upon exiting the classroom however, you meet a face you haven't seen in ages. "Hey, look who we have here..." the boy says, as he slowly approaches you. "Kure? W-What are you doing here?" you say, very terrified of him. He used to be in your class in middle school, but since high school began, you've only seen him around the hallway from time to time, and he never even looked at you. "Rise Kujikawa... that name familiar?" he says, in a slightly taunting voice. "I mean, yeah... She is one of the most popular idols in Japan after all." you reply, not sure what he could be getting at. "Yeah, good job smartypants. Say, she's in your class, right?" he says. "Yeah, what about it?" you reply, trying to sound normal, but deep inside you are really scared of him. After what he and his friends did to you in middle school, you have every right to be. "I heard you've been very buddy-buddy with her, huh?" he continues. You can kinda see what he's getting at. You have to try to avoid saying anything unnecessary at all costs. "She sits next to me, and she's new here, so of course I'm trying to help her out and stuff." you reply. On second thought, that might've not been a good idea. His expression becomes a very angry one as he shoves you into the nearby wall. "Look here. She is mine. I'm going to date her at all costs. So don't you dare get in my way, you goddamn nerd." he says, spitting on you and walking away. You wipe the spit away from your face and stand back up. You thought your bully forgot about you. Guess not. Either way, you just brush it off and walk to your house. You dealt with it in middle school for a while, so it's not gonna be any more different now.

The next day, after a pretty uneventful day, you get to your class and sit down, only to notice that Rise is holding a note, and looks very perplexed. You slightly tap her shoulder. "Hey Rise, what's wrong?" you ask her, a little concerned about why she looks like that. "Hey Senpai. I found this in my locker. I guess it's a love letter." she says, showing me the envelope the letter is in. Sure enough, it has a heart on it so it's pretty clear what it is. "Why don't you read it?" you ask her. You try to sound as normal as possible, but deep inside, you are very scared that she will end up going out with someone. Not that you have a chance with her, but you'd prefer her to be single at least. "I did. I'm not interested." she says, dismissing the letter like it was nothing. "I guess you're used to it, huh? You must've gotten thousands of those when you were working as an idol." you say, very relieved to see that she is completely uninterested. "Yeah. But back then I couldn't get a boyfriend because of work... now, nobody's stopping me." she says, lightly smiling. "Then, why don't you get one?" you ask, curious to see what her response will be. "Well, there IS someone I'm interested in... but I'm holding off for now." she says. This kinda makes your heart sink a little. "Who might that be? Mind telling me?" you ask, your curiosity now peaked. "It's... a secret." she says, with a slightly mischievous smile. "Oh... alright." you say, trying to smile back, however, you're sure your attempt at a smile must look absolutely horrendous. "I wonder who that letter was from, though..." she says. You have a slight idea of who it might be from, after what happened yesterday, but you decide to keep quiet. "Senpai... are you free after school today?" she asks. "Yeah, why do you ask?" you reply. Maybe she wants to go see some more of Inaba. There isn't much to show her though. I guess there's Junes. That's about it. "I kinda want you to tutor me today. I want to do better in school so I can make my grandma proud!" she says. This doesn't really take you by surprise, since you expected to tutor her at some point. She's not bad at the material, per se, but she just has a hard time grasping new concepts, and a couple older ones. "Sure, I can do that. Library should be fine, right?" you reply to her, already thinking about the best way to explain some concepts to her. "Well... how about we do it at my place instead?" she replies. This takes you completely by surprise, making you blush intensely. Rise must have noticed because she starts laughing a little bit. "Don't worry silly, we'll be sticking strictly to studying." she says, teasing me a little bit. "I-I know. It just kinda surprised me, that's all, haha.." you reply, laughing very nervously at the end. Now that you think about it, it might be for the best. You have no chance of encountering Kure if you're at her house. "We'll talk about it more after school, alright?" Rise says, giving me a quick smile before the teacher enters the room and begins the lesson.

"Here we are!" Rise exclaims, as we arrive at her grandmother's tofu shop, Marukyu. You have never been a big fan of tofu, but you might eat some today. Following Rise inside, you wait a little until she brings her grandma here. Eventually, you see Rise walking alongside a old lady, which you can only assume is her grandma. "Oh... Why hello there. You must be the 'Senpai' Rise talks so much about." the old lady says. "Yeah, I am. Nice to meet you." you say, giving a polite bow. "I must thank you for taking care of Rise at school and helping her with her studies. Since she's missed a lot of school due to her idol work, it's been hard for her to catch up." she says, herself bowing down a little. "Oh, it's no big deal. Rise's a great girl, and she's fun to hang around with and she keeps me company. It's the least I could do." you reply. You glance at Rise and you can kinda see her blushing a little bit, but she says nothing. "As a thank you, I can make you some tofu after you finish. It's the least I could do." she says, giving you a smile. "That's fine with me." you reply. "Alright, you two can go ahead and begin studying. Let me know when you're done." she says. "Alrighty then! Follow me Senpai." Rise says, and you follow her to the back of the store and up some stairs, until you arrive at a door that she swings open. Behind that door lies a rather plain and empty looking room, only featuring a bed in the back, a low table in the middle of the room, and a decent sized TV to the right. "You have a pretty nice room, Rise-chan." you say. And you're not just saying that to be nice. You genuinely like the room. Sure, it's plain, but that's it's charm. "I only moved in here a couple days ago, so I have yet to decorate it much." Rise replies. "Anyways, let's get studying!" she says excitingly, taking out her books. You take out yours and begin going over some of the material with her. It takes her a while to completely understand the concepts, but once she does, she does everything perfectly, with barely any mistakes. Needless to say, you're very impressed. You have a lot of fun teaching Rise things she didn't understand before, and she obviously does too, since she is always smiling when listening to you teach. Before you know it, it's almost time for you to go home. "Well, I guess that's it for today." you say, getting up and stretching a bit. "Oh, you're right. I guess it is quite late. Thank you so much for today Senpai!" Rise says, smiling at you. "No problem. I'm happy that you understood pretty much everything I taught you." you reply, also giving her a smile. "You'd make a really good teacher, you know? I'd be super happy to be in your class!" she says. "Yeah... I guess...". This brings back some bad memories, and it kinda makes you a little sad, but you quickly cheer back up, so Rise won't be worried. "How about that tofu? I'm excited to see how it tastes." you say to Rise. "Oh right. I'll go tell grandma to start preparing it. Be back in a bit!" she says, as she gives you a wink and walks out of the door.

Where is she? It's been about 15 minutes since she left. Maybe she's out helping her grandmother with making the tofu. Either way, you watched a couple of videos and read some stuff online until she finally came back. "Sorry for the wait!" Rise says, holding a plate of tofu in her hand. She sets it down on the table, and the tofu facing you has... a heart made from sauce on it? What? "This is mine, right?" you ask, pointing at the tofu in front of you. "Of course it's yours, silly!" Rise says, as she sits herself down across from you. "Thank you for the meal!" you say, as you begin eating the tofu. As you chew, Rise looks at you with a curious expression, as if waiting for you to say something. This is really good tofu though. You've only eaten it a couple of times, so it's not like you're a connoisseur or anything, but this is definitely the best tofu you've eaten. "This is really good! I might not be big on tofu, but this might change things." you say, as you continue eating the delicious meal. "Really? That's great to hear. I actually helped grandma prepare it, so it probably tastes this good because I've poured my love into it!" she says, also eating her own portion. Knowing Rise, the heart earlier and what she just said doesn't really mean anything. In no time at all, the meal is completely finished. You lean back and sigh. "Phew! That really hit the spot. I'll probably become a regular of this shop." you say. "Are you sure you're not doing that just to see me more often?" Rise asks, in a teasing tone, with a mischievous smile on her face. "Maybe I am." you decide to give her a taste of her own medicine, and also mischievously smile yourself. She slightly blushes, probably surprised because I don't usually do this. "A-Anyways, how about you give me your phone number so we can talk tomorrow? You know, since it's the weekend." Rise asks, taking out her phone. "You're right. Guess it's a good idea to do that." you take out your own phone, and quickly exchange numbers with her. It feels so surreal. You, of all people, have Rise Kujikawa's number. You can't help but be extremely excited. "I guess I should get going. It's pretty late. I want to be home by the time my parents arrive." You say, picking up your bag. "Awwww... Alright. See ya tomorrow!" Rise says, standing up and getting close to you, embracing you. You could get addicted to this. You feel so warm and fuzzy inside. "Here's a thank you from me for being so supportive." Rise says, as she steps back for a moment, but quickly gets close to your face and plants a little kiss on your right cheek. My eyes widen immensely, and my heart starts pounding like never before. Rise must notice how flustered I am, as she begins giggling. "Come on, don't you have to go home now?" she says, teasing you for just standing there. Who can blame you though? You've been kissed on the cheek by Rise, of all people. I'm sure everyone would react the same way. "R-Right. See ya tomorrow!" you say, waving to Rise as you exit the room. You head downstairs and thank her grandma for her hospitality and food, and head on towards your own home. You're not sure what that kiss meant, but it most definitely made you the happiest you've ever been.