MARIKO<br/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">"Okay... where to? I don't know where the dorms are yet, but I do know that my grandfather's driver left my things at the dorm for me... so someone must know where I sleep."<br/></blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><strong>"I'll show you where the dorms are. Should be able to find out where you've been assigned once we get there." </strong>I shook my head slowly.<strong>"Typical. They don't give the new girl the layout."</strong>I chuckled.<br/><br/><strong>"Don't you apologize, either. You didn't need to even try. That you did... Thanks, Akiko<sup>1</sup>."</strong>I kept my voice down, too. This wasn't a conversation everyone else needed to hear.<strong>"I foolishly underestimated sensei's perception."<br/></strong><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">"And as for what you said last..." Akiko blushed now. "Well... I was asking if you were hitting on me? I'm confused about all that stuff, and wasn't sure."</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div>Her blush was cute. I might have blushed, too, if I were someone else. But I don't blush easily. Instead, I smiled and took a deep breath. The moment of truth.<strong>"I was, yeah. That's not a problem, is it?"</strong><br/><br/><br/><sup>1</sup>Mariko has a habit of often dropping the honorific suffixes.