She hadn't even realised they were dating until he asked her to marry him.

Kumiko stared at Shin in abject horror. "You... but... we.. I..."

He felt his smile falter.

"But I'm your teacher!" she wailed.

"That was years ago!" he said, impatiently. "I'm older now than you were when we met!"

"But... But... I didn't realise..."

She hadn't realised, even though they'd been to movies, bars, restaurants, you name, just the two of them. She hadn't realised, even though he'd fallen asleep on her and vice versa so many times after a long evening with the television and warm sake. She hadn't realised?

"So... I take it that's a no," he said, in an even voice.

She shook her head rapidly. "My... My grandfather! What does he--"

"I asked him first. He approves."

She pointed a finger at him accusingly. "You just want to marry me so you can be the Kuroda chief!"

He stared at her. "No," he said, with extreme patience. "I want to marry you because I've been in love with you since I was a teenager."

"I- I thought you were over that," she said, not meeting his eyes.

"Well," he said, "if you mean, our relationship has changed since I was in high school, and so have my feelings, that would be true. I'm an adult, and I'm still in love with you."

"Oh," she said.

He unfolding himself from the floor. "I'll go," he said, hating himself for the cowardice but finding himself unable to look at her regardless.

"Wait!" she yelped.

He turned around to raise an eyebrow at her.

"You never even said anything!" she said, fire starting to burn in her eyes. "How was I supposed to know that was how you felt?"

"I thought you knew!" he yelled back.

"I thought you were over me!" she said. "You never even tried to touch me so I thought we were just friends." She was starting to use yakuza language at him. He wasn't sure whether that was a good sign or not.

"I didn't want to push you," he muttered. "Your family... I wanted to do things properly."

"Well, in that case," she said, folding her arms. "I know a nice restaurant you can take me to apologise for misleading me."

"I never--" he began.

"And then maybe you can try again," she said.