Like he promissed, Ryo was waiting at the airport when Rika returned to Tokyo. Rika was happy not to see him with a bouquet of flowers or dressed in a suit.
He put his arm around her shoulder and that's how they left the airport. No kiss or real hug but that's what she needed.
She came to his apartment once when Satoshi wasn't at home and they talked there for hours. She now knew everything about Nina. Nina was Ryo's exgirlfriend, who he met in Kyushu. They dated for almost a year but then he found out he was cheating him. Ryo denied, that it was one of the reasons he came to study in Tokyo.
Rika and Ryo were dating but they never acted too sweet in public. Nobody knew how they were in private.
After Ryo's message on the screen, paparazzi didn't leave him alone until he finally gave an interview, talking about his girlfriend. Rika felt a bit embarassed about it but at least she could choose which picture she wanted to be published in the magazine. Sometimes when she went out with her mum and saw a paparazzi taking photos of them, she didn't know if they were interested in her or in her mother, the successful model. She stopped caring about it soon.
Rika still didn't like Satoshi, who didn't stop calling her slow burger maker and similar stuff. Ryo never told her how he can stand his best friend.
Rika was still working in the restaurant and the waitress wanted to talk about Ryo all the time. Rika was getting annoyed by the fact, that she actually enjoyed talking about him. Jeri told her that that was just a normal thing to do .. for a girl in love.
(Rika never admitted that it was a heart drawn on Ryo's postcard.)