The smell of burnt toast is the first thing that greets Raku when he wakes up. Any lingering exhaustion is chased away immediately by the time displayed on the clock face. He shoots up off his mattress, tripping over himself in an attempt to grab his school clothes and his bag. Half dressed, he follows the smell down the hall in his bare feet, hastily throwing his shirt over his head.
"Oi! Who touched my fucking kitchen!?" he shouts irritably as he comes streaking around the corner. He's trying to shove his jacket and book bag on at the same time, but its not working. The entirety of the Shuei-Gumi clan snaps their heads toward Raku as he stumbles into the kitchen, shirt half-untucked, hair unbrushed. Despite his unkempt appearance, they grin at him.
"Good morning, Bocchan!" they tell him, in a chorus of uncoordinated voices.
One of the guys named Kimichi elbows Raku in the shoulder as they enter the room behind him. "Your shirt is all fucked up, kid."
He gives the yakuza a bored look. "I was distracted by the burnt toast stench. Even Chitoge can make toast without burning it, Kimichi."
Kimichi laughs, deep and strong and ruffles Raku's hair. Ryuu's head pops out from the behind the wall, a spatula in his hand. Raku sticks his other arm in his jacket, warily eyeing the utensil before glancing up at the imposing yakuza.
"You treat us all the time, Bocchan, I thought I could return the favor," Ryuu explains, grinning widely, proud of his consideration.
Raku makes a face. "Chitoge cooks better than you, Ryuu." It's a truly miraculous feat, he thinks, that someone out there is worse than Honey when it comes to cooking.
He laughs heartily, the spatula swinging through the air as he swats Raku's shoulder playfully. "The young miss is a terrible cook!"
"Exactly!" Raku leans around Ryuu to pluck an apple out of the fruit bowl sitting on the kitchen counter and takes a bite, adjusting the strap of his bag. "Thanks for the offer, but I'm running late! Remember to turn off the stove when you're done using it!" He doesn't particularly enjoy using his status as the second master of the household over the yakuza guys, but they really were clueless when it came to housekeeping. Raku would very much prefer to come back to a house that wasn't a crumble of ashes after school.
"Yes, Bocchan!" Ryuu salutes Raku with the spatula, still grinning like a maniac. Raku himself feels his exasperated expression soften into an almost-smile as he takes another bite of the apple in his hand.
"Do you need a ride to school, Bocchan?!" one of the yakuza guys asks as Raku starts toward the front door.
"No!" he replies almost too quickly, mouth full of apple. "No - I'm meeting Honey on the way."
A door opens to Raku's right and his father appears in the frame, looking far too serious for so early in the day. "Somehow, I doubt Ojou-chan will be allowed to walk to school today."
A swell of anxiety surges up in Raku at the tone in his dad's voice. "Why not?"
His dad is younger than he looks - gray and wrinkled beyond his years due to the stress of running a yakuza group. He appears even older when he gives Raku that level-headed look - as though he's talking to Raku not as his son, but as a member of the Shuei clan. "We've picked up traces of another gang moving through town," his dad says after a moment of contemplation. "We're not sure how long they're here to stay."
The clamouring nerves in Raku's stomach ease at those words. How many times has this bell been rung? A countless number of gangs have moved through the city, and they always passed without incident. It was hard to imagine them running into trouble with any outsider now, especially with the Beehive set up nearby and the Police Commissioner standing behind Ichijou. What the hell kind of idiot would stir up a hornets nest like that?
"I'm sure it's nothing," Raku says, brushing the news off his shoulders with another bite of his apple. "They'd be stupid to cross us."
Ichijou observes Raku for another long moment before closing his eyes and nodding, his agreement only half-hearted. "I'm sure you're right. Even so, I know Adelt and his Beehive; Ojou-chan would not be allowed to walk to school today. In that same vein, you will also recieve an escort." He opens his eyes, folds his hands in front of him and grins at the less-than-enthusiastic look on Raku's face. "Your old man worries, after all."
: : : :
He doesn't realize that he'd been concerned about her until he sees Chitoge standing by his locker, arms crossed over her chest, the red ribbon in her hair tied crookedly today. She's deep in a conversation she doesn't seem to be enjoying with Tsugumi, who is frowning, her hands fluttering about as she replies to Chitoge.
"...tell him before he left?" Chitoge murmurs, tapping her fingers restlessly against her arm.
"I'm sure its fine, Ojou. The Shuei clan takes care of its own," Tsugumi promises her assuringly.
Raku approaches, leaning one hand against the wall of lockers as he puts his school slippers on. "Shouldn't you both be in class right now?" he asks, raising an eyebrow at them. They both glance at him and the tension, he sees, visibly leaves their shoulders.
"It's about time you showed up," Chitoge says a bit sassily as she unfolds her arms and props her hands below her waist. She shifts her weight and Raku feels his gaze linger a bit at her hips before he meets her gaze with annoyance.
"I slept through my alarm this morning," he tells her with a bit of bite in his voice.
"Ojou was worried about you," Tsugumi declares unashamedly.
Instantly, Chitoge's face turns pink. Raku puts his sneakers into his locker and sticks his hands in his pockets as she whirls on Tsugumi like a cornered dog. "W-Well! There are dangerous criminals moving through town! I'd be worried about anyone!" Chitoge glares at her bodyguard before turning her gaze on Raku, eyebrows sharp over her eyes. "I just hoped you weren't waiting for me by the lamp post, is all."
He averts his eyes from her cherry blossom cheeks and the scowl he is unable to take 100% seriously anymore. "I was worried that you were waiting for me, too. Should we head to class?" He adjusts his bag strap again, a part of him feeling pleased that they'd waited, even if it meant getting tardy marks from Yui-nee when they walked in late.
"Probably," Chitoge mutters. There's a moment of silence and then he jerks his head up in surprise when she grabs his hand. His eyes dart at Tsugumi, who is still under the impression that he is dating her most precious person, before cutting back to Chitoge questioningly. She gives him a look that demands his cooperation and he complies, threading his fingers through hers. "Let's go," she says.
As they walk, Tsugumi tailing both of them, Chitoge leans her shoulder against Raku and he is helpless to the sudden nerves that make his skin hot. "We need to be on our best behavior today," she murmurs so that Tsugumi can't hear. "Claude is here, too."
He's barely able to hold back a groan of disgust, tightening his hold on her hand instinctively. Why hadn't he guessed that was the case? Of course Four-Eyes was here. Claude probably wouldn't be letting Chitoge out of his sight until the threat of a new gang on this territory passed.
Though her warning is nice, he thinks he didn't need it to be on his best behavior with her. Chitoge isn't just some gangster's daughter he was forced into dating anymore. She's his best friend now. In fact, he's a bit bothered that she'd assume he'd treat her otherwise. He squeezes her hand again.
When they reach their classroom door, Chitoge drops his hand and takes a deep breath. "It's fine," he mumbles, and then opens the door. "Today is gonna be just fine."
They are met with uncharacteristic silence. Raku glances up to apologize to Yui-nee and the rest of the class with a sheepish smile when he notices that a boy he's never seen before is standing at the front of the classroom. Immediately, Raku can tell that the boy is foreign - he's got sandy blonde hair, green eyes, and he's as tall as a tree - but he's sporting the class uniform, his black jacket unzipped.
Everyone's eyes slide from the foreign boy slowly over to the trio in the doorway.
Yui-nee breaks the silence first, and there is relief on her face. It occurs belatedly to Raku that she'd know about the gang that's got everyone tense today, too. She must have been worried when they weren't here at the first bell, he realizes with a guilty twist in his gut. He'd have to apologize later. "Hello, you three," she says with a smile. "We were just meeting our new classmate. Why don't you take your seats so we can start class?"
Raku, Chitoge, and Tsugumi slink to their adjoining seats near the back, throwing questioning glances at each other after Yui-nee's suspiciously cheerful greeting. Once they've slipped into their desks, the foreigner at the front of the class speaks up in clumsy Japanese.
"Hello," he says haltingly, "my name is David Singer. I'm an exchange student from a little town in Iowa in the U. S. I look forward to spending the next three months with all of you!" He bows, overly animated, possibly trying to make up for the fact that he can't speak very well.
Raku probably should have anticipated what would happen next. It is only logical, after all, but instead he is violently jolted by surprise when Yui-nee calls out to Chitoge.
"Kirisaki," she says formally, sweetly, straightening out her glasses, "since you and our new classmate have a few things in common already, will you show him around until he gets used to how things work?"
"Yes!" Chitoge accepts quickly, her voice bright. "Of course!"
Raku looks at her, the red-cheeked excitement of her expression, the way her eyes twinkle. She must be enthusiastic, to meet someone who is from America for the first time in nearly three years. She'll probably really enjoy having someone to talk to in English. His stomach pitches strangely at the thought.
He remembers the day Chitoge admitted to liking someone. Raku felt the same way then that he does now. A frown pulls at his mouth and then Yui-nee addresses him and his mood plummets.
"Raku, why don't you take Tachibana's empty seat for the next couple of days so that Kirisaki can sit with David?"
Besides the fact that it feels wrong to move to Tachibana's desk despite her having transferred out of their class a month ago, Raku is reluctant to leave his spot behind. He finds himself trying to give voice to an excuse that would allow him to stay and when he looks at Chitoge, he sees that she's confused about his hesitation.
"Well?" she prompts him brashly. "Move, Darling."
It irritates him. "Yes, Honey," he mocks, grabbing his bag and standing up. He weaves his way over to Tachibana's desk and plops down a little more forcefully than necessary.
David gives him a smile from across the room. "Thank you."
Raku waves him away. "Sure," he mumbles. Somewhere in the back of the room, he hears Shuu snicker.
"It's nice to meet you, Kirisaki," David says, a bit shyly. Raku tries not to hear as he pulls out his notebook, undoubtedly bothered by this entire situation and desperately trying to figure out why.
He hears the smile in Chitoge's voice, even though she answers in perfect English. "Likewise!"
::::
David is instantly sweet on Chitoge. She invited him to each lunch with their group, and he hasn't really taken his eyes off her once. Raku is irritated. At this rate, he thinks, picking at his food, everyone in this room will be spreading rumors about how he and Chitoge aren't dating anymore. With Claude watching, that's the last thing they need.
Raku loses his appetite halfway through lunch and quietly slips away. The only one who notices him getting up is Onodera, who stills him with her eyes.
"Are you okay, Ichijou-kun?" she asks, concern coloring her face. She really is cute, he notices for the millionth time. He gives her a reassuring smile, as genuine as he can given the fact he feels sick to his stomach with nerves that confuse him.
"I'm okay! Thanks, Onodera." With a thumbs up, he starts to walk away. "I just need to go to the bathroom."
She blushes and ducks her face. "A-Ah. Okay!"
He honestly doesn't get very far. Soon, he finds himself sitting on a bench in the busy quad, surrounded by lowerclassmen taking their lunch breaks too. He's got the chain of his locket tangled in his fingers, smoothing his thumb over the keyhole, his brow furrowed as he thinks.
Raku is alarmed by how unsettled he's been today. He's used to muddling through his emotions blindly, unable to understand what he's feeling at all but this is too much confusion. It's stifling and he can't think straight. His reflection stares back at him from the golden surface of his locket.
What is he doing? Holding onto the past because it's what he knows? What about what he knows now? The wind ruffles his hair, the sun hot on his neck and he takes a deep breath, glancing up at the students scattered around the courtyard. It's already nearly halfway through his third year of high school.
Three years dating Chitoge. Three years too afraid to confess to Onodera. Three years of sidestepping Tachibana's blatant love declarations. It all happened so fast. He's spent these past few years enjoying every moment he can with his friends but he knows with uncomfortable clarity that his days with Chitoge are numbered. She'll probably go to some Ivy League school in America if Hana Kirisaki has any say in it, and that's after their fake relationship is brought to a peaceful end.
So what then? Confess to Onodera? Somehow, the thought doesn't seem as exhilarating as it usually does. When did that change, anyway? When did thinking he liked Onodera started becoming an obligation rather than an absolute truth he felt in his heart?
And what about Tachibana? She said she'd wait after he rejected her feelings fully and respectfully almost a month ago. That is so much more than he deserves. Tachibana deserves love from someone who is worthy of her dedication and selflessness and Raku knows that its not him. Even if he did like her, he could never belong to her. He's been too selfish, too vague, too damn slippery and it's not fair to her. She's better than him.
"Ahhh," he mumbles, rubbing at his hairline, looking back down at his locket. His head hurts, and he hasn't even breached the topic of the promised girl he thought he was waiting for. Tachibana had already relented that it's not her. That leaves him with Chitoge and Onodera.
His thoughts are brought to an abrupt end when the air beside him is displaced. He glances over, not as surprised as he thought he would be, to see Tsugumi sitting beside him, her lips pursed into a hard, thin line.
"What are you doing here?" he asks, trying to comprehend why the former assassin would ever leave her charges' side with a potential enemy moving through town.
"Since Claude-sama is also watching Ojou today, she asked me to come find you," Tsugumi says matter-of-factly, fixing the collar on her jacket before settling a harsh look on Raku. "You're always making Ojou worry these days, Raku Ichijou. Stop doing that. It's no way to treat a lady, and least of all Ojou."
His heart skips an unexpected beat at those words. So she had seen him leave, and she was afraid for him. That's not right. He forgets, sometimes, just how easily Chitoge worries. "You're right. Sorry, Tsugu-"
"Save your apologies for Ojou," Tsugumi cuts him off.
Raku nods, making a mental note to do just that as soon as he can, but for now, he dares a curious glance at the bodyguard beside him. "I know that there's a supposed enemy in town, but even with that in mind, you seem more tense than usual."
She bristles a bit, blushing, her lips turning into a hard line again before she sighs. "It's that new kid," she admits.
He averts his gaze to watch a couple of students laughing under the tree nearby. "Tell me about it."
Her voice brightens with surprise. "You don't like him either?"
"No." He can hardly own up to admitting its because he doesn't like the way Chitoge has been all lit up like a Christmas tree since she was introduced to David this morning.
She nods, pleased by their agreement on this matter. "I'm relieved I'm not the only one. He's too much of a coincidence."
She's one step ahead of him, or, at least, on a completely separate page. He raises an eyebrow in confusion. "A coincidence?"
Tsugumi cuts a meaningful glance his way. "A threat of a foreign gang moves through town around the same exact time we get a foreign exchange student transferred into our class? Just try and tell me that these things aren't connected." Her eyes are fierce. "I won't believe you."
::::
Ryuu and some of the other yakuza guys pick Raku up once school is over. They're strangely quiet in the car, watching out the windows diligently and Tsugumi's words play over in his head as the uncomfortable atmosphere presses against his skin. Its Tsugumi's job to be paranoid, though, and while he has decided he wholeheartedly dislikes David after only a day, the kid is full of too much sunshine to be anything other than a student on his first trip out of his home country.
There's a car Raku recognizes parked outside of his home when they pull up to the mansion, but he can't remember who it belongs to. It all comes flooding back, however, when he opens his front door and finds himself ambushed by Tachibana.
She throws her arms open wide, grinning. "Welcome home, Raku-sama!"
He raises an eyebrow at her. After the understanding they reached last month, he's not so wary of her romantic advances. An elephant seems to separate the air between them, but she's all smiles and he feels, probably for the first time, truly comfortable around her. "What are you doing here, Tachibana?"
The yakuza guys shoulder past Raku, leaving him alone with the frail girl in the entryway. He kicks off his shoes as she takes a few steps toward him. "My father said he had urgent business with your dad, and I insisted I come," she says plainly, but with a smile. "So here I am!"
He thinks that he should ask her about her new school, how she's getting along with her new classmates, but she's brought up their fathers and the only thing on his mind is what a police commissioner and a yakuza king might have in common. "What kind of urgent business?" he asks curiously as they wander into one of the parlor rooms where Tachibana had been sitting before he got home.
Her homework is spread out across the top of the table. "Are you actually studying?" He's distracted by the unusual sight, and asks the question before she can respond to his previous inquiry.
She blushes and touches her face self-consciously. "It's a term of the contract with my mother," she says, a bit embarrassed. "If I get top marks in school she'll be a bit more lenient on me." Her expression turns devious as she wills away the blush and leans toward him. "I'm sure I'll be able to focus completely without you around to distract me, Raku-sama."
He laughs uneasily, but when he smiles its genuine. "Well, even if it is for your mom, I'm impressed, Tachibana."
"I wish you wouldn't say things like that to me." She blinks at him, as if she was unprepared for his honesty, and then drops her gaze, smiling secretly as her voice grows serious. Her quick change in demeanor doesn't give him enough time to feel guilty for what he said. "My dad wanted to talk to yours about the new gang in town."
They sink to the floor and he plays with the pen on the table absently as she sits across from him. This morning, Raku dismissed the gang as nothing but the usual threat - virtually harmless, something to be ignored or forgotten. But knowing that Commissioner Tachibana is reaching out to local crime rings about the unknown gang sets Raku's stomach fluttering unsteadily. If the police are involved, then this is bad.
"Really?" he asks stupidly.
She nods cheefully. "Mm hm!" Her gaze meets his. "I don't know any details, but Papa is serious about this which can't be good."
Raku pictures the large, imposing man in his thoughts. So the last time he saw her dad, that wasn't him being serious? That's terrifying. "Scary," he says.
"Papa isn't scary," Tachibana says simply, pulling her math book toward her. "Let's work on homework while we wait, shall we, Raku-sama? You can tell me how Onodera-san and Kirisaki-san are doing while we work."
He does. Onodera is the same as always. Supportive and sweet and working hard at her family's sweet shop. Honey is unusually honest lately, but she's been studying excessively and sending out her college applications to various American and Japanese universities. He wonders if he's able to leave out the venemous tone in his voice when he brings up David Singer, but Tachibana adapts a curious - if not an envious- fierceness about her when he mentions the exchange student.
Tachibana merely levels him with a suspicious glance. "I've never seen you jealous before, Raku-sama."
Raku splutters in disbelief. "I am not jealous!"
She leans toward him over the table top. "Eh? I know you like to shut your emotions out, Raku-sama, but I thought you were getting over that. After all," she breaks her gaze, "you were able to reject me without any trouble at all."
He frowns. "Tachibana, I -"
He's cut off when the door to the parlor slides open with a loud thud. Raku tenses his shoulders in surprise and then glances over to see his dad and the police commissioner standing there in the doorway.
"Marika, we're leaving now," her father says gruffly, but with a certain measure of affection. Both of the older men look tense and Raku is dying to know what exactly is going to happen next.
She packs up her books hastily and plucks the pen Raku was borrowing out of his hand. "Okay, Papa!" Once she's reached the doorway, she glances back over her shoulder. "Bye bye, Raku-sama! Feel free to call on me whenever you please!"
He smiles at her cheerfulness, though he can't help but wonder how much of it is forced. She must be lonely without him and the rest of their friends. "I'll bring everyone to visit soon," he promises.
Her smile turns quieter, genuine, before she waves and walks away. The police commissioner and Ichijou exchange a gruff, awkward handshake, and then the Tachibanas are gone, and with them, their bodyguard entourage. Knowing instinctively that his son must have questions that deserve answers - probably more to do with the fact that Raku is the yakuza heir than anything - Ichijou enters the parlor and sits down beside Raku.
"Commissioner Tachibana is an intense man. I forgot that about him," the old man reminisces.
"Tachibana told me that he came to talk to you about the gang you mentioned this morning," Raku admits, eyes trained absently on his notebook as he doodles a half-moon with a nearby pencil. "What's going on, exactly."
His father sighs deeply, tiredly. "The police have reached out to us and the Beehive for cooperation. Whenever a foreign clan moves into town, the police are more likely to keep a closer eye on them. International crime scandals are things they try to prevent. Unfortunately, these newcomers have a bad rep. They're dangerous, and they're committing illegal activities.
"The only problem is that they can't be proven, which is where we come in." Ichijou turns a hard-lined expression on his son. "We're going to send Kimichi and Ryuu to get in with these men along with some of the Beehive members and integrate themselves into the crime ring so we can bust them. In return, the commissioner will grant us more leniency and protection."
Raku blinks, an unbearable lead weight settling on his chest. His skin feels tight, bruised with uncertainty and pressed by fear. "This is bad," he whispers.
Ichijou nods. "The Beehive have agreed to keep an eye on you at school. Try not to worry too much. This will all be over without incident before you know it."
Somehow, Raku doesn't believe him.