Doing a canon pairing from one of my favorite animes, Hyouka! This story is going to be mostly OrekixChitanda. But as you can tell from chapter one, there's some SatoshixMayaka mixed in as well. Maybe more so later. As always, hoping you guys all enjoy~

Chapter One

Satoshi's Plan

"Wake up, Hotarou!"

Normally, it took Hotarou a good fifteen minutes to wake up. He had purposefully bought an alarm clock with an especially loud and obnoxious ring that would actually get him out of bed and wide awake, because in the mornings, Hotarou could sleep through just about anything. And even after he'd gotten up, he often times fell asleep again after a few minutes. He fell asleep getting dressed, sitting at the breakfast table, sitting on the sofa before it was time to leave for school.

But today wasn't an average school day. Today, his sister was back from France. And when she was home, she preferred to wake him up herself. She said she liked to see his bed head in the morning. Whatever that meant…

So when he heard her voice, and her subsequent footsteps tramping into the room, his eyes snapped wide open because only a few seconds later, the blankets on his bed were being tripped off and her face appeared in front of his. "Good morning, little brother!" She said, smiling brightly.

"Ahh!" He gasped and fell off the bed. She was still laughing when he peeked his head out and stood back up, glaring at her with dull eyes. "You know that's an invasion of privacy, right, sis?"
"You should start getting ready for school, Hotarou. Wouldn't want to be late and get into trouble. Remember, tonight, we go out on the town!"

"Oh yeah…that…" He scratched the back of his head, annoyed. "Fine." He tramped out of the room, glancing back at her strangely. She was fixing his bed.

"Oh yeah. And I left you something from Paris on the table." She said, humming quietly to herself, a smile on her face.

It was a cold winter afternoon, school just ending, signaling the students of Kamiyama High School to either return home or to disperse to their respective clubs. The members of the Classics Club were all gathered at the table in the club room, chatting casually, as they did every day, until out of the blue, Satoshi stood. "I have an announcement to make!" He said, his hands hitting the table and disrupting the usual peace of the club meetings.

Satoshi's parents were away on business, and while the neighbors had volunteered to keep an eye on Satoshi while he had the house to himself, he had insisted that the rest of the group come keep him company. "So I'd like to invite you all to my place this afternoon for food and maybe to talk about some upcoming club activities." He said, smiling.

"Are you sure you aren't just scared of being left alone, Fuku-chan?" Mayaka asked cockily.

Satoshi simply replied, "I never said a database had to be brave."

Hotarou was reluctant to accept the invitation. "My sis is in town. She says she wants us to spend more time together." He looked conflicted, rather miserable, in fact. It was as if the idea of going all the way to Satoshi's house to keep him company, and the prospect of traipsing around town with his adventurous sister were both equally displeasing to him.

"Ah, but there's a special reason why I want all of you to come!" Satoshi leaned over the table, an amused grin on his face, his eyes wide.

Mayaka smirked. "What? Because you're afraid of the dark now?"

"No. Because I think my house has a stowaway!"

Chitanda tilted her head at him, confused. "A stowaway? What do you mean, Fukube-san?"

He shrugged. "It could be an animal of some kind, or someone sneaky making his way into my house every night. It could even be a ghost!"

"A ghost?! You really think so?" Asked Chitanda, completely mesmerized. She turned to Hotarou, who had been sitting with his head in his hand, completely tuned out of the conversation. She grabbed him by his free hand and pulled him around so that he faced the table, causing him to gasp and his eyes to go wide.

"W-Wha…" He tried to pull back from her, but she held his hand firmly.

"Do you think Fukube-san could have a ghost in his house, Oreki-kun?" She leant into him, their faces only inches apart.

"I…I…" Realizing what was going on and filling in the blanks of Chitanda's question, Hotarou quickly regained his composure and answered with narrowed eyes. "Although I suppose it isn't impossible, the idea of there being a ghost in Satoshi's house seems extremely unlikely." He looked at Satoshi. While his friend liked to stretch the truth, he didn't usually lie. So there was probably something in his house. Silently, Hotarou wondered if the trip of his way to stop by Satoshi's place before going home would be wasting too much energy for him. Or if going to Satoshi's house could get him out of having to spend more time with his sister, listening to her tease him and rant about all of the foreign artifacts and culture she knew about that he had yet to experience…he loved his sister dearly, but she was probably the only person he had ever met who could beat him when it came to mind games, and yet there wasn't anybody on the planet who was unlike Oreki Hotarou as his sister, Tomoe Oreki. For every day he was lazy and introverted, she was traveling the world, living her life to the fullest. She had crossed Africa, been through the jungles of India, and had been to practically every corner store in Europe.

Sometimes she just drove him up the wall.

"I'm not saying it's a ghost. But I am saying that sine my parents left, to the day, things have been going missing in my house, and no matter how hard I look, I can't find the stuff that goes missing." Explained Satoshi.

"Are you sure you aren't just a coward." Asked Mayaka, leaning back, clearly enjoying herself.

"Irrelevant." Satoshi put his hands up in a shrug. He turned and leaned into her. "But don't you miss me, Mayaka-san? How long has it been since you were at my house?"

Mayaka stared at him in surprise. Her eyes narrowed, a small blush crossing her face before it was overcome by a look of anger. There was a loud thumping sound.

Then a look of pain filled Satoshi's eyes. "W-Why…"

Mayaka had stamped her foot down on Satoshi's and was grinning twistedly at him. "You now what? I'd love to come to hour house, Fuku-chan. It would be my pleasure to be there for you in your time of weakness."

Satoshi shrank back, putting his hands up as it to guard himself. "Ehehehehe…t-thanks, Mayaka-san…"

Chitanda grabbed Hotarou's sleeve and looked at him with shining blue eyes. "Oreki-san! We have to go to Fukube-san's house. Something strange must be happening there!"

He flinched. "C-Chitanda-sa—"

"I'm curious!"

Hotarou's eyes went wide. No, he couldn't let himself get dragged into this again. He couldn't let Chitanda pull him into another of her crazy mysteries. He wouldn't! He had to resist that look in her eyes.

In fact, he tried to look away, but found he couldn't. Chitanda's eyes had him captivated. It was almost as if he was in some type of trap. "I shouldn't…" He said, looking away uncomfortably. He narrowed his eyes. "Sis will get mad." Great, he thought. Great, Hotarou. Now you have two girls dragging you around. How pathetic…what ever happened to lazy afternoons at home? You can forget those.

"You can call her and tell her you'll be back late, Hotarou." Said Satoshi, holding his throbbing foot painfully.

Turning back to Chitanda, Hotarou was about to simply refuse to go, but her face was right in hers, startling him and almost making him fall out of his chair. "C-Chitanda-san…"

"Please, Oreki-kun! I'm curious!"

He gave a long, drawn out sigh, trying to ignore the fact that her chest was right in his face. He closed his eyes, pretending not to see. Chitanda didn't really know how to be discreet.

But she was only leaning in closer. Looking away wasn't doing him any good.

"Fine." He said, unable to stand it any longer.

"Really?" They all said at the same time.

"What?" Hotarou frowned at them. Was it such a big deal that he had agreed to something for a change.

"Great!" Satoshi stretched and stood up. He grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulder. "Come on, let's go!" He marched out of the club room. Mayaka followed behind him, shaking her head.

Chitanda beamed at Hotarou, slipping her hand into his and dragging him along. He stared at her hand touching his. "Chitanda-san, I can walk on my own."

She let go, surprised, They both stared at each other at the same moment. "Sorry…Oreki-san."

"It's fine." He stuck his hands in his pockets and walked aver Mayaka and Satoshi. He didn't let her see it, but there was a small blush on his face.

Hotarou called his sister on the way there, just to give her the heads up that he wouldn't be able to hang out with her that afternoon. When she picked up the phone, he was surprised to hear African music in the background. "Hello?" Came his sister's voice over the sound of drum beats.

"Sis? What are you doing?" He asked, holding the phone away from his ear to keep the music from deafening him.

"Oh, just practicing an old African tribal dance that I learned a while back while I was in Kenya. What's up, Hotarou?"
He shook his head. "I was calling to tell you I'm going to be busy and can't come home on time. So we won't be able to go around town like we planned today."

"What? Why not? What happened?" She asked, suddenly sounding depressed.

"Something came up with Satoshi. But I'll be home later. We can hang out at the house then."

"You can't do that tomorrow? There's a sale at an antique shop that I wanted to visit and it ends today!"

"Maybe you can go alone and I can come with you to some other stores tomorrow…" He asked, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"Well…I guess we could do that."

He sighed. "Good."

She laughed. "I bet you're just trying to get out of going out with me! Oh well. I'll be sure to bring you something back as a souvenir from your beloved big sis!"

Hotarou' eyes snapped open. "N-No, I don't need anything. The house is crowded enou—" But like that she had already hung up. She probably hadn't even heard him. His sis was like that. She was everything he wasn't. Including unfailingly cheerful.

Satoshi opened the door to his house and ushered them all in. "Welcome!"

Hotarou was glad they'd finally gotten there. It was freezing cold outside…as usual.

"Thank you, Fukube-san." They all said, taking off their shoe and replacing them with slippers by the door before stepping onto the main level of the house.

"I've never been to your house before, Fukube-san." Said Chitanda, eyes wide. "It's very beautiful."

"Thanks." Satoshi pointed to the living room. "You can all sit down while I get us something to eat."

"Thank you, Fukube-san!" Said Chitanda and Mayaka, both sitting. Hotarou was the last one to sit down. He kept looking around him, at the doors, down the hallway leading deeper into the house.

"What's wrong, Oreki-kun?" Chitanda stared at him.

Hotarou pulled his hands from his pocket, sighed and finally sat down. "I feel like something isn't right here."

Mayaka laughed hysterically. "Maybe you sense a supernatural presence."
From the kitchen, there was a scream f pain and the sound of something falling to the ground. "Gah!"

Everyone went silent. "Satoshi?" Hotarou called, eyes suddenly wide.

"Help! It's struck again! It's taking it! It's taking the food!"

Mayaka's face went pale. Like that, she was running out of the room. "Satoshi! Are you okay in there?" She threw the door open and dashed inside. "Satoshi!" Her hair was wild and her eyes were wide with worry plain on her face. She was breathing hard.

But she stopped when she saw Satoshi was at the window, throwing a rice ball out into the bushes below.

The kitchen door slammed shut behind her. She blinked at him, confused.

"S-Satoshi?" She stammered. "I mean, Fukube-san."

He turned around quickly. He hadn't been expecting her, and hurriedly spun around, trying to pretend he'd been enjoying the view rather than throwing away evidence. "Mayaka!"

"What are you doing?" She demanded. "Did you just throw that rice ball out the window?' she pushed pat him and looked out the window.

"You should have seen it, Mayaka-san! It was big and scary and super fast!" Satoshi waved his arm around, trying to illustrate with his hands what it looked like.

She spun around and glared at him. "You liar! You fake! I bet there was never anything in your house. It was just a lazy excuse for you to drag us over here because your parents are gone and you're lonely!"

His eyes went round as she yelled at him. Her bangs shook in her face. Small tears were in the corners of her eyes.

"Mayaka-san…" Satoshi put a hand on the girls shoulder.

She looked up and quickly wiped the tears away, replacing the look of worry with a guarded frown. "You really are just a stupid coward."

He laughed nervously. "Were you worried about me?"

A small blush dusted Mayaka's cheeks. "No…"

"I didn't know you were such a sweet heart, Mayaka!"

She punched him lightly in the shoulder. "That's for wasting food." She punched him again. "That's for making me think you were being attacked by a ghost."

"Sorry." He grinned and winked at her.

Mayaka folded her arms. "Why would you do that, anyways?" Play a dirty trick on us and make us think you were being attacked?"

There was a knock on the kitchen door. "Satoshi! Are you alright in there? Mayaka-san?" It was Hotarou's voice.

"We're okay! It's gone!" Said Satoshi.

"Stop that." Mayaka nudged him. "Tell them the truth."

"But they have to think I was really attacked!"

"Why? Why is it so important that Oreki and Chitanda-san believe you?"

"Because." He leant into her and whispered in her ear. "I'm trying to set Hotarou and Chitanda-san up."

She gasped. "What?"

There was more pounding on the kitchen door. "Open the door, Satoshi!"

Satoshi grinned. "Oh no! It's back!" He slapped his hands on the table, then grabbed Mayaka, pulling her in. "Get it? If Chitanda-san thinks there's something super dangerous in my house, naturally she'll get scared and make Hotarou solve the mystery. He'll do his detective thing like he always does and meanwhile, we'll be playing ghost, hopefully scaring Chitanda-san into Hotarou's arms in the process!"

He slammed the window shut and made a noise like someone struggling with something bigger and heavier than it. "But we have to make it convincing, so play along with me!" Satoshi whispered.

A sadistic smile crossed Mayaka's face. "You want convincing? I'll give you convincing." She took him by his hands and pulled him to the ground.

"Ouch!"

Mayaka stood over him, grinning. She looked at him like the underdog who had just won a priceless victory.

"Oh no you don't." Satoshi mouthed. He latched onto Mayaka's hand and pulled her down on top of him.

"Eek!" She screamed.

Hotarou wouldn't wait any longer. He could only imagine what horrible things were happening to Satoshi and Mayaka in there. He knelt down and picked the lock, then threw the door open.

He and Chitanda both stumbled into the room. "Satoshi! Mayaka-san!"

They both stared at the sight. Satoshi, on the ground, a silly grin on his face. Mayaka, on top of him, her hands on his shoulders, her face bright, bright red.

"We were attacked, Hotarou…you came just time in." Satoshi said.

"Right…" Mayaka grumbled. "Right."