((Thank you so much for the reviews, favorites, and follows! Very very much appreciated! \(^_^\) Please enjoy chapter 2!))

Meanwhile, at Kaibara High School, the lunch bell had rung. Tohru Honda, who was extraordinarily special to the Sohmas, was at this moment just a nameless face in the crowd of students piling out of the classroom, rushing off to claim the best seats they could find in the cafeteria. Some kids even knocked into her as they tried to get ahead, but she just apologized for being in their way and continued smiling cheerfully.

Then she saw Yuki Sohma walking out of a nearby classroom. A girl bumped into him as well, but now that the curse was broken, he had no need to panic. Instead he smiled just as cheerfully as Tohru. No, he didn't like being bumped into, but any small reminder that the curse was broken was enough to fill the former rat's heart with gladness.

"Yuki! Hi!" Tohru called out, catching up with him and falling in stride with him as they ambled off to the cafeteria.

"Oh, hello, Miss Honda. How was your class?"

"Oh, it was wonderful!" Tohru said. "Well, we took a test, and I was kinda nervous for it, so I guess it wasn't so wonderful, but um, I think I did okay on it, so maybe it was!"

Yuki laughed and shook his head. "I'm sure you did just fine. Though this morning, before I left for school, I saw that you left your biology textbook behind at home. Did you need it? I would have brought it with me, but my backpack was already completely full."

"W-what? I did?" The brunette's big blue eyes widened, and she threw her hands up to her cheeks. "Y-yes, I do need it. Biology is my next class!"

"You can borrow mine if you want. I already had biology this morning."

"Oh, really? Are you sure? Thank you so much, Yuki. I really appreciate it!"

The two stopped in the hallway, Yuki retrieving the textbook from his backpack and handing it to Tohru. She smiled and bowed respectfully before him.

Once again, Yuki couldn't help but smile. Laugh. "You're a bit of a strange one, you know that?"

"Strange? I'm strange?" She blinked cutely.

With an affectionate smirk, Yuki shook his head again and led Tohru to the first vacant table he could find, where the two sat and opened their paper bag lunches together.

"By the way, did you know your brother is going to be a guest speaker for my class at the end of the month?" Tohru asked, smiling.

Yuki looked up, unnerved. "W-what? My brother?" He frowned. "What could he possibly be speaking about? How to become the most arrogant person on the planet?"

"O-oh, no! Not at all! We're doing a series on local business owners. They're going to come in and share their secrets, the problems they faced when trying to get their businesses started, all that kind of stuff!"

"But Ayame owns a lingerie shop," Yuki pointed out. "That's not really school-appropriate, is it?"

"Um, heh, I don't know." As she took a bite of her apple, Tohru found herself suddenly feeling uncomfortable. She had hoped that, since the curse was broken, things would magically become perfect between Yuki and Ayame. She wasn't sure why she thought that. The curse had nothing to do with their many problems, as she was well-aware.

It did seem like they were making some progress over this past year, but then Yuki always reacted this way whenever she brought the former snake up for any reason, and she wondered if the siblings would perpetually take two steps forward and one step back. "I think Mr. Baker said that he was going to talk about being a fashion designer and owning a dress shop," she attempted.

Yuki rolled his eyes. "A dress shop, huh? He does know how to twist things around to suit his needs, that's for sure."

Tohru looked down at her lunch nervously. "W-well, I think your brother's really impressive, Yuki. He turned his passion for design into a successful career. It's really admirable, don't you think?"

Yuki shook his head and glanced at his lunch. Seemingly not hungry anymore. "So what was your test on today anyway?"

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Back at the shop, later that afternoon, Ayame and Mine sat at a small round table together, sketching side by side.

"What about some ruffles here?" Mine suggested.

"Ruffles?" Ayame put a finger to his chin in deep contemplation. "Or perhaps a bow on each sleeve."

"Hm, what about both?"

"Both might be nice."

Mine leaned in closer to Ayame as they worked. This didn't escape his notice, as he looked up from his sketchbook and directly into her eyes. The two stared at each other for a moment. A moment that seemed like a eternity. Maintaining intense eye contact, before Ayame finally chuckled awkwardly and returned his attention to his sketches.

But Mine wasn't satiated by this minuscule taste of closeness. "You know, these costumes are always so cute. We really do make quite the team."

"That we do!"

"But a lot of people don't know just how cute the costumes are going to be until they see them on someone."

"Hm. You think so?"

"I do! So I was thinking...Well, you know how I usually come to work in my traditional's maid costume? What if I starting coming in to work dressed in a different outfit every single day instead? A maid one day but a schoolgirl another day and a nurse another day, you know?"

Ayame smiled brightly but kept his eyes on his sketchbook. "I think that's a splendid idea! I do get a bit tired of seeing that same old maid costume every day. It's a classic, don't get me wrong! But it would certainly be welcome if you shook things up a bit. And it would give our customers a greater sample of the work we produce here!"

"That's exactly my thought! I'm glad you like it! Thank you, Boss!"

"You shall begin tomorrow!" he instructed. "Perhaps you could start with-"

"The bunny costume!" Mine quickly suggested before Ayame could continue. He looked taken aback, since his assistant rarely ever interrupted him. But she bravely toiled on: "Easter may have passed, but bunnies are still a lovely trademark of springtime!"

"Hmm...the bunny costume..." As usual, Ayame's finger went to his chin as he pondered this idea in a seemingly profound way. The brunette waited with bated breath before he delivered his verdict: "It seems you are positively overflowing with wonderful ideas today!"

A sigh of relief. "Another compliment! Thank you, thank you, Boss! I really do think the bunny costume is a perfect choice! I'm so excited!"

"So am I. In more ways than one."

Mine froze at this comment, her face filling with color. Ayame quickly realized what he said. Waved a dismissive hand, laughing. "I'm jesting, of course. Honestly, Mine, you should know by now that I can make a naughty joke out of anything!"

"Y-yes, of course, Boss! But...you've never made one about me before," she said with certainty, because if he did, she would have definitely remembered and recorded the remark word-for-word in her diary.

"I'm sorry," Ayame said, though he didn't sound particularly sincere. "That was highly unprofessional of me."

"No, no! It's fine. Really, it's fine." Mine smiled to herself, the second genuine smile of the day. Ayame finally glanced back over at her and offered her a smile to match the one on her face before continuing his sketch once again.

"But as for the sailor suit, we decided on bows and ruffles, yes?"

"Yes!" Mine nodded eagerly. "Just because you like bows doesn't mean you can't like ruffles too."

"What?"

"Never mind! Yes, I think bows and ruffles would look great together!"

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The next morning, Mine stepped quietly into the shop. The bunny costume she was wearing was by the far the sexiest she had ever worn to work. Which was clearly the reason she insisted on it.

The sleeveless bodice was made entirely of black satin and clung to her every curve. Fishnet stockings, six-inch heels, and fully erect white bunny ears completed the look. She had worn her hair down instead of in her usual childlike braids, and she had even replaced her glasses with contact lenses.

If this didn't seduce him, then she would give up for good. She promised herself that. One last try. One last hope.

She knew she looked damn good in the costume, but as she entered the shop, she suddenly felt awash with embarrassment and regret. What if he knew what she was up to? What if he could tell that she was trying to impress him? What if Akito was right and things were just as black-and-white as they seemed?

What if she was making a complete fool out of herself?

"Yes, the last week of April. Not on Tuesday because I am guest-speaking at the high school. But Wednesday, I can do." Ayame was in the middle of a phone call when Mine entered. His back was turned to her. She considered running out the door and going home to change into her maid's outfit.

But then he turned around and saw her. Too late. No going back now. His eyes widened as they looked her up and down. "Ah, yes...actually, I'm going to have to call you back," he told his customer before hanging up and continuing to stare at his assistant.

"Well? What do you think?" she asked with a timidness in her voice that neither of them had ever heard.

Ayame put his hand on his hip and swallowed a lump in his throat. "Ah, well...it's interesting."

"Interesting?"

The silver-haired man then turned away. As if caught doing something he shouldn't. "We should get to work! We have a busy day ahead of us!"

A heavy stone of disappointment sunk into the pit of Mine's stomach. "Oh...right."

Ayame sat down at the round table and Mine sat next to him. They began sketching again. This time, in silence, until Mine decided to ask, "Hey, boss? Didn't you have that date with Hatori last night? How did it go?"

"Actually, it didn't go quite as swimmingly as I expected!" Ayame admitted.

"Oh? Why? What happened?" She tried her best to keep her happiness at this confession out of her voice.

"Well, it's...it's hard to explain."

Usually Mine would respect Ayame's privacy and assure him that he didn't need to tell her anything he didn't want to, but even though he didn't react to the bunny costume the way she wanted him to, she still viewed this whole day as her last chance. Thinking of it that way made her more daring than usual. "Can you try to explain it though? I'm very curious."

Ayame looked over at her, surprised again at her boldness. But he had long considered her a confidante, someone he could trust with almost anything. The only person he had ever told about the curse, even. "Well, as you know, I have worshipped Tori-san ever since we were young. He has such strength of character! Such morality and sensitivity! I always admired that about him, since those were qualities I had a difficult time seeing in myself."

"You seem moral and sensitive to me, Boss!"

A chuckle. "Thank you, but...no. Not truly. I have an endless list of resplendent personality traits, of course, but 'moral' and 'sensitive' are not at the top of it. Anyway, I was always attracted to Tori-san because of these qualities that I lacked. I suppose somewhere along the way, I developed this theory that if he and I were to ever become...romantically involved...that we would just complete each other so perfectly."

"But?"

"But...now that we finally are dating..." he began, trailing off.

Mine stopped sketching, looking at him intently. There was no way she was backing down on finding out the truth about this. "Now that you're finally dating...he's not as perfect as you once thought?"

"Oh, no, it's not that! Tori-san is every bit as wonderful as I have always known he was!" Ayame assured, almost looking offended at the mere notion that the doctor was anything less than flawless. "It's only that...as much as I love him, and I do..."

"Yes?"

"I don't know. Romantically, we just don't click," he finally concluded.

Mine considered this for a moment. Was this her chance? She felt an enormous pressure to word her next sentences just right. "Oh, I understand. Sometimes you click with someone, and sometimes you just don't. It's kind of weird, isn't it? How we don't choose who we click with. It just happens, and we have no control over it."

"It is." Mine's heart leaped when Ayame agreed so instantly this time. "And sometimes you click with someone that you thought you'd never click with. That can be rather scary."

"Has...has that happened to you?"

"Once or twice, yes."

"Have you ever clicked with a woman?" The words flew out of her mouth before she could stop herself. As her cheeks flared up, she rapidly shook her head and her hands in front of her. "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked you that. That was so unprofessional of me! I'm sorry! You don't have to answer!"

But to her shock, Ayame answered without hesitation: "I've never slept with a woman, if that's what you're asking, but I have clicked with a woman."

Mine's movements stopped. "Once or twice?"

Putting his pencil down, Ayame turned to look directly into Mine's eyes. "Just once so far."

The two stared at each other for a few intense moments before Ayame cupped Mine's face in his hands and leaned in for a kiss. Mine managed to close her eyes immediately and kiss him back. Her hands linking together at the back of his neck. Her heart drumming almost frighteningly fast and hard against her ribcage.

She could hardly believe what was happening. If this was a dream, she hoped she would be asleep for the rest of her life.