Thanks to those of you that have reviewed, followed, and favorited!
When Éclair arrived at home, she tried to get work done, but to no avail. She couldn't take her mind off of the impending date. All she could think about was what she should wear or how she should act, and it lead to her looking up advice on the internet. It all seemed so silly and shallow and superficial, so she disregarded all of the information almost immediately. Then, against her better judgment, she looked up some fashion and manga magazines online.
The first websites that she searched seemed like doctorate theses in comparison. It frustrated her how easy this sort of thing seemed for other girls her age, who had learned the art of dating while she had been occupied in learning how to manage a multi-million dollar company. Even her older sisters probably understood the proper way to act on a date, while she was left there, clueless. It upset her to feel so far behind in something that was common sense to ninety percent of the population. In the end, she gave up and decided to just go with what felt right.
As she dressed, Éclair realized that she hadn't the faintest idea what type of girl Kyoya preferred. She couldn't see him going for a 'yandere'. Perhaps a 'Yamato Nadeshiko' type who could help keep up with the Ootori Group's image? Or did he want someone smarter and more opinionated than that?
Éclair shook her head fervently, not understanding why she was getting so caught up in trivial things. It wasn't as if she were Kyoya's fiancée. This was only a competition between them, nothing more. Still, Éclair Tonnerre never did anything halfway. Everything was going to be perfect. She ultimately chose to wear a burgundy-red tea-style dress to wear, accenting it with white translucent gloves, a white handbag, and white shoes with red heels.
She had a servant come to put up her long chestnut hair into an elegant updo. She put on just enough make-up to enhance her features, confident that she could touch it up between her business meeting and Kyoya's arrival.
Éclair sighed. She had almost forgotten about the business meeting. She steeled herself for several hours of boring waffling, hoping that the date would come soon, if only to escape the monotony. But the meeting ended up being as full of withering nonsense as Éclair had expected. If the person talking was so incredibly boring, then could they at least be brief? Apparently not.
After two and a half hours of listening to the middle-aged, balding, narrow minded businessman say the same thing ten different ways, Éclair was more than ready for a break. When she got rid of him, she touched up her make-up and applied just a puff of perfume. She went down to the front parlor and waited patiently. The clock said seven forty-seven, and so she decided to close her eyes and rest for only a few moments.
A couple minutes before eight, she awoke and fixed any stray strands of hair and made sure every thread of her dress was perfectly in place. She was starting to feel a little unsure of herself. She lightly pressed her cheeks, willing herself to have even a little more strength and self-dignity. Éclair could not be doubting herself now, even if she was feeling a little naked without her opera glasses. They would not do for a date so she would not bring them.
Outside, Kyoya approached Éclair's house, feeling strangely nervous. His head buzzed with a foreign sense of excitement and confusion. Why was he actually doing this? He had been asking himself that question since he had agreed to the absurd idea. Really, he should just leave and call off the whole thing. But if she were truly to leave for France after the semester was over, then he would push through such a ridiculous challenge. He continued up the steps to the door and at precisely eight o'clock, he knocked on the door and waited.
Éclair's maid, Collette, opened it and bowed her head in greeting. "Good evening, sir. Please come in."
Éclair came up behind her. "That will not be necessary. Ootori-san and I will be going out for the evening."
Kyoya looked at Éclair, surprised at the amount of dressing up she had done for a simple date. He had changed out of his school uniform, but he was not wearing a perfect suit. It was simply one that he used on special occasions or important business meetings. He supposed the last time he had worn it was to the dance that the club had hosted the year previous.
Kyoya nodded to the maid and led Éclair back to the car. The chauffeur was waiting in the car and Kyoya opened the door for his date, allowing her to get in. Éclair slid into her seat elegantly, resisting the urge to fidget with her empty hands. She wasn't used to being without her glasses, but she supposed it was something she would have to get used to if these dates persisted.
"Was there any restaurant in particular you desired to go to?" Kyoya asked as he too entered the car, beside her.
"I'm not very particular when it comes to food," she admitted. To her, food was just fuel. She supposed she would never understand why so many of her father's important business meetings took place over dinner. Perhaps it was to soften people up, but how much business could you really get done while eating? "Anywhere you pick will be satisfactory, though I would prefer somewhere where I wouldn't look terribly overdressed."
Kyoya nodded and told the chauffeur the name of a restaurant that Éclair did not recognize. They drove through the city until finally arriving at a high end restaurant that specialized in French cuisine. Kyoya had figured that if this was to be a 'proper' date, he should take her somewhere she would enjoy the food. He had never dined there, so he could not say for certain if the food was actually of any appetizing substance, but given the five star rating, he could assume it would be at least acceptable for a true Frenchwoman.
Éclair, meanwhile, was somewhat amused that Kyoya had chosen a French restaurant. Even now that they were 'alone' and away from prying eyes that forced them to uphold appearances, Kyoya continued to play the part of a perfect host and businessman. It must be secretly infuriating. Éclair knew how difficult and exhausting it could be to live behind a mask every minute of every day.
The ride had been awkward and silent, so Kyoya was eager to get out of the confined car space. He didn't know how long he would really hold on this whole charade. A whole semester of 'dating' Éclair Tonnerre? Kyoya wasn't sure if he could stomach it.
Kyoya opened Éclair's door and offered his hand to help her out. She accepted the assistance and allowed him to escort her into the restaurant. They were shown to a private booth in the back. When they ordered drinks, Éclair asked for a virgin strawberry daiquiri, grateful that the drinking age in Japan was too high for either of them to order alcohol. She also decided on coq au vin, a chicken dish that would be a little more filling than most of the things on the menu. She considered asking Kyoya if he wanted her to explain what the dishes were, but concluded that saying so would most likely sound like an insult. Kyoya finally laid down the menu and ordered a sparkling rosemary limeade, deciding to try something new, and ordered the blanquette de veau, or veal stew.
As the waiter withdrew their menus and left them on their own, the silence between them grew. Éclair folded her hands in her lap like a proper lady, lost without her glasses to hold onto. She stared at Kyoya, trying to figure out what was going on in that brilliant mind of his. She had been schooled meticulously in the art of conversation, but in this moment, her training seemed useless. Finally the silence became too much for Éclair to bear and she said, "Tell me about you, Ootori-san."
Kyoya glanced up at her from examining the desserts menu that was left for them. "What am I to tell you?"
She shrugged nonchalantly. "Anything. I prefer to know something of interest about the person I will be dating for the next few months. It doesn't have to be anything deep or personal."God knows, she herself wasn't remotely ready for that. "I'll settle for something banal like what color you wear most often, what class you look forward to the most, or what the last book you read was."
"Black, Finances, and The Tending of a Black Sun by Charles West." The answers came quickly and bluntly, Kyoya barely needing to give them a thought at all. There was no need to think about any of the answers. Each day he wore black slacks to school and he was sure to keep black pants for any business suit. Finances was the class in which he could learn the most in regards to upholding a business and therefore should be the one that he looked forward to, whether he inwardly enjoyed the class or not. He hadn't been able to read much in the last few days, but the last time he visited a library, he'd picked up West's book and finished it in a day.
Éclair thought about Kyoya's rapid fire answers. The first two were obvious enough, black being a formal color and Finances being the most practical class for a businessman like Kyoya. However, her eyebrow rose when he named The Tending of a Black Sun. She had been expecting something like Peter Senge's The Fifth Discipline, not something like Charles West's book, which was coincidentally something she had read recently herself. "Oh really? What did you think of the book? I didn't know that sort of thing was of interest to you."
"It was something I picked up at the library. I'd heard excellent reviews on West so I decided to try one of his books. I will admit that it was not something that I'd expected, based on the extravagant critiques he was receiving. The crude language used by the protagonist was not exactly attuned to my taste, but it added to the atmosphere portrayed by the setting." He hadn't expected Éclair to have been able to take part in a discussion on the book, but he was suddenly intrigued by her own thoughts on the plot. "What did you think of the main character?"
Éclair leaned forward, suddenly very intent on the conversation. "Michael Kenney? A bit of a fatalist, in my opinion. 'You expect God to help you when your foundations are shaking, but it is that same God who is shaking them,'" she quoted. "However, it was a sentiment I found very genuine. The character I didn't understand was Julia. What kind of insane girl throws herself off of an overpass over a man?"
"Most would say love," Kyoya admitted. "She spent most of the book's plot building up her feelings for him only to choose death in the end because her feelings were not returned. Casual readers would find this to be a true act of love, but I would not be so sure. Her last words were 'I subjugate thee to my everlasting wish', yes? A lot of people thought that her everlasting wish was for her and him to be together, in this life or the next, except that wasn't what her character was about. She wasn't simply a device to pump up his ego or importance. Her everlasting wish—the wish that she'd had since the beginning—was to find a purpose. She believed her purpose was to never be fulfilled because she had drowned herself in the illusion of her love for him. She was referring to herself, not him. If she could not find her purpose in this world because of him then she would find it in the next. She was a Hindu after all."
Julia had been a character that Kyoya had examined more thoroughly after death. Just as with Éclair, he could not believe that she would give up her life for something as pitiful as love. After regarding the more important scenes she was in, he'd figured out what the author was getting at.
"That's an interesting take on it," she replied. "Much more meaningful than killing yourself over something petty like love. Losing the only meaning in one's life would be far more devastating. Although, I don't know if I agree with her suicide decision, still. As if suicide would ever solve anything." The waiter brought their drinks and Éclair took a sip of hers before returning to the conversation. "An interesting religion, Hinduism. I find reincarnation to be a fascinating idea, though fairly romanticized in today's culture. But I suppose we have China to thank for that. What do you think that the black sun represented? I always thought the title referred to the idea that no matter how much pain and chaos our individual lives cause, we still feel entitled to them. Even though Michael knew that his decision to let the city be bombed instead of turning himself in would kill his best friend, he considered it a necessary act of defiance. He wanted to keep on living without the constraints of fate or God or expectations."
"In that decision, isn't he losing himself the same way that Julia did, and instead accepting the suicide of his former self?" Kyoya sipped his drink, gathering his thoughts before continuing, "He is still alive in the end, but not in the same way. You said yourself that he is a fatalist. His entire self was about religion and letting what happen, happen. He cannot control it. Except when it came down to it, he did have a decision, and he knew that. But he had always believed that things would just happen as they should but instead he was faced with a true decision that would be either morally right or wrong. Whichever way he chose, he had to give up his religious entitlement to God. His only personal benefit of stopping the bombing would be keeping himself true and alive, as well as his friend. But in deciding to do the immoral thing and letting the city be destroyed, and therein his best friend, he committed suicide on a mental level. Just as Julia lost life's purpose through love, he lost his true moral self through his need for religious guidance."
"In that respect, perhaps his friend Jack deserved to die. He wanted to die as his true self, correct? If he had lived, he would have aligned himself with Katrina and become the very thing that he despised. Michael saw him fall from grace and turn his back on his principles. Jack became a hypocrite, because he believed that he could achieve a world without bloodshed through collateral damages. At his core, he was a man who placed honor above everything else. Joining Katrina, who placed the ends above the means, would have been suicide for him in the ideological sense. So, would that make what Michael did a mercy killing?"
Éclair didn't even realize or care that this was a bit of heavy conversation to be having over dinner. She continued, "And if so, did Jack's descent into darkness fit with Michael's world view or go against it? Was it fate that his naivety would succumb to the darkness of the world around him? Or was it his choice? I think it was his choice and that's why I dislike Jack. He was prepared to abandon his own principles in the end." She took another sip.
"Jack is on another level of spiritualism. He thought that he could become the world's next god, a cliché that's used in a lot of forms of media; but West took this desire in Jack's heart and twisted it so it was no longer an exact cliché. Instead of becoming self-righteous and only focusing on becoming a god for the good of the world, he was becoming a god for the good of himself. He always had his original self in his line of vision as he sank deeper, thinking that if he was just able to get the right power and materials, he could become his true self again. Joining Katrina was a huge drop in the darkness, but he still believed he could come back to who he was. But in the end, could he really?"
Kyoya stirred his drink as he spoke, rather enjoying the analysis of such a long book. He added, "Michael probably realized this and, in that way, thought he was still following God's word and making the moral choice. Jack was never going to come back, no matter how much he believed he would. When he joined Katrina, he was as much killing the self he wanted to be as was with Julia on the overpass. Julia's literal suicide is just another motif of the metaphorical symbolism everyone else goes through. But, going along those lines, if Michael in turn thought he was doing the morally good thing in killing Jack and all that he had worked for in the city, then could he in fact have just thought he was following God's path? In the end, did he maybe, in fact, believe that it was all God's fate and that he had not lost his religious path at all?"
Éclair fought a small smile. She, too, was enjoying their discussion. It was so refreshing to talk to someone who was on the same intellectual level as herself for a change. What's more, she wasn't being forced into a conversation, so it was all the better. "A compelling argument against spiritualism, I would think. On both ends of the spectrum, worship of one's self and worship of the omnipotent, the belief that one's actions are ordained by a greater power only led to betrayal and death. It's most probable, I think, that Jack was too far gone." A tinge of something deeper entered her voice. "Once someone goes that far into the darkness of their hearts, it can be nearly impossible to return. I think Michael's decision was somewhat noble, to kill his friend before he soiled his hands with blood and destroyed everything that he had worked so hard for. I think that after the novel ends, Jack will probably become a hero and a martyr. And that was what Michael wanted to preserve, even if it came at the cost of his own friend's life. So, perhaps he did believe that he was morally in the right. That's probably why he left a red carnation on Jack's grave: to symbolize his commitment to the choice he had made and to the path he had chosen." Éclair paused and sat back, cradling her glass. "But that was such a scathing critique of Michael's ideology, Ootori-san. I take it you are not a religious type."
Kyoya sipped his drink, allowing his voice to cool for a moment before answering, "I don't particularly believe in anything after death or an almighty entity, no."
Their meals came, but Éclair was hardly interested. She took a couple idle bites before returning to the discussion. "I don't either. I think the false hope that a belief in God gives to people is cruel. Kind of like the child whose psyche is shattered when he finally learns that his parents lied to him about Pére Noël. Are you a nihilist as well as an atheist, or do you believe there is some greater purpose to our existence?"
Kyoya ate a couple spoonfuls of his meal thoughtfully and shrugged. "I would not go so far as to say that, but I do struggle to find a purpose behind life. Earth is simply a happy accident caused by a seemingly impossible reaction eons ago. We came from the evolution of animals and in turn developed intelligence that has made us different. What kind of purpose would there be, in that way? What could I, a single person in this vast world, possibly hope to accomplish to make any kind of visible difference?" He pushed the pieces of veal around in his bowl. "Very few people are remembered for more than a generation after their death and after death comes to claim us, why would any difference we may have created affect us? We're dead and unless there's reincarnation, we'll never be able to see what comes of it." He looked up at Éclair, suddenly interested in why she was bringing up so many religious questions. "You are not a religious person, Miss Tonnerre?"
Éclair chuckled. "Hardly. My mother was a Roman Catholic, so I was dragged along to services as a child, but religion never seemed very practical to me. As for my father, he puts his faith in the free market and the almighty dollar. I inherited more of his temperament, I suppose." She took a delicate bit of chicken. While Kyoya's opinion on existentialism was morbid, it echoed her own perspective. She wondered off-handedly why people even went on living when there was nothing during or after life to give their existence meaning. She chalked it up to biology in the end. "If you could be remembered for one thing, what would you want it to be?" She paused momentarily before adding quietly, "And, in private, I would prefer that you called me by my personal name, Ootori-san."
His eyebrows arched. "Well Éclair," he said, testing out her name. It tasted sour in his mouth. "I would like to be remembered as being a successful businessman, be it with the Ootori companies or for another enterprise entirely. So long as my name could continue on with something of importance in terms of what I've worked for, it does not especially matter." He took another spoonful of the stew and held up his glass to the waiter, gesturing that he desired a refill. His eyes never left Éclair.
There was something tragically funny about the way that Kyoya choked on her name, as if saying one simple word was taking all of his patience and willpower. Éclair took a sip of her own drink, returning Kyoya's favor of consistent eye contact. His eyes were so dark and bottomless, as though if she stared at them for too long, she would be sucked in by them.
"How very practical of you," Éclair remarked. "What aspect of the Ootori Group's business assets most intrigues you? Are you interested in the health care zaibatsu it runs now? Or would you shift the focus of the group if you were in charge?" The conversation was becoming more like a business meeting, which was rather tedious for Éclair, but they may as well touch on all of the taboo dinner subjects in one night.
"Humans are fragile creatures. It would only make sense to stay in the medical department, though I may focus a bit on finances. If one can own a bank, a hospital, and a grocery store, then one will be offering the necessities to human life and living." The waiter refilled his glass and he took a sip as he focused on Éclair's stunningly blue eyes. The business discussion was starting to irritate Kyoya as well, so he decided to turn the tables. "You are the heir to the Tonnerre business, are you not? How are you planning to continue in your family's affairs?"
Éclair almost looked away when she felt Kyoya's stare intensify. She wondered what he saw when he looked into her eyes. She managed not to shift her gaze and settled on tilting her head to the side. "Expansion," she replied quickly and honestly. She'd never spoken to anyone about her plans for Grand Tonnerre, but she felt like telling someone. "I find general management, which is the center of Grand Tonnerre now, rather tedious and uninteresting. This business of running hotels and theatres and such…it isn't very engrossing. I'll continue to work in that sector, of course, since that is where the money is, but I am more interested in telecommunications and civil engineering. And a bit of stocks management."
Kyoya nodded and stirred his drink. The talk of business wasn't very interesting and they both knew it, so he searched for something else to discuss. As he thought, he couldn't help but notice that her eyes seemed to latch onto him and drink his attention. The striking color was enough to draw anyone's eyes to them. "Do you normally read literature such as The Tending of a Black Sun?" he asked, sitting back in his chair. If not talking about finances and boring business plans, then he would bring it back around to their original conversation and branch off to another path in the conversation that way. "With such a dark tone, I can see why it's not an especially popular book, so it makes me wonder why you would be interested in reading it. Surely after the first page you would have been turned off from it?"
"I don't read many novels, unless they are assigned for a class. My father finds them too frivolous." Éclair had to admit, even though the way Kyoya was staring into her eyes was unsettling, it was also somewhat exhilarating. Even better than that, Kyoya was veering away from the business topic, much to her relief. "But when I do read novels, I suppose I'm drawn to ones with darker themes. Far from being turned off by uncomfortable books like West's, their edgy nature is usually a sign to me that they contain something of value. The truth itself is often an uncomfortable thing, so how can we expect to learn and progress if we are always being coddled in our safe, agreeable, cardboard boxes?"
"Well put. But it's these safe boxes that give us our place in society. A frame for us to work in and never leave; an assigned palette to never create new colors with." Kyoya sipped his drink and finally broke eye contact. The longer he spent in Éclair's company, the more his filter began to slip. If this was the beginning of their 'date', he would never have said anything about the frame. In all honesty, he hadn't thought about his frame in a long time. It had become such a deep-rooted part of him that he did not have any need to think of it. He forced the thought from his mind. "If you enjoy edgy books, then have you read A Flame to the Tongue by Malcolm Prose?"
Éclair smiled in recognition. "'The tongue is a roaring fire. It can turn the entire course of your life into a blazing flame of destruction'. That is indeed a gritty bit of fiction. Sort of like Tristan and Iseult, but less focus on the piddling love triangle and more on the court intrigue, which was the interesting part of the story anyway. I like how they put a spin on the whole 'forbidden desire' trope and portrayed how relationships could destroy a whole country as a negative thing instead of romanticizing it."
As much as their literature conversation was interesting, something else that Kyoya had said caught Éclair's attention. His art metaphor seemed very similar to the sense of predictability that made Éclair herself so secure, but also felt like a restriction. "I can't help but pity someone like Jia, though," she continued. "Her parents' expectations limited her path in life and ultimately drove her to destruction…like giving someone an already-framed two-by-four canvas and expecting them to make a mural out of it."
Kyoya took a big gulp of his drink when Éclair referred to the frame as well. An image flashed into his mind—something from a dream he'd had a few days ago—but then it was gone. He felt a strange foreign pang in his chest that he'd taught himself to keep down for all these years.
Éclair took notice of the way Kyoya chugged his drink, as though he could get drunk off of something as innocuous as limeade. She didn't know what she'd said to throw him, but she was a little glad to be getting even. Kyoya had punctured her defenses as well, tonight.
Kyoya cleared his throat. "Humankind chooses to romanticize things that should never be romanticized, violence being one of them. I agree that it was a nice change to see a revolution being taken seriously, as it should, rather than something petty like romance being thrown in there just because it would be more 'entertaining'. It's not entertaining at all; it's simply taking away from the main story."
"When in a fantasy world with high stakes, readers normally don't think about consequences to one's actions. Only when they're in a realistic situation, like a crime novel or the like, do they consider the possibility of jail or even the death penalty, depending on the book's setting. But of course, there are always to be consequences, no matter where the book takes place. With every crime one commits, there must be justification of it, either in this life or the next." He paused. "If you believe in a next life, of course."
"There is a price to absolutely everything in this world, whether it is obvious or not. To obtain anything, something else must be lost. More novels should be honest with their readers in that regard. Otherwise, our society ends up with inundated with fools who believe that real life has no consequences. Better to learn that life isn't all sunshine and roses from books than to go out and turn the real world into a disaster area." Éclair concluded her analysis and arranged her silverware on her plate to signify she was finished.
Kyoya took a final sip of his drink, having calmed down from Éclair's metaphor. The last of the stew he had left, despite the small portions, had grown cold during their conversation, so he pushed it aside. He signaled to the waiter that he desired the check before turning back to Éclair. He was unsure on where to take the conversation now. They had discussed books, religion, business, and rounded back to books again. They'd even covered the topic of morals, in a loose sense. What more could he have asked for in dinner conversation?
"I hope that our first date was up to your standards," Kyoya commented.
"It was perfectly acceptable, she replied, delicately wiping her lips with her napkin, careful not to smudge her lipstick. The date had actually exceeded beyond any of Éclair's expectations. She had legitimately enjoyed herself, the company, and the conversation. However, she couldn't let Kyoya know that. "I know that it was getting a little late, but might we do one more thing before going home?" Éclair paused for a moment. "I would like to see your favorite place in the city."
"My favorite place in the city?" Kyoya repeated. "I'm not sure I understand what you mean. You know as well as I do that I do not go out very much for sightseeing. I have no reason to choose a 'favorite place' here."
"There isn't anywhere you particularly like to study or work? Nowhere that you find particularly aesthetically pleasing? I find it a bit hard to believe that in seventeen years of living in a city, there isn't one place that you like more than another. Even after a few weeks of being here, I have a place I like to go." The last sentence slipped through Éclair's filter and she partly hoped that Kyoya hadn't been paying attention enough to catch it. It was unsettling to let anyone see the raw, honest side of her.
Kyoya thought about it for a moment. "I suppose you have a point. Then I will show you my favorite place on the next date if you show me yours as well." He met her eyes as though challenging her to take him up on the request. He'd have to think about what place in the city he liked the best, and so until then, he'd just have to schedule another date.
Unwilling to let Kyoya shake her too much, Éclair raised her blue eyes to fully meet his, accepting his challenge. "Very well. That sounds fair. It will give us something to do on our next date, anyway." The words 'our next date' had such a foreign taste to Éclair; but it wasn't an unpleasant-sounding phrase.
After they had paid for their meal, Kyoya stood and pocketed his wallet. "Shall we get you back hom, Miss To—Éclair?"
"I suppose we should. It's getting late and we both have work to do, I'm sure." Yet another reminder that she would get less sleep tonight, but she conceded that it might have been worth it. "And if my name is really too much for you to handle, Miss Tonnerre will do just fine." She stood up on her own, not waiting for Kyoya to offer to help her like before.
"Éclair is fine," he insisted. "I am simply not used to using the name." He followed her out the door and the chauffeur was waiting for them in the same spot. He opened the car door for her and slipped in after her.
As the chauffeur drove off toward Éclair's house, Kyoya stared out the window, watching the brightly lit city flash by them. It was late and the thought of all the homework he had to finish before he could even think about sleeping was weighing down on him. He supposed it would be worth it, in the end, but he couldn't risk falling behind on his studies. He decided that he'd have to put a limit of two dates a month, at least if they were in the evening. Any more and his grades would fall out from under him.
Éclair looked at Kyoya as they drove instead of looking out the window at the scenery. She couldn't help but notice that he looked a little tired. She assumed that they had the same kinds of pressures in their lives; in fact, she was willing to bet that Kyoya probably had more on his plate than she did. He had the Host Club, after all. It was no wonder that the Shadow King was under so much pressure constantly. But there was nothing she could do about it.
She crossed one of her ankles behind the other, relaxing just slightly from her statue-like posture. "Ootori-san, could you give me the number of your mobile phone?"
"Hmm?" Kyoya looked over his shoulder at her. She probably wanted to be able to contact him so they could schedule outings or coordinate schedules to spend time with one another—that thought irked him. "Very well." He took out his phone and held it out to her while gesturing for hers with his open hand.
While she took his phone and put in her name and number, she explained, "I didn't bring my phone with me tonight." She hadn't wanted to be interrupted or distracted, so she hadn't brought her noisy, constantly-vibrating phone. "If you tell me your number, I'll remember it."
Kyoya took back his phone and recited his number to her. It felt strange to have a number in his phone that wasn't a business partner or Tamaki. He hoped that she didn't have a habit of sending stupid pictures from the internet like that annoying Tamaki did. He doubted it, seeing as she actually held respect for herself, but she could always do so just to spite him.
Éclair was unsure if she would even use Kyoya's phone number that often; they went to the same school, after all. But it was better to be over-prepared.
The car stopped in front of her house and she waited for Kyoya to go around and open the door, back to letting him play the sophisticated gentleman. Kyoya did just as expected. His father had raised him with perfect manners and he'd exercised them whenever he could to people that deserved them. Even when he had been out with the commoner Haruhi, he'd acted somewhat polite since she had earned the proper respect required to get on his good side.
Kyoya walked Éclair up to the front door before looking her in the eye, as one should do. "I hope you had a fine time, Éclair." He made sure not to hesitate using her personal name this time.
The Frenchwoman was caught off guard when he called her by her name without a problem. Her hand stopped inches from the keypad on the door and she paused for a moment before looking right at Kyoya and giving him a small, semi-honest smile. "It kept me from being bored, at the very least." She punched in the key code for the door and pushed it open. "Goodnight, Ootori-san."