Chapter Three. Dirty Little Secrets

I, Setsuko Togu, am shocked to witness such a scene. The emperor, according to what I have just seen, was about to make love to some silver or bronze student that was unidentified. If only I knew more about her. Even so, the emperor was cheating on his platinum! Outrageous, I am sure this was never heard in the history of Imperial Academy. Most emperors and their platinum's even get married. Dear god, what has the world come to? More importantly, what is Ryuunosuke Ishitaka-sama doing??

"Will you be explaining yourself or will we go along like nothing has happened?" Setsuko daringly asked. Certainly, she was witty and scheming.

"Come here during after school hours. Around 3:15, I'll tell you everything, Togu-san," Ryuunosuke said, a crushed look set on his face and he had addressed her as Ms. Togu. Where had that even come from? He never called her in such a way.

"That's great sounding. Anyhow, I've discovered a few ideas for our school play as well as some ideas for our fundraiser," Setsuko said, as if nothing had ever happened even though everything had happened. Ryuunosuke never told Setsuko not to tell Miu anything but you could tell by the look on his face, he wanted this kept a secret. Setsuko plopped down the couch near the coffee table in his office and set her papers on the table. Ryuunosuke fixed his ribbon and straightened his jacket, he coughed briefly.

"Now, let's have a look," he sat oddly close to Setsuko on the couch and snatched the papers from the table. His eyes darted from the paper: up and down and side to side.

"The Unforgettable Song…," he mumbled underneath his breath. "Isn't that the picture book your father wrote?" Ryuunosuke raised a brow as he read the papers.

"Yes, it is actually. If we did that for the play, we would need to get his consent and everything. The rights for the play and create some sort of script as well. But, I'm more interested in our fundraising ideas. I was thinking we could create some sort of dance and have everyone attend by paying for admission then we could have each student donate money. At least unless their family is suffering financially," Setsuko said, speaking in depth about her initial plan though it was written out on the papers she handed to Ryuunosuke.

The rest of the day had passed by with ease but Setsuko always felt a little uncomfortable being even near the emperor. When he caught her eye once in the hallway as they were switching classes towards the end of the day, she stared briefly and then spun around as if that was what she had planned to do from the beginning. Ryuunosuke what taken aback but didn't take it too heavily at the time. For one nervous second, he had even contemplated whether Setsuko was untrustworthy and would speak his secrets to the Multimedia Club so they could have the scandal run in the paper.

It was the end of the day now and Setsuko's hand trembled against the large knob of the private emperor's room. Keiichi and Kichiro, who actually happened to be pretty close friends, stopped to see why Setsuko was hesitating so much as they passed by.

"Setsuko-chan, go in all ready. The emperor said he wanted to talk to you about the next council association meeting," Keiichi encouraged with a bright smile.

"Ah! Of course. But why are you both not attending?" Setsuko asked with a gleam in her eye. If Keiichi and Kichiro got the dirt about this one, Ryuunosuke would definitely have to speak to them. And nothing pleased Setsuko more than knowing people beside her knew especially if it was something along the lines of these matters.

"Well, I have practice with the track team. Coach says we need to discuss something about the meet coming up," Kichiro explained, bringing a finger to his chin.

"And, remember I told you about the internship at my dad's company. Oh, by the way, we're hosting a party at my house for the Otomiya re-debut into the business. Both of you have invites and dad made me invite Ryuu," Keiichi made a face, saying he was disgusted by the thought. Kusame, his father, was actually in a work alliance with the Ishitakas so that was probably more the reason why Ryuunosuke would be attending.

"So, gotta go!" They both said together, smiling and waving as they fled the hall.

"Jeez, what dummies," Setsuko said to herself, mustering up enough energy to re-grasp the handle the fling the door open.

"Setsuko-san, what a lovely surprise," Ryuunosuke said as she entered and closed the door behind herself. "I knew you were coming, sweetie." Ryuunosuke moved swiftly from his standing place which was pretty close to her. He kissed her cheek, politely and drew his head back. "You are here not for me but for my story, right?"

"Mind readers. That's a good quality to posses," Setsuko smirked, rubbing Ryuunosuke's smell from her cheek off.

"Thank you, my dear. Why don't you have a seat?" Ryuunosuke suggested, smiling once more but acting like such the old man. He kind of reminded her of her grandfather, Itsuki Otomiya, when he was acting all polite and what not.

"Thanks, with pleasure. And, how about some tea? Oolong, perhaps," Setsuko role played back with and sat daintily on the couch, center of the room.

"Aren't you the mind reader, as well? Certainly," Ryuunosuke whisked off and came back with two filled glasses of cool oolong tea. Setsuko took the smallest sip before setting her glass back down.

"On with the story then," Setsuko persuaded and gestured with her hand.

"Ah, why of course. Once upon a time…," Ryuunosuke stretched and spoke as if he was reading a fairytale to a mere child.

"Shut up, the real story," Setsuko glared, slapping his arm and her eyes seething.

"Aren't we feisty today?" Ryuunosuke took a long sip of his drink. He hand shook as he set it down. Maybe he was as nervous as Setsuko.

"Fine then," Ryuunosuke folded his hands and then unfolded them. "The girl was Kasumi Kotomiya, the daughter of Mizuki Kotomiya, heard of him?" Setsuko shook her head no but Ryuunosuke continued with the story. "She is beautiful and is a silver. She's one of my lovers." Ryuunosuke concluded and that was that.

"Who's Mizuki Kotomiya-san?" Setsuko asked as if phasing out on the rest of the story. Ryuunosuke blinked his eyes as if not believing that Setsuko wasn't jumping down his throat just yet.

"Ah, he's the best friend of your uncle and apparently had a thing for your uncle's wife," Ryuunosuke explained as if she would get the drift if he mentioned this much.

"Eh! Which uncle? Uncle Tachibana-san? Uncle Senri-san? Uncle Maguri-san? No! It was Uncle Yoshitaka-san! It's him, isn't it??" Setsuko willingly said but she was serious.

"God," Ryuunosuke said, frustrated. Of all her 'uncles' she had left out the only one. And most of them weren't even her real uncles, what was up with that.

"Your uncle…Kusame-sama. His best friend, Mizuki-sama was in love with your aunt, Komaki-sama. Do you get it?" Ryuunosuke said, finally and clearly. He was so frustrated and even more than before. Was she this dense that it had to be spelt out for her?

"Oh! Kotomiya-san, right. I know him; Uncle Kusame-san brought him over for dinner once. Oh boy, that was fun. His wife was so pretty. AH! I remember when I saw Kasumi-san. She did look familiar," Setsuko joyfully said, happy with her own realization. "But back to real life. LOVERS? What's wrong with you, you dumb ass! You can't have any more lovers. Your lover is Miu-san! She's the one that you like. Why are you not satisfied with just her? What's wrong with you?" Setsuko glared, her expression changing within one second and it was as if the rest of the Otomiya relation to the Kotomiyas hadn't even been brought up in topic.

"And who are you to tell me who I should and shouldn't like. You're just a meddling member of the council. Besides, Miu-san knows I have dozens of lovers. But she's too wanting of this arranged marriage to let me go. She's knows perfectly well of the situation yet she won't let go. It's because of her father. She cares too much for her family to know not to tell me how I'm better off," Ryuunosuke said, delving into the situation. Strangely, it had felt comfortable sharing this with Setsuko rather than anyone else. Maybe she was a good confidant to share his secrets with.

"Even so, that's not fair for her or her family. Will you be doing this when you're older as well??" Setsuko angrily asked gripping the collar of Ryuunosuke's especially designed for the student council emperor uniform.

"What? Who the hell are you to speak to me this way," Ryuunosuke harshly threw her hands off of his collar. "You have no authority to speak to me this way." He told her, which made Setsuko forget all the times that he had ever been nice. Ryuunosuke wasn't the emperor Setsuko had secretly adored from afar anymore. He was just a lying, cheating, brut of a guy.

"Unless, do you want to be one of my lovers as well?" Ryuunosuke leaned over, taking Setsuko's red tie with a stripe going down the end between his fingers.

"EH?!" Setsuko screamed which made Ryuunosuke think, thank god for sound proof walls.