The Ordinary Life of Chizuru Yukimura

Dislciamer: Hakuouki isn't mine.

When Chizuru woke up the next day, she felt like a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Now that she had some help, it would make it a lot easier to hide things. Although the fact that it was Souji made her feel a little anxious. He'd been looking over at her and doing that smile all afternoon and Chizuru had no idea what he was planning.

"Good morning 'brother'." For once, Kaoru was actually still here and up when Chizuru exited her room.

"'Sister'." It was awkward sitting across from him at the breakfast bar whilst he was in full school uniform. She felt kind of strange seeing him dressed like this at home; it was much easier to ignore when they were at school. "Is that a hair slide?"

"You like?" He held out the aforementioned slide, which consisted of a yellow clip with a bright blue flower on it.

"Where did you get that?"

"Sen gave it to me."

"You guys are close." Kaoru seemed to be spending time with Sen most days.

"She's nice enough. And you seem to be having fun with that loud guy from our class."

"Heisuke? Yeah, he's fun." And he'd introduced her to the mad group.

"You know, this is going pretty well isn't it" Kaoru leaned over, head on his hands and smiling.

"Yeah…" Even though I've already been found out… Yeah she wasn't saying that.

"I bet you miss wearing one of these." He stood up and gave a small twirl in the skirt. "These things are comfy."

"I guess?"

"If only there was a way for you to wear one…"

"I can wear one around the house dumbass." She stuffed an apple into her mouth.

"You have gotten really mouthy." This was true. She'd never sworn as much before this.

"I am standing up for myself." She grabbed her bag and slipped off of the chair. "And I have to go."

"Escaping." She stuck her tongue out as she went out the door. It was somehow satisfying to give him shit; mainly because she'd been putting up with him for years.

Souji was waiting for her at the end of the street. She'd known he would be but she still felt nervous. It seemed likely that he had some kind of evil plan, something she knew for a fact when she saw his smile.

"Hey Chizuru."

"Don't call me that in public!" She practically hissed at him. They were still way too close to her house for a start.

"Oops. My bad." He didn't look very bothered.

"…Just be careful."

"Hmm… By the way, how devoted is your brother to this bet of yours?"

"Very." He really wanted to win.

"So he'd even date a guy to keep it up." She glared.

"Don't do it."

"Do what?" The innocent expression wasn't fooling her at all.

"Please don't involve Shin in this! He's a nice guy." That was probably going a bit far but he didn't deserve Kaoru.

"If you insist… It would be funny though." This guy… He is just as bad as my asshole brother. It was a good thing that Kaoru and Souji had never become friends since they would have been a formidable evil force. Chizuru made a note to ensure this never happened in the future.

"It'd be better to get him a girlfriend." He'd give himself away then.

"Speaking of girlfriends…" Souji pointed further down the street. Saito was frozen on the spot whilst a girl was rapidly talking to him. The normally pale and expressionless boy was red and looking terrified.

"Is that his?"

"He doesn't have one. They scare him."

"Girls?"

"All humans really. He's awkward." She could tell. Currently he was avoiding eye contact and twiddling his fingers. The more she leaned towards him, the further back he tried to move.

"Should we help him?"

"We could…" Souji looked too amused to consider helping though. Chizuru rolled her eyes and headed in that direction.

"Saito-Senpai!" She made like she had just run over, earning a glare from the girl. "I need to ask you something."

"Ok! Sorry." He quickly grabbed onto the escape route and followed her. The girl was still glaring after them and she could see him sweating under her gaze.

"Are you ok?"

"Yes…Thank you…" Saito really didn't say a hell of a lot.

"Does she like you, then?" He gulped.

"A-Apparently." Souji caught up to them.

"She is always after you Saito."

"But… I don' know if I like her…" This was causing him a lot of anguish and you could see it in the way he grimaced.

"Then tell her."

"It's not that easy!"

"Yeah!" Chizuru had to agree with him. She understood what it was like to feel awkward.

"Well it's up to you. It's kinder in the long run." Saito sighed.

"I know…" Chizuru didn't often get time with Saito so she kept glancing at him. She knew he was a quiet guy and she was surprised he got on so well with Souji.

"How long has she been after you?"

"A few weeks." She remembered that a girl had just confessed to him the first day they met.

"She's persistent." He shuddered.

"I just don't understand… We never talk."

"Some girls are just odd. Eh, Ruo?" Souji winked at her and received a hateful glare in return.

"Most people are odd. I just don't get it." Saito sighed.

"People are hard to understand." In particular, the smirking man on the other side of Saito.

"I've tried reading books but it doesn't help." Books?

"…Why would books help?" Saito pulled a small book out of his bag titled 'How to win friends and influence people'. Souji just shrugged at her. "I see…"

"I've told you Saito, this stuff just doesn't work."

"Doesn't it?"

"Well it hasn't so far."

"True…" Saito sighed and replaced the book back in his bag. "How else do I work people out though?"

"Umm…" Chizuru wasn't exactly an expert herself.

"You could start by not taking advice from books."

"Anything else?"

"…And don't start making notes from what I'm telling you."

-Page Break-

"So are you guys sure about this?" Sannan was standing at the front of the classroom and looking at the tally on the chalkboard. They were choosing what they were planning to do for the cultural festival and like every other class in history, they had picked a café. Chizuru didn't mind too much since, it didn't require too much work for her. A normal café wouldn't have anyway.

"Well if that's what you want… Yes, Kaori?" That's probably not good. Her brother had raised his hand and had an 'innocent' smile on his face.

"I have a way we can improve it."

"Oh?" Please don't say what I think you're going to say…

"We could have the boys serving in maid uniforms!" Oh you did. Bastard. He made sure to glance in her direction and smirk.

"Ok… Who likes this idea?" A few of the boys and all of the girls raised their hands. This was probably because it would involve less effort for the girls if they didn't have to bother dressing up. "As the majority are for it, we'll do this."

"Nooo!" From the loud wailing and banging noises behind her, it seemed Heisuke had a similar opinion to her.

"Why did they do this to us?" Was what he said later as they were walking through the corridors to lunch. "In fact, why did your sister do this to us?"

"Because she's a bitch!" Chizuru was furious with her asshole of a brother. She was going to have to borrow one of the kendo swords so she could bring it down on to his smug head.

"I can't wear a dress! I'll look ridiculous!"

"I know…" And maybe they'll notice something… This was something she didn't want to risk happening.

"And the guys! Shit, Shin is gonna have a field day!" Heisuke leant his head against the wall and sighed, sinking into a deep gloom. "Kill me now!"

"It'll be ok!" She started patting him on the shoulder. "We're in this together, right?"

"Yeah… Thank you, Ruo!" And he's hugging me. It seemed he didn't notice anything. "Let's not tell the guys. They'll rip us a new one."

"I can imagine." Souji in particular… She shuddered. They were quite happy to be getting away from it all and were settling down at the table when Shin threw himself onto the bench opposite. From the smirk on his face, it was obvious he knew.

"Hello ladies~." The raucous cackle could be heard throughout the lunchroom.

"Fuck off Shin." Heisuke aimed a kick in his direction and missed, stubbing his toe on the table leg.

"Aww, I get to be served by these lovely maids!"

"No! You are not coming! Stay the fuck away!"

"You can't stop me." Whilst Heisuke was yelling at Shin, Chizuru was sinking down into the bench. If this guy knew then it was certain that the rest of them did. This fact was confirmed when Souji and Sano appeared with identical smirks.

"It's our favourite waitresses." Sano was aiming this mainly at Heisuke but Chizuru flinched all the same. Though her eyes soon narrowed when Souji sat opposite her. What's he going to do?

"Whose amazing idea was this?"

"Ruo's sister." The corner of his lip twitched.

"Ah the cute one. She has a pretty good sense of humour." She looked at Shin feeling slightly panicked. He needed to get away from that idea. Though Souji's evil grin showed that things were about to get worse.

"You should just go for it. She looks like a really nice girl."

"You think?"

"No! She's…. She takes ages in the bathroom! And her room is messy!" The argument was weak but she couldn't bring up the main point.

"I can ignore all that." Bloody Shin.

"Yeah, that's only surface level stuff. If you like her, ask her out." Chizuru kicked Souji in the kneecaps. Hard. To his credit he only made a small yelping noise.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing at all." I hope it hurt. She fixed him with the most menacing looks she could give. This didn't have much of an effect since she was about as terrifying as a duckling.

"Isn't that nice Ruo? Shin could be your future brother-in-law."

"Wonderful." Why did it have to be this guy? Why? Sano was also trying not to laugh. And him… great.