I trudged into the kitchen, wiping my eyes and yawning. I could smell the delicious breakfast that Misaki was cooking me. The sizzling of the pan, however, was accompanied by the sound of Akira yelling at some poor soul over the phone.

So I guess it was a fairly normal morning.

"Hey, Misaki. What's Akira so worked up about?" I plopped down in a chair and propped my head up, trying not to fall asleep.

"Um…" Her voice was hesitant. "Take a look at the magazine on the table."

"Hm?" I looked down beside me. On the cover was a shot of Kyoya and me. I was laughing, while Kyoya had an annoyed but also amused look. Splashed across the photo was…

Oh no.

Bold yellow letters that screamed "Hikari's Lover?!"

"You've got to be kidding me." I flipped through the pages to find the article in a panicked craze.

Skimming through the paragraphs, the main gist was that he and I were out together the whole day, that we went shopping and whatnot. I noted that Kyoya's name wasn't mentioned, but was just referred to as "he." And then I saw the last photo. It was of me, trying not to cry, as Kyoya looked on awkwardly. There was a paragraph about that, speculating about whether we had broken up.

I wanted to scream. There was no relationship in the first place to break up!

And then finally, the last few words revealed that while it was uncertain, it looked to be that the boy who was with me was Kyoya Otori, the youngest son of the leader of the Otori group.

I took deep breaths, trying to take it all in, and turned to Misaki. "Wait. I still don't get it. Why is Akira so upset? I mean, yeah it's stupid, but they have every right to print that."

"Well…" She turned over a piece of bacon. "She kinda forced every company out there to sign a contract to not publish any photos of you."

"What?!" I then turned to Akira, who was strolling in, done with her long conversation. "You can't just do that!"

Akira raised an eyebrow. "Uh, as your manager, I think I can."

I turned back to Misaki. "Wait, I thought you were the responsible one! Where were you when she was doing this?"

"Ouch." Akira rolled her eyes like a moody teenager.

Misaki shrugged. "Helping her."

"Agh." I buried my face in my hands. "You two…now they're going to think I'm some lunatic."

"Hey, at least the whole world wouldn't think that you were off with some guy…if it had actually worked," Misaki pointed out.

Well, crap. I sighed. I had to get Kyoya dragged into this whole thing. I wondered how he was doing. Had he seen the magazine?

"What is this?" His voice was low and strangely calm, which meant he was especially angry. A trembling hand shook the magazine in the air.

For once, Kyoya couldn't find the right words.

"You wasted the entire day with that girl?!" He slapped the magazine down.

"Actually, it was only four hours…" Kyoya muttered.

There was merely shuffling, and a sigh. "Go."

"Pardon?" Kyoya looked up, masking his surprise.

"Just leave." His father had one hand over his eyes, and the other shooing him away."

"As you wish." Kyoya bowed out of the room, this mind whirring with thoughts.

Why? Had Toru made a good impression on him before? That was the first time he had come out of that room unscathed. His curiosity ate away at him for the rest of the day.

I slowly and awkwardly stepped into the school, cringing from all the stares I got. Finally, one girl had the guts to come up to me and hand me a pen and paper. "U-um, H-Hikari, could you possibly…?"

I grabbed the pen and signed with a smile. "Yep." Then I continued on.

The rest of the school day was filled with stares and autographs. People that I had never talked to came up to me and started asking questions like the reporters.

At the end of the day, I found myself trudging up to the club room, exhausted. I opened the door, ignoring the welcome and the rose petals and the obnoxiously white light, sat myself down, and let out a long breath. "Ahmsuhtah." I plonked my head down on the table. "Guhnah. Swehdehm."

"Wait, what?" Hikaru asked.

"I'm so tired. Goodnight. Sweet dreams," Haruhi translated surprisingly accurately.

"Ahem." Kyoya tapped me on the shoulder. "You still have a job to do here."

"Mm. Juhtehmahfu. Ehmahbapah." I started to drift off.

"Hey! Hey!" He shook me violently. He turned to Haruhi. "Wait, what'd she even say?"

"Just take my flute. In my backpack," she stated matter-of-factly.

A group of girls entered the room. They turned and saw me. "Oh!" They ran forward. "Hikari, we have to ask you something!"

I muttered a curse under my breath and pulled myself up while mustering a smile. "Yes?"

"Oh, so that's what gets her up," Kyoya muttered under his breath.

"We saw that magazine...so, is it true you and Kyoya are dating?"

My eyes popped open. "Oh, hell no! Who'd date a-"

Everyone stared.

"Um…" I cleared my throat. "I mean, no. Never. Just no. Just…yeah. No."

Kyoya reaffirmed. "Yes, I'd just like to state I would never court a commoner like her."

"Ah…I see." They looked a little crestfallen. An awkward silence took over the room.

Kyoya cleared his throat. "Well, Toru, now that you're up, please set up your flute over there."

Dammit. I wasn't sleepy anymore. Angrily, I tucked my flute under my arm and marched over by the piano.

I closed my flute case with a click as Kyoya came over. "Ah, Toru. Please prepare for a concert in two weeks' time."

"Oh, come on!" I crossed my arms. "That's way too soon. I need more time."

"Sorry." He shrugged. "And don't worry, it'll be like normal club activities. And Tamaki will be your accompanist, so he'll attract more attention than you. You'll just be a side attraction."

Well, way to make me feel needed.

"And besides, we already told everyone it would be that date."

I groaned.

"Date?" Tamaki came skipping over. "Did someone say a-"

"Nope." We cut him off simultaneously.

Kyoya began to turn away when I spoke. "Ah, Kyoya."

He turned.

"I'm sorry if I caused you any trouble with...all this. I hope your father wasn't too angry."

"It's okay. He wasn't too mad." He paused. "This fame of yours isn't half-bad either. It's increased our sales dramatically."

He stepped away as I stared off into space, wondering. Then what he said hit me.

"Wait, what?!" I screeched. "Am I just a walking lump of money to you?! Are you kidding me?!"

I watched his back. His shoulders slightly shook.

Huh?

Did he just…

Laugh?