Gokai marched right up to the Hitachiin estate. It was a sunny day, and the winds were chilled him because of the light sweat he had broken out into. He rang the doorbell, and a chorus of bells rang out to Billy Joel's Only The Good Die Young.

A boy with orange hair parted to the right and a bored look on his face answered the door. He was wearing an blue tank top over a black shirt and a white tank top, whose straps fell lazily down his arms.

Gokai squeezed his eyes tight. Oh my God, the boy's a delinquent!

"H-hello, um, is this the Hit- Hitachen residence?"

"If you mean Hitachiin, then you would be correct," the boy answered.

Gokai cleared his throat. "I'm sorry." He bowed deeply. "Are you, by any chance, Kaoru?"

"That depends," the boy said, leaning against the door frame and examining his fingernails. His eyes darted up to Gokai and stared into his soul. "Who wants to know?

"I am Gokai Fujioka!" he said with another deep bow.

The smirk that appeared on the boy's face was so small and disappeared so quickly, Gokai believed he hadn't seen it at all.

"Yeah, I'm Kaoru. Are you Isan's father?"

"Uh, uh, uh, yes. Yes, I am."

This time, Gokai definitely saw the boy smirk, although he had no clue as to why. "Come right in," Kaoru said. He led the man through the corridor and into the living room. Gokai sat on a leather seat in front of the empty fireplace.

Kaoru sat on the couch to the right of the chair Gokai had chosen. "I was just leaving as you came in, and that's why I answered the door and not a servant. But I can spare a few moments for you."

"Oh, well thank you."

"No problem. Did you need something in particular?"

"Well, naturally, I wanted to talk about my daughter. She was talking about you with her cousin."

"Oh really! Well, that's news to me. What did she say about me, exactly?"

"Well, she didn't say anything. Her cousin did all the talking. See, I was going to take her home, but Haruhi- that's her cousin- said something like, 'Kaoru will miss you! He really will!' or something like that, which made Isan very happy. I'm moving soon, and I would like to know what kind of a person you are."

"Really? Well, ever since we were little, we were a little bit twisted, but that happens when you grow up rich. But he really likes her. I don't particularly like her. Actually, I dislike her, for taking him from me, but life goes on and we can't be so close forever, you know? It's just that I never want to lose him. Sometimes, I think that I'm ridiculous. Am I ridiculous?"

Gokai nodded and then shook his head, making his head go in a sort of unsure, circle shape, mouth agape and brow furrowed. Kaoru talked on and on, turning his story around and contradicting himself with every other sentence. All Gokai really wanted to know was, who is this 'him'? Who is 'him?!

"Really, I'm surrounded by such morons, and now that Isan has joined us, it's like having a complete set. The senseless leader, the cross-dresser, the glasses-character, the cute one, the silent one, the troublesome twins, and now there's one that doesn't really have a place. I wouldn't know where to place her, though. I'm sure Renge would. But if I were to give Isan a place myself, I'd say she's... the dreamer. Kaoru's a lucky guy, to have Isan wrapped around his finger."

Kaoru's eyes drifted up to Gokai's, who, although he hadn't understood a word or why Kaoru had arbitrarily begun referring to himself in the third person, but he at least understood that the boy had just spilled his heart out to him.

Kaoru looked at the clock against the wall and laughed. "I've been talking for an hour. You should go home soon."

Gokai shook Kaoru's hand. He smiled. "I don't really understand what you were saying to me."

"Kaoru loves your daughter very much."

A maid showed him the way out, and he left feeling very refreshed.

--

Someone else walked into the Hitachiin estate.

"Hikaru! Hikaru!" Kaoru yelled. He ran into the living room where he found his brother lying on the couch in a troubled silence. "Hikaru? What's wrong? Why didn't you come play soccer with me? I was waiting for you, but you never showed up."

"Oh? Sorry. Nothing's wrong, Kaoru." He shifted in position and looked up to face his brother, who was sitting in the chair to the left of him. "Isan's dad dropped by."

Kaoru stood. "What? What did he want?"

"To talk to Kaoru."

"Hikaru! What did you do?"

"I gave him the next best thing," he said with a small smirk.

"Hikaru!" Kaoru stomped his foot angrily. "What did you say?"

"Not much." Hikaru sighed. "But I think that he likes you."