Kuri rang the doorbell several times, then leaned against the wall, panting. She was half-an-hour late; hopefully, the Shadow King was in a good mood today. A dark-haired young woman opened the door and stared at her.
"Excuse me, do you need something?" she asked hesitantly.
"Oh. Hi. Err…" Kuri ran a hand through her hair. "I'm Kuri Masachika, Kyouya's classmate? I'm here to… study. And stuff."
"Oh, you're Kyouya's friend? Come in, come in! I'm his sister, Fuyumi! What a pleasure to meet you!" she said excitedly, beckoning for Kuri to come in. "How are you doing?"
"I'm… I'm great. So. I'd better get… studying." Kuri shifted awkwardly.
Fuyumi laughed and gestured upstairs. "Kyouya's in his study. Third door on the right on the second floor." As Kuri headed up the stairs, the Ootori laughed. "You're just like him, you know?"
Kuri glanced over her shoulder and shrugged. "If that's what you think." Am I really that similar to him? She pondered as she walked through the cold hallway. Adjusting her school blazer, she glanced into a mirror as she passed it. They were both tall, both had dark hair. But the similarities ended there.
"Hello? Ootori?" Kuri peeked into his study. Bookshelves lined the room on both sides. His pineapple laptop sat on an elegant desk, and there was a smaller table nearby, covered with notebooks. It looked as if the youngest Ootori had been searching for something.
"Well, I guess I'll just wait for you," Kuri muttered, sitting down at the swivel chair in front of the computer. She spun a little, then tilted her head back, sighing frustratedly. She then opened up the pineapple laptop and powered it up, humming as the system set itself up. Then it asked for Kyouya's password and she growled.
K-Y-O-U-Y-A. Access Denied.
O-O-T-O-R-I. Access Denied.
The dark girl narrowed her eyes. It was probably a combination of some sort. The tall man seemed the type to be ridiculously paranoid about his information. Kuri resisted the urge to slam her face onto the keyboard. The Ootori would charge her for the replacement. With 50-bajillion% interest.
IThinkImSoGreat. Access Denied.
She couldn't resist. It was true.
TheRealKingOfTheHostClub. Access Denied.
KuriIsAmazing. Access Denied. 5 tries left.
Kuri bit her lip. 5 more tries to hack into the boy's computer.
KO#4. Access Denied. 4 tries left.
MrBigShotYoshioOotorisSon. Access Denied. 3 tries left.
November22. Access Denied. 2 tries left.
22November. Access Denied. 1 try left.
Kuri bit her lip, then typed in rapidly, pressed the Enter key, and crossed her fingers.
K2O2#141. The screen glowed blue and the words "Applying Your Personal Settings" appeared.
"Yes!" Kuri cheered in her seat, spinning around happily. She caught a glimpse of the desktop home screen and her eyes widened. Hundreds of folders splashed across the screen. She chuckled and looked through them. Near the top-left of the screen, there were Host Club folders, organized by month. A few columns over, he had bookmarked his homework folders. The dark girl happened to glance one row down and paused with a sharp intake of breath. There was a single folder named 'KMasachika'. The cursor hovered over the yellow icon, her finger a millimeter from the mouse button. Her curiosity insatiable, she clicked to open the folder.
The folder consisted of internet links and Microsoft Word files. She quickly selected them all, pressed open, and waited as the browsers started popping up.
They were arranged by chronological order. First, there were sites and information about the Masachikas, then newspaper articles, then birth certificates, then hospital records. Kuri was frozen as her life flashed onto the screen. Wincing as his name, his smiling face showed up everywhere.
She did it without thinking. She delved into the computer's system, remembering how Avery had once done it, typed in the commands, went to the sites, and watched as multiple viruses chewed away at all the information on the Ootori's computer. Her hands trembled as they hovered over the keys. The screen slowly faded to black.
Kuri slowly got up, breathing heavily, as if she had run a marathon. She drifted over to the coffee table, like a ghost, and opened the first notebook she saw.
More information.
Observations.
Of her.
The Ootori had been curious. But curiosity killed the cat - or in this case, the King. In a frenzy, she tore the pages out, ripped them into shreds, and threw them around the room. They fluttered to the floor.
You're a special girl, Kuri.
Slashed through the covers with a pocketknife.
You're not so bad, kid.
Scribbled over the notes with a ballpoint pen, writing 'sneak' along the margins in her angry script.
Come on, Miss Masachika.
By the time she was done, it looked as if a tornado had swept through the room. She herself was frazzled, her uniform rumpled, her face drawn and pale. Thoughts raced through her mind, but she pushed away the hot-headed anger and forced herself to think coldly, logically. Like that boy.
Someone would notice if she left the house only a few minutes after arriving. So she would have to sneak out.
Silently, she opened the one window in the room and slipped out, climbing down the side of the house like a monkey and running away.
The youngest Ootori stepped out of the shower, a towel wrapped around his neck. He sighed as he checked the time - 5:45. Hopefully, Kuri was waiting for him in the study.
He pushed the door open and froze in the doorway, surveying the scene in front of him. Small scraps of paper littered the floor like snow, blowing around as wind blew in through the window. He ran to his computer and tried to type in some commands, but was met with a black screen with white binary code appearing on it. His computer was rewriting itself. All his files, lost. Sinking into the computer chair, he covered his face with his hands.
But he had lost something much more important than computer files, hard as it was for him to admit.
Her face swam in front of his closed eyes.
He had screwed up.
Majorly.
