CHAPTER SEVEN
Corporate World OMG!
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"See you later, senpais!" the four of them say in a dissonant chorus as they crawl out of the limousine through all of its available doors. "Have a great day at uni!"
Though the early morning fog, some of their female schoolmates milling around the drop-off point erupt into delighted squeals of, "Kyaaa! It's Honey-senpai and Mori-senpai!" as they hurry over to speak to the seniors.
Kyouya smoothly places himself in front of them to block their way, cutting them off with a suave smile. "Ladies, our seniors are late; let's not hold them up."
It's rubbish. Right now it's only slightly past 8, and neither of their seniors have any lectures that begin before 9:30 am any day of the week. Kyouya doesn't want anyone anywhere near the seniors because of the little furry bundle resting in Mori's lap, the tiny treasure that he's willing to entrust only to Mori.
The girls twitter disappointedly, but suddenly remember that today is Kyouya's birthday and launch into a barrage of well wishes as Kyouya leads them into the school building where they will be far, far, far, far away from his kitten.
"Wait up, Kyouya!" Tamaki seizes his bag and flings himself after the crowd.
Shaking his head, Hikaru remarks incredulously, "Kyouya-senpai is obsessed, he is."
Kaoru snorts in agreement.
"Agh, but senpai is finally gone now," Hikaru smiles fiendishly, crouching over to peer at the kitten. It is butting its head against Mori's palm in its wobbly efforts to turn around. "So I can finally pat this thing. Ooooh! Oh my god, it's so soft! So cuuuteee!"
A chilly breeze picks up behind them, and Hikaru whirls around in fright. Kaoru catches sight of his expression and laughs so hard he thinks he might die.
"What!" Hikaru protests, embarrassed and relieved. His hand is clapped over his heart, and his breath is coming out in short gasps. "God, I thought he came back!"
"Then don't touch something that belongs to Kyouya-senpai," Kaoru chokes out, still crying with laughter. Honey kindly hands him a tissue, and he dabs at the edges of his eyes.
"But it's so unfair! How come only Mori-senpai gets to handle it?! Mori-senpai even has to help Kyouya-senpai bring it home!"
"I don't mind," Mori says, looking at Kaoru intently. Kaoru gazes back at him questioningly, feeling quite uncomfortable. Since late yesterday evening Mori has been doing this, and there is a sinking weight in his stomach that makes Kaoru think he has done something horribly wrong. "What are the both of you doing after school?"
"Going to your house, senpai," Hikaru replies in a 'duh' tone, trying to grab the kitten's twitching tail. "Didn't you say you'd tutor me for exams? It's not like you to forget!"
"I need to study as well," Kaoru answers. "But, uh, I thought I'd stay at the library." Actually he needs to go off with Hacker-san to recruit more people to their team, but it's not like he wants people to find out about it.
"Eh? Library?" Hikaru asks, surprised. "I thought you'd get Kyouya-senpai to help you."
"N-Naah. He's busy. I'll study on my own." Kaoru takes hold of Hikaru's arm. "Come on, let's go in."
"Kaoru." Mori stops them.
"Does Kao-chan want to come along with Hika-chan for Takashi to teach the both of you?" Honey pipes up. "Both Takashi and I will be there to help."
"It's fine, senpais." Kaoru forces an unforced smile. "I need to study by myself first before I know which areas I'll need additional assistance for. Thanks anyway!"
He closes the car door on them and raps his knuckles on the shiny black finish to signal the chauffeur, and promptly drags Hikaru in.
"Oy! Slow down!" Hikaru grumbles. "What's up with you?"
"I need to submit some forms to the school office!" he lies. Grinning, he continues, "It's a concept called responsibility, Hikaru. Here, I'll spell it for you so you can take proper notes for your learning: R – E – S – P – "
He darts away just as his twin makes to thwack him, flitting in the direction of the Administrative building trailing an evil cackle behind him.
.
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Frantically, Kaoru paces up and down inside the restroom, wringing his hands and glancing out of the window every few seconds. Down on the ground floor and in the distance beyond the courtyard is a cluster of boys that constitute his best and closest friends, and they are showing no signs of leaving.
Despite the fact that the end-of-school bell rang more than fifteen minutes ago, despite the fact that they all have plenty of things to do, despite the fact that exams are next week and everyone needs to be studying till they drop.
The university seniors had come to pick Hikaru up, and Kaoru can't help but feel that Mori is there to make sure that he goes with them. Which is mad, of course. Just paranoia.
What did I do wrong?!
Nothing makes sense anymore. It was difficult enough inventing an excuse to switch his position in the bed last night so that he wouldn't spend it beside Kyouya. Even then he hadn't been able to fall asleep from the stuffy pressure in his chest and racing thoughts in his head. What did he do wrong? What a stupid question! Everything, obviously. Everything is wrong now because Kaoru was and is stupid. Why does he always seem to create problems instead of solving them?
Oh. Oh god. He stops abruptly.
Mori-senpai doesn't know, does he? His body starts to shake with dread, his fingernails carving into his palm. He can't know!
Clutching at the windowsill, he searches the grounds for his friends again. They're still here.
He removes himself from view just in case. Someone makes a whimpering sound of despair, and it takes him half a minute to realise it was him. No. No, Mori-senpai can't have found out that fast. He's brilliant, but he's not god. Not even Mori-senpai can figure out something that quickly without help.
Utilising Honey's techniques, he compels his breathing to slow. Yes. Focus, Kaoru, damn it. You can keep a secret.
You have to be better at hiding it this time round.
A vibrating buzz in his blazer causes him to jump out of his skin. He fishes it out and nearly drops it when he sees who's calling. Luckily his cover story places him in the library, therefore he lets it ring on without picking it up, knowing that he would be able to tell Kyouya and the rest of his friends that he had put his phone on silent. Usually, at least 95% of the time, he is the type to keep his mobile close enough for him to almost always answer a call, especially since he had begun taking over management of the club. He will say that he didn't want anything to distract from his studying, and hopefully that will be plausible enough.
Cautiously, Kaoru allows himself to sneak another peek outside. He can't see any details, and he can only identify them by hair colour and by height. A redhead is standing with two other people with jet-black hair and two other people with golden blond hair.
The phone stops ringing.
Mere seconds later, it beeps with a message: Who said I'm too busy? Come down now; we're waiting for you.
Kaoru stares at the screen. Something hurts really badly, and inexplicably he really wants to cry.
But they're running out of time. Snatching his keyring out of his pocket, he jabs a button almost viciously and barks out, "Hacker-san, I'm stuck at school because my friends won't leave. Get me out of here."
For the next two minutes he stands there fretting, and when he sees a redhead start to walk towards the building where the senior library is located he really begins to panic –
And without warning, the entire school loses power.
Halfway through the garden, the redhead pauses in his tracks and looks around in puzzlement. He retraces his steps to the group of people in periwinkle blue blazers waiting beside two cars, and apparently after a short discussion decides to pursue his previous course of action.
Come on, Hacker-san!
Something rumbles ominously inside the walls. Vaguely alarmed, Kaoru turns in the direction of the sound, not knowing what he's looking for.
At this point, shouts and screams from the courtyard recapture his attention. Gallons and gallons of water are gushing out from the fancy fountains, exploding upwards and outwards to cause damage over a large radius, and all of the pools and ponds have flooded with a frightful speed and relentlessness, making students scramble everywhere in absolute pandemonium.
His friends have retreated too, either ducking inside the cars or behind the cars on the far side.
Soon, Kaoru becomes aware that the screams are coming from inside the building as well –and because he understands what's going on, he grabs his bag off the floor and runs. The instant he exits the restroom he was in, he hears the unmistakeable roar of water spraying out from the taps. Across the corridor, he sees the girls fleeing from their own restroom with wet hair and dresses and distressed faces.
Without a moment to lose, he weaves his way through the confused throng of students and races to the other side of the sprawling grounds where he throws himself inside the getaway car waiting for him in a side road outside the school gate.
"Go," Hacker-san orders the driver.
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"I wouldn't have, Kaoru-san," Hacker-san insists sullenly from the other side of the changing curtain. "I knew exactly which toilet you were in. You're completely dry, aren't you?"
"Hur," Kaoru tells her, still winded. They are at a small, currently deserted fashion workshop near Tokyo University for Kaoru to change into a disguise – they'd agreed that they mustn't be careless when approaching new people. "And, you wrecked one of the top schools of this country."
He unzips the bag and takes out the clothes he'd prepared beforehand. As he slips the dress over his head, he hears a crunching that sounds very much like, "Seaweed snack again, Hacker-san? Do you ever eat anything else?"
Sweeping the curtain aside, he steps out and heads to the lighted mirror where he drops his things on the counter. Stuffing his school uniform inside his bag, he begins to wad up balls of tissue paper that he can use as padding for his non-existent breasts. Then he styles his wig and does a bit of makeup, and finally finishes off with suitable accessories.
A girl inside the mirror blinks back at him.
Kaoru smiles approvingly at his own skill, clicking his makeup case shut. He's virtually unrecognisable like this and he knows it. "Let's go."
"You're really vain, Kaoru-san," Hacker-san says as they leave the workshop.
"Huh?!" Kaoru screeches at her, insulted. "It's not so much that I'm vain than it is that you don't have any personal grooming at all! When was the last time you washed your hair?! Or exfoliated your skin?!"
"It's a waste of time and money to do all that," Hacker-san says matter-of-factly as they walk down the pavement. "Only rich girls can manage it."
"Not true!" Kaoru disagrees heatedly. "There're so many products aimed at commoners in every single drugstore and department store! The cosmetics market is so saturated!"
They pass several young men, all of whom turn to gawk at Kaoru when he strides by in his heels. "Yes, Kaoru-san, but you know, no commoner woman looks like you. You look like the sort who will bleed a man dry."
"Not everyone can afford a Hitachiin," Kaoru informs her in a superior undertone.
"So I don't know why Kaoru-san thinks it is believable for you to pose as my girlfriend," she complains.
"Well it's more believable than you pretending to be my girlfriend," Kaoru shoots back cattily.
They cross the last street and reach their destination.
"Right." Kaoru puts his hand in hers for her to lead because she once attended this university and knows it far better than he does. "Oh god, remind me to buy you a hand cream."
She rolls her eyes and sets off purposefully. "You're so vain, Kaoru-san. Maybe you should think about marrying one of your rich club friends rather than end up with a woman who will compete with you."
Caught off guard by her statement, Kaoru nearly misses a step. He lets Hacker-san think that it is because of the height of his shoes even though any self-respecting Hitachiin should be able to jog in heels, and she takes it as proof that vanity is not only pointless but also harmful.
"Ah! There she is!" Hacker-san points, and through the glass Kaoru spots Yukina Yumeji in front of a class of students who are gathering up their notebooks and pens and clearly preparing to leave at the end of their lesson.
"Damn," Kaoru murmurs. "We were meant to crash the lecture so it wouldn't be too suspicious when we go up to her."
Hacker-san tugs on his hand. "I have another idea, Kaoru-san."
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In the computer lab, Hacker-san accesses the online learning system to download the materials from Yukina Yumeji's other subjects. "Yukina-sama specialises in cognitive psychology and social psychology, as Kaoru-san knows. But Yukina-sama is also teaching the first year experimental psychology unit this semester because one of her colleagues has gone on maternity leave."
The printer heats up and spits out a couple of pages.
Kaoru nods. "She would be least likely to recognise first year students, so with any luck she might not be able to say for sure if we are meant to be there or not."
"Yes." Hacker-san gives him the notes. "This was the assigned reading for today."
"Good. I'll find something I don't understand so well and get her to explain it." Kaoru settles himself in a chair to begin reading.
Hacker-san smiles toothily at him.
"… What?"
"Kaoru-san is a hardworking boss."
"… So?"
"I approve."
Kaoru glares at her. "No. I approve you. You don't approve me. You have no idea how this works, do you?"
She slumps dejectedly. "But I work hard for you. I gave PAIS-LE to you."
The guilt lands on him in a crushing and unexpected blow. "I'm sorry," he apologises gently. "I know you do. I practically asked for your firstborn child, didn't I?"
Hacker-san doesn't respond. She has an unfortunate tendency of sulking, yet she has the temerity to say 'like master, like servant'. Just from his dealings with her alone, Kaoru must have accumulated sufficient good karma to atone for all his past misdeeds.
"You know," Kaoru tells her compassionately, "if anyone can make a worldwide success of your PAIS-LE, it would be Kyouya-senpai. And I did ask for your bot back after they have their own prototype – Kyouya-senpai is not one to forget his friends' requests, so it will come back to you. Okay? Really." He forces her to meet his eyes. "I get it, okay? In my father's company, you felt that you always worked really hard and your superiors didn't and yet they ordered you around and took credit for your work. This isn't a corporate environment. I won't do that, all right?"
She smiles again. "Well, every parent wants their child to become an icon."
"Exactly," Kaoru laughs.
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The door of the office marked 'Associate Professor Yukina Yumeji' is slightly ajar when they arrive at the right place after a fair bit of hunting. These academics are always tucked away in difficult-to-reach places, like individual insects in a colony hard at work in their respective cells.
Gingerly, Kaoru knocks with the timorousness of a student. "Yukina-junkyōju?" He pushes the door lightly and pokes his head in.
There is a boy propped up against the side of the teacher's desk, messenger bag slung over one shoulder and across his chest. His arms are folded and he looks bored; Kaoru estimates his age to be around that of Hacker-san's. Another student, then? Somehow he looks familiar to Kaoru, and Kaoru ransacks his mind for the missing puzzle piece.
"Come in," drawls the boy lazily, giving off an annoying air of presumptuousness.
Kaoru enters the room as per his invitation. The boy's dark eyes land on him and he suddenly straightens himself up from his too-cool-for-school slouch, becoming more alert as his mouth curves into a smile.
When he greets Kaoru with a low, suggestive, "Hello", Kaoru barely refrains from a facepalm and a shriek of hysterical laughter.
Not wanting to break character, Kaoru is on the verge of returning a shy "Hello" when Hacker-san decides that she doesn't want to hang about outside to wait after all. "Hey, you," she snaps, using the rudest form of 'you' possible and actually acting like a decent boyfriend, "Keep it in your pants, asshole."
By this stage Kaoru is desperately suppressing laughter and his cheeks are going pink from the effort. It passes for a blush, and he prays to whatever deity that this boy and Hacker-san do not continue their argument.
The boy rolls his eyes and jerks his head to indicate some chairs, letting out a calculated yawn. "Yukina-sensei will be back in a couple of minutes."
Hacker-san pulls out a chair for Kaoru but refuses to sit herself, choosing instead to stand there and fume. Nonplussed at her protectiveness, Kaoru crosses his legs in a ladylike manner and sets his papers and file down at a small corner of the desk.
"Oh?" the guy speaks up, deliberately charming, "You know, I can tutor you if you want." He leans closer to Kaoru than necessary. "I'm always happy to help any juniors."
Kaoru is struck by an awful feeling that this dude is just trying to piss off Hacker-san now. It's worse because, objectively speaking, the boy is handsome and it's obvious from his body language that he knows it.
"Hah!" Hacker-san stares him down, full of contempt and derision. "You're only a second year! Aren't you ashamed by your lack of accomplishment at this age? Don't make me laugh."
Oh god. No, in fact it is the worst because objectively speaking, Hacker-san is extremely intelligent and she never hesitates to lord it over others.
From the boy's expression, Kaoru knows that Hacker-san has just pushed a hot button of his regardless of whether it was an accident or not.
He stalks over to her and grabs the front of her shirt. "What do you know about it, scumbag? We're probably the same age and it's not like you're some bigshot yourself, don't talk so big just because you've got a hot girlfriend!"
Kaoru had risen up off his chair. "H-Hey! Don't fight!"
"I don't need to be a bigshot to be better than you," Hacker-san ripostes, smacking his hand away with a strength Kaoru had not known she possessed. "You're right, we would have been in the same year level at school but you're one year older than me and I've already graduated with top honours, so I guess you've inherited none of your father's and your aunt's genius, eh?"
That's right! Hacker-san's words prompt Kaoru's memory – she had done comprehensive research into the associate professor's background, and that included checking out her family members and compiling basic profiles complete with photographs for Kaoru. That's who he is – he's Yukina Yumeji's nephew!
"Stop!" Kaoru commands, inserting himself between the two of them to defuse the situation. "I'm sorry, Mitsuya-san. It is Mitsuya Masanori-san, isn't it? I apologise."
The boy's eyes widen even further in shock, and after a tense moment, he nods tightly and backs down.
Kaoru whirls around to rebuke his own employee. She has subsided, but they have already given enough away. What do you think you were doing?!
He started it. The sentiment is painted all over her features along with the first creeping hints of remorse. With her head she makes these twitchy movements like she wants Kaoru to leave with her now, and Kaoru bites back a sigh as he tries to convey his refusal with a pointed stare. She keeps twitching.
…Wait, does she want to confer with him privately? Or what?
Crap, they've still got a ton of communication issues to work on.
Apparently concluding that what she's got to say is too important to wait, Hacker-san takes hold of his wrist to drag him out. Kaoru follows compliantly, having had enough drama for the day – before they get to the door, however, the Associate Professor comes through it briskly with a towering stack of photocopied material, heading to her cluttered desk with an equally no-nonsense, "Ask your questions, quickly. You'd better have done your readings beforehand and tried to solve it yourself, otherwise I suggest you leave now before I remember your face and unload the full force of my wrath on you next lecture."
With a loud whumping sound, she dumps the stuff down and glances up with a thoroughly frightening and entirely wicked grin.
For a moment Kaoru swears he sees that fabled monster – The Hitachiin Woman – in front of him. Hacker-san lets out an involuntary, "Eek," and shuffles behind Kaoru for protection.
"Too late!" the associate professor announces in a voice that generally accompanies the gleeful rubbing of hands and peals of triumphant villainous laughter. "If your question is stupid, be prepared to gratefully and obediently receive your deserved whipping in class!"
Yes, Kaoru is terrified, but he is also thrilled.
His mouth pulls into a smile that cannot be stifled, for he recognises this as the phenomenon that his mother is always talking about: meeting a person who you know deep within is a perfect fit, a person who is meant for you and you for this person, a kindred spirit, an inevitable meeting of fate. Sometimes the feeling strikes like a thunderbolt, and sometimes it is like the formation of star systems, where all the bits and pieces come together only with the progression of time – where the people involved have been revolving around each other for a while before everything coagulates together to reveal a big, breath-taking picture of that same inevitability.
All Hitachiin employees, students and servants – whether atelier, ikebana school, household or administrative and professional staff – are hired this way, first by instinct, then by qualifications. Their family accepts and embraces the fact that some people are naturally connected in ways that transcend the realm of the explainable; it is true that they especially select their lovers as such, but it is not just lovers who are graced by destiny. Friends and all other close associates too are either meant to be, or not meant to be… Hitachiins are unhindered by silly mortal things like rationality and traditions (except those that they create and bind themselves with), and Kaoru feels that he has just encountered his very own Tachibana-san.
Associate Professor of Psychology at University of Tokyo, Yukina Yumeji, née Mitsuya, age 31, birthday April 30, wife or sister to game developers Yukina Izumi (31 years old) and only brother Mitsuya Ryouta (45 years old), aunt to Mitsuya Masanori (24 years old) with no kids of her own and clearly as attractive as her nephew, raises an eyebrow. "Well? Speak."
"So cool," Hacker-san mumbles faintly behind Kaoru, evidently starstruck.
"U-Um," Kaoru proceeds tentatively, "I'm in the first-year Experimental Psychology… About the use of placebos when conducting research – the text says that the effect of placebo is very different in different diseases, and the listed articles in our readings include those that are for and against its use – which means that is it all right if in our exams we – "
"Yumeji-bachan, I'm happy to teach her if you want." The boy is observing them too keenly, and Kaoru doesn't like it. Hacker-san doesn't react due to Yukina's presence.
Yukina looks more taken aback than is warranted. Maybe this guy never ever makes such generous offers, Kaoru thinks, and resolves not to allow himself to go off with a shady guy like that. He hopes to goodness that the associate professor is of the same mind.
"Is that so?" She turns back to Kaoru, unexpectedly guarded and shrewd. "Would you like my nephew to help you instead?"
Something about her manner throws Kaoru, and his brain races to find the trap in her inquiry. "No," he replies as calmly as he can. "It's only the one question, sensei."
"Do you know each other?" she probes, now curious. "In that case, shouldn't you already have helped her rather than bothering me, Masanori."
Her nephew remains infuriatingly silent, and in the end Kaoru is compelled to answer. "No, sensei, Mitsuya-san and I met mere minutes ago."
Immediately Yukina takes on her slasher grin again, except it's far more malicious this time and Kaoru cannot help taking a step back. "Who are you?" she demands as her nephew goes to the door and closes it, closes them in. Kaoru tries not to let his trepidation show. "Are you even my student?"
Genuinely confused, Kaoru stammers with wide-eyed girlish innocence, harmless as a baby lamb, "W-What?"
Hacker-san pulls him back to her, activating her boyfriend mode again. She really is shockingly protective of him – how had he not realised before today? "Okay, game is up. Yukina-sensei, actually, we are here with a job offer for you. Don't panic, we won't tell anyone about him." She thrusts her chin in the boy's direction dismissively. "Would you be willing to hear us out?"
"What job offer?" Yukina crosses her arms apprehensively.
Kaoru lowers himself onto the chair, taking himself out of the equation as a key player. Hacker-san has authority to negotiate for him, and the card up their sleeve, the card that should be played last, is Kaoru's identity. He'd told Hacker-san that he would do this as a contingency, and Hacker-san demonstrates her understanding by helping to seat him, as though she wants him out of the way because she's the one in the rightful position to talk. Kaoru surreptitiously tightens his grip on her forearm. Where did we slip up?
In answer, Hacker-san rolls her eyes at the guy blocking the exit. Him.
"We have been sent here to inquire about your amenability to act as a personal consultant, Yukina-sensei. This job will not require you to quit your career as an academic – it has irregular, non-office hours, and it is very challenging and exciting. Does that sound like it is worth considering, sensei, or should we save our breath?"
"Don't be fooled, Yumeji-bachan," the boy chips in almost before Hacker-san finishes her sales pitch. "The girl's the boss here, not that asshole."
Sharp. Kaoru is grudgingly impressed that the guy sussed out that much from the singular, spur-of-the-moment, power-reversing act of reeling Hacker-san back in, although he waits until he ascertains that Yukina trusts her nephew's judgement implicitly, then he stands back up. In concession, he dips his head mildly. "Very good, Mitsuya-san."
"Igarashi," Hacker-san corrects him apologetically. "He was born Mitsuya Masanori, but after his time in juvenile institutions he became Igarashi Masanori, taking on his mother's maiden name when their whole family petitioned to have their surname changed with the stated reason being to give this guy a fresh chance at life. Nobody on campus knows him as Mitsuya, and nobody knows he is Yukina Yumeji's nephew either, especially because they are only aged 7 years apart. His father, Igarashi Ryouta, and Yukina-sensei's husband Yukina Izumi, both used their skills to remove as many digital traces of this guy's previous life as possible."
In other words, Kaoru thinks irritably at his employee, everything is your fault, Hacker-san. You let him provoke you, and everything came out!
"You!" Igarashi growls. "What the hell is this?! Who are you?!"
While Hacker-san hopefully has the grace to wallow in guilt and self-blame, Kaoru takes charge at last. "The job description is that of a personal consultant, though the role itself is more dynamic and difficult to quantify than that. The things you will do include but are not limited to: research, analysis, occasional spying, helping to devise strategies and plans of action. You will be well compensated, and your expertise is very much valued, or we wouldn't be here. If it matters, sensei, you are also the first choice for this role. The one thing we need in return, apart from your skills, is undivided and unwavering loyalty. Are you interested, Yukina-junkyōju?"
"You don't care to introduce yourself first?" she asks, amused and angry at once.
Without aggression or antagonism, but with no intention to relent either, Kaoru tells her simply, "No."
She lets out a bark of laughter. "Fine. I'll play. I'm interested. So?"
"Ba-chan!" Igarashi protests, storming to her side. "At least we need to know their names!" He glares at Hacker-san.
"This is Horiuchi Yoshi and I am Sadamoto Akemi." If you haven't removed your own previous lives from the net, Hacker-san, I'm going to kill you.
"Yeah right," Igarashi scoffs. "And I'm Smiley Face."
Without skipping a beat, Kaoru greets him back. "Nice to meet you, Smiley-san."
"Don't fuck with me; I know for sure they aren't your real names."
"Oh? How do you know, Igarashi-san?" Kaoru says, intrigued.
"Don't use my real name if you won't deign to use your own! You haven't worn these names for long enough!" he snaps. "They feel like ill-fitting clothing on you!"
After frowning contemplatively at 'Smiley-san' for a few moments, Kaoru comments, "You know, Smiley-san, you're not bad yourself."
"Huh? I'm studying psychology too, aren't I?!" he exclaims impatiently. "And that aside, I'll have you know I'm brilliant. I have a flair for human relations. A paper doesn't prove anything." He sneers at Hacker-san.
Before Hacker-san can insult him further with something disastrous like, "It proved you were in jail," Kaoru hastily intervenes with, "Can you drive?", because Hacker-san can't and he can't and they really need a more reliable driver than the one she engaged for today.
"NO!" Hacker-san objects in an ear-splitting screech. "NOOOO!"
Smiley-san claps his hands over his ears. "What the?! Stop it!"
Kaoru threatens her with a stern glare. "What are Smiley-san's qualifications?"
Oh, now she shuts up with an unconvincing shrug.
When Kaoru keeps glaring, she shrugs harder. "I don't know!"
"If you don't tell me," Kaoru says to her sweetly, "he gets to tell me."
Bitterly, she recites, "Igarashi Masanori, age 24, born 21 July, second year student of Psychology at Todai, is a complete idiot."
Smiley-san takes offence, and the both of them descend into a vitriolic argument with each other. Kaoru sighs deeply, feeling the beginnings of a headache start to pound at the back of his head.
"Long day?" Yukina asks amiably, grabbing a nearby water jug to pour a glass of water for him.
"Quite." Kaoru nods, accepting it appreciatively. "You?"
"Ugh," she agrees, so eloquent in just one expressive groan. "Students piss me off."
"And yet you teach," Kaoru says dryly.
"Because I want them to learn," she explains. "But god knows that most students are inattentive in class, and they really just don't care. They would rather be anywhere than here, in the premier institution of learning in all of Japan, to educate themselves and improve their minds."
"I get it," Kaoru sympathises. "It's annoying when you're seriously passionate about something, and other people aren't. If you didn't have to bother with them, it's fine, but it's just wasting your time if you have to be responsible for them."
"Isn't it,"Yukina laments, sipping at her own glass. "So if you can offer me something exhilarating, I'll take it."
"I don't know about 'exhilarating'," Kaoru admits, "but it will definitely be suspenseful, at least. In fact I prefer for it not to get too exciting, because our opponent is strong."
"Wouldn't excitement benefit you, then? Unpredictability favours no one, which means that it actually favours those in a weaker position, those who cannot win conventionally."
"No, thank you," Kaoru rejects it, shuddering at the thought of an 'exciting' battle with Yuuichi and Kiyomi. "Shall we talk business, then?"
"Sure," she acquiesces easily. "As soon as you tell me what this is really all about."
"Forming a team," Kaoru tells her succinctly. "Like bodyguards, except not physical. I need backup in my life that I can call for."
"Ahh. So you are the boss of everything, not just the boss in relation to her." Yukina gestures vaguely at Hacker-san.
"Yes."
"Who is she to you?"
"My source of information. My hacker," Kaoru says with the weariness of a parent. "When did you realise she's female?"
"Seconds ago," Yukina replies casually. "When I postulated my speculation and you didn't contradict me. But perhaps it was the scream. It was unnervingly high-pitched. I'd seen grown men scream like that before, of course, much as they try to pretend only women scream that way – but I suppose your hacker's facial features do look a bit girlish. Well, it was worth a shot, right?"
"Right," Kaoru confirms convivially.
She smirks at the shouting couple. "Can't wait for Masanori to figure it out."
" – but what your parents really should have changed is your STUPID NAME!" Hacker-san rails, the apples of her cheeks red with fury. "Masanori, my arse! Which part of you is a model of justice?! YOU are the problem, you should – "
" – go hang yourself!" Smiley-san rants at her, eyes popping out of their sockets. "How do you live under the weight of your HUMONGOUS EGO?! You aren't even the most highly educated person in this room, much less the whole fucking world! If you're so great then why aren't you – "
" – still languishing in school?! Because you think you're so cool," Hacker-san taunts, "you thought a criminal life would make you all that – I bet your life dream is really just to target some rich lady with your cool charm and your imagined sexiness and live off her money like some despicable – "
" – insufferable, unbelievable bastard! God!" Smiley-san lets fly the curses. "I have never encountered anyone like you! You think with your shitty personality that you are going to go far in life?! Because let me tell you something, people love me! They do things for me because I know how to make them feel special! Can you even – "
Yukina accepts the file that Kaoru passes to her. "You came prepared."
"Just a little test," Kaoru says politely. "Please tell me what you think of the people described in that short story. Their motivations, their fears, their desires – anything that strikes you."
The story is a page plus two paragraphs long, quite sparse and almost in the style of children's bedtime stories, but with sufficient action within the narrative for a judicious reader to begin fleshing out the characters. It tells a small quirky tale of a pair of brothers, one older and one younger, who fall for a girl who enrols into their school. The younger brother discovers his crush first, and accidentally reveals both his heart and his older brother's heart to said oblivious older brother. The younger brother chooses not to contend, and the story ends with the girl wanting neither of them anyway.
Yukina reads it and processes the information at the marvellous speed of a professional. When she opens her mouth to deliver her preliminary analysis, she tells him of an older brother filled to the brim with protective instincts, who feels too much but lacks the skills and outlets to express them constructively, who always wants to redraw boundaries but doesn't quite know how to and never wants to give up any of his territory.
She talks about the girl who anchored the pair of brothers, who forced them to grow up and look beyond their own self-centredness and learn the size of the world. Yukina says that the girl is goal-focused from the way she prioritises her schoolwork, and self-reliant from the way she doesn't take advantage of the brothers' comparative wealth. The girl is oblivious too, but not because she doesn't care or because she is dumb – no, the girl is oblivious because the events that took place were out of her sphere of life experience – and if only she had had more experiences out of her comfort zone, she would understand the situation much better, and she would care so very much…
The brothers could not teach her the kind of things that would allow her to grow as a person – things like taking a chance, and throwing yourself wide open, and surrendering logic to the madness of human emotion… Despite coming across superficially as adventurous and daring people, the brothers are actually conservative, preservative, paralysed by fear – like children hiding under their blankets. The brothers failed to teach her while she succeeded in teaching them, which is why they fell for her and she didn't for them – and even though Kaoru hadn't written Tamaki into the story for fear of divulging too much, Yukina guesses that the girl too is likely to fall in love with the person who could teach her those things.
When she speaks of the younger, she speaks Kaoru's heart back to him, and everything aches.
"Would you join me?" Kaoru manages to request, humbled and affected at her unwitting assessment of him. "I cannot even describe how much I want you in my team."
She cocks her head to one side to study him. "This story hurts you. Why?"
Kaoru shakes his head. "Never mind that. Please do consider my offer; you may of course have some time to think about it."
Hacker-san and Smiley-san have taken a break out of necessity, both breathing heavily from their exertions and liable to be set off once more with the tiniest of sparks. Feeling that today's negotiations have gone as far as they should, Kaoru rises to his feet and goes over to collect his employee, ready to leave.
"Wait!" Yukina stops them, startled. "Is this it?"
"Yes," Kaoru says lightly. "That's it."
"Well, how long do I have to consider? How should I contact you? When do I start if I decide to agree? What happens if I turn you down?"
"Who are you?" Smiley-san adds, still incensed.
"As long as you need, I will contact you when your mind is made up, you start immediately upon agreement, if you refuse we will have no further contact and part ways, your knowledge of my identity is contingent upon agreement." Kaoru smiles, secretly pleased at the smoothness of his delivery.
When he has one foot out the office, Smiley-san bursts out with the last question. "How will you even know when our minds are made up?!"
Hacker-san doesn't appear to have registered the word 'our' – so concerned is she that Kaoru doesn't trip over his 'neck-breaking heels' on his way out – something for which he sends a quiet word of thanks heavenward, and he swivels partly around to look Yukina straight in the eye. Because in fact your mind is already made up.
And the extra time is just reassurance that they aren't being cheated or pressured.
He smiles again, this time at Smiley-san – who isn't showing much of a smiley face indeed – and Hacker-san shuts the door behind them.
.
.
Back at headquarters, Kaoru deliberately lets Hacker-san stew in aforementioned guilt and self-blame for at least an hour before he finally has mercy on her and tells her that he isn't upset at all. Not about anything that took place, and not about the way things developed. At any rate they achieved their objectives for going to Todai.
He wants to know about Hacker-san's violent and hypocritical objection to Smiley-san – it can't be that she detests him only for an unfortunate pick up attempt on the wrong person, can it? Hacker-san herself falls within the spectrum of grey to black hat hacker, she would freely admit that herself, and she's no stranger to criminality so why disparage and belittle Smiley-san to such an extent –
Oh.
Oh. Kaoru sneaks a glance at his employee. There is one category of crimes that she has expressly stated her revulsion for. Was Smiley-san arrested for theft?
He has enough sense to refrain from asking her to delve into Smiley-san even though it is among the top items of his list of things-to-do, but he does demand dinner from her. This results in the discovery that Hacker-san cannot cook to save her life, and Kaoru is appalled at himself for ever expecting otherwise. He points to the lovely kitchen of her Akihabara apartment and threatens to downsize their headquarters if she does not do some serious self-reflection.
Naturally and calamitously, he has to treat her to dinner again – during which he does his best to continue terrorising her with talk of pay cuts while fervently wishing that Yukina (or Smiley-san, shhh) knows how to cook. He'd also toyed with the idea of terrorising her with talk of Smiley-san in their team, but like Yukina said – long day.
After dinner, she makes it up to him by tutoring him in mathematics whenever he gets stuck. She is freakishly good at it herself though she quite frankly sucks at teaching it to someone else. The best she can do is solve the questions first – it's a piece of cake to her and she's so fast – and then Kaoru has to look through her workings to understand it himself because she has no idea how to walk him through the steps. Unless he gets it, he doesn't allow himself to fill it in as his own answer, and even then he writes it down without reference to her solution. Using this method they toil through Kiyomi's two maths papers assigned for today.
At 12:14 am when the last algebraic equation is solved, Kaoru collapses onto his desk. "Enough," he wails pitifully, feeling like death. "Spare meeeee."
As these practice papers are replicas of real exams, the official time allocated to each of them is anywhere from 2 hours, 2 and a half hours, or 3 hours – and most students would need the entirety of that timeframe. Kaoru has heard that Honey and Kyouya are generally at liberty to spend the remaining half an hour or forty-five minutes just daydreaming or idly counting down the seconds (Haruhi too ordinarily manages to finish with a minimum of fifteen minutes to spare), and this thought induces such despair in him.
Of Kiyomi's designated homework, there are two more untouched science papers that need to be completed – Kaoru had spent his recess and lunch on one science paper at least, or he would be in even more dire straits than he is now. It's terribly late, and anyway Hacker-san isn't fantastic at any science that isn't computer science – and high school science is composed of the three main categories of Chemistry, Biology and Physics. Hacker-san had made it abundantly clear that she only enjoys Physics, and she's so much like him in that she only does what she likes.
Despondently, Kaoru flicks though the two science papers and mourns at the sheer amount of white space. "Kiyomi-san is the devil."
Hacker-san takes her attention off her 9-screen computer. "Kaoru-san, that stuff is totally elementary, you know."
"I hate you," Kaoru informs her resentfully. "Pack up my things and get me home."
.
.
Because this unknown driver cannot be trusted, Kaoru is dropped off at a distance and through the GPS Hacker-san is monitoring his walk home to the Hitachiin mansion to ensure his safety. That's why I tell you we need a driver, Kaoru wants to say to her.
The servants let him in through the front gate and later, the front door, and Kaoru enters his home fully braced in case Hikaru is waiting in ambush like an enraged sabre-toothed tiger.
It's quiet and dark, and there aren't any people visibly waiting up for him, yet somehow that doesn't help Kaoru to ease up. He hadn't ignored his brother's messages, of course not – letting Hikaru get into a frantic state is always a mistake, and Kaoru had dashed off a couple of "I'm fine, I'm studying, don't worry, see you at home" messages back.
Removing his blue school blazer and rolling his shoulders tiredly as he ascends the stairs, he detours into the main atelier on the second floor when he sees light spilling out from underneath the doors.
"Eh? Mother?" There is a curious smell of herbs in the air instead of the usual fabrics-and-art-materials smell.
"Sweetie!" Yuzuha exclaims, looking up from the sketch that she is poring over with her husband. "When did you get home? We didn't hear any car coming up the driveway!"
"Only just," Kaoru says diffidently, going to sit across from her. "What're you doing?"
"Hikaru was worried about you," Yasuhiro says. "He said that the school's water system malfunctioned today, and they couldn't find you afterwards."
"Heheh. Really?" Kaoru asks evasively, filching the drawing from his mother. "Ooooohhh!" he squeals nostalgically, "Is this for the baby?"
"Yes," his father replies sappily, fingering the pendant hanging from a chain around his neck. "It was the happiest day of my life when Yuzuha gave this to me."
She smiles back at him with such tenderness even after nineteen years of marriage that it still makes Kaoru want to look away and blush and die of envy and be at a loss. "I thought you said the happiest day of your life was when we married, darling."
"I thought," Kaoru interjects cheekily before his father can formulate a response, "that you said the happiest day of your life was when you and Mother had us, Daddy."
Yasuhiro kisses his wife, then drops one on Kaoru's forehead. "I have a lot of happy days."
Everyone chuckles. "What a cop out, Dad."
"A diplomatic answer from a diplomatic man," Yuzuha says admiringly. "Well, sweetie? What do you think of the design for the baby's pendant? Let's hear your opinions."
Kaoru scrutinises his mother's drawing of the letter 'A' decorated with beautiful, mysterious curved lines, almost like the petals of a flower or the edge of a leaf – it has a distinctively 'plant-y' sort of feel, of being immersed in foliage. "This is the design if she turns out to be a girl, right? Another one named for something leafy again, Mother?"
"Heheh," Yuzuha grins, and her sheepish laugh is uncannily like Kaoru's. For a number of generations now, their females have been given names ending with '-ha', or '葉', which means 'leaf', to reflect their venerable ikebana heritage. Hence, their females have had pendants that resemble flowers or plants for a long time – the coin-sized pendants are always created before the birth of the child, and its design is based on the meaning of the name given. It is a matter of utmost importance in their family as it is the family's first gift to the newborn child: a personalised piece from Hitachiin haute joaillerie.
Really, being a member of this family is awesome. They have many esoteric traditions, some more peculiar than others, and most are known only internally to family members despite the huge number of absurd rumours circulating about them. Kaoru's grandmother's personal favourite is the one where people think that in the event of there being no Hitachiin heiress, the family has to choose one of their sons for castration. It's untrue, of course, and unbelievably imbecilic not to mention nonsensical, because how then will the heir reproduce? All it proves is that their grandmother is the demon incarnate.
Kaoru's own pendant is a 'K' of swirly wisps and ethereal indefinability to capture the meaning of his name, 'fragrance' or 'perfume' – the intangibility of smell and its lingering nature. Hikaru's 'H' is surrounded by strong, straight shining lines, like the rays of light he was named for. Not even they would exchange their pendants for the other to wear, as this is an heirloom of their family and uniquely represents them alone. They have no need to take their twin-swapping so far – doing that would probably only result in some catastrophic loss of identity and blurring of lines.
Right now the pendant that once belonged to Yuzuha – a citrusy, jewel-studded, yellow-orange themed treelike 'Y' – now belongs to Yasuhiro. She chose to give it to him, and Kaoru believes his father when he said that receiving such a token from a Hitachiin meant more to him than Yuzuha's acceptance of formal marriage. It's true that Kaoru's grandparents are blissfully married, too, but their grandfather isn't in possession of Kazuha's pendant. Nobody knows where it is, and out of respect to their grandfather it's better not to pry.
"What about if it's a boy?"
"Something ending with '-ru', I suppose," Yuzuha says offhandedly. "Single kanji only, like you and Hikaru. Endless variety. Toru, Minoru, Satoru, Mitsuru, Shigeru, Mamoru… Too many to count."
"Noboru?" Yasuhiro tacks on randomly.
"Ugh!" Kaoru makes his opposition known. "What hideous names! Hitachiin names need to have finesse! Elegance!"
His parents glance at each other amusedly. "Then, Hotaru?"
Kaoru opens his mouth, closes it and presses his lips together to review the suggestion before opening it again. "I guess naming someone 'firefly' is less clunky than the others. I don't want a blockhead brother who is blockheaded because he was given a blockhead name."
They laugh in his face.
"What! Don't tell me you ran out of boys' names after Hikaru and me?!"
"We did, actually," Yuzuha says seriously. "For you and Hikaru, we couldn't even really think of boys' names and girls' names per se – we had just the one name for each of you. If you'd been girls, you would have been Hikari and Kaori. Exact same kanji."
Kaoru goggles at them. "What."
"We were really young," Yuzuha says defensively, "and this whole business of naming is harder than you'd think, my baby."
"Well, couldn't you have thought of ikebana associated girls' names for us or something?!" Kaoru yelps. "Why don't Hikaru and I have names ending with -ha?"
"Your names are associated with ikebana! Flowers have fragrance and plants need light to grow!"
Very, very flatly, Kaoru says, "You just made that up on the spot, Mother."
"I most certainly did not," she refutes indignantly.
"There, there," Yasuhiro mediates between them. "We like the names we gave you, and you like the names you received. Everything is as it should be."
As per custom in their family, Daddy knows best and Daddy's always right. Kaoru loves his name. He is his name. He can't imagine being truly not-Kaoru.
"Where's the design for the back? Are you leaving it till later?" The kanji of their names is etched onto the backside such that the pendant could almost be said to be double-sided.
Yuzuha snags another sheet off the table and brandishes it at him. "It's incomplete; I've only recently started on it. It took me months to refine yours and Hikaru's."
Only the character '葉' is on it, as well as a cute little butterfly perched on it like collecting pollen – Kaoru would have thought his parents still in the process of brainstorming if it were not for the letter 'A'. Then again, that letter might have been used simply as a placeholder. "Are you going to tell us the names you have in mind, Mother, or are you superstitious?"
"I don't know," she says honestly, appealing to her husband for help. "Should I be superstitious?"
"We discussed Hikaru's and Kaoru's names with their grandparents, didn't we?" Yasuhiro muses. "I think it's fine."
"Oh, well," Yuzuha capitulates instantly, obviously eager to share, "Our options are Sachiha, Mayuha – or actually Midoriha is better, you think?, and 'Ageha'."
"Ahh, that's why there's a butterfly." Kaoru nods. 'Ageha', in katakana, means swallowtail butterfly. "With what kanji? Or are we going with kana? Wait, forget I asked that last bit – Grandmother always insists on kanji."
"Yes. We're undecided on the kanji." Yasuhiro writes them on a bit of paper in neat penmanship: Sachiha 幸葉, Mayuha 真葉.
Upon seeing the kanji for Mayuha, Kaoru vetoes it straightaway. "Agreed, Mother – Mayuha is awful. No Hitachiin should be tied to reality or forced to be true. But Sachiha is adorable, and it actually means something cool."
"Kaoru, your taste is impeccable as always," she praises. "Yes, Sachiha would mean 'luck leaf', and I was intending to sketch a four leaf clover design for it." She crosses out 'Mayuha'. "Your grandmother was equally horrified at this."
Yasuhiro finishes writing the two variations for Midoriha: 緑葉 and 翠葉, and three for Ageha: 揚葉, 朱葉 and 紅葉.
"Both kanji of Midoriha essentially mean green, don't they? I prefer the second one, it has the meaning of emerald or jade leaf instead of just plain green. The first variation of Ageha doesn't make sense – lift? Raise? Lift leaf…? But the second and third ones mean red, right? Scarlet?"
Yasuhiro smiles fondly. "Yes, my dear child. Well done."
"And if it's green leaf versus red leaf," Kaoru continues, leaning forward to carefully take hold of a portion of his mother's fiery hair, "we're a family of redheads. We should be blazing, and passionate, and scandalous. I'd always pick scarlet, Mother." His point made, he settles back and twirls a lock of his hair playfully.
"My, you are your grandmother's heir. She also narrowed it down to Sachiha and Ageha." Yuzuha takes the pen. "You know, sweetie, 'Ageha' can also be written like this." She scribbles the character 鳳.
Kaoru fights a flinch. "If that wasn't Kyouya-senpai's surname, I'd be all for it, Mother."
She laughs cheerfully, reaching for a pot of… herbal brew? to replenish her teacup. "Aw, sadly, yes. It looks amazing, though. See?"
常陸院 鳳.
Glazed, gutted and speechless, Kaoru stares at it. It reads as Hitachiin-Ootori to him rather than Hitachiin Ageha. The universe is conspiring against him.
"So regal, right? Such a powerful name! I wouldn't mind a daughter as capable as Kyouya-kun. He brought this for me today, you know – " she pours the hot liquid out; it has a strong but not unpleasant scent – "it's from Yoshio-san. Apparently it's wonderful for pregnant women and their family monitors its specialised production in small, controlled quantities only."
"How – how considerate," Kaoru stutters in bewilderment. "U-Um, Kyouya-senpai dropped by?"
His mother looks at him strangely. "He's still here, sweetie."
"Eeh?!" Kaoru squeaks, too astonished to regulate his voice. Hastily bringing it down from its piercing shrill, he seeks confirmation. "Kyouya-senpai's here?"
"Mm hmm. They're with Hikaru."
They. Oh god. The sleepover hasn't ended.
"I should – I should go upstairs now," Kaoru babbles, seizing his bag while scampering out. "Goodnight!"
.
.
Too preoccupied with racing to his room, Kaoru hurtles past the lighted study on the third level before his mind catches up, causing him to grind to a halt comically and backtrack rapidly.
Framed in the archway and out of breath from the ridiculous size of their mansion, Kaoru takes in the tableau in front of him: a small blond figure with a pink rabbit cuddled against another blond and a tall brunet on a long sofa – all three appear to be fast asleep. On the other side of the brunet is a redhead leaning spinelessly into him, messy soft spill of bright hair covering the shoulder on which he is resting. Across from them at the coffee table, one black-haired bespectacled head is bowed over revision notes.
"Ah," Kyouya says upon sighting him.
The redhead stirs at once, not as asleep as Kaoru had thought. He leaps up, mobile phone clenched in a hand. "Kaoru! You're home at last! Where have you been?! What time is it now?!"
"Almost one." Kyouya gestures with one hand for Hikaru to lower his voice.
Hikaru obliges. "Where were you?" he whispers fiercely.
"S-Studying." Kaoru can barely stand to look at his brother – there is a painful lump in his throat from the image of them all waiting for him. He is so deeply moved. Why are they doing this?
Hikaru gawks at him. "Then why didn't you just come home and study with us?!"
"I didn't know everyone – " Honey twitches, and turns around in his sleep – "was here!" Kaoru finishes mutedly.
Mori cracks an eye open. He blinks away the remnants of sleep and gently shakes Tamaki awake before getting up to carry his cousin like his cousin is a feather instead of 145 cm of pure solid muscle. Shifting most of Honey's weight to one arm, Mori takes the hand of a very dazed Tamaki to lead him away to the bedroom.
Hikaru shows every sign of interrogating Kaoru further until he scans Kaoru from top-to-toe – still clad in school uniform. Thank god I changed back instead of coming home as a girl. With an exasperated harrumph, he says, "Go and bathe."
When Kaoru dumbly remains there, unmoving, his twin repeats, "Go on? It's really late."
Obeying wordlessly, Kaoru wanders off down the corridor after his seniors.
.
.
After his bath, he comes out to a darkened bedroom.
Determined that he should try to do everything that Kiyomi had set for him, he fetches his schoolbag from where he'd left it and slips out unnoticed by the occupants of the bed. He'd counted five lumps under the blankets, so he should be all right to continue his work alone.
Padding softly to the nearest study, he is flabbergasted and slightly traumatised to find Kyouya there. There were five lumps! Five!
"Oh, good." The final year student begins to gather up his notes and stationery. "I was just about done for tonight."
After arranging his things properly, Kyouya circles around the table and comes to where Kaoru is. "Let's – "
He pauses, perplexed at the bag. "Were you going to study more?" he questions, a tinge of something mystified in his tone.
Kaoru unfreezes himself. "U-Uh, I guess?"
Kyouya regards him with a searching, even gaze. "Is there something I should know?"
"What? No!"
Damn his seniors' prescience. What is up with him and Mori? Is Kaoru so very odd?
"You're hiding something from me," he sighs.
"Nothing!" Kaoru contradicts him vehemently. "I just thought I should do more revision! Is it weird that I'm studying when exams are next week? Do I look like the sort who only knows how to play and not work? That's really insulting, you know."
A moment passes.
"Fine," Kyouya says, heading back to where he had been seated. "Let's start."
"W-What?" Kaoru snatches one of his wrists to stop him. "No, no you don't have to, senpai. Seriously, um – you need your rest! You've got so many responsibilities, and January isn't that far away!"
"I have a meeting that I need to prepare for anyway."
"No, really, just – "
"You wouldn't need me for every question, would you?"
"No I don't think – listen, I can – "
"We should aim to sleep before three nonetheless."
"Liar!" Kaoru cries, the accusation erupting out of him.
Kyouya stares.
"If – If Kyouya-senpai had a meeting, you would already have prepared yourself for it," Kaoru mumbles contritely, regretting his outburst.
"Not," Kyouya says, "if the meeting is in the far future."
"Is it in the far future?" Kaoru doesn't know where he found the gall to ask. "If it's not, Kyouya-senpai is definitely prepared. If it is, Kyouya-senpai should go to sleep."
"It depends on which meeting you are referring to. I have many meetings," Kyouya says noncommittally.
"Which specific meeting was senpai talking about?" Kaoru holds steady. "When is it?"
Kyouya presses his lips together in displeasure. "And I suppose you have the right to call me a liar because you haven't lied at all today, have you?"
It is at the tip of Kaoru's tongue, the words: I haven't!
And that in itself wouldn't be a lie, because everything he'd said he'd done today, he has in fact done. Studying, not knowing they were here, etc.
… Wait. Shit. He denied hiding something from Kyouya when he actually is.
"The meeting is this Thursday, isn't it?" Kaoru forges on suicidally. "Is it the one where you and Tono are going to speak to representatives from France's top hospitals to negotiate a contract for rolling out the Slez medicine?"
"Yes, and as you can see," Kyouya tells him tersely, "the importance of this meeting is such that no amount of preparation can be said to be enough. Am I expected to be blasé about it? A certain amount of butterflies in the stomach is necessary for any big project – if a person doesn't have it, that person should be going straight home to summon the degree of pressure and nervousness that will give rise to the crucial adrenaline and heightened awareness that is indispensable for success. Is it weird that I am concerned about my performance this Thursday? Does being competent mean I have to pretend to be dead and unresponsive? That's really insulting – " he stresses his words by compelling Kaoru to meet his eyes, " – you know."
The thoughts crammed in Kaoru's head are suffocating him. He is ashamed of always burdening his senior with his own inaptitude at schoolwork, embarrassed at his inability to finish a workload that is child's play to all of his friends, envious of how Haruhi never needs help from any of their seniors, worried for his seniors' health and fortunes especially those two in their final year, petrified of anyone finding out his secret foolish feelings, touched that they are here, that they waited for him, touched that Hikaru cared more for him than about getting the answers he wants, amazed that Kyouya is here, accompanying him, listening to him, when there is a world out there to conquer.
Kaoru is awed by their perfection.
He empathises so much with his senior's anxiousness to do well, to show that he is a clincher of deals instead of a deal-breaker in a series of contracts that his brothers have already secured. He is unreasonably elated that his senior had not seen the need to fudge it in front of him or continue his misdirection when unequivocally asked about the issue, and – and there are terrible, terrible butterflies in his own stomach.
These butterflies make him want to do idiotic things like move closer to Kyouya, tell him he's going to be extraordinary, and kiss him.
Oh god. He is so incredibly, utterly, horribly in trouble.
But also, apart from the reckless impulses of his body, he actually cannot do anything concrete to help Kyouya. It is paltry and sickening that his feelings are constantly only able to manifest themselves through inappropriate and futile wishes, and he thinks that this is so because he is useless in practical terms. He is not the sort of person with the courage to go to the head of a megacorporation to demand explanations, nor is he able to be candid with an opponent and tell them to stay away if they are only in the market for a daughter, nor is he possessed of the willpower and confidence to go to a powerful man to extract the truth and flay him for betraying his son. He is not Tamaki, who can and will be at the meeting, and can and will make a difference.
The sort of person that Kaoru is, even though he would like to be able to move mountains, is to be the one who lingers behind to dispense kisses and hugs and comforting words.
He balls his free hand into a fist.
For now that will have to be enough.
Promptly dropping his bag on the ground, he tugs on the wrist that he hadn't let go of and marches out purposefully.
"Where – " Kyouya is pulled along, too composed to stumble but not quite keeping pace. "Where are you going?"
"To sleep," Kaoru says, brief and to the point, doggedly plodding towards their bedroom. When he feels a build-up of resistance from Kyouya, he stops voluntarily, because he has no strength to fight any club member head-on. "Let's go to sleep, Kyouya-senpai."
Despite the peril to himself, he moves closer to his senior, and adds, "You were right. We should be done for tonight. We are done for tonight. Let's go, please, senpai?"
And he takes off again with Kyouya in tow.
.
.
Kyouya lets him, and that's why they are currently in bed with the rest. Kaoru labours under no delusions that he could have prevailed if his senior hadn't obliged.
The misleading lump had turned out to be Kyouya's extra blankets, folded up and obscured under Tamaki's duvet.
Lying on his side, Kaoru tries not to brood any further as it does him no favours. Tamaki's hair is fascinating and gorgeous, so he inspects the lovely blond tresses and their natural waviness and wonders whether Tamaki will react if he plucks out a strand.
It doesn't manage to fully distract him from Kyouya's presence at his back, yet somehow when a pair of ice-cold legs twines around his own, he spasms in shock and audibly goes, "Eep!"
Kyouya is laughing so hard, albeit silently, that Kaoru can feel the tremors through the mattress.
"Kyouya-senpai!" he hisses, feeling a shiver rack his body just from the unimaginable frostiness of those cruel, cruel limbs. Who the hell has legs like that?! "Are you even warm-blooded?!"
"I'm cold," Kyouya says brazenly. "I had my bath too early, while you just had yours."
Kaoru props himself up on his elbows, gaping in disbelief.
"There really is a significant difference between sleeping in the middle and sleeping at the edge," Kyouya ruminates. "If only we could turn on the electric blanket."
"Why doesn't senpai use Tono or Mori-senpai as your heater instead?!" Kaoru complains. "They're the ones who say that the electric blanket makes them too hot! I'm all too happy to switch places if you want! And if you'd just gone to sleep earlier you wouldn't have gotten so cold!"
Kyouya allows him to finish his tirade. "And have Tamaki kick me? No thank you."
"Mori-senpai produces more heat than I do and he's easily accessible on the other side! Go squeeze in with him!"
With a tired yawn, Kyouya wriggles himself even more snugly under the covers. "But I can't bully Mori-senpai."
Kaoru splutters in outrage.
Kyouya smirks in self-satisfaction. "Do you know your protests ring hollow when you haven't moved away at all?" When Kaoru automatically fidgets, he immediately receives a, "Don't you dare."
Glowering heartily at his too-smug senior, Kaoru adjusts himself so that he can lean over Kyouya in preferably a menacing manner. "You know, Kyouya-senpai… in some other life I bet I am your Kaoru-senpai, and I'm sure I enjoy making your life very difficult."
A short exhalation of scoffing laughter emanates from beneath the layers. "Well then," the voice says darkly, "there's no reason for me to hold back, is there?"
Grinning uncontrollably, Kaoru resettles himself for the sleep that he knows will not come. He extends his legs out for Kyouya to wrap around and leech the warmth he needs.
This person makes him smile so much and so often, with such mastery and such effortlessness. Kaoru is not in the habit of lying to himself even though he has been told that he lies to other people rather frequently. As the minutes tick by, he feels something settle into his bones with an inescapable finality – a weight, a certainty – gradually and delicately immersing itself into his being. It is changing him. He will never be free of it.
He does not struggle against it now, as he hadn't struggled against it previously. It is not the nature of a Hitachiin to shut the door on this old friend or to deny its existence; it is not for a Hitachiin to argue with it, or misinterpret it, or repudiate it.
A Hitachiin is only to surrender to it, and embrace it.
It came to him, and it is his. It may never be reciprocated, and to be honest it probably shouldn't be.
The first slivers of dawn light shine through a miniscule gap in the thick velvet curtains. Kaoru keeps his eyes closed and body relaxed when Mori gets up for his morning training, and Hikaru and Honey go with him – then Tamaki soon after. When it's about time for him to prepare for school, he reaches out gently, so gently, and draws down Kyouya's blankets by a couple of inches. He lets himself look because he wants to, he lets himself mouth the words, "You're going to be extraordinary," because he wants to, and he just barely skims those cheekbones with his lips because he wants to.
He lets himself admit that he wants to.
For himself, at least, he has cast off his doubt and fear and excuses. This is what he feels, and he accepts it. He still doesn't accept anyone else knowing about it, and anything beyond this internal acknowledgement is still impossible.
Seconds before his alarm is set to blare, Kaoru flicks it off and untangles himself from Kyouya with an acute sense of loss. His legs are his own again, their heat slowly regained through the night – but his heart is no longer his.
He takes a deep breath past the emptiness in his chest, and stands to face another day.
.
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Notes
(a) Here are the kanji of the relevant names:
Hacker-san – Iseya Kanon (伊勢谷 · 花音). Her name means 'the sound of flowers'. As a tidbit, Yuzuha mentions up there that Kaoru was named for the fragrance of flowers, and no, for the purposes of in-fic consistency, she didn't just make that up on the spot. Or, what Kaoru calls her: ハッカーさん
Smiley-san – Igarashi Masanori (五十嵐 · 正則), previously Mitsuya (三津谷). His surname Igarashi means 'fifty storms', and his name means 'model of justice', hence Hacker-san's insult. Hence also his explosive introduction, I suppose. Or, what Kaoru calls him: スマイリーさん
Yukina Yumeji (née Mitsuya 三津谷): 雪名 · 夢二 As stated up there, she has only one brother, an older brother named Ryouta, who is Smiley-san's father. When she is addressed as junkyōju, it means Associate Professor (准教授).
(b) References to manga:
Haruhi is the sort of person with the courage to go to the head of a megacorporation to demand explanations: Chapter 75, page 20
Hikaru is the sort of person who is able to be candid with an opponent and tell them to stay away if they are only in the market for a daughter: Chapter 59, pages 32-35
Kyouya is the sort of person possessed of the willpower and confidence to go to a powerful man to extract the truth and flay him for betraying his son: Chapter 78, pages 22-29, especially 28-29. Kyouya further demonstrates his patience and acuity at being able to first extract the whole truth before delivering judgement.
Kaoru and his kisses/hugs: Chapter 52, page 25; Chapter 53, page 7 + others elsewhere
(c) I hope the in-fic sequence relating to Ageha's name was explained in a way that you could understand. I was able to do that – explore the kanji – because we are actually not provided with Ageha's name in canon. Ageha is mentioned only in the Volume 18 extras, and only using hiragana: あげは. However, the hiragana usage is probably to reflect the way the twins drag her name out when calling her, like so: 'Aaaa-ge-ha-chan!'
The name Ageha is also stated to be 仮, which means 'assumed name/informal'. I guess for English speakers it does not make much of a difference, but clearly you see how it is important for the Japanese.
Names in kana, for example, Haruhi's name (ハルヒ), are noticeably simpler and do not have meanings attached to them. It is literally composed of syllables – Haruhi's name is ha + ru + hi. This may be important to some parents because they might not want to give a meaning that their daughters then have to live up to. On the flip side, some parents find it critical to give the child a name with a great meaning, hoping that it will augur well for the child. Hatori Bisco herself mentioned that she thought it fitting for Haruhi to have a name in kana after the – and I quote – "bombastic" names of the guys. (Esp. because they have very complex and uncommon surnames as well)
I am almost 100% certain that Ageha will have a proper name in kanji, because the rest of her family has that precedent. Also, the upper classes are more likely to choose names in kanji for the added sophistication as well. If you have ever seen the raws of the Ouran manga, you will swiftly realise that just about every single character has got names in kanji, because just about every single character in Ouran comes from a powerful rich upper class family.
(d) You may have noticed that I have an interest in names. (Understatement alert)
Part of why I am obsessed with names is because I subscribe to the philosophy that what we call a thing or person is inherent important and inherently says something about the thing or person. The name defines the thing/person. Many cultures regard this as vital, hence the endless agonising over the bestowal of names to newborn children.
So, our topic for this chapter is – you may have guessed it from the Hitachiin parents – NAMES!
The following are all canon, by the way. Their actual names in the manga.
Host club
We have established that Haruhi's name is made up of syllabary.
Kaoru's name means 'fragrance': 馨
Hikaru's name means 'light': 光
Kyouya's name is composed of two kanji: 鏡 (mirror/glass) and 夜 (night)
Tamaki's name means 'ring': 環
Mitsukuni's name is composed of two kanji: 光 (light) and 邦 (clan/country)
Takashi's name means 'reverence': 崇
Relatives
Hitachiin:
Kazuha: 和葉 – harmony/peace leaf
Yuzuha: 柚葉 – citrus fruit leaf
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Ootori:
Yoshio: 敬雄 – respected/venerated/esteemed male (haha you can see that Yoshio's name is serious business. I mean, honestly. It is so macho! The kanji is just pulsating with masculinity, and there is this absolute – almost forceful – demand for respect)
In fact, Yoshio's name reflects his function very well (Ugh, what an Ootori trait – form following function). He is this father figure, you know – very patriarchal – wielding great power and exercising absolute authority over all of the people in his life. He regards his family as belonging to him, as his, and he controls them. Yoshio honestly believes he has the right to control them. The extent of his power over his family is such that he is a spectre hanging over their lives and informing many of their decisions even when he is not directly present – his word is law, and god help you if you fall foul of it. He is demanding, hard, strong, unyielding, and he has this enormous sense of entitlement arising out of his position as head of the family.
He is one of those parents who will always have difficulty seeing his children as separate from himself, as individuals with their own lives, and he expects them to obey him until his death regardless of the fact that they are growing into adults.
Actually, in truth, he is not so very different from Suou Shizue at all. He exerts so much pressure on his children that he, like Shizue, will always run the risk of having the children throw their hands in the air and decide to rebel by taking him down. The two children most likely to do this are Yuuichi and Kyouya.
Yuuichi, because he is the eldest and has probably taken the most crap from his father. At some stage it must be exhausting to keep proving yourself over and over and over to one man. The same man who should have loved him and accepted him rather than dangle the inheritance over his head like a carrot and simultaneously constantly beat him with the stick of the other available and competent heirs. When children get to the point where they feel like nothing is ever going to be enough for this parent, they stop playing the game entirely. That's dangerous. It was what Yuzuru did to Shizue – he felt that nothing could please her, and therefore invented his own game to topple her regime. In addition, such children tend to feel very, very hard done by, which means that they will dethrone their parents in the most cruel way possible to avenge themselves and the pain they suffered. It will almost inevitably be a smackdown of epic proportions.
This excerpt from the manga, for example, perfectly captures what Yuzuru did: "Your father left your grandmother completely alone and helpless, then he fired her in front of everyone. Your father completely outmaneuvered his own mother!" (From Kousaka to Tamaki, Chapter 78, page 8, underlining mine). Publicly humiliating Shizue was not necessary – it was done to appease the rage that Yuzuru felt towards his own mother, rage that had been building up and simmering away for years and years.
Kyouya, because Kyouya is the youngest and is crushed under a different type of pressure. Everything that he does will never feel enough because it has been done before. When he ranks the highest in his class, it is not something to be celebrated – it is a mere meeting of standards that have been already been established. The type of pain that we are talking about here runs along the lines of: when Yuuichi first came in top of his class, Yoshio probably nodded and perhaps even smiled a little. But by Kyouya's time, Yoshio has become desensitized to the extraordinary achievements of his children, such that all Kyouya will get is probably a quick glance at the exam paper and a nod of satisfaction. Full stop. This is a very hurtful reaction for a child to receive from the parent. It's lacklustre, and it feels like neglect.
Also, Yoshio actively fans the flames of Kyouya's ambition. He sparks it, and he keeps it alive. See: Chapter 25, page 29 – "I advocate meritocracy. If he [Kyouya] has the talent, well… I don't mind naming my third son heir to the family business." He says it in front of Kyouya, though it is said as an answer to another parent. Do you see that he maintains Kyouya in a perpetual state of non-fulfillment, keeping him dissatisfied and making him crave more? He gives him just enough to make him hope, and hope can be a deadly weapon. What do you know about desire, and what do you think suppression and delay does to the strength of desire? Well, let Kaoru answer this for you, because he is a Hitachiin and Hitachiins know how to drive other people insane with want – deliberately putting something just out of reach is tantamount to goading a person, and it has the same effect of pushing the person closer and closer to losing his or her self-control. It makes the person snap. This is very dangerous, because emotion then overrides rationality and causes people to become impulsive, reckless, coercive and aggressive in a way that they most likely would not normally be.
All of this is compounded by the several terrible facts, chief among which is that: Yuuichi and Kyouya have been raised by Yoshio to show no mercy, and hence it is very likely that they will show none to him as well. (From Juvenal's Satires, Satire XIV: Avarice is not a Family Virtue – The greatest danger to the morals of children comes from the vices of their parents. People should restrain themselves from vice for the sake of their children. It is unjust for a father to criticize and punish a son who takes after himself. The greedy son will surpass his father as much as Achilles did Peleus. Instilling avarice is the same as teaching a child every form of crime. A son whom you have taught to have no mercy will have no mercy on you either.)
The second terrible fact is that Yoshio also raised the two of them to be cunning, underhanded, manipulative, and prone to making decisions that will allow them to win at all costs. Actually, he raised all of his children that way, but the reason why I use "the two of them" is because these ruthless business ideologies have particular effect on these two. This is because of their natural personalities. Humans are all a combination of nature and nurture – and Yuuichi's and Kyouya's natures are such that they were already inclined towards power-play, competitiveness, and immense egoism (the habit of valuing everything only by reference to one's personal interest).
Fuyumi and Akito are not handicapped with these inborn inclinations. My characterisation of Fuyumi is, using the good ol' Hogwarts analogies, that she is a person with a Hufflepuff demeanour but a Slytherin core. In this sense, while she does have a side to her that is quite sly, her default mode is someone who is kind, cheerful, hardworking, dutiful and generally pleasant and lovely to be around. It is necessary to piss her off or, if you can actually manage it, to bully any of her younger siblings to draw out the true blue Ootori that she is – and then you will realise too late that she is a woman you never want to trifle with. Yuuichi, you see, is grounded and confident – he gives off the impression of cold, calculating detachment that Yoshio and Kyouya have in different degrees, although Fuyumi and Akito almost entirely lack it. In fact, I personally believe that Fuyumi is capable of more of that cold calculating thing than Akito. Because, you know, when Yoshio scolds her, she drops her head a little like, "Aww, Daddy's angry," (Chapter 23, page 4) but you notice she flagrantly disobeys his instructions anyway – she happily announces to Kyouya that Yoshio is overseas so she can openly be at the house (Chapter 81, page 41). She also really takes pleasure in sticking her nose in Kyouya's business and teasing him, and she can mess up his room and his things at will… Assuming that she isn't one of those people who play favouritism, she almost certainly does this to Akito as well. What I am saying is: Fuyumi is genuinely gracious and wonderful, but she has also developed a lifetime's worth of thick armour against the scary ways of Ootori men, you know?
Building on that, Akito is her reverse – he tries to appear Slytherin so that he will fit into the family culture, but really he has the heart of a Hufflepuff. He's hardworking, loyal as hell, eager to please his father and older siblings, and I think that if push comes to shove, he still won't double cross his family or sell them out. His own family environment is very bad for his health and wellbeing. I have never liked genuinely mean and/or vicious Akito because I think his behaviour stems from insecurity rather than any ingrained antagonism towards his little brother. Also, I admit that I don't think Akito is capable of true viciousness, although I think Yuuichi is. In the Barcelona extra chapter, for example, Akito was so clueless and cute and an obedient son – he's trying his best, he really really is, but there is a sneaking suspicion within him that he isn't good enough, or that he can't match his brothers. That's why he always reacts with annoyance at Kyouya's arrogance, and why he is prickly and unapproachable like a porcupine. He is the worst of his siblings at being sociable (again talking about the Barcelona chapter, he was really, really uncomfortable and stiff when, to his knowledge, he was meeting a fiancée and thus needed to be at his best), and he suffers a lot of the classic middle child syndrome – being sandwiched between an over-achieving, responsible elder sibling and an indulged youngest child, and seemingly doomed to failure, angst and being misunderstood. To me, Akito is probably the squishiest Ootori of the lot, and he's kind of marshmallowy inside and just needs more love.
Oh, I must confess that I have thought of the Ootori family in obscene depth for 1-7th, and that is why I have a grounded characterization of them (and all the other characters) across all of my stories if you happen to read the rest as well. Their family dynamics are fascinating, and as Kaoru gets to know all of them better, I hope that your love for them will increase as well!
Anyway, the third terrible fact is that Yoshio actually views his sons as competition, and that means he was never able to form truly meaningful relationships with them from the start. Yes, I do mean that he views them as his own competition, not just as competitors against their siblings.
I will explain.
Yoshio subscribes to very antiquated concepts of gender. He believes that men and women have their functions and should fulfill their roles accordingly. He has spent his life in the position of alpha male, the guy who needs to protect his territory and his family and the guy who is undisputedly the leader of the pack. What this means is that his behaviour very closely resembles that of the basic male in the animal kingdom – for many species of animals, males have their own clearly demarcated territory and they do not interact with other males except to fight for food and mates. If they meet another male, they challenge each other and they fight. Lots of us humans know that, where certain species of pets are concerned, it is a bad idea to put two males together because again they just end up fighting, sometimes to the death.
As such, Yoshio's core beliefs are really based on animal kingdom behaviour, and so he naturally treats all other males as competition. Although his sons are members of his pack, they will one day take his place, i.e. his power will diminish and pass on to them. His human intellect understands this, but his fundamental beliefs do not like this. Yoshio is a control freak. He is a lot harsher on his sons than his daughter, and he would have been an incredibly domineering husband. Yet, because he does regard himself as the protector of his family, if he liked his wife at all then he will almost definitely have developed a deep-rooted sense of chivalry towards her. That is to say, if he didn't like her then he would just take a completely clinical and result-oriented view to their marital relationship – the production of heirs. But if he so much as felt warmly towards her, if her personality was the sort that gelled with his and managed to induce those feelings of protection and possession, he would take on his duties as a husband with the sort of extreme fanaticism that only an Ootori is capable of. Additionally, he would feel that he owes a strong duty to his daughter to make sure that she marries well and is provided for, because that is the way his mind works.
The end result is this: he expects his sons to be self-sufficient, and he expects them to weather whatever storms come their way. They are supposed to "man up" and not just complain about whatever shit they have to deal with, because Yoshio himself handled his own problems in his life. However, he does not expect the same of his daughter, nor did he expect it of his wife, which means that if they voice their concerns or worries or fears, he actually listens. This is absolutely critical. Yes, it is terribly sexist that he thinks that men can solve their own problems while women need to bring their problems to the nearest man for that man to solve it for them. What it also means, though, is that he holds himself responsible for Fuyumi's (and Okiko's) problems. Therefore, when they speak to him, he listens. Not about things like business and finance and whatever, since he doesn't even expect them to be involved with those matters. I am talking about all of the other things that life is composed of. In order to sway their father, Yuuichi, Akito and Kyouya need to present strong arguments to sway him through intellect. Fuyumi, on the other hand, can sway him through emotion – the things that she needs, wants, feels.
Therefore, the fact that Yoshio could not protect his wife, that he failed to protect his woman, actually strikes at the heart of his self-identity and his masculinity.
The other consequence of holding such beliefs is that Yoshio has very few friends. The men in his life are either colleagues or enemies. It's very rigid. He has no need to associate with women as they would not usually be in contact except at parties where he will either let his wife lead the social interaction with them, or (after she died) he will be mingling around with too many people to establish any solid friendship anyway. Yoshio has his own wife, and again if he so much as liked her, he would not betray her. He is a guy with highly developed 'us-and-them' sensibilities (something that Kyouya clearly shares) – that is how he knows who he has to protect and who he owes familial duties to – and so he will not permit himself to hurt his wife (us) for the sake of someone else (them). This concept is known as uchi-soto (内外), which literally means 'inside-outside', and yes the Japanese actually have a word for it and it is a central concept of their culture. You can see that it is very prominent in Kyouya as well – Kyouya doesn't much give a damn about other people (his out-group), but try hurting a club member (his in-group) and he will make you wish you'd never been born.
Thus, it is interesting that the only person left on earth who is familiar enough with Yoshio to address him by name is Yuzuha. After careful consideration, I determined that Yuzuha is a great friend for him and she is quite possibly the only one who ticks the necessary boxes to be considered Ootori Yoshio's friend. This is because Yuzuha registers as a female (non-threat), who is fully versed in business and in complete control of her finance and affairs (an equal), in a vastly different industry from him (not a competitor), and is known to be devoted to her spouse (not a romantic risk). Actually, from Yoshio's point of view, Yuzuha is the man in her relationship. Once more you see his fixed gender beliefs and that inflexibility coming to the fore – Yoshio doesn't see her as the woman who is the ascendant in her marriage. Precisely because she is the more powerful half, he thinks of her as the man and Yasuhiro as the woman in the Hitachiin relationship. He thinks of power as a male trait – he equates power with masculinity. So powerful women invariably feel manly to him; Suou Shizue is powerful and manly, instead of powerful and womanly, a woman.
This makes him an extremely negative influence around feminine energies. Yoshio doesn't really get it. (Fuyumi does, and Fuyumi understands both her father and flexibility, that's why she holds up perfectly under the pressure of his iron fist.) He has this structured worldview that incorporates only traditional gender roles, and when Kaoru took the blame for Kyouya, he'd already subconsciously mentally classified Kaoru as being unsuited for power.
Of course Tachibana was always right – the Ootori family as a whole is catastrophic for those with softer core energies. Note that I don't mean 'feminine energies' here (feminine =/= soft, they are not interchangeable), as it is equally terrible for someone like Akito, who has an undisputedly male energy but who simply wasn't made to withstand such an unrelenting, testosterone-fuelled, steely atmosphere. Fuyumi has a feminine core energy, and she thrives because she is hardy.
Oh, wow, I cannot wait to get to the stage where Kaoru and Yoshio are interacting regularly. It's going to be a blast!
Yuuichi: 悠一 – the first kanji means permanence, and the second kanji, 'ichi' is often given to eldest sons and it really just means oldest son
Fuyumi: 芙裕美 (Shido 矢道) – the first kanji is lotus, the second kanji is abundant/affluent/opulent, and the third kanji is beauty
Akito: 秋人 – the first kanji is autumn, the second kanji is person.
The Ootori children are all rather oddly named. You would think for such a fanatic father as Yoshio, he would insist on naming his children something not only deep and meaningful, but set a terrible benchmark that they will have to live up to for the rest of their lives. Instead, they received cute names. Very puzzling.
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Haninozuka:
Yorihisa: 頼久 – the first kanji means trust, and the second kanji means 'for a long time'
Yasuchika: 靖睦 – the first kanji means peaceful, and the second means friendly/harmonious. Oh my god, the irony.
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Morinozuka:
Akira: 彰 – clear. As in the meaning of 'plain' or 'obvious'. See why I wanted to establish the theme of "what you see is what you get" for the Morinozuka family? So his wife is 'quiet' and he is 'clear'. So pleasing in its straightforwardness.
Satoshi: 悟 – I LOVE Satoshi's name. It means discernment/understanding/enlightenment, and it is related to the Zen Buddhist concept of being spiritually awakened and having attained higher perception. Thankfully the new Hitachiin kid is not male, because then I would have wanted him to be a 'Satoru', same kanji. Both Yasuchika and Satoshi's names are so hilariously ironic. It is highly debatable as to how much discernment Satoshi has.
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Suou:
Shizue: 静江 – first kanji quiet, second kanji river. I think it is beautifully named, as it conveys the meaning of longevity. Long-lasting, quiet, powerful like a river – much like the reign of the woman herself.
Yuzuru: 譲 – his name means deference. Oh, Shizue. HAHAHAHAHA. If she named him, she truly is a master. If her husband named him, clearly neither of them intended to have a son who would have his own mind.
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Fujioka:
Ryoji: 涼二 (Ranka 蘭花) – first kanji means nice and cool/refreshing, and second kanji means 'two'. Yes, just the number two.
Kotoko: 琴子 – the first kanji is a musical instrument, the harp, and the second literally means 'child', and is very common in feminine Japanese names.
(d) The reason why Kaoru shows anxiety for Kyouya about the impending month of January is because January is the month of make-or-break for a lot of Japanese students. It is their month of hell and agony to cap off their previous months of studying hell and agony. It is the month of the Center Test, which is the standardized examinations that just about every Japanese student must take to qualify for university. The pressure is immense and it is the main cause for all the cram schools (juku) out there.
As January (in the fic) gets closer, I will explain more and more about the madness that is Center Test. For now, just believe me when I say that it is Serious Business. Also, just note that Kyouya is willingly engulfed in the double madness of SAT as well as Center. Crazy boy.
(e) I just wanted to say, if there is anything in the fic you need clarification for, please feel very free to leave a review or if you are shy you can send a private message. I am very happy to clear things up or explain more concepts, or explain in more detail. In fact, I occasionally go back and update my notes for the previous chapters to make them more complete.
What usually happens after you ask a question is that in a couple of days' time, I will add a note to the bottom of the chapter in question. However if you want it to be answered only through private message, I can do that – and if you don't want me to specifically direct my answer to you in the note in the fic, I can do that too.
