-Cantarella-
Epilogue: the later years IV
Kanda was 22 when he proposed to Reiichi—and Allen was 23 now, with no proposal plans. He wasn't…comparing or anything, because there wasn't a "right" age for these sort of things. He was just making a mental observation about the facts. It struck him weird, in a sense, when he thought about it. He had been so set on Lenalee when he was 13, and yet 10 years later he hadn't made the move. Of course there were ups and downs along the way like Lenalee not liking him back until a few years ago and there is that said problem of Komui. Actually, Komui was probably the main (or only) reason why he hadn't prepared any proposal plans. He was adamant that he was going to do this right—especially if Komui was going to be his family, there were some things he wanted to respect.
But it was getting hard to follow his own rule, especially when Lenalee was on his lap on his bed in his room with her hands buried in his hair kissing his soul out of his body. He couldn't remember when they started but there was no less reverence in the way he savoured the taste of her mouth, pulling her as close as he could against himself. Gently he trailed his fingers up from the edge of her shirt to touch her bare skin, amused by the way she shivered in his hold and smiled against his lips.
She brought her own hands out of his hair and met him touch for touch under his own shirt. She was much quicker to relieve the shirt off his torso, while he paused, hesitant until she took it off herself. There was no time to comment as she kissed him again, this time deeper than before. Before his knew it his hands were caressing her back, memorising every little dip and curve of her smooth skin. He groaned softly when she grinded down on his lap and one of his hands came to clutch her thigh in warning. She repeated the motion and he could not stop the louder moan that followed into her mouth.
Lenalee paused, leaning back slightly. Her lips were slightly swollen but curved into a shy smile. He stared back, stunned at how the darkness of her hair contrasted with the glow of her skin, perfect and pale—and he snapped his gaze back up when he realised he was staring at her impressive cleavage, face tinted pink.
He would say something, but he was entranced by how she licked her lips nervously.
"Hey, Al," she begun, voice soft. "Do you want to do it?"
He blinked. And then blinked again when all she did was to wait for him unsure, but expectant. The sudden awareness of how tight his pants were did not help.
"Um," he swallowed, mind scrambling for words to utter. "…Your brother will kill me."
At this, Lenalee abruptly looked to his closed door, expression blank. "Not everything is about my brother, you know." She turned her eyes back to him. "Do you want to, or do you not want to?"
Allen met her serious gaze until he couldn't hold it. "Lenalee…" he started, sighing briefly. "It's not that simple."
"It can be," she replied, and slid off his lap to sit beside him instead.
"Lenalee—" he tried again, but she drew up her knees to hug them and rested her forehead down. "Lenalee, I—I…I have to respect Komui's boundaries. I mean, just us being here alone in my room is violating rule number 142 and 236, and there's no way I can lie to him if he asked if we…" he blushed and swallowed. "…you know. And you know he will!"
She chuckled into her knees before lifting her face. "I know you respect my brother, Al, but," she sighed. "Are you dating me, or my brother? You know I love him and I know he does this because he cares for me but sometimes…sometimes it's just…so…so frustrating!" she shook her head. "Komui is my brother but you're my boyfriend, and, and someday, I…I want to be with you forever," she murmured quietly. "What we do should be about us, shouldn't it?"
Allen meet her gaze wordlessly for so long that she nearly looked away, but suddenly he leaned forward and cupped her face between his palms. His grey eyes sought hers before he kissed her, breathing gently against her lips before he took her deep and slow. She was breathing heavily by the time that he decided to release her, though he stayed close.
"I…I just wanted…" he began quietly, caressing her cheek. "If this something you want, then—"
"Do you want it?" she shot back, raising an eyebrow. "I told you not everything is about me. What about you?"
He bit his lip and reddened, darting his gaze to the side. "Of course I…I want you," he confessed, voice almost raw. "But I…I-I," he blushed harder. "I don't know if I know…I mean, I generally know how it works and I've been brought up by shishou, so I've seen everything there is to see—" he winced. "But anyway my point is, I haven't…done it before. So. I. I guess…your brother aside, I'm afraid it won't be…good…for you."
Lenalee slowly nodded. "Al, are you lacking confidence?" she asked, fighting to keep a smile down. "For once?"
Allen scowled, and flushed darker. "Lenalee," he whined. "When it's you, I…" he began, but stopped right there. "I will shut up, right now."
She grinned, getting up to crawl over to his lap again, wrapping her arms around his neck. "You know I've never done it before either, right?" she stated. "What makes you think it'll be good for you either?" she cocked an eyebrow. "What if we're both really bad at it?"
She joined his amused chuckle and shook her head after they caught their breaths. "But seriously, if you're not comfortable with it now, let's just revisit it the next time."
Allen nodded after a while of thought and she beamed. She dipped her head down to kiss him chastely, but as always he could never get enough of her and ended up chasing her mouth back. In the privacy of his room they enjoyed each other's presence and maybe this was something that was purely his and Lenalee's—their choice, their decision, their lives.
Maybe…it was time to get a ring.
"Ada-chan."
Adachi looked over to the petite girl next to her with a questioning gaze.
"If I wake up now I'm going to be so angry," the other girl continued calmly, eyes set firmly on the three figures fast disappearing down the street. "I'll tear my pillow apart, I swear."
Adachi turned her attention back to the trio in the line of sight, and then towards the autographed notebook in her hand. The words Kanda Yuu were barely legible, but it was there. "You'll see my shattered alarm clock on the street," she agreed.
Ishihara Narumi nodded dumbly at her close friend's words. "I. I need to scream," she said finally, looking up at the taller girl. "I just—did I just—did we just…?" She shook her head in wonder. "He's so good looking, I mean, his…his…wow… I can't believe I just…wow…" she trailed off, hands covering her face.
"Yeah, and his son…"
"…is so cute…"
"…yeah…"
They trailed off into silence until a passerby walked dangerously close to them and they realised that they were blocking the walkway. With a cough they quickly turned on their heels to continue down their way.
"Narumi."
"Hmm?" she hummed, still in a daze.
"You should keep this." Adachi held out the notebook, though she was looking at it with a bit of wishful longing.
Narumi stared, eyebrows crinkling. "What? No! You asked for it, it's yours."
"Well, I…" the other girl, rubbed her neck wryly. "I didn't think he would agree to it. Besides, you like him more. I can't keep this anyway, you know my mom will just throw it in the bin if I frame it up."
"This isn't a competition of whether I like Kanda-sama more," Narumi huffed, crossing her arms. "It's your notebook. But fair point about your mom—can't you just…use it like a normal notebook, say it's your notes, which it could be," she looked at her friend pointedly, "but nevermind that first," she began sternly. "You, you sang and you didn't tell me and Bookman-sanknows you and—"
Adachi winced at the predicted rant she was going to suffer through and took a quick look at her watch. She blanched.
"Shit," she cursed under her breath. "I'm late for cram school. I…I gotta run, sorry! Here, just, just take it for now," she pressed the notebook into her friend's hands, and quickly hastened her pace forward with a back wave. "I'll text you later!"
"What the—this isn't over, Ada-chan!" Narumi yelled from behind her.
Adachi took off her glasses and rubbed the bridge of her nose wearily. It had been a long day—as it has been every day since term started. It was her last year of high school, thus it was understandable that academics were even tougher than last year—she needed to prep for the end of year exams and university entrance exams as well. She kept most of her grades in a good percentage but of course, good was never in her mother's vocabulary, only perfect.
A soft chime from her phone caught her attention and she flipped it open with a peek—it was a photo of Kanda Yuu's autograph from Narumi, and she smiled. She was just beginning to text a reply back when there was a rap on her door and she quickly snapped her phone shut.
"Dear?"
"Yes, mother?" she swivelled carefully on her chair to face the slightly open door of her room.
The older woman smiled genially. "A reminder for tomorrow. Don't be late—I don't want any disruptions during the consultation, so come in before the first afternoon appointment."
"Of course."
"Good night, dear."
"Good night. Sleep well," she murmured as her door clicked shut.
Sighing, she turned back to her desk where she flipped close her completed homework—and pulled forward another folder for the student council. She put her glasses back on and picked up her pen again.
It was going to be a long night.
"Stop shifting," Kanda grumbled, turning over himself to scowl at Reiichi in the darkness. "It's distracting."
"Sorry," Reiichi murmured, but she shifted again, like she had for the past one hour.
It was probably past twelve and they had to work tomorrow, which was probably why Kanda was particularly grumpy that he couldn't fall asleep with her constant restless moving under the covers.
"What the hell is up?" he demanded, squinting his eyes.
"Can't sleep," she admitted.
"I know that," he huffed, irritated. "Why."
She turned her head, facing him, and shrugged very vaguely.
"Is this about the usagi?" Kanda asked, lips pressed together. Sometimes, it was just too easy with the redheads.
"No," Reiichi muttered, turning on her side again. "Yes," she mumbled a second later. "I don't know."
"The idiot can take care of himself."
"I know."
"Then?" Kanda sighed.
Reiichi kept quiet for a few moments. "…Have you ever seen him so interested in someone?" she asked cautiously. "Besides you," she added as in afterthought.
Kanda scowled at that. "What's your point?"
"It's weird, isn't it?"
For the next few seconds Kanda kept quiet and gave her a measured look, but she didn't get what he was trying to imply. She prodded his chest in response, causing him to flicker an annoyed glance to her retreating hand.
He sighed and pressed his lips together. "Weird because this time you don't know what the usagi is thinking?"
Even in the darkness, it wasn't easy to avoid his gaze. "I never know what he's thinking," she mumbled in reply, but Kanda scoffed.
"Do you even talk to him about things that are not stupid?"
"…Like?"
Kanda scowled harder but reluctantly spoke. "Me."
"…Sometimes," she admitted slowly, and it took a while before she understood where he was going with this. "It's not the same."
"How so?"
"For one," she looked at him. "I'm married to you."
"Before that."
She gave it a bit of thought. "A bit? When he asks."
"That's it?"
"What do you mean by that? It's embarrassing to talk about you to him!"
"Why?"
"Why—" she repeated incredulously, then immediately stopped when she realized they were going far off topic. "What's your point, Yuu?"
Kanda huffed. "If you're so bothered with usagi and this…girl, ask him about it."
Reiichi sighed. "You're right."
"I'm always right."
She rolled her eyes. "I'm just…well. You know Lavi isn't going to stop with just getting her name."
"So?"
"She's in high school! What if he goes overboard? What if—"
"How do you know he wants to fuck her anyway?"
"—Yuu!" she huffed out indignantly, scowling.
"What?" Kanda scoffed. "Isn't that what you're uselessly thinking about? The usagi is stupid, but he's not that stupid. He's not going to get thrown into jail for his dick. Besides, even if he does, it's his stupid fault. Let him deal with it."
Reiichi looked at her husband in incredulous silence for a minute. "That was extremely untactful and blunt."
"Problem solved," Kanda declared. "Will you go to sleep now?"
"Fine," she murmured, shifting so that she was lying on her back, facing the ceiling.
She was just worried, it was understandable. Lavi was someone who despite how much interest he seemed to show in a lot of things, only really showed a persistent and obsessive kind of interest with a few things. There was no stopping him when he was like that—Reiichi should know—those figurines he's been collecting since high school were stored in several rented storehouses. If someone was bugging him hard enough to think about them for a couple of months…it was definitely a sign. More than a sign was that two hour long recount on how Inouye Adachi's performance at Noel was so incredible she had to hear it before she died, and the various possible ways he was musing to convince her to sing again. Most of the ideas bordered on harassment that he could be sued for, and she had to remind him as much.
Kanda prodded her back. "I can hear you thinking."
Insufferable man.
Scowling, she reached out without turning towards him and jabbed him on his side, managing to hit him just below his ribs. He made some sort of a shocked unamused grunt and she tried not to laugh, but that of course was completely wiped away when he prodded back at her waist, right at one of her ticklish spots. She turned towards him and saw his raised eyebrow in challenge—and several minutes later, of course he had the strength and weight advantage, he was pinning her wrists behind her back as he jabbed her sensitive spot, feeling her flinch indignantly against his chest.
"I give, I give," Reiichi groaned against his neck, just after she squeaked at the attack on her waist. "You never play fair," she huffed, rubbing her skin from the agitation.
"I'm sure you're talking about yourself," he snorted, because he knew she could play it very dirty if she wanted to.
Reiichi gave a tired sigh and opted not to respond to his quip. Instead, she shifted closer to him and wrapped her arms around his waist, burying her head into his chest. He shifted so that one of his arm was over her waist. It wasn't often that Kanda held her before they slept—Kanda's spooning reflex only came about after he was in dreamland—and he would huff when she hugged him first, but he never pulled away.
"Sleep, or else."
"Yes, yes," she mumbled into his chest, yawning.
It was warm and it was Kanda, and within the next minute, she fell asleep.
It was a Friday and she still had cram school. Adachi groaned to the sky as she stepped out of the foyer, school bag over her shoulders. She would really love a cold glass of grape juice at that café she and Narumi frequented from time to time, but school work was picking up and Narumi was busy at the tennis club. Adachi herself had jammed packed days, so it was probably her fault that they hadn't had time to hang out after school in a while.
Mondays and Thursdays required council activity obligations. Tuesday and Fridays, she had cram school, and her only remaining free day on Wednesday was taken up by the rotations in the hospital by obedience to her mother. Well, it wasn't that she hated sitting in consultations while her mother was at work or visiting the patients—she grew up in a family of a long lineage of doctors and being in the hospital was familiar—but she had been doing this for years now and maybe she'd like a break once in a while. But there was no such luck there, she knew.
She hid a yawn as she walked out of the school compound, mentally trying to psyche herself to get through cram school for the day, but her attention was called by someone standing by the gate.
"Adachi-chan!"
She stared for a moment, squinting at the dark haired suited man with sunglasses who walked up to her, waving.
"Do I know you…?" she stepped back unconsciously, suspicious.
The man took off his sunglasses and she saw that he was wearing a white medical patch over one of his eye, and the other, was a sparklingly emerald green. He winked and put back the shades again.
"B-bookman-san," she coughed, clearly surprised. "What are you doing here?"
"Waiting for you."
She blinked rapidly at the direct remark. "Why?"
"I'm hoping I can change your mind," he replied. "About the singing!" he added in hastily. "Damn, Rei-chan was right, everything I say does sound a bit creepy," he muttered under his breath.
Adachi smiled uneasily. "Bookman-san, I…I would love to talk with you but I have somewhere to be right now so I'm kind of in a rush—"
"No problem," he grinned. "Where are you going? Actually, let's go, right now," he cocked his head and before she knew it, they were walking down the street. "You can trust me—I'm not leading you to some secluded area to murder you, I mean, I'm super easy to find, the police could do it in less than an hour—"
Adachi chuckled, shaking her head. "I'm just heading to cram school," she replied as she led the way. "If you don't mind me asking, why are you…dressed like that? It's catching a lot of attention."
Indeed, as they walked together down the path, several curious passersby stared at the sight of a salary man in shades next to a high school girl.
"Overt is covert," Lavi replied, patting his wig. "I get recognized if I don't dress up, so, why the hell not? You can tell your schoolmates I'm a scout to get you to model, or something," he shrugged. "You have the height."
And then as if in the very persona of a scout, he reached into his front pocket and handed her a card. "Here's my name card, Inouye-san. Please call when you make a decision."
She took it absently, but her eyes widened when she realised it was really his name card. "I can't possibly—"
Lavi laughed, amused. "You know, normally people don't refuse that. It could get a pretty hefty price on online auction. Less than what you'd get for Yuu's autograph, but hey."
"It's not that I don't want it—I-I mean," she fumbled nervously, embarrassed. "I mean, you're very famous, and this kind of thing only happens in dreams and it's just…I don't know why this happening," she rubbed at her eyes underneath her glasses. "I sound so stupid, oh my god. Please pretend you didn't hear anything I said."
"Really?" Lavi cocked an eyebrow. "You're taking this a lot calmer than most people would, I think. Except Rei-chan, probably. But anyway," he coughed. "I've told you already—I just to hear you sing again."
"And I told you I can't," she replied immediately. "Too busy."
"Not now, I'm not that unreasonable. You have holidays, right? What about then?"
Generally holidays were when she could sneak a performance in, but this year was going to be tough. At her hesitance, Lavi pressed.
"I'll pay you," he stated seriously. "Double of what Marie pays you. Triple. Actually, you can name your price, I'll match it."
"…It kind of sounds as though you're recruiting me for prostitution," she commented.
"What? Of course not!" he cried, indignant. "I—I only have the purest intentions towards you—that is, non-sexual and only of musical interest! But of course, if you wanted to date me then I wouldn't be opposed to it, especially for a beautiful girl like you."
Adachi just stared.
"Um, sorry, was that inappropriate?" Lavi winced. "I was joking, I swear it was a joke—Rei-chan always tells me to get a mouth filter but no one takes me seriously anyway, so," he babbled. "Are you creeped out? That wasn't my intention, fuck, I'm so sorry. You can sue me if you want, but really hope that you don't—"
"It's. It's alright," she managed, stifling a chuckle. "It's not about the money, Bookman-san. I perform because I love it, but I really don't have the time now. It's my last year of high school, so I have exams to prepare for and stuff."
"Even during your holidays? Surely you need a break somewhere."
"At the rate where I am it's not guaranteed that I can get into Todai," she answered with a weak smile. "Sorry."
"Todai, huh," Lavi echoed, nodding. "Wow. Which course?"
"Medicine."
"Heh. Aiming to be an eye specialist too? Following in your family's footsteps?"
At this, Adachi's step halted. "How…how do you know about that?" she furrowed her eyebrows.
"About what?"
"My family," she replied slowly.
Lavi frowned. "But everyone knows about Inouye Tatsuji, and there's the Inouye hospital founded by him. Your mother is the current director, isn't she?"
"Well, but—but it could be another Inouye! And not everyone knows about my grandfather, no one in school knows!"
"Your surname isn't that common, you know," he raised his eyebrow. "And okay, maybe not everyone might remember, but I read an article about him in the papers a couple of years ago. They did a feature of the Inouye hospital. You can check it out if you don't believe me." At her silence, he prodded gently. "You don't want to be a doctor, Adachi-chan?"
She blinked. "I never said I—" she paused, breathing in once. "I…don't want to talk about it, Bookman-san, sorry."
"Don't apologise," he gave a wry smile. "Well, students have to do what they have to do. Which subjects are you struggling with?"
"I'm not struggling," she denied.
"Then why are you attending cram school?"
At the mention of cram school, Adachi realised that they needed to get going or else she was going to be late. She hastily picked up speed again. "For the entrance exams. My English isn't on par yet and math is a just a precaution."
"English, eh?" Lavi grinned slowly. "I can tutor you on that."
"Really, Bookman-san, you can't possibly…"
"No, seriously, I can speak English. And a couple of other languages. I'm a great teacher! Alma can vouch for me."
She opened her mouth and closed it again, stunned at the non-native words out of his mouth. "I…"
"Was that too fast?" Lavi mused. "But for serious, I'm good with languages. I can help you."
"But you're a photographer!"
"I'm a genius—"
"—photographer!"
"Pssh, everyone's always misinterpreting that," Lavi huffed. "I can do more stuff than take sexy pictures of Yuu, you know. I can speak seven different languages. I can recite the dictionary in those languages too, if you're into that."
"…Well," she managed after a while, clearly at a loss of what to say. "Other than that it's totally weird—"
"It's not weird! Why is it weird?"
"Because you're…you're famous, Bookman-san!" she cried.
"So? I can't be super smart and famous at the same time?"
"No, I meant, I—…" she sighed, frustrated. "Why do you remember me? Why did you come to find me? Why do you want to help me?"
"For starters, I remember everybody," Lavi winked, tapping his temple. "Eidetic memory. And I guess…you have something that I want," he said simply.
"That's also weird."
Lavi laughed. "Come on. My sparkling credentials say that you would be stupid to deny free tutoring. Accept, and all I want is one song from you. One song. Not even a stage performance."
Adachi looked away at the seriousness in his eye. "…I'm not that good, Bookman-san."
"That's for me to decide, isn't it? I'll even put it on a guarantee basis. If you don't ace your next English exam, you don't owe me anything. And…I'll stop bugging you to sing."
The last bit looked like it took some effort for him to say it. "Why is it so important?" she asked curiously.
"I want Rei-chan to hear you. My adorable cousin."
She blinked. "Kanda Reiichi?"
"Yup."
"Why?"
"Why not?" he shrugged. "I want to share something that incredible with the person I love most," he smiled warmly. "Think about it, Adachi-chan."
Adachi only realised that they were standing in front of her cram school when he said this.
"You have my name card. Give me a call when you've decided. See ya!"
She watched him stuff his hands into his pockets and whistle his way happily down the street.
Adachi didn't know why she was on the student council, to be honest. She wanted to join a club, maybe the music club, or a sport, but her mother had been insistent that her graduation certification should show that she was a responsible top student with a flair for leadership. No doubt responsible duties came to her easily since she had been brought up in a household that was everything of that, but it was not her kind of thing to lead the school, to be honest. She was immensely relieved that she was elected to be the vice-president and not the president last year, but there were still a mountain of things that her position required her to complete.
Things took time to do, and studying also took time, and the following week when she received her class tests back for English and Biology, she sighed and pressed her face on her desk. Her marks for English were never fantastic, always hovering between Bs and Cs, while Biology…her mother wouldn't be happy if she knew she dropped half a grade.
"Ada-chan, it's just a class test," Narumi, patted her back. "You'll be fine for midterms."
"Work is just piling up since we're electing the next council soon and we're already starting to discuss about the cultural festival," Adachi groaned, pushing up her glasses. "If I don't do well in the midterms my mother will schedule in another cram school and god," she groaned. "I can't take another one."
"Breathe. Look, you've always got Biology down, you just need to revise a bit more before the paper. As for English…well...sensei's always saying to read some English books or find someone to converse with, but sorry I can't help you there, I'm worse at it than you are," Narumi chuckled. "You know," she began slyly after a while. "Bookman-san's offer still stands."
It had been a month since the famous photographer found her outside the school gates, and his name card sat deep in her wallet.
"Narumi!" she chided, gesturing at her to lower her voice.
"Come on," the other smiled, though she did soften her voice. "In what universe could you be tutored by Bookman-san? Oh man, I want to get tutored by Kanda-sama…" she trailed off dreamily.
"Okay, maybe if it was Kanda Yuu I wouldn't need to think about it," Adachi laughed. "But seriously, even if Bookman-san is actually a competent tutor, I would feel bad wasting his time."
"It's obviously not a waste of time to him if he offered."
"He was just being nice. And it's weird. Don't you think it's weird?" she pressed, half frantic. "This kind of thing doesn't happen in real life."
"Yeah, and he'll totally fall in love with you and you two will get married and have plenty of kids," Narumi nodded. "You get to be related to Kanda-sama. Think about that, oh my god. Do it. I'm so jealous now."
Adachi grinned, swatting her friend by the shoulder. "Why don't you call him up and marry him?"
"Bookman-san is pretty handsome, much more than I expected, but I guess Kanda-sama's still more my type," Narumi mused. "Though I can't wait for his son to grow up. Red hair and blue eyes…I'm so jealous for the younger generation," she sighed. "Isn't it so unfair that we're both too young and too old for either Kandas?"
"I'd doubt Kanda-san would look at us even if we were of the same age group," Adachi commented dryly.
"And I doubted that either of us would meet him personally, yet," Narumi grinned, flashing the Kanda Yuu autographed notebook that was carefully wrapped with plastic. "Here we are."
"Lavi? Can I talk to you for a bit?"
Reiichi walked over, freshly clean from her hot bath and smelling soft with lavender. Lavi welcomed her presence as she sat beside him on the couch and lowered the volume of the television. On his lap, Seiichi was curled up sleeping. Kanda was probably somewhere deep in the pool. He absentmindedly patted the child's hair with one hand as his other arm wrapped around his cousin's waist.
"Sure. What's up?"
"Are you free tomorrow?" she asked after stroking Seiichi's cheek. "I thought we could go to the bookstore together."
"What about Yuu?"
"He's taking Seiichi to the market."
"Without you?"
"Yeah."
He raised an eyebrow.
"There's a book I want to buy," she elaborated. "Kanda said he didn't want to go with me, so."
"Is it another BL novel?"
Reiichi pressed her lips together and he laughed.
"I'll find out anyway," he grinned. "But uh, I can't do tomorrow. I have a…thing. Is Sunday okay?"
"A thing," Reiichi repeated.
"Rei-chan," he whined and then sighed at her raised eyebrow. "Remember Adachi-chan? I'm tutoring her."
"Tutoring?" she frowned disbelievingly.
"Yeah, she needs a bit of help with English. And who better than language extraordinaire—"
"Lavi," she put in, unamused. "Finding her after school is one thing, but meeting her alone?"
"What? It's not illegal!"
"It's also not very appropriate!"
"I guess…" he scratched his cheek. "But in exchange she'll sing for us and I really want you to hear her! It's worth it, Rei-chan, you have to believe me. Besides," he raised an eyebrow. "It's just tutoring. Lots of people do it all the time! Are you discriminating against tuition teachers?"
Reiichi rolled her eyes. "You're ten years older than her, Lavi. With the way you're stalking her, it's not very—"
"I'm not stalking," Lavi pouted. "It's an investment. A very clean investment with no ulterior motives except to get her to sing for us," he paused. "Why are you assuming that I'm coming on to her anyway?"
"It can happen the other way round too, you know. And you'll still be responsible."
"I guess no girl can resist my sexy—ow, okay, okay, I was joking!"
Reiichi huffed.
"Come on, Rei-chan. I won't do anything stupid," he smiled. "I'll make sure she doesn't either, if you're so worried. But if you really want to make sure you're welcomed to stalk us. We'll be at the café I brought you last month. Put Sei-chan with Tiedoll, and maybe you and Yuu can have a date while at it," he grinned. "It's been a while, hasn't it?" he waggled his eyebrows. "Alone with Yuu, holding hands under the table, kissing over the table—oww—come on, it's not like—owwwwwwwww, okay, okay!"
It had been a while since Adachi went out to meet with a male alone—her last relationship quickly ended when her mother found out about it, but then again she probably did not really think that one through either. In any case, it was perfectly understandable that she was nervous, especially since the said male was famous and good looking and weirdly charming and ten years older. Okay, maybe she had freaked out yesterday night with a phone call to Narumi and had to breathe slowly since the morning.
It wasn't Kanda Yuu, but this was still Lavi Bookman—this was too strange, but yet it was happening.
She fiddled with the strap of her bag as she stood outside the café the other had texted her about trying not to feel too self-conscious. Thankfully before her mind decided to let her think the worst—this had to be a joke, there was no way Bookman-san had agreed to meet her alone to spend a couple of hours—when she was tapped on the shoulder.
A blonde stood in front of her with a baseball cap planted backwards on his head, white medicinal eyepatch in place. There was also a bandaid on his other cheek, and his exposed eye was dark brown. He wore a loose shirt with a sleeveless jacket over, together with baggy jeans and sport shoes.
"Hey," the person said, and she stared.
"Do I look like a generic youngster so I don't get branded as a creepy old man?" the other grinned, picking absently at the band-aid on his cheek.
"…Bookman-san," she greeted eventually, bowing shortly. "What happened to your face?"
"This?" Lavi poked at the plaster. "Just part of the disguise. How are you?"
"Good," she nodded slowly, still feeling slightly bewildered although she did not know why. "You?"
"Awesome, as always," he replied, and then held out the door to the café for her. "After you," he gestured.
"Thanks," she murmured, ducking in quickly.
They were shown a quiet table at the corner and after their orders—coffee for him, an iced chocolate for her—Adachi smoothed out her skirt nervously. Bookman-san barely looked a couple of years older in his getup, that's for sure, and it was weird to know that it was him yet he looked so different in the disguise.
"So, what do you have for me?" He smiled.
She hastily pulled out the folder she had brought along and slid it over to him. "I am really grateful for this, Bookman-san," she began. "I know you're really busy, and—"
"Hmm, not really," Lavi murmured absentmindedly, opening the folder and taking the first stack of papers out. "I wouldn't have offered if I didn't want to do this. Is this your latest class test?"
"Yeah…" she mumbled, heat rising to her cheeks as she looked at the table, embarrassed.
It was nothing to be proud of that C largely printed in red on the front. Lavi merely flipped through it methodically for a couple of seconds before he set it down again.
"It seems like your grammar and vocabulary isn't too bad, but you have trouble with passage comprehension and reading."
"Well, I generally get the gist of it but it's really hard to…express it in writing."
Lavi nodded. "What about oral conversation?"
"…Slow," she admitted. "It sounds funny when I say some words, and sometimes they speak much too fast on the tape…"
"Practice," the other said simply. "Even if it sounds weird. There's no other way about that. Starting from now, anytime we're in this café, we speak English, yes?"
"…Y-yes," she repeated, foreign word uncomfortable on her tongue.
The discomfort must have shown on her face, because Lavi laughed. "It's not that bad, I promise. Let's begin with a small exercise, just so I can see where you are. Introduce yourself."
"Sorry, could you repeat that?"
Lavi raised an eyebrow and she struggled to find the words in English. "Can…you…say it…again?" she enunciated slowly, unsure if she had chosen the right words.
The grin she received in return made her breathe a sigh of relief. "Introduce yourself," he repeated, slower this time.
"Um," she swallowed, cracking her head to remember the standard phrases she had been taught. "I am Adachi Inouye. I am a final year high school student. I…I…" she trailed off, fumbling. "Nice to meet you," she finished when she couldn't think of anything more to say.
Lavi nodded encouragingly. "Hi. I am Lavi, it's nice to meet you too. Do you have any hobbies? Things that you enjoy doing?"
"I…like to…sing. Sometimes I perform…on stage," she said, and then groaned when she tried to think of more to say. "Sorry, it's just, I don't how to—" at the pointed look the other gave her, she sighed. "This is very hard," she said eventually.
"Of course it is," Lavi smiled. "That's why we're doing this. Okay, tell me about your family."
"Family," she repeated, thinking of the words that she needed to use. "I have a younger brother."
"Oh?" Lavi blinked, surprised. "How old is he?"
"Three years younger," she replied, more confident. "But we're not…not um…c-close?" At the other's nod, she continued. "My father…passed away when I was…young, so it is just me, my mother and my brother now."
"I'm sorry to hear that."
"It was a…long…time ago," she smiled slightly. "W-what about you, Bookman-san?"
Lavi looked surprised that he was being asked a question, but grinned at her attempt to engage more in the conversation. "I'm an only child. I think," he mused. "Actually, I'm not really sure but I was adopted by Rei-chan's parents since forever. Rei-chan's my cousin on her mother's side. Her—our parents passed away in a car accident when we were little, then I got adopted by Bookman, this really grumpy old man, so I guess he's my dad now, or something. Huh, it's so weird when I call him 'dad', is this what Yuu feels about Tiedoll?"
"Um," Adachi blinked. "I…that was too…fast."
"Sorry, sorry, I get carried away," Lavi apologized. "Okay, slower…Reiichi is my cousin. I have a foster father who adopted me when I was younger. And I guess Yuu is my brother-in-law."
Adachi nodded as she processed the words, and Lavi continued speaking.
"This is fucking stupid."
Reiichi kicked her companion discreetly and delighted in the sharp hiss that followed. They had put Seiichi with Allen and Lenalee for the afternoon after going to the market in the morning. Seiichi seemed to have a particular attachment to Allen, something Kanda was (not so) secretly miffed about, but it was probably because the other could entertain the boy with magic card tricks that made the younger dazed with wonder.
A young waitress came by their table and smiled. "May I take your order?"
"I don't want anything," Kanda stated immediately, crossing his arms.
The glasses on his face slipped and he ripped them out, placing it on the table. Reiichi looked at him with a frown, cautiously glancing at the waitress just in case they were recognized. They were both wearing wigs and coloured contacts, but she was just being careful. The disaster would be untold.
"We'll have a green tea each," she told the girl, smiling politely. "And a strawberry cheese cake."
Kanda looked at her annoyed as the waitress went off with their orders. He didn't want to be in a public café—perhaps he just had very bad experience being in public—and the contacts were itchy. On the bright side his son was not corrupted by Alma's bullshit, but on the downside the younger was being subjected to the beansprout. Kanda sighed and slumped in his seat. He had no idea why his wife wanted to stalk his best friend—okay, he did, but it didn't mean that he wanted to join in. Personally he didn't really want to know if Lavi was going to hell for this.
Their drinks and cake arrived shortly and Reiichi dug in with an excited gleam in her eye while he watched her eat with barely veiled disgust. His tea was normal though, thank god.
"You sure you don't want some?" Reiichi asked with a teasing head tilt, and he gave her a pointed look in return.
A few minutes passed in which Reiichi kept looking over his shoulder to watch the couple seated at the corner near the window, and Kanda craned his neck to glance over. Reiichi kicked him lightly.
"Don't do that, it's too obvious."
"As if you staring at them like a creepy stalker isn't," he shot back, blatantly turning around to look.
All he saw was Lavi (in his horrible ridiculous getup) nodding while the girl across him spoke with slow gestures of her hands. There was nothing indecent about it—they were seat a fair distance apart, they looked rather serious in conversation, if anything.
"Yuu!" Reiichi hissed lowly, tugging his hand to get his attention. "Quit looking at them like that! Lavi is bound to notice!"
"I'm just looking out the window," Kanda answered blandly, still staring over.
As much as he didn't want to know about Lavi's business, there was no denying that he was a tiny bit curious about this girl Lavi kept raving on about. She didn't look particularly outstanding—young, rather pretty behind her glasses, but Kanda has seen a lot of attractive people in his job, so he could be desensitized. He suddenly felt a clench of pity for the girl but quickly crossed that out.
"Yuu," Reiichi started, warningly.
"Eat your thing faster and I'll stop," he said, and Reiichi scowled at him.
She cut a larger piece of the cake and stuffed it into her mouth as she tried to make him stop looking over like that when the waitress came by again to their table.
"Is everything all right, sir?"
Kanda glanced back briefly. "Yes. Go away."
The waitress blinked, taken aback at the curt tone, to which Reiichi tried to soothe with a smile. "Yes, everything is fine, thank you."
When they were left alone again, Kanda drank a mouthful of tea and then turned again to watch Lavi. Reiichi knew he was doing it on purpose because he knew she might be annoyed enough to make them leave, but she just wanted to see if Lavi really was okay. It had been an open invitation after all, and the cheesecake she was eating was actually really good. She kept a hand on Kanda's wrist and tugged whenever it looked like Lavi was going to glance over.
It seemed like everything was fine—there were a couple of false alarms but Kanda turned back every time she pulled at his arm, until there was once Lavi's eye curiously looked over and she shot her gaze to Kanda abruptly just as Kanda turned back around.
"He's still glancing over," she murmured under her breath, gaze darting as discreetly as possible over. "Wait," she paused. "…He's getting up," she said, starting to panic.
"Rei—"
"He's walking over," she whispered. "What do we do?"
"I'll punch him if he touches me," Kanda stated, and Reiichi wanted to smack her head on her table.
But Lavi was still walking closer, and Reiichi did the first thing that came to her mind. She reached and grabbed Kanda's collar, kissing him full on the mouth. She felt him freeze in surprise, but she felt him kissing her back, and they pulled away when Lavi walked right past them, entering the toilets at the back.
Reiichi stared at the table with a fierce blush as it hit her what she had done in a public café. She hoped that no one was looking over.
"What was that for?" Kanda asked eventually, watching her curiously.
"Well…Lavi wouldn't think we'd…kiss…" she mumbled, and he scoffed.
He licked his lips without thought and frowned, glaring at the cake. "Too sweet."
Lavi whistled under his breath as he walked into the toilets, but once he was in the cubicle, he laughed long and hard.
It took him ten minutes to straighten his face before he got out.
Midterms were fast approaching and Adachi had been meeting with the famous photographer weekly since their first tutoring session, and she had to admit that it was helping. English homework gradually became easier to do—the elder could explain the confusing bits with a lot more clarity than her teacher, and she could ask him to review her work or mistakes with instant feedback. Listening to him ramble in English helped her to pick up the fast paced conversations on the tape, though she still struggling to translate the words in time, but at least she could jot down the important bits a lot faster. With her slowly improving confidence in English, she spent less time pulling her hair out about it on weekdays, instead focusing her time on her other subjects.
Her schedule was still hectic—continued cram school and council duties and hospital rotations, but it felt like a breather on Saturdays with the photographer at the café. It was oddly comfortable and easy to spend the time with him, and his disguises never failed to amuse her.
This particular Saturday saw him in a long black wig tied at the nape in a ponytail, together with black shirt, black jeans, black shoes. The elder even wore a dark blue contact on his eye, and she instantly knew who he was trying to impersonate.
"On a scale of one to Yuu, how alike am I?" Lavi grinned, hands on his hips.
"With that smile, maybe about four," she commented, trying not to laugh.
It was rather strange but funny at the same time—the photographer looked nothing like Kanda Yuu, but the wig worked oddly well in a different way. From a distance though, one might be fooled.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" she asked when she noticed a couple of people instantly turning around to stare at them, only to look away when they realised it wasn't the famous model..
"They wouldn't guess that it's me, even with the one eye," lavi shrugged and held the café door open for her. "After you."
The redhead had done this every time but she thanked him all the same as they were shown their usual place. Two hours quickly passed as he went through the latest required passage in the textbook and reviewed a revision test she had done. It stunned her whenever she thought about how easy he made it seem, speaking and understanding a foreign language as though it was his native tongue. He was clearly a lot more educated (and smarter) than she thought he was, something that the newspapers never mentioned.
At the end of the session, she decided to ask him about it. "Bookman-san?"
"Hmm?"
"Where did you learn to be so fluent in English?"
He gave her patient look and she leaned back, mentally scrambling to phrase it in English. "Why are you so…good in English?"
Lavi shrugged. "I learnt it in school like you," he replied. "My old man taught me other languages at home. They're easy for me, I suppose. I used to do translations on the side for him, but not so much anymore."
"Translations?"
"Hmm, yeah," he thought a little. "It's his…job? It's a bit hard to explain, but anyway, he does quite a bit of rewriting foreign language documents into Japanese. He wanted to pass that on to me, but I guess I chose to do something else."
"…Why?"
"Because I love photographing Yuu," he grinned cheekily. "I'd be doing the world a disservice if I didn't."
Adachi chuckled as he leaned lazily on his palm.
"You're a fan of Yuu, right?" he commented. "What do you like about him most? His eyes? Hair? Body?"
She blinked, and then coloured when she realised that he was asking. No doubt she was a fan—any high school girl was, but she wasn't talking to Narumi or her classmates about this.
"His sparkling personality?" Lavi pressed teasingly, waiting for her answer.
"…Isn't Kanda-san known for his rather…mean…um…"
"Pssh, he's just shy," he shook his head. "Rei-chan likes his back," he gestured vaguely, patting the back of his shoulder. "And Yuu is just cute to me, I suppose. So what about you?"
The thing was, Kanda Yuu was just incredibly eye-catching, but she didn't know how to say it without sounding like a superficial fangirl.
"I guess…Kanda-san is just…eye catching in general?" she managed.
"So it's the hotness factor," Lavi nodded.
She tried to protest but she couldn't think of a coherent argument in English, so she kept silent. Lavi laughed into his palm and she realised that he was just teasing her, to which she blushed and kept her papers. When she opened her bag she was reminded of something she had brought along. With a bit of nervousness she dug out the box of chocolates she had bought as a thank you gift, but now in her hands it seemed a little too suggestive.
"Bookman-san," she started before he got up to leave. "This…this is for you," she placed the box on the table and pushed it gently to him. "For the past few weeks."
Lavi looked at it curiously, and his eyebrows shot up higher when he saw what was inside. "Wow," he said eventually. "I'm flattered, but I'm afraid I can't accept your feelings."
Instantly her face burned red and she waved her hands, horrified. "No, no, I didn't mean—I didn't mean—" she spluttered, hastily trying to get her words out, lapsing back into Japanese. "This is just to thank you for tutoring me, I mean, surely you have much better things to do than to meet me here every week and it really has helped and—"
The man across her cut her off with an amused laugh, grinning much too wide. "Relax, I was just kidding," he replied, eye twinkling. "I'll let that slide just this once. And thanks," he said after, taking the box. "That's really nice of you."
"You're welcome," she mumbled softly, pretending to be busy with sorting the things in her bag just so that she didn't have to look at him.
She trailed after him as they left the café, and she jumped slightly when he spoke again.
"Hey," he said just as they were about to part ways outside. "You should thank yourself too, once in a while. You work really hard," he smiled and gave her a small wave. "See you next week, Adachi-chan."
"See you," she murmured, staring until his back disappeared down the street.
English was her last paper of the week, and she heaved a huge sigh of relief once she was out of the classroom. It was surprisingly easier than she thought it would be—another sign that Bookman-san's lessons were really helping. Narumi walked over with her bag on her shoulders, smiling widely.
"Wasn't that the most terrible exam you ever did?" the other grinned, and it quickly fell into a groan. "I am going to fail."
"You won't," she assured the other, shaking her head. "You always say that but you've never failed an exam."
"I don't ace them either," Narumi countered. "Well. I don't want to think about it anymore. It's time for okonomiyaki!" she clapped her hands together excited.
Adachi chuckled at the switch in mood, following the girl's steps as the other bounded down the corridor. Since it was their last paper and it was a Friday, she had no obligations for the rest of the afternoon—such a rare moment, and they made plans to spend the rest of the day off hanging out. It had been a while, she mused as she sat at a booth in small okonomiyaki place in town, and it was definitely most welcomed.
She hadn't gotten the chance to enjoy herself very much over the past months, other than meeting with Bookman-san on the weekends. Just as if on cue, her phone vibrated while she was in mid thought, and she tried not to laugh too loud when she saw the message that was sent to her.
"What's that?" Narumi leaned forward curiously, and she turned the phone around to show her.
Bookman-san had sent her a rather badly drawn picture of a person labelled 'Kanda Yuu' holding a banner that said 'GANBARIMASU'.
Narumi giggled. "That's so cute."
A second message came in quickly after that.
Was the paper okay?
It was written in English, and she fumbled to switch her phone's letters. It took a while but she let out a triumphant grin when she replied it in what she hoped was a couple of fluent sentences. She blinked when she realised Narumi was looking at her curiously after she was done.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
Narumi slowly grinned. "You know," she began. "The way you smiled to yourself just now…" she trailed off with a knowing look, and Adachi turned her head away.
"Don't say it," she warned.
"Aww, why not?" Narumi pouted. "Ada-chan, just date him already," she pleaded. "He's rich and famous and hot and he's nice and he's single!" she paused. "Is he?"
"I don't know, I never asked," Adachi mused. "But he only ever talks about Kanda-san and Reiichi-san and sometimes Lee-san and Walker-san."
"Then he probably doesn't have one, all the better."
"It's not going to happen, Narumi," she sighed, leaning her cheek on her palm as she watched the okonomiyaki sizzle in front of her. "Even if I like him, it's not like he would like a high schooler. Besides…I don't have time for dates."
"Then what do you call your weekly tutoring sessions?"
"Weekly tutoring sessions," she replied with a pointed look. "And the fact that he's ten years older…"
"Ten years isn't that big of a gap…okay, it kind of is. But it happens!" Narumi replied. "So," she started, more excitedly. "Do you like him? Not in the idol crush kind of way, but the actual like-like kind of way. You've talked to him for decent length of time to know him."
Adachi chewed her lip. "…I don't know," she said honestly, blushing slightly. "Bookman-san is…really nice. And funny. And really smart."
"And totally good looking too," Narumi quipped in.
"And the way he talks about Kanda-san and Reiichi-san…" she trailed off softly. "He really cares a lot for them…it's…really…nice."
It was the way the redhead sometimes trailed off rambling in too fast foreign words that Adachi caught herself watching him in those moments, how his eye light up fondly as if in a daze. It was nice to see him like that, talking about the people he loved. It was…cute.
She sighed terribly after a moment, face in her hands. "….What did I do to myself?"
"There, there," the other smiled sympathetically, though she looked rather elated at the same time. "But you can't say you didn't see this coming."
"What, why?"
"Kanda-sama aside, it's Bookman-san, Adachi," Narumi raised an eyebrow. "He's tons more mature than the stupid boys in our school and a billion times better than Taichi in every way."
"Please don't mention him," she interjected immediately.
"Sorry. Anyway. Bookman-san is cool. I'm pretty sure I would like him too if I got to know him."
"Maybe," Adachi admitted. "But he could've been a horrible person," she shrugged. "You know, one of those "nice acts" famous people have to the media but in reality they are complete assholes."
"But he isn't."
"No, he isn't," she agreed.
Narumi poked at their okonomiyaki a couple of times before she deemed it well enough to eat. "Ganbarimasu, Ada-chan."
She sighed.
The next two weeks were more agonizing than she ever thought it would be. Her usual timetable was back but she didn't meet Bookman-san on the weekends anymore, both of them waiting for the results of the mid-year exam. When it was finally handed out in class she didn't dare look at her paper when she took it.
She sincerely hoped she at least got a B—an improvement, the very very least, just to show that he hadn't wasted all this time tutoring her. It would be beyond embarrassing if she didn't, and she didn't know how to face him if that happened. She hoped she did well, she really did. She worked hard for this. Her singing debt aside, maybe, he'd be proud of her.
"How is it?" Narumi whispered from beside her.
"I don't dare to look," she replied back under her breath.
Their teacher clapped his hands loudly to call the attention to the front. "We'll be going through the questions today, but before that, I'm proud to announce that the highest scorer for this paper comes from our class."
Excited murmurings shot through the room.
"Inouye Adachi," he said, and everyone in class turned to look at her. "Very well done."
Inouye Adachi was a regular teenage girl juggling the stress of school and a mother who had high expectations and wanted her to be a doctor. Her life was relatively mundane, to be honest—school work, council studies, hospital attachments, the occasional day off with Narumi, and maybe a few secret singing gigs here and there. She hadn't done much, which was definitely logical to assume that never in her life did she think she would stand in front of Kanda Yuu's house carrying a guitar and freaking out.
She stood in front of the house with awe—she was from a well to do family, she would admit, but Kanda Yuu's house was impressive. It wasn't redundantly large but it was spacious, and the cars in the garage that she could see from the gate looked so sleek and expensive. And of course Kanda Yuu was inside—oh my god, she was not prepared for this.
She paced in front of the doorbell trying to work up the courage to press it, but she couldn't. She flipped out her phone again, searching for Bookman-san's text to assure that she really had the right address—she wasn't going to embarrass herself when she pressed it—and in the midst of jumbled thoughts she called her best friend.
"Narumi, help me," she whispered immediately when the other picked up. "I'm standing outside Kanda-san's house. Kanda Yuu. Kanda Yuu. I'm freaking out so bad right now!" she hissed.
"And I'm freaking out on your behalf too?!" Narumi squealed. "Breathe, Ada-chan. You can do this. Your voice is awesome. You are awesome. Kanda-sama cannot intimidate you."
"Yes he can!"
"Okay, maybe he can," she acceded. "But you're singing for Bookman-san. Show him what you got."
"You're right. You're right," Adachi took a deep breath. "Oh god what if my voice cracks in the middle of the verse? Or if I go off pitch?"
"That's ridiculous, you've never gone off pitch," Narumi snorted.
"There's a first for everything!"
"Just imagine that you're singing to me, okay?" the other soothed.
"I'll try," Adachi swallowed.
This was ridiculous—she never got stage fright, but yet the revelation that she was going to enter Kanda Yuu's house and sing was just throwing her right off.
"Get in there, Ada-chan. Blow their socks off. And then call me and tell me everything."
She chuckled a little. "Definitely. Thanks."
She ended the call with a snap to her phone and took in another deep breath. She was here because she had to thank Bookman-san for his hard work. He only requested one song—no monetary payment, no special favors or anything else, this was the least she could repay him for the hours that he spent with her.
Though, when she finally decided to raise her finger to jab at the doorbell, a taxi slid into view.
Lavi came out of it smiling and saying something to the taxi driver so he did not notice her immediately, but he blinked in surprise and grinned widely when he did. Her first thought was—his hair is so red—because she had so far met up with him while he was in various disguises. He looked rather comfortable in a dark green long sleeved shirt and jeans, with plenty of leather bracelets around his left wrist. In his natural look he was handsome; dashing, even. He wore a leather eyepatch this time, unlike the white ones he used to wear around her.
"Hello," he said, and then bowed low.
Stunned, she hurried to bow back. "Good afternoon."
He dug into his back pocket and produced some keys, one of which he used to fiddle with the lock on the gate. "Sorry about that," he muttered softer. "There are always paparazzi around, even if Yuu practically threw ten guys in jail a couple of months ago for hanging about. So if they're hanging about now, they'll think this is just some formal visit from the company, or something."
"With a guitar?" she thumbed to the case on her back.
Lavi winced. "Yeah…maybe not. You wear glasses, so I guess they won't catch much of your face. Sorry, I didn't think about this properly—I was too excited about hearing you sing."
"Y-yeah?" she coughed, trying not to blush.
He smiled easily at her when he got the small gate open. "Of course. After you."
"Thanks."
The pace of her heartbeat rose as they went to the front door—she was so curious how the inside would look like, but when the door swung open, she was definitely not prepared to see two people making out on the couch.
Lavi burst into uncontrollable loud laughter beside her.
Kanda Yuu and Kanda Reiichi hastily jumped apart at the noise; the famous model shooting them darkest glare Adachi had ever seen in her life, the designer hurriedly running her hand through her hair. It took her a while to register that she was seeing the Kanda family in all its domesticity—husband and wife were dressed in decent comfortable home clothes, unlike anything she had ever seen in magazines or newspapers. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the famous model who was combing through his hair and tying it again—it was so unreal that she was standing in his house.
"I am so sorry you had to see that—" the female redhead began, cheeks slightly red.
"Rei-chan, you're married," Lavi interjected grinning. "You guys have sex. You're allowed to make out with Yuu as much as you want."
"Lavi!" Reiichi hissed, sending him an eye dart towards Adachi, and he mellowed.
"Uh, shit, sorry, that was probably inappropriate…? Um," but he coughed and he couldn't help the laughter that burst out again. "I'm sorry, I can't do this."
Reiichi yanked him behind her and gave the girl standing awkwardly at the doorway a smile as gentle as she could.
"I'm Kanda Reiichi," she greeted properly. "It's nice to meet you again."
"I'm Inouye Adachi," the other replied, bowing low. "It's...I'm…I'm really glad meet you, Kanda-san."
"Do come in," the older female gestured. "Lavi, take the guitar for her."
"Oh! Oh, right," Lavi hastened to comply, ignoring the protests that she voiced out.
As she took off her shoes, she watched the male redhead hug his cousin and plant an affectionate kiss on her cheek, to which the other smiled and hugged him back. The photographer bounded deeper into the living room after that, aiming his enthusiastic wide spread arms towards the famous model who, had not made any sign to acknowledge her, pushed him away roughly. Lavi only rolled his eye in return and turned his attention towards the young boy sitting on the floor in front of a low table where the child was flipping a pop up story book.
She lingered at the doorway feeling awkward until Reiichi came towards her and guided her in with a soft hand on her shoulder.
"Do you want anything to drink?"
"Um, no thank you."
"Do you need anything in particular? A larger space, or…"
"No, anywhere is fine, really," she managed.
"Okay," the other smiled. "Take a seat then. Just let me clear up and move my son, and then we can begin."
"Oh, it's okay," she looked over at the young boy absorbed into his book. "He can stay if he wants to. I mean, you don't have to move him if it's too much trouble."
"Take a seat then," the elder replied. "Anywhere you're comfortable with."
Adachi looked at the couches. Kanda Yuu was sitting on the end of the middle long couch but he got up and made way towards his son. Lavi gestured her to come over as he sat in the center of it, her guitar out of its case in his hand.
"I thought you would sing me something acapella, but this is pretty great," he commented, experimentally strumming it. "How long have you been playing the guitar?"
"About three years," she replied. "What about you?"
"I can play some songs," he answered vaguely. "But Yuu is better at it than me."
Almost immediately there was growl. "Shut up while you're ahead, usagi."
Lavi ignored the threat like it was never said. "Did you know that Yuu can play a ton of instruments, like the piano and the violin and the saxophone—" A fast projectile suddenly hit Lavi right on the forehead, and he cursed. "Fuck, that hurt, Yuu!"
"Lavi!" Reiichi hissed the same moment Kanda blandly uttered, "Swear jar."
Seiichi looked up at his father for the missing book in front of him, and Kanda matched the stare, eventually sighing. The famous model rummaged through the stack of other picture books that Reiichi was organizing at the side and picked one out for him. The young boy took it wordlessly and opened it again—Adachi stared in bewilderment.
Lavi scowled and snatched the picture book that was thrown at him, handing it to Reiichi. "What's the big deal, Yuu?" he smirked. "Scared that she'll tell the world that you own the entire collection of N*Sync—"
"Shut the fuck up and that was you, you fucking—mmmph—"
Reiichi clamped her husband's mouth shut with a forceful hand and glare that made him fall silent, though sulky. Lavi grinned triumphantly but that also fell when Reiichi turned the look upon him.
Adachi fiddled with her hands—it felt like she was in twilight zone.
"I apologise, Inouye-san," Reiichi said, and Adachi shook her head quickly.
"Not at all, Kanda-san," she replied faintly. "Should I…begin?"
"By all means," Lavi grinned and handed the guitar over to her. "Rei-chan, come here," he patted the space beside him.
The female redhead raised an eyebrow but she did walk over. Adachi did not miss the tongue that was stuck out at Kanda Yuu and the glare the other received for that in return, but the model stayed where his son was. She slowly plucked a few strings in order to get her head into the zone, feeling the melody coming to her as the room fell quiet.
"Sei—stay," Kanda stated abruptly, and she looked up to see the young boy leaning forward staring at her with bright blue eyes. Kanda had a hold on the back of his shirt, preventing the little boy from climbing over the table. "Sit down."
Seiichi wriggled slightly in the hold, little hands reaching out towards her. She smiled and continued to pluck strings in tandem.
"I want it," the boy said with a pout.
"Sit down, kiddo, or I'm carrying you out," Kanda said in return, and Seiichi sat.
Adachi glanced around and cleared her throat when they were all watching her intently. "Well, uh," she started, trying not to look over at Kanda Yuu who leaned back and stared at the ceiling in boredom. "Bookman-san said I could choose to sing anything so I chose this song…it's quite an old song but it's really nice, so…" she smiled nervously to her audience. "I hope you like it."
The intro was just a nice acoustic melody that calmed her nerves as she tried not to think too much about her surroundings, the familiar tune awashing over her. It was one of the first songs that she ever learnt on the guitar—the chords were relatively easy, and she liked the lyrics. She closed her eyes and concentrated on not letting her voice shake. She vaguely pretended that she was singing to Narumi, not Bookman-san or Kanda Yuu or Reiichi-san. Personally. She had performed in front of crowds. She could do this.
"I read a note my grandma wrote, back in nineteen twenty-three," she began, voice soft as her fingers continued to play the on strings. "Grandpa kept it in his coat, and he showed it once to me—"
So far so good—her voice was steady, though a little soft, and she took a deep breath to sing louder.
"He said, boy, you might not understand…but a long, long time ago…grandma's daddy didn't like me none, but I loved your Grandma so."
She had sung this plenty of time together with Narumi, both of them swaying to the music in her room during study breaks when her mother wasn't around.
"We had this crazy plan to meet…and run away together," she hummed. "Get married in the first town we came to…and live forever…but nailed to the tree where we were supposed to meet, instead…of her, I found this letter….and this is what it said—"
"If you get there before I do—" she sang, smiling and she strummed the chords.
"Don't give up on me—
I'll meet you when my chores are through;
I don't know how long I'll be—
But I'm not gonna let you down….darling, wait and see…
And between now and then, till I see you again…I'll be loving you—"
"Love, me."
She let her hands play the instrumental verses and chanced a look towards Bookman-san. The male redhead had his arm wrapped around his cousin's waist and his chin propped on her shoulder, and he stared at her so intently that she nearly lost focus. Quickly, she darted her gaze down and scrambled to start the next verse on time.
"I read those words just hours before, my Grandma passed away," Thankfully her voice still rang clear and crisp, carrying the note perfectly. "In the doorway of a church where me and Grandpa stopped to pray— I know I'd never seen him cry, in all my fifteen years…but as he said these words to her, his eyes filled up with tears—"
"If you get there before I do—"
She was surprised when a soft but audible hum joined her, and she smiled when she saw Bookman-san singing it softly along with her.
"Don't give up on me…
I'll meet you when my chores are through;
I don't know how long I'll be—
But I'm not gonna let you down…."
She closed her eyes, vocal chords vibrating.
"Darling, wait and see…
And between now and then, till I see you again,
I'll be loving you…."
"Love," she stopped the chords of her guitar, letting the silence linger for a while. "Me…"
Her raw voice carried in the air until it faded, blending nicely with the quiet.
And it was quiet, too quiet, and Adachi darted her glance around, unsure if she had done something wrong. Personally she felt that she sang it alright, but maybe…—her thoughts halted when an awkward clapping sound came from Seiichi, who pressed his palms together over and over again. She broke into a grin at the cute image—the little boy was practically sparkling. A louder clapping noise followed and that was Lavi, nodding solemnly and then Reiichi joined in, although softer but no less enthusiastic.
Reiichi blinked once, and her lips curved into a soft smile. "That was…" she searched for a word for a few moments. "Incredible. You…have a really great voice."
"T-thank you—"
"Right? Right?" Lavi burst out, shaking his cousin from the back. "Do you believe me now? Yuu, even you have to say that was fucking awesome."
That earned him a painful slap to his thigh. "Swear jar."
Kanda looked annoyed when everyone turned to look at him expectantly. "She's…okay," he said non-committedly. "I guess."
Well, that certainly didn't really make her feel confident, but Lavi waved off his comment.
"That's 'beyond fucking amazing' coming from Yuu," he translated, and earned another slap on his thigh.
"Lavi!"
"Sorry, Sei-chan, but I'm just…my life is complete," he shook his head, grinning widely. "That was…" he sighed wistfully. "That was worth it. So worth it. You're incredibly talented, Adachi-chan."
Adachi ducked her head down shyly. "Thank you. Not just for this," she gestured. "For my exam, I…I couldn't done it without you, Bookman-san."
She tried not to blush at the warm smile she received in turn. "You definitely could have," he said meaningfully, and then teasingly grinned. "But I'm really glad you didn't."
Before her face could betray her and flame up, Seiichi crawled over to where she was and touched her shin. She looked down at the sudden touch, watching the boy pull himself to stand up by holding on to her leg and attempting to touch the guitar.
"Sei—" Both Reiichi and Kanda immediately came forward and held the boy before he could get to her knee.
"It's okay," she told them, but Kanda lifted the boy into his arms.
"Want that," Seiichi said again. "I want the geetar!"
"It's not a toy," Kanda told him. "And it's a guitar."
"Geetar," the boy repeated.
"Guitar," Kanda said, and Lavi snickered not so subtly.
"Geetar."
Reiichi grinned at them and turned to Adachi after. "Do you want to stay for dinner, Inouye-san?"
Adachi nearly earned herself a cramp in the neck from how fast she looked up. "Huh?"
"Dinner," Reiichi repeated kindly. "It's just an hour or so more. Would you like to stay?"
She fumbled. "N-no! No, it's alright, I'll go home for dinner. I've intruded for so long, I couldn't possibly—"
"Yuu's the one who cooks," Lavi interjected, tilting his head. "Do you really want to pass on an opportunity to eat food that Yuu cooked? Kanda Yuu?" he emphasized, winking.
"Don't tease her," ReiichI chided.
"Why, are you jealous? Rest assured Yuu only has eyes for you—"
"Inouye-san," Reiichi completely ignored Lavi, addressing her. "Really, stay. We can drive you home later."
"I will not," Kanda put in, and Reiichi rolled her eyes.
"Lavi will."
"I will?"
"Yes," she stated. "Especially since you were the one you trouble her to come all this way."
"It wasn't any trouble," Adachi said quickly. "This was the least I could do for the past many weeks."
"I was kidding," Lavi shook his head. "Of course we'll drive you back. I would've driven you here, but I don't own a car and I came from home."
Somehow in the conversation it was apparently assumed that she was staying for dinner, and no matter how she refused, she ended up sitting back on the couch.
She paused, feeling the awkwardness set in again. "If you require any help, I can—"
"Sit, Inouye-san," Reiichi smiled. "You're a guest."
Lavi shot up his hand. "I can also—"
"Not you, because you break plates."
"That was one—"
"—many, times," Reiichi spoke over her cousin, giving him a look. "Watch over Sei."
"Aye, aye, captain."
The female redhead took the boy from Kanda (who grumbled and disappeared somewhere towards the kitchens) and knelt down in front of them. "Sei, this is Adachi-nee-san," she introduced, looking between them. "She sang very well just now, didn't she? Be nice to her. Don't pull her hair. Don't touch her guitar. Understand?"
Seiichi scrunched his lips into a pout but when his mother did not relent, he nodded reluctantly.
"Good boy," Reiichi ruffled his hair. "Uncle Lavi will be with you, okay?"
Seiichi made some sort of whine, but he clambered up onto Lavi's lap anyway. Satisfied, Reiichi left them and headed towards the kitchens, presumably to join her husband.
"I want the geetar," Seiichi said once his mother was out of earshot, looking up at Lavi with his chin resting on the other's chest.
"Sorry, kiddo, you heard your mummy," Lavi messed up the little boy's hair, delighting in it.
Seiichi whined again and pressed his face into Lavi's chest, turning his head to look at Adachi. He never said a word after, just watching her curiously.
"He's really well behaved," Adachi observed, holding out a finger for the boy to grab.
Seiichi took it and drew her hand closer to him.
"I know. It's super creepy, but it's also super cool," Lavi admitted.
"You want the guitar, Sei-chan?" she asked kindly, lowering her face to his eye level.
"Yes," the boy nodded.
"Hey, don't tempt him," Lavi said, holding on to the boy. "He'll kill your strings if you let him play with it."
"I've got something else," she answered, turning around to rummage at her guitar case. After a minute she turned back, dangling a keychain from her fingers. "Sei-chan," she called. "Guitar."
"Geetar," the boy murmured, immediately clutching the instrument shaped keychain.
"Are you sure you want to give him that?"
"It's alright, I've had it for a while," she smiled, more fascinated with the way the little boy held her keychain in his hands with a sort of careful wonder.
"Sei-chan, what do you say to the pretty lady who gave you a present?" Lavi prompted.
"Thank you," the other muttered obediently, and then went back to turning the keychain in his hands.
"That will keep him busy for a while," Lavi observed. "You like kids, Adachi-chan?"
"I guess so," she replied. "It's quite often that children come in to the hospital to get their eyes checked as a precaution, or sometimes for an accidental cornea tear. They rub their eyes a lot."
"Hmm. Do you sing to them? Like nursery rhymes?"
"Sometimes," she admitted. "It's the fastest way to get them to stop crying."
"Sing one for me?" he asked, voice suddenly sounding too close.
Abruptly she realised that they were seated close enough that their thighs were touching together, but it seemed that the other did not realize or care, looking intently at her. She opened her mouth, wordless, until Lavi leaned back on the couch.
"Ahh, it was worth a shot," he murmured to himself wistfully.
She shifted away a little discreetly, and tried not feel too foolish.
A/N:
The song that Adachi sang is Love, Me by Collin Raye.
So. It has been a while since I came back to this story—it's just, while writing this chapter I realised how long it's been since I first started writing this fic and to be honest…it's long. It's about time that I wrapped it up for real, I feel. But rest assured I will complete the Lavi story arc properly I still have a lot of feelings about Kanda and Reiichi. Lavi and Adachi are admittedly harder to write, though it is working out. Kind of.
(Tbh I can't imagine anyone with Lavi except Kanda but that's my personal bias that will not work here ahahahaha /shot)
I think it's a very logical expectation that Adachi would have a mini crush on Lavi after spending some time with him—he's the cool idol guy from her point of view, who is devastatingly nice and good looking albeit a bit creepily persistent. This is the kind of crush that you know in your heart goes nowhere…for now. Lavi will have his revelation soon enough, though you could say it's rather inevitable given how invested he is.
I hope the English-Japanese switch made sense to follow, although it might have made italicizing words for emphasis in other paragraphs a little confusing….
Ah, little Seiichi…