Chapter 50
Ritsu cleared his throat and adjusted his tie before walking into the simple and humble office. A just as simple and humble man sat at the desk going over some paper work. However as he looked up, he nearly jumped out of his skin.
"M-M-Mister Kasanoda?" he asked as steadily as he could.
"Uh, yes sir, I'm here about the vacant spot in the arcade?" Ritsu said as he came and took a seat.
"Right," the manager said looking back at his paper work. Ritsu could see his hands were shaking slightly. "Uh, I looked over your resume and it looks good. I'm always in favor of high school kids trying to make the world a better place. The rent is 39404.75 yen a month. Is that going to be a problem? I do offer discounts to students."
"No sir, that amount should be just fine," Ritsu assured him.
"How long were you planning on using the space?" asked the manager.
"Uh, at least two to three years. Maybe more if everything goes well and the gardening club after we graduates continues this." Ritsu said.
"Okay, as long as you and your group follows the guidelines and rules, we should have no problem. Just sign here." He handed Ritsu a standard contract that Ritsu was able to read over easily and sign.
"Alright, I'll show you the spot," the manager said as he stood and grabbed a set of keys from the wall behind him from a sea of many of keys. He took one off the ring and handed it to Ritsu. "You can make as many copies as you need," he said as he opened the door to his office, only to let out a small shriek. Ritsu poked his head out and realized his men were still waiting outside for him, including Limber.
"Oh sorry, these are my uh associates," he quickly said as he gently pushed the manager past his men and towards the long stretched of small shops. The manager slowly led Ritus, followed by his men to a shop at the end with its metal door still down. The manager unlocked it and pushed it up to reveal a decent size shop with some old tables and very dusty.
"Sorry it's not in the best shape. I haven't rented it out in a while," the manager explained.
"No it's fine, we can clean it up no problem," said Ritsu as he walked further in to get a better look. It did indeed look bad, but all Ritsu could see was how he imagined it would look once it was cleaned and filled with his club members and Namiko helping to sell their hard work veggies to families. It brought a smile to his face. "In fact it's perfect."
"Good, well good luck with it. You know where my office is if you need anything else," said the manager as he waved and walked away.
"Don't worry Young Lord, we'll get this cleaned up in no time," Limber promised as she stood next to him.
"Yeah it's fine. I'm just glad we got it without having to use our methods to get it. We can be legit in some of our dealings," Ritsu said happily. He took out his phone and snapped a picture of the inside of the shop and sent it as a text to Namiko.
Namiko kept thinking about what Hanako had told her, about Ami and Tomomi possibly trying to get cozy with her just so they could get a rich boyfriend. How was two people she used to trust ,with some of her most personal secrets, and now she no longer wanted anywhere near her? A part of her wished Ritsu was here just so she had someone to comfort her.
Suddenly her phone went off. She pulled it out and saw it was a text from Ritsu with a picture of a messy looking shop.
I know it doesn't look like much now, but with a little work we should have it in perfect shape for our shop to sell our products! He wrote.
Namiko smiled at her boyfriend's good news. "Hey guys guess what?!" she called out, holding up her phone excited, "Ritsu got us the shop so we'll soon be able to make good use of our work!"
Everyone clapped and a few cheered.
"That's great Namiko," Haruhi said as she walked over and looked at her phone with the picture of the shop still on screen. "Looks like the shop needs some work though."
"Everything worth doing does!" Namiko insisted excited.
"Very good thought process Namiko," Kyoya said as he too looked the picture over. "Those tables look like they can still be used, but you might want to look into getting some coolers or what have you so as to help keep your products fresh."
"I'm sure we can get those no problem," said Namiko.
"Well, I'm pretty sure some of my hospital or clinics have old refrigerators they don't need anymore that are still in working order you can buy for a fair fee," said Kyoya.
"Sure, I'm sure we can cover the bill," said Namiko.
"Maybe you shouldn't talk so boldly like that without Ritsu here," Haruhi whispered.
"I'll cover the cost," Chizue suddenly said as she came up to the group.
"You will Chizue?" Namiko asked.
"Sure, I was hoping to put in a bid to be the club treasurer once the new president was selected and what better way to prove I'm worthy of the position than help with financial services here," said Chizue.
"Very well, well work out the details once I find some fridges that would suite your needs," said Kyoya as he set to work on his tablet.
"What are we going to do about cleaning this place up?" Haruhi asked.
"I'll ask Ritsu when I see him next how he wants to organize and go about it," said Namiko. She kept looking at the picture like it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.
Haruhi shook her head as she went back to work. She examined some of the lettuce that was growing. "Mmm, that will make a good salad I think," she said.
"Do you think you'd want to buy some from the shop once it's open?" Tamaki asked as he came and knelt down next to her, examining the lettuce himself.
"Maybe, a lot of them look good," said Haruhi.
"You're not so poor that you'd have to start buying from a discount store are you?!" Tamaki asked in a panic.
"No!" Haruhi snapped, "but I'm not above buying something that looks good at a reasonable price and looks good. Besides a lot of the money made in the store is getting donated to charity."
"Hmm, you're right! I'll buy up a lot of the veggies too!" Tamaki declared.
"Uh Senpai, you probably shouldn't personally. You would want to save some of these for the actual needy," said Haruhi.
"Oh," Tamaki said in despair.
Haruhi bit her lip. "I tell you what, since it'd be more logical for me to buy some of these, I can buy some and make a special salad for the two of us?" she suggested.
"You'd make a special salad, for me?" Tamaki asked.
"Sure, I still owe a month worth of dinner after all," said Haruhi.
Tamaki gulped; TAMAKI'S INNER MIND THEATER;
"Look Tamaki, I made you an extra special salad just for you. I even added one special ingredient, love."
"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Tamaki shouted, "everything, including salad tastes better when you add the special ingredient, LOVE!"
"Uh, what kind of salad do you want exactly?" Haruhi asked out loud.
When Namiko got home, she could hear a car pulling up behind her.
"Hey Namiko?" Ritsu called out. Namiko whirled around in time to see him running towards her, "did you get my text?"
"Yes!" Namiko said happily as she hugged him tight. "We're really doing this aren't we?!"
"Yeah, real exciting huh?" Ritsu asked, "once we get it cleaned and everything set up, we should be good."
"Do you want to go clean it up tomorrow?" Namiko asked.
"Oh no, don't worry about that, my men are working on that," Ritsu said.
"Oh, okay," said Namiko, "oh Kyoya-Senpai said he'll get us some refrigerators to help store our vegetables fresh at our shop as well. Plus Chizue said she'll cover the expense for it."
"Chizue?" Ritsu asked.
"Yeah, she wants to become the club treasurer and thinks this will show her her good financing skills," Namiko explained.
"Well I can definitely see to give her the position," said Ritsu.
"Hey Namiko!" the two suddenly heard Ami call out. Namiko shifted her eyes and noticed her hurrying towards her house.
"Come on!" Namiko said quickly as she pulled Ritsu into the house.
"Namiko wait!" they both heard Ami shout before Namiko slammed the door shut and even made sure to lock it.
"Who's slamming doors?" Kyo asked as he came towards the front door.
"Sorry Dad-K, I got a little over excited," Namiko said quickly.
Kyo looked out the window. "Honey, did you know Ami is coming up to the door? Oh and it looks like Tomomi is coming too. Shall I let them in?"
Namiko shook her head. "Never. Please, do not let them in if they knock."
Kyo nodded, looking concerned, but then looked over to see Ritsu was here. "What did I say about bringing strays here?"
Ritsu chuckled. "Actually, I came to tell Namiko about the shop we secured for our donating vegetables to the needy."
Kyo looked at Namiko. "That's incredible actually. Is the shop big?"
Namiko pulled out her phone and showed Kyo the photo of the shop.
"It's kind of dirty isn't it?"
Namiko and Ritsu nodded. "Yes, but with some cleaning it should look brand new."
Kyo nodded as Namiko ran into her room and grabbed a bunch of notebooks and learning materials, throwing them into her bag.
"Hey Dad-K,, I'm going to have a study session with Ritsu. So I'll be at his house in their study for a while. I'll make sure to call you and Dad-N when I'm on my way home. I promise that I won't stay out too late."
Kyo shrugged his shoulders, "Alright, just make sure you call us."
Namiko nodded as she took Ritsu's hand,leading him to the door. She opened it slowly and looked around cautiously before she started sprinting towards Ritsu's car, dragging Ritsu behind her. They had just reached the car and Namiko had her hand on the handle when suddenly...,
"Namiko!"
Namiko groaned as she looked to her side and saw Ami and Tomomi standing nearby, now hurrying towards her.
"Where are your keys?! Where are your keys?!" Namiko pleaded as she kept pulling on the door handle.
"Wait, Namiko! Please! Just give us a second!" She suddenly heard Tomoni call out.
Ritsu gently putvhis hands on Namiko's shoulders. "Calm down," he whispered as he slowly got her to turn and look at the two girls.
She sighed and looked at the two devious girls. "Yes?"
"Well, how is Ouran? Are you enjoying it there?" Tomomi asked.
"Yeah. It's a nice school," Namiko replied blatantly.
The two looked to the man next to Namiko. "So, this is your boyfriend, right?"
Ritsu extended his hand. "Yes, hello, we've met before,I'm Kasanoda."
"You're lucky. None of us have managed boyfriends yet." They giggled. "You know Yamashita still talks about you." Ami smiled.
Namiko nodded. "Yeah, Omi mentioned it to me before. He needs to be able to move on though. Why don't one of you ask him out?"
Tomomi and Ami looked at one another. "That's true." Tomomi said.
"And one of you can ask our Omi. I'm pretty sure he is still single." Namiko said.
Ritsu noticed Namiko was starting to feel awkward. "Well ladies, it was great to see you again. Namiko and I have somewhere to be." He said, pulling Namiko to his car and opening the door for her.
Namiko nodded thankfully as Ritsu closed the door for him. As he got in Namiko sighed. "Thank you... I really don't want to speak to them ever again."
Ritsu looked at her confused.
Namiko remembered that he wasn't at club, so she looked at him. "Hanako informed me that these two have cooked up a plan to buddy up with me so I could set them up with a rich guy. They seem to think that I set Hanako and Kyoya up."
"But they..." Ritsu started.
"Right, they got together on their own. I'd rather not buddy up with those girls if I can."
Ritsu nodded. "I understand now why you were rushing us to the car."
The car ride was silent as Ritsu drove to his home, pulling into the driveway. Getting out, Namiko followed Ritsu, removing her yellow dress, underneath she wore a yellow tanktop and black shorts with flats. She smiled as they entered. "Welcome home young lord! Welcome Miss Namiko!"
Ritsu bowed.
"Hello everyone. Pardon my intrusion."
Mr. Kasanoda walked in, smiling. "Well hello dear. What brings you here today?"
"Remember father, I asked you earlier about Namiko and I having a study session tonight."
Mr. Kasanoda nodded. "Oh, yes! Alright, well then I will let you two get to it. Miss Namiko, will you be joining us for dinner?"
Namiko looked at Ritsu.
"You're welcome to if you would like." Ritsu said, smiling.
"Sure. That would be great." Namiko said. She looked to Ritsu. "We should probably get to studying." She said, smiling. "It was nice to see you Mr. Kasanoda. See you at dinner?"
Mr. Kasanoda nodded, smiling. "Yes dear. Good luck."
As Ritsu and Namiko went into the study room, they pulled out books and began. "So, where should we begin? English? Math? Science?" Namiko asked.
Ritsu pulled over his science book. "How about science?"
Namiko nodded. "Sure," then she got a little smirk. "And maybe after that we can work on chemistry."
"Chemistry?" Ritsu asked only to suddenly get a kiss from Namiko.
"Mmm, I think we both do good work with chemistry," she said smugly.
Kyoya and Hanako were in Kyoya's limo as they went into an expensive shopping center. "Kyoya, please, I don't want you to buy something so expensive for me."
Kyoya smiled and shook his head. "I have a reason for this. I care for you no matter how you look or how you dress, but my father... I just want to avoid him saying anything hurtful. That's why I'm buying you an outfit to wear for the dinner. Allow me to do this."
Hanako sighed and smiled lightly, looking at Kyoya from the side. "Well, I guess I can allow you to without a fuss. Just promise me you won't spend too much. Imagine this being a rich man on a poor man's budget."
Kyoya chuckled. "Hmmm, that sounds like a challenge."
Hanako laughed as the car stopped before an expensive looking shop. Kyoya got out and opened the door for the Hanako as they walked in.
"Hello Mr. Ootori. Your sister, Fuyumi, was just in earlier today."
Kyoya nodded. "No doubt to get a dress for father's dinner?"
The woman nodded. "Yes, she insists on getting a new dress every time." The woman looked at Hanako and smiled. "And who is this beautiful young woman?"
Kyoya nodded. "This is my girlfriend ma'am."
The woman shieked in happiness. "Are you taking this lovely young woman to the dinner?"
Kyoya nodded. "She has demanded that I be a rich man on a poor man's budget though if you please."
The woman smiled. "I like that. Well, these are our cheaper dresses." The woman said, gesturing to a long wall. "These are our cheaper shoes," She gestured to a rack under the dresses. "And if you want jewelry, those cheaper ones on on the wall next to the desk."
"Thank you very much ma'am."
Hanako looked at the tags. "56,639 YEN?! THAT'S NOT CHEAP!" She exclaimed.
Kyoya nodded. "That's cheap for this area. It's okay."
Hanako sighed and bit her lip and nodded to herself. She looked at the large rack when she spotted about four dresses. She looked admiringly at the two coral colored dresses, one yellow, and one pink. She looked at them as she pulled them down.
Kyoya smiled as he watched her. He looked at the store associate. "Ma'am, would you please allow her to try those on?"
She nodded. "Of course!" Gently she pushed Hanako into the closet. "Don't come out and show all of them. Just show your favorite!" The woman said excitedly.
"Right." Hanako laughed as she stripped down to her undergarments, first trying on the pink dress. She liked it, but it didn't hug to her curves the way she wanted and the top lace was very itchy. She then tried on the two coral dresses. The one coral dress was too sparkly for a dinner dress and the other resembled a prom dress. Sighing, she reached over and grabbed the last one, a yellow short knee-length spring satin dress with lace handmade flower top and . As she slipped the soft slippery fabric over her head, she smiled. Looking at it complimented her light hair and her green eyes. She grabbed her hair and put it up in a comb style. Nodding to herself.
Just then, suddenly a pair of silver dancing pointed toed flats slid under the door as the associate spoke. "Whichever dress you choose, those shoes will be perfect!"
Hanako smiled and slipped them on, admiring her look in the mirror. "Okay, I'm coming out." Hanako said as she put her clothing she wore in, into her purse as well as her shoes and socks. Opening the door, she took a deep breath and stood before Kyoya.
Kyoya broke out of his normal character and let an emotion overwhelm his being. He blushed slightly, holding a pair of earring up to her ears.
"Oh yes! Those will work! Are you ready then?"
Kyoya smiled and nodded as he gently took her hand with him, the woman scanning the UPCs on the items and gently removing them. Knowing Hanako wouldn't want to hear the total, Kyoya covered her ears as the woman spoke.
"The total is 151,841.25 yen."
Nodding, Kyoya pulled out his card and swiped it before thanking the woman and leading her into his limo.
Hanako blushed as the limo drove. "I feel... so over dressed."
Kyoya looked at her and placed a gentle kiss on her cheek. "But, You look beautiful."
"Thank you," Hanako said. She did her best not to fidget too much as she headed home with Kyoya. She looked up in awe at the huge house. It looked more like an expensive health resort itself than a place people would live.
She was distracted by the door opening and a deep voice echoing, "welcome home Master Kyoya."
"Yes thank you, I hope I haven't kept everyone waiting," said Kyoya as he shifted out of the car. He reached his hand in for Hanako to take and help pull her out.
As Hanako slid out she came face to face with a stone cold looking man in butler's outfit.
"Welcome to the Ohtori Family Mansion Madam," he said without flinching.
"Uh thank you," Hanako sputtered.
"Let's go Hanako," Kyoya encouraged as he pulled on her hand and led her in. Hanako did her best not to look around too much at Kyoya's big house, thinking it would be impolite to stare. Before she knew it, she was in a big room with three leather couches set up in front of a fire place, thus making a perfect square. On each couch sat a man and on the couch in the middle sat one young woman who along with the man sitting on the same couch had their backs currently to them.
One of the men on one of the other couches happened to glance up as Kyoya and Hanako walked in.
"Father, Kyoya and his young lady friend are here," he said. At that, the three other occupants of the room also turned to look at them. Only the woman smiled in greeting. The man sitting next to her stood up slowly.
"Welcome home Kyoya, thank you for being prompt. I hope we didn't pull you away from anything important at school," he said calmly.
"No sir,"Kyoya said softly.
"Well, now that we're all here let's begin our meal. No sense in making our guest wait. It's rude manners," Yoshio said as he walked up to Kyoya and Hanako. "Miss Kokan, would you allow me the honor as well to escort you to the dining room?"
"Uh, sure," Hanako said as she linked arms with Yoshio and Kyoya and walked with both men towards the fancy dining room. She looked at Kyoya for guidance. Kyoya just smiled at her, as if he was telling both of them everything was truly going to be fine.
