Chapter Twenty One

Kana

Tamaki had gone overboard when ordering dinner for our group. When Kaoru and I had returned, the table was full of traditional dishes: rice, vegetables, and various types of fish. My stomach growled as I took my place between Honey and Kyoya, ready to finally get something on my stomach.

Kyoya touched my thigh gently as I reached for my bowl. With a small smile, he took my bowl and filled it with rice and vegetables. "Do you prefer your fish grilled? Or perhaps fried?"

"Grilled is fine." I said, suddenly feeling shy. My mother's words echoed in my mind. As much as I tried to ignore her remarks, they still stung deeply.

"As you wish." Kyoya returned my bowl to me before preparing his own meal.

"We need a strategy, men." Tamaki said in between bites of food. "Kyoya has entrusted us to keep watch over Kana-chan. I propose that I temporarily move in with her until the locks have been changed, so Amelia Claire won't be able to enter without her knowing."

"Vetoed." Kyoya smirked.

"At least let me take the first watch." Tamaki pouted. "Kana-chan, wouldn't you like for me to stay with you?"

I nearly choked on my rice. "Why do you want to stay with me? I'm sure I'll be fine overnight."

"Tama-chan's right." Honey said through a mouthful of food. "We don't know if she's been coming in without you noticing."

"And we can't be certain that your maid isn't going through your things on her behalf." Kyoya touched his napkin to the sides of his mouth. "Have you done a background check on her?"

"There's nothing in that house that they can use against me. My computer is set to automatically…" I frowned, my Japanese suddenly failing me. "They won't be able to get any information from it."

"Automatically what, Kana?" Kyoya asked.

I thought for a moment, then spoke to Kyoya in English. "It is configured to erase the hard drive if I enter a specific password from my phone. If anyone attempts to log into it, I'll get a notification. Sure, if someone knows what they're doing they'll be able to gather data from the slack space, but they'll need a specific set of-"

"I've really got to get better at English." Hikaru shot me a confused look. "You've only taught me a bunch of bad words."

"I could say the same about my Japanese." I couldn't help but chuckle.

"What Kanami is saying is that unless someone is as brilliant as she is, they won't be getting any of her personal information from her computer." Kyoya explained.

"You're really good with chopsticks for a foreigner." Honey commented. I hadn't noticed that he was watching me eat.

"Father would occasionally have Japanese guests. We tried to accommodate." I had nearly finished my bowl of food. I was hungrier than I realized.

"Can we get back to the matter at hand?" Tamaki had barely touched his own food. "You never answered me, Kana-chan."

"We'll have to be discrete. I have a feeling that Amelia dropped by once she realized that I had been paying Kanami visits." Kyoya seemed frustrated by the thought.

"That just means we'll have to sneak into her room." Hikaru grinned.

"Maybe we'll find the sleeping princess in one of the lace nightgowns we gave her." Kaoru was obviously trying to get a rise out of Tamaki, but the comment still made me blush.

It was Kyoya, however, who reacted to the remark. "And did you model these for the twins, Kanami?"

"Don't tell me you really believe them." I rolled my eyes. Kyoya's hand once again came to rest on my thigh, squeezing tightly.

"I'll stay Sunday night." Mori's voice was low.

"Ah, so you can take her to the early class, right Takashi?" Honey seemed oblivious to the tension between Kyoya and the twins.

I felt Kyoya's hand relax a bit. "It would be preferable, Kana. I'll be able to have a member of the Ootori police force change all of your locks by the middle of the week."

"Fine." I sighed.

"So that settles it. I'll be keeping the darling Kanami company tonight." Tamaki flashed me a wide grin. "Kyoya's already been outed as having a relationship with her, so naturally-"

"We'll take Monday night." Hikaru and Kaoru said in unison.

"And I'll stay Tuesday." Honey rubbed my arm affectionately. His expression darkened a bit. "I hope Amelia Claire comes by. I'd like to meet her."

"You'll stay in our side room while the club is open." Kyoya pushed his glasses closer to his eyes. "The less you're in that house, the better."

"Why don't we just move her out completely?" Tamaki asked.

"I don't have my own bank account. Or anything of my own, really. Everything's in Mother's name." I admitted. "Unless I was very specific in where I made withdraws, she'd be able to track me anywhere."

"And there's always my father's stipulations for not pressing charges against you." Kyoya frowned. "I'm sure he's expecting there to be some sort of supervision over your behavior."

"There's a monitoring software on my computer. My phone too. But like I said before-"

Kyoya pressed a finger to my lips. "Don't even try it."

"You must be really smart, Kana-chan!" Honey giggled.

"So Kana-chan." Tamaki leaned forward. "I hope you're ready to finally be charmed by me. We've got a whole night together."

I blinked slowly. These next few nights were going to be interesting, to say the least.