A/N: Hi, guys. Look…I know things are kind of going to shit right now, but I'm thinking about going live on Instagram all throughout the week. My IG handle is lumiolivier if you're looking for someone to hang out with. I'll be keeping people posted on Twitter ( MsLOlivier) on if/when I go live. But like I said, you want someone to hang out with or you're just bored as hell, that's where we can sit and bullshit about anything and everything. K? Now, I'm going to let you indulge yourselves in this week's Switch chapter (which…slight bad news, next Monday's chapter will be the last one.) and…I don't know. Go make a grilled cheese because I'm starving? K. Love you. xx

The next morning, I woke up to a tear-soaked pillowcase. Jesus Christ, Rei. Someone needs to check up on you more often. But then, everything was ok. I felt a warm body at my back that hadn't moved since I came back to bed last night. And I sure as hell wasn't complaining. It'd be a little better if I had that warm body pressed against the front instead. I rolled over and buried my face in Ritsu's chest, content with the world. There's no better place right away in the morning. If I could, I'd pay my respects to Meditrina, but Ritsu never was good at being the little spoon.

"Morning, cutie," Ritsu kissed the top of my head, grumbling sleepily in my ear.

"Morning," I cuddled closer, reveling in the warmth.

"Hey," he lifted my chin up to him, "Are you ok, Rei?"

"Are you?" I retaliated. It's too damn early to get touchy-feely like this.

"I am if you are," Ritsu scratched at my shoulder. It didn't even itch anymore, but fuck, that feels good.

"Good," I gave him a quick kiss, "You want to go to class today or should we skip?"

"We can go to class," he decided, "I told you, Rei. If you're good, I'm good. You and I operate on a pack mind."

"We really do," I agreed. If I was bitchy, Ritsu would get bitchy, too. If I was in a good place, so was he. We were weird like that.

"Come on," Ritsu nudged me out of bed, "Let's get to class. God forbid if we're late again."

"Mmm…" I moaned into him, "Cinco minutos más, cariño…"

"Lo…ciento," he thought for a second, "No. We have to go, Rei. What about you heading up the family? You need to graduate in order to do that."

"Didn't I tell you last night?" I reminded him, "Maybe I don't want to head up the family. Maybe I want to stay in bed and go back to sleep more."

"I know that's bullshit," Ritsu continued nudging me out of bed. I may kill him later.

"Do you want Her Royal Highness to come out and play?" I threatened.

"That depends," he asked, "Does she get out of bed?"

"You're an asshole, Ritsu," I pushed myself out of bed, mostly against my will, and got in the shower. I didn't want to, but I was here.

"If it makes you feel any better," Ritsu followed me into the bathroom, keeping his eyes covered. Bless this boy, "We'll stop by the café on the way to school. And you can get whatever you want."

"Ok…" That turned the mood around a little more. If I was more coherent, I would've invited him to join me. It's not like there's anyone else here and Daddy knew better than to bug my penthouse. I liked my privacy and he respected that. Even though I was in a completely different country miles and miles away from home. Hell, we were on different continents! Regardless, I could feel saucy whenever I wanted. However, this morning would not be one of those moments.

For the rest of the week, Ritsu and I had the same routine. Wake up (Sometimes, he'd crash with me. Sometimes, he'd go back to the compound. But I never stayed at the compound. That was only if my personal safety was at risk and the penthouse wasn't safe.), go to school, leave, go to the ramen shop, go to bed. If he wasn't staying with me, the two of us would be on the phone until one of us fell asleep. But soon, Friday fell upon us.

Ritsu and I had been thinking about taking a weekend trip again, but we were torn between Karuizawa and Hakone. I had all this time sitting through the host club, halfheartedly listening to these girls ramble on about their days, and still, I couldn't decide. But then, the host club had started winding down and it was time for us all to go home. Finally. However, we still had one last customer to tend to. And he was always sitting in my section.

"Hey, baby," I sat down in Ritsu's lap, getting my proper welcome. There was an unspoken rule at the host club that the clients couldn't touch the hosts. Although, the rest of the host club could look the other way (in this case, literally) for Ritsu and me. Besides, I'm sure it gave Kyoya more inspiration for his artwork in his black book, "You ready to go?"

"I don't know…" Ritsu shot me down, "I think we're going to have to wait until tomorrow morning to head to Karuizawa."

"What do you mean?" I wondered. I had already packed and everything.

"While you were hosting," he explained, "I got a phone call and I'm…meeting up with a special contact tonight."

"Is it Mom?" I figured.

"Yeah," Ritsu nodded, biting his bottom lip, "I hope that's ok with you."

"Of course," I promised, "Ritsu, I will never ever, ever, ever, ever come between you and Kiyomi. If you want to spend more time with her, then by all means, go. I love you, but never prioritize me over her. Got it?"

"I won't," he pulled me into his chest, running his fingers down my spine, "How did I get so lucky to get a girl like you?"

"I don't know," I shrugged, "You call a guy an asshole and I guess he sticks around."

"Hey, Rei-chan," Honey came over, treading lightly.

"Hi, Honey," I offered him a seat across from us, "What's up?"

"If you're not busy tonight," he asked, "Do you think maybe you'd want to come and play with Takashi and me?"

"Fine by me," I nodded.

"Really?" Honey got really excited really quickly.

"Really…?" the twins slinked over in the way that only they could do. Although, after a quick glare from both Ritsu and me, they backed off, "Got it. No means no."

"Good boys," I gave them both a pat on the head, "Where should we meet tonight, Honey?"

"How about we come and get you?" Honey suggested, "We know where you live."

"I know you do," I nodded, "You've been to my penthouse before. Twice, if I remember correctly."

"That's right!" his face lit up, "So, around six?"

"Sure," I allowed, "That's fine. I'll see you guys tonight."

"Hey, Morinozuka-senpai," Ritsu chimed in, "Thank you."

"Mmm." Mori gave him a nod back. Why did I have a feeling this was set up beforehand without my knowledge? Was Ritsu plotting behind my back again? Well…It's not totally a bullshit thing. He just wants to make sure I'm taken care of and safe. But he should know I can take care of myself. He's seen me in the narrows. He knows I've beat the shit out of Mori before. I got it handled. But he probably doesn't want me sullying my hands over assholes that don't matter. Isn't he considerate? At least he is in my head.

"If you're going to see Kiyomi tonight," I asked, "Does that mean you're going to come stay with me tonight?"

"Just so we can jam out early tomorrow morning," Ritsu filled me in.

"Hey, Kasanoda," Hikaru popped up on his left.

"Can we ask you something?" Kaoru popped up on his right.

"Only if you don't do that again," Ritsu cringed, "It's fucking creepy."

"Who's Kiyomi?" they asked.

"Not your business," Ritsu shut them down immediately.

"Ooh…" Hikaru and Kaoru backed off.

"Does that mean…"

"…There's another woman in the picture?"

"Is Kasanoda cheating on you, Reila?!" Tamaki got involved…and angry, "How dare you?!"

"Back the fuck up, Tamaki," I rolled my eyes, "Ritsu's not cheating on me. If you three could just pulled your heads out of each other's asses for two seconds…Ritsu, you might as well tell them. Or they're just going to keep thinking you're cheating on me."

"I know better than that," Ritsu chuckled to himself, "That's how I wake up with a horse head on my pillow."

"I told you," I groaned, "That shit doesn't actually happen."

"That would mean Rei was mafia," Hikaru pulled me off Ritsu's lap.

"Sure," Kaoru sandwiched me between his brother and him, "She's a little rough around the edges…"

"But she's not mafia…"

Both Haruhi and Kyoya's ears perked up. Mori's, too. Looks like someone figured it out. Chances are, they're going to freak, but if Haruhi didn't and Kyoya didn't and Mori still trusts me enough to be around Honey, I'm sure this will go over well, "Yeah, I am. And the Mendoza family has never used a horse head as a message. That's just shit you see in movies."

"No, you're not," the twins simultaneously denied.

"Yes, she is," Kyoya chimed in, "The Mendoza family polices New York City's mafia activity and criminal underworld. They took it over after the head of the last family to hold that position died and left the duties to her father, who now heads the family. Isn't that right, Reila?"

"That's right," I confirmed, "I can make sure you two go missing and are never found. You don't think this scrappy nature just happened, do you? No, no, no. It was part of my upbringing. I've been trained since I was nine years old to head the family and once we graduate, I will. Maybe. Depends on a few other factors, but right now, that's the plan."

Hikaru and Kaoru exchanged nervous glances, "You're serious?"

"Yeah," I giggled a bit, sitting back down where I belonged, "I'm not kidding. And for future reference, whenever Daddy needs someone dealt with, he sends them to me."

"It's true," Ritsu jumped in, "I've seen it with my own two eyes. She's fucking brutal. No mercy."

"And yet," I thought back, "I seem to remember someone telling me how hot it was to watch."

"That's my girl," Ritsu held me tight, "May I never be on the receiving end of Her Royal Highness."

"You won't," I kissed his cheek, "Now, if you boys will excuse me, I think I'm going to head home and change. Honey, Mori, I'll see you tonight."

"Bye, Rei-chan!" Honey waved me out while Hikaru, Kaoru, and Tamaki were left to process who I am. If I'm allowed back into the host club on Monday, I'll count that as a win. But for now, they had no color in their faces, nor any idea of what to think of me now. I'm sure it made a lot of other shit make sense now. Nevertheless, I jumped on the back of Ritsu's bike and the two of us headed back to my place. It's going to suck that I won't have Ritsu tonight, but I'll have him for the rest of the weekend. I'm not complaining. Ritsu could spend all the time with his mom that he wanted. At least he was a gentleman enough to walk me to my door.

As the two of us got into the elevator, the doors closed and like every other time we got into this elevator, almost as if it were Pavlovian, it turned into us viciously making out. Elevators, man…They fucking got to us. I don't know why they sent our hormones on fire, but I'm not mad about it. And I'm pretty sure he wasn't either.

KA-CHUNK…

Oh, shit…The elevator stopped and so did our sudden outburst of romance. Ritsu looked over at me, "You ok, baby?"

"Yeah," I started to sweat a little, "What the fuck just happened?"

"It seems the elevator jammed," he pointed out, "Has this ever happened before?"

"Not that I know of," I sat down on the floor, "God only knows how long we're going to be here."

"We'll be ok," Ritsu tried to calm me down. Again, bless him.

The emergency phone started ring and since this was pretty much my elevator, I grabbed it, "Hello?"

"This is the front desk," the receptionist reported, "Is everything ok?"

"The elevator's jammed," I told her, "What's going on?"

"Maintenance is working on it as we speak," she promised, "Try to stay calm and it should be back up and running soon."

"Thank you," I hung up.

"So?" Ritsu asked, "Don't keep me in suspense here, Rei. What's going on with the elevator?"

"Maintenance is already working on it," I parroted, "It should be good soon."

"Awesome," he joined me on the floor, "So…It's just you and me in this elevator."

"Yes, it is," I curled into his shoulder.

"What should we do?"

"I don't know, Ritsu," I thought it over, "I'd suggest shoot dice, but we don't have any."

"Well…" Ritsu's cheeks turned red, almost taking away from the devious little smirk on his face, "I can think of something we could do."

"I'd love to," I knew exactly where his mind was at, "But we don't know how long we have. If there's someone on the other side of the elevator doors when we get out, they don't need to see either one of us naked."

"Dammit…"

"Hey," I put my hand up to his face, "In due time. We're going to have all weekend in Karuizawa to do whatever we damn well please. If one of those nights, we just happen to forget where our clothes are, then so be it."

"Speaking of that Karuizawa trip," Ritsu wrapped his arms around me, "Thank you."

"You're welcome?" I gave him a look, "What are you thanking me for again?"

"For throwing yourself under the bus at the host club today," he elaborated, "I really didn't want to go through the rigmarole of explaining my mom to the host club. To be honest, I didn't think they'd be listening to me."

"Ritsu, Ritsu, Ritsu," I let out a heavy sigh, "You really should know better. It's the fucking host club. Someone is always listening. Usually, it's Hikaru and Kaoru. Is it creepy? Yes. Is it kind of stalkery? Yes. But they manage to get away with it. They're not the ones you have to worry about listening."

"Ootori," Ritsu nodded, "I know. He's the scary one."

"Bingo," I laid my head on his shoulder, "But you're welcome. I didn't really throw myself under the bus, though. It was enough of a distraction to get them to not pay attention to the Kiyomi card, but we all knew this day would come anyway. Kyoya found out from hacking my records. Mori guessed all on his own. And I told Haruhi the other night at the ramen shop."

"You told her?"

"Uh-huh," I went on, "And she didn't freak nearly as bad as I thought she would. That's never happened to me before."

"I didn't freak when you told me you were mafia," Ritsu pointed out.

"That's because you're yakuza, baby," I let out a little yawn. Hopefully, the first place we go tonight is anywhere with coffee, "You'd have no room to judge."

"Not that I'd judge anyway," he assured, running his fingers down the back of my arm.

"Thanks, Ritsu," I cuddled into him. Then, the elevator started making noises again. And it started moving, "Hey! Look at that."

"Look at that," Ritsu pulled me back onto my feet, "Elevator's working again."

"If we could've had sex in that amount of time," I teased, "That would've been sad."

"Instead," he wrapped his arms around my waist, "We had meaningful conversation. And in the elevator. That shit doesn't happen."

"That's because we don't think the elevator's going to break down."

"True."

When the elevator emptied out, no one was on the other side to greet us. Good. At least no one would've seen our bare asses either. Ritsu and I went into my penthouse and I threw my shit on the couch. Honey and Mori were going to be here in twenty minutes and I was going to spend an evening out and about in town. I wasn't quite sure what we were going to be doing, but I'm sure it'll be fun. Winging it wasn't always a good idea, though. I had no clue what to wear. I doubt we're going clubbing, so that left…almost none of my wardrobe. Fortunately, I wasn't alone in my penthouse, "Ritsu!"

"Yes, Reila…" Ritsu joined me in my closet, "What is it?"

"I need some help," I confessed, "I need something to wear tonight and I got nothing."

"Bullshit, you got nothing," he rolled his eyes, "Rei, you have a mini mall in your closet. How can you have nothing to wear?"

"I'm looking into the void here," I sat at the edge of my bed, "And…I got nothing. Nothing's jumping out at me."

"Are you asking me to find you something?"

"Please."

"Fine," Ritsu thumbed through my clothes. Thank God for a fresh perspective. My closet was foolproof, so no matter what Ritsu picks out, it can't possibly be bad, "Dress or skirt?"

"Skirt," I picked.

"Any aversion to glitter?"

"Not really, no," I laid out on my bed, waiting for whatever combination Ritsu came up with.

"Not to be that guy, Rei," Ritsu pulled a few things out of my closet, "But do you have anything that isn't monochromatic?"

"Not really, no," I shook my head, "Ritsu, you were in New York for two weeks. Black is almost the uniform across the city. It's local heritage."

"I need to take you by the hand and show you Harajuku," he let out a heavy sigh, "It might be a little much for you out of the gate, but you can handle it. Here."

Ritsu threw his findings on top of me in a pile that I wasn't expecting. Alright, a sparkly top, a favorite leather skirt, and my white leather jacket. He did know what he was doing. Good boy, Ritsu, "Not bad."

"You're welcome," Ritsu pulled me onto my feet, "I need to get going. I won't be here when Haninozuka-senpai and Morinozuka-senpai show up, so good luck. I'll see you later tonight."

"I love you," I stood on my toes, getting one last kiss goodbye.

"I love you, too," he held me tight, "If you need anything, call me."

"Can I call you just to say hi?" I asked, laying my head on his chest.

"I'm sure Mom would love to hear from you, too," Ritsu figured, "If you really have to, you can call to say hi."

"No," I took my clothes and went into my bathroom, "I'm not going to do that. Send Kiyomi my love, but she's not there for me. Where are you guys going tonight?"

"Akihabara," he told me, "There's a rooftop garden we can go to. It's secluded. It's quiet. We'll be fine."

"Hey," I chirped, "I want you to go into my little backpack and take out my keyring."

"Are you sure?" Ritsu worried, "Isn't that kind of invasive?"

"If you were to do it without me knowing," I dropped my dress around my ankles, "Then, yes, it would. But since I'm giving you permission, you're more than welcome to it."

"Ok…" he ran to the living room and back to my bedroom, "What am I doing with your keys?"

"Give," I stuck my hand out the door, feeling my keyring in my hand. I opened the keyring and slid out one key, "Take this."

"What's this for?" Ritsu asked.

"It's a key to the penthouse," I bit my lip, waiting for his nose to start gushing blood, "You know…In case you ever want to come in here and I'm not home. Or the door is locked. I'm not asking you to move in. I just want you to have a key to my penthouse."

"Rei…" he melted inside. I walked out fully dressed, so I could see the absolutely stunned look on his face. That wasn't what I was going for, but at this point, I'm just happy his nose isn't bleeding. That boy has lost pints because of me, "I don't know what to say."

"Then, don't say anything," I insisted, "Just keep my key on hand, ok? My door is always open to you. As long as you lock up behind you."

Ritsu threw his arms around me, "Thank you. And if I dare say so, you look fucking hot, baby."

"I had a little help," I giggled, "Go. I'm sure Kiyomi's waiting."

"I love you," Ritsu gave me a quick kiss and headed out the door. I love you, too, baby…

Well…That happened. Someone I want to have my penthouse key has my penthouse key. Now, he doesn't have to break in like some kind of hoodlum. Although, I had visions of him crawling into bed with me in the early hours of the morning. Not that I mind. If I had a key to the Kasanoda compound, I'd do the same thing. But I know why he kept me away from the compound. Even though I know exactly what that kind of life is like, he doesn't want to pull me into his family's business. My family was plenty. Especially since Daddy would love to pull Ritsu into our family business.

Knock, knock.

"Rei-chan!" Honey sang from my front door, "We're here!"

"I'm almost ready, Honey," I called back, "Give me ten minutes."

"Ok!" I'm sure he could entertain himself until then.

"Be careful when you sit on the couch!" I warned him, "My knife is in one of the cushions and I don't remember which one. Ritsu wouldn't let me have it out when his mom was here, so I had to get rid of it quick."

"Got it!" Did I put my knife in the chair? That might be where it is…

Well, Reila…You look cute as hell. Your boyfriend's spending the evening with his mom. And there are two boys at your front door, asking for your company. Might as well get going, yeah?