As usual, I don't own BroCon.

"Hey, Hinata."

Ema turned from her locker to see Yusuke strolling to her side. The day was already coming to a close,Her heart pounded in her chest at the prospect of having to study with him, Kaito, and all her friends at once. She prayed she wouldn't have to bury any of them before they left.

Still, she smiled up at the redhead and hoisted a few books from the shelf. Tucking them into her bag, she said, "Mm. Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah," he replied, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly, "I don't really know how to get there, though."

"That's okay. You'll be riding with me in Tamatsuki Tamotsu's car, unless you want to ride with Tsukada Mitsuo."

Yusuke stiffened. He knew both of them from afar; strictly speaking, they were roughly the same size, Tsukada more muscularly-composed than Tamatsuki. Yusuke had talked to Tsukada after a particularly big game that their school had lost, and he remembered that the hulking boy's eyes had blazed with more fury than they usually displayed at Ema's lunch table. And Tamatsuki, while horribly shy, seemed more kind than the other, always dusted with flour when he went straight from cooking class to lunch, sporting an apron around his waist and a beautifully-decorated cake in his hand.

"Ah... I'll ride with Tamatsuki."

Ema only nodded her assent, flicking her phone open and texting someone while Yusuke reasoned that he only wanted to ride with Tamatsuki Tamotsu, a gentle giant, because it was a far better option than a jock who could pop the brother's head off like a daisy.

And maybe if he was lucky, Hashira would come to his senses in the other car.

Tamatsuki Tamotsu was not a gentle giant.

Sure, he was toward Ema, or toward Akiyama Kiyomi, or toward those twins whose names Yusuke almost never remembered (Ringo and Rayquaza, or whatever).

But he seemed to have it out for Yusuke. His stone-cold glare kept meeting Yusuke's uncomfortable one through the rear-view mirror as Ema coasted along in the front seat. The Asahina managed to end up sandwiched between the twins, who both glanced at each other with obvious discomfort as they passed a high-tech looking gadget back and forth, dodging Yusuke. Directly behind him sat Akiyama, whose stare burned holes straight into the back of his head, and on either side of her, her artist friend Jinnouchi Asami and the third-year Oshiro Katsu seemed to be plotting Yusuke's disappearance. Oshiro's eyes seemed hard as steel to Yusuke as they skimmed over the two Asahinas in the car.

A truck almost larger than the one Tamatsuki drove cruised past them in the other lane. Through the window, the young man observed Tsukada Mitsuo and Hashira Kaito, both laughing with the rest of their friends with obvious camaraderie. Ema gazed wistfully at them, and not for the first time that day, Yusuke felt a pang of jealousy.

"So, Asahina," began Tamatsuki, and suddenly Yusuke felt a thousand times smaller as the older boy spat out the family name like three-day old sushi. "You—"

Yusuke's phone chimed. And if he thought that Tamatsuki couldn't look any more livid, he was quickly proven wrong. The ring effectively cut off the older boy and Yusuke had to answer it with a mumbled apology.

"Hello? Masa-nii?"

"Yusuke? Where are you?"

"...Agh! I forgot to mention, didn't I? I'm studying with Hinata today."

"You'll be back in time for dinner, but I won't be home till lunch tomorrow," Ema whispered, twisting around to look him in the eye. If she noticed the blush rapidly growing on his face, she didn't comment on it.

"Ah, yeah, she says— wait, what?!" Yusuke yanked the phone away from his ear. "What do you mean, you're not going to be here till lunch tomorrow?"

She fidgeted, not making eye contact with him. "I talked to my father. He says I can stay over at Katsu's for the evening. I don't really know about you, though."

It was a painful reminder of the rift that seemed to be growing between Ema and the brothers; a simple sleepover seemed all too final. But he couldn't dwell on that; the eldest Asahina was calling his name, and Yusuke shifted his attention away from his sister.

"Hm? Yeah, I'm here till just before dinner," Yusuke responded, "and Hinata says that she's going to be staying over at Oshiro Katsu's house."

There was silence on the other end and a little bit of awkward shuffling as Masaomi seemed to shift to say something to Ukyo and Kaname. Meanwhile, Tamatsuki pulled around a fountain in a gigantic driveway directly behind Tsukada, and Yusuke could only gawk and let the others slide past him.

"We're here," Oshiro announced to him, making his way up the grand steps and to an ornate entry way.

"Ah..." Yusuke grunted, catching his sister by the arm. "Oshiro Katsu is..."

"The heir to an investment company. He doesn't bite, though." She followed her friends and deposited her extra bags with the maids at the front door as Yusuke's eye twitched. Of course, with a doctor, lawyer, and pop star as the family breadwinners, Yusuke was well-accustomed to a life of luxury, but this! He almost couldn't see the ends or top of the towering mansion, and disgruntled, he trudged up the stairs to follow his sister while ignoring the bows from the estate gardeners.

"Yusuke! Are you listening?"

"Ah!" The boy almost dropped the phone in his panic as he made his way back down the stairs and leaned beside the cars. "Kyo-nii. I'm sorry. I was distracted."

"Right. Ema-san is staying at that boy's house?"

Yusuke paused for a moment, then: "Define that boy."

More whispering on the other end, and a little scuffle, and then Kaname yanked the phone away. "Hashira Kaito, was it?" His voice was tinged with strained cheerfulness. "Mm, that boy's so forward to our Imouto-chan. She's having a sleepover there?"

"No," Yusuke corrected. "Oshiro Katsu." Then he turned around and whispered into the mouthpiece, "But that Kaito kid might be staying over. He's terrible. Once I get home I'll tell you what he did. He's trouble, I mean it."

There was more talking on the other end of the line and the phone was transferred again, and Masaomi's soothing voice piped through the speaker. "Alright, Yusuke. I don't think you should stay over." Here, he covered the mouthpiece to argue with Ukyo against Kaname ("Really, he shouldn't"). "Just... take care of her while you're there."

"I will," Yusuke assured. "I need to go. I really don't want to get lost in this place."

His brothers on the other end of the line said their goodbyes and Yusuke scampered back up to the group, saying a final prayer that things would go smoothly with his sister.

The three eldest Asahinas stared at the phone in Masaomi's hand.

"Masaomi-niisan," Ukyo finally prompted gently, "Did you give her your permission to stay over?"

The pediatrician sighed. "No. But don't you think she'd ask her father, and not us? She's a smart girl. She'd know that... that he'd be more likely to give her his blessing than we would."

The reason hung unspoken in the air.

"Then... why didn't you let Yusuke stay over, just to keep an eye on Imouto-chan?" Kaname frowned. "Like he said, that Hashira Kaito might be over as well. And if what he says is true, then Hashira must be a demon, here to corrupt an angel. That is, our sister."

"No," Ukyo snapped. "I want him back here as soon as possible. Ema-san knows how to handle this boy; Yusuke doesn't." (If our younger brother stays over, it gives him an advantage in the game for her heart.)

"And throw in the fact that he knows more about Hashira Kaito than anyone else in the family. Don't you want to learn more about him too, Kaname? We can get that information sooner once he's home." (If Ema is as smitten by this Hashira as he seems to be with her, then we need all the help we can get.) "Besides," Masaomi added with a strained smile. "I think that when she gets home, it's time we find more about Hashira Kaito."

"It should be a zero."

Ema started and looked up to an amused Katsu, who pointed at her work. "You accidentally wrote a zero instead of a one. If you do that, then your answer will end up undefined. Be careful when you're working through problems like these on the finals. It's easy to get lost with what is real and what is not."

A shiver ran down the girl's spine at the nearly foreboding tone that chilled Katsu's voice.

"...Ah. I see," she murmured with a smile at him, and his eyes softened minutely.

"Mm. Just be careful." He looked around the group, at Kaito who had curled himself over his work beside Ema, and at Yusuke, who had become the exhausted recipient of small talk from an uneasy Kiyomi. Still, Katsu couldn't begrudge the redhead for the diligence with which he worked, always asking questions of his blonde classmate and asking the third-years for testing tips. Even though Yusuke had to have felt the tense atmosphere as clearly as any of them, it didn't deter him from studying well.

Which was why Katsu, on his well-developed instinct, called the other boy from his work. "Asahina?"

Like his sister, Yusuke jolted. "Y-Yes, Oshiro-san!"

Katsu raised an eyebrow incredulously and adjusted his glasses. "You're working hard. Stay the night." He didn't miss the surprised little noise Ema made in the back of her throat, along with the suspicious look from Kaito. Yet Katsu couldn't rescind his offer; he had a good idea of what might happen through the study session and knew that no matter the outcome, two of his best friends would need it to move forward, romantically or otherwise.

"O-oh. I don't think I can," Yusuke muttered sheepishly. "My brother says I should come home."

Katsu puckered the inside of one cheek, ignoring the slight, frantic shake of Ema's head that dotted the corner of his vision. "So dinner, then? I'm sure your brothers wouldn't mind that."

"Er... if you insist, then maybe I can stay, but I'd need to call them."

Kastu shrugged and returned to his tutoring while Yusuke dialed Masaomi and chatted with the eldest son for a moment. Then he hung up and turned to Ema. "Ah, Masa-nii, Kyo-nii, and Kana-nii think that you should come home after too. They need to talk to you over a family meeting."

Ema frowned. "But... Papa said I could stay the night."

Yusuke shrugged while Kaito's attention caught onto their conversation and he glanced at them, curious. "They seemed pretty adamant," Yusuke continued. "I don't know. It sounded urgent." He leaned in a little bit closer to his sister and muttered, "I think they need to talk to you about what you've been up to lately...?"

Kaito narrowed his eyes; it was clear to him what was going on, and he resisted the urge to clasp Ema's hand in between his as he grinned at the other boy. "Well," he cut in with toothy, feigned cordiality, "I'm sure it can't be something more urgent than studying for finals, which are next week. And this is the only chance we have to get together. Tell your family their sister's grades are more important than a little petty jealo—"

Much to Yusuke's delight, Ema curtly held her hand up to Kaito and kept her attention on her brother. "Is it a family issue?"

Yusuke hesitated. Of course, he could lie to her; but then again, he couldn't. "Maybe. Maybe not. I don't know."

Ema hesitated. Kaito anticipated. Then,

"A-ano, I suppose that if they need to talk to me, I can go home early...?"

Kaito sucked in a breath of air as if she had punched him in the gut, his face a mixture of shock and confusion. As if sensing the sudden change in atmosphere at the table, Katsu tensed and stood with a scrape of his chair. Clearing his throat, he addressed everyone, "Okay, I think the chef should have dinner ready by now. Let's go, all of you. No, not you, Ema, Kaito. You two stay here and clean up the table."

"Even though we're coming right back after dinner?" Ema reasoned, but Katsu shot her a glare that clearly screamed, "Stay here or else!"

And with that, their other friends filed out of the room, Mitsuo shooting the pair a guilty-puppy look while Kiyomi frowned, apologetic. Ema sighed, bemoaning the delay of a perfectly good meal, and set to work filing away her friends' assignments. but she hadn't set aside three papers when she felt a warm hand on top of her own, and her bewildered stare caught the rigid one of Kaito.

"Hey," he ground out, not meeting her eye. "We need to talk."

And here it is, Chapter Nine! Any guesses what's got Kaito so wound up? ;)

Additionally, there are a couple of you wondering why Ema's not doing anything about the texts, but rest assured, that's coming at a later chapter. On another note, the outline for this story is officially completed to my satisfaction, and if things go well, you can expect 10-15 more chapters from this story.

Lastly, I'd really like a beta. You don't need to be particularly nitty-gritty about punctuation and grammar and all. Plus, you get a peek of the chapters early! Here's what I'm looking for:

1. Someone who's willing to tell me if a particular sentence/passage doesn't make any sense
2. Someone who's willing to describe the overall mood they felt off a chapter
3. Someone who's willing to exchange either Skype, Tumblr, or Gmail
4. Someone who's willing to read the rest of the outline I have planned out, thus receiving spoilers for the story.

If you're interested, please go ahead and message me or leave me a review! And as always, let me know your thoughts!