chapter 23: Operation: "Burn the witch"
Much to his dismay, Kyoya had to call Ren for the sake of his plan. He always hated talking with her, even on the phone, as he was doing now. But he was doing it for his family, so he swallowed his disgust and arranged a meeting with his ex tomorrow at noon.
The next day, at 12:30 AM, Ren and Kyoya met at her mansion for a short tea party. He brought Simran and Nandini as well, since they were part of the plan. While Kyoya was drinking tea with Ren, the girls would sneak into their mother's office, pretending they were just looking around, and will try to find any voice recording, photographs or anything, which can be used as "proof" or their father's "affair with a minor".
- So, Kyoya!- Ren spoke.- I heard you still have that ridiculous holiday club of yours.
Kyoya frowned. Of course she knew- she sent his father to one of the hotels to humiliate him even more, after all. However, he tried to put on a happy face:
- You heard right, Ren! Business is doing great. Being the owner of the entire franchise means I can use freely the services offered. I have resorts all over the world. A while ago, me and the children visited the one in Greece. They really enjoyed it- they have never been in Europe before.
- Greece, huh?- Ren said casually.- Wow! Sounds swell! Showing the girls other parts of the world, while advertising your own business. That's an intriguing notion in it's own way!
- It's nothing like that, Ren! Really! Just some quality time as a family. I thought you know of this concept.
Kyoya's false innocent-looking eyes and his polite, but sly smile were really getting on Ren's nerves. She knew exactly what he was implying, but two could play that game. She attacked with:
- I am glad you are taking good care of the twins. Now I can have more time to make successful deals with Yoshio, like my father planned. Yoshio is an amazing partner.
Now it was Kyoya, who was starting to get angry. So, Ren was using this weapon against him, huh? Bringing up his father:
- Well, he is an ambitious man.- Kyoya continued without giving away his anger.- No surprises there. I'm glad you enjoy working with him. You two have so much in-common.- Kyoya knew that now was the time to get serious.- Listen, Ren! We both know this is not a tea party. I know what your true intentions are.
- You do?- Ren said in a false innocent voice.
Meanwhile, the girls were still in Ren's office looking for clues. So far, they found nothing. However, while being there, they were thinking about their mother and her plans:
- Does she really want to take us away from father?- Simran asked her sister.
- Not sure.- Nandini replied.- But why did she get Priti involved? This means war!
- I know and I understand.- Simran said.- It's still weird she came out of nowhere- arriving at the doors of our mansion after years of absence.
- It is weird, true.- Nandini agreed with her sister.
- The fact that she and father conceived us, at all, is a miracle.
- I wouldn't be surprised if she had raped him.- Nandini said sarcastically, which made Simran chuckle a little.
A few minutes later, Nandini came across something. It looked like a phone number, written on a small piece of paper. There was a name written on it-Akira Komatsuzawa. The name did not sound familiar to neither Simran, nor Nandini, but since the phone number was placed in a folder with the name "Kill Kyoya", they took pictures with their phones. Not just pictures of the phone number, but also of the scenarios, describing methods for humiliating their father and printed photographs. From what the twins saw, Ren still did not have a specific plan about what to do with Priti and Kyoya. Everything seemed to be a collection of ideas. Unfortunately, they could not find any voice tapes. Ren must have a different hiding spot for those. Makes sense- they are her strongest weapon, after all. Why did she have to be so sneaky? The two girls looked at each other and gave a mutual nod, which meant that they are done spying for now and will return to the tea party.
Back at the tea party, Kyoya and Ren were still at each other's throats. These two just could not stand being together without imagining the other's funeral:
- You are still not giving up, huh, Ren?- Kyoya asked.
- Never!- Ren answered, this time without her usual smirk.- They WILL be mine.
Kyoya was wondering whether his daughters had already found some evidence he could use against the witch. From the corner of his left eye, he saw Simran and Nandini returning. He felt a relief- finally an excuse to leave. He smiled, pretending he does not know exactly what they were doing and asked them:
- Hello, girls! How was it?
- Pretty good, dad!- Nandini answered and gave him a wink.- Can we go home now?
- Of course! Okay, Ren!- Kyoya stood up and faced his ex-wife.- I guess that will be all for today. We have to go now. Farewell!
- Be careful with the door, Kyoya!- Ren falsely warned him.- It might be too small for your ego.
Kyoya shut the door, trying not to listen to even a piece of Ren's garbage. He and the twins got into the car and left for their home.
Back at the mansion, the entire former club, and Miss Priti, had gathered to discuss what the Ootoris had found out in Ren's mansion.
- You guys, have really went to Hell, huh?- Hikaru said sarcastically.
- I am surprised all three of them are still alive.- Kaoru said to his brother.
- From what the girls had showed me- Kyoya started explaining.- Ren still does not have a whole plan about how to destroy me. Unfortunately, Simran and Nandini could not find any voice recordings, but they still found some pictures and ideas, written on paper. We saw that she also has the phone number of Akira Komatsuzawa, whom I believe you all remember back from high school.
- Akira Komatsuzawa?!- everyone, but Mori said at once.
- Um, excuse me!- Simran spoke confused.- Who is Akira Komatsuzawa?
- It's been a while since that time, but- Haruhi tried to answer the question.- he was the president of the newspaper club in Ouran high school, back when we were all students. Once he tried to expose Tamaki's "dark side", despite that he did not even had one. And since, this was getting into the host club's reputation, your father warned poor Akira to stay away.
- "Warned"?- Kaoru said not believing.- More like "threatened".
- He always did that, when someone was trying to make the club look bad.- Hikaru added.
Both girls looked at their father, as if they were silently asking "What did you do?" Priti, however, blushed and her face filled with awe, thinking about how cool must have that looked.
- As a matter of fact,- Kyoya joined the conversation.- I investigated Komatsuzawa for the sake of the operation. After graduation, he found a job at another newspaper company, which was recently bought by the Shen company.
- You mean...- Haruhi seemed like she could not believe what she was hearing.
- Yes.- Kyoya answered, knowing exactly what Haruhi wanted to say.- Ren is his boss now and he has no choice, other than working for her. She had bought the newspaper very recently, so it is most likely that she wants him to write an "expose" about me and my maid, as part of her evil plan. At least, now we know to whom she wants to send the "sensation" to.
- Woof, forcing Akira to spread untrue rumors again.- Kaoru said with disgust.- What a witch!
- Tell me about it!- Priti agreed with him.- We are gonna need more than a bucket of water to deal with her.
- What about the photographs the children found?- Haruhi asked.
- From what I see, they are just simple pictures of me and Priti doing pretty much nothing suspicious, but Ren will probably put them out of context.
- What do we have to do then?- Tamaki asked.
- We definetely need to do more spying, but me and the girls cannot do that next time. If we visit her too often, she will get suspicious. This is where all of you come in. Every single one of you needs to help me with the plan.
- We are all at your service!- Mitsukuni said loudly.
- Excellent!- Kyoya said.- Hikaru. Kaoru. From now, I am telling you that you two will have a very special job for when the operation is done. Lunch break for now.
Hikaru and Kaoru looked at Simran and Nandini. The two brothers exchanged looks and smirked. They approached the two girls and said in one voice:
- Hello, girls!
- Hello!- Simran and Nandini answered politely in once voice too.
- Do you want us to show you something cool?- Hikaru asked playfully.
- A little game we have.- Kaoru added. The girls nodded in agreement.
During lunch, Kyoya was sitting on the table, finishing his spicy curry, prepared for him by Priti. He noticed his daughters approaching him, wearing identical clothes and hats that covered their hair. He could not see their bangs, due to the hats. He immediately knew what they were trying to do:
- Hi, dad!- the twins said playfully, both at the same time, with smirks on their faces.- Can you guess which one is Simran and which one is Nandini?
Kyoya was right. Hikaru and Kaoru must have taught them this game. He remembered how they were playing it in high school. However, he perfectly knew which daughter is which. He fixed his glasses and pointed at one of the girls:
- You are Nandini.- and then he pointed at the other twin.- You are Simran.
He guessed correctly with no mistake. Simran and Nandini were not expecting this to be hard for him, but it was still fun to play with the fact that they were identical twins. They both took off their hats, revealing their differently colored bangs. Kyoya smiled, seemingly knowing what they wanted to ask him:
- That's right! I can recognize my kids.
- We suspected you knew.- Simran said.
- The Hitachiin brothers told you to do this, right?- their father said.
- Yes.- Simran responded.
- What a surprise! Even back in high school they played that game.
- Really?- Nandini asked.
- Yes.- Kyoya answered.- Most people could not tell them apart and this was pissing them off. They took advantage of that fact and invented this game as another way to tease others. However, you two cannot fool me, because you are my daughters. I can always tell you apart and it's not just because of the hair.
The two girls both embraced their father and he responded with the same.
