A/N: Thanks to all who reviewed!!! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
Bored beyond description, Hanamichi glared at "the fox" as his mind recalled their previous Social Studies class.
— 0 —
"Good morning everyone!" Ms. Tanada greeted. "I've finished reading and grading your first reports. I have to congratulate you all for making…er…such innovative budgets…" her voice trailed as she remembered just how "innovative" some of the reports had been.
She shook her head and smiled. "Anyway, your second report will be about your house."
"House?!" the whole class chorused.
"Yes, your house. You can't live in the streets right?"
A few students laughed at her joke.
"So, what you have to do is scout around for a place that you think will meet your requirements."
Someone raised her hand.
"Teacher, when you say requirements, what exactly do you mean?" she asked.
"An excellent question. What I mean is the rental or payment for the house or apartment or whatever you decide should be within your budget. You must remember that you supposedly work somewhere in Kanagawa so you have to think of the distance too. Finally, you and your partner must like the place. It should be a mutual decision because you will supposedly be living there. Remember that there are two of you, so every decision must be done in a democratic way. Is everything clear?"
She looked around and when no one raised a hand, she continued with her explanations.
"For this report I want you to survey at least three places and write a description of what you choose plus a short reflection of why you chose that particular abode. Any questions?"
A few students raised some queries then the class went on with the lesson for the day.
Being the last subject for the day, the rest of the class hurried off for clubs when it ended. Hanamichi and Youhei were some of the last to leave. They were headed in the direction of the gym for basketball practice when Kaede stopped them by the door.
"Idiot."
Hanamichi reacted violently as usual.
"What did you say you freaky fox?"
Kaede ignored his rhetoric question.
"Meet me at the school gates on Sunday, 8:00 am. You can come too, Mito," he merely said then proceeded to the gym.
"Hey, wait a minute Rukawa! Why the heck are you ordering us around? Who do you think you are? Why would the genius have to wake up so early on a Sunday?" Hanamichi hollered as grabbed the other boy's arm to prevent him from leaving.
Kaede rolled his eyes and shrugged Hanamichi's hand off.
"I don't want to rush anymore. We have to go out for this. I know a real state agent," he explained briefly, as only he could.
Youhei grinned at him.
"Hey, thanks!" he said, interrupting his already-about-to-erupt friend. "I'll go look for Mina and ask if she can come too. She can come right?"
Kaede nodded. He had been told about Mina agreeing to let them use her computer for the rest of the year. It was only fair to return the favor. He knew Youhei and Mina got the bad end of the deal anyway.
"Thanks again," Youhei said as he sprinted away. "Later Hanamichi!"
— 0 —
So here they were, cooped up in a small room in a real estate building and all bored out of their minds. Well Hanamichi was. Youhei and Mina were talking softly in one corner while Kaede was sleeping on the sofa he shared with the redhead. Hanamichi was about to launch another round of tirade just to break the monotony when the door opened and two women entered.
"Good afternoon," the taller one said. "Sorry to keep you—"
"How dare you make the genius wait? Don't you know that my time is precious? I could be with Haruko right now having a date!"
"Hn. Shut up stupid," Kaede's voice stopped him.
Hanamichi redirected his rants to his partner.
"Rukawa! How dare you call me stupid, you stupid! I didn't want to come here at all! We would have been able to look at houses through the papers!"
"This is easier. Now shut up."
Hanamichi was about to protest when he was cut short, this time by the shorter of the two women.
"Uhm, maybe I will just take the two of you to another room," she said to Youhei and Mina. "Right this way please. I will be your personal agent while Ms. Ikkyo will take care of Mr. Rukawa and his, er, companion."
Youhei readily stood up and dragged Mina with him to the door and out of the Hanamichi's hostile presence.
"See ya Hanamichi!" he called out before shutting the door.
Said Ms. Ikkyo glared at her co-worker for abandoning her before thinking of the promised commission that she might get from the rumored extremely rich Mr. Rukawa. She glanced at Kaede who was already snoozing. The description of their boss had not given him credit at all. The boy was a hunk. If only he was a few years older…
The agent sighed and shook her head. No use daydreaming. She had a job to do. She sat down and immediately regretted the act. The redhead looked even more menacing from her new vantage point.
"Er…so—uh," Ms. Ikkyo silently cursed. She had always been proud of being glib.
Hanamichi looked at her weirdly then shrugged.
"The fox said you're going to show us some houses—"
"Not houses," a nasal voice contradicted. "Apartments."
The two turned to look at a now wide-awake Kaede.
"What did you say fox?" Hanamichi asked, sitting down beside him
Kaede rolled his eyes but complied in repeating his statement.
"Not. Houses. Apartments."
"But I want a house! Houses are better!"
"Stupid. We'll be bankrupt if we get a house. Besides we don't need much space."
"But I like houses!"
"We can't afford them!"
"Uhm…if I may interrupt," the agent cautiously said. "This place that you're looking for will be for the two of you?"
"Yes," Hanamichi waved his hand irritably. "Me and the fox are supposed to live in it."
Ms. Ikkyo's mouth hung open. No one had told her that she would be selling a unit to…a couple like this! She shook her head. No! They weren't. Were they? She dazedly looked on as the two continued their argument. She only came to her senses when they resorted to a fistfight and she almost got hit. She scooted to a corner and stayed under until they finished.
After a few minutes and several bruises later, the two finally agreed to look at some apartments and some houses too. Hanamichi looked smug. He would prove to the fox that houses were much better than apartments.
"Now that you two have agreed on something," Ms. Ikkyo began. "We can look at some of the brochures and maybe discuss your budget—"
"Enough of this!" Hanamichi boomed. "We came here to see houses not talk. So get up and show us what you have. Now!"
Ms. Ikkyo shot from her seat and ushered them to a waiting vehicle outside the building.
Hanamichi's bravado lasted all the way to their first stop. Once there, however, he suddenly felt nervous. The house was big and situated in a posh neighborhood. It had a blend of Western and Eastern elegance with state of the art facilities just like every other house down the street. What made Hanamichi edgy was the feeling that several pairs of eyes were trained on him as they looked around. He caught glimpses of faces through half-drawn curtains and became spooked.
"I don't like this house. Let's go!" he said, stomping back quickly to the car.
Their next stop was a pad at the top floor of a condominium. Hanamichi was impressed but tried hard not to show it. The place even had a balcony that he really liked. Kaede, on the other hand, almost fell from it while leaning on the rail and falling asleep standing up. Site 2 was rejected due to hazardous elements.
The next place they saw was another condominium unit, this time situated at the second floor of the building. There were only four doors in each floor and the units were quite spacious. They rejected it, however, due to the weird noises coming from the other doors at that floor. From one unit came the howling of mad cats, from another was some chanting, and from the last one they heard some thumps and screams of "More! More!" that almost caused the redhead to nosebleed. All these they heard while looking around inside the pad.
Their next stop would have been a bungalow but they whizzed past it. They had seen two of their classmates outside of the structure.
The next house was perfect. Hanamichi fell in love with the simple structure of the two-story abode. He could almost see himself really living in it.
"I want this place fox…" Hanamichi said with a small smile.
Kaede looked at him weirdly for a while before shaking his head and asking the agent for the price of the place.
"We can't afford it, moron," he answered with a hint of regret after hearing the monthly amortization.
"But—but!"
"No," he firmly said. "We'll look on."
Kaede turned and left. Hanamichi looked around one last time before slumping his shoulder and leaving as well. Ms. Ikkyo looked at the dejected boy, almost pitying him. Almost. He was ranting—very loudly—when she reached the car.
They went on to an apartment near the train station. It was small compared to the others.
"Since space is really hard nowadays, some architects have discovered ways of maximizing space," Ms. Ikkyo explained. "The main feature of this unit is this."
She pressed a red button on the wall and the floor of the living room went up creating two stories in one portion of the apartment.
Needless to say, the two boys were impressed.
"Ooooh, we'll take this!" Hanamichi exclaimed.
"Idiot," Kaede muttered. "I thought you said you wanted a house."
"Stupid! We can't afford a house right now!" Hanamichi growled, unconsciously using Kaede's own words. "Hey lady how much is this supposed to be?"
Ms. Ikkyo quoted a price.
"Hmmm…how much did we put in for house in the budget fox?"
"Imbecile, you've already forgotten our budget?" Kaede shook his head, exasperatedly.
"Hey!" Hanamichi's face turned red from anger. "I was just wondering if you still remember it! Since you don't want to answer, you must have forgotten it!"
"I'm not stupid like you!"
Ms. Ikkyo sighed.
"There they go again," she thought.
After a while, when the two finally simmered down, she put on her best smile and asked, "So, will the two of you be renting this unit?"
The two gave her odd looks. Her smile faltered.
"Who said anything about renting?" Hanamichi finally asked. "We're just looking at these stupid places for a project. Now that we've found one we can go home."
Hanamichi turned and walked out of the apartment.
Ms. Ikkyo stared in shock as Kaede made a final sweeping glance at the unit before following his partner and leaving the agent to turn to stone. Apparently her superior had neglected to tell her that the rich Mr. Rukawa was only going to survey the units for a school project. Her stone self cracked as she saw her commission fly out of the window.
-TBC-
A/N:
1. Aaah, the power of money and prestige! Can get you instant access to anything. Wish I had 'em both.
2. I know looking at houses and apartments don't take just one day and no real state agent would tour two young people just for a project, but I'm the almighty dragon-author who can do anything. Plus I can wield the almighty tool that is the plot hole. Bwa-ha-ha!