Hello. I'm sorry once again for the long wait. I mentioned that this might be the last chapter but when I was writing it, I realized how LONG it was. I decided to break it up into 3-4 more chapters so hopefully it is not too much to read.
Thank you for reading!
Haruhi quickly walked out of Kyoya's office.
"Oh, hey Haruhi." Riku said as she sped past him.
Haruhi looked back. She was so focused on getting the hell out that she didn't notice Riku standing there. "Hi." Haruhi replied, pressing the elevator button.
"Ah, you're in a hurry I see. It was nice to see you." Riku waved bye.
Haruhi mustered a polite smile. "You, too." She halfheartedly waved goodbye at him and stepped into the elevator. Her stomach dropped when she saw Kyoya's gaze had followed her to the elevator. Why did she always get herself into situations that shouldn't concern her? It had to be the Tamaki effect.
As soon as the elevator closed Kyoya turned back to the receptionist with his arms crossed." Ms. Ito, please don't leave visitors in charge of your desk."
She shrunk a little under his gaze. She'd heard stories about the shadow king but had yet to experience anything to that extent. "I didn't know she was going to come in, Mr. Ootori!" She began to ramble. "I told her you weren't here. I turned my back for one second and she was gone. I assumed she left. How was I supposed to know she'd sneak in? I-"
"She told me you asked her to watch this area. Are you saying she lied?" Kyoya asked. His tone was as neutral as his expression. That was somehow scarier.
"Well..." She trailed off, unsure of what answer he wanted to hear. "No?"
"Get back to work. This is your first and final warning." Kyoya motioned for Riku to follow him and walked into his office.
Riku turned to the receptionist. "You're lucky he even gave you a warning." Then he walked into the office and closed the door.
The receptionist stared after them. The interaction wasn't too long, and Mr. Ootori didn't sound upset, yet... She shivered as she walked back to her desk. Nobody ever said he shouted or screamed, so she always thought the stories were exaggerated. Who could be intimidated by somebody merely speaking? She understood the fear now.
As soon as the door was shut Riku's relaxed expression turned into a frown. "Kyoya, your visit to her with the team was supposed to be the last time you spoke to her until this case is over. And if it was necessary, you shouldn't have done it without a lawyer present."
Kyoya walked over to his chair. "Haruhi is a lawyer."
"You know that's not what I mean." Riku sat across from him. "You can't afford to give her more reasons to say or do something detrimental to you. So, follow the advice of your meticulously selected legal counsel." Riku insisted. "Please," Riku added.
Kyoya reluctantly agreed. He wasn't planning on reaching out again anyway. "To be fair, she came into the office on her own. I couldn't just turn her away."
Riku sighed, shaking his head. He opened his suitcase and pulled out some papers. "Have you received any feedback from your friends?"
"No, but I should be meeting them tomorrow."
"Okay, it's not like we're limited on time or anything, right?" Riku said sarcastically.
"I can't really ask them to hurry up, can I?" Kyoya retorted.
"I wouldn't if I had your record." Riku said. "I still can't believe they agreed to help you at all."
"Thank you for the input." Kyoya said before clicking his pen to write. "Do you have any updates?"
Riku nodded. "Here are the notes from our most recent meeting." He handed Kyoya the papers.
Kyoya skimmed through them before setting them down. "They think they're going to lose, don't they?"
Riku grimaced. "Well, it doesn't really matter if they do, does it? They know how to argue for what they want. Besides, you chose the best team you could possibly get. Even if they don't believe you, they're going to do their best because they're legally bound now."
Kyoya muttered. "I wonder how long she has been planning everything."
"I guess she knew that going after you would give her the monetary power to leave the family. She must've been really careful not to make you suspect anything." Riku said.
Kyoya scoffed. "If I wasn't so swamped with other problems she wouldn't have managed to get so far."
"Don't underestimate her intelligence, Kyoya." Riku said. "After all, you still don't know how she managed to get that DNA test result. She could indirectly obtain part of your inheritance and make you responsible for her child."
Kyoya looked at Riku. "That's the reason I went through the tedious process of rebuilding our legal team, right? To stop her from doing exactly that."
Riku nodded. "I just hope you're keeping in mind how difficult it would be without evidence of your innocence. I can only do so much. You're lucky that part of your inheritance involves company money, or you wouldn't have the company backing you."
"Yet if she hadn't, I would've been able to settle this more easily." Kyoya said, flipping through the paperwork again.
They remained silent for a while as Kyoya reviewed more documents. "By the way, the hosts-" Kyoya stopped talking when he remembered that Riku wasn't totally aware of who "the hosts" was referring to. "My friends want to know who provided me with so much information about the Sato company. That was one of their conditions to help me."
Riku sighed and looked up at the ceiling. After a pause he said, "tell them the truth. It was Emi's brother."
Kyoya shook his head. "They won't be satisfied with that answer."
"I don't know what else you can tell them." Riku said without budging.
Kyoya decided it was better not to push it. He could come up with something for the time being. "I'll do my best to appease them then." He looked over the papers again. "I forgot to mention Haruhi ended up getting the evaluation. She gave her consent to use it, but I don't want it to be done unless it's absolutely necessary." Kyoya handed Riku Haruhi's form.
"I'm sure they can do without it, but I'll keep it in mind." Riku said.
_
After his briefing with Riku, Kyoya was left alone. If it wasn't for such a big issue, Kyoya would think it was funny. How did he manage to find time to be alone when he was in such a precarious position, but not when he was at his best? He put his glasses on and opened his laptop to input the notes Riku left with him.
Not even a minute into typing, Kyoya sighed and closed his laptop. He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes to get rid of the blurriness. Mentally, he chastised himself because he knew that rubbing his eyes would only make it worse. Still, he couldn't stop it. Kyoya closed his eyes and lay back into his chair. A couple of minutes later, the restlessness kicked back in. He opened his eyes and reopened his laptop. As he opened the laptop, he accidentally knocked his glasses onto the floor.
Kyoya carefully slid his chair back and ducked down to look for his glasses. As he looked for them, he noticed how dusty the underside of his desk was. He was rarely in his office so it shouldn't have been a surprise that the custodian had slacked off a bit. Still...
Kyoya's eyes wandered until he found his glasses. He held them in his hand as he began to stand up but stopped once he noticed a small paper sticking out from under one of the cabinets. Kyoya slid it out and turned it around.
His eyes widened. "How?" he asked himself. He looked around his desk but didn't find what he was looking for. When he remembered, he sank back into his chair. Somewhat reluctantly, Kyoya reached for the bottom cabinet and slid it open. He rarely opened this cabinet because most of his belongings were somewhere easier to reach. He said it was for efficiency, after all, his most important objects were on his desk.
Kyoya felt his eyes water as he found what he was looking for – a frame. The paper was a picture of their wedding day. Kyoya stared at them almost blankly.
He didn't remember the moment he could have possibly knocked it down, but for some reason he didn't feel the need to pick it up then or put it in the drawer with the frame. He didn't even remember that picture being on his desk.
Kyoya stayed at his desk for a long moment, just staring at the picture. He thought the reality of how badly he treated Haruhi couldn't hit him any harder, but it did.
Haruhi walked through the lobby, completely focused on calming her rapid heartbeat. She didn't even notice somebody calling out to her.
"Haruhi!" The person finally caught up and tapped her shoulder.
Haruhi's eyes widened as she realized who it was. "Kotoko?"
"Hi! It's so nice to see you again. How are you?" Kotoko beamed.
Haruhi smiled. "It's nice to see you too! I'm the same as before" Haruhi genuinely chuckled for the first time in what felt like forever. "How are you?"
"I'm great! I work here now." Kotoko grinned.
"You do?" Haruhi suddenly felt bad. After they sold the house, Kyoya offered to make sure the staff had job offers within a week. Haruhi had written recommendation letters, but never followed up to make sure Kyoya had done it.
"Yes! Mr. Ootori told me he could refer me to an entry office administrator position here since I have some experience managing a team. He said he couldn't guarantee a job, but that you wrote a recommendation letter for me." Kotoko explained. "I just had to interview and complete some trainings."
"That's great! I'm sorry I never followed up with you all, but do you know if everybody else managed to get a job?" Haruhi asked, somewhat apologetically.
Kotoko nodded. "Everybody except one person, but that was because he retired."
Haruhi almost sighed with relief. "I'm glad you're doing well. I'm sorry I haven't been in touch."
"Don't worry about it." Kotoko paused. "I've heard some rumors about what's going on. You must be overwhelmed." Kotoko said worriedly.
"I'm sure those rumors are exaggerated, but yeah," Haruhi's smile fell. "It's been difficult"
"You know I'm always here if you need anything." Kotoko offered a smile.
"Thank you." Haruhi said gratefully. "Do you want to get some coffee?"
Kyoya turned to the hosts as calmly as he could. He was trying to think of how to minimize the damage, but it was difficult when he still felt somewhat dazed from the hit. It hurt much more than the previous one. He had only managed to ignore it for so long because he was talking to Haruhi. Once his vision had settled a bit, Kyoya began to walk towards the doorway, but the hosts were already rushing towards him.
Hikaru was the first to reach him. "What the hell was that about?" He half yelled.
"I was talking to Haruhi," Kyoya said, as he tried to clear his thoughts. Tamaki knew everything, Honey and Mori probably had suspicions, but the twins...Kyoya was just surprised they were keeping some semblance of restraint. He expected Hikaru to hit him before anything.
"You're the idiot that confessed to Haruhi." Hikaru said in disbelief.
"How'd you come up with that accusation?" Kyoya asked as he moved back to the table to get his things. He was walking as fast as he dared given that the room was blurred, and the twins were on his heels.
"What do you mean how?" Kaoru said. "We all saw you flirting with her! You owe us an explanation!" He demanded, matching Kyoya's steps.
"And don't try to deny it!" Hikaru said, right behind them. "The only reason I haven't punched you is that Haruhi asked us not to make a scene before she ran off." Hikaru huffed, finally standing in front of Kyoya.
Kyoya couldn't help the smile forming as he picked up his bag.
"Oh, wipe that smile off your face." Hikaru was annoyed. "She would've said that regardless of who you are."
"And what the hell is wrong with you guys?! Why are we the only ones upset about this!?" Kaoru looked at the others.
"I've known for a couple of months." Tamaki replied quietly.
"Why the hell didn't you stop it?!" The twins exclaimed.
Tamaki nervously scratched his neck. "I, um, I'm the person that encouraged Kyoya to go for it."
"What?!" The twins were getting redder by the second. They were beyond angry about the situation, but Haruhi would be upset with them if they made a bigger fuss. Their tone and volume were already stretching it and they knew it. "And what about you two?" Hikaru asked Honey and Mori.
"Takashi and I had suspicions..." Honey began.
Mori nodded. "We knew it would happen eventually."
"We were just surprised it was Kyo-chan instead of Tama-chan." Honey admitted.
"How do you think we feel? We had no idea!" The twins turned back around to face Kyoya. "You owe us an explanation!" The twins yelled, making Kyoya's head pound.
Kyoya could have shot them down and walked away, but that would have made them fuss even more. Kyoya couldn't take the headache of their yells. More importantly, Haruhi asked them not to make a scene, so he had to appease them somehow. "If you can remain calm for the rest of the day, I'll explain after our host club hours."
The twins were about to protest but stopped abruptly. Did Kyoya really agree to explain? They would still have to wait until the end of the day, but they thought Kyoya would instantly shut them down. They looked at him suspiciously.
"Why'd you give in so easily? To make us wait while you come up with a plan?" Hikaru asked.
Kyoya looked at them, his patience clearly running thin. "I have no plan. But we're already late to class, so I'll explain later. I don't want the staff to think the host club is rude enough to all show up late to class." He carefully folded his blazer.
"You don't care about being late!" Hikaru retorted.
"Besides, we're talking about why you agreed at all." Kaoru said. "You wouldn't do anything that makes things difficult for you."
Kyoya sighed, rubbing his temple. "Haruhi asked you not to make a scene. Even though it will be tedious for me, I agreed so that you two will calm down and follow her wishes. Happy?" Kyoya adjusted his bag and walked out of the room.
The rest of the hosts watched him walk away. Even the twins were shocked into silence.
"Did he just..." Kaoru said.
"Yea..." Hikaru said. The twins looked at each other.
Even Tamaki was surprised. He knew Kyoya had a crush, but the fact that he inconvenienced himself to make sure Haruhi would be comfortable...Something had to have happened before the hosts saw their conversation. As far as Tamaki knew, Kyoya was on his way to tell Haruhi to forget everything because he'd decided to let it go.
"Looks like Kyo-chan likes her more than we thought." Honey commented.
"Mhm." Mori said.
"Now you owe me 600 yen, Takashi." Honey smiled. "Tama chan may have taken it better, but I told you Kyo-chan truly liked her."
"You guys were betting on this?"
The twins trudged into their next classroom, simply muttering an apology for their tardiness. The girls in the class looked up at the twins curiously as they made their way to the back of the class and sat down with a sigh.
Haruhi looked over at them occasionally. They were relatively calm, but that could mean they'd blow up at any second. They weren't exactly being subtle about their struggle either.
By the end of the class, the twins didn't run up to her like they usually did. Even the girls that would usually hang around scrambled away. When the twins looked like they wanted to be alone, they meant it. Haruhi was going to ask them if they were okay, but figured it was probably better to let them cool down a bit more.
"Wait." Hikaru called out.
Haruhi turned around. "Hm?"
Hikaru and Kaoru walked over to her, tensely. "Are you serious about it?" Hikaru asked, quietly.
"Serious about what?" Haruhi asked.
"Y'know...liking Kyoya." Hikaru mumbled.
"What did he tell you guys?" Haruhi asked. It was better to find out what they knew before revealing anything else.
"Nothing, but..." Kaoru looked at the ceiling, hoping it would help him calm down to avoid looking at her. "He agreed to tell us everything after school if we stayed calm the rest of the day."
"And it's been hard as hell!" Hikaru nearly yelled.
"Hikaru, relax." Kaoru warned
Hikaru gave an exasperated look. "I am relaxed. Don't I sound relaxed?"
"If Kyoya said he'd tell you everything, why are you asking me?" Haruhi interrupted.
"What do you mean why?" Hikaru asked. "You were flirting with Kyoya, of all people, and didn't bother to tell us!"
"Hikaru," Kaoru reached out to touch his arm.
Hikaru pulled away. He knew it wasn't okay to take it out on Haruhi but couldn't help it. "It doesn't make sense for you to have kept this all to yourself if there was nothing weird going on! What the hell did Kyoya do to you anyway? How the hell is it possible that you like him?"
Haruhi stared at him blankly as he asked her question after question. When he slowed down, Haruhi asked. "Are you done?"
Hikaru seemed to get redder. "No! You haven't answered any of my questions!"
Haruhi rolled her eyes. "I don't know why you think it's okay to make so many assumptions, but you're wrong about most of them. And to be clear, I don't have to answer your questions if I don't want to." She adjusted her bag and walked past them.
"Kyoya's going to tell us everything anyway!" Hikaru called after her.
"Not if he heard you right now." Kaoru muttered.
Haruhi didn't turn around, "I really don't care." It was within Kyoya's right to tell his side of the story, but she didn't want to deal with telling her side too. Although, when she thought about it, Kyoya should've had the same mindset as her. There was no way that telling them anything would be for the best.
"Well, Kyoya is basically in love with you, so you'll have to tell us everything eventually." Hikaru called out.
This made Haruhi pause momentarily. Love? Who said anything about love? Especially from Kyoya.
Kaoru elbowed Hikaru. "Shut up!"
"He only agreed to tell us so that we'd leave you alone!" Hikaru added.
"Hikaru, seriously shut the hell up!" Kaoru finally managed to drag his brother away from a stunned Haruhi.
"Obviously that didn't work since I'm still talking to you! How much do you like him now!?" Hikaru managed to call out before Kaoru dragged him out of the room. Kaoru held onto him until he reached their next class and shoved him inside.
Once inside, Hikaru rubbed his side. "You didn't have to hit me so hard." He complained.
"Yes, I did you idiot." Kaoru whispered as he pushed Hikaru along. When they made it to the very back of the class, away from most people, Kaoru continued. "You should've kept your mouth shut. We don't know how much she likes him and that could have just made her like him more, dumbass."
Hikaru's eyes widened as his twin took a seat. "I was just trying to rile her up, so she'd tell us something," he whispered back. He sat next to Kaoru.
"Well, you did a bad job." Kaoru said with annoyance. "Now shut up before somebody hears anything."
Haruhi was slowly walking to her next class. If it was anybody else, she wouldn't have thought anything of it. But Kyoya? He rarely budged on his philosophy of not doing anything that wouldn't be worth it in the long run.
She was so focused on her thoughts that she bumped into the shadow king himself.
After his break Tamaki walked back to the janitors' supply room. He'd managed to eat a rice ball, but it didn't curb his queasiness. After learning that employees had to look the other way to keep their jobs, Tamaki lost hope of finding any evidence of tampering. Had this whole day really been a waste of time? He perked up at the sound of Mr. Ezaki's voice. Tamaki quietly walked towards it and peeked through the opening of the doorway. Mr. Ezaki and a nurse were talking.
"He's a nice guy, but he asks too many questions." Mr. Ezaki said worriedly. "Mr. Ito even stopped to question him. I'm scared he's going to get me fired."
"If he's smart, he'll know when to stop." The nurse reassured Mr. Ezaki. "And don't feel too bad about what you told him. If I could afford it, I would report everything myself but..." The nurse sighed. "Money runs the world."
Tamaki warily opened the door. "Excuse me." He spoke up quietly, making them turn in surprise.
Mr. Ezaki looked at his wristwatch. "You're supposed to be on the second floor. I told you we couldn't get further behind."
"I know and I'm sorry." Tamaki said. "But I overheard your conversation..."
"I told you to mind your business." Mr. Ezaki said.
"I know." Tamaki repeated. "I just have some questions and then I promise I'll stop asking." He insisted.
The nurse wrung her hands. She forced a smile to hide her worry. "The cameras don't capture sound, but I'd rather not risk any suspicion, so just smile as
if we're having a friendly conversation."
Tamaki nodded. He made sure the hallway was clear before stepping into the room and closing the door behind him. "You mentioned Mr. Ito's strange behavior around here. Do you know exactly what he did?" Tamaki asked.
"It had something to do with information modification," The nurse said, carefully choosing words and lowering her voice. "I was the person meant to handle the information, but Mr. Ito convinced somebody else to do it. Somebody that was," she hesitated "easier to work with."
"And you have evidence of what happened?" Tamaki asked, trying not to get too excited.
"Something like that." The nurse said. "But I could never speak up. I would lose my job and I have a family to feed."
Mr. Ezaki spoke up. "I've also seen some things and know how to obtain evidence. If I knew I wouldn't be fired, I would corroborate her story."
"What if I told you I could make sure neither of you would lose your jobs?"
The nurse and Mr. Ezaki glanced at each other again. They both looked confused about how an amateur custodian could possibly promise that. "How?"
"I can't explain right now." Tamaki added. "But I promise, I can make sure neither of you gets retaliated against and because you'd be reporting possible misconduct, I'll make sure they can't use privacy laws against you."
They both seemed unsure. What if they trusted him and regretted it later?
"Please?" Tamaki asked. "I swear I'll make sure both of you are safe. I know I'm just a custodian but, trust me, I would never ask you to do this if it would mean you losing your job."
With one last glance at each other the two agreed.
Tamaki grinned for real. "Thank you. So, how will we go about reporting everything?"
"We've got the reporting aspect covered if you keep your promise." The nurse said. "Even if you can guarantee our job safety, it's probably better to make it seem like you weren't involved in the reporting."
Tamaki was still smiling. "I'll get to it."
"So will we." Mr. Ezaki said. He looked at the cameras. "I think we should all get back to work now." He looked at his watch again. "If you can give us until tomorrow, we should have most things sorted out."
When Tamaki got home, he was beyond exhausted. All he wanted to do was shower and sleep. He stopped in his tracks when he realized Haruhi was wrapped up in a blanket on the couch. She was reading a book as she chewed on something.
Haruhi looked up at him briefly. "You're home."
Tamaki walking towards her. "Are you okay?" He gestured at her blanket and curled up position.
Haruhi nodded mid-chew. "Just cold." She held out a spicy seaweed snack for him, but slowly lowered her arm when she noticed his uniform.
Tamaki mentally cursed as he saw her eyes light up in understanding. With his worries about getting evidence to help Kyoya, he forgot that Haruhi had seen him at the hospital. He was in disguise, but it wouldn't be too hard for her to connect the dots. He held his breath waiting for her to question why he was there, but it never happened. Instead, Haruhi handed him the snack and looked away from him.
"You're not going to say anything?" Tamaki asked as he slowly opened the snack.
"Chew carefully; these snacks are really spicy." Haruhi said as she took another bite. Tamaki walked up to the couch and sat down next to her. She could feel him staring at her, waiting for her to say anything else. After a few minutes of silence, Tamaki finally spoke up.
"I feel like I have to be honest with you about some things." Tamaki said nervously.
"If it's about Kyoya, you really don't." Haruhi said. "I've heard enough today." Aside from her talk with Kyoya, she had talked to Kotoko. She knew better than to ask about the rumors but couldn't help it and still regretted it. The vile rumors people spread...it was no wonder Kyoya fired his previous secretary. If it wasn't for her sake, it was for his.
"I really do." Tamaki insisted. "And even if you don't want to hear it, can you let me tell you?" Tamaki asked. "At least for my own peace of mind."
Haruhi closed her book and looked up at him. The Tamaki she knew would either blurt it out or keep it to himself, but he was asking first this time. That meant this had to be serious for both of them. "Just give me a moment." She stood up and walked to the kitchen. She returned with a variety of spicy snacks and offered him more. Tamaki declined and waited for her to get settled. He nervously fidgeted with the snack in his hand.
Haruhi looked at him expectantly, trying to calm herself down on the inside. She had no idea what he was going to say and wasn't sure if it would be good or bad news.
Tamaki took a deep breath and began, "I think you should know that I was aware of everything that would happen with Kyoya's legal issues, but I didn't know that you were interviewing. If I did, I would never have let you step foot into that room."
"How long did you know?" Haruhi said after a short pause. It wasn't what she expected, but at least it wasn't horrible.
"Kyoya told me everything the day after Mori's wedding. He confessed that he tried to tell you, but he lost his courage after you refused to listen to him. I guess Kyoya realized that you wouldn't be comforted by him anyway, but he didn't want you to try to deal with it alone."
Haruhi gulped down another bite of her snack, hoping she could feel the sting of the spiciness. "Is that why you reached out to me so soon after our argument?"
"No." Tamaki denied. "I was going to reach out to you anyway because I felt horrible about what I said to you." Tamaki answered. "I was upset, but I shouldn't have reacted that way."
"I think your reaction was valid, especially given my stubbornness." Haruhi dismissed his apology. "But thank you." Haruhi said.
"I'm glad you're not mad." Tamaki said honestly. "But can you promise me you won't be upset at this one?" Tamaki asked.
Haruhi frowned. "That depends on what it is."
"Just promise, please?"
Haruhi sighed and gave him the go-ahead.
"I saw the video of Kyoya and Emi last year. The hosts and I managed to get everything under control before it could spiral because we didn't want you or Ranka to find it." He waited for her to say something about her right to know, but she didn't seem too bothered.
"It happened after I was discharged from the hospital, right?" Haruhi asked. She remembered her initial flare of anger when she read about the first video at the briefing of Kyoya's meeting. They assumed it had just been squashed by the Ootori PR team, but apparently the hosts had gone through the trouble of making it die down faster.
Tamaki nodded. "You must've read about it when you were on the team. I'm sorry for hiding it. We knew that you'd be upset, but we were scared that it would be too much for you. Then we figured it was better not to tell you at all."
"I understand and I'm thankful. I wasn't in the best state at the time, so seeing something like that," Haruhi took a deep breath. "It was only going to make me feel worse."
"I'm still sorry for not telling you about it even after you recovered." Tamaki said. "Maybe if I had, it would have helped you clear up any misunderstandings with Kyoya before you got to this point."
"Kyoya could have easily told me himself, so it's not your fault." She aggressively bit into another snack. "Especially the second time the video surfaced."
"I'm guessing you knew about that one even before Kyoya's team was formed?" Tamaki asked.
"I saw it the day of your horrible double date. I suspected that you guys were trying to keep it away from me, since none of you mentioned it." Haruhi admitted.
"And here we thought we got lucky that you didn't see it. Tamaki said. "The media wasn't as easily bribed this time. Not even Kyoya's PR team was able to do much."
Haruhi grimaced. "I didn't really want to talk about it anyway." Haruhi said. "Anything else?"
"Yes, but I'm guessing you don't want to know what I was doing at the hospital then?" he asked quietly.
"To be honest, I don't." Haruhi said. "I already know more than I need to, and I can feel myself losing it." She laughed as she felt her tears welling up again. "I made the mistake of visiting Kyoya today and then I asked Kotoko about some rumors." She looked up at him with watery eyes. "And I don't even have work to distract me because apparently I'm so fragile everybody can see it."
"I shouldn't have brought it up." Tamaki apologized.
"It wasn't you. I'm just tired and the snacks are very spicy." She sniffled.
Tamaki watched as she ate wasabi peas. "You didn't want to keep crying over Kyoya, so you're crying over spicy food."
She sniffled again. "Maybe." She tried to clear her throat as she felt a lump forming. "But you said you wanted to tell me some things and I promised to listen to you, regardless of my feelings, so keep going."
Tamaki grabbed some of her wasabi peas and stuffed them in his mouth before he talked. He thought about whether to ask her the one question that had been bugging him. As he swallowed the peas and felt the oncoming surge of tears from the sting of wasabi, he asked, "Do you still believe in Kyoya?" It wasn't the question he wanted to ask, but close enough.
Haruhi was taken aback by his sudden question. "Sometimes I feel like I do, but I know I shouldn't." She handed him a napkin. "I just can't stop it even when I think about everything he's done." Haruhi stopped talking when she saw that Tamaki was stuffing more peas in his mouth even as his eyes began to water. "But once this case is over it'll be much easier to forget and move on, regardless of the outcome."
Tamaki fanned his face and grabbed a water bottle from the table. "I'm going to clean up and go to bed. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Are you sure that's all you want to tell me?" Haruhi asked. "If it's because I'm crying, it was the spicy food. You ate some too." she added quietly.
Tamaki smiled. "That's all." For now, he thought. His smile faded as soon as he turned around. He hoped they'd get enough information to help Kyoya. The last thing Haruhi needed was to lose that bit of hope she had.