Chapter Seventy-One: Competing for No Reason
Yuki's POV
We had three days, three whole days, before the guys found us. It's not that I don't love them, I do, I really do, but I see them every day. I think we all, or at least most of us were hoping for a little bit of a longer vacation. The kicker is that they didn't even come for us, they came for Haruhi. Not only for Haruhi, but to save her from some ridiculous thing that Tamaki imagined because she probably didn't answer his numerous phone calls. What a surprise. Look, it's not that I don't like Haruhi, I do, she's cool, but seriously? They haven't anything better to do with their lives? Actually the only two that were convinced that she was in trouble were Tamaki and Hikaru, well mostly Tamaki, I like to think Hikaru has a better head on his shoulders. I was just happy I wasn't there when they arrived; the only ones who were were Haruhi and Kimi. Let me rewind a bit, I'm getting ahead of myself.
Sumi had the morning off, so she, Reiko, Hana, and I went to the park. Reiko was sitting at a table and finally planning the wedding the way she wanted to, Hunny spoke to his mother and she backed off a little, but enough for Reiko to be less stressed. Sumi was helping Reiko and looking after me and Hana. Hana and I, we were playing a game from when I was a kid. The park had a playground on it, and it had tea bars. Tea was like a cat and mouse type game, it had these two horizontal pole-like bars that were parallel to one another, the two players went over and under the bars, chasing each other, until one of them tagged the other, the first one to get tagged lost. Once Hana got the hang of it, she enjoyed it. After a while, she could win without me letting her.
When Sumi had to work, we walked back, but when we saw what surprise was there waiting for us, I was sort of wishing that we had stayed at the park. Reiko was very happy to see Hunny, Sumi was pretty glad to see Takashi. Hana was excited they all were there.
"A little heads up would have been nice." I said sitting down next to Kyoya.
"I didn't know we were coming here till this morning and I tried, your phone was off." He replied.
"Battery's dead, forgot to charge it last night." I replied, "What the hell are they doing anyway?"
"Competing against each other for the open room." Kyoya replied dryly.
"Then why are Hunny and Takashi competing?" I asked confused, "If they asked, Reiko and Sumi would share."
"And would you?"
"I don't know, I think Reiko and Sumi would get a little mad if I shared with Hunny and Takashi." I teased. I knew what he meant, but why not give him a bit of a hard time?
"I'm sure they would." Kyoya replied coolly, "What about Tamaki? You're twins, you could share with him."
"Get a pulse."
"And me?" He asked, "I'm sure if Mori-Senpai and Hani-Senpai are allowed to stay, I would be."
"If it were just us like in the house on the island or somewhere else where there's like nobody there or nobody who knows who were are, I would say yes, but I don't think it's such a good idea here. If it gets somehow gets back to our families, we'll get in trouble, and I have no idea what'll happen if I get in trouble again. It's up to my grandmother what she wants to do with me."
"Do you have any idea-"
"Not a one." I replied, "All I know is she's evil."
"Yuki-Senpai, I'm surprised to see you're not with Hana." Haruhi said as she came over to us.
"She's with Takashi, she's decided she's helping him today and that'll we'll play tomorrow." I replied.
"So you have nothing to do?" She asked.
"Not today." I smiled, putting my hands behind my head, leaning back. I was having a great day, no Candyland for me.
"Kyoya-Senpai, you're keeping your distance from all this." Haruhi commented.
"Of course, winning means I'd end up staying here alone, and with Yuki busy with Hana, I'd have nothing to do either, which frankly doesn't appeal to me." He explained, "I'll sit back and watch things unfold and then head for the cottage."
"The cottage?" Haruhi asked, "You mean your family's?"
"That's near here?" I asked, remembering the place quite vividly, calling it a cottage was a bit of an understatement. Truth was that all of the hosts had homes in Karuizawa, but I didn't think any of them were really close to here.
"That's right; we all have one in the area." Kyoya answered, "So who's your favorite to win? There must be someone you have in mind. Do you care to bet?"
"No thanks, I don't have a clue." Haruhi replied.
"Really?" He asked, "It's easy enough to tell at a glance. Hani-Senpai's brand of cute doesn't quite fit Mizuzu's notion of refreshing, so I'm afraid he's out. Tamaki comes a little closer to the ideal, providing that he keeps his mouth shut, but we both know the likelihood of that. Ordinarily, you'd figure Hikaru and Kaoru, then again, seems we have a dark horse."
'What is he photo-shopped?' I thought, watching Takashi chop wood, "Who's idea was it have him shirtless doing that?"
"Mine." Sumi answered, coming over to us and sitting down next to me.
"On a break?" I asked, ignoring the conversation Haruhi and Kyoya were having and talking to her instead.
"Yeah."
"He going to his vacation house tonight?" I pointed to Takashi.
"Nope."
I smirked, "He's staying here?"
"Yeah."
"He has no reason to be in this competition, does he?"
"Not a one."
"Does he know that?"
"Not yet."
"You're not gonna ask him until after he drops out, are you?" I asked, "I mean if Hunny drops out, Takashi will, and Hunny, I think, already knows he's staying with Reiko, but Takashi, unless you give him the invitation, he'll go back to his vacation home."
"I'm well aware."
I saw Tamaki kneeling on the ground in defeat. I sighed; there was no way he was going to lose because he sucks at being a handyman. "Kyoya, there's a piano in the dining room, can you go point him in that direction?" I gestured to Tamaki after Haruhi left.
"Why don't you?"
"Because he'll listen to you faster than he will to me."
He nodded and went over to Tamaki to talk to him.
"You're betting on the twins to win." Sumi stated.
"I think Hikaru wanted to hang out with Haruhi this summer and that Kaoru and Kimi would have more fun if they were together than apart. Our vacation home's not too far, maybe like twenty minutes from here, so visiting is definitely an option for Tamaki and it would not be the end of the world if he were there." I explained, "Hikaru, Kaoru," I called to them as they came out, after Takashi, Kyoya and Tamaki went inside, "I've got an idea for you two to win."
They smirked and came over to us.
"You are so bad." Sumi laughed.
"What can you two do that none of the other guys can?" I asked, "What gets your girls back home?"
They both smiled like cheshires and put their arms around each other's shoulders.
"One of you's gotta get hurt, though I suggest Kaoru, so not only you both win, he gets pampered and patched up too." I told them, and started to explain my plan to them.
Sumi's POV
I went inside while Yuki explained to Hikaru and Kaoru what to do.
"Give up?" I asked Takashi. His shirt was back on and he was listening to Tamaki play.
"Mitsukuni dropped out, Reiko explained that if he wanted to stay, he could stay with her, and there was really no reason for him to compete if he didn't want to."
"That's true." I nodded, "Why did you guys compete in the first place?"
"For you and Reiko." He replied simply.
"And then Hunny found out, he didn't have to."
"Yeah."
"So what are you going to do?"
"Go to my vacation home, I guess." He shrugged.
"You know you could stay if you wanted to, I'm sure I could find a place for you."
"I didn't have to compete, did I?"
"Not really no, but it was really nice to watch you chopping wood with your shirt off, I will admit."
"You liked that huh?"
"Maybe it was kind of sexy." I smiled. It was completely sexy, dangerous, but really, really sexy.
"You're going to tease me now, aren't you?"
I kissed him lightly, putting my arms around his neck; he rested his hands on my waist. "I can show you how much I liked it if you stay."
"You are definitely teasing me."
"You'll only know if you stay."
"You're serious." He replied surprised.
"I'm serious." I nodded, kissing him again.
"You? We?" He started, "You're serious?"
"I'm serious." I repeated.
Reiko's POV
"Wait, you want to get married here in two weeks?" I asked shocked. Mitsu and I were sitting at table going over plans. "Are you crazy?"
"Rei, Rei, listen." Mitsu took my hand, "You have a dress. We have our wedding party. You don't want a church ceremony, neither do I. You want the wedding outside, I think that's a great idea. I talked to my mother again before I came and we're going to do it the way we want to do it. We'll work it out while we're at the bed and breakfast, anything we need, I'll find a way to get it, and if I can't, I'm sure Kyoya can."
"Do you know what people will think if we rush this?"
"Shotgun wedding?" He guessed, "But you're not. You're not, right?"
"No." I replied, slightly annoyed.
"Sorry."
"I'll tell you if I am, I promise." I replied, "You will know."
"My original point was that this is about you and me, I don't care what everyone else thinks and it would have been a shotgun if I married you after I proposed. You said you wanted to get married after I graduate, I want to get married this summer, why not just get married and spend the rest of the summer on our honeymoon?"
"We can do that?" I asked.
"We'll come back a couple of days before I have to start university." Mitsu replied, "Reiko, I'd marry you tonight if we had the license together. I've told you this, I just want to be married to you, I don't care about the actual ceremony, that is your call, I'm happy either way because I'm marrying you. All I really need to know right now is what are we doing, where are we going for the honeymoon, and where you want to live."
"Let's get the license together, someone to marry us, our friends, our family, and let's get married here in Karuizawa."
"When?"
"Next week."
"Next week?"
"If we're going to do this now, why not do it now, we have to wait three days for the license anyway. I have my dress, my shoes, I know the flowers I want, our guest list is our friends and family, which only my parents are coming from mine-"
"Only my parents, my brother, Takashi, Satoshi, and their parents are coming." Mitsu nodded.
"Photographer, food, and the venue-"
"I can talk to Kyoya and we'll figure those out."
"Music-"
"I think I might know someone for that."
"You know the great thing about bridesmaids?" I asked. Mitsu looked at me curiously, "They do whatever the bride needs them to do. I have a maid of honor and a bridesmaid who can not only sing, but sing well. I have another bridesmaid, who would make a pretty good dj. And we can switch them off."
"You know, one of my groomsmen can play the piano."
"I bet if we ask them, they would probably help in one way or another."
"Especially since it is last minute."
"Register for wedding gifts?"
"Do you care?"
"Nope."
"Skip it."
"Invitations?"
"Aren't needed."
"Honeymoon?"
"Where do you want to go?"
"I don't know." I replied, "Are we going to leave the hotel, or mansion, or wherever?"
"Is that an option?" He asked.
"Choose anywhere you want to go; I have a passport that's good."
"Is there any place you've never been to, but want to go?"
"Disney World?"
"In Florida?"
I nodded.
"Done." He replied, "I can do that easily, it'll take a little time, but I can do that."
"Wow, okay, um bridesmaid dresses, I'll figure out. Those are easy. Transportation?"
"Taken care of."
"Cake?"
"I've got that handled."
"Rings?"
"I know a jeweler and can get them ordered; we just have to pick them out."
"Bachelorette and Bachelor parties?"
"Takashi and Yuki are handling those, not our problem."
"Vows?"
"Non-traditional."
"Like what?"
"I don't know. Um, I vow to always keep my love as pure as it is today. I promise to be there for you in your laughter and your tears, in your sickness and your health, in your comfort and your fears. I promise to be there for you for all your life, come what may. Or may you never steal, lie or cheat. But if you must steal, then steal away my sorrows. And if you must lie, lie with me all the nights of my life. And if you must cheat, then please cheat death, because I couldn't live a day without you." Mitsu replied, "I don't know we could come up with a lot of things."
"Let's write that down and do a version of that."
"Which part?"
"All of it, we can edit it later."
"Okay." He replied, taking out his phone and writing it in.
"We almost sound like we're eloping."
"We're not the type to elope." He replied, and then gestured to Kyoya and Yuki, who were talking to each other and didn't notice us looking at them. "They are."
I bit my lip, looking down. I knew what was going to happen to them. I was the one who did Yuki's psychic reading. I did a tarot, palm, and crystal reading. The future is never clear, a good part of it depends on choices, but if something occurs in three of my readings, I was pretty convinced that it was going to happen. It was something a person like Yuki would never want to imagine for herself and something a person like Kyoya could never plan for. Their only chance to be together would be to run away and elope. I know she would, she'd marry him in a heartbeat, but the question was, would he?
"You know something about Yu-chan and Kyo-chan, don't you?" Mitsu asked. I nodded. "Are they going to stay together?"
"It all depends on the choices they make on the situations they're about to face. Someone is going to find out something, and is going to let another person know, and she's going to get in a lot of trouble for it and they're going to be put in a very difficult situation that can go in a lot of different directions, their future isn't really clear after that situation. The only way they're going to be able to stay together is to elope. Yuki would marry Kyoya, but would he go against his family to marry her, to be with her, because that's what it's going to take in the end."
"Would she let him?"
"I don't know."
"Do you know what the situation is?"
"Yes and no. I don't know details. It's something that neither of them would want; it's something that involves both of their families, but only her out of the two of them. I don't know much about either family, so I can't tell you what it is."
"It could be a few things; I do know Kyo-chan has two older brothers."
"You don't think?"
"I don't know, but it is one of the possibilities."
Kimi's POV
"I can't believe you guys went on a mechanical bull." Hikaru replied surprised, "That's awesome."
"Yeah, Haruhi and I got thrown off, but Yuki and Reiko stayed on. Yuki went on twice after Haruhi and I got thrown off."
Hikaru laughed, "She would. Kyoya and Tamaki wouldn't be too happy if they found out though."
"Of course not, remember how Tamaki reacted when he found out she raced cars?"
"He flipped out." Hikaru smiled, "I still can't believe you and Haruhi got on that thing."
"I know I can't believe we did either, but I have the bruises to prove it and it was fun, so-"
"Look out!" We heard Kaoru yell, before a loud crash was heard. We looked at each other and then ran to go see what happened. By the looks of it, a vase almost crashed into him and Haruhi.
"Kaoru!" Hikaru yelled and ran to him. I went over to Haruhi.
"You're hurt, let me see." Hikaru said to Kaoru.
"You okay?" I asked Haruhi and Kaoru.
"Yeah." She nodded, "Kaoru got me out of the way before I was hit."
"I'm fine; it's only a little cut." Kaoru replied. Hikaru sighed and rested his head on his shoulder. "Hikaru?"
"Don't scare me like that." Hikaru told him.
"Hey, I'm sorry." Kaoru smiled lightly, "Do you forgive me?"
Hikaru looked up at him and they both smiled.
"Bravo!" Mr. Sonoda cried, "Bravo! One hundred points for refreshing brotherly love! A perfect score! And the victory goes to the Hitachiin brothers!"
"Congrats, you guys." Haruhi told them.
I nodded, "Congrats."
They looked back at us, held each other's hands, and replied, "Oh, it was nothing really."
Haruhi's eyes widened, "What the? Wait a second, was all of that staged?"
"Well now, who could say?" They replied. I laughed. They would do that.
"Kaoru, if you want I can tend to that cut for you." I offered.
"I'd like that, why don't we go to mine and Hikaru's new room." Kaoru replied, interlacing his fingers with mine.
"We have to get the first aid kit first."
"Okay." He nodded. We left Haruhi and Hikaru on their own.
"So, was it really planned?" I asked after we got to his and Hikaru's room. I took out the hydrogen peroxide, cotton balls, the antibiotic ointment, and a band-aid that was big enough for his cut.
"Yeah." He nodded.
"I'm glad you guys are the ones who won." I smiled, putting some of the hydrogen peroxide on one of the cotton balls, "This is going to sting a little." I warned him and dabbed it on the cut to clean it. He winced, I kissed his other cheek, and then took another cotton ball and dabbed around the cut to dry the area.
As I went to get the antibiotic ointment, Kaoru asked concerned, "Kimi, how'd you get this?" He lightly touched my arm, right under a bruise on my shoulder.
"I was thrown off a mechanical bull." I replied honestly.
His eyes widened slightly, "Kimi, that's dangerous, you could have gotten really hurt."
"I'm alright." I smiled softly at him, putting the antibiotic ointment and the band-aid on him, "And I thought we were here to patch you up."
"That was before I found out you were hurt too." He took out a cold pack and bent it in half, so it would get cold and placed it on my shoulder. "You take care of me, I take care of you."
Sumi's POV
"I have to get up." I told Takashi, who pulled me closer to him, "I actually have to work this morning."
"Five minutes."
I kissed him, "I have to shower and get ready, I can't."
"Shower?"
"No." I kissed him again, knowing what he was thinking, and got up.
By the time I was done getting completely ready, he had been ready for twenty minutes. He has less to do to get ready though.
"So what are you going to do?" I asked while we headed downstairs.
"Hang out with Hana."
"She's not going to be up for another couple of hours."
He shrugged.
"Looks like Hikaru, Kaoru, and Tamaki are up though." I pointed out when we got into the dining room. Haruhi and Kimi were working. Tamaki was lecturing the twins about the food here and not acting like they're wealthy.
"While you two were sleeping the day away, I decided to start a refreshing host workshop." Tamaki told them, "I even wrote a manual." He gave all of us a manual.
"You really need a life." Haruhi told him.
"Hey wait, have you gotten to rule number five yet?" Hikaru asked. I looked at the manual and looked down to number five. "It says we have to be up by six am."
"I see you've lost your mind." I told Tamaki, "I'm not getting up that early."
"Have Kyoya-Senpai, Yuki-Senpai, Reiko-Senapi, and Hunny-Senpai read through the manual yet?" Kaoru asked. Tamaki looked at him scared, which he should have been. Kyoya gives a death glare to anyone who tries to wake him up before he's ready to get up. Yuki will throw things at you if you actually wake her up anytime before quarter to eleven. Reiko sleeps through anything you try to do. Hunny will give you a monstrous glare until you leave. And if they're together, it's even worse. If Yuki and Kyoya are together, not only do they glare at you, Kyoya will hand Yuki things to throw at you. If Hunny and Reiko are together, which nowadays is more often than not, Hunny will glare and chuck things at you until you leave and shut the door behind you. I was never stupid enough to wake any of them, but I did hear the stories from Kimi, the twins, and Tamaki. The only ones who wake those four up without problems is each other or an alarm, anyone else who is stupid enough to wake them up deserves what they get coming to them. Tamaki went and cried in the corner, knowing his plans had been ruined. Hikaru and Kaoru calmed him down.
"Breakfast?" I asked Takashi.
He nodded, "Yeah."
"I know a place around the corner."
"Don't you have to work?"
"I haven't punched in yet." I replied, and then looked over to Kimi, "Kimi, can you cover my shift for this morning? I'll pay you for the hours you work."
"Okay!" She agreed.
I looked back up at Takashi, "So breakfast?"
He smiled, "Yeah."
We left as the produce guy came in.
