8:47 p.m.

The glass slammed against the greasy table, hard. Yuu looked around and gave the onlookers an assuring look. All seemed convinced—except Mihoko.

"Ne, Miho-chan," Yuu said. "I'm sorry, but the situation's not as hopeless as it seems, you know?"

"No," Mihoko replied sardonically. "The company I've invested the last three years in was just sold without my consent, and according to your lawyer, I don't get to contest the decision. At all. Because I don't have any say in this matter. How is this even possible? I founded the company."

Yuu, who was a rather popular mangaka currently drawing for the Lala magazine, had referred her lawyer to Mihoko with a hint that it was urgent business. The lawyer had gotten back to them within an hour, with an assessment that the contract between Mihoko and Ichiru was binding, no matter what the context. Mihoko had reached a similar conclusion through her reading (although the legal jargon was complete nonsense to her most of the times) in the park, where she had been frantically going at every page that she managed to pull from her office.

The sour memory from the park was only slightly mitigated by the burning sensation down her throat.

"Still," Yuu said. "You do have some savings left, don't you? And the job market for engineers is better—than for mangakas, anyway. And you're really qualified, aren't you? It should be fine!" One odd thing about Yuu was that she was optimistic in every situation, even when her editor was screaming in her ear about missing the deadline, again. Mihoko usually found her roommate's deadpan optimism funny.

Today was not one of those days.

"Just think, you got an offer already today!" Yuu continued. "That… what, Ootoro guy?"

"Ootori," Mihoko said with distaste. "Ootori Kyouya. Damn him."

"I have a business proposition for you, if you'd be interested. And I assure you, it will be in your interest."

She didn't trust the smiling face even as the handsomeness that contained the insincere expression made her feel uncomfortable. She'd never been someone comfortable around men. Never really liked them, either. Except Ichiru, that was. But that was a different story…

"Sorry," Mihoko said. "I have work to do."

Ootori cocked his head to one side, as if he were befuddled. But something said that he already had all the information at hand. "Is that so?" he asked. "I just heard that Tenri & Hirose was overtaken by Nakashima. The management is going over to them entirely."

"And where," Mihoko said, her eyes narrow as slits, "did you hear that?"

Ootori paused. "Are you not familiar with my family's company?"

"I know your family's company," Mihoko spat out.

"We have our resources."

"I see," Mihoko replied.

"I'd like to offer you a job," Ootori said as if the previous part of the conversation didn't happen. "And I assure you, it won't be a position where the rug gets pulled from under your feet… I take care of my investments, you see."

"Your investments?" Mihoko repeated with a raised eyebrow.

Ootori shrugged. "This is business."

"This is my life," Mihoko said. "I'm not interested in your offer."

"You haven't heard it."

"I don't need to."

"If you're somehow still hoping that Hirose will change his mind and return everything to the way it was, I assure you, it won't happen." Something in his cool tone told her that he knew, he knew somehow, and that the knowledge amused him. This grated on her nerve.

"You don't know anything about him," she replied, wishing that she'd said something that made her feel less vulnerable. Ootori cocked his head again. A telltale sign that he knew more than he let on.

"We went to the same school… I've known him since he was six." Ootori smiled humorlessly. "I assure you, I certainly wouldn't place my bets on him."

"Ootori-san," Mihoko said. "For someone who's trying to persuade someone, you sure can be very unpleasant."

"Ah, Tenri-san," Ootori said. "I'm quite certain that my offer will be attractive enough for you to overlook my… unpleasantness." Mihoko began to gather the paperwork in front of her. And she'd thought she'd get some peace and quiet by the river.

"I have to go now," she said.

"Sugimoto, Matsui, Chiba." Ootori said. She paused. "Got your interest now, have I?" she could hear the smug smile in his voice.

"What are you trying to say?"

"Let's suppose—and this is just a supposition—that you had a team with these people, a couple more, you could select them or I could, either way… Imagine the things that you could do."

"That's impossible," Mihoko said automatically.

"Not really," Ootori said, carelessly crossing his legs. "A think tank full of Japan's most promising scientists. The prospect can't be that bad for most people."

"A think tank," Mihoko repeated thoughtfully, the analytical brain that made her the engineer that she was whirling for the first time that day. "But for what?"

Ootori shrugged. "Anything, really."

"Medical equipment," Mihoko said. "Ootori group—"

"This won't be part of the Ootori corporation." Something in his tone made her pause, but she didn't know why and Ootori didn't offer any explanation.

"What's in it for you?" Mihoko asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" The sunlight reflected eerily on his glasses. "Profit."

"Profit, my ass," Mihoko said. "That—arrogant—heartless—calling me an investment—who does he think he is?"

"Honestly, he doesn't sound that bad," Yuu said, the ever-optimist. "Maybe he has a dark side that he hides by disengaging himself emotionally from the outside world."

"This isn't your shouju manga, Yuu." Yuu huffed.

"Honestly, I think you could learn a lot from shouju manga," she said. "Pining after your best friend for ten years, now that's a typical plot for a shouju manga." At Mihoko's stony expression she recoiled guiltily.

"Sorry, Miho-chan."

"No," Mihoko said dully. "You're right. You're absolutely right."

"But—I'm sure Hirose-san still cares about you."

"Who cares what that idiot does or doesn't do at this point?" Mihoko muttered irritably. At Yuu's still concerned and unconvinced expression, Mihoko grinned. "Another shot, Yuu? You really need to learn how to hold your alcohol."

Yuu looked terrified. "No, no," she said. "I think I'll just observe… I have a deadline, anyway."

"Oh," Mihoko said, trying to remember her roommate's schedule. "Is it due two days from now?"

"Two days ago, actually," Yuu said cheerfully. "But I don't think my editor even owns a calendar anymore. Apparently I defy all laws of time."


11:40 p.m.

"Ah, Tachibana-san," Ootori Yoshio said. "Just on time."

"Ootori-san," Tachibana said, handing the family head an envelope. Yoshio peered between the gaps before smiling, satisfied.

"Thank you," he said. "I know you dislike jobs of this nature, but I'm sure you understand. This is the best for my son."

Tachibana nodded but didn't say anything. Yoshio regarded him carefully.

"What is it, Tachibana-san?" the old man asked. Tachibana sighed.

"I seem to remember," he said. "It was a while ago, and I was fresh out of the academy… I was to accompany you to a residential house in the outskirts of Tokyo. That must have been more than twenty years ago. You went to visit a recently laid off employee." Yoshio smiled faintly.

"Exactly twenty years ago. Yes."

"There was a little girl there," Tachibana said. "His daughter. Have you been thinking about this since then?"

Yoshio looked out the window at the night scene in Tokyo. "I have a habit of cataloguing people and what merits they have," he said slowly. "I saw a potential in that girl. I wasn't wrong. Kyouya… has the same habit, I believe. That's good. He knows how to read people. Whether he learns to appreciate the qualities for their own sake is a different matter." Tachibana remained silent for a while.

"And if this doesn't work?" he asked eventually. Yoshio shrugged.

"No one will ever know," he said. "I'll find Kyouya some suitable woman and Tenri-san will have my personal backing in whatever she wishes to do." He selected a photograph from the envelope and held it out to Tachibana. Kyouya and Tenri were fighting. Kyouya wearing that imperceptible smile that he wore whenever he saw something interesting. The poor girl looked so frustrated, she was close to tears. Doubtless she thought he was making fun of her.

"But I don't think Kyouya will let go of this one easily, do you?" Yoshio said with the same smile. Tachibana swallowed in dread. There were few things in the world that could make him feel genuinely scared.

The Ootori smile was one of them.


Two weeks later, 4:55

Mihoko felt the smile etched on her face. The muscles hurt. But what else could she do?

"Tenri-san, this is a very impressive resume," the balding-glasses-san said slowly, too slowly. The spring had come a bit early that year and it was too hot in the room. "Very impressive, indeed. And normally we would hire you on the spot, but…"

"But our team is no longer hiring new researchers," Onodera, who had been a year above her in college, supplied hastily. He gave her an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, Tenri-san. I really am."

"Alright," Mihoko said, trying not to sound too dejected. "Thank you for meeting with me, though."

"Of course," the balding-glasses-san said ever more lethargically. "Of course…" Mihoko wondered how he hadn't fallen asleep already.

"Ah, Nakamura-san," Onodera said. "I believe I'm done for the day, aren't I? I'd like to take off early, if you don't mind—my sister's birthday is today, and I wanted to surprise her…"

"Of course, of course," Nakamura repeated. Onodera nodded briskly at Mihoko.

"Tenri-san, if you'd like to follow me," he said, his tone light. But something in his eyes told Mihoko that he had something to tell her. "I'd better show you where the exit is." Mihoko followed after thanking Nakamura again.

"What's going on—" she began once they were by the elevator, but Onodera shook his head.

"Not here," he said, dramatically secretive. "Once we're outside." Mihoko didn't argue and began to go over the list of places she'd applied for a job.

Yuu with her easy-going attitude said that it shouldn't be too hard for her to get a job and, while Mihoko was a bit more skeptical, she knew that her skills wouldn't be completely out of demand. She'd applied to thirteen firms that she could find on such short notice, trying to avoid whatever companies that were associated with Nakajima or Ichiru. Four of them sent her an email saying that they were no longer looking for someone. Five places asked her to come in for an interview, but somehow, no matter what she tried, things ended badly. The interviewers even gave her a sympathetic look, as if they could understand the plights of the recently unemployed.

But they were already at a ramen place near Onodera's workplace.

"You haven't been eating much, have you?" Onodera said. "You should take better care of yourself, you're not a young college student anymore."

"Gee, thanks, senpai," Mihoko said. "What's going on, though?"

"I was worried," Onodera said, his eyes flashing behind his unkempt hair (it seemed that his effort to get ready for the interview did not extend to combing his hair). "There are ears everywhere in that building. Honestly, it's a dream job, but—" Onodera shook his head. "Everyone's a bit neurotic there sometimes. I heard about your firm, Tenri. I thought it was cool."

"You didn't apply," Mihoko said drily.

"You wouldn't have been able to match the pay," Onodera said simply. Mihoko smiled wanly.

"Touché, senpai," she said. "But what's going on?"

Onodera sighed. "I was really excited to see your application, you know, and I even put in a good word for you to Nakamura-san. He seemed convinced at first, but then he got a phone call a few hours before the interview." He looked at Mihoko significantly and she frowned.

"What phone call?"

"It was an unidentified caller," Onodera said, his gleaming eyes growing wider and wider. Mihoko remembered Onodera's nickname during college: a hound. He didn't let go of a problem when he found it. "And then he seemed really disconcerted, to I did a bit of… tracing, let's say."

"You hacked into your company's own system?" Mihoko said incredulously. Onodera held up his hands in innocence.

"Hey, it was for a good cause," he said. "And you know what I found?"

"What?"

"Another untraceable line," he said. "An infinite series of untraceable lines, really. Security measures for rich people. It took me about half an hour."

"Sure," Mihoko said. Onodera raised his eyebrow.

"Hey, it's not like you were any better," he said. "I seem to remember that you were the fastest typist out of all of us."

"I have dexterous fingers," Mihoko said drily. Onodera smiled fondly.

"Don't you miss it?" he asked. "Finding obstacles, overcoming them, sometimes bypassing them in thousands…" A dreamy look came into his eyes. "Youth," he sighed.

"Senpai, who was the caller?" Mihoko asked. Onodera grew somber at the question.

"Ootori Kyouya," he said. "I don't know why, but he seems to have convinced Nakamura not to hire you—I don't know why."

"Ootori?" Mihoko said, her voice growing louder with every syllable. "Are you sure?"

"Hey, hey, calm down," Onodera said. "It could just be a coincidence."

"This is the ninth rejection I've gotten in the past week and a half," Mihoko hissed. "It's like they didn't even consider my application. Either no one read it, or someone's making sure that they don't read it."

Onodera's eyes grew wider again. "Well, if you put it like that…" he trailed off, gazing thoughtfully at the ramen menu.

"Coincidence?" Mihoko asked bleakly.

"I don't think so," Onodera conceded. "But what would Ootori Kyouya want with you?"

Mihoko stood up. "I don't know what that jackass wants, senpai," she said. "But I'll let you know. Thanks for the info. We should catch up soon."

"Hey!" Onodera said. "You should eat something, you know."

"Maybe next time," Mihoko said, barely containing the seething in her voice. "I've got someone that I have to talk to."


7:23 p.m.

"Kyou-chan!" The high, cheerful voice was unmistakable, followed by the all-too-familiar bouncy steps and floppy hair. "Kyou-chan, you didn't tell me you were going to be here!"

"Hani-senpai," Kyouya said, looking down at Hani-senpai's smiling face with a sense of relief that he hadn't felt in that evening. "How are you?"

"I just gave a lecture!" came the bubbly answer. "And I saw you in the audience. What are you doing here, Kyou-chan?"

"I thought I should stay up-to-date on current discussions on technology," Kyouya said. "It being my job, and all."

Hani smiled. "I thought it might have just been to see me," he said. Kyouya smiled back but didn't reply. Some businessman that he vaguely remembered greeted him and Kyouya answered politely back.

If he were being honest, he might not have come to this technology conference had it not been for Hani-senpai's name on the program. It had more businessmen than scientists, which was already exhausting, and it didn't help that Kyouya already knew more than half of them. Not that he and Hani-senpai were especially close the way he was with Tamaki, but he still missed the company of his friends. The few friends that understood him, his drive, his ambition, without taking advantage of him. That was perhaps why he didn't correct Hani-senpai when he called him Kyou-chan, even though really no one should hear that nicknames, least of all the people in the room…

"We should have dinner, Kyou-chan!" Hani said. "You don't have any plans for tonight, do you? We can call Reiko and Takeshi and we'll have a great time!"

"Ootori-san," an icy voice came from behind him. "We need to talk." Kyouya recognized the voice, and for some reason a smile came to his face. Anticipation coursed through his veins. So she found him, did she? But before he could say something completely polite and nonsensical, Hani-senpai beat him to it.

"Eh, isn't this Tenri Mihoko-san?" he said. Mihoko shifted uneasily.

"Um," came the intelligent reply. Kyouya mentally rolled his eyes. Awkward people were so predictable. "You are…"

"I'm Haninozuka Mitsukuni," Hani-senpai said, offering his hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Mihoko barely managed to take his proffered hand. "Haninozuka?" she said. "Not as Haninozuka in the team led by Kairo on quantum computational possibilities?" Her whole face brightened and Kyouya cocked his head to one side, observing her.

From her profile, Kyouya had anticipated a well-meaning but awkward scientist who was undoubtedly good in her field but lacking otherwise. He didn't think that she was particularly interesting—her works certainly were useful, but the details of her life, the drunken father, the unrequited love (that didn't take long to dig out, really) toward Hirose, seemed rather ordinary. Her looks were average, at best. Tall. Strong-ish, but skin overpale from having stayed indoor far too long, one would expect, staring at her equations and models. Thick, long hair just… unkempt. Grown out was the most complimentary thing he could say.

She'd surprised him two weeks ago, when they first met. He expected her to be devastated by Hirose's betrayal. Instead her mind was already working toward some kind of a solution, going over the company contracts, trying to find a loophole. And she was here because—she found out about his little stunt. Perhaps she was cleverer than he thought she was. Well, all the better. The more use she'd have for him, then.

But as she babbled on about science to Hani-senpai it seemed that her whole self was lifted a little like a dying clock given a new battery. Her eyes shone brightly. Her smile was… utterly sincere. As if she cared about every single word, inflection, and gesture that the other person was making, as if they meant more to her than the entire world. Inviting him to go on infinitely about… science. Kyouya shook his head. What utter nonsense. She was a geek, that was all.

"But that's just so fascinating! I've been keeping up with this research at Caltech—" then she paused and looked at Kyouya, as if she remembered his presence for the first time. And he thought she came for him. "Never mind," she muttered.

"You know each other?" Hani-senpai asked.

"I've been trying to recruit Tenri-san," Kyouya said while Mihoko simultaneously grumbled "he's been sabotaging my job prospects."

"Sabotage?" Kyouya said, raising his eyebrow. "That's a little harsh, isn't it? I'm offering you a job, Tenri-san. If you're so eager to go back to the work force, might I suggest you pick the best one? Mine."

"Ah, Ootori-san," Mihoko said drily. "You really shouldn't trust the people who say they are the best, you know."

"I'm stating the facts, Tenri-san."

"And the facts are wrong, Ootori-san."

"Really, if you could just get over the whole trouble with—"

"Ootori!" the third person that night who was calling for him. Kyouya turned around, adjusting his glasses. Always a good move to adjust his glasses. "Long time no see! And—oh…" Hirose Ichiru trailed off, looking uncertainly between Kyouya and Mihoko.

"Hirose," Kyouya said politely.

"Ichiru," Mihoko mumbled, looking away. This sight bothered him.

"Mihoko-chi…" Hirose said, looking constipated. His eyes worriedly looking at her face, her expression— "you've gotten thinner. Have you not been forgetting to eat again?" Mihoko looked at him disbelievingly.

"You don't get to ask that question anymore," she snapped. Kyouya for some reason found himself enjoying Hirose squirming, a kind of vindictiveness that he didn't comprehend…

"What can I do for you, Hirose?" he asked, his tone even politer.

"It's—nothing, nothing that's—too urgent. I mean—good night to all of you." Without looking at any of them again Hirose walked back the way he came, shuffling his feet.

"Is it true, Tenri-san? You've forgotten to eat?" Hani-senpai's childish voice came. "We were just talking about getting dinner!"

Mihoko looked simultaneously like she wanted to throw Kyouya off the highest building in Tokyo and like she wanted to break down on the floor crying. "It's fine," she said. "I'll get something on the way home."

"But I still have questions for you, you know, and Kyouya won't mind! Will you, Kyou-chan?"

"Not at all, Hani-senpai," Kyouya said. "I'm sure that Tenri-san and we will have… fruitful discussions." He smiled meaningfully at Mihoko: "more time for us to talk about my job offer." She didn't miss a beat.

"I'm sure it will be, Kyou-chan," she said with an equally large smile: "I still want to throw you off the highest building in Tokyo."

"Great!" Hani-senpai said, practically dragging Mihoko along with him. "Have you been to this patisserie, Tenri-san? They have the best strawberry cake. But if you're more into chocolate or mousse, then I'd suggest going to the other place… or maybe we could go to both, that would be nice, don't you think? There's also a tart place, it's…"


12:32 a.m.

From: Haninozuka Mitsukuni

To: Host Club minus Kyou-chan

Subject: Reopen the Network

Something's going on with Kyou-chan.

Let's meet together soon!

[A large Usa-chan]


A/N I'd sometimes like a bun-bun of my own... Thank you to those who followed after reading only the first chapter! I hope this chapter lived up to your expectations.