All of a sudden, there was a knock at the door as Mrs. Hikigaya made her way towards the front door of the house for a few minutes before she came back to the living room area, while being followed by an older man around the same age as Mrs. Yukinoshita. He had black hair with patches of gray throughout his hair, he was wearing a tan double-breasted trench coat over a black suit with a white pin-striped dress shirt, red tie, a pair of black slacks, and was carrying a briefcase in his right hand as he walked into the living room. Hachiman looked around to see that Mrs. Yukinoshita was looking at the man with a smile on her face, Haruno's poker face that she always had on was gone and she was smiling, but he was surprised to see Yukino had a shocked look on her face, like she wasn't expecting this man to show up.
'Why is Yukino so-' Hachiman thought, before putting the clues together, 'H-hold on! Is he-'
"Oh, you must be the infamous Hachiman Hikigaya that I've heard so much about..." The man said, as he made his way to Hachiman, "I'm Yukino's father and it's nice to finally meet you."
O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O
The entire room was silent as Mr.. Yukinoshita sat there and took a long drink of the tea that Mrs. Hikigaya gave him, as five minutes had only passed since Mr. Yukinoshita had introduced himself to Hachiman before making his way over towards his wife and sitting down next to her. He was offered some tea that he graciously accepted and after taking a long drink of it, he set the cup down and sat back on the couch, before exhaling a deep breath and then turning his attention towards everyone else in the room.
"Forgive me, I know everyone's waiting for an explaination, but I just needed a moment..." Mr. Yukinoshita said, "It has been a very long and trying day today."
"Take your time, dear..." Mrs. Yukinoshita said, "There's no need to rush out an explaination"
"I know" Mr. Yukinoshita said, as he took a deep breath
"Yesterday, I was unable to make it to the dinner with Hikigaya-san because I was called into an emergency meeting with the prefectual Diet, but it wasn't until I got there that I found out that the meeting was about me and as of this afternoon, I have been placed on a temporary 'leave of absence' pending the outcome of an investigation into my credibility on whether I can still be trusted to maintain my position as a member of the Prefectual Diet." Mr. Yukinoshita said, "The ethics committee was making claims that I had apparently accepted a bribe from a pharmaceutical company and that I had gained money off the stock market via non-public information"
"In other words, Insider trading and bribery?" Mr. Hikigaya asked
"That's correct" Mr. Yukinoshita said
"I take it you didn't actually do them, correct?" Mr. Hikigaya asked
'One of them, I didn't do..." Mr. Yukinoshita, "The other one, I was never informed the truth about it"
"That snake of a lawyer provided our father with a stock tip, but didn't bother to inform us that the info wasn't public knowledge" Haruno asked, "His wife was also the one who misled the pharmaceutical company into attempting to bribe our father."
"Haruno is correct." Mr. Yukinoshita said, "all of these issues were caused by Mr. and Mrs. Hayama's actions"
"H-Hold on, BOTH of them?" Yukino asked, surprised, "I only saw Mr. Hayama at my school and he was acting weird, now it's both of them?"
"That's correct, Mr. Hayama was the one who convinced me to go in on some stock investment that he found, claiming that it was going to make the both of us a lot of money and he had never really been wrong about stuff like this, so I agreed and he made the investments for the both of us." Mr. Yukinoshita said, "We did make a lot of money because a much larger corporation had purchased them and merged the two companies, while the regular stock holders were paid close to triple the current stock value for the old company stock, but he never told me that he knew about the merger and the info wasn't public knowledge, so I was unknowingly committing Insider trading."
"Okay, what about the bribery?" Haruno said
"Mrs. Hayama was working with one of the big pharmaceutical companies to help prepare a new drug for clinical trials, but the drug itself had gained quite a controversial reputation during its development, so the Japanese Medical Association had denied the approval of this drug for clinical trials." Mr. Yukinoshita said, "Mrs. Hayama informed the pharmaceutical company that I had agreed to assist them with the approval, without actually asking me first, so it was quite a surprise one day when I suddenly received a major donation from them and the request to help 'convince' the Japanese Medical Association to approve their drug for clinical trials."
"Did you send the money back?" Mrs. Hikigaya asked
"Of course, but by the time I sent it back, it was already too late, the ethics committee monitors things like this closely, so it didn't take them long to figure out that a bribe was sent to me and for what purpose." Mr. Yukinoshita said, "I was informed this morning that they'd be conducting a full investigation into all this, but as of this evening, I have been placed on a 'leave of absence' pending the results of the investigation."
"If you didn't do it, then there's nothing to worry about" Yukino said, "The investigation should prove that your innocent, right?"
"That's correct" Mrs. Yukinoshita said, "...but we still need to inform you about what happened with the Hayama family."
"As of this afternoon, our family has completely cut ties with the Hayama family, but Haruno felt that it wasn't right that those two were getting off easy, so she acted on her own..."Mr. Yukinoshita said, "She contacted the firm that Mr. Hayama is a partner at, informing them of what he did and how our family was ending our account with them, which resulted in him losing his partnership and being forced into resigning from the firm"
"I contacted the hospital as well to inform them of what Mrs. Hayama did to my father, as well as sent an anonymous e-mail to the Japanese Medical Association to inform them of what the pharmaceutical company was attempting to do." Haruno said, "She was terminated from the hospital and will more than likely be blacklisted from getting another job in the medical field, at least in Japan."
"That's why he came to the school and wanted Yukino to come with him" Hachiman said, "He was going to use Yukino to force you to fix things for his family..."
"Most likely, which is why I sent Haruno to come and get you all from the school" Mr. Yukinoshita said, "If something does come up, I would like for all of you to be witnesses to what he attempted to do at your school, okay?"
All five of them nodded as Mr. Yukinoshita started to stand up and stretched a bit before he picked up his briefcase and began to make his way towards the front door, as Haruno and Mrs. Yukinoshita also began to stand up as well, following alongside Mr. Yukinoshita as they were getting ready to leave.
"Thank you for your hospitality, but it's about time for us to head home..." Mr. Yukinoshita said, as he turned towards his wife, "By the way, did you tell Yukino?"
"I was just about to do so" Mrs. Yukinoshita said, "Yukino, I'm afraid that your apartment is no longer safe for you to stay in."
"What do you mean?" Yukino asked
"Mr. Hayama is in possession of a spare key for your apartment, mostly because he was the one who handled all the paperwork to secure the place for you, as well as the fact that we'd send him over there to check on you from time to time." Mrs. Yukinoshita said, "While I would prefer for you to return home, I know you enjoy the independence that comes from living on your own, so we plan on finding you a new apartment, but as this will take time, Mr. and Mrs. Hikigaya have agreed to let you stay here until your new apartment is ready."
"HUH!?" Hachiman and Yukino exclaimed at the same time
O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O
Hachiman and Yukino were just looking at each other, completely confused as to what was going on because they had just discovered that Yukino's mother had spoken with his parents and they agreed to let Yukino stay at in their home until they secured Yukino a new place to live. This would mean that Yukino and Hachiman would have to remain by the others side almost all day, which made Yukino feel like they were being tested about something, so she got up and decided to follow her parents outside to find out why they'd do this, while Hachiman decided to ask his parents a few questions.
"Umm... If I might ask a question?" Hachiman said, "Where exactly is Yukino going to stay?"
"isn't it obvious?" Komachi said, smiling as Hachiman realized what she was going to say
'Komachi, don't say it-' Hachiman thought as he looked at Komachi
"She can sleep with me in my room!" Komachi said, smiling
'O-oh, good... for a second, I thought she'd say-' Hachiman thought, sighing
"...or at least that's what I'd like to suggest, I think she'd prefer sharing a room with Onii-chan." Komachi said, as she smirked at Hachiman who tensed up at her remark, "I mean, she was clearly comfortable enough to share a bed with him last night."
'..and there it is' Hachiman thought, shaking his head, "Komachi, you know mom and dad won't allow-"
Mr. Hikigaya - "I'm okay with it" Mrs. Hikigaya - "Just keep your door open and it'll be fine."
'...why do I even bother with this.' Hachiman thought as he sighed
O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O
Yukino followed her family out of the Hikigaya household and saw them to their car as the driver got out of the vehicle and opened the passenger door for Haruno and Mr. Yukinoshita to climb in, but Mrs. Yukinoshita waited for a moment before she turned to face Yukino, knowing that her daughter had questions.
"Mom, is this another test for us?" Yukino asked
"Why do you wish to ask that?" Mrs. Yukinoshita asked, "Do you think I'd involve his family in some ulterior motive?"
"No, but to suddenly discover that you're okay with your daughter living here at her boyfriend's home..." Yukino said, "...It just seems like there's something else going on."
"Very well, I will answer your question, but in return..." Mrs. Yukinoshita said, "You will answer a question of my own."
"Fine." Yukino said
"This incident will shine a spotlight upon our family as the Ethics committee investigates your father, not to mention the fallout that will come from Haruno's actions towards the Hayama family and their eventual responce" Mrs. Yukinoshita said, "The reason that we're doing this is to keep the attention away from you for as long as possible since you had no involvement in any of this, otherwise, it'll make things difficult for you to be able to concentrate on completing your last year of high school, as well as any attempts for you to spend time with Hikigaya-kun."
"That's truly all?" Yukino asked
"Yes, that is all... now, please tell me something before I ask my question." Mrs. Yukinoshita said, "Do you truly intend to continue this relationship with Hikigaya-kun?"
"Yes, mom" Yukino said
"Very well, then please answer my question..." Mrs. Yukinoshita said, "Tell me what you intend to do about that peach-haired girl?"
"Yuigahama?" Yukino asked, surprised, "What are you talking about?"
"It's pretty obvious that this other girl has feelings for Hikigaya-kun" Mrs. Yukinoshita said, "What do you intend to do about her?"
"This 'other girl' as you keep calling her also happens to be my best friend, mom!" Yukino said, getting upset at the direction of the conversation, "If you are asking me to cast her asi-"
"I am not asking you to do anything, I am simply observing the situation as it presents itself and from what I've learned, it seems that your best friend is harboring romatic feelings towards your boyfriend and all I wish to know is what you intend to do about the situation" Mrs. Yukinoshita said, "Do you intend to ignore it and hope that her feelings go away, do you intend to confront her and demand that she give up on Hikigaya-kun, or do you intend to form a polygamous relationship where the two of you share Hikigaya-kun?"
"That last one is sick, I'd never do that" Yukino said, before making her last statement with absolute finality, "Hachiman is my boyfriend and I don't intend to share him in that way with anyone else."
"I'm glad to hear that, now please answer my question" Mrs. Yukinoshita said, "How do you intend to make certain that Hikigaya-kun remains yours?"
"Until she tries anything, I have no intention of doing anything" Yukino said, "IF and only IF she does try to make a move to take Hachiman from me, I will handle it from there."
"...very well." Mrs. Yukinoshita said, as she got into the car and the window rolled down as the door was shut, "If this is the path you've chosen, then I shall respect your choice."
"Yukino-chan, just remember one thing." Haruno said, as Yukino bent down to look in the window, "You're the girlfriend, so you got certain 'Girlfriend Privledges', don't be afraid to use them to mark your claim!"
Yukino frowned and was about to respond back to Haruno when the vehicle began to pull away from the front of the Hikigaya residence, to which Yukino just sighed as she watched her family drive away before turning around and making their way back into the Hikigaya residence
O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O
Yukino made her way back into the Hikigaya residence and back into the living room area where she saw Hachiman was now sitting on the couch with Yui sitting next to him and both Komachi and Isshiki sitting across from them.
"Yukinon, you're back!" Yui said, as she looked at Yukino, "Did you see your parents off?"
"Yes" Yukino said, as she walked around towards the couch
"W-were you wanting to sit by Hikki?" Yui asked
"No, it's fine." Yukino said, as she moved in front of Hachiman, "Excuse me, Hachi."
Hachiman was confused at first until he watched as Yukino sat down right in his lap, causing Isshiki to look shocked at the two of them, Komachi to suddenly reach for her phone to take a picture and Yui to start blushing a bit at something she didn't think Yukino would do.
"You said you wanted to sit next to both of us, so now you can, Yuigahama." Yukino said, smiling as she looked at Hachiman behind her, "Hachi, your arms, please?"
Hachiman was confused as he raised his arms, only to start blushing again as Yukino grabs them and wraps them around her waist, placing her own arms ontop of his to hold them there so he can't pull them back, then leans her head back onto his left shoulder.
"Y-Yukino-san, I never thought you could be this bold..." Isshiki said, surprised
"I'm just taking advantage of something I learned that I could do recently..." Yukino said, "I believe it's called a 'Girlfriend privledge'."
"Onii-chan is growing up!" Komachi said, smiling
Yukino just smiled and sighed as she sat there on Hachiman's lap, leaning back into him and having her head on his shoulder, but to her surprise, she suddenly felt a weight ontop of her head, so she looked over to see Yui was now leaning onto her head, which caused her to remember when they did the same thing on the bench during their preparations for the joint prom. Yukino smiled as she just continued to sit there and enjoy the moment as a warm feeling began to bubble up inside of her and she began to feel like everything was going to be alright from now on and all the problems of the past were long gone, even the whole incident with Mr.. Hayama and his family seemed to melt away as she sat there with her two best friends.
O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O
Later that night
Hachiman was sitting on his bed as he waited, to say that he was nervous was an understatement because he had just learned only a few hours ago that Yukino would be living here for the time being, they also learned from Yukino, via a text from Haruno that while the majority of her stuff would be placed in storage like her bed, furniture, etc, most of her clothes would be sent over here and arrived not too long after her parents left. This resulted in all five of them suddenly rushing up to Hachiman's room, which bothered him greatly as they went around combining drawers to make room for Yukino's underwear and other clothing, as well as making room for Yukino's regular clothes in his closet. As it was getting late, Mrs. Hikigaya made the offer to have Yui and Isshiki stay the night, which they agreed to almost immediately and all four of them chose to have a little slumber party in Hachiman's room, which bothered him even more as they were treading on his sacred ground of privacy. he was luckily having a few moments of peace and quiet as the girls were all taking baths right now, but this quiet was sudenly cut short as he watched Yukino make her way into his room wearing a pair of white pajamas with cats decorating all over them.
"Where are the others?" Hachiman asked
"They went with Komachi to borrow some clothes" Yukino said, as she sat down next to Hachiman, "So... looks like we're living together for a while."
"Yeah..." Hachiman said, "...do you want to set any ground rules?"
"...just one." Yukino said, "I know this is your room, but when the door is closed, please knock before you enter, okay?"
"Any reason?" Hachiman asked
"I'd rather not have a repeat of the incident after we helped the tennis club." Yukino said, blushing
Hachiman sat there for a moment before suddenly blushing as he remembered when he walked into the clubroom after helping Tousaka with the tennis club and saw Yukino and Yui changing, which resulted in him getting knocked out with a tennis racket.
"I-I mean, it's n-not like I d-don't want you t-to see me i-in my u-un-underwear..." Yukino said, suddenly backtracking, "It's... just too soon for that."
"r-right" Hachiman said, as he looked down at the floor
"Yukino-chan!" A voice called out as Yukino turned around to see Komachi standing there with Yui and Isshiki, all of them wearing different colored pajamas and carrying futons as they made their way into Hachiman's room
"Senpai, I didn't say it earlier, but your room is surprisingly clean" Isshiki said, as she began to set her futon on the ground, "I didn't find any traces of dirty magazines anywhere!"
Hachiman just sighed as he stood up and grabbed the clothes that he had on his dresser before making his way out of the room to go take his own bath, only to suddenly turn around and look in his room again, "Don't snoop, Isshiki!"
"Why are you singling me out?!" Isshik complained, as Hachiman left to go take his bath
O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O
30 minutes later
The girls sat in Hachiman's room while he was now taking his bath and after having to discourage Isshiki from snooping through his stuff to find out of Hachiman had a porn collection, the four of them were just making some simple conversation when Yukino decided to take control and handle a little busines with the Service Club.
"I know we've been busy today with everything that's happened..." Yukino said, "...however, I think we should take a minute to come up with a few ideas to help the cooking club."
"hmm... the best idea for them would be to host some kind of cooking event." Komachi said, before suddenly widening her eyes, "A bake sale!"
"A bake sale?" Isshiki asked
"Yeah, have the cooking club make a bunch of cookies, candies, cakes and such, then sell them while also attempting to recruit students into joining their club!" Komachi said, "You can also hold a raffle for like an extremely fancy-looking and delicious cake."
"That sounds like a great idea!" Yui said, "...but what are we going to make for this bake sale?"
"We could spend tomorrow going around to different shops and tasting different sweets to get an idea of what to make." Isshiki said, "We can even split up into two different groups!"
"Sounds like a plan!" Komachi said, as she stretched, "How about the groups be myself, Isshiki, and Yui as one and the other one be Yukino and Onii-chan for the other!"
"H-huh?!" Yukino asked, blushing in surprise
"Oi, Rice-girl!" Isshiki said, as she moved over towards Komachi and whispering the last part, "What are you planning?"
"A simple date with a bit of spying..." Komachi whispered back, as Isshiki smirked at Komachi's plan
"W-why not do it together?" Yukino asked
"No, Komachi-chan has a good point!" Yui said, "besides..."
"Besides?" Yukino asked
"I-If you two go by yourselves, it could be considered... a date" Yui said, smiling
Yukino face suddenly went red as she looked at the three people sitting on the floor in front of her, while she had continued to sit on Hachiman's bed, realizing that they were trying to set her and Hachiman up to have a date, but neither of them realized that just outside the room's cracked door, Hachiman was leaning against the wall as he looked up at the ceiling.
'Looks like I have a date tomorrow...' Hachiman thought
O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O
Omake~
Mr. Hayama slammed his fist down onto the coffee table in front of him as he looked over the paperwork that he had in his hands, it was the official resignation info that he was forced to type up today and was going to have to submit by Monday morning. He was still seething mad after he discovered that Haruno went out of her way to not only inform his firm about the insider info he got, but also closing down the Yukinoshita family's account with this firm, which pissed off his bosses to no end as the Yukinoshita family had usually brought in a lot of business.
"Damn that Haruno..." Mr. Hayama said, as he leaned back in his chair, "She ruined everything!"
"We'll manage" a female voice said, as Mr. Hayama looked over to see a plantinum blonde-haired woman stood there, wearing a long-sleeved white dress shirt and black slacks
"No, that bitch of a daughter took it too far, she cost me a partnership that I had spent almost my entire career working to get and you're most likely going to be blackballed from getting any job in the medical field" Mr Hayama said, as he looked at his wife, "Monday, I plan on talking with an attorney to start a legal battle against their family for all the damages they caused us, but I also want you to tell Hayato that he needs to convince Yukin-"
"No, we're not getting Hayato involved in this!" Mrs. Hayama said, glaring at her husband "After what you did at the school earlier tonight, any more pushing with Yukino and they could seek to have Hayato removed from the school to protect Yukino."
"Then what are we supposed to do?" Mr Hayama said, looking at his wife, "If the lawsuit doesn't work out, our only other option is to hope that we can start over in another country."
"I'll speak with Yukino tomorrow..." Mrs. Hayama said
O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O
A/N: I appreciate all the votes for helping me to decide which idea I should go with involving the Hayama family, but my original idea kind of went AU and I want to keep things as linked with the original plot as possible, with only minor changes, like having Haruno accidentally cause the rumor for Yukino and Hayato dating, instead of just having it be a rumor that was being spread. The original idea was to change Mrs. Hayama's career from being a doctor to an accountant that's handles the finances of the Yukinoshita family, only for it to be discovered that she's been stealing money from them, with the figures being over a hundred million yen throughout the course of her entire employment with the Yukinoshita family. I felt that this would change things too much, so instead, I came up with the bribery and insider trading charges and decided to ask which one people would like to go with, while also including both as an option and the rest is history.