"You brought me back to the Izumi Shopping Center?" she asked in disbelief.
"Indeed. There is an exposition going on today, and I thought we could look around."
Haruhi smiled. "Felt a little sentimental when you planned all this?"
He returned her smile. "Perhaps. So, are you interested?"
"Of course I am. You came up with quite the idea." Kyoya got out of the car and went to open the door for Haruhi, who promptly told him that she could have done it herself. Hotta drove away to wait in the parking lot.
"I know. It's just proper." Now that I'm not going "incognito" — in the words of the wife of the CEO of a major electronics company — here, there are some things that are expected of me.
"Right," she deadpanned. People were beginning to stare at them, wondering why two teens dressed to the nines were standing in front of the shopping center. "People are looking, you know."
"Yes. We are probably going to attract some attention due to our clothing, but it can't be helped. You do not want to wear commoner clothes in the restaurant that we are going to."
"Of course." She mumbled something that sounded like "rich bastard" and shook her head. In a sudden change of tone, she then asked, "Will there be ootoro?" Her eyes began to sparkle at the thought.
"Why don't you wait and see?" he replied with a grin before checking his watch. "We should go inside and check out the expo."
"Let's go, then." Kyoya spent the better half of the next forty minutes walking around the Izumi Shopping Center with Haruhi, who enthusiastically looked around at various sales (she mumbled darkly about not being able to really take a good look at the products the last time she attended the expo) and did her best to ignore the attention they continued to receive from the others. She held his hand as she went from stall to stall, not just as a gesture of affection (he knew her well enough by now to not expect too much physical affection from her, which worked out fairly well for him), but also out of a desire to keep him with her in the midst of a bustling crowd. He was rather amused by what he saw. Everything here is so cheap and these discounts are rather nice, though the products are not as high quality as those which my family purchases, accounting for the lower prices. As for the discounts, I'm sure that that owners just give these products a relatively high sales price to begin with and then give discounts and such to draw in commoners. It's an intriguing marketing scheme.
"Look!" she said, holding up a pretty porcelain vase decorated with white, red, and purple flowers. "It's thirty percent off!"
"Do you like it?" he asked, taking a good look at the vase. It was much cheaper than the ones that he was used to seeing, but it was rather pretty. At least the vendor is not trying to sell it as a genuine Komatsu vase. When she nodded in reply, he took out his wallet and gave his credit card to the vendor, who looked stunned to see that such a wealthy couple was interested in his goods. Well, he's half-right. I'm rich, but she's just a commoner. A commoner that I couldn't help falling for. The vendor nervously wrapped the vase in tissue paper and bubble wrap before putting it in a plastic shopping bag.
"Here you go, sir," he blurted as he handed Kyoya the bag and credit card.
"Kyoya, you didn't have to…" Her sentence trailed off and she turned red.
"It's okay. I have more money to spare than you do. You run all the errands for Ranka and work hard to manage the money you have, so I would feel bad if you had to pay for something like this vase. Besides, I owe you for the last time we were here."
Haruhi surprised him with a hug. He stiffened with shock but then relaxed and (with uncharacteristic clumsiness) returned the hug. And here I thought that she would be mad that I paid for her. "It's only a few hundred yen, but I really appreciate it. Thanks."
"You're welcome."
They continued their exploration of the products on display. He noticed that several girls were gawking at him as they walked around, but, as he had predicted, they were not bold enough to talk to someone who was so obviously rich. Unlike last time, when a few girls decided that it was a good idea to approach me when I was in a bad mood and was with Haruhi. At least we weren't together back then, and at least they aren't bothering us now because of our clothes. He made sure to give them his host smile when he passed nearby.
"If being an Ootori is hard, at least you get to enjoy your family's wealth," Haruhi told him while he bought her a pair of small faux-pearl earrings that had caught her interest.
Kyoya stared at her before replying. "After the age of ten, only the heir or heirs have access to my family's funds. As any heirs hadn't — and still hasn't — been chosen yet, my two older brothers automatically gained the right. Once I was ten, my father gave me a hundred thousand yen as a sort of initial investment and said that I was on my own financially unless I prove myself to be worthy of being the heir. My billions of yen come from stocks, investment pools, and some of my own business ventures."
"You're independently wealthy and have to pay for everything yourself, then?" She seemed somewhat peeved with this insight into his situation.
"Yes. It comes in handy quite a bit. Didn't you wonder how I bought out the entire Ootori Group during the Ouran Fair last school year?"
"Huh, I guess I never wondered how. Didn't you give the company back to your father, though?"
"I returned management to him, yes, but I still own quite a bit of stock in the company."
"Right," she deadpanned. "You will always be you."
"Indeed." He grinned.
After they were done looking at the various vendors and had purchased some melon-flavored snacks for Tamaki and the twins, they finally went back to the car, which Hotta had driven back from the parking lot. "It's been forty-three minutes since we came here." Kyoya said, looking at his watch again and addressing Hotta. "Drive quickly and take the most efficient route. We have a reservation at 7:45 that we don't want to miss."
"Yes, Master Kyoya."
"Time for dinner!" Haruhi exclaimed happily. It was rather amusing to see someone who was usually so stoic and deadpan get so excited over food.
They pulled up to Roppongi Fukuzushi, and Kyoya once again helped her out of the car. "If we go on more casual dates, I promise that you can get out of the car yourself," he told her when she looked chagrined.
"Fair enough. I guess you do have an image to maintain around others."
"Thank you." Haruhi suddenly linked her arm with his.
"Let's go," she said with an unaffected grin that made him smile.
Once they were seated and the food was brought to their table, Kyoya found that bringing her here had been a good decision. Haruhi took an instant liking to whatever food was given and practically glowed with food-induced ecstasy (he learned that they both were fond of spicy tuna maki, though she was shocked when he added a bunch of wasabi). Kyoya had to assist her at times, as she was not used to what she called "rich people food."
"Why aren't there any prices on the menu?" she asked indignantly when she first saw the menu, causing Kyoya to laugh softly.
While eating, she eagerly talked to him about topics such as the merits of globalization and a capitalist lifestyle. Even though some of her views differed from his own, Kyoya still appreciated such intellectual conversation. It felt refreshing to freely converse with someone who could match him mentally. So different from what I'm used to, and I like it.
At last it was time for them to leave, as Kyoya was not about to get on Ranka's bad side so soon. He thanked her as they got into the Mercedes and headed back to where Haruhi stayed.
"Whatever for?"
"For being you. I haven't been able to really discuss my views on such topics with anyone before, so this was quite nice." Haruhi's face turned red.
"Oh, I...I should thank you for all of this. It was a lot of fun, actually."
"I'm glad you enjoyed yourself."
When they arrived at the apartment complex, they stood outside in an awkward silence. What am I supposed to say or do now? In a moment of what he could only call incredible bravado, Kyoya bent down and kissed her. He leaned against the car with her fingers in his hair and thought that he would never forget this night. "I love you," he told her breathlessly as they separated.
"I love you, too."
Suddenly, from the side of the complex came an "aww" and then the voice of hushed scolding. Kyoya's eye twitched, while Haruhi almost astral projected out of shock.
"Come out, Tamaki. I know you were stalking us the whole time." The blond was shoved out of his hiding place. "Who else is with you?"
Tamaki dragged Kaoru (Kyoya did not even need to see the twin's hair color to be able to tell that it was him) out of where they had been hiding. They both shivered violently out of fear as Kyoya glared coldly at them. "We just wanted to see how the date went!" Tamaki cried.
Kyoya ignored him. "So, Tamaki told you, Kaoru?"
The redhead sighed in relief and nodded. "Yeah, only he and I know. Milord wanted to tell Honey-senpai and Mori-senpai, but we didn't get a chance to talk to them, and as for Hikaru...We decided to wait until we tell him about you guys."
"I see," Kyoya deadpanned. His glasses began to glint ominously.
"Noooo! Don't kill us! I'll make it up to you! I'll…" Tamaki wailed.
"...decide to do a French Polynesia cosplay instead of a magical creature cosplay this upcoming Friday?" Kyoya finished with a smile.
"Sure!" the blonde replied quickly. "We'll do a French Polynesia cosplay."
Haruhi laughed after Tamaki and Kaoru left. "Wow, Kyoya. That was quite cunning."
He smirked. "I have no idea what you mean, Haruhi."
More laughter was her reply. "Good night."
"Good night."
That night, he stayed up and wondered what miracle had brought her to him. Little did he know until the following morning that circumstances (somewhat) outside of his control were already beginning to conspire against him.
The fic is turning into a shameless mix of the manga and anime. *sweatdrops* Hope you guys liked this chapter!