Thanks for being patient. :) As usual, I do not own/am not affiliated with BroCon.

They were hovering.

Ema could feel their presence like little hummingbirds at the back of her senses. If she was in the kitchen, Ukyo was there to offer his help. If she was in the living room, Natsume was there to chat up a new game. If she was going to the store, Masaomi sent Wataru to tag along.

She wasn't sure whether to appreciate them trying to remain casual or to take offense at their poor attempts in doing so.

Monday came too slowly for the young Hinata, and she nearly tripped over herself getting downstairs and packing lunch for her brothers. After waving goodbye to the ones awake, she and Yusuke made their way to school. An awkward silence settled over the two, and she snuck guilty glances at him from behind her phone as he wandered through patches of morning light.

"Ahem. Final exams start next week. Are you ready?"

"Huh?" Ema looked up from her screen and flipped it shut when she heard her brother's voice. "Oh. Well, yes. I have a study group together..."

More silence.

"...would you like to join?"

"Wh— huh?!"

Ema cleared her throat and smiled weakly at him, almost regretting her question as soon as it left her lips— the same lips that had been on Kaito's only two nights before. "Well, you know Oshiro Katsu. He's a year above us; he's the smart one with the glasses. I asked him to help me with studying, and it looks like we all need his help. If you do, too, then you can join us."

Yusuke swallowed the lump in his throat.

"Aah. Yeah, I think I'll take you up on that offer. But... will your friends be alright having me there?"

And the images were clicking through Ema's mind: her friends under the harsh streetlights, eerily silent. Their group, huddled together and giggling on the floor of her bedroom with Kaname right outside the door. Kaito, eyes closed and face serene as she ran his fingers through his hair. She could almost imagine their faces when she told them she invited one of her brothers to their study group. Perhaps they'd be teasing. Perhaps they'd be angry. Perhaps they'd treat Yusuke differently.

But she nodded her head anyway, offering him a small smile.

"They'd love to have you."

"Ehh?!"

The duet sounded in harmony as Ema's friends stared at her like she'd grown a second head. Kiyomi, from her spot perched at the edge of a bench, raised her hand to Ema's forehead as if to check for a fever.

"What do you mean, 'he's coming to our study group?'"

Ema sighed and clutched her books tighter. The only two friends who were at school so early were Katsu and Kiyomi, and Ema bemoaned the fact that she didn't simply tell them all at once during lunch.

"He's going to have to start thinking about college next year. I want to help him get a jump start with his finals this year. Do any of you mind?"

Katsu scoffed. "I don't know how you can expect me to teach him with a straight face. But I suppose I can manage if I try. I know firsthand how difficult the college search can be; even I need to take pity. Especially upon somebody with grades like his."

"Hey, that was mean!" Kiyomi huffed. "Am I bitter at him for helping those wolfish brothers make my dear Ema's life so tough? Maybe, but I'll tolerate him if she invited him, yeah?"

Katsu rolled his eyes fondly at the petite blonde, thumbing through the pages of a thick law book before Kiyomi perked up and leaned off the bench to nudge Katsu with her forehead. "Hey, speaking of college, you've picked one out already, right?"

"Of course."

"Oh, that's good!" Kiyomi chirped. "We're going to miss you next year, you know. I hope you plan on coming with us to the beach trip that Kaito's planning. Just so we can send you off properly."

Katsu hummed. "I'll come if Kaito can actually get the itinerary together and emailed."

"Oh!" Ema interrupted, and the two of them turned to look at her. "He messaged me the schedule last night. I'll send it to you two. Here, it looks like we're leaving on the sixth of June and coming back on the twentieth. He hasn't reserved the rooms yet since he wants to go through the RSVPs first."

"Are your brothers coming, Ema?" Kiyomi wondered, and Ema shook her head emphatically.

"No. They know I'm going on the trip, but I didn't think it would be a great idea to invite any of them. They'd be odd around all of us."

"That's fair," Katsu agreed, jerking his chin to gesture behind Ema. "Besides, we can't have them getting sadistic on that one."

"Hm?" Ema turned and immediately ducked her head with a blush— Kaito was striding towards them, a lazy grin painted on his features. He splayed himself across the bench when he reached them, his long body reclined like a panther in a tree.

"Good morning," he greeted, and Ema looked up from behind a curtain of hair to find his eyes trained on her intently, expectantly. They held their gazes for a few moments before Kaito swallowed and nodded at her. "How are you?"

"Oh, I'm... fine. What about you?" Her voice came out more hushed than she intended, and she tried not to pant when his gaze dropped to her mouth.

"I'm alright," he murmured heatedly. Ema found her own attention drawn to where his lips parted, to how his teeth caught the tip of his tongue just enough to make those dimples appear, to the silent whisper of his ragged breath escaping through—

"Ahem!"

It was like buckets of ice water slapped the pair out of their exchange and their eyes snapped back to Kiyomi, the source of the noise, who glared pointedly at each of them. "Look, I don't care about whatever it is that... that... was, but you might wanna watch it, unless you want those brothers of yours on your tail." She gestured to where Fuuto and Yusuke stood with a flock of girls near the entrance of the building, their backs to the scene that transpired.

Ema looked back at Kaito and realized that the two had gravitated closer together till there was hardly space between their faces. Heat rushed to her face and she jumped back and away.

Katsu raised a brow and snapped his book shut with a flick of his wrist. "Looks like we missed a lot over the weekend, hm? What was that about?"

Kaito mumbled something at Katsu and slung on his backpack. His lingering glance on Ema painted her cheeks pink as he sauntered into the school with a casual gait, eyes thoughtfully trained straight ahead.

Interactions with Kaito and Ema throughout the day sobered from their usual flirting to longing stares and ardor-laden whispers, much to the chagrin of their friends who didn't know what transpired in Ema's room as Kaito left. The two retreated to their classroom long before the others had finished eating, and Mitsuo turned to the group and pretended to gag as the pair left.

"Those two are being so lovey-dovey and stuff that it's kinda drivin' me crazy. Were they like that before?"

Rei ran her fingers through her hair, biting her lip devilishly. "Nope. Maybe something happened after we all left."

"Maybe he came back and ravished her that same night," Ryota added. Matching emerald eyes glinted above matching Cheshire grins while Mitsuo shrieked, and Kiyomi smacked her book on the twins' heads.

"You two, always suggesting something wicked," Kiyomi huffed, "and you know for a fact that wouldn't work out well for either of them, yeah? One of them would chicken out."

"You sound like you've been putting a lot of thought into this, Kiyomi." Ryota scowled and rubbed his head.

The girl in question shrugged. "Somebody has to reel everybody in. I swear, all of you force me to be a mother ahead of my years. It's unfair!"

"More like a grandmother," someone coughed, and Kiyomi shot a glare in the general direction of the offender— despite the fact it was likely Mitsuo, given his all-too-innocent expression. Nonetheless, she fluffed her hair and packed up her lunch, clucking her tongue at the group with a halfhearted frown.

"I mean it, you guys! You always— hey! Guys!"

The bell rang, and Kiyomi shot up in shock as her friends fled from the table, relieved.

"Yikes," Ryota murmured to Rei as they rushed to their next class.

"Kiyomi's great and all, but..." Rei and Ryota shared a glance and shrugged, finishing their sentence in tandem.

"Her melodramatics kinda scare me!"

Ema drummed her pencil against the desk at the last hour of the day, staring at the clock impatiently. Each tick had her at the edge of her seat; their study group was meeting at Katsu's house after school and dragging Yusuke along for the ride. Because she would ride with Tamotsu, inevitably Kaito and Yusuke would as well, and she couldn't be certain on how well they'd get along. She wasn't sure she could trust either of them to be completely civil— would Kaito mock him with overdone etiquette? Would Yusuke turn gruff when talking to the boy? Perhaps she never should have invited her brother at all, because there were simply too many possibilities for the situation to turn sour—

Kaito brushed her hand with the back of his. She jumped and turned to him, startled. His head tilted curiously.

"You've been making weird faces. Are you doing alright?"

Oh! Yes." She turned her hand to take his in her own and gave his fingers a reassuring squeeze before letting go. "I'm okay. I was just wondering how the study group was going to turn out."

Kaito grimaced. "Right. I almost forgot your brother was coming along with us. I'll try to play nice."

Ema sighed. "Kaito, you need to play nice. I remember you were making fun of Kaname when we were in my room, and it was funny, but Yusuke probably wouldn't be able to handle it."

The boy's eyes lit up with mischief, and Ema shot him the dirtiest look she could manage, which only made him grin. "Kaito!" She whispered. "Really."

"Okay, okay." He frowned. "But just for clarification, what do you mean 'wouldn't be able to handle it?'"

"I mean he'd try to set you straight. Once he almost ate half an entire cake because Tsubaki was teasing him about it."

Kaito yawned and stretched. "So he's the jealous type."

Before Ema could respond, their homeroom teacher cleared her throat. "Hashira-kun. Is something wrong?"

Kaito straightened immediately, folding his hands on his desk and loading smarm in his smile. "No! I was just helping Hinata-chan with her notes."

The teacher sighed and rubbed her temples, mumbling about "that patronizing Hashira boy." Kaito's posture relaxed once the teacher's back was to him, and he grinned lazily at Ema. The girl giggled, then schooled a serious look on her face when their teacher whipped around to scrutinize them.

In the back of the room, Yusuke's eyes widened. His sister was usually silent as sleep in this class. But now, she was sitting with her spine straight, and the Hashira boy, for all his nuisances and frustrations, was the picture of a respectful schoolboy despite the teacher's sharp stare trained on them. Ema's lips were pursed in a stifled smile while Hashira's grin seemed a little too self-satisfied.

The teacher sighed again, only one of many in the day. "Just... get to work, you two."

Ema nodded, apology in her eyes, and hunched back over her work. Even from the back, she was lovely, Yusuke mused.

And then he wasn't looking at her.

That Kaito kid had turned around with that stupidly satisfied smile on his face, eyes drilling directly into Yusuke's. One arm moved from between his and Ema's seat to slink around the back of her chair and clasp her shoulder. The Asahina drew himself to his full height in his seat. If anything, Hashira's grin only grew, baring more pearly teeth (fangs, Yusuke corrected in his mind) and making his visage even more smug. Then his tongue poked through his teeth and draped over his lip, one of his eyes falling shut in a cheeky, sarcastic wink. Yusuke narrowed his eyes at him.

This isn't going to last long, Yusuke warned Hashira, boring the thought into the infuriating boy. I'm not going to give up on her. You should watch your back. I'm not going to give up on her, and my brothers won't either. Before it's me against them, it's us against you. Choose your battles, Hashira. Is this a war you want to fight? Do something. I dare you.

Hashira's tongue disappeared behind his teeth again.

His eyes snapped wide open, light playing off the russet pools there.

His expression morphed into a wide smile of delighted, shameless —unquestionably fiendish— shock.

And then, to Yusuke's surprise, Hashira Kaito excused himself to the hall and burst into vivacious laughter before the door had even shut behind him.

Sorry about the wait. Life was hectic. Don't forget to vote! I'll likely be closing the poll at around chapter nine or ten. As usual, please review.