"It was really him?"

"Just as you had guessed. Didn't fess up to the texts. He wouldn't even say how he got the number," I growled.

"You said he seemed confused after you started questioning him. When did he get that expression?"

"When I asked who was texting me Saturday. It was only the second question."

"How are you sure he's to blame?"

"First you were talking up a storm about him being creepy, now you're defending him?" I asked, exasperated.

"I just want to make sure we should be safe from here on. If it was someone else, they would expect us to have our guard down now."

"Unfortunately for Kyoya, I don't let my guard down. When he finally admits to it, I'll wipe the smug grin off the bastard's face."

The house started ringing from the many connections throughout. Our attendant, Melikishi, knocked on the door. "It's for you. One of the Hitachiin boys."

"You should answer," I told her softly, contradicting my emotions. I pointed at the phone on our nightstand. "I don't have the energy for them right now."

Furukia picked up the phone from the dock, losing her grip and juggling it before she got a solid enough hold it didn't bounce. I flopped down onto the bed, grabbed the earbuds, and started playing music on our oPod as loudly as I could tolerate in hopes that it might prevent my brain from thinking.

A gentle tap on my shoulder got me to open my eyes. Furukia was holding the phone towards me to take.

Yanking the earbuds out, I sat up and snatched the phone. "Who is it?"

"Hikaru. I'm sorry for bothering you at home in a way you can't ignore so easily, but I wanted to tell you something. The vice-pres didn't send those texts. He asked me not to say anything, but I thought you should know. Don't judge him for the actions of others, okay?"

"Why are you telling me against his wishes?"

"You guys have something special. I've never seen the vice president look at anyone the way he looks at you. I've never seen a real smile on him until you came around."

"If you say so. I'm gonna go."

"Have a good night Zakia. Tell Furukia I said bye."

"Sure." I clicked the button to hang up, handing it back to Furukia as I processed what Hikaru said.

"How does Hikaru know about my fight with Kyoya?" I finally wondered. "And what does he mean by something special? I've barely talked to him!"

"Don't get upset with Hikaru. I asked him to follow you. I was worried," Furukia admitted guiltily.

I took a deep breath to control my initial reaction. My sister would never be the recipient of my wrath.

"Alright. What does he mean by something special between us? Why would Kyoya ask he not tell me? Why wouldn't Kyoya tell me himself that he didn't send the messages?"

"He tried to. You didn't listen to him. He probably wants to prove it wasn't him by finding the culprit," my other half reasoned.

"Now you're defending him? You were all for making him the bad guy on Saturday."

"You had just told me he read our school records. It doesn't imbue trust when he breaks the law and already creeped me out. It seemed a sound conclusion that he'd pull something to get our number and then ask you to meet him late on a weekday with sinister motives."

"Well I doubt he's trying to clear up anything. I called him a bad person. I yelled at him. I threw our phone at him. He's more likely to be getting a restraining order than to be trying to prove his innocence on the matter," I continued in a huff.

"He's not like most people, Z-z. He's interested in you despite your history. I doubt he's changed his mind because you got mad at him."

"I look crazy, blowing up at him for a minor thing he didn't even do. Whatever special thing Hikaru sees, I already ruined it."

Three soft raps sounded on the door.

"What is it?" Furukia called.

"Your mother requests you join her for dinner," Melikiski's voice replied, somewhat muffled.

"No thanks!" I told her.

"She is quite insistent this evening, and of a foul temper. You girls best come down."

"Tell her to come request us herself. We're not coming down."

"Girls, please? It is I who will be reprimanded if you don't come."

Furukia and I shared a look before I gestured for her to respond. "We'll be down in five minutes!"

"Thank you, dears."

Once her footsteps had retreated, Furukia picked up right where we had left off, "If you really think you've scared him away for being upset with valid concerns, try giving him our number. See what happens. It's been a long time since I've seen you smile the way you did on Saturday."

"It wasn't even him! Hell knows who it was, but it wasn't Kyoya Ootori. It could have been anybody. It's weird that no one..."

"What did you just figure out?" my twin asked as I trailed off.

"He was set up. I don't know why, or who did it, but someone set it up to look like he sent those messages. He was the only Ouran student sitting alone in that café."

"We can talk more about this later. Our mother is expecting us. We don't want to get Melikishi in trouble."

"Yeah, alright. Let's go see what the birth-giver wants."

"How long do the two of you intend to keep embarrassing me? My daughters, entertaining other girls at some flirty club? Absolutely not; you both need to quit before you have a client. You can still salvage the situation. Wear dresses, spend time with other girls in normal, platonic ways, and stay far away from that club. I will not allow my children to be involved in such a tasteless obscenity."

"We're the embarrassing ones? Look at yourself! Bringing your kids here to show them off like trophies? Using us for an in with the chairman of that ridiculous school? You can't even tell which of us is which anymore!" I hurled the words at her, seeing how she flinched and winced, and not caring.

After taking a breath to compose herself, her only response was, "I'd better not ever hear you raise your voice like that at the table again. Is that understood, Zakia?"

"Or what?" I challenged.

"You're grounded. It's to school and straight home for you, young lady. No club for two weeks, no dates, no hanging out."

"You can't enforce that, and we all know it." Scoffing, I got up and went back to our room.

I hopped on the laptop to reply to Kaoru's message from the weekend.

Sure, let's go see a movie.

Great! We can figure out the details tomorrow.

Suck on that, Mother.