"Maybe..." Riley muttered into the phone, "I think I may be into Mori a little."

"I fuckin' knew it!" Dakota screamed from the other end. "I was worried I'd have to actually head over there and tell you myself. Thank god you figured it out."

As she was talking into the phone, Riley played with the panda's ear that was now taking up half of her bed. "You know, you'd probably like it here. The hosts are all very attractive."

Dakota laughed, "You know I'm too gay for that."

Ghost nudged the giant panda with his nose out of jealousy, discreetly trying to shove it off the bed. Knowing what he was trying to do, Riley shoved him away with a little giggle, "Hey, Haruhi's a girl."

"Just 'cause she's a girl doesn't mean I'm into her. Gawd. But anyways, back to the real reason I called, your mom called me. She told me you're sleep walking again."

"Damn," the baker muttered and took the panda into her arms, "I knew I shouldn't have told her..."

"Dude! Do you actually remember the last time you started sleepwalking? You should go back and live with your mom or get someone else to live with."

Years before, when Riley first started sleepwalking, she used to walk out into the cold and almost freeze because she'd just fall right back to sleep wherever she found herself. So her mom had always insisted that she live with her until the walking stopped which, to Riley's relief, it did. She wasn't sure why she told her mom in the first place and was only able to continue living on her own because she mentioned that Ghost wouldn't let anything bad happen to her.

"Oh c'mon Dakota. Ghost wouldn't let anything get that crazy. He's a good one, y'know."

"Riley... just be careful, alright?"

She laughed, "No worries buddy. Just keep yourself safe and go down on all the girls you want."

The next day, the baker was in the kitchen doing what she did best but today the sweet scent of the cakes seemed almost overbearing for her. She opened a window to let in a breeze of fresh air and inhaled deeply. "Oh, you'll be getting a lot of fresh air tomorrow Riley..." she thought to herself. The host club had decided that, in order to do a new photoshoot for some sort of merchandise they never told Riley about, they were all going to a cabin for the weekend. Not only was it a cabin, there was also a ski resort just a few mere miles away. "Oh, so it wouldn't just be a little camping expedition but also a ski trip?" Riley asked back when she was informed of the trip.

Kyouya nodded at her question, "I suppose you could look at it that way, yes."

"I don't really wanna go..." the baker thought to herself as she moved away from the window back in the present and looked at her cakes that were beginning to golden in the oven. "D'you wanna go, Ghost?" The white husky was too busy scratching himself to even hear her question. "Useless... you're useless Ghost."

The kitchen felt less hectic that day. Not as much cake eating was being done by the hosts and their clients as per usual. Not that Riley complained. She enjoyed the nice slow pace she was going at since it gave her more time to decorate the cakes like she used to. "Ooh have I got some plans for you," she muttered while looking at a seemingly perfect cake in the middle of two others in the oven. Like a well practiced routine, she slid on her overused oven mitts before sticking her hands inside the scalding appliance to take out the plain cake she was about to turn into a masterpiece.

Mori and Honey were walking towards the kitchen, each one wanting to see Riley for completely different reasons. Honey, of course, wished to see how his fresh set of cakes were doing whereas Mori wanted to see her for his own personal reasons. He couldn't understand what it was about her that made her constantly plague his thoughts, haunt his dreams and awaken his desires. It seemed like no matter what he did, he couldn't shake her ghost like presence that was constantly by his side or lingering in his shadow. He found that the only cure for his self proclaimed insanity was to see the subject of his affection or to listen to her long conversations that he never participated in with herself.

"Are you listening, Takashi?" Honey asked.

Mori, who felt quite shocked that his mind had wandered so far from himself, looked down at his best friend and nodded. The small blonde looked skeptical of his cousin's answer before a broad smile surfaced on his face, "Were you thinking of Rye-chan?"

Even though he shook his head, the tall host's face gave away the truth by flushing red in embarrassment from being found out. It was obvious that Honey was about to start a bit of an interrogation but was cut off by a loud cry of pain that came from the kitchen they were about to enter. "Was that Rye-chan?" He asked his cousin who was already forcibly shoving open the door.

Inside, Riley was on the floor holding her oven mitted hand with a large gash visible in the mitt's cloth with Ghost fussing over her. Cake was splattered on the floor and an empty pan was a couple inches from her which clearly held the cake at one point. "Ow ow fuckin' ow," she was muttering to herself while holding her right wrist of her burned hand.

"What happened?" Mori asked as he knelt beside her with her a cool damp cloth and pressed it against her hand.

Even though she wanted nothing more than to seem strong in front of him, tears pricked at her eyes and threatened to stream out. "Um... well apparently there's a hole in my," a little whimper came from her throat as Mori applied slight pressure to her burn, "there's a hole in my mitt," she continued when she regained her composure," and then I was taking that cake out of the oven and it burned and then it felt like the pan got stuck to my skin so when I dropped it, it felt like it just stayed there for a second then when it actually dropped, it fell on my foot and now my foot really hurts."

While she was rambling on, Honey went to fetch an ice pack for her. "Let's go to a doctor." Mori said once Honey returned and they wrapped the ice pack onto her foot.

It pained her to say it but she still muttered, "I don't think I can walk on this foot—woah Mori wait!" She exclaimed when Mori picked her up bridal style and started to walk for the door. Trying to steady herself, Riley's arms went around her carrier's neck and her cheeks flared up, "Takashi Morinozuka! Put me down I can... all you had to do was let me lean on you for support, not pick me up!" Though she loved being so close to the host that she noticed that he smelled like the rain, fresh and crisp, she also felt very strong butterflies in her stomach and wished it'd go away. "Takashi please. Honey, tell him!"

Honey was following close behind with the ice pack that had fallen off in hand, "I think it's a good idea that Takashi carries you. You're hurt and we don't want you to get even more hurt."

Realizing that Honey wouldn't help, the baker turned her attention to the white husky that was trotting beside them, "Ghost! Stop Mori!" One of Ghost's ears perked slightly before falling back down and looking up at her. Knowing that she was helplessly stuck in the situation, she muttered, "Useless, you're useless Ghost," before settling into Mori's strong arms and accepting defeat.