After breakfast there was still some time before Shiki had to head to school. So he decided to attempt to sate his curiosity. What would Akiha do while he was at school? Hisui and Kohaku didn't need to go to school, both of them had already passed the Daiken Test. What would Akiha do? He checked her room, it was still empty and unused.
There was, of course, that room that he had noticed yesterday. Was Akiha really using that room? The door was now shut, "Akiha?" He said as he opened it, "Are you-" Akiha was in there, yes. However, she wasn't wearing anything but her underwear. Their eyes locked, Shiki's eyes didn't dare move anywhere else.
He shut the door just as the screaming started.
Role Revert
By Pata Hikari
Part 2: She's dating who?
"Shiki-sama... there is a ritual human beings perform called knocking." Akiha said, as Shiki sat in a chair, his head hung low. "We do it before we open closed doors." She was now wearing the girl's uniform of his school. Shiki had to admit, Akiha looked good in it. The shorter skirt, in particular, he approved of. Of course, such thoughts were in the back of his mind right now. His chief concern was avoiding setting Akiha off and ending his pitiful life. "What were you thinking? Just marching into a young lady's room without a single thought!? Shouldn't you know better Shiki-sama!?"
"It's not like-" Shiki was about to say "It's not like I haven't seen you naked a million times before." but he realized that, perhaps, saying such a thing to Akiha as she was now might absolutely lead to his death. For one thing, he was beginning to think that Akiha had no idea what their relationship had been just two days ago. She, he and Akiha were very rarely overtly romantic, but she hadn't even dropped any hints. "Uh, Akiha..." Shiki said, "Perhaps we should head to school now?"
This seemed to drive Akiha out of her lecturing state, "Oh! Right. We don't want to be late." She quickly twirled around and Shiki had to wonder for a moment why the girls uniform's skirts were so short. The skirt had flared up, as she spun, just a little bit more and Shiki would have gotten a dangerous sight that Akiha might have decided to kill him for, late for school or not.
Everything outside the mansion looked normal as well. Nothing had changed, the path to school was the same familiar one he had taken for the past year.
Akiha walked slightly ahead of him, while he doubted that she would be particularly affected by this seeming change in route. As far as he knew, she had only gone to his school for a very short while, but judging by how she had the uniform-
"MRRROOOWW!"
"Waaahhh!" With his focus on Akiha, Shiki hadn't been paying any attention to the rest of the world, and thus tripped over a cat. "Owww..."
In an instant, Akiha was at his side, "Shiki-sama! Are you injured? Is anything bleeding, broken? Do you need me to carry you?"
"Nnnn I'm fine..." Shiki groaned as he stood up, "I just tripped, nothing major." He brushed the dirt off his clothes, nothing was hurting. "I'm fine, really." He smiled reassuringly at her. Akiha didn't look quite convinced, but at the same time they couldn't dawdle or else they'd be late. "Oh, by the way..." He said, beginning to walk again, forcing Akiha to keep up. "At school, um, what do you..."
Akiha sighed, "Memory problems again? It would only lead to trouble and bothersome rumors. At school you are simply Tohno-Senpai."
"That's good." Shiki was grateful that Akiha seemed to not be as stubborn as Hisui on this matter... "...yeah." Great. He was beginning to accept this premise as normal.
After reaching the school, Shiki and Akiha parted. He went up to the third floor with the Third Years, while Akiha went to the second as a Second Year. Class was uneventful, unlike the last time he remembered Akiha coming to his school, nobody reacted. Even the one constant in his school life acted normal.
"Oh if it isn't Tohno-sama. How goes the rich life?" Arihiko said.
That is to say, Arihiko was the same strangely likable pain-in-the-ass as usual.
"I've been living in that place for a year and you just now bring it up? I guess that is the limits of your thought processing ability." Shiki quipped back.
"Nah man. It's nothing like that. I just thought I'd remind you of it. You know, to let you know how good you have it. Living in that huge mansion, heir to a large fortune, have Akiha-chan as a cute live in maid..." Arihiko said.
"..." Well that confirmed that this wasn't just as delusion of Akiha. Arihiko was a (mostly) normal guy, so if he was playing along then it was likely something more. "You just want me to lend you some money, don't you."
"Oh hey man, I'm hurt." Arihiko clenched his fists dramatically, "To accuse your best friend of begging you cash, how can you sink so low?"
"Depends, how much do you want?" Shiki said.
"Well, enough for a decent dinner for two wouldn't be too bad..."
Shiki raised an eyebrow, "For two? If you want me to go get ramen with you me lending you the money kind of kills the point of you paying for it."
Arihiko slapped Shiki on the back, "Not for you, dumbass! It's a date!"
"Really?" Shiki said, "I'm impressed any woman would get near you."
"Heh. I guess you just don't understand my bad-boy charm." Arihiko puffed his chest out proudly. "Yeah, then again I guess you don't need to worry about dates. What with Akiha-chan and all... man if I had a maid like her I wouldn't worry about other women ei-"
"Ohhhhh are you having dirty thoughts Ari-kun?" A new voice interrupted their discussion.
Both of them turned their gaze to the source of the new voice. "Koha-" Shiki almost said, then stopped. She was a girl yes, with red hair, and a cheerful smile. But her eyes were not Kohaku's amber. Rather, they were jade blue... "Hisui...?"
"Hi Shiki-chan!" Hisui said, grinning widely, before turning back to Arihiko, "I don't think Nee-san will like hearing about that."
"O-oh come on Hisui-chan! It was just guy talk, you know?" Arihiko said defensively.
"Really? I thought for sure you were saying how Akiha-chan was prettier than her." Hisui said.
"I never said that!" Arihiko said.
"Oh? Then what was all that about then...?" Hisui's grin was like a shark nearing it's prey.
"I wouldn't put too much stock in anything he says Hisui." Shiki said, barely managing to get back into the flow of things. "He's an idiot who can not survive without one foot firmly planted in his mouth at all times."
"Yeah! Exactly!" Arihiko said. A moment passed, and he realized Shiki's defense of him had been rather insulting, "Hey!" He glared at the giggling Hisui, "Shouldn't you be back with the second years? We Seniors are very busy."
"Awwww I just wanted to eat lunch with Shiki-chan." Hisui mock-pouted, "Then I hear you planning to cheat on poor Nee-san!"
"What? What goes on in that head of yours?!" Arihiko looked ready to pull his hair out.
"Lunch..." Shiki's eyes widened, "Oh crap." He looked through his pockets, no money in his wallet.
Hisui frowned, "Geez Shiki-chan, did you forget lunch?"
Shiki laughed nervously, "Yeah. It was stupid of me. I don't have any money on me either. Guess I'll be going hungry today."
"Really man? You're rich and you don't have any cash on you?" Arihiko said.
Shiki rolled his eyes, "It's not that simple Arihiko. I may have a lot of money on paper, but most of it's all held up in properties and investments. Plus a lot of even that is held up in the Tohno Group, so I couldn't even begin to get at it without getting permission from extended family and investors. My personal funds are significantly smaller than you would think."
"Wow." Hisui said, "When did you get all responsible sounding Shiki-chan?"
"Yeah I have to agree. You almost sounded smart for a minute there." Arihiko said.
Shiki groaned at the two redheads. "I have to become an adult some time, don't I?" At first he had not had anything to do with the family finances. But a few months ago Akiha began guiding him through the process of managing the large amount of money his family handled. He had found himself enjoying it, not so much for the sake of earning more cash, but more for just being able to spend more time with her.
The door to the classroom opened. "Ah... it's Akiha-chan." Arihiko said. Just as he had said, Akiha entered the class, holding a bag. A few people whispered about what she was doing here... but nothing too odd.
"Senpai." Akiha said, walking up to the desk.
"Y-yes?" Shiki said. 'Senpai.' Not 'Shiki' or 'Nii-san' (as she still sometimes called him) or anything like that.
Akiha held up the bag and set it on the desk, "Forgive me, I forgot to give this to you before we left." She turned and left the classroom, ignoring the whispers. Shiki opened the bag. It was a lunch box.
"Guess I'm going to eat after all." Shiki said with a slightly embarrassed smile.
Hisui giggled, "She's great, isn't she?"
"Y-yeah." Shiki sighed.
School ended without any further events. Shiki ended up walking out with Arihiko and Hisui. The two seemed to get along fairly well. Hisui quite cheerfully gossiping about every single thing that had happened in school today "...was absent today and Haru-san was sure it was because of her but I was like no way would..." Shiki was beginning to miss the normal Hisui.
Leaving the building, Shiki noticed another girl standing by the gates. She was... very similar looking to Hisui, only her slightly longer hair distinguished her.
"H-hello, Kohaku-san." Shiki said.
Kohaku smiled, but it was subtle. "Good afternoon, Shiki-san." She replied back.
"H-hey Kohaku-chan..." Arihiko said.
"Good afternoon to you too Arihiko-san." Kohaku said.
"Right! Nee-san, he was saying awful things!" Hisui jumped in front of her, "He was totally going to mmmphhh!" Hisui couldn't say anymore because Arihiko had decided to cover her mouth.
"Just ignore her. She takes stupid things way out of context." Arihiko said, struggling to still hold Hisui.
Kohaku sighed, "Arihiko-san, you can let go of Hisui-chan now. I know she's just teasing."
"...nbmmmmmggmmmggg with a goat!" Hisui said as Arihiko finally released her.
"How was today, Shiki-san?" Kohaku said, her tone polite and even.
"A little strange, but not... too bad." Shiki answered.
"Glad to hear." Kohaku said.
"So, Kohaku-chan." Arihiko pushed himself in front of her, "Um, about tonight... I might not have enough money for-"
"Oh that's fine." Kohaku said, "Just a walk through the park, is fine. Maybe we could play some games?"
Arihiko groaned, "You always beat me at those..."
That's when it hit Shiki, all the casual hints dropped through the day. "Wait... Kohaku-san... are... are you dating Arihiko?!"
There was a long silence.
"Wow Tohno. We've been going out for a month and you just now comment on it?" Arihiko's jaw was dropping.
Shiki, luckily, was quick to recover. "Everytime I see it it's like a dream. Such an impossible event of you attracting someone so out of your league it's not even funny, I find myself thinking I hallucinated."
"Man..." Arihiko groaned, "Look, I know they're your childhood friends, but could you turn down the protectiveness?"
"Nope! Me and Shiki-chan will keep Nee-san safe from your bad intentions!" Hisui chimed in.
Kohaku sighed again, "OK Hisui-chan. What about protecting Arihiko-san from my bad intentions?"
"Oh those are fine." Hisui said.
"Hey!" Arihiko shouted, "Women... why do I bother...?"
"How are you feeling Kohaku-san?" Shiki said as Hisui and Arihiko got into another spat.
"Oh I've been well Shiki-san." Kohaku replied, "Been doing homework and all that."
"I can imagine it's a bit of a pain." Shiki said, "Oh..." He looked back to his friend, "Uh..."
"It's fine, Shiki-san." Kohaku seemed to understand what he was thinking.
"No, no it's fine. I know he's a good guy, even if he's a big of a punk." Shiki said, "I was just thinking about you."
Kohaku smiled for the second time today, it was warm. "I'm glad. You've always looked out for us, since we were kids."
A girl in the window. Watching, expressionless, as they played.
Since we were kids... Shiki thought, and realized what was going on. Hisui and Kohaku were acting like, as far as he could tell, as they acted as children. "Yeah," He said with a bitter smile, "I do, Kohaku-san."
"Got you now!" Hisui was now somehow on top of Arihiko's back.
"Ahhh! Get her off me! Get the monster off me!" Arihiko shouted.
Shiki groaned, "Damn it. Hisui, please stop trying to murder my friend."
Arihiko and Kohaku went off on their own, apparently to head to their date, so Shiki was left with Hisui. But before he could talk to her further, Akiha left the building.
"Good afternoon Hisui-san." Akiha said.
"Hi Akiha-chan." Hisui waved.
"Was I interrupting something?" Akiha looked between him and Hisui.
"I was just about to drag Shiki-chan to a love hotel and make him my husband, you know, the usual." Hisui said casually. Shiki nearly fell over.
Akiha smirked, "Oh? That would be difficult as I thought last week you were going to marry him to Kohaku-san."
"Well, you know, gotta be flexible." Hisui said.
Shiki began to wonder just what world he had been dragged in to.
"Oh I think Shiki-sama is getting uncomfortable." Akiha said.
"Oh I'm just fine." Shiki said, "Just wondering what I wanted for dinner."
"Dinner..." Hiusi said, "Shiki-chan! Can I please please please come over for dinner?" She clasped her hands together, "Pleeeaassssee?"
Shiki looked over to Akiha, "Uh... do you think it's..."
Ahikia shrugged, "It's your choice."
Right, he was technically in charge now. It was odd. "Sure... Hisui. I'd be glad to have you."
"Yay!" Hisui jumped for joy, "I don't have to eat take out and old plums tonight!" She laughed, "Cause you know Nee-san's going to be out late."
"Uh... I'm trying not to think of that." Shiki said.