Chapter 3

The art building of T University, in a way, made Kisa think of high school. It had been about twelve years, of course, but high school was the last time Kisa had ever set foot in an art room. His college major had been art administration, which had more to do with dealing with artists and marketing work than doing anything himself. Other than correcting storyboards, he hadn't drawn in years.

Kisa pushed these thoughts aside for the time being and sat down on the edge of a huge, stone planter in front of the building. He had promised Yukina he'd be there when he got out of class, and he had turned down going out drinking with one of the women from the BL department. It was always a hoot going out with those women. If the men at Emerald had hilarious anecdotes, they had war stories. And they were probably the only people working for Marukawa that knew Kisa was gay.

The large clock tower in the middle of campus chimed seven times. Kisa had brought a copy of the new volume of Girl's Master, and at that, he opened it and threw it in front of his face as if an attractive man reading a shojo manga in the middle of a college campus was inconspicuous.

"He's cute! Do you think he's in the art department?"

Kisa smirked behind his manga. It was off-putting when Yukina's older brother thought he was that young, but his young looks were what got him so many guys. Maybe Yukina didn't care that he was essentially an old man, but there were a lot of men out there that thought they slept with a high schooler.

That little fact had kind of stopped creeping him out a long time ago, not that he'd let anyone know.

"Kisa-san!"

Kisa only looked up from his manga when his boyfriend's shadow fell over him. He jumped in surprise when he saw Yukina wasn't alone. Kobayashi Miyuki stood behind him, clutching between her hands the biggest coffee mug Kisa had ever had the pleasure of observing. If he knew mugs that big existed, he would've found the shop that sold them and bought five.

Yukina looked at Kisa apologetically. "I'm sorry, Kisa-san. Onii-chan wanted to visit our parents, and he doesn't think Kobayashi-san will do any work alone in her apartment."

"This coffee is good," Miyuki said, completely disregarding the previous statements. "I could stay up all night and finish the storyboards. I bet Takano-san would like that. Say, is he gay?" She turned to Kisa and for a brief second, he thought she was talking about him. "It's just this feeling that I get, but I'm not just going to ask him." Then she passed out. Yukina caught her, and Kisa saved her coffee.

"Heh, caffeine crash," Yukina said, gently moving her so he was giving her a piggy-back ride.

Kisa smirked. "Amateur." He leaned over to observe the sleeping Miyuki, helping himself to a gulp of her coffee. "So what should we do?"

"Probably take her home."

"Weird. I was thinking prop her up, tape open her eyes and scare the locals." Kisa stopped and stared at Miyuki's coffee, and then he snapped the little opening shut. "Remind me to never accept coffee from her."

Yukina smiled. The coffee was nothing special, if you ignored the metric ton of sugar Miyuki had dumped in it at the convenience store on their way there. He made a note to add sugar the next time Kisa stayed over and he made coffee.

Right then, though, he said, "I will."

Yukina knew the address of the apartment that Ken and Miyuki were staying in for the month. Unfortunately, it was on the other side of the city. Kisa wasn't about to give up his time with Yukina, though, so he silently followed him through the subway station, ignoring the stares that the sleeping girl on Yukina's back brought. Finally, they were on their way, but in the car they entered, there was only room for one person to sit. Without a word, Kisa grasped a handle, and Yukina deposited Miyuki on the bench between a girl sporting stereotypical ganguro fashion and a business man with graying hair. He glanced at the girl, then stared at Yukina and Kisa suspiciously.

A biting remark was on the tip of Kisa's tongue, but he kept his mouth shut. For all he knew, he'd be stuck in this subway car with this man all the way to their stop, and he'd caused enough public disturbances in his life.

Considering the fact that the apartment was only rented for the month, Kisa had been expecting a small number, probably an efficiency unit, maybe with a separate bedroom that Miyuki used while Ken slept on the couch. Something like that. So as they got in the elevator of the apartment complex and kept going up and up and up, Kisa got more and more curious.

"Kobayashi-san's parents are paying for the apartment," Yukina explained. Miyuki had slept through the entire ride and was still passed out, so Yukina had carried her there as well. "I guess they're rich. That's what Onii-chan says, anyway."

"Ugh, this kind of lap of luxury sort of gets on my nerves," Kisa muttered to himself, not expecting Yukina to hear. The elevator doors opened up into a hall, but there was only one door on the entire floor, at least that Kisa could see. A penthouse apartment. He should've known.

Yukina seemed to sense that Kisa was uncomfortable around this all, because he said, "You don't have to stay here, Kisa-san. I just thought I'd stay with Miyuki until Onii-chan gets back." He smiled a small smile as he twisted around and grabbed the key ring on one of Miyuki's belt loops and found the right one, then shoved it into the lock.

"No way. I gotta see this," Kisa said. No matter how much he didn't like those huge apartments that only rich people could afford, he couldn't help but be curious, and now he was presented with the perfect opportunity to snoop around without looking suspicious. Yukina just shrugged and led the way in.

The inside looked more like a house than an apartment, at least compared to Kisa's own. There was two levels, a separate kitchen, and a huge couch and flat screen TV in the living room. Yukina carefully set Miyuki down on the couch as Kisa went over and inspected the manga equipment that was just shoved over in the corner. It didn't look like Miyuki had been using it.

Suddenly, though, Kisa had a thought. "Hey Yukina, did your brother used to live in the area?"

"Yes, of course," Yukina said. "Up until he graduated college, he lived here with me and the rest of our family. Then he moved out to Kansai for some reason. It was never very clear, but he seemed to be happy."

Kisa just shook his head and glanced over at the stairs, wondering if it would be appropriate to check out the second story. Miyuki muttered something in her sleep that sounded suspiciously like 'shojo sparkles.' Maybe she had been working on her manga after all. Kisa didn't bother asking Yukina any further questions. He'd figure out what was bugging him about Ken himself.