Hello.
This chapter is shorter and lacks the closer detail of the previous chapters. I intended to focus on dialogue instead, I hope that's alright. I mildly rushed this chapter as I want to begin uploading to a set weekly schedule, and I will be going home from university for the weekend (I won't have time to write while away from school). The next chapters have already been outlined, and are more complex and progressive than this. For now, here is Chapter 3.
Regards from the chef.
Placing the final box of keep-sakes into the trunk of the taxi, Usui wiped his hands in satisfaction.
"Prez, that was the last box. Are you ready to go?" He called to Misaki, whom was busy rummaging through a small suitcase near the doorway of their once 'home'.
"Um, yeah, I just need to make sure I didn't forget something…" She trailed off, but Usui couldn't make sense of her ramblings. Instead he turned his attention to Suzuna, who stood in front of a pile of apples that had sprawled across the pavement, a mangled paper bag resting in her hands.
"Oh," she said to herself, and bent to retrieve the escaped fruit. Just as her hand wrapped around the first apple, Usui gently placed his own over it.
"Allow me," he offered, and began picking them up at an inhuman speed. Misaki stopped her search to gape at Usui in awe; all of the apples were stacked perfectly in one arm in a matter of seconds.
Definitely an alien.
"Onii-chan, are you a superhuman hybrid?" Suzuna's calm yet inquisitive nature drew a chuckle from Usui's lips, and he simply winked at her before carrying the apples to an empty box and placing them into the trunk with the rest of their belongings.
"Suzuna! Don't call him "Onii-chan" so casually!" Misaki scolded her sister, but Suzuna was too busy admiring Usui's fluidity; her sister was a diligent worker, but never so graceful.
Giving up on lecturing her sister on addressing people properly, Misaki returned her attention to the suitcase in front of her, surrounded by bits and bobs strewn about the sidewalk.
I'm almost certain I packed it… Where is it?
Just as Misaki was about to give up and tear through the apartment to find her missing keepsake, her fingers brushed along a cold strip of metal. She sighed in relief as she pulled the frame from under a blanket her mother had sewn. The picture it encased was the only one of the Ayuzawa family that they had; Misaki, Suzuna, and their parents. However, Misaki's mother had folded the section of their father under the picture so it was just the three of them, clinging to one another fondly. It was one of the few times Misaki had seen a genuine smile from her mother. Looking at the photo always left Misaki feeling bittersweet; knowing how much their mother loved them, but accepting they'd never see her again.
The emotions within Misaki swelled as she thought of her bastard of a father, whom was the reason her mother had worked herself to death. The reason Misaki had begun working at such a young age. The reason she and Suzuna were now losing their only place to call home. Her grief and resentment intertwined and consumed her, and a tear struck the glass covering the photo. Realizing that she was crying, Misaki quickly wiped her eyes on her sleeve and collected herself. Tucking the picture and the rest of the contents she had tossed around back into the suitcase, Misaki stood and began walking towards the taxi. That is, until she turned and slammed directly into Usui.
"Watch where you stand, idiot," she attempted to sound assertive, but her remark lacked its usual bite. She turned her face away so that her long black hair would protect her red eyes from Usui's penetrating emerald ones.
He simply placed a gentle hand on her head in response.
"…Eh?" Misaki barely breathed out in confusion before he spoke.
"Let's go, Ayuzawa."
He walked away, leaving her standing and dazed in front of the apartment. Misaki shook her head and scolded herself for letting him take her off guard.
He's still only an acquaintance, after all.
Tucking her small suitcase between a few of the boxes in the trunk, Misaki closed the cover and climbed into the cab. Usui sat in the passenger seat, and the Ayuzawa sisters sat together in the back. As soon as everyone had fastened their seatbelts Usui gave the driver directions to his apartment, but Misaki didn't pay attention. Instead she stared out the tinted cab window, committing the framework of their old apartment into memory. The peeling paint, the faded wood of the door, the cracked sidewalk path; it had been their home. Despite the hardships that Misaki and Suzuna faced, this apartment had still kept them safe all these years without their mother. The cab pulled away, and the building slipped out of sight. Misaki continued to stare out of the window in a daze; Suzuna and Usui made small talk, but all she heard was the whirring of the engine.
"However, I have a few requests if that agreement is to be kept, Prez."
"Eh?!" Misaki was too stunned by his bold statement to reply in an aggressive manner. She looked at Usui in bewilderment, but waited for him to continue. Maybe he was just playing a stupid prank?
But Misaki knew better than that by now.
"You and your sister are to live in my apartment for the week while you find a new place to live," Usui responded calmly, turning to make eye contact with Misaki. There was the slightest gleam of mischief in his eyes that immediately brought Misaki back to reality.
"Absolutely not."
"Ha? Where will you stay then, Prez?," he pressed, knowing she did not have an answer, "You said yourself, you don't want to trouble your friends."
He made a point that Misaki absolutely could not argue with, but she fought him anyways.
"I don't know you that well, for starters. I only opened up to you so you wouldn't tell anyone about my… situation. That doesn't mean I fully trust you, idiot," Misaki retorted, feeling the condescending term a little too easy to throw at him.
"I'll be out of town for the week anyways, you won't see me for a majority of your stay. I intended to hire a house-sitter for the time I'd be gone, so let's just say that you're my unofficial employee for the week. Feel free to wear a maid outfi-"
"Not happening," Misaki interjected, having little tolerance for Usui's perverted fantasies. He paused to contemplate the situation, rustling his hand through his golden hair. Misaki made an unconscious mental note that his hair looked like it would feel spikey from being styled.
"You stay in my apartment for a week for free, and I get a house-sitter. Now it's a deal, instead of an act of charity. Will that work for you?" Usui offered, dropping his previously playful aura. Misaki could tell that this boy was being genuine, despite his perverted alien-like tendencies.
"What about your family? Don't you live together?" Misaki remembered that normal households typically had both parents involved, unlike her own.
"I live alone, so it's not a problem," Usui dismissed the topic quickly, much to Misaki's surprise. She had not anticipated Usui to be the independent type.
She was still cautious of Usui, but upon weighing the pros and cons of the situation, Misaki decided that this was the best case scenario for her and Suzuna.
"Alright, I agree to the terms. But if I even hear so much as a peep about me working part-time in Maid Latte, I'll have your head."
With that, Misaki stuck out her hand to set their agreement in stone, to which Usui coughed in an unsuccessful effort to hide his laughter.
"W-What! Did I say something weird?" Misaki ran through her mental transcript, not finding anything odd or embarrassing.
"You're so old fashioned, Prez," Usui said nonchalantly, only managing to irritate Misaki more, "There's actually one more condition, though."
His dominating gaze fought against hers in an undetectable battle, only the participants knowing how intense the feud was.
"What… Is your other condition?" Misaki's anger was almost omnipotent at this point, having surged past the level of annoyance. She hated playing these games, especially with a perverted alien such as him.
"Prez owes me one favor. She can't refuse, no matter what~." He emphasized the latter half of his statement as if to poke at the fire already consuming him.
This boy surely does not fear death, Misaki thought in awe.
"What kind of favor?" Misaki insisted, already filing through the possible atrocities he could potentially ask of her.
"That's for me to decide, and you to find out," Usui threw in a wink, just to see how far the Demon President could be prodded before unleashing her emotions in a merciless monsoon.
"You pervert! I refuse!" Grabbing his shirt collar for the second time in under an hour, Misaki belligerently shook the offender in hopes of knocking that sly grin off of his face. Mission: Impossible.
"Fine, we'll just call it an IOU and leave it at that," Usui decided, not leaving much room for discussion. He placed a stern hand on Misaki's iron fist, still tightly bound to his shirt. To Misaki it was like a hot iron had just touched her skin, and she recoiled from the touch, looking away in embarrassment.
"Whatever, do what you want. But I will not hesitate to destroy you if you cross the line, perverted alien."
Usui swore he saw a demonic aura hanging around the President's shoulders, watching his every move with a threatening gaze.
"But you said whatever I want, Prez~," Usui teased, enjoying her whirlwind of emotions.
"You know what I meant, idiot."
Misaki replayed the memory until they arrived at Usui's apartment; a penthouse style building close to the heart of the city.
Misaki quickly put together that Usui's family must be very well-off to be able to afford such a high-end lifestyle for their son. Though one in Misaki's situation might have felt envious of Usui, Misaki simply shrugged it off as the way of fate; she was not concerned with materialistic lifestyles and did not feel jealous of those who lived in the lap of luxury. She enjoyed her own paradise, as the President of the Student Council, and as the caretaker of her sister.
Once the cab had stopped, Usui immediately hopped out and began retrieving boxes from the back, managing to stack a majority of them in his arms. Misaki and Suzuna picked up the last few boxes, not bothering to comment on Usui's superhuman tendencies as they had practically grown accustomed to them at this point.
Trailing shortly behind him, Misaki and her sister looked about the lobby of the apartment building in awe; it appeared closer to that of a luxurious hotel than of a permanent residence.
Tall exotic plants adorned the wide hallway, which sported a plush rug leading to the main elevators. The lobby smelled like sandalwood and lavender, just enough to please the senses, and Misaki inhaled the scent deeply; it smelled like her mother's perfume.
Somehow Usui managed to press the arrow indicating up on the elevator despite his enormous load, and the doors slid open after a momentary wait. The three piled into the elevator, and Misaki half expected some sort of cheesy music to play over the intercom. However, the only noise she heard was the engines powering the machine; no stereotypes were proven on this day.
Misaki watched in disdain as Usui pressed the upper-most button on the panel; "P", for "penthouse". Feeling more dread wash over her, Misaki tried to stabilize herself. She couldn't let this situation overwhelm her more than it already has; she has to stay strong for Suzuna.
"Onii-chan, is there a nice view from your apartment?" Suzuna questioned, ignoring Misaki's lecture earlier that day, which warranted an agitated growl from her sister's direction.
"I'll let you be the judge of that," Usui smiled, managing to slip in a wink once again. The elevator suddenly felt very brooding in nature, and Usui couldn't help but notice that Misaki was anxiously shifting on her feet.
"Something wrong, Prez?" He asked, half-genuine, half-teasing.
"I'm fine," Misaki responded, a little too forcefully, gaining her two inquisitive stares from the other occupants of the elevator.
After what seemed like hours of being too close in proximity to a perverted alien, Misaki was more than relieved when the doors finally slid open again.
Walking a few doors down the hallway, they stopped in front of what was presumably Usui's apartment. He shifted the boxes onto one arm seamlessly and retrieved a key from his pocket. With a twist of the doorknob, Usui's apartment was opened up to the new guests.
It was surprisingly… Plain.
Misaki squinted her eyes, seemingly perplexed as to why his enormous apartment was so sparsely furnished and decorated. It seemed more like a place to just sleep and eat, than a home. Though Misaki and Suzuna had lived under hard conditions their whole life, their place of residence had always felt more welcoming than this.
Wordlessly, Usui placed the boxes on the ground near the door and headed into what Misaki presumed was the kitchen.
"Pardon the intrusion," Misaki and Suzuna called before trailing after him. Suzuna seemed unfazed by the change of environment from what they were accustomed to, but was visibly scrutinizing her surroundings. Misaki tried her best to ignore the highly expensive adornments, focusing more acutely on Usui's actions.
"I'm going to start cooking lunch," Usui began, warranting a surprised stare from Misaki, "The guest room is the first door on the left; please make yourselves comfortable." With that, Usui turned to the stove and began twisting the dials, not allowing Misaki to form a follow-up argument.
Strolling over to the boxes, Misaki noticed a lone framed picture hanging on the wall just adjacent to the kitchen. Upon closer examination, she noticed a very obvious young Usui, accompanied by a dark haired boy whom held a striking resemblance to the King of Perverts. Behind them stood a beautiful blonde woman, a hand each on both of their shoulders. Misaki assumed that this was Usui's mother, and potentially his brother. His father was nowhere to be found, which Misaki found strange, but kept to herself.
Suzuna had already started to reorganize their belongings from the boxes and was carrying them to the room designated to the sisters. Misaki joined her, making a mental note to ask Usui about his family later. Perhaps he had more in common with the Demon President than she had assumed, despite their incredibly differing upbringings.
Today, a new chapter begins.