Disclaimer: I own none of the original characters nor plot of Blue Lock.

Warnings: cursing, abusive guardians, fatphobia, eating disorder (another Trigger warning: will be listed before the relevant scene for the eating disorder)

UPDATED TIMELINE

See chapter 10A but replace Day 8 with: "Day 8 (Saturday) – Isagi walks her home the morning day after Momoji, chats with his mom re: her suspicions on Reina's homelife. Ego and a white specter in Isagi's uniform appear in his dream. He has an argument with his dad over Reina being temporary. Reina tells Sae she's going to Shibuya to meet Megumi (after implying Sae has a way to track where she is) but meets Isagi instead. Incident where her classmates are mean to her at café so Megumi and Isagi give them sour drinks. Reina gets angry at Isagi, but they make up and he asks her out. Isagi's dad accuses Isagi of "stringing along" Reina. Isagi agrees to help out at a dinner party in Kiniro that his dad's restaurant is catering for, which ends up being at the Itoshi household. He meets Sae and Reina's dad, goes up to give Reina food (who went upstairs early for vague reasons) at the request of older house attendant Mako-san."

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Thank you so much for motivating me to get this out despite my hectic work schedule! Anytime I get lazy, I read your reviews and get energized to keep going 3

O n i k k o

{鬼っ子}

chapter 11 part two – what luck

"And just why," a furious voice hisses from behind Yoichi's shoulder. "Is there a boy in your room?"

The striker immediately turns his head around to see a female version of Rin (only older, and with different eyes.) The tall and slender newcomer wears an intimidating glare alongside her floor-length gown, as she scowls from the bedroom's entrance.

Which is when, rather belatedly, Yoichi realizes that he had left the door open.

'Shit.'

The striker is well aware that his liberal parents are a distinct minority when it comes to dealing with a boy and girl their age spending time alone in close quarters like this, especially in the girl's bedroom. Yoichi takes a step away from Reina, and turns so they both face the surprise visitor now.

The striker stealthily glances to his side, towards the primary recipient of the older woman's furious eyes.

He expects Reina to be nervous, but instead, he's surprised to see her frozen in fear and radiating palpable terror.

"Well?" The angry woman prompts once more.

"I-I…i-it… I…." Reina stutters so meekly, that Yoichi can hardly hear her despite his position being barely a meter away from the girl. He's never seen someone shrink so quickly, so completely. Compared to Reina's liveliness just a few seconds before, it's like she's…

'It's like she's… wilted?'

(Only that's not quite right. She's not just quietly shrinking. Instead she's curling in on herself while very obviously panicking. Silent panicking; he didn't realize it was a thing until now.)

The ramrod thin woman sneers, talking over Reina's stuttering. "Are you incapable of speaking? Answer me clearly, and answer me now. Exactly what are you doing alone with some unknown boy in your room, unchaperoned?"

The striker once more glances at Reina, whose eyes are cast down and whose hands are visibly shaking at her sides, her fingers repeatedly sinking into her thighs. Yoichi can sense Reina's mind scrambling, frantically searching for an acceptable excuse to give the woman who possesses such an uncanny resemblance to his rival (while managing to be ten times more intimidating than even Rin.)

The tall woman tsks snidely, and takes an almost menacing-like step into the room. "Are you deaf now as well as shameless, Oten*?"

Reina flinches, quickly glancing at him with wide-eyes before staring at the ground again.

Yoichi frowns, confused at the term. 'What did you just call her?'

"I apologize," The striker interjects, when he realizes Reina's still silently panicking and unable to respond. His words cooly cut into the unsettling tension permeating the room. "I was just asked to bring up some dinner." Yoichi nods towards the plate in his hand, before placing the dish on her desk, next to Reina's drink.

The striker's internally thankful for his own self-restraint, and his accidental distance from Reina when she had stepped away just a few moments earlier. Yoichi doubts his flimsy excuse would have been accepted so easily if the striker had indulged his earlier wayward thoughts, and instead been caught straddling her on the messy bed.

The woman pauses her stride. "And who instructed you to do so?" She barely glances at Yoichi before sneering at the plate. At least she finally relieves Reina of the unrelenting pressure of her glare. 'Small wins,' Yoichi thinks sarcastically, still feeling supremely uncomfortable.

The striker opens his mouth to respond, hesitating briefly only because he fails to remember if the obaasan's name from earlier was Mano-san or Maro-san, or maybe it was-

"I did." Reina blurts out, without a shaky smile nor stutter nor any hint of biting her lip.

'How strange.' Yoichi tilts his head. 'Why would you lie about something so insignificant?'

But also…

'Where did your tells from before go? I thought… I thought I'd already figured out how to tell when you're lying.'

(It feels like Reina tricked him somehow, which annoys him.)

At the girl's response, the woman's anger sours into something darker. "You did?" She steps towards Reina once more. The two would be similar in height, only Reina's shoulders are hunched in (having already curled into herself as much as a person possibly can while standing.) "You went back downstairs after my son announced to all and sundry that you were too unwell to dance with the Chisaki boy? You ungrateful little wretch. How dare you make my son a liar, you-"

"No! No, I wouldn't! I just called for Y-the waiter when he was passing by the stairs. No one else saw. I swear, no one else saw. I swea-"

"Did you just interrupt me?" The icy tone silences Reina. The older woman's eyes are filled with something cold, something warped, something horrible.

Reina pales, and looks close to hyperventilating.

'What… what is this?'

Yoichi's shocked and silent, still not comprehending exactly what he's witnessing. 'This isn't just a parent being angry over catching their step-daughter in a room with a boy, this is… something else. Something worse.' The woman's voice breaks through his confusion.

"So you were the one who asked for more food?" The woman smirks. "Let's see what it is, then."

Instead of fury, Rin's mom seems different now. It's almost like…

Yoichi scowls. 'Reina looks petrified, and this woman is enjoying it.'

The woman strides past the trembling girl, towards the plate still sitting unassumingly atop the desk.

Rin's mom picks up one of the hor d'oeuvres. "At least 200," she announces, before throwing the appetizer into the trash bin. Next, she picks up a fancy spring roll that Yoichi saw Fujimi carefully wrap earlier. "Another 150."

The woman continues to pick up items while calling out random numbers aloud, before throwing each one into the trash bin.

It takes a minute for Yoichi to realize that the crazy woman is counting calories.

The woman with Rin's face tilts her head towards Reina. "Still feel hungry?"

What stupid question, the woman's thrown out everything on the plate.

Reina shakes her head. "No, Itoshi-sama. I'm not hungry at all."

The girl at his side isn't stuttering anymore. Her eyes are blank as they stare at the older woman's feet, and she's wearing a plastic smile that makes his gut churn. She'd be a placid robot, if not for how her fingers claw at the fabric on her thighs.

"You're already up to a size M. Keep eating like this and I'll be ordering L's before long. You know what L stands for, right? Lard. My god, have some shame. You're one size away from being a whale." Then the mad woman throws the entire plate into the trash, a loud crash as the porcelain dish cracks and crumbles. "The only thing more grotesque than a bastard staining my family is a fat one." The woman waves her hand towards Reina. "I could fit in that dress twice, while Hakamada-san told me he had to let it out at your hips." She spills the drink Yoichi left on the desk into the trash next. "Disgusting. Gorging yourself as if you can spare the calories. Have you no sense of shame? No man will want a fat bride. How on earth do I get rid of you then, Oten, hmm? Are you so incapable of a modicum of discipline, you ugly wretch?"

"That's enough." Yoichi finally interrupts, pulling himself out of his stunned shock. "How can you even say something so…" he can't even finish, so in disbelief over the woman's blatant cruelty. 'How can she speak to another human like that, let alone her own step-daughter?'

He tries to step closer to Reina but the woman's in the way. Rin's mom turns her head at his words. "You're still here?" She barely spares him half a glance. "Take the trash and get out." She points to the small trash bin filled with ruined, uneaten food. Then she waves him off as if he's less than a fly, before turning back to face Reina. The older woman doesn't even acknowledge his earlier censure, or seem at all bothered by the fact that he's witnessed her acting so monstrously.

The striker's anger rises, and he's about to say something when Reina interjects and quickly passes him the small trash bin. "It's fine, waiter-san. I'm not even hungry! Actually, I think my stomach's feeling unwell again. I'm so sorry to have troubled you; I'm sure you're needed back in the kitchen." She smiles placidly but her eyes are loud instead of blank now, and he can hear what they're trying to convey easily.

Get out, get out of here right now. Leave, please just leave…

(This is not something you can save me from.)

Yoichi immediately wants to ignore Reina's instructions; he wants to stay and ream out this crazy bitch for her bullying. But… he remembers what happened the last time he didn't leave when Reina asked him to. So, even though he wants to stay and shield her, he remembers what happened with the girls at the café. Hasn't he already learned this lesson? That no matter his intentions, his help can make things worse for her.

So he leaves the room while biting the inside of his cheek so hard he tastes iron.

As soon as the door shuts, Yoichi immediately presses his ear against the cold wood, not trusting the ruthless woman Reina's trapped herself with at all.

"I just returned to touch up my make-up after showing some guests the garden. How fortunate I did. You vile harlot, how dare you try to cause another scene at an event honoring my son."

"I wasn't, Itoshi-sama. I wasn't, I promise."

"Liar. I know exactly how your conniving, devious mind thinks. You left that door open on purpose, you dirty little vermin. A rumour that you're used goods would be oh so convenient for you right now, wouldn't it? That's what you're after, even if it means embarrassing my own son in the process."

"No, I-"

"Don't you dare talk back to me. In fact, don't do anything at all. Just stay locked in here unless you're called for. Be invisible, be dead. Why do I have to remind you of rules you've known for years? You can't possibly be growing more dimwitted. Honestly, if it wasn't to weaponize you against my precious son, my husband wouldn't have even bothered letting you come. Actually, now that I think about it…" Yoichi hears a mean smile in the woman's voice. "You had one job, and you didn't even do it. I eagerly await my husband's reaction, don't you? Even he won't let you off so easily this time."

Reina's silent in response, so the woman continues her onslaught.

"How long must my son shield you from the consequences of your own stupidity? How long does my son have to martyr himself to compensate for your inadequacy; you stupid, useless leech."

Still, Reina doesn't respond.

"And you just casually spit on his sacrifices. So what am I to do now? After that stunt you pulled with the Chisaki boy, you're on thin ice and you shoved my son there too."

Reina finally tries to speak up. "I didn't mean t-"

"Of course, you never mean to." Rin's mom interrupts.

"I-"

"You are just inherently a burden and daily nuisance." The woman cuts Reina off again. "You don't even have to try, your mere existence grates on all our lives."

Offhandedly, the striker wonders if Reina talks so much with him because no one else in her life lets her speak. (Well, Reo lets her talk, but Yoichi ignores that.)

"So, should I inform my husband of your newest truancy after the guests leave? After all, you and I both know he won't stand for it. But then all my sweet son's efforts from earlier will be for naught. So here I am, once more left to clean up after your prurient actions. I mean, honestly," he hears her sneer. "Attempting to seduce the help this time? Congratulations on once more proving your low breeding, Oten. You really are irredeemably shameless, aren't you?"

Yoichi's nails pierce his palm, his hands having clenched progressively tighter and tighter throughout the onslaught happening on the other side. He wants to stay longer, but it seems like the confrontation is somewhat dying down. And a part of him worries that if he lingers for long enough to get caught, the situation will only escalate further. (The last thing he wants is to get her into more trouble.) So, he begrudgingly steps away from the door, and retraces his earlier steps back down the long hallway.

He remembers his mom's question from the other day. ("Is she… safe at home?") Now, each word heavily resounds in his mind with an ominous echo. He again recalls what he just saw, and feels nauseous. 'This…. None of this is normal.' He remembers how hatefully Sae glared at his own father. 'This family isn't fucking normal at all.' He thinks as he carries the small waste bin while passing by elaborate paintings and fancy decor. The striker rounds another corner, and once more faces the grandeur of the main stairway. The large chandelier mockingly winks at him, as it makes the entire entryway glitter and shine.

He looks back at the collage of shattered porcelain and ruined food in the waste bin, and doubts this was the first time something like this happened to Reina. His grip on the bin tightens. 'Did she really grow up like this?' Being forced to not only deal with the relentless harassment of her psycho stepmother, but even having her own house mock her? After all, how horrible must it have felt, to live in a place where you were surrounded by luxury but still went to bed hungry.

The glass of the chandelier dangles down in threads, shining small lines against the wall.

'What was it like for her, a little kid trapped in such an opulent cage? And all under the lock and key of such a malicious warden.' He thinks bitterly as he walks, thoughts turning more and more dismal with each step towards the kitchens.

"Gosh you took forever!" Emi-san's bright voice interrupts his dark musings. "I should have known you'd get lost, Chibisagi. All that brawn without any brain, what a shame," she rhymes playfully while coming closer.

He knows the older girl's just teasing, but he's not in the mood at all.

"What's that in your hands?" Emi-san frowns when she peers inside the bin. "Gosh, did that rich girl throw a tantrum or something?" She shakes her head. "Sorry to make you deal with it."

He wants to correct her misunderstanding but before he can-

"What a picky brat, how freaking typical." Emi-san scoffs. "I'll take care of this," she pulls the bin from his hands. "You can go help Fujimi pack up."

She turns away before Yoichi has a chance to respond.

Emi-san's voice rants in the background, loudly cursing out the misogynistic asshole from earlier. Yoichi nods along to the driver's rage, as his gaze drifts to the side view mirror.

His eyes stay locked onto the reflection, an uncomfortable squirming in his gut as the imposing walls of Kiniro become smaller and smaller.

[Trigger warning. Plot-relevant parts will be summarized in the timeline preceding the next chapter, for those who wish to skip over the eating disorder and child abuse]

An hour later, on the other side of those same tall white walls, a half-blood princess wretches into a toilet.

After wiping her mouth on the back of her hand, a weary Reina leans her cheek against the porcelain, its coolness a familiar contrast to the burning in her throat.

'All of Mako-san's kindness down the drain… literally.'

The girl chuckles miserably.

'How pathetic.'

She had been good for months. And now, it's back to how it was before; how it had always been. She had worked so hard to get better, but all her efforts and all that therapy were for naught as she's back on her knees again, in this same miserable position.

Her vision blurs once more. (How novel, she was convinced she'd already used up all her tears).

'Did I really expect anything other than ending up like this again?' Crying while hiding in a bathroom, was this not an inevitable outcome of being dragged back to this prison that masquerades as a home. 'This place… this place…'

("Still feel hungry?")

This place is hell.

("Attempting to seduce the help.")

God, how humiliating.

Yoichi finally found out what Reina was so desperate to hide from him; he finally witnessed just how messed up her life was. (He finally saw how the rest of her world sees her, so will he start seeing her like that too?) She wonders what he thinks of her now. It's one thing for her to hear Itoshi-sama's words again.

("Ugly, ungrateful wretch.")

After all, it's been years.

("You vile harlot.")

She's gotten numb to the woman's vitriol…

("Liar.")

Almost, honestly…

("Dirty little vermin.")

But, maybe not really…

("You stupid, useless leech.")

Actually, not at all.

("The only thing more grotesque than a bastard staining my family is a fat one.")

She would have just borne the woman's malice, like always. But it's so much worse to know that Yoichi saw her being treated so contemptibly. It's like at the café with Saiko's stupid minions yesterday. It … it's so mortifying to show her worst self to someone who she only wants to see the good in her. How pathetic must she have looked to him? So, now he knows her worth in the eyes of others. Will he start avoiding her, like her so-called friends from middle school? Or will he pity her, like Mina, Momo and Ochako? Will he stick around out of some misplaced sense of responsibility like them, treating her not like a person but like some charity project they were morally obligated to check in on?

Or maybe he'd just ignore her, like Rin after what happened at IMS.

(She imagines Yoichi looking at her with the same disgusted expression Rin wore that day, and something in her chest cracks.)

Was this her punishment for having ulterior motives when she befriended him?

Her neck lolls to the other side, letting the porcelain cool the muscles burning at her neck.

Was she going to lose him now as some sort of divine retribution for teaching him all the things her brothers had taught her, not out of sincere kindness but rather in an active effort to help see Rin lose.

The girl forces herself up off the tiled floor, and drags herself to the sink to rinse the acid out of her mouth.

She looks at her reflection, at her swollen red eyes and the dried bit of bile left over on her cheek.

'He's never going to want to see me again.'

("Why would he?") A new voice chimes, as a familiar woman in a black dress appears beside her reflection. ("He's seen just how worthless you are.") The reflection with a face too similar to hers smiles meanly. ("How sad," she mocks. 'He saw how pathetic you are, and then he ran away.")

Reina shakes her head. 'No, you're wrong. I asked him to go; I wanted him to leave-'

("No, you didn't. You wanted someone who stayed. You've never wanted anything so badly as that, mi niña bonita.")

The spectre with her mother's face laughs.

("But you'll never have it. What's life taught you? Your father, me, Abbi, Rin and even Sae; everyone leaves. You just aren't good enough of a reason to stay.")

Her mother's image slides closer. ("After all, who would dare stay with a curse like you? You, who's destroyed everything you ever touched.") Well-manicured hands creep onto her shoulders, before the sharp nails dig in.

Of course, Reina doesn't actually feel any hands gripping her shoulder or piercing her skin. Because her mother isn't really here. Reina's just crazy. This house is driving her crazy.

("Your stepmother's right; an ugly, useless burden like you doesn't deserve happiness." The ghost smirks. "Honestly, aren't people with eating disorders supposed to look like her? All svelte and slender. Guess the wicked bitch isn't spouting lies, you really can't do anything right.")

Reina flings herself over the porcelain bowl again, nails digging into the back of her throat.

A familiar burning works its way out of her mouth. A hot, foul mix of bitter flavours that tastes terrible. Her own fault, again; hadn't that been what started her fondness for sweets? (They were easier to bring back up.)

She wearily wipes the acid off her lip, and a happier memory flashes before her eyes.

("I thought I wasn't allowed to use sweets to bribe you anymore, remember?")

God, but what was even the chance that Yoichi would be caught in her room the one and only time he's ever been there? And worse, by the woman who usually spends the entirety of these ostentatious events working the floor and socializing nonstop. What miserable luck was this?

'Luck.'

She snorts. How many times had that godforsaken word been flung her way?

("She's so lucky that a man as prideful and respected as Itoshi-sama even bothered taking in an… illegitimate, like her. Truly, his graciousness must know no bounds.")

("Consider yourself infinitely lucky that Sae wasn't hurt badly. It's just a sprain and not a fracture. You could have ruined everything for him.")

("Did you hear? She turned down Chisaki-san in the hallways. Gosh, the nerve of her. She was lucky that a guy like him even looked her way.")

(A letter waiting in her locker, and a warped voice in her nightmares. "Did you really think I'd let you run away, princess? You're not that lucky.")

She stares down at the expensive dress wrapped around her like a gift (no, worse, like an offering). She brings the hand that isn't wet with bile to her thigh, letting her fingers trace the blue lace.

A familiar silver around her wrist comes into her view.

("Little girl, are you lost?")

A bracelet that's a forever-reminder that the one gift her father ever gave her was a shackle.

She wants to claw into the fabric of this stupid dress. She wants to rip the itchy lace into a thousand pieces. She wants to break something.

Besides, luckily , she wasn't allowed to wear a dress more than once to an event. ("They'll think we aren't providing for you.") So it's not like anyone would know if she just… lost this one, right?

But, no. She should give it to Mako-san to pass on to her granddaughter, like she usually does.

(There was never a kindness in this house that came for free. Reina almost forgot that; how naïve of her.)

But hadn't she already repaid the older woman's kindness? Hadn't Reina risked her step-mother's fury by claiming she herself called for dinner? All to spare Mako-san, one of the very few manor employees who at least attempted to help Reina in little ways.

When Reina was young and stupid, she used to imagine that Mako-san didn't retire because of Reina. She thought that the kind, grandmotherly figure chose to remain in this hostile house just to care for little Reina. Her younger self used to think that Mako-san was so kind to her because the woman was one of the few employees old enough to not be afraid to go against Itoshi-sama, and that maybe Mako-san viewed Reina as a granddaughter, of sorts.

But then Reina realized how much of her stuff went missing, worked it out, and eventually started giving Mako-san 'gifts' to keep the few items she actually liked from disappearing. Of course, Reina never told anyone about the stolen goods. After all, hadn't Mako-san been the one who snuck Reina food when Itoshi-sama forced her younger self on those stupidly restrictive diets? Hadn't Mako-san been the one who snuck Reina a granola bar when she was sent upstairs without dinner because her face was "starting to look round."

Mako-san had kept her from starving more than once. But, her beloved Mako-san had also done nothing but turn away and leave the room upon catching Itoshi-sama forcing Reina's face into a toilet, screaming at her middle school self for eating the unwanted Valentines chocolates that Rin had tossed her way.

("Your ugly skin is already going to make it hard enough to marry you off. I won't have you get fat too; I'll never be rid of you then. You greedy rat, how dare you eat all those sweets? Get them out. Get them out now.")

(Rin's kindness had always come with a cost, and it was a toll most often collected by his mother.)

Reina roughly tries to shake away the past, and ultimately opts out of destroying the dress, even though she wants to rip apart the fabric with a disgust so thick it makes her tremble with fury.

("How'd you like the dress I picked for you, princess?")

Sirens go off in her head. Mistake. Mistake. Mistake. Because now all she sees is Chisaki's malicious mirth and her father's furious eyes, as snippets of earlier tonight flash before her eyes.

"Aww, come on princess. Surely you can spare one dance for me? I came here just for you. You wouldn't really disappoint me, would you?"

"I already said she was sick, jackass. I'm taking her upstairs."

"Sae, mind your tone."

"If I can't get a dance then the least you can do is let me escort you upstairs. Right, princess?"

Chisaki-sama rolls his eyes at his son's antics. Sae seethes, ready to wring the other boy's neck. Her father's the worst though. Because, despite knowing the reason Reina had to transfer out of IMS, her father actually seems ready to let Chisaki have his way. And Chisaki can tell, because he's smirking smugly and his dark eyes are drifting towards her again, and she's back in that hallway -

Now it's not disgust but fear driving her tremors. Because, oh god, oh god. If Sae hadn't been there tonight, if Sae hadn't risked their father's rage to get her out of there, she would have had to-

She's diving over porcelain again, clawing at the back of her throat, desperate for just some semblance of control.

Hot vomit spills into the toilet, splattering loudly.

The manacle wrapped around her wrist winks mockingly. 'Control? What's that?' She hasn't known the word for a decade now.

(And she won't for years to come – until a certain contract nears expiry, and until she hits an age that's a lie.)

She clings to the bowl in front of her, head aching from the pressure of forcibly heaving for over an hour. Her fingers feel like ice now.

'So cold.'

She wants a warm red sweater that smells like the boy she shared a couch with.

She wants to be in Iyo-san's cozy and messy workroom, getting her equally messy hair brushed as they laugh over stupid Ruzzfeed quizzes together.

She wants the smell of Abbi's library, a place she loved so much but can't even remember anymore.

She wants …

("Stop being so dramatic.")

There's no use in being so aimlessly wishful. Hadn't Sae already taught her that? There was only one escape. And it's not a path she can walk if she keeps wasting her time ruminating on memories that won't even matter one day. Time to compartmentalize and just get on with it.

She shakes her head, ignoring her headache. She pulls herself to the sink to once more rinse the bile from her hands and mouth.

'Time to study.' She thinks a few moments later, finishing up brushing her teeth. 'There's a biomechanics extra-credit lab in two days.'

(Time to do what she does best and distract herself from reality; time to work towards her escape.)

Reina towel dries her hands while looking out the bathroom window. A large expanse of night sky stretches out, with small stars breaking up the dark abyss.

'One day, I'll be up there.'

One day, she'll be living her dream. And then she'll be as far from here as she possibly can. And who knows? Maybe when she looks down at the planet, all these earthly worries of her youth will seem irrelevant. The callouses on her knuckles will be entirely smoothed out, and everything in this house will become just meaningless memories that she can easily forget with a simple change in perspective.

Easy, right?

One day, she'll be so free and happy that she will laugh over why her younger self thought her problems were worth anything at all.

(Sucks that her bright future doesn't fix the burning in her chest now, though.)

Reina finally changes out of the godforsaken dress, and puts it aside for Mako-san.

("How lucky is young miss? To get to wear such pretty dresses, and to sleep in such a beautiful room.")

'Yeah, right.'

How lucky is she really? Living in a huge house where most of the inhabitants hate her, pity her, or ignore her. A place where even the house itself wields its splendour to remind her that she doesn't belong here, and never will. But still, she's got a roof over her head, with expensive clothes in her closet, and there isn't a single fake gem amidst all the jewelry in her collection. She's never had to worry about getting a part-time job to pay for her extortionate tuition fees, her new laptop with it's costly engineering programs, or even for entertainment (the rare times she went out with her senpai). Otousama always covers every single expense of hers, no questions asked. In fact, when she and Rin had entered middle school, Itoshi-sama's assistant wordlessly passed each of them a shiny new credit card. The duo's younger selves knew better than to insult their father by asking if there was a limit. So maybe Itoshi-sama is right; maybe Reina's just ungrateful.

'Whatever.'

She sticks a highlighter behind her ear and opens her biomechanics lab manual. The girl tries to swallow down the lingering roughness in her throat, and resolutely blinks away any weariness. (Who knew crying could tire you out so much?) She sighs at the empty spot on her second desk, where her favourite coffee maker used to sit. 'I should have left it here, and just bought a new one when I moved to the dorms.'

("Caffeine that late?")

The memory of Yoichi's skeptical look floats across her mind.

("So are you, umm, busy the entire weekend with family stuff, or?" He had asked, with a cutely nervous expression that had made her heart skip three beats. "I mean, you know, just so I can get you that coffee and cookie that I might remember promising you.")

She flinches. 'So what if he doesn't want to go out tomorrow anymore? He was just… he was just a way to get back at Rin, anyway.'

She ignores the fact that she's lying. Sure, meeting him had been an accident. And honestly, after their first interaction, she had been too annoyed at his careless comments and her burning wet sleeve to consider him as anything. But while washing her coat in the café bathroom, she'd impulsively thought up a stupid plan. One that involved befriending the boy who beat her brother, just to lightly retaliate against Sae, who had been so careless with his words at their stupid "family dinner." But then, she had more spiteful thoughts while holding the coat Sae gifted her under a hand-dryer. Wouldn't it be so much sweeter, to see Rin's face twist with rage if he discovered she was dating the boy he hated? The same boy who'd stolen the recognition and praise Rin had coveted from Sae for years? Reina had seen it all, at that dinner, how Rin hadn't just been angry but also genuinely hurt by Sae's words. She had paid special attention, and mentally noted the name Isagi Yoichi. After all, one of the things Reina wanted more than anything was to hurt Rin. Rin, who had only pretended to care until he stabbed a knife in her back. Rin, who she hated more than anyone after what happened between them just a few months bef-

A familiar jingle breaks her reverie. Reina turns from her textbook to her nightstand, where her phone plays the theme song of her favourite show. She sighs with a smile, assuming it's Mina once more freaking out over her make-up midterm for chemistry (Reina, Ochako, and Momo had all tried, repeatedly but fruitlessly, to convince her to study harder for the original so she wouldn't have to redo it over the break.)

Reina glances at the caller ID, then freezes at the [3] soccer star [uwu] blinking up at her.

'Speak of the devil.' Her gut twists bitterly when she remembers how stupidly giddy she had been when she added those silly emoticons to his caller ID. 'Well, at least he's considerate enough to cancel instead of just ghosting me, I guess.'

She bites her lip.

It could have been perfect if Yoichi had just never met either of her so-called guardians or her classmates. Then she could have pretended for longer, long enough that the pair would become too intertwined for him to abandon her so easily.

'It should have been easy to keep him away from here. So how did it end up like this?'

But of course, by chance, Issei-san's restaurant was picked to cater Sae's going away dinner. By chance, the restaurant workers caught the flu. By chance, Mako-san asked Yoichi out of all the Itoshi workers and restaurant employees to bring up dinner. By chance, Yoichi had left the door open. By chance, Itoshi-sama chose that exact moment to come upstairs and freshen up.

Chance? Coincidence? 'Probably not,' Reina thinks derisively.

After all, according to everyone around her, she'd already used up all her luck.

End of Chapter 11

If you're reading, thank you for sticking with this story so far! Please consider leaving a review, I would love to know your thoughts! :-)

*Oten (汚点) means disgrace/stain, and is one of Rin's mom's favourite insults to use on Reina to imply she's a "disgrace/stain" on the Itoshi family.

Preview for future chapters of Onikko

Why do you think your old man let you out of your tower tonight, princess? It was for me.

-/-

The bob-cut boy grins and leans in entirely too close, blinking his big bug eyes right in front of her face. "So you're Coffee Girl?"

Responses to FFN Reviews

Kingfiction: LOL yes, that was definitely his thoughts at the moment :P Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Golden Wind God: Proverbial sh*t did hit the fan :( My poor ML and FL, I put them through so much. More drama interspersed with fluff coming up! Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Anonymous TJ: I hope the rest of your day was better 3 I'm so happy it lifted your spirit! YAY! I'm so glad you think I'm delivering the tension well. Hehe I intentionally left it uncertain. Essentially, I plan on having each Itoshi discover them in different ways, each with unhappy reactions. Sae's discovery is coming in a few chaps! Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

ElvenMatter: Not an idiot at all, I just have a totally random and ever-changing posting schedule no matter how hard I try to keep to one *sighs* Even though I'm the type of reader who always grumbles about authors having the nerve to end with cliffhangers, I have become one :P Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Danakinran: thanks for the alarm I def needed it or else this chapter would have stayed on my laptop :P Thank you for reading, hope you enjoy this chapter!