I could write a book about why it took me half a year to update but enjoy a new chapter instead!

infinityneverlasts: I promised he'd be back!

REEbook123: Straight soap opera now.

Akari Wolf Princess: Thanks so much! Tamaki's behavior is actually going to be discussed in the next chapter, and as for jealous Kyoya...Well. Read on!

argenteusvipera: Thanks so much for the review! (I'll fix that problem mentioning Hani later. I write "Mori" and my autopilot brain needs to write Hani next, sigh.) I'm glad that you like the comedic bits! I will say that you are accurate about one thing in your review...but I won't say what.

Wishfulhamadryad: Sometimes I feel guilty for cliffhangers and then I read the outraged reviews. Worth it lol

bored411: Thank you!

blankardtheeigth: Omg thanks so much!

scars from the sun: Man I'm so sorry for the wait I feel terrible but hopefully I can be more routine going forward.

Kyoya gets glimpses: Animal magnets on the fridge. A goldfish named Bubbles. Karuizawa winters spent skating on frozen ponds.

There are other Kosukes, but he only knows one. He knows why, certainly. It's painful to remember, and unlike Kyoya—who has the Hosts, and his family, and really all his classmates—the only people who have known Kosuke all her life are two young children who can't bear the pain, either.

It's not a complaint, but he wonders at some things, like whether she joined any clubs in school, what it was like to live above a restaurant, or who her friends were. For that last one, he only has two names and some vague hints. As well as that they had left Kosuke's life at some point. Otherwise, nothing.

Until today.

Okina, with her spikes and studs and voice like fireworks, is not what he'd imagined for Kosuke's best friend—but then again, who is he to judge? Tomoko is eager to help. The tiniest complaint, and she has a solution in balms and salves and scrubs. (Lavender and rosemary cream is an amazing antidote for sleepless nights, she promises.) Toshi has a quiet charm to him, not speaking unless spoken to, but always smiling.

They all seem like perfectly fine people, but Kosuke just isn't acting like someone reuniting with her perfectly fine friends. She is rigid and awkward and looks at them not with warmth, but bewilderment. She's clearly trying to reconcile her memories with the people in front of her. The children are even worse, shying away, even hiding.

It seems Kosuke and her friends may not have parted on bad terms, but not good terms, either.

Yet, beneath the surprise (what are the odds?), the apprehension (what happened between them?), and the frustration (with Kosuke's stubbornness and her hypocrisy), there's excitement. Even if he can't look at the outline of the brace in her sleeve without a sour taste filling his mouth, Kyoya wants to hear these strangers' stories of long schooldays and summer breaks. Maybe they'll make her laugh. If so, then despite everything, Kyoya might say that coming here today was worthwhile after all.

Then, so softly, "Hi, Kohta."

Kyoya knows.

Renge knows (click).

Everyone knows from the moment Kohta's and Kosuke's gazes meet, and her fingers curl, and the Karuizawa group all purse their lips as one, that there is something there.

At first, "Kohta" is frozen in his tracks. But then he lights up, from gaping to grinning in a heartbeat. "You're kidding. Kosuke, is that you?"

"Yep! It's me…"

"Had to be sure. With that hair, I almost didn't recognize you." He walks closer to her, and she must tilt her head back to look up at him—which seems to surprise her. "You look so different."

She looks all the way down to his feet and all the way up again. "Yeah, right back at you!"

He chuckles. "It's a good kind of different. You look great."

"Well." Kosuke's hand flits over her mouth on its way to brush back a lock of hair. "Right back at you."

Kyoya has heard the term "flying sparks" before. It's Fuyumi's favorite way to describe her favorite celebrity couples. "Look at them on the red carpet! The sparks are flying right off of them!"

This is…not that. Unless it meant the sparks from grinding, grating friction.

"It's been a while," Kohta says, and Kosuke's mouth twitches. "How have you been?" His eyes drop lower, and his smile disappears. "Whoa, what happened there?"

Kosuke tugs her sweater around the brace. "Nothing, nothing. Just a—work accident."

"You didn't hurt yourself trying to open a cookie jar again, did you?"

"No, I didn't. Geez, a girl does that one time and she never hears the end of—Oh, wait! I'm being so rude…" Kosuke turns to her friends—her new friends—and says, "Everyone, this is Kohta."

She doesn't have to say it: my ex-boyfriend.

Of course, everyone looks at Kyoya. Some more worried (or discreet) than others. As if they expect him to grab Kosuke, bare his teeth, and growl mine.

Even if he was so barbaric, Kyoya would still be too stunned to do it.

He is quite positive that barring her Relievera episode, she has never made mention of Kohta the ex-boyfriend. Emiko the mysterious mother, Marti the miraculous stepfather, even Okina the Candy Juice-supplying, snowman-building, long-lost best friend. But not Kohta the ex-boyfriend.

He knows he is not entitled to anything and everything of hers. What she does and does not tell him is her right to choose—and was he not just asking for the unknown just a few minutes ago?

Even so, he can be surprised. It's bizarre to meet someone once a staple in Kosuke's life, now just a face she runs into at the mall. It is also very bizarre to know how this someone was a staple. And that, despite that how, she would never bring him up, not even in passing.

But even after the shock, Kyoya isn't jealous. Jealousy implies ownership. Kosuke is not his. Even if she was, it still would not be fair to her. Or to Kohta, who has yet to do a single thing to earn Kyoya's scorn.

While Kohta smiles and waves to them all, nothing but friendly, Kyoya can't help but compare him to Okina—that is, not who he would have expected for Kosuke. He's not as tall as Mori (who is?), but he's got the muscle to make up for it. Strong limbs, broad shoulders, a smooth tan—telltale signs of an outdoorsy athlete. His rich brown hair is long and a bit unkempt, brushing against the tops of his shoulders. He's wearing a sleeveless hoodie that shows off every muscle in his arms, and one of his wrists is covered in a myriad of bracelets and straps, like he puts them on and forgets. Kosuke is better now, but she's still a little tense, while Kohta seems completely unbothered by it all. Laidback, Kyoya supposes.

Kyoya feels a gaze on the back of his head, but when he turns, the twins are looking anywhere else.

Yes, Kohta and I look nothing alike. Truly, a stunning observation.

Maybe the twins are eager to make comparisons, but not Kyoya. What does it matter now?

The others give their greetings, nice-to-meet-you and so on, and Kosuke starts introducing them all one-by-one. Halfway through, she starts to run out of breath, pink filling her face. Everyone keeps their smiles to combat the tension—Hello, old faces, meet your replacements.

"This is Renge…" Kosuke pauses for her, but Renge isn't even looking up from her notepad. "Uh…And this is Tamaki!"

She pauses again, but only more silence follows. Tamaki doesn't wave, or say how exciting this is. He doesn't even smile. Standing there, with his arms folded and his jaw clenched, an iceberg would look warmer.

"Hi," he clips out.

Before the Karuizawa quartet can even respond, Haruhi hastily sticks a hand up and greets, "I'm Haruhi! It's great to meet you all!" Kosuke puts her smile back on, but Kyoya can see how hard she tries not to boggle at Tamaki. He can't blame her. What's gotten into him?

"Hey. Is that who I think it is?" Kohta kneels down to eye level with Hitsuji and Minami. "Look at you two. Shot up like weeds. Remember me?"

Hitsuji looks him up and down. He holds onto the hem of Haruhi's shirt, but recognition flickers in his eyes. "Kohta?"

"That's right!" Kohta gives Hitsuji's curls a little rustle, which seems to confirm who he is. Hitsuji even gives him a small smile. "What about you, Minami?"

Minami only steps further behind Mori's legs. Kohta doesn't see it from where he stands—chuckling about it not being a big deal, she was always shy, so on—but Kyoya sees clear as day how Minami glares daggers at him.

To think she gave me a cold reception…Kyoya doesn't know what to make of the children's polar-opposite reactions. Why would Hitsuji have good memories of Kohta, but not Minami?

He doesn't get to linger on it for long. At long last, Kosuke has but one last person to introduce. "And this is Kyoya, my fiancé."

At first, silence.

Then, WHAT and HUH boom in a chorus so loud, a security guard walks over to give them all a warning.

"Why the heck didn't you say so sooner?!" Okina screeches after. Her bouncing and shaking has all her bobbles tinkling. Kosuke snaps her fingers next to her ears to make sure her hearing hasn't been shot. "Since when?! Where?! How?!"

Tomoko talks past the hand over her mouth. "That's amazing! Oh, if I'd known, I would have brought a lotion basket as a gift…"

Kohta gives a hearty laugh and throws an arm over Toshi's shoulder. "Am I going to be the only one who gives them some congratulations?"

"That's wonderful news!" Toshi applauds. "Wonderful, wonderful news!"

Okina is about to explode when whop! she gives Kosuke a celebratory punch to the arm. The one without the brace. For now. "That's so totally awesome and I am so, so happy for you!"

Kosuke wheezes her thanks.

Suddenly, Okina grabs Kyoya's hand and pulls him forward. She tries, anyway. It ends up more like him holding her up as she swings from his arm. "Alright, mister! Time to tell me anything and everything about you. Where are you from? What do you do? Are you a coffee or a tea person?"

This opens the dam to many questions, questions, and questions. Okina, Toshi, and Tomoko press forward, almost shoving each other aside to get to the betrothed first. Joy and jubilee, how did you meet, how long have you been together, how did you propose. With each one, Kosuke shrinks away inch by inch, until the heel of her shoe touches the toe of Kyoya's, and without even thinking, he puts a hand on her elbow to calm her. He retreats just as quickly, but she says nothing of it.

Kohta doesn't say much—and mercifully hangs back instead of joining in the bulldozing—but he's still smiling. Kyoya wants to take that as a good sign, but the fact that Kosuke never (lucidly) spoke a word of him before keeps him on the edge.

When at last Kosuke gets to answer, practically pushing back, it turns all smiles into frowns. "It's a long story."

"Not a problem with me!" Okina wedges herself between Kosuke and Kyoya, winds her arms through theirs, and declares, "Onward! To lunch!"

So then Kyoya is en route to eat lunch with his fiancée's ex-friends, ex-best friend, and ex-boyfriend, none of whom he has never met, and the latter whom he never knew existed, to tell them what has happened since they've left.

It's a whirlwind for Kyoya, so Kosuke must be in a tornado. Okina never moves from between them, but sometimes she tilts her head back to shout questions to the others. The twins whisper behind their hands when they think no one is looking. The only sound from Renge is lead scratching on paper. Minami stays glued to Mori's side and keeps her burning brown eyes on the back of Kohta's head.

Kohta asks Reiko where she's from, and Haruhi what she does in her free time. He's still smiling.

Every now and then, Kosuke looks over Okina's head at Kyoya, but never long enough. She has yet to say anything to him. Maybe she's even angrier at him now that she must hide it.

Kyoya feels a headache coming on and decides, I should have stayed home.

Getting their food takes some time, between Minami's pickiness, Tomoko's questions about the source of each and every ingredient, and Hani's distress at how each menu option looks as tasty as the last. Ages later, they're all sat down, and Kyoya leaves it to Kosuke to tell the tale, from the very beginning: the day that she met her father.

The audience quickly learns that this is no run-of-the-mill romance—and that whatever Kosuke the everyday girl from Karuizawa was like, she's gone now. Jaws go slack with shock as Kosuke just begins with her parentage, sink as she explains her heirdom, and have hit the floor by the time she even gets to meeting Kyoya. He chimes in once or twice, not that it seems they can take much more. Instead of The End, there's the sound of Toshi's chopsticks falling from his hand and clattering on the table.

Kyoya has to admit, hearing it aloud, Homer himself would be impressed.

Kohta snaps out of his stupor first with a million blinks. "Wow. That is. Um. Wow."

"Yeah," sighs Kosuke. "That's what I said."

A grand total of sixteen people means they were lucky just to get two tables. At the larger sits Kosuke, her Karuizawa friends, Kyoya, Haruhi, Tamaki…and Renge, who isn't even trying to hide that she's turning this into a case study. The others are at the smaller, staying away their curiosity to ease the children. It wasn't the mingling they'd all planned for, but some questions were more important than others.

"So…" Tomoko moves her chopsticks around like she can grab these revelations like the noodles in her bowl. "Your father, whom you had never met before, just popped up back into your life out of nowhere, and it turns out he's the owner of a massive hospital technology company."

"Yes."

Toshi's bowl is no longer steaming. "And now you're going to inherit that company and be super-ultra-mega rich for the rest of your life."

"Mm-hm."

Noodles slip from Okina's chopsticks, suspended in the air. "And you two were set up together because Kyoya's family also owns a massive hospital company and is going to be super-ultra-mega rich for the rest of his life."

"Yep. Any questions?"

They think about it, but in the end, there is only a collective, "I guess not."

"You've got, like…A whole new everything," Okina exclaims with a slap on the table that makes the bowls clatter. "New look, new life, new friends. It's insane!"

Tamaki mumbles into his spoon, "I'm sure it is to you." Kyoya sees Haruhi nudge him with her foot, but he doesn't even blink. Kosuke hides her pursed lips around a spoonful of broth.

Kyoya catches Haruhi's gaze briefly, and sees what she must see in his: What on earth is wrong with him?

Kohta, none the wiser, tilts his head to the side. (Renge makes a note on how his enticingly messy hair falls in a satiny curtain over his shoulder. Additionally, Kohta's eyes are not just green, they are a glittering, striking green, brighter than emeralds.) "No strings attached? Just, here, you're my daughter, so have my company?"

Kosuke nods, not looking him in the eye. "That about sums it up. I promise you, however shocked you are, it's nothing compared to how I was." She rubs the back of her neck. "Every night when I go to sleep, I think I'm going to wake up from the weirdest dream of my life."

"And it's all yours? Just, all of it, the whole company, it's yours?"

"Yep!" Kosuke's smile is scarily chipper. "The whole thing!"

"Well." Kohta's chuckle is disbelieving. "That's definitely…a lot to take in, but that's great for you. More than great! You hit the jackpot in life. I'm just surprised, is all. I mean, duh I'm surprised, but not just because of the company and the rich dad and everything. I mean that you didn't really show any interest in stuff like that."

"Yes, well…I didn't really have much of an interest in anything, now did I?"

Her smile is kind, but wry, and Kohta returns it with a glance to Kyoya.

What does that mean?

Tomoko points between Kosuke and Kyoya. "So the two of you were engaged technically before you ever met?"

They look at one another. Curtains rise, spotlight.

"I know it sounds strange," Kosuke begins, "but really, we just clicked right away."

Kyoya adds, "There wasn't anything else to consider after that."

They share a smile for a curtain call, to Tomoko and Okina's awws. It truly hurts.

"Okay, but now I've got to know the juicy stuff." Okina slams a fist down (more gently) on the table. "So do you live in a super-huge mansion with servants that bring you whatever you want if you just ring a bell? Can you just hop on a plane and go to the Bahamas whenever you want? What do you eat for breakfast? Do you put gold flakes on all your food?"

As Kosuke tries and fails to keep up, Kyoya looks to the other table. The twins are delighting Hitsuji with noodle-mustaches. Reiko and the Zukas try to coax Minami with more mature conversation about her karate lessons, but Minami's gaze keeps sliding back to Kohta.

Ice cold.

Tomoko says something or another with the last time I saw you, and Tamaki raises his bowl high to his lips to block her from his sight.

Ice cold.

"Pet tigers?! I would never have a pet tiger in the house with the kids—! Okay, okay." Kosuke waves a hand. "Let's stop talking about me for a bit. What's been going on with you guys? Tell me everything."

You guys, she says, but it's so clearly directed at Kohta, and everyone tries not to notice (except for Renge, who makes a bullet point that the tension is as thick and delicious as filet mignon).

Kohta takes a drink, and says not too smugly, "I'm a firefighter now."

Kosuke chokes on a noodle, and she and Haruhi shout together, "A firefighter?!"

"Wow, you sounded exactly like his mom just now," says Okina. "Not as red in the face, though."

"I thought I mentioned it to you?" asks Kohta. "That I was thinking about it?"

Kosuke's jaw tightens as she adds a splash of soy sauce into her bowl. Haruhi does the same with another bottle—at the table, she becomes Kosuke's apprentice, following her master's every culinary move. "I—maybe. Maybe you did. That—"

She sets the bottle down with a clack and cries,"That's so dangerous! You could die! What if a house collapses on you, or you inhale too much smoke, or you fall trying to get a cat out of a tree, or—or—!"

"Seriously, it's uncanny," insists Okina.

"Someone has to do it," Kohta says with a pleasant, if not tired, laugh—which only makes Kosuke puff her cheeks more. "I'm not saying it's a walk in the park. I work twenty-four-hour shifts, and they do not play around with staying in shape. I had to get like this in just a few months!"

He flexes his arm to punctuate. Kosuke's eyes go from his bicep to his shoulders to his waist, all trim and toned, with that same uncomprehending look. "No kidding. You've grown three sizes since I last saw you…"

"Really, just passing the exam was the hardest part. Anyway, I want to help people, and this is one of the best ways, don't you think? And not to brag or anything, but, I've been told I'm pretty good at it. Give it another few years, and I'll probably get promoted."

Kosuke ducks her head, sheepish. "You did keep my house from burning down when I tried to make pancakes that one time."

"How did you manage that, again? One second nothing, the next, fwoosh!"

"I don't know," she laughs, flushing with embarrassment, stabbing her chopsticks into her bowl. "You should be thanking me for the resumé content!"

She laughs, and he laughs, until record scratch and they trail off in tight chuckles. Kyoya looks to the other table, just in time to see everyone duck their heads into their bowls. Except for Minami. Who keeps glaring.

"Oh, Kohta!" Tomoko claps her hands together. "Tell her the story about the guy with the pork chops!"

Okina and Toshi titter with excitement, yeah, yeah, go on, and Kohta clears his throat. He launches into a tragedy of a poor sap who'd wanted to impress his date with a homecooked meal. He'd lit the candles and dressed in his finest, but when he turned the knob on the stove, it remained as cold as ever. The pork chops were ready to be seared, his date was ready to be impressed, and he was ready to have a breakdown.

Kosuke perches her hand on her palm and listens raptly. She laughs when she's supposed to, asks the questions she's supposed to, and all the while her eyes have a glaze that Kyoya has seen before.

It's the look she gets when her body stays put but her mind goes to the past. With a nudge or a voice, she usually snaps awake again, but not this time. She's here and she isn't.

Speaking of looks—Tamaki's hasn't changed. Kyoya shifts in his seat, trying to block him from Kosuke's sight and catch his gaze at the same time, but only succeeds in the former. As if Kosuke needs something else to be stressed about…

"So he goes and grabs some firewood," Kohta continues, "and brings it inside—"

Kosuke' hands fly to her mouth. "No! No, no!"

"And just lights it up right there on the stovetop!" Kosuke buries her face into her palms, half-groaning and half-shouting, and Kohta goes on, "And later, while we're hosing the place down, he just keeps asking us, 'what happened, what happened?' I'm guessing he didn't get a second date after that."

"That's not even the worst one." Okina nudges Kohta's side as she reaches past him for the sauce. "Tell 'em about the graduation party with the indoor fireworks!"

"No, that one's way too long…and sad. Besides, I want to hear more about the rest of you guys." Kohta nods to Kosuke's half of the table, eyes lingering on Kyoya. And Tamaki. And Kosuke. "Are the windows at Ouran really made of crystal, or is that just a rumor?"

Renge raises a hand, to which Kohta gives a bemused but kindly, "Yes?"

The tiger leans forward to its prey. "How long were you and Kosuke together?"

Tomoko chokes. Toshi coughs, and broth dribbles down his chin. Okina shoots up from her chair so quickly that Kohta has to grab it before it topples to the floor, and she crows, "Oh my god, they have a Sugar Street here! Kosuke, come on, come on, it's been years!"

In the span of ten seconds, Kosuke and Okina are gone; Haruhi, the children, Reiko, and Hani follow them; the twins pull the Karuizawa group away to interrogate them on embarrassing stories of Kosuke; and Mori drags Renge away by the back of her neck like a disobedient kitten. Kyoya lays down his chopsticks—lunch is over.

When he sets Renge on her feet again, well out of earshot from the others, Mori only tells her, "You're being inconsiderate."

"I'm sorry, I can't help it!" Renge crushes her sacred notepad to her chest, and her knees buckle, like she's going to just melt in the middle of this food court. "I have to get started on a new story soon, and just when I'm most desperate for ideas, I'm handed a feast of them on a silver platter! An old flame reignited? How can I pass up such wonderful tension—?!"

"Renge." Tamaki's voice lashes like a whip. "Nothing about this is wonderful. This is a very real, very personal part of Kosuke's life, not a love story. You need to stop."

An earthquake would not have rattled Kyoya more than the cold ferocity in Tamaki's voice. Even Mori looks up and down at this snarling Tamaki-shaped creature. Renge is frozen for a long time, her soul scolded right out of her body. At last she tucks the notepad away and hangs her head low. She doesn't cry, but she is sinking with the weight of shame.

"I'm sorry," she whispers.

"Good. Now, look." Tamaki points to the store that the others dashed into. "There's a girl in there that has one of your games in a shopping bag."

"Oh my gosh!" Renge is already gone, the three of them and her shame forgotten. "Fan, fan, fan…!"

Kyoya is not so amnesiac, and asks Tamaki, "What's made you so vicious?"

"It needed to be said. Kosuke is clearly reeling from this, and as her friends, we should be supporting her."

His words are smoking with a fire, and maybe Kyoya is just feeding him gasoline, but he has to remark, "You say that, but from the way you've been acting, I would think you had a vendetta against them."

"Guys, guys!" The twins rush back over, almost doubling over in laughter, smiling to their ears and beyond. The nearest security guard gives them all a tired look. "You won't believe this!"

"Kosuke," wheezes Hikaru, "The Kosuke, she—she—"

Kaoru tries, "She used to think—HA!—she used to think that—"

They cackle together, "She used to think that limes and lemons and oranges were all the same fruit picked at different times!" A new wave of laughter hits them, and this time they do fall to their knees. The security guard sighs. "And she didn't get why oranges were called oranges, but the others weren't called greens and yellows!"

Tamaki doesn't even blink. "What did you two find?"

The twins are back on their feet in an instant. Deathly serious. "Inconclusive. Maybe, maybe not."

I don't even want to know, Kyoya decides. "Whatever the three of you are talking about, please keep it to yourselves and leave Kosuke be."

"Hey, we're looking out for Kosuke!" Hikaru throws a look over his shoulder and leans to Kyoya, hiding his mouth behind the back of his hand. "And you, for that matter!"

"I'm not following."

Kaoru hisses, "What we're saying is, this guy might be a firefighter, but we're the ones that have to put out this old flame!"

"How long did it take you to come up with that?"

"Pure and simple, Kyoya. We don't know or trust any of these people—especially that one." Tamaki glares rapiers into Kohta, laughing at something Tomoko has said, blissfully unaware. "Now that he knows how well-off she is now, what if he tries to sweep her off her feet to use her?"

"Considering Kosuke and I are engaged—to be married—I'm not so concerned."

"No, no, Kyoya, you misunderstand. I'm not saying Kosuke would leave you. But what if she gets so happy to be in touch with him again, even just as friends, only to find out he was using her? She'd be heartbroken. Crushed."

Kyoya gives the Karuizawa group a look, as though he'll find them snickering evilly over their nefarious plans. "I think she would be just as upset to hear you talking about her friends like that."

Tamaki's lips curl with disgust. "Those aren't her friends. Especially not him."

Even the twins look quizzical at that, but then the Karuizawa group starts their way to Sugar Street, and they cannot lose sight of their target. Kyoya and Tamaki trail the furthest behind, and Kyoya seizes the last few seconds of privacy. "What are you talking about?"

Through the corner of his eye, Tamaki looks him up and down. "What do you mean, what am I talking about? You know."

"I wouldn't be asking if I did." In no time, they are too close. Kyoya gives a final whisper. "Just get a hold of yourself."

When they make it inside, Kyoya's teeth instantly ache. Sugar Street is a rainbow wonderland of sweets. And Kyoya is not particularly a fan of sweets. Dozens of containers line the walls, filled with gummies and chocolates and jellybeans. They end in funnels to pour into shinny little baggies tied in pink ribbons. A garden of lollipops stands in one corner, a planet-sized gumball machine in the other. Even the music sounds—Ah. Bubblegum pop. Clever. Kosuke is helping the children, whose delight is nothing compared to Hani's. He is about to combust. Reiko squeezes his hand to keep him grounded.

Naturally, Tamaki's eyes sparkle at it all—but he blinks those sparkles away. "Gotta stay focused!"

His fiery eyes are still pinned on Kohta, who is inspecting the lollipop flavors. Kyoya feels like he must help him before Tamaki loses whatever control he has left.

"Why don't you see what mass-produced candy they have? That might calm you down. Or better yet, keep you from talking."

"I have always wanted to know what those gelatin worms taste like…Alright, Kyoya, but I'll be back soon!"

"Take your time."

Tamaki skips off, and Kyoya is left alone at the front of the store. No shopping for him here, window or otherwise. Hitsuji bounces up to him and thrusts a shiny little baggie high above his head—not even reaching Kyoya's chest.

"Wanna try one?" he asks. He's doing a trotting little happy-dance. The Hitsuji Shuffle, Kouske calls it. "They're apple!"

"No, thank you."

"You're welcome." Hitsuji opens the bag just so and starts to carefully slide gummy rings onto each of his fingers. "You're not gonna get anything?"

"I don't like candy very much."

"That's sad."

With all his fingers adorned, Hitsuji looks around the candy store, looking very contemplative for one who can't even spell the word. His big brown eyes keep flicking back to Kohta and Okina.

Kyoya leans down and whispers, "Is something wrong?"

Hitsuji tries to wrap up the baggie again, but with two small hands and five gummy rings, Kyoya takes pity on him and ties it himself.

"It's weird," Hitsuji says. "They're weird now."

It's not the typical six-year-old insult. Just observation. Even if Kyoya doesn't know the specifics, he thinks he understands.

He hands the baggie back to Hitsuji, who takes the opportunity to whisper to Kyoya behind his hand (one of the gummy rings bumps Kyoya's ear), "Everyone's weird now."

He looks back, and Kyoya sees what he sees.

Hani is dancing around with a shimmering box, trying to show it to Reiko, but he just can't stop moving long enough for her to read. "It's orange slices covered in chocolate and shaped like a whole orange! Have you ever seen anything so beautiful in your life?"

"You," she answers at once.

Behind her, Tomoko, who'd been sneering since she walked through the door, sneers more at the box.

"I would really recommend cutting chocolate out of your diet. It has more calories than you can count."

Hani chuckles kindly. "Well, yeah, it's sweet. Sweet things have calories, right?"

"Calories that can come from healthier sources! Think of how much healthier it would be if you replaced that with an actual orange. Ever since I cut processed sugar out of my diet, I've never felt better. I honestly think sugar is the worst enemy of mankind. If I could be granted one wish, it would be for sugar to have never existed. No chocolate, no candy, no cake. The entire world would be so much better!"

It's an inoffensive (if overly optimistic, unasked-for, and scientifically questionable) sentiment to Kyoya. But Hani has only heard someone declare, to his face, that they wish sugar did not exist. And now Reiko is squeezing his hand for a different reason entirely. And the orange is about to turn into a pulp.

Near the gumball machine, Hikaru and Kaoru are looking Toshi up and down, cobras ready to strike. And he just smiles back, none the wiser.

"So, what do you do in your free time, Toshi?" asks Hikaru.

"I don't really have any hobbies."

"What's your job like?" asks Kaoru.

"Very enjoyable! I'm happy to have it."

"If you had to use one word to describe yourself, what would it be?"

"Hm…I guess it'd be 'nice'!"

"Have you been anywhere interesting lately?"

"Mm, just my workplace. And here, obviously."

The twins blink very slowly at him. "What's your favorite color?"

"Red. Or maybe blue? Maybe green. I guess I don't have one!"

He laughs. The twins nod him goodbye and walk away, all suspicion turned to disgust: He's not a threat, but he is BORING.

Haruhi is watching someone spin cotton candy behind the service counter when Okina skips up to her, holds up a box of swirly candies, and asks, "Want some?"

"Oh, sure, thank you."

Okina pours a few into her palm, and as Haruhi pops them into her mouth, asks, "So, how was it that you and Kosuke met again? Soup or something?"

Haruhi doesn't answer, but she does squeak. And whimper. And flail her hands at her puckering mouth, as though that will extinguish the agony.

"Oh, do you not like sour stuff?" Okina pops one into her mouth and chews like it's just a spoonful of honey. "My bad. Should've warned you."

The candy-spinner comes up to them with a big, friendly smile and a giant cloud of freshly-spun, bubblegum-pink cotton candy on a cone. "Would you like a—?"

Haruhi snatches it from him and gobbles it down in two seconds. While she whimpers in relief, Okina pulls out her wallet and picks out bills for the baffled employee. "Let me get that for you…"

On the other side of the store, Minami paces in front of shelves of candy sticks—jars and jars of every flavor from apple pie to coffee to butter. She finally finds her prize, strawberry cheesecake, on the top—out of her reach. Minami considers: To climb or not to climb?

Kohta sees her standing there and pulls a strawberry cheesecake candy stick from the jar almost without looking. "This is what you want, right? I remember these were your favorites."

But Minami looks at the candy stick in his hand like it's roadkill, and turns on her heel with a huff and a puff. Kohta blinks after her, then, seeing Mori over his shoulder, quips, "Guess her palate's changed, huh?"

Mori says nothing. Moreso than usual. He follows his student with an cold glance at the back of Kohta's head.

Kyoya watches all of this unfold and thinks to himself, Something tells me this will be the first and last time these groups come together.

Hitsuji has left his side, off to watch the gumballs run through the machine. Amidst the sugar-slandering, boredom-inducing, and cotton candy-gobbling, Kosuke waltzes through the aisles, slow and smooth, a patron at an art museum. Kyoya comes closer to see just what it is that's enraptured her, and only finds more lollipops.

Of course, this is a museum to her, isn't it? Kosuke probably knows more about the candy in here than she does about herself. And definitely more than Kyoya knows about her…While she's ruminating, Kyoya spots a small cellophane baggie in her palm, filled with round, almost sparkly treats.

"So you do have a sweet tooth, after all."

Kosuke looks down, like she'd forgotten she was holding anything. "Oh, yeah. Maybe it's nostalgia. I used to eat these by the pound when I was little." Seeing Kyoya's questioning (and apprehensive) stare, she unties the ribbon and pulls one out, squishing it between her fingers. "Fruit gummies. Not your poison, I guess?"

"I'm fairly certain I've never had one."

"You're kidding."

"When I was a child, my mother made me swore I would never. She said the only thing gummy candy gives is a straight path to dentures."

She pauses, then holds it out to him. "Unless you think Mother knows best?"

Kyoya isn't hungry for candy. But for some civil interaction? He's starving.

He bites the gummy in half. And yes, it does taste like a mango. It's the gooey, tooth-grabbing texture that he just barely chokes down. "Mother knows best."

He doesn't know what to do with the other half, because he certainly isn't eating it. Kosuke rolls her eyes and takes it from him. She doesn't even hesitate—she just pops it straight into her mouth. And despite how Renge CRUNCHES the candy bar in her hand when she sees this, it isn't intimate. It's casual, which is even better.

"Hey, Kosuke!"

Kohta's moved back to the line of refrigerators at the back of the store, and is holding up a bright green can. He gives it a little, teasing shake. "They've got Candy Juice back here."

Kosuke's face goes the same shade of green. "They can stay back there!"

"Kosuke!" Tomoko's head pops around a shelf of lollipops. "You gave it up after all? Congratulations! I knew you looked healthier."

Okina laughs. Honks, really. "I'm pretty sure Kosuke's eaten more candy in her life than this store could ever hold. Do you remember how she would eat jelly beans? She'd get a spoon and eat them out of the bag!" She mimics it with some chomp-chomp-chomps.

Kosuke groans and hides her face behind her hand. Kohta strolls back over with a drink of his own and says, "But I've heard you're quite the chef now."

"A chef?" Tomoko stirs an invisible bowl. "A chef-chef?"

Okina bounces up and down, almost sending her candies flying. "She is, she is! I tried some of her cooking. It's incredible!"

Kohta tilts his head with a hum. "I thought you hated cooking?"

"I didn't hate it, I just wasn't good at it. I didn't…try, y'know."

It's more than just embarrassment that has her ducking her head.

"What about you, Kyoya?" Kohta jerks his head at him. "What's your verdict?"

"Kosuke's an incredible chef," he answers at once. "She's made the best food I've ever had."

Kosuke's hand swipes quickly at her mouth, but the pink in her cheeks isn't so fast. So she does do that when she's flustered. He shouldn't feel so victorious, should he?

Okina leans toward Kosuke and cups her hand around her mouth, even though she's still an aisle away. "So my mother was right. Best way to a man's heart is his stomach, huh?"

"That's really great," says Toshi. "I wish I knew how to cook. Only thing I can do is sandwiches…"

"Yeah, well…" Kosuke laughs, shaking her head. "At least you've never made my specialty 'fish sandwich' before."

"'Fish sandwich'?" At Tomoko's curiosity, Okina groans and launches into an explanation.

"One day, Kosuke's home alone, and she's hungry. She doesn't want to cook anything, and there's a strict no-eating-from-the-restaurant-food rule. So she goes to the pantry, except they haven't been able to go grocery shopping lately because of how busy the restaurant had been. She finds an almost-empty jar of jelly, a can of fish, and some melon bread—"

"No. No. NO. NO. NO, NO, NO!"

Tomoko runs away, Toshi goes green, and Kosuke hangs her head in disgrace. Even Kyoya can't look at her now. Just—the idea of the sweetness, the saltiness, the oil…

He grabs the gummies from Kosuke's hands. "Give me that."

Kohta just laughs. He must be a veteran of that phase of Kosuke's cooking. Kyoya is far from jealous. "Oh, that wasn't even the worst of it. Do you remember that time—?"

Crunch.

They all turn. Tamaki's fist trembles around a crushed candy cane. His other hand, rock-steady, points up, and he spits, "Kosuke is a culinary genius."

Kohta's eyebrows have gone up, but he's unafraid. He even smiles. "Hey, no disrespect. Just reminiscing."

"And," Tamaki charges on, "whatever you have to say of her skills or knowledge when you last saw her, they are incomparable to her mastery now!"

"Yeah, sure. I believe you."

"And she can prove it!"

"I'm sure she can."

Tamaki chucks the candy shards back into the bin. "She knows more about food than you could ever hope to! She will go down in history as a legend of her craft!"

Said legend tries to say, "Tamaki, please calm—"

"Kosuke, tell me about this!"

He slams a hand down on a container of konpeitō, the smack reverberating. Kosuke frowns, but the need to gush about food history trumps her confusion. "Konpeitō was the result of Portuguese traders introducing the technology and technique for the refinery of sugar in the 16th century. The rarity of sugar during the period made it a luxury."

"Now tell me about this!"

Smack. Another container. "Butterscotch seems to have originated in the town of Doncaster in Yorkshire. The difference between butterscotch and toffee is the time spent cooking, with butterscotch being shorter, reaching the soft-crack stage rather than the hard-crack stage."

"Now this!"

Smack. Another container. "Those are bouncy balls."

He looks. "So they are. But my point still stands! She is an unrivaled genius!"

From the back of the store, Minami calls, Yeah! The others nod. Or stare, along with the strangers in the store.

Kohta merely hums, "Noted."

Haruhi rushes over before it can go on any further. She pushes Tamaki so his heels slide across the floor, saying, "Let's go check out that arcade, huh? You were excited about that."

"I haven't bought my things yet!"

"I'll take care of that." Kyoya swipes the baggie out of his hands when he passes by on the Haruhi Express.

"Arcade? Huh. Been a while since I've been to one of those." Kohta kicks off the wall he'd been leaning on and follows the others, hands in his pockets. "Wonder if I'm as good at that skeeball game as I used to be…"

While the others start to trickle out, Kyoya goes to the register with Tamaki's gummy worms. He wonders, did Kosuke tell Tamaki something about her old friends? Is his ire justified, or is he making scenes in candy stores for nothing? If Haruhi is just as baffled by her fiancé, then Kyoya thinks the latter.

If there is a problem, please, Tamaki, just let her work it out, he decides as he pulls out his wallet. He pauses as he opens the folds. If she can scold my brothers after one day of knowing them, she can handle anyone.

There are bags of the fruity gummies Kosuke had been eating near the register. Kyoya grabs one.

The young woman behind the till grins wide and bright at him. At least when Kyoya is in the office, he doesn't have to put on big, syrupy smiles and talk in song. Or wear shirts with buttons shaped like gumdrops. "Hello! Will that be all for you today, sir?"

"Yes."

"We're offering a special deal right now. If you get two bags from this section..." She gestures. "...you get the third for free. Are you interested?" She cups a hand around her mouth and whispers her secret: "You really want to get the strawberry licorice. It's the best."

"No, thank you. Just this will be fine."

"We've also got the latest flavor of Cocotoco!" She waves a chocolate bar. The shiny gold letters promise a decadent cherry filling. It makes Kyoya remember a tangent Kosue had gone on one day after she'd read a food review for a new restaurant in the city, that you can't just use words like decadent and not explain how so. It is literally their job to DESCRIBE! "If you have a special someone, this would be a perfect little gift!"

Kyoya pulls out the bills and snaps his wallet shut. "I'm not interested in any other offers or items. Just these."

"Yes, sir." She starts typing on the register at last, but she keeps flicking her eyes up to him. "Do you have a Sugar Street card, sir?"

"I don't know what that is."

"It's how you gain points from your purchases! If you can just give me your name and number, I can sign you up for one now." She picks up a pad and a pen, and gives him a wink. "What do you say?"

"I'm not interested."

"Are you sure?" Why is she asking like she's teasing him? "You can write it down yourself, if you want—"

The cashier stops, looking behind Kyoya.

The last person he expects to find is Kohta—one of the first to have left, now back and giving the cashier a smile that's not mean, but pitying. He leans around Kyoya and nudges the same cherry Chocotoco bar towards her, using the same hand to give her the bills folded between his fingers.

"I'll be taking care of this. And, uh…Not that I'm trying to embarrass you, but—" He hides his mouth behind his hand and nods behind him. "His fiancée isn't too far away."

What does that have to do with anything? Kyoya hardly completes the thought. The cashier slides the purchases back to them—all but throwing their change back while she wishes them a good day. She mumbles something or another about taking stock, then disappears into the back. Even though there are more customers in line.

They leave. Kyoya just put his wallet back into his pocket when Kohta tosses the gummy worms back to him. He's stopped just outside, a few steps away from the traffic of visitors, once again leaning against a wall with his arms folded.

So he didn't come back because Kyoya was taking too long. He saw a chance to talk to Kyoya alone.

He speaks before Kyoya can. "So. How often does that happen?"

"What do you mean by 'that'?"

"Strangers trying to get your number."

It clicks much too late—the wink, the lilting voice. Kyoya scoffs, and Kohta ticks up a brow. "Something wrong?"

"I'm not having the best experiences with customer service today."

"Hm. Well, I think it'd be best if we kept that between you and I, huh?"

Confused, and affronted, Kyoya retorts, "I was not—"

"Hey, hey, whoa." Kohta holds his hands up. Which is good, because Kyoya came very close to letting him know just how much his insinuations were unappreciated. "I didn't say you were doing anything." He looks Kyoya up and down, the corner of his lip pulling into a grin. "Don't tell me you don't know that Kosuke is the jealous type?"

Kyoya's incomprehension must show, because Kohta continues, "Really? Lucky you. Way back when, we used to say that a jealous Kosuke was as red and green as a Christmas tree."

Kyoya does not answer right away, mostly because he's digesting how strange this is. The ex-boyfriend and the now-fiancé of the same woman, talking about jealousy.

He tries not to look too deeply into it, but the urge is almost overpowering. Kosuke is the jealous type. But Kyoya cannot recall any proof of that. Then again, he isn't sure where he'd find any—because surely, Kosuke's dislike of Amaya has nothing to do with her vying after Kyoya, and everything to do with Amaya.

"I can't remember any instances for her to be jealous," he answers at last.

"Like I said, lucky you. Lucky you for a lot, actually." Kohta huffs a laugh. "The best the children have ever been with me was lukewarm, and now they're ice-cold. But they love you, I can tell."

"They're good children." Kyoya stands against the wall with him, not close but further from the crowd. "I wouldn't sing my praises, either. Minami was ice-cold to me for the longest time."

"So much anger in one tiny kid. And now she knows karate. Have mercy on us all."

Kohta makes no move to keep walking.

So Kyoya just asks outright, "Is there something you'd like to talk about?"

Kohta keeps watching the crowd for a moment. Singles, pairs, triples, quadruples. Footsteps and baby carriage wheels.

"Two things, actually. But." Kohta tilts his head back so it rests against the wall. "I'm not here to grill you or anything. You want to walk away, go right ahead. Just curious."

Kyoya waits.

"She hasn't been lying about being alright, has she? From the sound of it, things are going pretty good for her right now. I was wondering if that was true."

Kyoya had been very neutral to Kohta all day. Putting aside everything else, he is a stranger, just a friend of a—friend.

For the first time, he feels something like endearment. Whatever had happened in the past, and however far apart they'd grown, he still cares about Kosuke. And Kyoya is grateful to him for that.

There's just no easy way for him to answer that question. Kyoya wants to say no, but then he'd have to explain why, and that would mean violating the trust Kosuke had put in him when she'd shown those vulnerable parts of herself. To say nothing of the parts she hasn't shown him, and the parts she's tried to hide away even when they're as obvious as the sun is in the sky.

But from the look Kohta gives him, he understands. He is not entitled to a thorough answer. He would just like an honest one.

"Some parts of her life are very complicated now. You can imagine that she has good days and bad."

Kohta nods. His eyes cast down to the floor, perhaps recalling whatever memories he has of Emiko and Marti. For those, Kyoya is most definitely jealous.

"I can't say if she's doing better than before I met her, of course—" Yes I can, she was alone. "—but she has family and friends who care about her very much and would do anything to help her."

Kohta smiles at that, but his eyes stay down on the tiled floor, and Kyoya realizes the bite he might have made. Now, he'd all but said. He'd punctuated that Kohta was not family or friend to her anymore, just a memory.

"Good." Kohta unfolds his arms and tucks his hands into his pocket instead. "That's good."

"What was the second thing you wanted to talk to me about?"

He hesitates. "I had to ask that first to be sure. I just need you to listen to me for a minute. And maybe it's not my place to ask, but could you maybe keep this between us?"

Endearment gone. Kyoya can't even begin to guess what Kohta is going to say next, but he knows that just as he and Kosuke have so many things between just them that he couldn't share, this is something between just her and Kohta that Kohta will. It's annoying. And worrying. And Kyoya hates that selfish, selfish, selfish part of him that wants to hear it.

But—Kohta speaks. Kyoya listens.

Please let me know what you guys think of this chapter. I had months to sit on it and I'm still worried if it turned out well.

Chapter summary:

Kosuke awkwardly introduces Kohta to everyone and vice-versa. Rather than being jealous, Kyoya is more confused and concerned that she never brought Kohta up before. The two groups eat lunch together, where Kosuke catches them up on everything that's happened since they parted ways. After lunch, Kyoya confronts Tamaki about his bizarre coldness with the others, but only gets a vague answer that Tamaki is wary of them. The group goes into a candy store together, where Kosuke and Kyoya have a civil enough conversation, but tensions start rising between everyone else as it becomes clear the two groups just don't mesh well. A blowup from Tamaki has them all moving on once more, but when Kyoya stays back to make a purchase, Kohta stays behind as well. Kohta asks Kyoya if Kosuke is really doing as well as she says - and tells Kyoya that there's something he needs to tell him.