WEEK ONE: Friday (Touji)

The smell of coffee and toast beckoned me downstairs on Friday morning, but when I got there I found an unwelcome visitor in our dining room. Shino stood up behind a table spread with a magnificent breakfast, her smile sleek as a nine-tailed fox. She was wearing a white satin blouse that shimmered in the morning light streaming in through the windows. I clenched my jaw and turned to walk out, but she called after me, sweetly.

"Touji, come eat. I had Umeki-san prepare this especially for you."

I bristled and turned in spite of myself. "You had no right."

Umeki was our family's housekeeper. She'd taken care of me and my brother for as long as we could remember, and to me she was like a second mother... in some ways, actually, she was closer to me than my real mother. I glanced at the table, which held an impressive array of dishes from grilled fish and miso soup to poached eggs and green salad, all fresh and undoubtedly delicious. God, Umeki must have spent forever on this, and I was willing to bet Shino had summoned her here early this morning just to use her in whatever scheme this was to harass me.

Shino just smiled wider. "Oh, Touji, don't be like that. She was happy to do it, you know."

Yeah, I did know. Umeki was too kind for her own good, and let Shino boss her around even though I'd told her a thousand times to say no. Shino was the most manipulative person I'd ever met, and she specialized in using a person's affections to get what she wanted.

I stomped over to the table and sat. No matter how much I despised Shino's trickery I couldn't put Umeki's hard work to waste. I grabbed a bowl of rice, slapped a piece of fish and an egg on top of it, and started chewing aggressively.

Shino came to stand next to me, beaming in triumph, and poured a cup of coffee with practiced elegance. She'd been in the tea ceremony club during her years at Houka, and it showed. She set the china cup in front of me, rotating it with fingers that barely seemed to make contact with the delicate porcelain. Then she pulled out the chair next to me, poured herself a cup, and watched me eat with her chin in her hand like I was the most fascinating thing she could imagine. I tried to pretend like she wasn't there, but after a few minutes I was too irritated.

"Aren't you going to eat some of this?"

"Oh, goodness, no. I'm watching my weight."

I wanted to strangle her. Instead I just pulled a bowl of soup over and drank it down in a few gulps. I knew I should have gotten up earlier. It had been a while since she'd managed to ambush me like this. I put a bite of salad in my mouth and nearly choked when Shino's hand slid over my thigh. I had to swallow before I could protest, and in the time it took me to do that her mouth was tracing my ear.

"Mm. I miss you."

"Get off," I growled, slapping her hand away before it could wander any higher. She only laughed.

"My, you really are being stubborn, aren't you?"

I stood up from the table so fast the chair fell over backward. "I told you, I'm not doing this. Patch things up with Natsuki or dump him, I don't care which. But leave me alone."

Her face darkened. "I don't give a damn about that jerk. He's done nothing but hurt me. Oh, Touji," her eyes started glimmering, "I've made such a terrible mistake. I never should have broken up with you. You're the one who's always been good to me. You're the one who takes care of me. I'm so sorry, Touji, really. Please—I want to be with you again. I love you."

I backed away from her, shaking my head. As if she hadn't said those exact same things a dozen times before. But even if it was true—we both knew it wasn't, but whatever—it wouldn't make a difference. Meeting Yuzuru had changed everything. I knew what my heart wanted now, and it most definitely wasn't my brother's pretty, conniving, on-again off-again girlfriend.

She came after me, undeterred, and threw her arms around my neck, trying to pull me into a kiss. Luckily I was a good twenty-five centimeters taller, so she wasn't getting to my lips unless I allowed it.

From the kitchen door came the pointed sound of Umeki clearing her throat. "Good morning, Touji-san. I hope you rested well."

I seized Shino's wrists and unhooked her from me, pushing her away. I turned to bow to Umeki, who stood in the doorway in her neat black dress and white apron. She was eyeing Shino with prim disapproval, and I adored her for it. "Yes, thank you, Umeki-san."

"Shall I box up some of this for you to take to school?"

"Yes, please."

"A moment." She gathered up some of the serving plates and disappeared with them into the kitchen.

I grabbed my cup of coffee from the table and drank it down, batting Shino away when she tried to take my arm again. She had the nerve to look wounded. "Touji, please. I know you're angry with me, and you have every right to be. I've been so awful to you. But I'm serious, you're the one I want to be with. I can prove it to you, just give me the chance."

I rolled my eyes as Umeki returned with a neatly stacked bento kit. It was huge and would barely fit in my bag, but that was okay. I could share it with Yuzuru later. She handed it to me with a bow, and I thanked her with all my sincerity. She patted my hand fondly, cast one last reproving glance at Shino, and returned to the kitchen.

I stuffed the bento into my bag, slung the bag over my shoulder, and brushed past Shino for the front door, pulling away when she tried to grab the cuff of my jacket. She called my name again, but I was done with her.

I was going to see my boyfriend.

🏹 🏹 🏹

Yuzuru looked worlds better when he met up with me at the station. The cheery light was back in his eyes and the way his smile lit his whole face when he saw me was exhilarating. I forgot all thoughts of Shino as we walked and he gave me the highlights of his victory over the schoolwork that had dominated his life the last few days. To hear him tell it, he'd defeated an army of vicious textbooks armed with only a pencil and a bottomless plate of studying snacks. I mostly just listened and laughed and admired how beautiful he was when he was being himself. God, he was wonderful.

The break between second and third periods was fifteen minutes instead of five, which meant there was time for us to grab a snack together. I asked Yuzuru to come down to my homeroom with me so I could give him some of my bento. Since I had to be in rehearsal at lunch, this would be my only chance to share it with him.

His deep honey-colored eyes flew wide when I put two stacked containers in his hands. He lifted the lid of one and whistled. "This is awesome. Are you sure you want to give this away?"

"It's more than I can eat by myself." I gestured at the other two equally massive boxes still in my bag. "And it'll be much better than that convenience store onigiri you're always bringing for lunch."

"You can say that again." He picked a piece of bacon out of the top container and popped it in his mouth. "Your mom can really cook."

"Oh, it's not my mom, it's Umeki-san. Our housekeeper."

He grinned while he was chewing, bits of bacon appearing between his teeth. "Rich guys have all the luck. Big houses, fancy cars, people to cook for them whenever they want..."

I cringed a little and stuffed my bag back into its cubicle at the rear of the classroom. Yuzuru had been to my house once, but we hadn't talked much about our families. I was pretty sure he still didn't know who mine were. Truthfully, I was putting off telling him as long as I could because I had the feeling it would make him uncomfortable. 

"Shino-senpai!" Nakamura had come up behind us, and looked from him to me with an expression of delight. "What are you doing down here?"

"Eating Seryou's lunch," he replied, and stuck another bite in his mouth.

The flash on her phone went off as she snapped a picture of him stuffing his face. "Oh, that's so sweet!"

My eyebrow quirked, and she swung the phone in my direction. I held up a hand to block her camera. "Seriously, Nakamura-chan..."

Kobayashi and Sato popped up on either side of her as if summoned by witchcraft, brandishing their own phones. Sato held something out, waving it so energetically I couldn't even tell what it was.

"Hey, you guys want some Pocky?" She clutched the thing back to her chest so that I could finally tell that it was a box of Pocky snacks. I didn't like the crafty way her eyes slid back and forth between us as she opened the top.

"Ooh, strawberry!" Yuzuru cheered, reaching for it.

Sato drew back, her grin becoming more devious as she exchanged glances with the other girls. "If you want it, Senpai, you have to play a game." She eased one stick of candy-coated biscuit out of the package, dramatically. I rolled my eyes, but evidently the tactic worked on Yuzuru because he watched every centimeter of the snack as it emerged from the box, and licked his lips.

Oh for god's sake. "Just give it to him, Sato-chan," I grumbled. "What's with all the theatrics?"

She took two steps toward me, the mischievous look never leaving her face. Then she reached up and stuck one end of the Pocky in my mouth. "Hold this."

What the...

The girls started giggling, and Sato turned to Yuzuru. Before the next words came out of her mouth I realized what they were trying to do, and my eyes went wide with horror. They could not be serious. These girls had watched way too many silly celebrity game shows.

"Now, Senpai, you can eat it from the other end."

Their camera phones were already up and pointed at us. However, I had no intention of letting them turn Yuzuru and me into their cheesy mid-morning entertainment. I went to pull the stick out of my mouth, but Yuzuru grabbed my wrist.

He was leaning toward me with this amused and slightly hungry look. He wanted the Pocky—of course he did, it was his favorite flavor—so it seemed he didn't mind whatever goofy thing the girls wanted him to do in order to earn it. God, he was so clueless. Adorable, gullible Yuzuru, who hadn't the first idea what these childish classmates of mine were up to. I had to stop him before he played right into their ridiculous fantasies, but he caught the other end of the stick between his teeth and so help me, I couldn't move.

I watched, paralyzed, as he closed his lips around the snack and made a happy sound. The girls were squealing in the background, but all I could see was his mouth nibbling a bit at a time, moving gradually closer as the stick got shorter. My heart started pounding so hard I got dizzy, and a rush of heat flooded my face and the back of my neck. Was this really happening? It was so corny and embarrassing... and I was powerless to stop it.

And then, as if that weren't bad enough, he paused for a split second when the Pocky was about halfway gone. His eyes found mine, and I felt him smiling around the slender bit of biscuit that connected us.

He winked.

There's no way the girls could have seen it from where they were standing, but

Oh.

My.

God.

He did know. He knew exactly what they were after. I couldn't be sure whether he'd just figured it out, or if he'd been aware of it all along, but he definitely knew. I gasped and bit down, causing the Pocky to snap. He closed the distance between us in one smooth movement, his lips brushing mine faintly as he took the rest of the snack from me.

He drew back, chewing and grinning, and I closed my mouth numbly around the little piece of biscuit that remained on my tongue. I stared at him while the girls screeched in glee and Sato whipped out another Pocky stick.

"More, Senpai?" she squeaked.

He glanced over at me and bobbed his eyebrows playfully. "Sure."

Sato lunged at me with the Pocky outstretched like a fencing foil. I stumbled out of her reach. "No way."

"Aw, Seryou-kun!" Nakamura protested, but I pointed a finger at Yuzuru.

"Stop messing around and just give it to him." I couldn't look at him right now, I was floundering in a whirlpool of weird feelings.

They chirped in disappointment and I turned my back, pretending I needed something out of my bag. I heard Yuzuru's chuckle and more appreciative crunching, so they must have given him the treat anyway.

"Thanks," he said brightly, and I closed my eyes and took deep breaths, trying to steady my thundering pulse. His hand fell on my shoulder. "Hey Seryou, thanks for the food. I'll bring you the boxes back later."

I still couldn't look at him, but he didn't seem to mind. He left the room with Nakamura and her friends trailing behind, snapping pictures. I could only bring myself to turn around once I was sure he was gone. The girls turned their attention to me then, oohing and aahing as I batted their cameras away.

"Shino-senpai is so cool," Nakamura sighed happily. "It's obvious he has feelings for Seryou-kun!"

"Of all the boys in our class, I never would have suspected you to like men, Seryou-sama. You've always been such a player!"

"But that's why it's perfect, Kobayashi-chan! He had to be a player, since he could never fall in love with anyone. Until he met Shino-senpai, and... eeeee!"

If my ears got any hotter my hair would ignite. But there was literally nothing I could say now that would convince them I wasn't madly, secretly in love with our revered third-year upperclassman. Any protest or denial would be taken as evidence that it was true. Ignoring it would go the same way. And as humiliating as their fangirling was, it's not like they were wrong, which made it all the more awkward.

The sensible part of me recognized that these girls didn't actually know anything. They were weaving their own romantic fairy tales around Yuzuru and me, and it had very little to do with anything in reality as far as they knew. Still... they were a lot more right than they realized, and that was more than a little unsettling.

I was grateful for the bell that sent us scattering for our desks to begin third period. Unfortunately I had very little memory of the lecture, though. My mind kept wandering to that wink. That naughty, cunning, heart-stopping wink. The feel of his lips skimming mine, his breath sweet with strawberry candy. His voice in my ear on the train: I want to kiss you.

I kept my face hidden behind my hands and hair for the rest of the class period.