Kōji sank his nose in the bath's hot water.
Just like how his heart had sunk when the tall, suited man without a jacket glared at him from under his dangling strands of hair.
Suzuka's father.
Even with his imposing presence, the maids and butlers never showed emotion, like Suzuka when Kōji first met her.
However, she had been the most expressive throughout the messy tempest; it felt like she genuinely enjoyed the chaos.
But that vanished the instant her father appeared.
It was as if she forgot Kōji was even there.
Although he had just gotten a little insight into her family dynamics, he would've never expected it to be that serious.
Three slow and gentle knocks came from afar outside the bathroom, followed by a woman's voice.
"Mr. Kurei, is there anything you need?"
He emerged from under the water to answer.
"N-No, I'm good."
"That is good to hear. Please tell us if the pajamas we provided are not of your preference; we will provide another set promptly."
"No, no, they should fit perfectly. They are very warm and smooth," he said, laughing nervously.
"Very well. Do not hesitate to tell us your concerns or issues. The family will be having dinner in five minutes. Mr. Araki expressed his interest in you joining them, though please do not feel forced to."
Kōji's heart hammered in his chest, so he let it take charge.
"Okay, I'll be there."
"Understood."
The distant steps quickly faded away.
Despite the much-needed hot bath, the sudden adrenaline squeezed Kōji's whole body as if he were about to compete.
Wanting to get over with it, he stood up. That eased the burning of his scratches, but the itching soon took over.
Fortunately, rubbing his arms with the long sleeves of the silky pajamas relieved the anxiety by the time he stepped out of the bathroom and out of the guest room he was going to use for the night.
He walked down the stairs he'd come up twenty minutes earlier, firmly holding the handrail so he could lean on his left ankle as little as possible.
At the bottom, one of the maids held her hands in front of her patiently despite how long he took.
She rigidly stretched her arm towards the dining room.
He walked to it, not wanting to waste anyone's time, but still on the verge of backing down.
Suzuka sat on the right side of the absurdly long table. She wore casual sportswear instead of her uniform, though her short hair covered her face from that angle.
On the opposite side of the room, her father sat at the far end of the table.
He suddenly raised his gaze from the table to Kōji.
Kōji snapped his eyes away and saw the eldest butler pulling a chair back, away from the table.
Another maid, older than the last one, bowed gently and extended her arm towards the seat.
Just as he sat down, the butler slightly pushed the chair forward, placing him at the perfect distance from the table.
"Do you have food allergies or preferences, Mister?" the butler asked with a very raspy voice.
"I'm allergic to mustard."
"Understood. The food will be here shortly."
He walked away through a black door.
Within the silence, Suzuka stared down at the table, just like her father did.
Despite her stiff posture and emotionless expression, Kōji could see a hint of… concern? Disappointment?
A rumbling, muted thunder made her shudder, yet she seemed unbothered.
"I hope the manor and the staff have been accommodating."
Suzuka's father glared at Kōji, who couldn't keep his eyes steady.
"E-Everything's been incredible, and everyone's been really helpful even though I showed up uninvited."
"These are extraordinary circumstances, are they not?"
Kōji's eyes lingered a little longer on his, then he nodded.
He felt the weight of a gaze in front of him.
Suzuka looked at him, though not for long, before lowering her head again.
"Would you mind telling me your name?" her father asked. "I'd be interested to hear about you and your upbringing."
Although his tone sounded friendly enough…
Kōji opened his mouth to answer.
But Suzuka interrupted without raising her head.
"No, Father. His family isn't wealthy. No one in the school seems to be, which is good."
He glared at her. "I didn't ask that."
She looked at him. "That's what you wanted to know, is it not?"
After a silent staredown, he sighed with a slight growl.
"Out of everyone, you must be the one most aware of our status."
Suzuka kept facing him, but her eyes slowly lowered.
One of the maids approached her from behind and set a plate before her on the table.
The other maid did the same for Kōji, while the butler did it for Suzuka's father.
About to have a neckerchief hung around her neck, Suzuka interrupted the maid to say.
"Screw the status."
The butler raised his raspy voice. "Ms. Suzuka."
"Leave her be, Sakakibara," her father said. "She's just in her rebellious phase."
She kept her head low.
"Am I? Then how about this?"
She pushed her chair back to stand up and looked her father in the eye.
"Screw. You."
The entire room fell silent.
Her scowl weakened into a frown when her eyes met Kōji's.
She rushed out of the room and to the stairs, then disappeared from his sight.
Everyone in the room stayed still until the younger maid headed in Suzuka's direction.
"Apologies for the scene," her father said to Kōji. "She's just being stubborn; it's well known that, even when a person has everything, they'd throw everything away just to get the less valuable thing they don't have."
"No."
The maid beside Kōji stopped from hanging the neckerchief around his neck.
"She just wants to be herself."
He stood up and bowed.
"I'm sorry for meddling in your family. I'll stop disturbing your dinner."
He turned around and walked out of the dining room before his body did something his brain would regret.
Just as he turned on the stairs to his guest room, the younger maid spoke behind him.
"Yes, Ms. Suzuka's room is this way."
She bowed and stretched her arm in the opposite direction.
Confused for a moment, his legs moved in that direction.
The maid accompanied him a little into the hallway. She stepped ahead to extend her hand in front of a black door.
No sound came from the other side, so he gently knocked on it.
Still no sound.
"A-Araki, it's me."
Something creaked behind the door, followed by a loud thump and the sound of something being dragged.
The place suddenly grew quiet.
"Come in," Suzuka said.
Kōji perked up. "A-Are you sure?"
"I am."
His heart had barely calmed down.
Now, it beat faster and harder than he had ever felt.
He grabbed the handle, took a deep breath, and turned it.
The door made no sound as he pushed it, revealing Suzuka's bedroom.
It was bigger than the guest room, and although it was rather similar in style, a few posters hung on the walls; pastel purple curtains dispersed the lightning flashes; sheets the same color covered the bed, thrice the size of his futon at home.
More impressive was the shelf that covered the entire wall, filled to the brim with game cases, much bigger boxes, and some figures.
"Holy…"
Kōji looked at Suzuka, who sat at a desk not too far from the shelf.
"Are all those yours?"
She glanced at them before nodding.
"I didn't know you were that much into games, or at all."
"The topic never came up."
Kōji stared at her as she kept inspecting the shelf.
"What's your favorite one?" he asked.
"You just asked the toughest question you could've asked."
She spun the chair she sat on toward the desk, where two monitors stood.
"I was about to play one of the candidates, which is also one of the ones I hate the most."
"It could be your favorite, but you hate it? How?"
"You'll understand when you see it."
Kōji approached and stood beside her, noticing the white computer case on the floor glowing in different shades of purple from inside.
Something flashed on the monitor in the middle.
The character in the center swung a pickaxe against a rock with shiny white crystals, shooting white glowing sparks each time it hit.
That happened five or six times, nothing changing at a glance.
"That's it," Suzuka said.
"Wait, that's the whole game?"
She chuckled. "There's much more to it, but this is what I do the most. I like trading the resources with other people instead of selling them in the market."
"I see…"
Kōji tried his best not to sound rude or seem confused, but Suzuka's question made it clear he failed.
"Are you not into games?"
"Ah… I haven't played many; mostly on my phone, but nothing like the one you're playing. It looks so realistic."
She stared up at him for a weirdly long time before spinning her chair to stand up and walk to the other corner of the room.
"Here's another one of the candidates."
She turned on one of the two consoles on the sideboard cabinet, popular enough that Kōji recognized them. She then turned on the huge TV hanging on the wall.
She signaled at the sofa in front.
"Take a seat."
Still unable to process everything that was going on, he complied.
"We should be careful not to touch each other," he said as he sat on one end.
"Right."
She continued selecting menus with the controller she held before sitting on the other end of the sofa.
The black screen faded to reveal a tall male character wearing traditional clothes with futuristic details like robot parts.
Suzuka lowered the controller next to him on the sofa.
"Take that one," she said while she grabbed the other one from the coffee table.
He had just lifted the controller when a blue ghost popped up next to the robot samurai.
"Is that… a spirit?" he asked.
"Kind of. I'm controlling it. I'll help you fight with my powers."
"Wait, I'm gonna fight?"
She nodded. "Try moving with the stick."
He glanced at her motion on her controller, then copied it on his.
The character walked forward until it got stuck against a wall. He instinctively pushed the stick in another direction, and the character moved toward it.
Suzuka lifted her controller to show it to him.
"You'll use these buttons the most. This one is the main attack, but it'll consume your stamina…"
Kōji looked up and down between the two controllers, trying to memorize the buttons, but he couldn't listen to her instructions while focusing on that.
"Is it too much?" she asked.
He hesitated to answer, "Y-Yeah. It seems fun, but I'm very slow with these things."
"No, I just realized how complicated it sounds."
She lowered her controller on the sofa.
"You can be the spirit while I fight. You can press any button you want, any time, to learn what it does; you'll be helping me no matter what you do."
"Oh, that sounds good."
He swapped the controller.
She wasted no time in moving toward another character in the game, though unlike the samurai, very thick, dark smoke came out of it.
The samurai suddenly swung its sparking sword at the monster, slicing its arm off. The samurai used the momentum to stab the monster in the stomach, then sliced it in half up to its head.
"Wow, that's… incredibly gory."
"It's very fun."
She kept smiling as she made the samurai attack more monsters, repeating the same gory fatalities or even worse ones.
Who was he to judge?
He joined her in the fun by pressing one of the buttons on the right side of the controller. The spirit glowed red for a moment, but he didn't see what that did.
He pressed another button, and the spirit glowed yellow.
A loud metallic clash sounded on the TV.
"Oh, that was a good shield," she said.
Again, he didn't see what he did, but he was glad it helped her.
That repeated several times until Kōji finally noticed the attacks he made and the healing and shields he gave Suzuka.
It got to the point that he started pressing the buttons on purpose.
She smiled. "Nice, you already got the hang of it."
"Just a bit," he giggled.
He glanced at her.
She seemed much happier than at dinner.
It was good that she got distracted, but that wasn't going to last forever; he knew that very well.
"Hey, Araki," he called.
Her smirk weakened. "It's strange being called by my family name at home."
"Oh, right. S-Suzuka, I was curious about something."
"The powers you have? Give me a second; I'll show you the skill tree after killing this one."
"No, no. Outside the game. I was curious about why you transferred to Kasen this year."
The samurai received an attack that took almost all of its health.
Suzuka paused the game.
She stared at the frozen menu on the screen.
"I… just couldn't stay in that snake pit any longer. I have been led to places full of hostility and falsehoods all my life. But the moment I took charge for once, my parents…"
She had stopped blinking.
Kōji didn't mean to give her a bad time. He didn't expect the reason to be that troublesome for her, but it made sense.
"I know how presumptuous it sounds, but I used to be the track team star," he said. "I won all the tournaments from elementary to middle school, and that got me a scholarship into Kasen. But when high school started, I found out just how naive I was.
"I still won the tournaments, but I started losing races. Until last year. I was about to throw the nationals down the drain, so I pushed myself as hard as I never had. But each time I jumped an obstacle, I saw how much further behind I got.
"Then, in the middle of the race, I felt something snap in my leg when I jumped. I hit the obstacle and lost my balance. I somehow didn't fall to the ground and planted my foot to keep running, but I just felt it bend until I fell sideways. I looked down to see what made me trip, but I saw my foot twisted ninety degrees outwards."
A blink brought him back to Suzuka's silent room.
His whole body was ablaze, yet he felt no need to scratch his arms.
Had he said everything out loud? Had it only happened in his head?
Suzuka stared at him with a slight frown as the rain faintly hit the roof.
He felt his hand sink slightly into the sofa.
She moved her hand away when he looked down.
"So… you lost the nationals?" she asked.
He chuckled. "That goes without saying. Surprisingly, I didn't lose the scholarship. The principal was very kind to keep it for this last year, but she won't be able to help me much more if I don't improve my grades before graduating."
"I see."
Not wanting to start an awkward silence, he kept talking.
"I was reaching my limit already, you know? My body isn't built for running; I'm short and my frame's wide. I kinda had it coming for pushing my luck too far."
"Don't say that."
Her frown clenched into a scowl.
"No one deserves something like that."
They stared at each other.
The warmth of her anger spread to his chest.
"You're right," he replied. "Sorry."
He stood up from the sofa.
"I should head to my room; it's getting late, and being in your room could give people the wrong idea."
With flushed cheeks and a softer expression, she nodded.
It wasn't until he stepped out of her room that he realized the implication of what he had just said.
He rushed back to the guest room before someone noticed his reddening face.
…
The next morning arrived.
Somehow, Suzuka's family staff had magically fixed Kōji's uniform overnight. It even seemed cleaner than it had been before the storm.
He changed into it before the chauffeur—Yoshimura—drove him home.
Although his morning stay was brief, Suzuka's father was nowhere to be seen.
Twenty minutes later, Yoshimura parked in front of Kōji's home
"We have arrived, Mr. Kurei," he announced, even though Kōji could see his house through the window. "Please allow me to open the door for you."
Could Kōji decline? He didn't need to have the door opened for him, but he didn't want to be rude.
Before coming to a decision, Yoshimura had already walked around the car and opened the door on his side.
"Thank you." Kōji laughed nervously as he climbed out. "Have a nice day."
"You're welcome, Mr. Kurei. Have a wonderful day as well."
Yoshimura walked back to the driver's side, climbed in, and drove away.
Kōji turned around to walk to his house's front door, where Hisa, Rem, and his dad stood, jaw-dropped.
"Would you look at that?" Hisa smirked as Kōji approached them.
Rem added, "He's a prince with his own carriage now."
"I know you told us you were staying at a mansion, but seeing that is still surreal," Kōji's dad said.
Kōji grinned. "Right?" He asked Hisa and Rem, "Why are you here this early?"
Hisa answered, "We hadn't heard from you since the storm started, and we didn't wanna make another emergency call."
Rem nodded. "Your dad just told us about your escapade."
She raised a pen and a notebook Kōji swore she wasn't holding a second earlier.
"Can you describe what you saw at the mansion? Were there statues of gods and angels?" She gasped. "Or were they of demons?"
Hisa continued, "The school also just announced that the first class of the day will be postponed to compensate for the delays caused by the typhoon. We wanted to let you know."
"And aren't you curious about that new 'friend' of his?"
Kōji's mom came out of the house behind his dad, holding Yu's hand.
Yu burst with joy. "Kōji!"
"Thank you very much, you two," she said to Hisa and Rem, smiling. "We need to check if anything happened to the shop before opening, so we're heading out now."
"Feel free to grab anything from the fridge."
Kōji's dad said, grabbing Yu's other hand. The three of them turned around the corner and disappeared behind the building.
"You also had something to tell us, didn't you?" Hisa smirked. "But you can start by telling us about what happened last night. How far did you go?"
Kōji laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head.
"How far? Nothing really—"
Rem's brows suddenly furrowed at something past him, and she grasped his raised wrist.
She brought it down and rolled up his long sleeve.
They stared down at the red scars in his arms.
Hisa's brows twitched. "Kōji, what…?"
His heartbeat pulsed in his ears.
"T-They're not cuts, I swear."
Hisa's frown remained, while Rem's perpetual grin was gone.
Kōji looked around. "Let's talk inside."
He stepped in, followed by Hisa and Rem. They took their shoes off before heading to the living room and sitting on the cushions around the table.
The heaviest weight he had felt from their gazes wouldn't go away for a second.
Kōji chuckled. "I can't believe it only took one tiny slip for you to notice after all this time."
Hisa raised her voice. "You planned to hide it from us forever?"
He nodded. "They're just scratches; my arms get painfully itchy whenever I get anxious. I didn't wanna tell you cause I didn't wanna be a burden anymore."
"You've never been a burden," Rem replied, her voice deeper than ever.
Kōji's smile remained as he looked down.
"Yes, I have. I lost everything I could offer. I rot in a room for weeks, receiving pity left and right."
The silence encompassed the room.
He continued, "You've definitely helped me a lot by trying to get me into all sorts of stuff. They just… never click."
"Didn't you say you enjoyed teaching Yu a lot?" Hisa asked.
"I do. If anything, that's the thing I look forward to the most every day."
Was that still the case?
Hisa replied, "Then keep doing that, for her, for your family, and for us. Whatever worry you have, whatever problem you stumble upon, whatever it is, if you don't feel safe enough to tell your family, please at least tell me or Rem. I assure you you'll never be a burden to anyone. Just… don't keep us in the dark anymore."
Kōji and Hisa stared at each other.
"Promise." Rem glared at him.
He closed his eyes and lowered his head, unable to control his trembling lips.
He nodded. "Okay, I promise."
The silence prolonged a little more before Hisa broke it by groaning while stretching her arms.
"This is far from what I expected when I woke up this morning. Well, what's the other thing you wanted to talk about?"
Her characteristic smirk returned.
"Is it about you-know-who?"
Kōji's sigh turned into a smile.
His answer hurt because of the lump in his throat.
"Yes. I think I like Araki."