Kyoya and Reiko didn't speak to each other the entire weekend. They weren't angry with each other, but now that their marriage discussion had "failed" there was no reason to reach out unless they had to talk about the Host Club. They had taken care of everything relating to the club's activities before midterms; now, there was nothing more to say.
It wasn't as if Rieko had the time to call him even if there was something to talk about. Ever since her father had made the unanticipated decision to have her and Metori Saiko meet and get to know each other, she and her father's PR team had been racing to make the necessary preparations. Getting approval, selecting a restaurant, staging cameras, and arranging for coincidental witnesses to spread the word was no easy feat, especially when Jiro Ishikawa had demanded everything be set up for that very Monday. His intention was to show Yoshio Ootori that the Ishikawas did not need a partnership with his family. Jiro had his choice of suitors for his only daughter, suitors whose families could benefit the Ishikawas much more than the Ootori's.
Among other things, Reiko was instructed not to tell Kyoya she was going on a date before Monday. The less time he and his father had to prepare a counterattack, the better their plan would work. Though she would never express as much to her father, the silver-haired teen was not as comfortable with the plan as she let on. Whether it was because she considered Kyoya a friend or simply didn't like being a pawn in her father's game, Reiko was far happy to be forced on a date with the Saiko family's only son.
The only person she felt comfortable voicing her displeasure to was her Dad. Even if Isuka wouldn't know how to help her navigate the politicking of high society, he could at least listen as his daughter vented her frustrations.
Sitting on a chair on the balcony, Reiko looked over the estate's gardens and fountains while she dialed his number.
"'Bout time you called me. I was starting to think you'd forgotten about your old man," Isuka's voice spoke as soon as he picked up.
"Sorry Dad," she said honestly. "Things have been hectic that past couple of weeks. After Renge left we had midterms then Father wanted me to attend a business meeting of sorts."
"Your father told me about the meeting. He's setting up your arranged marriage, isn't he? Did it go well?"
"No it was a complete disaster," she sighed.
"Seriously?" Isuka asked, shocked. In the years he'd known Jiro Ishikawa he'd never heard of him failing in a business deal.
"Completely, he's trying to pressure them into accepting our terms... long story short I've got a date with Metori Saiko tomorrow evening."
"Isn't it better this way? You and Kyoya weren't on speaking terms."
"Actually, he apologized and we've reconciled."
"Reconciled huh? So you two are friends again. Damn, you really have been busy this week. So... Metori Saiko... what's he like?"
Reiko scowled. "From what I know about him, the only thing he has going for him is his fortune," she summarized.
"That bad, huh?"
"My only consolation is that Father still intends to have me engaged with Kyoya. This is just a manipulation tactic to get them to concede to our own terms."
"Does Saiko know about this? I don't feel comfortable with you leading a guy on to trick someone else. You could hurt his feelings."
"He doesn't know, but I doubt that would be an issue. According to my research, he's in love with a girl from his class. We'll pretend to like each other over dinner for two hours then we'll go home and insist we're not compatible."
"That's cold."
"It's business."
"I still don't like it. I don't want my kid to think that love is some kind of game. Dating, marriage- it's serious stuff."
Reiko sighed. "I know it is Dad, and thanks for worrying about me. I've got it under control though. I won't do anything stupid."
"I know you won't kid. You're a lot smarter than I was at your age. I'm sure you won't make the same mistakes."
"Absolutely not. Mine will be much grander and more innovative," she joked.
"That's... not a goal you should have, but we'll talk about that some other time. Some supplies came in and I've gotta haul 'em inside."
"Alright. Have fun with that."
"I totally will. Keep in touch, you got it?"
"Yeah, I'll call."
The two hung up and Reiko sighed as she looked up from her phone screen to the fading sunset. "Tomorrow's going to be a total pain," she thought.
That Monday, Kaori accompanied her to school.
"Your father wants you home as soon as classes are over. Do you understand?"
"I have a club meeting after school," she informed her.
"You should let them know you won't be able to attend today, then. Mr. Ishikawa wants you to have as much time as possible to prepare for your meeting with Metori Saiko."
The silver-haired teen's eyes flashed with barely contained irritation, but she merely sighed and nodded in understanding. "I'll let them know."
"Also, remember that you're not to mention this meeting to anyone. Especially Kyoya Ootori. We don't want to give them any time to come up with a plan of their own."
"I understand."
"Good. I'll be at a press conference with your father in Seoul today, but I put all pertinent information about the meeting time and place in your calendar so you should be able to prepare on your own."
"Alright. Thank you, Kaori," she answered passively.
The woman scowled at her dismissal but said nothing. Reiko was still her boss's daughter.
After arriving to school, Reiko didn't bother with saying goodbye to her father's publicist when she climbed out of the limousine. She didn't bother to stop and chat with anyone as she walked down the halls to her classroom either. Most could sense that the silver-haired teens mood wasn't the best, so few people dared to approach her regardless.
Her bad mood was easily sensed by class 2-A. When she entered, the temperature dropped ten degrees and everyone in the room shivered.
"Tamaki," Reiko called.
The blonde flinched and turned to her. "Reiko... ah... is something wrong?"
Her eyes were fierce. "I need to speak with you for a moment," she said gesturing for him to meet her outside in the hallway.
Tamaki glanced at Kyoya, whose shoulders had gone stiff the moment the silver-haired woman had walked into his field of vision. "Did I do something wrong? She looks really angry," he whispered to him warily.
"I haven't the faintest idea," Kyoya quipped as he scribbled away in his notebook.
Steeling himself, Tamaki nodded and scurried out of the room. Reiko was waiting for him a few feet away from the door, her eyes glared at the floor as though she wished it would catch fire.
"W-what did you want to talk about?" he asked her.
Her sharp eyes flicked and met his, her gaze sharp enough to cut through him. When he flinched harshly, her eyes softened a bit. "I'm not angry with you, Tamaki," she informed him. "I just wanted to inform you that I won't be able to come to club this afternoon."
The blonde blinked, surprised that she would bother to tell him directly instead of having him hear through Kyoya later during the day. "Ah, I see... did you tell Kyoya about this or are going to talk to him afterward?" he asked.
Again, as if a switch had been flipped, Reiko's eyes turned icy. "No, I haven't spoken with him today. Seeing as you are the club president I assumed it would be most appropriate to inform you first. If you feel it's necessary that I also tell Kyoya I'll speak with him."
Tamaki tilted his head. "Well, it's not that you have to inform him, rather he's the one you naturally go to first, right?" he asked.
This time, Reiko flinched. The movement was microscopic- almost imperceptible- but the blonde second-year was more observant than anyone gave him credit for and noticed immediately. "I hadn't realized..." she trailed off.
"Did the two of you have another fight?" he asked.
"No... we didn't fight," she answered quietly.
"Then... everything's alright?" he asked already getting the feeling that no something was definitely not right.
"Yes," she answered. "everything's fine."
Although Reiko was sure she hadn't seen Tamaki leave the classroom once during their morning classes. Somehow by the first recess, the rest of the club members had heard that Reiko would not be coming in that afternoon and reacted to the news with varying levels of concern.
Honey and Mori were the first ones she bumped into during the morning recess. Honey asked if she wasn't coming to the club because she was feeling sick. Reiko simply told him that something came up.
Kyoya didn't say much- he merely asked if she had the calendar with all of the guest appointments updated so he wouldn't have a hard time filling in for her that day.
Haruhi merely assumed she had something going on after school and wished her luck with whatever it was.
Everyone had been so easily dealt with, Reiko had sighed in relief that at least her friends hadn't made her situation more complicated. The last thing she wanted to have to do was make up lies to throw them off.
Unfortunately, it seems she'd spoken too soon.
"I heard you weren't coming to the club today Rei-senpai," Kaoru commented when they found her in the halls towards the end of the morning break.
"Yeah, what's with that?" Hikaru asked.
"Something came up," she answered vaguely.
"What is it?" they echoed.
"A meeting." She elaborated.
"What kind of meeting?" they asked.
"An important one."
"Booo," Hikaru said.
"That's boring, Rei-senpai. You gotta give us more than that!" Kaoru exclaimed.
"It's just a meeting you guys. There's nothing special about it," she insisted.
"If it's nothing special then why won't you tell us?" Kaoru asked.
"Because it's none of your business," she hissed.
"That sounds suspicious," Hikaru teased.
"Totally Rei-senpai."
"Can't you guys just drop it? Why do you care so much if I have a meeting or not?" she sighed.
"It's because we're worried about you," Kaoru explained.
"Yeah, what if you're meeting some creep in an alleyway or something?" Hikaru asked.
Reiko sweatdropped. "What kinds of meetings do you think I attend?"
"We're not sure," Hikaru said.
"That's why you should tell us Rei-senpai. Or else we'll be worrying about you all night wondering if you're being assaulted by creepy men in some shady part of town!" Kaoru cried out dramatically.
"It's confidential. Let's leave it at that."
The twins looked at each other, then crossed their arms and turned to Reiko. "Yeaaaah that's not gonna work for us."
She glared at them and said nothing. She hoped that staring them down would intimidate them enough to go away.
"Everyone else has different versions of why you're not showing up to club today," Kaoru told her.
"Yeah, so we know something big is going on," Hikaru continued.
"We just want to make sure you're okay," Kaoru finished.
Reiko sighed and looked at them for a moment. "You understand what confidential means don't you?" she asked. "It means that if I tell you, you're not to repeat a word of it to anyone else under any circumstances. Is that clear?"
The twins nodded eagerly.
"Especially the host club. None of them can know."
"We get it already. So just tell us!" Hikaru groaned.
"You guys really are something else... fine... I'm having an omiai meeting tonight. My father wanted me home as soon as possible so I would have enough time to get ready."
The twins gasped.
"You and Kyoya-senpai are getting engaged? Congratulations Rei-senpai!" Hikaru exclaimed.
The silver-haired teen ran a hand through her hair and glanced at the ground. "It's... not with Kyoya. I'm meeting someone else tonight."
"What? But I thought you said-"
Reiko raised her hand to stop Hikaru from saying anything more. "Father doesn't think we'll be able to come to an agreement with the Ootori family so he's starting to look at other options. The young man I'm meeting tonight was another option we'd originally considered but I've never met him so father set tonight up so we can get to know each other before the families continue speaking."
"Does Kyoya-senpai know about this?" Kaoru asked.
Reiko shook her head. "No, and I have no intentions of telling him. On the contrary, I've received explicit instructions that he is not to find out about this."
"Ok we get it. No telling Kyoya-senpai you're going on a date with another man," Hikaru said.
She gave him a look. "Do you have to say it that way?"
"We promise we won't tell anyone," Kaoru interrupted glancing at his brother.
"But only if you let us come with you."
"What? You can't come with me! What part of confidential meeting did the two of you not understand?"
"We want to get a look at this guy and see what he's like," Kaoru explained.
"Yeah, we're curious."
"I'm not bringing you guys on a date because you're curious."
"Where do you suppose Kyoya-senpai is right now?" Kaoru wondered out loud.
"He's probably headed to his next class. Is it German?" Hikaru wondered.
"You two seriously..." Reiko glared at them harshly. "You two will regret trying to manipulate me."
"Just tell us where you're meeting this guy. We promise we won't get in the way. You won't even see us," Hikaru promised.
"Like I'll believe anything either of you say from now on," she scoffed. "We're meeting at Aragawa at 7 tonight. If I so much as see a strand of your hair at any point there'll be hell to pay."
The twins shivered and gave her a nervous smile. "You got it Rei-senpai!"
True to their word, Hikaru and Kaoru said nothing to the other Hosts the entire day about Reiko's after-school plans. Pretending they were none the wiser was easy; since everyone made their own assumptions about the second year's absence, no one questioned it. The only one who seemed bothered by her missing club was Kyoya.
Kyoya had agonized over how he and Reiko would interact with each other after the marriage discussions between their fathers went sour. He'd predicted things would be a bit awkward, that they would need to sit down in private and have a chat about it. He'd prepared a speech on how they should keep their personal and school affairs separate from each other. Kyoya had not been prepared for Reiko to completely ignore him the entire day, and he had not been prepared for her to skip club.
At first, he had thought he'd somehow angered her but quickly discarded the idea. Reiko wasn't the type to repress her emotions. If she were angry with him, she would have let him know one way or another. The only thing Kyoya knew for certain was that Reiko was ignoring him and that was on purpose. Reiko never ignored someone accidentally, no matter how preoccupied she was. Whatever was worrying her definitely had something to do with him. Naturally, his mind went to their failed marriage discussions, but surely if something were going on with that Reiko would have told him. Wouldn't she? "Not necessarily," Kyoya realized. "Reiko acts according to what benefits her the most. In the past, her revealing private information was solely due to the fact that it helped her in some way." Knowing there was a chance that he was being kept in the dark about something pissed him off and the longer he considered this possibility, the more obvious his irritation with the silver-haired girl became throughout the day.
"That's the fourth cup you've broken today, Haruhi. Care to explain yourself?" Kyoya asked as he stared at the brunette who was picking up the shards of a broken teacup off the floor.
"It wasn't my fault Kyoya-senpai. One of the guests knocked it over as she was leaving. I told her not to worry about it and that I'd clean it up."
"It's quite audacious of you to expect one of our guests to even offer to do such a menial task," he said coldly.
"It's okay Haruhi. These things happen it's not anyone's fault," Tamaki interjected, trying to smooth things over.
The brunette glared at the second years. "Yeah, whatever," she grumbled dropping the shards into a trash can and stalking away.
"Hey... Kyoya, don't you think you were a little harsh with Haruhi just now?" Tamaki asked.
"Hardly. You may not be aware of it since you've never taken the time to review the reports I send, but Haruhi has one of the highest rates of breaking club supplies."
"Really?" Tamaki asked. "Who has the highest?"
"You do," Kyoya snipped.
The blonde flinched. "Ah, I see. Sorry about that, but still maybe next time you could address the matter more gently."
"If I need to address the matter again it means I wasn't clear enough the first time."
"Just leave it, boss," Hikaru said.
"Yeah, Kyoya-senpai is clearly upset about something. It might not have anything to do with you or Haruhi," Kaoru offered, ignoring the icy glare Kyoya sent his way.
"I'll bet he's in a bad mood because Rei-senpai's going on a date with someone else tonight," Hikaru snickered.
Kaoru's eyes widened and before anyone could react he tackled his brother to the ground, slapping his hand over his mouth.
"What did you just say?" Tamaki asked shocked.
"Rei-chan's going on a date?" Honey- who had been quietly eating cake- asked.
"Who said anything about Rei-senpai going on a date?" Kaoru asked nervously.
Kyoya turned to him, his eyes hidden behind the glare of his glasses. "Everyone in this room heard Hikaru say Reiko had a date tonight. I believe that now, it is in your best interest to tell us everything you know."
"Guys it seems like Rei-senpai didn't want anyone finding out about her plans tonight. I think we should respect her privacy," Haruhi said.
"There are things someone in your position simply cannot understand Haruhi. Reiko going on a date has absolutely nothing to do with privacy." Kyoya snapped.
"Now now, there's no reason to fight," Tamaki said. "Hikaru, Kaoru. What exactly did you mean when you said Reiko is going on a date?"
Kaoru glared at his brother before taking his hand off his mouth. "Reiko made us swear not to tell anyone," Hikaru said.
"It's a little late for that now Hikaru," Kaoru told him. "Reiko told us she had an important meeting tonight. She said it was an omiai."
Everyone gasped.
"An omiai... like an arranged marriage meeting?" Haruhi asked.
"Not quite. An omiai is an arrangement for marriage, yes, but it's more to set up a meeting between two people to see if they get along and are compatible with each other. It's often the first step towards an arranged marriage though." Tamaki explained. "Who is she meeting?"
"We don't know. She refused to say," Hikaru asked.
"Then do you know where she is meeting this young man?"
Kaoru crossed his arms. "Why would you need to know that?"
"Obviously we must go there and see what kind of person this fellow is before things become serious! We can't just give her away to some stranger!" Tamaki said as though it should've been obvious.
"Boss, do you really think that her dad would set up an omiai with someone he didn't approve of?" Hikaru asked.
"Well, he didn't consult it with me!" Tamaki protested.
"Why would he consult that with you? You're not even related!" Kaoru argued.
"We spend so much time together we have to at least be cousins by now!" he insisted.
"I really don't think it works like that," Hikaru said.
"It doesn't matter what you guys think! If I say we're cousins then we are cousins! I will not let my family get married off to some ruffian from who knows where! I simply won't accept it! Hikaru, Kaoru I demand that you tell me where Reiko is meeting this man at once!"
Kaoru sighed trying to think about what to do. Reiko was so high profile she probably knew she couldn't keep this from the hosts forever. Chances are they would find out what she'd been up to the very next day. If she knew that... that meant she only needed to stall for time and keep them in the dark long enough for her to finish the date.
"We won't tell you where it is," Kaoru said resolutely. "But we can take you there."