Episode Four

Everything was going pretty normal. The sports competition just ended, and everyone in 3-D were going to celebrate, but first we had to choose a place to have our party.

"Yamato, which one," Honjo asked handing Yamato a magazine full of party places.

He smiled and pointed to one, "this one looks good."

The class cheered.

Ichi twirled the rugby ball in his hands, "now that the sports competition is over, it's time to celebrate."

The class cheered louder. They started talking about drinking and other stuff that we were too young to do.

"You guys are just walking into the Head Teacher's hands," Yankumi said.

We jumped back at her sudden appearance.

"Why are you here," Yamato asked hesitantly.

She started to say something when Kamiya let out a shout, "why are you okay?"

"Don't tell me," Honjo pointed to the back door of the classroom, "you came through that door."

Yankumi nodded, "yes I did."

"No," the class groaned in defeat.

I laughed at how dramatic they were being just because she didn't fall for their trick. Yankumi asked if there was something wrong with the other door. Before anyone could answer, the door slid open and the board eraser that was meant for Yankumi fell on a woman. The class froze. My eyes widened when I finally recognized the woman. I slowly began to shake Ren, who was asleep this whole time, awake. Hearing the woman's coughs, he turned his head to her.

He quickly stood, "aniki!"

The boys gasped, "aniki?"

"You're Kazama's older sister," Yankumi asked slowly.

Kaoruko nodded making the boys gasp again.

"Eh?!"

Yankumi ushered the Kazama siblings to the office and told us to stay put, but being the curious bunch we were, we followed. Yamato and I stood inside the office by the door while the others bunched up in the doorway staring at Kaoruko.

"She's so pretty."

Yamato rolled his eyes, "you guys."

I narrowed my eyes at them, "hands off."

I watched as Kaoruko handed Yankumi one of her business cards, but it was for her hostess job. Ren quickly snatched away from Yankumi's hands and gave it back to Kaoruko scolding her. Kaoruko quickly put it up and handed Yankumi her other card that showed she was a dentist assistant. Kaoruko explained that they didn't have any parents so she had to work two jobs so they could eat. Sawatari chose then to enter the office.

"Oh Kazama, what have you done this time," he asked as he walked up to the three.

Yankumi stood, "Head Teacher, this is Kazama's older sister."

Kaoruko bowed to his when she was introduced.

"Kazama's older sister," he looked at Kaoruko curiously then his face lit up, "Sara-chan!"

Kaoruko looked at him and smiled, "Goro-chan!"

"Goro-chan?!"

Sawatari looked at us then around before focusing his attention on Kaoruko, "Sara-chan, you're Kazama's older sister?"

"You're a teacher at this school," she smiled, "thank you for taking care of Ren."

"No, no, he's a bright young man," he said getting curious looked from all of us, "take your time."

As he went to his desk, I turned to Yamato, "sounds like he's a regular."

He covered his mouth trying not to laugh. The others started to snicker. We just got the best advantage against our Head Teacher aka 'Goro-chan'. We turned our attention back to Kaoruko when she hit her hand on top of a small envelope that had money in it.

"Ren, what is this about," she demanded.

Ren shifted in his seat, "why did you go into my room?"

"What's up with this money," Kaoruko demanded again ignoring Ren's question, "you've been coming home late."

"It's money I earned at my part-time job," he stated.

Sawatari got up and walked over, "part-time jobs are prohibited at our school!"

Kaoruko stood and bowed to him, "I'm sorry."

Sawatari quickly went soft mumbling something about family circumstances. Kaoruko stated that she would make Ren quit, but Ren argued back saying he need the money to move out.

He leaned back in his chair, "I can't continue to rely on my sister."

"Kazama, what are you saying to Sara-chan...I mean your sister," Sawatari said trying to be the voice of reason in front of Kaoruko.

Ren glared at him, "shut up."

"What's with that language?"

"You got a problem," Ren gave his signature smile, "Goro-chan."

"Kazama... you..."

Ren stood and grabbed Sawatari's jacket. Yankumi and the other teachers separated the two. Sawatari called Ren a punk making Ren even more mad. Ren threw Yankumi off him sending her into the table. She was about to scold him when Kaoruko slammed her hand down.

"Cut it out! Live alone? You can't do anything on your own! Don't make me laugh," she scolded Ren.

Everyone looked at her in shock except me and Ren. As kids, we always saw this side of Kaoruko.

"Sara-chan, were you like that," Sawatari asked hesitantly.

Kaoruko gasped and went back to her sweet self, "I'm sorry. It sort of came out...
========================================================================

That night, instead of hanging out with the guys, I went home. I entered my quiet apartment and closed the door. I was about to lock it when a loud yelp sounded right outside. I opened the door again to see a small puppy running from four young punks. I got really angry because animals, especially small animals, were my number one weak point. I closed and locked my door then ran after the punks. I found them in an alley. They had the puppy trapped and were throwing things at it.

I ran up and kicked two to the ground then punched one into the wall. The last one standing was fast. He dodged my fists and kicks. He pulled a knife from his pocket and began swinging it at me. I dodged. I was getting tired and the other guys were coming around. They stood and along with the fourth, circled me. I braced myself for their attacks, but they did come. A figure suddenly came out of the shadows and took down all four. I half-expected it to be Yamato, but this isn't a movie.

Instead it was a very handsome man. He was tall and slender. His hair was dark and short but not too short. He wore a suit with sparkles and a rose in his front jacket pocket. He walked up to me putting on a smile that made my heart skip a beat.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes," I said weakly then cleared my throat, "I mean I could've taking them."

He chuckled and picked up the puppy, "I'm sure, but that face shouldn't be scratched, let alone scarred."

I felt my throat go dry as he looked me in the eyes, "well either way, do I get to know the name of my... I mean of the puppy's rescuer?"

He laughed again sending chills down my spine, "Takahashi, Akio. You can call me, Akio."

"Glorious hero, interesting," I smiled, "I'm Saitou, Heza. You can call me, Saitou."

"Playing hard to get," he smirked, "alright I'll play," he handed me a card, "this is my card. If you ever find yourself in the neighborhood, you should stop by."

He winked then walked off taking the puppy with him. I looked at the card. It read: Host Club Sweet Castle. No wonder he was dreamy. His job is to make women swoon. I pocketed the card and went home.
-

The next day I could get Akio out of my mind. I didn't pay attention to anything. When I tried, his face would pop into my head. It was annoying yet exciting at the same time. I didn't even notice it was break until Kamyia shook my shoulder.

"Sai-chan, did you hear what we said," he motioned to him and Honjo.

I shook my head, "sorry, I didnt'. Can you repeat what you said?"

"Ren is working at a host club," Honjo practically yelled.

Him, Kamyia, Ichi and Kura started whining about not having girls. After getting there acts together, we decided to go and find out for ourselves if Ren was working at a host club. There was only one problem: we were high schoolers. High schoolers weren't allowed in host clubs.

"Which club does he work at, anyway," Yamato asked making Honjo and Kamyia think.

Kamyia shot up, "it was called Sweet Castle."

I gasped, "really," he nodded, "this might be easier than I thought."

This made the guys look at me in confusion.
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Right after school, we went home and changed clothes. The guys looked very casual, but I dressed up a little. I wore a flurry shirt with a tank top that showed my belly. To top it off, I wore three inch heels. We met up at the Shirokun Tunnel. The guys' jaws dropped went they saw me.

"Close them boys. You'll catch flies," I stated like I was wearing anything different than I normally do.

"What are you wearing," Yamato asked... no demanded.

"Does it matter? We need to get going," I said before walking towards Sweet Castle.

When we got there, we tried to sneak in, but I guess I was a little too dressy. Every host we pasted would stop and try to have me request them. It was weird because every time they did, they would look behind me then quickly walk away frighten, but when I looked behind me, I only saw Yamato, who would be looking in a different direction. Despite that, we made our way through the club.

"Well, well, well, look who decided to come," a voice laughed behind me.

I looked to see Akio smiling with two drinks in his hands.

"I didn't think you would show," he said handing me a drink.

I placed the glass down, "I'm here strictly on business."

He smirked, "I like business."

"I'm sure you do."

"Sai-chan?"

I turned to see the guys looking between me and Akio except Yamato. He was glaring at Akio.

"Aren't you going to introduce us, Heza," Kura asked giving Akio a brotherly look along with Ichi.

"This is Takahashi, Akio. He rescued a puppy near my apartment last night," I said trying to avoid what really happened last night.

Not sensing the atmosphere, Akio laughed out loud, "man you sure do love playing hard to get. Look baby..."

Before anyone could blink, Yamato grabbed his collar, "she is no ones baby, especially not your's. Quite being so friendly with her."

"Alright, I won't do it again," Akio slowly removed Yamato's hands, "watch the suit. It's tailor made. See ya around, He...Saitou."

Once Akio was out of sight, I turned to Yamato, "what is your problem?"

He turned his glare to me, "you shouldn't let him be so friendly towards you. You don't know him."

I put my hands on my hips, "who I allow to be friendly towards me is my business, not your's Ogata, Yamato. I don't see why you care anyways."

He turned to the others, "lets find Ren."

Rolling my eyes, I followed the guys to the back of the host club. Unfortunately, a host didn't like a bunch of high schoolers at his host club and began to push us to the front door.

"It's a bit too early for a high schooler to want to become a host," he yelled.

The guys started to argue trying to push past the guy, but failed.

"You guys?!"

We turned to see Yankumi. I froze in shock. Yankumi at a host club? What was the world coming to?

"What are you doing here," she asked.

Before we could answer or make fun at the fact that Yankumi was at a host club, we heard a name that catch our attention.

"Kazama, I'm leaving this here."

Yankumi tilted her head, "Kazama?"

We walked to a doorway that lead to the kitchen. I wanted to laugh at what I saw. Right behind the counter washing dishes was Ren in an apron.

"Kazama!"

"Ren!"

He looked at us in confusion, but it turned to embarrassment, "you guys?!"

The same guy who was pushing us towards the door walked up, "Kazama, do you know these guys?"

"Not really," Ren said trying to cover up the fact that he was a high schooler.

Ren ended up getting fired. As we were leaving, I was pulled aside by Akio.

"Look I know your boyfriend told me not to be friendly with you, but..."

"Oh Yamato's not my boyfriend."

He smiled, "that's good to hear. Means I might still have a chance. Would you like to go get something to eat some time? Then maybe I can get to know you better and won't be grabbed."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that. He doesn't usually lose his cool like that, ever actually. I don't know what got into him."

"Well if I was friends with a beautiful princess, I wouldn't want just anyone being friendly with her either."

I smiled and rolled my eyes playfully, "those lame host lines won't help you with me. I don't fall for them."

"Interesting," he mumbled, "so is that a yes or no?"

"Sure, why not."

"Great. I'll meet you at Shirokun park at eight two Tuesdays from now."

"It's a date...I mean..."

"No. This is definitely a date."

I smiled. I waved bye then caught up with the others. We went to our regular hang out as Ren complained.

"Man... I can't believe that I lost that job in only a week."

Ichi put his hands to getting, "sorry Ren, it as our fault."

"It's because you were faking your age while working," Yankumi lectured.

"My dream of being popular with girls," Honjo cried making Ichi, Kura and Kamiya cry with him.

Yamato laughed at them, "you guys..."

Turning my attention away from the whiners, I listened to Yankumi lecture Ren.

"Kazama. You shouldn't worry your sister so much."

Ren brushed her comment off, "it doesn't have anything to do with her."

"Of course it does!"

Ren quickly stood up, "I'm sick of talking about her," after a few seconds of silence, he grabbed his bag, "ja ne."

"Huh? Hey Ren," I called after him.

I was about to go after him, but Yamato stopped me.

"Leave him be for now, besides I need to talk to you."

We walked to the other side of the room so the others wouldn't hear.

Yamato sighed, "I'm sorry I grabbed that guy at the club the way I did. Your right. You can make your own choices, and as your friend, I'll respect them."

I eyed him, "Yankumi's making you say this, isn't she?"

"Whatever. Do you accept my apology or not?"

"I do, and as far as my choices go. I've decided to go on a date with him."

"WHAT... I mean... great, good for you."
-

I walked into class thinking that everything was going to be back to normal, but I was wrong. I didn't even sit down when Isoge ran through the door saying something about Ren being expelled. Not waiting for any details, I ran to the front office running into Kaoruko on the way. She looked like she was about to cry.

"What happened Kaoruko? I heard Ren is going to be expelled."

She nodded, "he is but I was trying to get him to apologize for hitting a cop, but he wouldn't. Then he told me that his life had nothing to do with me so I slapped him."

"Let me guess, he got angry and stormed out," she nodded, "well looks like we need to go look for him. After all, he has a promise he needed to keep."

Kaoruko smiled. We ran out of the school and began our search. We looked everywhere. I was about to get really frustated when I heard Ren's voice.

"Let go!"

We spotted Ren being pulled by three older guys. They dragged him under the overpass where we saved Yamato that one time. They started beating Ren. Kaoruko tried to pull the guys off of Ren, but they just pushed her back. She tried again. This time one of the guys pulled her back and was going to punch her, but I got in the way and took the punch.

"Heza, are you okay," Kaoruko asked as the three started to beat Ren again.

It was about to get really bad, but like always, Yankumi was there to stop it. She got the guys away from Ren and got into her serious mode.

"Who are you," one of the guys demanded.

"I'm his homeroom teacher," she simply said.

"A teacher?"

"You ever hit a girl? You sure are scum," Yankumi nearly yelled.

"I don't know what you're talking about," one said before swinging at Yankumi.

She dodged his fist with ease. She then made two hit the ground. The leader swung, but Yankumi was faster. She stopped her hand from hitting the leader centimeters from his face scaring the out of him.

"If you want to get serious, I'll take you on," she yelled.

They ran, "let's get out of here!"

As they ran away, Yamato and the others ran up. They ran to Ren.

"Ren! Are you okay?"

I got up and went to him, "hey. Are you okay? You worried us!"

We carried Ren outside as Kaoruko ran off somewhere. He sat down and the guys knelt down by him.

"What are you doing when you might get expelled," Yamato asked.

"My bad," Ren mumbled.

"Kazama. Let's go back to school. Let's apologize to the chairman, and get her to forgive you," Yankumi said trying to convince him.

Kaoruko came back with a napkin. She began to attend to his cuts.

"Are you okay," she asked gently.

Ren slapped her hand away, "don't make me look bad," he got up and walked off a little, "don't worry about me anymore. I've decided to live on my own."

"What are you talking about, Ren," I asked sternly, "you should be grateful to have Kaoruko. Take it from me who has no one."

"This has nothing to do with you," he yelled before turning to Kaoruko, "don't you think that it'd be better if I was gone?!"

"Stop saying stupid ," Yankumi shouted getting our attention, "do you think you've been living alone up until now? Your sister raised a punk like you and looked after you until now. She just tried to save you back there, risking herself for you. So did Saitou because she considers you her brother and the only family she has left. Someone who didn't want you around wouldn't have done something like that! Why do you think the cop dropped the fact that you hit him?"

"Huh?"

"Teacher," Kaoruko said trying to make her stop talking, but once Yankumi starts, she keeps talking until her point is made.

"It's because your sister begged him to," Ren's eyes widen a little in realization, "for your sake, she kept bowing and bowing. You've always been protected by your sister like that. Both of them. Listen well, Kazama. Family might be something you take for granted. But it's not. You'll have to go separate ways someday. You understand, don't you? From your experience. From Saitou's. So, till then, no matter how much of a pain or a burden it might be, you've got to support each other! You too, you have to protect your sisters, too."

Ren looked from Yankumi to me to Kaoruko back to Yankumi, "I'm not good enough to do that."

"Yes, you are," I argued, "only you can do it. Like me, you are Kaoruko's only family."

Ren looked at his hand. His eyes showed that he was remembering something. Without a word, Ren took off.

"Kazama!"

"Ren!"

We ran after him. He lead us back to school. We followed him inside. He stopped in front of Sawatari and the chairman. We stopped and watched.

Sawatari stepped up, "what do you want? Expulsion is... something the chairman decided."

Ren bowed his head shocking us. He stood up straight and looked the chairman in the eye.

"For hitting the policeman... and causing trouble to the school... I sincerely regret it. I don't want to quit school," he admitted.

"You committed a grave mistake. Making you take responsibility for that is the school's responsibility," the chairman said making my heart drop.

"I... thought that school didn't matter. But now, now...," Ren took a deep breath, "I really want to graduate. For my sister's sake. Both of them. If I don't straighten out... I can't protect them. Please don't expel me. Please."

Ren bowed his head again. Kaoruko and i followed. The chairman began to walk past Ren but then paused.

"Be grateful to your sister... Both of them," she said before walking away.

"Chairman," Sawatari called making her stop again, "what about Kazama's expulsion..."

"Head teacher Sawatari."

"Hai?"

"We'll let it go this time," she said before walking again.

Ren let tears fall, "thank you!"

As Ren bowed again, Sawatari walked after the chairman. After he left, we cheered.

"Woohoo!"

We all, except Kaourko and Yankumi, circled Ren.

"You were so cool," Honjo said pulling on Ren jacket playfully.

"You're crying," Kura pointed out.

"He is crying," I laughed.

We left the school and began to walk home. I pushed Ren and Kaoruko forward so they could have a moment. They exchanged a few words before Ren pushed Kaoruko.

"Why are you crying?"

"Shut up. I'm not crying," Kaoruko smiled running after Ren.

"You were totally crying," Ren laughed running from Kaoruko.

From watching the sibling exchange, Yankumi sniffed and began to whip her eyes. We couldn't help but make fun of her.

"Hey, are you crying too," Kura laughed, "she is!"

Kamiya pointed at her, "loser!"

"It's just sweat," Yankumi pushed us forward towards the Kazamas, "come on, let's go!"

We ran forward. Ren pulled me to the side.

"I'm sorry that I yelled at you," he held out his pinky, "but I promise we will graduate together."

I smiled and wrapped my pinky around his, "it's a promise."
-

We walked into class, but there was one thing missing. Yamato went back out in the hall and pulled Ren inside. He pushed Ren forward.

"Yo."

One guy stood, "Ren!"

"How did it go?"

"Let's do our best until graduation," Ren gave them his signature smile.

The class cheered as we made our way in the middle of them.

"Alright! Everyone's here, right," Yankumi asked getting our attention, "listen up everyone, let's get pumped up! All 29 of you guys in 3-D, we're going to graduate together! Oh!"

We gave her weird looks as she threw her fist in the air.

"Come on, you guys too! Fight-oh... Oh," she threw her fist up again.

We put our fists up lazily, "oh..."

"You're too soft! Fight-oh... Oh!"

"Oh!"

"Fight-oh... Oh!"

"Oh!"

"Fight-oh... Oh!"