The next day, Hanamichi went to the Akagi residence to meet his friend who was suprised at seeing him there with a proud grin on his face. Flopping onto the chair beside Haruko's, he then took out the money from his wallet to present it to the brown-haired girl with a flourish.
"Here you go! 200 thousand yen will be enough for now!"

Haruko stared at the money on the table before her in astonishment, "Sakuragi-kun! How did you get all this?"

Hanamichi waved his hand carelessly in the air, "Don't worry about that. The point is that we got the investment to buy those jewellery!"

"Hai!" laughed Haruko happily.

"How much do you usually sell those charms of yours anyway?" the redhead asked.

"50 thousand yen," Haruko replied.

"How much do you have them made for?"

"5 thousand."

"Ah," the redhead nodded, "I think we can sell them for 100 thousand yen."

"O-One Hundred Thousand Yen!!" exclaimed Haruko, "Isn't that a bit too much?!"

"Iie," Hanamichi shook his head firmly, "The more expensive it is the more people would believe that it works!"

"Ah," Haruko nodded in understanding.

"Now, how shall we do this?" Hanamichi asked.

Haruko took out a few pieces of paper and a pencil from a cabinet nearby and began to sketch. The redhead leaned and watched while Haruko spoke, "First we must design the jewellery that we want to sell and send them over to the goldsmith to get them done. The designs must to represent the forces of nature to work. We'll make 600 designs for the time being."

The redhead nodded in agreement, "Aa."

And so, while Haruko got busy getting the jewellery made, Hanamichi made flyers with the rest of the money and handed them over to any passerbys he met, inviting them over to the 'Haku' store, making emphasis in the flyers that it was run by one of the third generation Akagi family and her friend who was living proof that magical charms do work.

Two weeks later, Hanamichi and Haruko stood in the store, excited at the opening of their business. The store was all cleaned up and the new jewellery lay in their display cases, shiny and looking regal.

"How many people do you think will come, Sakuragi-kun?" Haruko wondered out loud.

"Since this is the first opening I think only about 50 people," Hanamichi answered confidently.

"Sugoi!"

10.30am:

"Maybe it's too early for them to come, ne, Sakuragi-kun?"

"Aa," Hanamichi smiled at his friend in agreement.

1.08pm:

"I think they'll come later in the afternoon," Haruko guessed.

"Hai," the redhead nodded, "They do need to go to work after all."

5.15pm:

"Is that clock working right?"

"I don't know..."

8.00pm

When the clock started chiming the two friends stared at the wooden mantelpiece in shock.

"It's... It's already... closing time...." Haruko said weakly, before she turned to look at the stunned redhead in shock.
"And we haven't sold a single thing!"

Hanamichi absolutely could not find anything to say that could console them both.


~~~~

"Where's Hisashi?" demanded Hanamichi to a startled maid who opened the door for him.

"He-he's at the office at the moment," the maid stammered.

Hanamichi cursed. He needed to get the one month period extended to be able to collect the 4 million 500 thousand yen owed. Hisashi looked the more level-headed person than his brother but since the older Kanagawa sibling wasn't there, he would only have to settle with Kaede.

"How about Kaede?"

"He's playing tennis with his friend from campus outside."

The redhead twisted around to the sound of that familiar cheerful voice and couldn't exactly keep a growl from coming out of his throat as Akira came down the stairs with a big smile on his face.

"What're you doing here?" Hanamichi asked non too politely.

"I sleep over here sometimes," Akira replied, dismissing the maid with a lazy wave, "Especially when there might be a possibility that you will be coming over for a visit."

Hanamichi's eyebrow arched in surprise before his eyes narrowed in suspicion, "You were waiting for me? What for?"

"'Cause I want to see you again," the spikey-haired actor winked taking the redhead hand and pulling him along with him up the stairs.

"Oh," the redhead blushed as he followed the taller young man up the steps.

"And it's so fun to bug Kaede," the brunette laughed, "He seems to be getting annoyed lately 'cause I've been sleeping over too often."

Hanamichi scowled at that. Trust the Kanagawa to have some hidden agenda behind everything they do.

When they reached the first floor, Akira walked over to the second window past the stairs and threw it open, motioning for the redhead to join him.

Hanamichi leaned over the open window and saw a few metres away past the tree beside the house a tennis court where two players were engaged in a singles match. The redhead's eyes were riveted towards the tall brunette, admiring the grace and display of skill and strength as he fought to return every shot with force. When a particular shot smashed across the court, nearly hitting Kaede's scrambling opponent in the process, the redhead barely managed to surpress an 'ooh' of surprise.

"He's good," the redhead commented in a gruff tone.

"Aa," Akira agreed, his tone holding a hint of grudge, "During highschool he won first place in an international tournament. His shoots are quick and deadly."

The redhead hmphed, "Seems like I underestimated him. I thought being rich means that he can be lazy and stay fat but he's pretty good at fighting and sports..."

"And this year he asked Hisashi-kun to allow him to help in the family business..." Akira commented sullenly.

"But he is such an arrogant bastard," the two said simultaneously.

The two young men looked at each other and laughed before they turned back to watch Kaede play. Again Hanamichi was drawn to the way the fox-eyed brunette played. Beautiful. Mesmerising. Perfect.

"Hey, Kaede!" Akira called out, startling Hanamichi from his stare. That, and the arm that wound around his shoulders to tug him close to a lean body.
"Your boyfriend is here!"

Kaede looked up and Hanamichi could distinctly see the blue fox eyes widen in surprise.

"Don't worry. I'll take care of him while you play with your friend there," the spikey-haired actor hollered at his cousin cheerfully while he lifted another arm to wind it around the redhead's neck from behind.
"Right Hanamichi-kun?"

At first Hanamichi was annoyed at being treated like that especially knowing that Akira was doing it just to annoy Kaede but upon remembering how he liked Kaede even less, the redhead faked a smile and waved merrily at the brunette down on the tennis court.

"Yeah!" the redhead grinned, "Don't mind me. Akira can show me around! C'mon, let's go, Akira-kun."

"Okay," the brunette nodded and only when they knew they were out of sight and earshot of Kaede, they finally let themselves howl in laughter.

"That was fun," Hanamichi gasped, "Now I know why you always try to bug him."

"The expression on his face was priceless," Akira chuckled, "He rarely shows us what he's thinking. We should do this more often, y'know."

"Yeah," sighed the redhead after finally getting his breath back, "We should."

Akira turned to look at the redhead with a curious smile on his face, "Why did you go along with me? He is, after all, your boyfriend."

The redhead leaned his back on the wall and smiled, "Make a guess."

"Oh?" Akira grinned, "So even if he is handsome and rich you find out he's not worth it after all?"

The redhead rolled his eyes, "Try again."

Akira thought for less than two seconds before an understanding smile spread across his face, "You're angry at him?"

"Aa," Hanamichi smiled, "He pisses me off. But sometimes..."
he broke off when he remembered the recent sudden attraction he felt for the kitsune. Shaking his head furiously he continued in an angry voice, "Well, basically he pisses me off."

"But you still like him?" Akira asked.

The redhead only had to turn his hazel brown eyes onto the brunette to give him the answer but he opened his mouth to reply anyway.
"Aa."

Hanamichi was surprised at not feeling all that repulsed coming out to someone who he barely knew with an admittance of attraction to a particular fox-eyed young man. But he already guessed about his preferences the first time he met Kaede. And after meeting the handsome young actor, his suspicion was confirmed - if he count out all the annoying things Akira baka does to tick him off that is. His feelings were so sincere that he didn't even have to pretend to the young man before him.

"Hanamichi..." Akira said softly as he moved closer to the redhead, "Are you... attracted to me?"

The redhead blinked at the change of topic and following his admittance to liking the kistune the question made him blush.
"You're so full of yourself, aren't you?"

Before Akira could reply to that, a cold voice cut in, breaking that tension.

"Having fun?"

The two young men turned around guiltily but quickly schooled their faces as they stood face-to-face with a now expressionless Kaede.

"That was a quick game," commented Akira.

Kaede did not reply but he turned towards Hanamichi with a tone that made the redhead feel as if someone has stepped over his grave. "Remember that the end of the month is in a week's time, Hana-kun."

The redhead winced, Shimatta. So much for negotiations.


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