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Ichika opened his eyes, blinking in the light which snuck through the window.
His head began to pound even worse when he looked into the light, so he turned away… to see a figure in bed under him, one he could definitely feel.
Throwing himself backward, Ichika realized that he was naked and so was she. For a moment, his eyes caught on Kanzashi Sarashiki in all her glory, and under that bookishness, she was… wow.
He shook his head. Not the time. Really not the time. Looking around, it seemed they were in his room, and no one else was in sight. He quickly shut the blinds and double-checked that the door was locked. (Which wouldn't do him much good if one of the other gals got pissed, but he could hope.)
After hunting down his haphazardly thrown undergarments and pants, he got to work cooking. He really needed a distraction, both from the girl in his bed and the maelstrom of thoughts in his head.
His sister was going to kill him. Tatenashi was going to kill him. Houki was going to kill him.
Well, he could enjoy a nice meal in his last hours on earth.
Kanzashi felt a bit of a chill as she awoke, complimented by a headache. Had she stayed up too late watching some show? No, she remembered… the party? Why had she let Tatenashi convince her…?
She reached for the table near the bed, where her glasses always were, but her fingers found only wood and cloth. Speaking of, she realized that she was lacking cloth in other areas. That explained the chill then.
Sliding off of the bed and standing on shaky legs, she attempted to search for her glasses. Of course, the caveat was that without her glasses, she couldn't see anything more than blurs past the end of her nose. Her feet brushed by clothes- how had that gotten there?- as she headed towards the desk…
"Good morning, Kanzashi."
"Ichika!" She yelped, freezing up at the horrifying implications.
"Your glasses are on the desk's right corner, by the way."
Sure enough, they were. The world was suddenly clear again, although it only confirmed the image she had in her mind. This was definitely Ichika's room, and he moved through the small kitchenette smoothly, preparing… something.
Considering that it kept him looking away, she really didn't care. It gave her time to gather her clothes without Ichika gawking at her (although he must have done a lot more than gawk at her last night….) Heat rushed to her cheeks as she put her uniform on.
Ohh, they must have gotten drunk- she knew the punch tasted funny, but she kept on sipping it anyways, desperate for anything to do- and, well… Despite it all, she couldn't help but feel a little proud. First, finally first at something!
"Food's ready!"
She headed towards the kitchen and sat down across from him- wow, he looked good.
"Thanks for the meal."
"It's no problem," Ichika smiled, "Consider it an apology."
"Whatever for?"
"Sleeping with you when you were drunk, for one, not to mention… what I saw this morning." Her cheeks heated at the mention of both.
"Well, you were drunk too, right?" Her memory of the previous night was a little fuzzy, but she assumed that without booze, he would have been a perfect gentleman…
"Yeah, but-"
"But I say it's fine!" She smiled at him. "I wish I remember it better… but I'm glad it was you."
After a moment, Ichika smiled back.
It was supposed to have changed something. Sleeping with Ichika put her so far ahead of the pack that it wasn't even funny. She had won the race… but she hadn't managed to seize upon her victory.
Part of it was, of course, that they wanted to keep it secret. Somehow, they had managed, amidst the aftershocks of the party, to keep it from going public. She managed to make herself somewhat presentable and got back to her room before her roommate awoke from her slumber, and most everyone else was too frazzled to remember something like who Ichika left with.
Immediately starting to date would tip their hand, of course, and once those first few days had passed her confidence suddenly seemed to fly somewhere far away. Back to square one, despite the fact that less than a month ago, he had been inside-
Her cheeks heated again. Some part of her wanted to remember, but the other found it completely mortifying. It even began to impact her interactions with Ichika- she was glad she was such a wallflower, or someone would have probably noticed. Just Kanzashi acting weird, nothing new here…
The aftermath of that party was the stuff of legends. Some of the girls- including the ones who had pulled the punchbowl spiking- were still serving their detentions, weeks later. Orimura-sensei was terrifying, and Kanzashi was grateful her teacher was more relaxed in general- especially with Kanzashi's recent bouts of nausea and extreme tiredness.
The first time? Well, that could have been anything. The second time? She made up some excuse about staying up late and eating bad instant ramen, and everyone laughed a little, feeling sorry for poor Kanzashi.
Now, she wasn't dumb. She ate the same food as everyone else barring the occasional indulgence, and no one else was down with something. A stomach bug or something was always a possibility… but she considered any possible causes. It was while trying to remember anything different about her health recently that she connected the dots. She had missed her-
No. That couldn't have been it. It couldn't have been. They only did it once! (Logically, she knew that was enough, but it couldn't be-)
Calm. Stay calm. If she was down with something she should check with the nurse.
(Would the nurse for an all-girls school even have pregnancy tests?)
Thankfully, the office wasn't busy when she stopped by, and she managed to get a meeting soon enough.
"What's the matter, Miss Sarashiki?"
"I, uh… I suspect… that I'm, uh… well," the nurse's impatience was starting to build, and she blurted it out. "I think I might be pregnant."
There was a beat of silence- a few seconds that seemed to stretch endlessly- as the nurse wrapped her head around that statement. Her jaw went slack before she began to rifle around, searching for something.
Huh. So they did have the tests. Well, there was only one way to know the truth…
Two lines seemed to glare up at her, and suddenly the truth seemed a lot less appealing.
She held it in shaking hands and looked up at the nurse. "Can… can we try again?"
The nurse gave her a long-suffering look, the sort of look that seemed to say, I promise you, hun, you're not the one-in-one-hundred false positive, but she had to try. Had to make sure before her world fell apart at the seams.
The second was positive.
The nurse had abandoned her. She had dropped Kanzashi off in a meeting with Orimura-sensei and then vanished into the ether. Understandable, even if Kanzashi really didn't like the prospect of facing down Chifuyu alone.
With scarcely more than a hiss, the door slid open, although it was practically a roar to Kanzashi, the tapping of Chifuyu's heels like cannon fire. As Chifuyu dropped into her seat, Kanzashi's heart dropped in her chest.
"Sarashiki? You wanted to speak with me?"
Struggling to form words, she reached into her pockets and dumped their contents on the table. The two pregnancy tests sat there, proclaiming the truth, and for a moment Chifuyu stared at them without comprehending their true meaning. Then she let out a long, pained sigh.
"Before I get ahead of myself, this was you and Ichika at the party, right?"
Kanzashi nodded, and Chifuyu's expression darkened.
"Ichika…" she hissed.
"It, uh, wasn't his fault-" Kanzashi squeaked, amazed that she could even speak, "we were both drunk."
"Those idiots with the punch."
Kanzashi nodded, hoping that this would redirect Chifuyu's legendary fury. Her expression soured, of course, and for a moment Kanzashi entertained the hope she might storm away or something.
Instead, she stared down at her, and Kanzashi trembled. "If I ever find evidence that you exploited my brother, that this was some sort of baby trap and not an accident… I will make you regret being born, is that clear?"
She nodded her head so fast she might have gotten whiplash. "Yes, sensei!"
After a bit more staring, Chifuyu sighed. "Well, do you want to tell him yourself?" She asked.
It would be the proper thing to do, Kanzashi thought. "Could…. Could you tell him?"
Chifuyu sighed. "Yeah. You don't have the guts to seduce my brother."
Ouch.
Chifuyu left, leaving Kanzashi to her own thoughts- and worry crashed down on her like an avalanche. She wasn't ready for this- she still stayed up late watching Sentai shows, how could she possibly handle a kid?
(Well, maybe her capacity to stay up late would be useful…)
Then there was the matter of everyone else. How would big sis react? The band of girls that orbited around Ichika would be furious, not to mention the school itself… What if they kicked her out?
Thankfully, she was snapped out of that downward spiral by the door opening. Of course, it revealed Chifuyu and Ichika, and the latter was being dragged along by the former.
His confusion was evident, at least until he saw Kanzashi. Then his face grew ashen. Did he already suspect it…?
"You'd better take responsibility for getting her pregnant, Ichika."
Ichika fainted dead away.
He awoke to the sound of his sister haranguing him. He had fallen after… after…
Oh. He had gotten Kanzashi pregant.
…
Hey, his sister hadn't murdered him! Yet, at least.
Once the surprise of being alive wore off, shock set in. A kid. A kid with Kanzashi. Not that there was anything wrong with her, of course, just… Ichika hadn't left school yet. How was he supposed to raise a child?
Well, maybe it wouldn't be too bad. He had taken care of Chifuyu's domestic needs for years now, how much harder could a baby be-
His sister bopped him upside the head.
"Hey!"
"Don't 'hey' me, you little philanderer!"
Philanderer. That was a fun one. Did she pick it up from a thesaurus? Maybe, considering the deluge of creative, caustic verbiage she sent his way. Eventually, she managed to burn herself out- after managing to invent several new adjectives to describe how stupid he was- and she addressed them both.
"Are you two ready for this?"
"Well, I think I'd be able to look after a child-"
"Not what I meant, Ichika."
"What else could you mean?"
She sighed. "Look… everyone's going to want a piece of this kid. Any country or company on the planet would pay out the nose to play host to your child. You understand that, right?"
Ichika gulped. They'd be the second hottest commodity on the planet- after Ichika, of course. If they were a boy, especially… Kanzashi looked equally spooked.
"The Academy will do everything it can to protect you, but once you leave…" she trailed off. It would be Ichika, Kanzashi, and a baby against the world- a world that would be quite interested in them.
"It's not all bad, though. Play your cards right, and you can probably raise the kid on government money."
That… phew. That was a relief. It had never occurred to Ichika how much trouble supporting a child might cause, how much money he- no, they- would need for it… but now it was a non-issue.
Well, maybe not. Chifuyu's expression was terrifyingly sharp. "They'll want something for it, though."
Chifuyu proceeded to lecture them about the many, many things they'd have to defend her nephew from. And of course, all of that would be on top of normal child-raising issues.
Well, Ichika thought the latter couldn't be that bad. He had survived this whole IS thing being sprung on him- surely, with months to prepare, he could manage this?
They had discussions about who would be telling who. Kanzashi would get her family, her sister, and her close friends, and Ichika would have to tell his little squad of groupies- Chifuyu's words, not hers- eventually. (Not a task Kanzashi envied, to be certain.) Chifuyu would handle the logistical issues with the Academy.
As she stood in front of Tatenashi's door, some part of her wondered if Rin or Houki would run up and throttle her if she waited long enough. That would be a way to avoid this conversation.
Unfortunately, before any such event happened, the door swung open to reveal her sister.
"Kanzashi?" Tatenashi blinked in surprise, not having expected a visit.
"Hi. Can… can we talk inside?" Kanzashi asked.
"Of course. Is something the matter, little sis?" She leaned in with a conspiratorial look on her face. "Boy troubles? …Girl troubles?"
"No!" She squeaked.
Kanzashi inhaled, and… "You remember that party a while back, right? Wellafunnysortofthinghappenedbackthere,becauseofthepunch,youknow-Ichikakindofgotmepregnant!"
Tatenashi laughed. "Can… can you run that by me one more time, sis?"
This time, she didn't try to sugarcoat it. "I'm pregnant. It's Ichika's."
Kanzashi had never seen her sister looking quite so hurt before, so completely gobsmacked. Where had all that confidence wandered off to?
Eventually, she spoke. Or perhaps croaked. "Good one, Kanzashi. You really had me there-"
"The pregnancy tests were positive."
"Maybe it was a false positive-" she was in denial now, grasping for straws, and Kanzashi was left with the unfortunate duty of dashing those hopes.
Charlotte could tell something was off. Ichika was nervous, and even if someone wasn't familiar with his tells and ticks- which she absolutely was- it was easy to tell. What had him in such a mood?
All throughout their lunch on the roof, Ichika's glance seemed to drift constantly towards their IS's. Well, the bracelets and whatnot they were contained in, but still. Was he worried they'd come after him?
Had he done something…? He did have an extra bento with him, and they were all eying it up. Who was he planning to give it to? Was he… was he going to make a move?
On the one hand, Ichika showing actual interest was practically a sign from heaven; however, the big question was who. If he wasn't giving it to them…
He looked away for a moment and then grinned. "Kanzashi! Tatenashi!"
Oh no.
Sure enough, the Sarashiki sisters had shown up, and now Ichika was gripping the bento- Gah! Tatenashi was far too dangerous of a competitor, Charlotte thought.
The woman herself was looking more than a little shaken, and Kanzashi's cheeks were flushed brilliantly. What was going on?
The bento went to… Kanzashi?
"Ichika, you shouldn't have…"
"You should be eating better, you know."
She gulped. "Yeah." Kanzashi opened the box to reveal a beautiful collection of foods and colors. It must have taken quite a bit of work. The other girls were fuming, quietly reevaluating their plans of attack. Charlotte was the same. Was Ichika into shy girls? Glasses, maybe? Ditch the contacts?
All the while, Tatenashi sat silently. Too silently. Ichika and Kanzashi were clearly unnerved as well, but their upperclassman seemed shell-shocked.
Eventually, though, she emerged from her stupor, her expression difficult to read but clearly not good. "You know, I didn't think you had it in you, Ichika."
The blood seemed to drain from Ichika's face, along with Kanzashi's, but Tatenashi was on a roll now.
"I mean, knocking up my sister-" Ichika and Kanzashi both nearly choked on their food.
It took Charlotte a moment. It took most of them a moment, but then it was like a bomb had gone off.
He had, he had-
"HOW DARE YOU?!"
They stood in front of Chifuyu, whose glare was positively terrifying. Only Kanzashi and Ichika were spared from it.
"I expected better from all of you. Especially you, Sarashiki."
"Ma'am-"
"Hush! Of all of you, you're the one who needs to learn to close your mouth! If you hadn't provoked these dolts-" she gestured to the other girls, who cowered appropriately, "-you wouldn't be here!"
Before they could even hope to avoid her fury, Chifuyu turned towards the girls. "And you all. We've put up with your hijinks- and your damages- for far too long. Alcott, Bodewig, Dunois, Huang, would you like your home countries to know how well you're representing them?"
The four girls seemed to shrink under her glare, but Houki wasn't spared. "And don't think I haven't noticed how aggressive you are, Shinonono. If you so much as lay a hand on my brother-"
Chifuyu inhaled, trying to reign in her temper. "If any of you do anything which threatens my brother, Kanzashi, or their child, I will be forced to take action. You will be separated from them, and might even be sent home. We don't want that, do we?"
None of them did, especially not a quaking Charlotte. All they could do was stare at Chifuyu, waiting for the next verbal assault to begin.
She sighed. "I know none of you got what you wanted, and you're all probably feeling quite hurt. Consider this a lesson in handling those feelings gracefully and nonviolently. Are we clear?"
They all nodded.
"Good. You will also not breathe a word of this to anyone not in the know. I think you can all imagine the consequences."
Soon enough, the others had been ushered out, having detentions to do to make up for the absolutely savaged roof of the Academy. That left Ichika alone with Chifuyu and Kanzashi. Again.
"Considering your circumstances, we've decided that you two will be rooming together." Chifuyu got right to the point.
"What-"
"You'll be living together next school year, and we thought it best to start on it now."
"Is that really necessary, Chifuyu?" Ichika asked.
"It isn't- but you will not waltz out of Kanzashi's life… consider this the start of a long relationship."
Chifuyu's smile was completely devoid of warmth. "Now, we're doing this with the expectation that it will help you become good parents. This is not an excuse to make another one."
Both Ichika and Kanzashi flushed.
Then Chifuyu started a long explanation of the accommodations the school was more than happy to make. Remodeling their shared suite to be more suitable for a child, alternative schedule options, etc…
After all, Ichika's child could give the school all sorts of valuable insights into the secrets of the IS.
"Mrs. Orimura, did we really need to meet in person?"
"Yes. There's some news you need to hear that absolutely cannot leak early."
"Serious, then."
"Dead serious. My brother got your Representative Candidate pregnant."
"...That's… that's wonderful news!"
"It is. Now, I'd like to discuss what you can do for my niece or nephew."
"Mrs. Orimura?"
"You must know how expensive raising a child is these days. I'm sure Ichika would be ever so grateful to have someone footing the bill…"
"What are you implying?"
"That if you don't offer an appetizing package now, the most valuable family in the world will get snatched out of your hands."
"And I suppose you have suggestions?"
"Quite a few, actually. Let's start with security…"
For now, their room wasn't too different from a normal room. Two beds, a kitchenette, restroom… it was familiar. Ichika was even used to rooming with a girl. But this? This was alien.
(Chifuyu had cornered him and extracted a promise to devote himself to Kanzashi. Of course, he would have taken responsibility without his sister glowering at him…)
They had dinner, they watched some television- Ichika would have to get used to her taste in TV, wouldn't he?- and then Kanzashi helped him do a bit of studying regarding the IS. He was still playing catchup, and she was the resident expert when it came to the workings of the IS… they tried to ignore the elephant in the room as long as they could.
Eventually, though, the time grew late, the lights dimmed, and they were left with a question. They did have two beds. But they were a thing now.
Ichika gulped. He looked to Kanzashi, who was equally unwilling to break the silence.
"I'm going to go shower now."
"Great!" Kanzashi squeaked, "I'll uh, take this bed!" She plopped herself down on the one further from the window as Ichika beat a hasty retreat. The sound of water did something to break the silence, at least.
Still, he wouldn't call the night boring. Definitely not. His brain was racing far too quickly to ever settle down into boredom. Being so close to Kanzashi…
It didn't even make sense, not really. He had seen a number of girls in states of undress, he had even slept with Kanzashi, but somehow this felt different.
He tried not to stare, but his gaze would drift toward her. Her hair. Her eyes. Her stomach, barely covered by the short shirt she wore to sleep. Suddenly, he could sympathize with several months ago Ichika a lot more… but he forced himself to look away.
Eventually, at some point, after much tossing and turning, he fell into a fitful sleep. He dreamt… he thought he dreamt of cornflowers. Fields of them, stretching to the horizon, and sometimes, he thought he saw people running through them…
His eyes opened slowly, his mind still foggy. He had quite liked that dream, and now the only blue he was seeing came from the glow of a screen situated in Kanzashi's lap. QUietly reaching for his phone, he checked his phone and balked.
"Kanzashi, it's two o'clock in the morning." Ichika groaned.
"I'm sorry," she sighed.
"You need to be taking better care of yourself!" Ichika chided her. With a sigh, she turned off her tablet and set it to the side. Rising to his feet, he walked over to her side of the room and picked it up, setting it and his phone down away from their beds.
"Ichika?" Kanzashi mumbled, looking terribly adorable.
Instead of returning to his own bed, he proceeded to plop himself down on Kanzashi's. Let it be noted that Ichika could be surprisingly forward when he didn't have to play stupid.
Despite their vigilance, they knew it would have to happen eventually. Someone would cotton on, especially because Kanzashi was Japan's representative candidate. When she couldn't fulfill the role's requirements, people would start asking questions.
So they decided it would be best to reveal things on their own terms, to prevent any rumors from being fabricated from thin air. There were already all sorts of wild speculation going on with the gossip hounds…
(Hell, Chifuyu was worried about Ichika's little group. Women scorned and all that, not to mention that Dunois was literally sent to the Academy with hopes of getting Ichika's data. Thankfully, they hadn't talked.)
Of course, before the announcement was made, a social media blackout was put into effect, a search for bugs, the whole song and dance. It would be like attempting to hold water with a sieve, she knew. Best to get it out of the way, and make a big, publicized display of force. Chifuyu would make an example of anyone stupid enough to mess with her brother.
Ichika and Kanzashi would be spared the indignity of being present during the announcement, at least… and Chifuyu had already prepared her harshest words to make sure that no one got any funny ideas. If they so much looked at her potential sister-in-law (don't screw this up Ichika…) funny, Chifuyu would bend every rule to ruin them.
Protecting family was just in human nature, after all.
The academy's policies were their saving grace. Without them, Ichika and Kanzashi would have to fend off extreme interest from any number of countries and companies. She would not see her brother or nephew turned into some sort of commodity.
Even now, she was batting away people who were trying to get to them through her. They wanted far too much, but Chifuyu didn't hesitate to bleed them dry. Countries that weren't part of the exclusive IS club could still get their feet in the door if they were willing to devote non-insignificant chunks of their budgets…
And if Chifuyu dropped some subtle hints to make sure that her brother had options in every country on earth… well, that was just her playing it safe.
Unfortunately, there were other ways that countries could attempt to get a piece of the action- if Chifuyu thought the fangirling over her brother was bad before… now it was awful. Perhaps, in other circumstances, being pushed by your relatives or home country to do something would have evoked sympathy… but Chifuyu wouldn't let some floozy near her brother.
(Laura had made a tremendous fool of herself by attempting to 'start a family with her wife'. Chifuyu was pleasantly surprised to see Kanzashi growing a spine and actually responding.)
As the day crept closer, they made decisions. Ideally, a birth in the finest hospital in Japan- although the country of birth didn't matter, not when countries were more than willing to naturalize the most valuable family in the world- with the finest everything that money could buy waiting for them at the academy. (Chifuyu had arranged a military escort to and from that would make most presidential entourages look pathetic.)
Of course, Ichika was the first at Kanzashi's side when the moment came. As in, he shot over in his IS the moment he got the ping, and Chifuyu was just behind. Unfortunately, they had to wait for a bit as the many, many military contacts Chifuyu had made got ready for one of the most important escorts of their lives.
Amid this preparation, Chifuyu pried her brother away from his lover- because that was what they were now, despite any denials- and affixed him with the infamous glare.
"Ichika, if I have to do this again in the next five years, I will throttle you. Wrap it."
"Yes ma'am." He squeaked.