Several weeks later, Kyouya found himself drowning in more paperwork - but now, he had paperwork and several omiai appointments to attend.

It was strange; nearly as soon as Honoka had returned and stumbled into his room those weeks ago, his father had stopped at nothing to accept omiai proposals from various interested business partners. The partners' daughters, however, Kyouya either knew of through old Ouran days or through his own research - and none appealed to him.

Surely his father had been told that Kyouya was the handsomest of his sons? Not that looks mattered much to Kyouya (though they were a welcome advantage) - but according to high society gossip, his brothers Akito and Yuuichi were indeed handsome and took after their father, but paled in comparison to Kyouya's own looks when he himself graduated from college.

Perhaps the pressure was on - Yuuichi, the first son, had been the natural heir until he decided to join Doctors without Borders and fell madly in love with a French doctor (figured, Kyouya thought). Akito, the second son and certainly the most bland of the three - unambitious, dryly supportive of the Ootori legacy, and even more uptight than Kyouya (something none of the host thought possible until the Nanako fiasco) - had trouble impressing women at omiai meetings. As a result, he stayed single and poured his energy into being a feared executive at the company.

Kyouya was only a few years younger than his brothers, but fast approaching the age at which his unmarried status would turn him into bachelor Akito.

He sighed, slamming his back into his chair in frustration. Picking up the folder of upcoming omiai candidates his father had pre-selected, Kyouya read the first page (statistics, of course) - hm. Three lawyers, daughters of the big firms that handled most of the Ootori Group's work; about four doctors (a logical choice), and two daughters of their main distributors.

He'd met all of them nearly once before, and none were interesting. Kyouya sighed. And then it struck him, just as his phone rang loudly on his desk.

Incoming caller ID? Honoka. Perfect.

"Honoka, I -"

"Kyouya-kun, I have an idea!"

"Let me talk. I'm still recoiling from you turning up out of the blue without so much as a single word for about twelve years - but I need your help."

"I'll make it up to you. I need your help too; it's about these omiai I've been having."

Kyouya sat up straighter in his chair at the word omiai. "Yes… Myself as well. I have the sneaking feeling that we're thinking of the same strategy."

Honoka silently cheered and made a grateful gesture to the gods before responding on her line; "I think so. It'll be perfect and I've no doubt we can make it convincing enough to satisfy them for a while."

"Agreed. Glad to be in business with you."

If Honoka wasn't sure that she was going mad from cracking up a devious scheme to foil her parents' omiai plans, she would swear that she heard a smirk in Kyouya's voice before he hung up.

"Father? Yes, I received the document, but I'd like to propose a tenth candidate. Why not enter into an omiai with Honoka Yamamura?"

Yoshio was mildly taken aback. He'd mentioned Honoka's name a few weeks ago and watched Kyouya's face to see if his son's infatuation had retained its integrity after nearly twelve years of separation from his childhood friend, but Kyouya's face betrayed nothing at her mention.

Yoshio wasn't blind - he had surveyed the effect Honoka had on his son after they moved to the neighborhood. After the disturbing passing of Yoshio's second wife, Fuyumi and Kyouya's mother, his third son had been severely affected and little else cheered the boy up besides Honoka's friendship.

Takeshi Yamamura was a good friend and partner of Yoshio's, but there had been a reason Honoka wasn't included in Yoshio's approved list of omiai partners.

Honoka was, in Yoshio's eyes, Kyouya's potential Achilles Heel. If their relationship developed much like Yoshio's own with Kyouya's mother…

The elder Ootori closed his eyes, painful memories resurfacing.

No. No person should have had to endure what Yoshio did.

"I'm sorry, Kyouya. I don't find her a wise candidate. You would be better off meeting with the others."

A/N: Disclaimers as usual! This chapter is a little shorter, bear with me please~ Please leave reviews; I'm going to start responding individually to them here!

DiamondThief360: thanks for your support from chapter 1! I'll need all the luck I can get :)

thestrugglesofminyoongi: your encouragement is greatly appreciated! Glad you find it interesting :)

panda808: thank you so much for your support for all my fics - the reviews help so much, and they're so sweet 3

Guest: please stay tuned! I hope it developes well~