CHAPTER FOUR

A/N: I'm writing this while doing math, so forgive the incoherence if there's any. Work just doesn't stop piling on me and I'm choosing to ignore them at my expense. My chapters seem to be getting longer though, is that a good sign?

Disclaimer: Someday, if I'm rich enough, I'll buy over the copyright of this manga. SOMEDAY.

Rule #3: When approached by other humans, the only answers a cat is allowed to give are 'Yes' and 'No'.

Weekdays, generally greeted by much complaints and grumbling by students, are Akira's favorite time in the week. Why? Simply because he gets to play around with other friends and unlike most students, Akira is easily satisfied. He loved to run around the soccer field, pull minor pranks on his friends, and all the usual stuff schoolboys did.

At least, that was until Rei popped into his life and turned it upside down.

"Okay, I'm going to school now, so you be good and stay at home." Akira said impatiently.

"No, I'm going with you." Rei stubbornly stood his ground. "I promise I'll fit in perfectly and not attract too much attention."

Akira seriously doubted what Rei said but it doesn't look like Rei is going to give in any time soon. "If I said no and left you here, what can you do about it?"

"Sneak out and stalk you all the way to the classroom." Rei replied simply.

Looks like I don't really have a choice, Akira sighed and crossed his arms. "But I don't have any spare uniform for you! You're way too tall and big and-"

"Don't worry. I'll have a way." Rei smiled assuringly and Akira shivered. "So does that mean you're taking me along?"

Akira nodded unwillingly, "But I have another rule: when approached by any other human, you're only allowed to answer either 'Yes' or 'No'. Stay out of trouble or I'm putting a leash on you."

That turned out to be a big mistake.

***

"Hey, look at that guy over there."

"Oh my god, he's smoking hot! Even though I've never seen him before."

"Yeah me neither, but he looks really good with the cute one next to him too..."

"Is he a model? Or an idol maybe?!"

"He's looking this way! I think I'm going to faint."

Akira could feel his eyebrows twitch while he and Rei made their way to the classroom. A rather large and noisy crowd of girls(including some guys) had already gathered along the hallway – so much for promising that he won't attract attention. Well, at least it was slightly better than what he did earlier.

Before they'd reached the school, Rei calmly walked over to the rather large and deep pond outside and gave a look of disgust before taking off his clothes and wading in. Fully drenched, Rei strode boldly into the school grounds and as luck would have it, the female discipline mistress saw him.

"You! Why aren't you in school uniform?"

"I'm sorry sensei, I fell into the pond outside the school and this was all I have with me to change into," Rei gave an apologetic smile. Akira could only gape at how blatant that lie had been – strictly speaking, it wasn't entirely untruthful either.

And then, a miracle happened.

"Uhm oh, you fell into the pond? Dear me..." The discipline mistress(33 years old, unmarried) blushed as she caught the full force of Rei's gray eyes. "We'd better get you changed out. If I'm not wrong the school has a few sets of spare uniform that can fit you." Rei flashed his perfectly white and straight teeth and Akira had to hold on to the discipline mistress to stop her from hitting the ground as she swooned.

Looks like a pretty face can get you anywhere in life, huh. Akira walked into the classroom and was greeted by his usual bunch of friends. "Yo Akira! Who's that guy behind you?" A boy named Hiyori raised his hand and asked. "My...cousin. He's sticking around until his parents pick him up from my house. He's a foreigner, you see." Akira mock-slapped Hiyori's hand and got a grin in reply. Suddenly, an arm shot out from behind Akira and pulled him backwards, and he collided with a soft thud against Rei's chest. Rei glared daggers at Hiyori, who took it as his cue to escape while he could.

"Erm, I think I left something at the locker's... I'll go check." Hiyori muttered as he moved as far as he could from Rei, before dashing out of the class. Rei tightened his arms around Akira, causing the bunch of fangirls outside the class to scream in ecstasy. "What are you doing?!" Akira's eyes widened in embarrassment and panic. Rei didn't say anything, but he didn't let go either until the teacher came in and drove the crowd away did he silently slide outside. He'd said something about going to the rooftop so Akira didn't really paid much attention to that. It was only until he didn't appear during lunch did Akira start worrying and went to search for Rei.

***

Rei cracked his eye open and, for a moment, he thought he'd gone to heaven. Then he realized that he was on the rooftops and that thought drove him back to reality. A distant bell chimed and from the amount of noise that had erupted, Rei supposed it was lunchtime and he wearily dragged himself back towards the classroom.

"Hey you, what's your name?" A rather rude but pretty girl came up to him and stopped him in the corridor. Rei was about to reply with something sarcastic when he remembered Akira's rule.

"No." Rei deadpanned.

"Huh? You mean your name is 'No'?" The girl was confused, and her friends started gathering around her out of curiosity.

"No." Rei was getting impatient. They were wasting his time which could have been spent on better things such as looking for Akira.

"So you don't want to tell us?" The girl crossed her arms and huffed. "Fine, then what's your relationship with Nonaka-san? Friends?"

"No."

"What do you mean by 'no'? Then why are you so close to him?"

"Yes"

"So now you're friends?"

"No."

"No, you're not friends?"

"No."

"Okay, now I'm confused." The girl shook her head in exasperation.

"Yes." Rei offered, before walking past her towards the classrooms.

"Wait! I still don't know your name yet!" The girl called after him.

"NO!" Rei shouted back in case she followed him, and almost walked into Akira. "Rei, what are you doing? Your lunch is getting cold, come on." Akira took Rei's hand and pulled him along. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a very bewildered Shizuoka-san and wondered what did Rei do to her.

Back in the class, Akira attempted to eat in peace with Rei but he just couldn't swallow properly, at least not with half the girls in the class gathered around them. "Hey, Nonaka-san, introduce him to us, won't you?"

"Erm... he's my cousin from America and he's just visiting for the... month."

"Oooh, what's his name?" Another girl piped, casting shy glances at the much indifferent Rei.

"Why don't you ask him yourself?" Akira wanted more than anything to just continue with his meal.

The girls gave him a dirty look and turned their attention to Rei. "Tell us your name, won't you?"

"No."

Akira nearly choked on his rice and had to pass his laughter off as a coughing fit.

"Takamoto! Hitting on my guy now, are we?" Shizuoka stormed into the classroom and seethed, "I should have known you were going to do that."

"Excuse me?" One of the girls currently surrounding Rei stood up in disgust. "Since when was he ever yours?"

"Yes." Rei said absent-mindedly as he fiddled with a piece of egg.

That really did it; the two girls started shouting at each other and the whole commotion ended with both parties slapping each other and running to the toilets at either ends of the corridor. When the crowd had dispersed, Akira saw Hiyori sneaking into the class behind Rei's back, attempting to reach his seat without being noticed. "Hiyori! Where do you think you're going?" Tamaki, who was probably Hiyori's best friend, appeared at the door. Hiyori tried to silence Tamaki but Rei turned around and gave him a glare so fierce that he just hid behind his friend, trembling.

"Oh! A new student!" Tamaki exclaimed as he approached them. "And they got matching bentos too! Hiyori I want one, make one for me tomorrow okay?"

"I'm not your maid, for goodness' sake!" Hiyori snapped though a slight blush crept across his face.

"But you still can make one for me, can't he?" Tamaki directed his question to Rei.

"Yes."

"See? You can!" Tamaki smirked. Hiyori gave Rei a half-horrified, half-furious look. "I'm beginning to like this new-comer here."

Akira could only sigh in defeat. Now that so many people noticed, he'd have to bring Rei to school with him for that whole month!

He was so not looking forward to it.