[JPOP] St Idol's Academy: My Butler and I
May. 21st, 2009 11:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mostotherthingsSt Idol’s Academy
2: My Butler and I
HSJ, Johnny Jrs
3321 words
Author’s notes: I am having way too much fun with this, I confess. Not much point to the story! This is going to go on forever...
According to Sanada (the morning had started with Nozawa walking out in a butler’s suit and calling Sanada “Sanada-sama”. Inoo had kindly informed Yuto that this happened sometimes and it was best not to ask questions), the four richest boys in the class liked to hang out together. Yuto noticed them on his first day, but they looked so scary he had never had the courage to go up and say hi.
“Chinen-kun’s family owns a sporting empire,” Sanada provided helpfully as they had lunch. Yuto was trying to get used to the fact that Sanada was the one sitting with him and Nozawa serving them. “Keito’s family has ties with English royalty. He studied in England for a while and only came back recently. Ryutaro’s really smart, and he’s the only boy who has an S rank butler.”
“S rank butler?” Yuto interrupted. “What’s that?”
“Oh, since we have dormitory ranks… butlers have ranks too, right Non-chan?” Sanada turned around.
Nozawa nodded. “Of course, Sanada-sama,” he grinned.
Yuto felt confused about a lot of things happening right now. Inoo offered him a butter roll.
“By the way, Non-chan’s C rank,” Sanada said. “That’s the lowest, by the way.”
Nozawa blushed, and cleared his throat before continuing. “Yuto-sama’s Inoo-san, is A rank.”
Inoo smiled and nodded.
“Oh… so… it’s based on how they perform?” Yuto asked.
“And how their charges perform too. If we get punished, they get punished too,” Sanada said. “Which is why the two of us are in this state, I guess,” he added after a thought.
Yuto laughed. “Okay,” he said. “What about that last boy, Yamada?”
“Yamada-kun’s family is the most powerful out of the four of them,” Sanada nodded. “He’s probably also the most stressed, because the family has six legitimate heirs.”
“Six?” Yuto exclaimed.
“That’s why he has a stick up his ass most of the time.”
“SANADA-SAMA!” Inoo’s voice boomed suddenly, causing the three other boys to jump in fright. “How can you use such language in front of Yuto-sama?!”
Yuto spent the rest of lunch calming his butler down.
* * *
“Inoo-chan,” Yuto asked as they were walking towards the science lab.
“Yes, Yuto-sama?” Inoo asked, walking up to Yuto.
“It’s strange with you walking behind me,” Yuto said, turning around. “Why can’t you walk next to me?”
“It is a rule,” Inoo said. “It won’t be right for me to walk beside you, Yuto-sama.”
Yuto sighed. There was a lot of getting used to here, plus Inoo had gone through his school work with him the night before and he was not up to par in any of the subjects. He had decided to stay, and he wrote a long letter to his mother yesterday saying he was all right and he would try his best… but it’s times like these that he really wished he had someone he could talk to.
Yuto was about to say he didn’t care about getting used to it, when he spotted Morimoto Ryutaro walking towards them, butler in tow.
“I don’t think you should be bothering about such little matters,” Ryutaro said, stopping. “Everyone has their place in society. Your butler has one too.”
Yuto frowned, and as usual, spoke without thinking. “But Inoo-chan is my friend.”
Ryutaro snorted. “You call him a friend? When he cleans your shoes, washes your clothes and prepares your bath? I think you’re got your strange ideals, Nakajima-kun,” he said, before walking off. Yabu smiled wanly at them as he followed.
“Isn’t that right, Inoo-chan?” Yuto said. “I mean, you do all those things for me, but I’m perfectly capable of doing them, so if I do them myself, does it mean Inoo-chan will be my friend?”
Inoo looked pained for a moment, and he shook his head. “Yuto-sama, I’m afraid things aren’t as simple as you see them.”
Yuto sulked and refused to talk to Inoo for the rest of the day. All the other butlers cast worried looks at Inoo, but he just smiled and waved their concern away. He was glad his young master thought of him as a friend… but in the end, this was something Yuto had to understand on his own.
There were no classes the day after, so Yuto sneaked out of his room and wandered into the gardens. The area around the school and dormitories was one huge garden to him, but today he brought a map to make sure he would not get lost.
“Oh, Yuto-kun!”
He turned up, and dressed in a jumper and a straw hat, was… “Yamashita-sensei?” he asked.
Yamashita wasn’t alone- at closer look he saw it was Chinen-kun, with his butler holding an umbrella over him.
“Come up here,” Shoon grinned.
Yuto trekked up the side of the small hill. Shoon and Chinen looked like they were working on a garden, and Yuto was surprised to see Chinen dressed in a jumper and wearing workmen gloves.
“Wow,” Yuto said, eyes brightening at the sight of the flowers.
“This is Chinen-kun’s garden,” Shoon said, before turning to Chinen. “You wouldn’t mind if Yuto-kun helped us with weeding, would you?”
“He probably doesn’t know how to do it,” Chinen frowned, standing up.
“No, I definitely know how to do this. My grandmother has a vegetable garden in my home,” Yuto said, walking over. Finally, something he actually knew how to do!
“Right, so that solves our problem. Grab a glove… and did you run off without letting Inoo-kun know where you are?” Shoon frowned.
Yuto grinned sheepishly.
“All right, stay here,” Shoon said. “I’ll go get Inoo-kun,” he nodded, before running off.
Yuto put on his gloves, and turned to Chinen who still looked rather unhappy about this arrangement.
“Nakajima-sama,” Takaki said. “Maybe you can start here,” he pointed at the patch of brightly coloured flowers in front of Chinen. Yuto nodded and walked over and started. Chinen watched him for a whole thirty seconds before he started yelling at him.
“Gently! You’ll ruin the flowers like this!”
“Oh, sorry, sorry…”
They worked silently for a few minutes until Shoon returned with Inoo running up the hill towards them. “Yuto-sama!” Inoo said, panting heavily as he ran up to Yuto.
Yuto stood up and grinned awkwardly. “Ah, sorry, Inoo-chan,” he said.
“You shouldn’t keep running away from Inoo-kun,” Shoon grinned, reaching for his gloves. “It’s his job to take care of you, he won’t be able to do it properly if you keep making it difficult for him.”
“Sorry,” Yuto said.
Chinen stood up suddenly and took his gloves and hat off, handing them to Takaki. “Yuyan, let’s go.”
“Eh? Chinen-kun, we barely got started,” Shoon called as the boy trudged down the hill, Takaki hurrying behind him.
“Yuto-kun,” Shoon said, turning to him. “Let’s continue, shall we?”
Yuto sighed. He never seemed to be able to get anything right.
* * *
Ryutaro looked up from his books as Chinen sat opposite him. “Shouldn’t you be working in the garden today?”
“Because an idiot came and interrupted us, so I got tired and came back,” Chinen said.
Ryutaro grinned. “Oh, you bumped into Nakajima?”
“Yamashita-sensei seems to like him. How can you like an idiot like that? Poor Kei-chan, maybe he’s better off with Kento after all,” Chinen said.
“Chinen-sama!” Takaki and Yabu said in chorus, and Ryutaro spun around to make sure they were the only ones in the room.
“Oops,” Chinen said.
“It’s too dangerous to talk to much about things we don’t understand,” Ryutaro noted. “Maybe Nakajima just needs some time to adjust.”
“Well, if he treats Kei-chan like this, then maybe he doesn’t deserve Kei-chan, that’s what I think,” Chinen frowned, getting up. “All this thinking is making me tired. I’ll see you later, Ryutaro.”
Ryutaro nodded, and Chinen marched out of the room with Takaki.
“Chinen-kun does make sense,” Ryutaro put his book down and said thoughtfully.
“Ryutaro-sama?” Yabu asked.
“Nothing,” Ryutaro said. “Is Yamada-kun in the salon?”
“I think he is… Keito-sama has been learning magic tricks lately. I believe they are practicing there,” Yabu said.
“Chinen-sama, would you like to have something to eat?” Takaki closed the door behind him.
“No,” Chinen frowned, sitting down on his bed. “I can’t believe that idiot is so stupid.”
Takaki smiled.
“Yuyan doesn’t even get to call me Yuuri anymore,” Chinen said sadly. “That fool’s just setting himself up for misery if he doesn’t understand. And if he goes on like this, Kei-chan will…”
Takaki nodded. “I understand, Chinen-sama.”
Chinen sighed and was about to say something else, when there was a knock on the door. Takaki announced that Keito, Ryutaro and Yamada were here to see Chinen.
“We’ve got an idea,” Ryutaro grinned.
“We might turn out helping the little idiot more than we should,” Yamada said.
“But anything to make Chinen-kun happy, right?” Keito grinned.
Chinen nodded. “So what’s the plan?”
* * *
Yuto was putting on his sports shoes when he felt a sharp pain at the bottom of his foot. He winced and pulled his foot out of the shoe. A large tack had been stuck through the sole. Blood was steadily trickling from the wound and he grimaced as he reached for the towel.
“Yuto-sama? Are you ready?” Inoo called.
“I’m almost ready!” Yuto called back. He wiped his foot clean, grabbed a sock and pulled it on tight before putting on his shoes. It hurt a bit to walk, but felt okay so Yuto walked out of the changing room and followed Inoo to class.
When he returned (and class was brutal, because he couldn’t run properly and Tsukada-sensei thought he was skiving), Inoo was missing.
“Inoo-chan?” Yuto frowned, looking about his private changing room, but Inoo wasn’t there. His uniform was hanging in front of the locker, which meant Inoo had came back to tidy up the space, but Inoo was nowhere to be found.
He took some time trying to look for Inoo, but he was still nowhere to be found. He sighed and limped back to class, only to open the door and realise he was late for Math. With Yokoo-sensei.
“I’m sorry, I was lost…”
“That’s no excuse for being late,” Yokoo frowned. “Leave the room please.”
“Eh?” Yuto frowned.
“You’re not allowed in class if you’re late,” Yamada said, raising an eyebrow as he turned to look at Yuto from his seat. “Your butler is supposed to make sure you’re in time for classes.”
“But I couldn’t find Inoo-chan anywhere…” Yuto explained.
“He’s not with you?” Yokoo frowned, as the other students started whispering urgently to one another. He shot one look that silenced the class before turning back to Yuto. “Nakajima-kun, your butler Inoo is not with you at the moment?”
“No,” Yuto frowned, as the whispers started again.
Yokoo-sensei shook his head. “Nakajima-kun, you are supposed to be with your butler for all classes and when you are in school. I’m afraid I will have to send you to Goseki-sama.”
“Eh?” Yuto looked up, surprised. “I’m being… punished?”
Yokoo-sensei handed Yuto a slip, telling him to bring it to Goseki-sama. Yuto limped over to Goseki’s office, and Kawai frowned when he saw the slip.
“You arrived in class without Inoo-kun?” Goseki asked, surprised. “That’s very unlike Inoo.”
“I couldn’t find him anywhere,” Yuto said, now realising the severity of the matter. “We had P.E., and when I came back I couldn’t find him! Maybe he just went…”
“This is very serious. Yuto-sama, you will have to return to your dormitory room. Kawai will bring you there,” Goseki said. “I’ll send someone to look for Inoo and get to the bottom of this.”
Yuto tried not to limp as he walked back to the dorm. He was succeeding because Kawai did not notice anything strange about him. “Am I going to be punished?” he asked.
“You?” Kawai asked, turning to Yuto. He smiled and shook his head. “No, you’re not.”
“Oh. That’s a relief,” Yuto confessed.
“But Inoo is going to be.”
“Eh?” Yuto exclaimed. “Why? Maybe he had something to do…”
“We as butlers only have one thing to do, Yuto-sama, and that is to take care of our masters. If he is not with you, it means he has neglected his duty,” Kawai said. “He must take responsibility for his actions.”
“I… what will happen to him?” Yuto stammered, as they stopped in front of the dormitory.
“We will re-evaluate his status. But don’t worry Yuto-sama,” Kawai nodded. “I will make sure Inoo takes responsibility for this.”
“But!”
“Good day, Yuto-sama.”
Yuto watched Kawai walk away helplessly. Where could Inoo be?
By the time the others came back from class, Inoo was still missing. Yuto was starting to get worried, opening the door whenever he heard someone walk past his room.
“He’s not back yet?” Sanada asked.
Yuto shook his head.
“Non-chan asks if you want dinner?”
Yuto shook his head again. “I think I better look for him,” he said, reaching for his jacket.
“Hey, wait, we’re not allowed to…”
“I’m just worried! I’ll be right back. I’ll go to the sports hall where I last saw him,” Yuto said, running down the steps already. “Thanks, Sanada-kun!”
Yuto ended up searching for with Sanada and Nozawa’s help. He was convinced that Inoo must still be in the area around the gymnasium, so they searched everywhere. At midnight, it looked like they had to give up when they heard the sounds of knocking behind one of the walls.
They scrambled up, found a door, moved all the debris away from it, and the door opened to reveal Inoo, not a hair out of place. “Yuto-sama,” he said, unable to hide the relief in his voice. “You’re safe, I am so glad. I’m very sorry,” he bowed.
“Inoo-chan!” Yuto exclaimed, running over to him, forgetting about the throbbing from the wound on his feet. He fell headfirst into Inoo’s arms as Sanada and Nozawa scrambled over to check that he was okay.
“Yuto-sama?” Inoo exclaimed worriedly. “Are you all right?”
“No, it’s just, my foot…”
They took his shoes off and Sanada winced at the way Yuto’s sock was sticking to the wound at the bottom of his left foot. “This looks terrible!” he exclaimed. “We’ll have to get him…”
Inoo had already picked Yuto up and was running towards the hospital wing before Sanada could finish his sentence.
* * *
“Inoo-chan?”
Inoo looked up. Yuto was finally awake. “Yuto-sama,” he said, turning to him. “How are you feeling?”
“Okay, not bad at all,” Yuto grinned, letting out a yawn before sitting up. “Did you get any sleep at all?”
“Please don’t worry about it,” Inoo nodded. “Yuto-sama, it is my fault. I should have noticed…”
“Hey, it’s okay! I was more worried about you. Goseki-sama said you’re going to be punished, I’m going to let him know it really wasn’t your fault, that it’s all my…” Yuto started.
“Yuto-sama,” Inoo said calmly. “Please do not do that.”
Yuto paused. “Eh?”
“It is my job to look after you,” Inoo nodded. “I should not have been so careless. And not only that, I had not noticed your injury. I have to take responsibility for what happened.”
“But it isn’t Inoo-chan’s fault!” Yuto exclaimed. “Why do you have to be punished? Someone else locked you in that room, and someone else put a tack in my shoe! It isn’t Inoo-chan’s fault at all!”
Inoo shook his head. “Yuto-sama. I am bound to be your guardian. It was my mistake,” he smiled. “Yuto-sama, do you understand now?”
Yuto sighed and nodded. He realised now that if he got into any trouble, Inoo would get blamed first because on top of taking care of his daily needs, he had to protect him too.
“Inoo-chan,” Yuto said softly. “I’m really sorry.”
“You have nothing to say sorry for, Yuto-sama,” Inoo stood up and bowed. “For not taking care of you and causing you worry… I’m very sorry.”
Yuto was about to say something but he stopped. It was no point telling Inoo not to be sorry, so Yuto just looked up, “Yokoo-sensei said you’re supposed to make sure I get to class on time. I think we’re very late.”
Inoo smiled. “I will make preparations immediately,” he nodded.
* * *
“Sanada-kun!” Hashimoto called, running into the room with Totsuka hot on his heels. “I just saw the new guy with Inoo in the hospital, is he okay?”
“Why did you end up there again?” Sanada frowned.
“I cut myself with the letter opener this morning,” Hashimoto confessed with an awkward grin. “It just bled a bit.”
“Yuto’s foot is injured so he’s there,” Sanada said. “Apparently someone put a tack in his shoe and he was so worried about Inoo he didn’t have time to get it cleaned up properly. I was going to go see him during lunch.”
“Injured?” Chinen asked, standing up. He shot Takaki a worried look, before turning back to Sanada. “What happened? Is it because of Kei-chan?”
“No,” Sanada said and Nozawa turned to look at the faces of his classmates. Ryutaro’s was buried behind his textbook, Keito looked a little uncomfortable, and even Yamada’s expression was a little different from usual. He whispered something into Sanada’s ear, and the boy’s eyes widened with surprise before turning to the boys. “Do you guys know something about this?”
“No,” they chorused.
The butlers exchanged looks with each other, just as the door opened and Inoo wheeled in a wheelchair with Yuto in it.
“Good morning,” Yuto smiled.
“Yuto-kun!” Sanada exclaimed, running over. “It didn’t look so bad yesterday!”
“Ah, no, this is just a precaution,” Yuto laughed. “I didn’t want a wheelchair, I told them I was going to look silly coming to class with one, but Inoo-chan said I had to.”
“It’s just for today, Yuto-sama,” Inoo said. “Tomorrow you can walk again.”
Sanada let out a huge sigh of relief. “Thank goodness, I thought it was something serious!” he said. “Are you sure you’re all right with coming back to class so soon?”
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” he nodded, as Inoo pushed him to his seat. He made sure Yuto had all his books ready before retreating to the back of the classroom.
Inoo stood next to Daiki and smiled wanly. “I’m surprised you managed to keep me locked for that long. What did you do to it?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Daiki said, but he was already grinning.
“Is Yuto-sama’s foot all right?” Yabu looked concerned as he asked.
“Oh, are you feeling guilty about it now?” Inoo hissed.
“Inoo-chan, are you insinuating that we had something to do with it?” Hikaru sounded hurt.
“Not really,” Inoo raised an eyebrow. “Did it sound like I was insinuating something?”
“I would do anything to make Chinen-sama happy,” Takaki said, turning to Inoo with a smile. “You know what I mean, right?”
Inoo nodded. “I will also never allow Yuto-sama to be hurt again,” he said. “You know what I mean too, right?”
The rest of the butlers nodded, but Hikaru leaned over and asked, “You’re actually touched that he came to look for you, right?”
Inoo stepped on his foot.
As the bell rang for the end of class, Yabu pulled Inoo aside just as Inoo was going to Yuto to wheel him to lunch, “Inoo, all jokes aside… that injury to Yuto-sama had nothing to do with us.”
“Eh?” Inoo frowned. “It wasn’t…”
“You know them as well as we do, our young masters will never do something like that,” Yabu said, before nodding and walking over to Ryutaro.
“Inoo, is there something wrong?” Yuto asked. He had wheeled himself over.
“No, nothing at all,” Inoo said, smiling. “Let’s go for lunch, Yuto-sama. Today’s lunch is curry.”
“The way Mom makes it?” Yuto grinned and Inoo nodded. “Yay!”
2: My Butler and I
HSJ, Johnny Jrs
3321 words
Author’s notes: I am having way too much fun with this, I confess. Not much point to the story! This is going to go on forever...
According to Sanada (the morning had started with Nozawa walking out in a butler’s suit and calling Sanada “Sanada-sama”. Inoo had kindly informed Yuto that this happened sometimes and it was best not to ask questions), the four richest boys in the class liked to hang out together. Yuto noticed them on his first day, but they looked so scary he had never had the courage to go up and say hi.
“Chinen-kun’s family owns a sporting empire,” Sanada provided helpfully as they had lunch. Yuto was trying to get used to the fact that Sanada was the one sitting with him and Nozawa serving them. “Keito’s family has ties with English royalty. He studied in England for a while and only came back recently. Ryutaro’s really smart, and he’s the only boy who has an S rank butler.”
“S rank butler?” Yuto interrupted. “What’s that?”
“Oh, since we have dormitory ranks… butlers have ranks too, right Non-chan?” Sanada turned around.
Nozawa nodded. “Of course, Sanada-sama,” he grinned.
Yuto felt confused about a lot of things happening right now. Inoo offered him a butter roll.
“By the way, Non-chan’s C rank,” Sanada said. “That’s the lowest, by the way.”
Nozawa blushed, and cleared his throat before continuing. “Yuto-sama’s Inoo-san, is A rank.”
Inoo smiled and nodded.
“Oh… so… it’s based on how they perform?” Yuto asked.
“And how their charges perform too. If we get punished, they get punished too,” Sanada said. “Which is why the two of us are in this state, I guess,” he added after a thought.
Yuto laughed. “Okay,” he said. “What about that last boy, Yamada?”
“Yamada-kun’s family is the most powerful out of the four of them,” Sanada nodded. “He’s probably also the most stressed, because the family has six legitimate heirs.”
“Six?” Yuto exclaimed.
“That’s why he has a stick up his ass most of the time.”
“SANADA-SAMA!” Inoo’s voice boomed suddenly, causing the three other boys to jump in fright. “How can you use such language in front of Yuto-sama?!”
Yuto spent the rest of lunch calming his butler down.
* * *
“Inoo-chan,” Yuto asked as they were walking towards the science lab.
“Yes, Yuto-sama?” Inoo asked, walking up to Yuto.
“It’s strange with you walking behind me,” Yuto said, turning around. “Why can’t you walk next to me?”
“It is a rule,” Inoo said. “It won’t be right for me to walk beside you, Yuto-sama.”
Yuto sighed. There was a lot of getting used to here, plus Inoo had gone through his school work with him the night before and he was not up to par in any of the subjects. He had decided to stay, and he wrote a long letter to his mother yesterday saying he was all right and he would try his best… but it’s times like these that he really wished he had someone he could talk to.
Yuto was about to say he didn’t care about getting used to it, when he spotted Morimoto Ryutaro walking towards them, butler in tow.
“I don’t think you should be bothering about such little matters,” Ryutaro said, stopping. “Everyone has their place in society. Your butler has one too.”
Yuto frowned, and as usual, spoke without thinking. “But Inoo-chan is my friend.”
Ryutaro snorted. “You call him a friend? When he cleans your shoes, washes your clothes and prepares your bath? I think you’re got your strange ideals, Nakajima-kun,” he said, before walking off. Yabu smiled wanly at them as he followed.
“Isn’t that right, Inoo-chan?” Yuto said. “I mean, you do all those things for me, but I’m perfectly capable of doing them, so if I do them myself, does it mean Inoo-chan will be my friend?”
Inoo looked pained for a moment, and he shook his head. “Yuto-sama, I’m afraid things aren’t as simple as you see them.”
Yuto sulked and refused to talk to Inoo for the rest of the day. All the other butlers cast worried looks at Inoo, but he just smiled and waved their concern away. He was glad his young master thought of him as a friend… but in the end, this was something Yuto had to understand on his own.
There were no classes the day after, so Yuto sneaked out of his room and wandered into the gardens. The area around the school and dormitories was one huge garden to him, but today he brought a map to make sure he would not get lost.
“Oh, Yuto-kun!”
He turned up, and dressed in a jumper and a straw hat, was… “Yamashita-sensei?” he asked.
Yamashita wasn’t alone- at closer look he saw it was Chinen-kun, with his butler holding an umbrella over him.
“Come up here,” Shoon grinned.
Yuto trekked up the side of the small hill. Shoon and Chinen looked like they were working on a garden, and Yuto was surprised to see Chinen dressed in a jumper and wearing workmen gloves.
“Wow,” Yuto said, eyes brightening at the sight of the flowers.
“This is Chinen-kun’s garden,” Shoon said, before turning to Chinen. “You wouldn’t mind if Yuto-kun helped us with weeding, would you?”
“He probably doesn’t know how to do it,” Chinen frowned, standing up.
“No, I definitely know how to do this. My grandmother has a vegetable garden in my home,” Yuto said, walking over. Finally, something he actually knew how to do!
“Right, so that solves our problem. Grab a glove… and did you run off without letting Inoo-kun know where you are?” Shoon frowned.
Yuto grinned sheepishly.
“All right, stay here,” Shoon said. “I’ll go get Inoo-kun,” he nodded, before running off.
Yuto put on his gloves, and turned to Chinen who still looked rather unhappy about this arrangement.
“Nakajima-sama,” Takaki said. “Maybe you can start here,” he pointed at the patch of brightly coloured flowers in front of Chinen. Yuto nodded and walked over and started. Chinen watched him for a whole thirty seconds before he started yelling at him.
“Gently! You’ll ruin the flowers like this!”
“Oh, sorry, sorry…”
They worked silently for a few minutes until Shoon returned with Inoo running up the hill towards them. “Yuto-sama!” Inoo said, panting heavily as he ran up to Yuto.
Yuto stood up and grinned awkwardly. “Ah, sorry, Inoo-chan,” he said.
“You shouldn’t keep running away from Inoo-kun,” Shoon grinned, reaching for his gloves. “It’s his job to take care of you, he won’t be able to do it properly if you keep making it difficult for him.”
“Sorry,” Yuto said.
Chinen stood up suddenly and took his gloves and hat off, handing them to Takaki. “Yuyan, let’s go.”
“Eh? Chinen-kun, we barely got started,” Shoon called as the boy trudged down the hill, Takaki hurrying behind him.
“Yuto-kun,” Shoon said, turning to him. “Let’s continue, shall we?”
Yuto sighed. He never seemed to be able to get anything right.
* * *
Ryutaro looked up from his books as Chinen sat opposite him. “Shouldn’t you be working in the garden today?”
“Because an idiot came and interrupted us, so I got tired and came back,” Chinen said.
Ryutaro grinned. “Oh, you bumped into Nakajima?”
“Yamashita-sensei seems to like him. How can you like an idiot like that? Poor Kei-chan, maybe he’s better off with Kento after all,” Chinen said.
“Chinen-sama!” Takaki and Yabu said in chorus, and Ryutaro spun around to make sure they were the only ones in the room.
“Oops,” Chinen said.
“It’s too dangerous to talk to much about things we don’t understand,” Ryutaro noted. “Maybe Nakajima just needs some time to adjust.”
“Well, if he treats Kei-chan like this, then maybe he doesn’t deserve Kei-chan, that’s what I think,” Chinen frowned, getting up. “All this thinking is making me tired. I’ll see you later, Ryutaro.”
Ryutaro nodded, and Chinen marched out of the room with Takaki.
“Chinen-kun does make sense,” Ryutaro put his book down and said thoughtfully.
“Ryutaro-sama?” Yabu asked.
“Nothing,” Ryutaro said. “Is Yamada-kun in the salon?”
“I think he is… Keito-sama has been learning magic tricks lately. I believe they are practicing there,” Yabu said.
“Chinen-sama, would you like to have something to eat?” Takaki closed the door behind him.
“No,” Chinen frowned, sitting down on his bed. “I can’t believe that idiot is so stupid.”
Takaki smiled.
“Yuyan doesn’t even get to call me Yuuri anymore,” Chinen said sadly. “That fool’s just setting himself up for misery if he doesn’t understand. And if he goes on like this, Kei-chan will…”
Takaki nodded. “I understand, Chinen-sama.”
Chinen sighed and was about to say something else, when there was a knock on the door. Takaki announced that Keito, Ryutaro and Yamada were here to see Chinen.
“We’ve got an idea,” Ryutaro grinned.
“We might turn out helping the little idiot more than we should,” Yamada said.
“But anything to make Chinen-kun happy, right?” Keito grinned.
Chinen nodded. “So what’s the plan?”
* * *
Yuto was putting on his sports shoes when he felt a sharp pain at the bottom of his foot. He winced and pulled his foot out of the shoe. A large tack had been stuck through the sole. Blood was steadily trickling from the wound and he grimaced as he reached for the towel.
“Yuto-sama? Are you ready?” Inoo called.
“I’m almost ready!” Yuto called back. He wiped his foot clean, grabbed a sock and pulled it on tight before putting on his shoes. It hurt a bit to walk, but felt okay so Yuto walked out of the changing room and followed Inoo to class.
When he returned (and class was brutal, because he couldn’t run properly and Tsukada-sensei thought he was skiving), Inoo was missing.
“Inoo-chan?” Yuto frowned, looking about his private changing room, but Inoo wasn’t there. His uniform was hanging in front of the locker, which meant Inoo had came back to tidy up the space, but Inoo was nowhere to be found.
He took some time trying to look for Inoo, but he was still nowhere to be found. He sighed and limped back to class, only to open the door and realise he was late for Math. With Yokoo-sensei.
“I’m sorry, I was lost…”
“That’s no excuse for being late,” Yokoo frowned. “Leave the room please.”
“Eh?” Yuto frowned.
“You’re not allowed in class if you’re late,” Yamada said, raising an eyebrow as he turned to look at Yuto from his seat. “Your butler is supposed to make sure you’re in time for classes.”
“But I couldn’t find Inoo-chan anywhere…” Yuto explained.
“He’s not with you?” Yokoo frowned, as the other students started whispering urgently to one another. He shot one look that silenced the class before turning back to Yuto. “Nakajima-kun, your butler Inoo is not with you at the moment?”
“No,” Yuto frowned, as the whispers started again.
Yokoo-sensei shook his head. “Nakajima-kun, you are supposed to be with your butler for all classes and when you are in school. I’m afraid I will have to send you to Goseki-sama.”
“Eh?” Yuto looked up, surprised. “I’m being… punished?”
Yokoo-sensei handed Yuto a slip, telling him to bring it to Goseki-sama. Yuto limped over to Goseki’s office, and Kawai frowned when he saw the slip.
“You arrived in class without Inoo-kun?” Goseki asked, surprised. “That’s very unlike Inoo.”
“I couldn’t find him anywhere,” Yuto said, now realising the severity of the matter. “We had P.E., and when I came back I couldn’t find him! Maybe he just went…”
“This is very serious. Yuto-sama, you will have to return to your dormitory room. Kawai will bring you there,” Goseki said. “I’ll send someone to look for Inoo and get to the bottom of this.”
Yuto tried not to limp as he walked back to the dorm. He was succeeding because Kawai did not notice anything strange about him. “Am I going to be punished?” he asked.
“You?” Kawai asked, turning to Yuto. He smiled and shook his head. “No, you’re not.”
“Oh. That’s a relief,” Yuto confessed.
“But Inoo is going to be.”
“Eh?” Yuto exclaimed. “Why? Maybe he had something to do…”
“We as butlers only have one thing to do, Yuto-sama, and that is to take care of our masters. If he is not with you, it means he has neglected his duty,” Kawai said. “He must take responsibility for his actions.”
“I… what will happen to him?” Yuto stammered, as they stopped in front of the dormitory.
“We will re-evaluate his status. But don’t worry Yuto-sama,” Kawai nodded. “I will make sure Inoo takes responsibility for this.”
“But!”
“Good day, Yuto-sama.”
Yuto watched Kawai walk away helplessly. Where could Inoo be?
By the time the others came back from class, Inoo was still missing. Yuto was starting to get worried, opening the door whenever he heard someone walk past his room.
“He’s not back yet?” Sanada asked.
Yuto shook his head.
“Non-chan asks if you want dinner?”
Yuto shook his head again. “I think I better look for him,” he said, reaching for his jacket.
“Hey, wait, we’re not allowed to…”
“I’m just worried! I’ll be right back. I’ll go to the sports hall where I last saw him,” Yuto said, running down the steps already. “Thanks, Sanada-kun!”
Yuto ended up searching for with Sanada and Nozawa’s help. He was convinced that Inoo must still be in the area around the gymnasium, so they searched everywhere. At midnight, it looked like they had to give up when they heard the sounds of knocking behind one of the walls.
They scrambled up, found a door, moved all the debris away from it, and the door opened to reveal Inoo, not a hair out of place. “Yuto-sama,” he said, unable to hide the relief in his voice. “You’re safe, I am so glad. I’m very sorry,” he bowed.
“Inoo-chan!” Yuto exclaimed, running over to him, forgetting about the throbbing from the wound on his feet. He fell headfirst into Inoo’s arms as Sanada and Nozawa scrambled over to check that he was okay.
“Yuto-sama?” Inoo exclaimed worriedly. “Are you all right?”
“No, it’s just, my foot…”
They took his shoes off and Sanada winced at the way Yuto’s sock was sticking to the wound at the bottom of his left foot. “This looks terrible!” he exclaimed. “We’ll have to get him…”
Inoo had already picked Yuto up and was running towards the hospital wing before Sanada could finish his sentence.
* * *
“Inoo-chan?”
Inoo looked up. Yuto was finally awake. “Yuto-sama,” he said, turning to him. “How are you feeling?”
“Okay, not bad at all,” Yuto grinned, letting out a yawn before sitting up. “Did you get any sleep at all?”
“Please don’t worry about it,” Inoo nodded. “Yuto-sama, it is my fault. I should have noticed…”
“Hey, it’s okay! I was more worried about you. Goseki-sama said you’re going to be punished, I’m going to let him know it really wasn’t your fault, that it’s all my…” Yuto started.
“Yuto-sama,” Inoo said calmly. “Please do not do that.”
Yuto paused. “Eh?”
“It is my job to look after you,” Inoo nodded. “I should not have been so careless. And not only that, I had not noticed your injury. I have to take responsibility for what happened.”
“But it isn’t Inoo-chan’s fault!” Yuto exclaimed. “Why do you have to be punished? Someone else locked you in that room, and someone else put a tack in my shoe! It isn’t Inoo-chan’s fault at all!”
Inoo shook his head. “Yuto-sama. I am bound to be your guardian. It was my mistake,” he smiled. “Yuto-sama, do you understand now?”
Yuto sighed and nodded. He realised now that if he got into any trouble, Inoo would get blamed first because on top of taking care of his daily needs, he had to protect him too.
“Inoo-chan,” Yuto said softly. “I’m really sorry.”
“You have nothing to say sorry for, Yuto-sama,” Inoo stood up and bowed. “For not taking care of you and causing you worry… I’m very sorry.”
Yuto was about to say something but he stopped. It was no point telling Inoo not to be sorry, so Yuto just looked up, “Yokoo-sensei said you’re supposed to make sure I get to class on time. I think we’re very late.”
Inoo smiled. “I will make preparations immediately,” he nodded.
* * *
“Sanada-kun!” Hashimoto called, running into the room with Totsuka hot on his heels. “I just saw the new guy with Inoo in the hospital, is he okay?”
“Why did you end up there again?” Sanada frowned.
“I cut myself with the letter opener this morning,” Hashimoto confessed with an awkward grin. “It just bled a bit.”
“Yuto’s foot is injured so he’s there,” Sanada said. “Apparently someone put a tack in his shoe and he was so worried about Inoo he didn’t have time to get it cleaned up properly. I was going to go see him during lunch.”
“Injured?” Chinen asked, standing up. He shot Takaki a worried look, before turning back to Sanada. “What happened? Is it because of Kei-chan?”
“No,” Sanada said and Nozawa turned to look at the faces of his classmates. Ryutaro’s was buried behind his textbook, Keito looked a little uncomfortable, and even Yamada’s expression was a little different from usual. He whispered something into Sanada’s ear, and the boy’s eyes widened with surprise before turning to the boys. “Do you guys know something about this?”
“No,” they chorused.
The butlers exchanged looks with each other, just as the door opened and Inoo wheeled in a wheelchair with Yuto in it.
“Good morning,” Yuto smiled.
“Yuto-kun!” Sanada exclaimed, running over. “It didn’t look so bad yesterday!”
“Ah, no, this is just a precaution,” Yuto laughed. “I didn’t want a wheelchair, I told them I was going to look silly coming to class with one, but Inoo-chan said I had to.”
“It’s just for today, Yuto-sama,” Inoo said. “Tomorrow you can walk again.”
Sanada let out a huge sigh of relief. “Thank goodness, I thought it was something serious!” he said. “Are you sure you’re all right with coming back to class so soon?”
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” he nodded, as Inoo pushed him to his seat. He made sure Yuto had all his books ready before retreating to the back of the classroom.
Inoo stood next to Daiki and smiled wanly. “I’m surprised you managed to keep me locked for that long. What did you do to it?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Daiki said, but he was already grinning.
“Is Yuto-sama’s foot all right?” Yabu looked concerned as he asked.
“Oh, are you feeling guilty about it now?” Inoo hissed.
“Inoo-chan, are you insinuating that we had something to do with it?” Hikaru sounded hurt.
“Not really,” Inoo raised an eyebrow. “Did it sound like I was insinuating something?”
“I would do anything to make Chinen-sama happy,” Takaki said, turning to Inoo with a smile. “You know what I mean, right?”
Inoo nodded. “I will also never allow Yuto-sama to be hurt again,” he said. “You know what I mean too, right?”
The rest of the butlers nodded, but Hikaru leaned over and asked, “You’re actually touched that he came to look for you, right?”
Inoo stepped on his foot.
As the bell rang for the end of class, Yabu pulled Inoo aside just as Inoo was going to Yuto to wheel him to lunch, “Inoo, all jokes aside… that injury to Yuto-sama had nothing to do with us.”
“Eh?” Inoo frowned. “It wasn’t…”
“You know them as well as we do, our young masters will never do something like that,” Yabu said, before nodding and walking over to Ryutaro.
“Inoo, is there something wrong?” Yuto asked. He had wheeled himself over.
“No, nothing at all,” Inoo said, smiling. “Let’s go for lunch, Yuto-sama. Today’s lunch is curry.”
“The way Mom makes it?” Yuto grinned and Inoo nodded. “Yay!”
