Thirty minutes flew by faster than I would have liked.

After our greetings, Elias and I had pulled up chairs and politely sat down as Kyoya excused himself. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that he was surrounded by his gaggle of girls almost instantly. My lips twitched up at the sight, seeing as he didn’t strike me as the sort to like all of that sort of attention. Or perhaps he did, impressing the girls could always create useful connections.

Dismissing the thought, I returned my attention to the hosts in front of me. Content to simply listen to their conversation at first, I very quickly realized that disentangling the strange mixture of people would be interesting. First of all, there was the girl who I hadn’t known. Her name, it turned out, was Chie. She was the one who set up the appointment, but, from what I could gather, she was in a relationship with a boy in a club that both Nao and Mori attended. None of them seemed to find anything strange about that.

Nao and Mori on the other hand seemed to be a bit easier to understand, if not a bit stranger. They, I continued to believe, were dating, but didn’t really say much to each other at all. Nao would reply to something when the conversation was turned to her, but otherwise she seemed content to let the others talk, much like I was. Mori on the other hand hadn’t said a single word. For a couple, they were rather… unaffectionate? The only indication that there was something there was when she finished the slice of cake I’d barely noticed she’d had, Mori quietly slid another over to her, causing Nao’s face to flush a faint pink.

Honey on the other hand seemed content to cheerfully talk to all of them. Apparently he was a third year, making him a year older than me, but he talked as if he was a lot younger. At the same time, he had the air of someone who knew exactly what was going on around him, despite the innocent edge to all of his actions. It was strange, if not slightly intriguing.

“Cande-chan!”

I blinked, realizing that while I’d been studying him, the person in question had turned his attention to me with a bright smile.

“Hm?”

“Do you like sweets?” he questioned. “You can have some if you want.”

A faint, amused smile crossed my face as I shook my head.

“Sorry, I’m not really that fond of them.”

His eyes grew wide, tears actually seeming to appear in them as he clutched his bunny tightly against his chest.

“You aren’t?”

Apparently able to faintly keep up with the conversation when it was going this slowly, Elias decided to lean forward, a mischievous smile on his face.

“Cande loves sweets,” he announced in his simple Japanese. “But she’s a heath…”

He paused, furrowing his brow as he searched for the word. Honey’s eyes, still wide and tear filled, switched to me questioningly.

“Nut!” Elias cut in as I opened my mouth, his voice louder than necessary. Amused snickers flickered through the group as my face flushed red.

“You idiot!” I snapped in Spanish. “Don’t just go shouting things like that!”

He shrugged uncaringly, apparently too used to being scolded by me for the comment to do much good. Meanwhile, Honey’s wide, tearful eyes had filled with understanding. With an almost gleeful expression on his face, he hoped to his feet and stuck his hand that wasn’t clutched around his rabbit out in my direction.

“I understand! Here, Cande-chan, come with me!” he instructed.

I hesitated for a moment, then with my curiousity winning me over, I ordered Elias to stay behind as I shifted out of my chair and to my feet. Taking Honey’s hand, I allowed him to lead me across the room to where one of the tables had been taken over by a dessert stand, somewhat near to where Kyoya seemed to greet most of the guests.

“Kyo-chan orders special dessert for the diabetic girls that attend the club, and the girls who are worried about their weight,” Honey informed me, releasing my hand to grab one of the plates of dark, chocolate cake. “They’re sugar-free!”

I blinked.

“... sugar-free?” I echoed.

He nodded eagerly, holding the cake up for me to take.

“Sugar-free,” he agreed. “So they’re healthy! You like cake, right, Cande-chan?”

I hesitated, then slowly nodded as I took the cake. Part of me wanted to question what exactly was used to make it so that it would taste sweet and lack sugar, but that part was over-ruled by the reasonable part of me that reminded me that it would be rude to refuse to take such a kind offer. Just because I had a slight obsession with health didn’t mean I could excuse being rude to him when he was being polite.

“Yeah… thanks.”

___________________________________

When Elias and I excused ourselves from the club, he insisted on escorting me to the connecting campus. Finding no real reason to argue with him, I reluctantly gave in. The moment I’d arrived in the main building, however, I shooed him off, reasoning that he’d be late for whatever business he had if he stuck around with me.

It wasn’t like I was in danger- it was just my first day of school. Even being who I was, I doubted I’d attracted any attention just yet.

When I’d entered the office and given my name, I was escorted into the dean’s office instantly. It was all too easy to pick up on my tour-guide among the several stuffy, official looking people littering the room. He was obviously younger, and actually looked slightly bored- a look that almost instantly disappeared when the boy realized the door had opened. I’d have placed him two years older than me at most, which instantly caught my curiosity. I was being given a tour by a freshman?

As I was introduced to the dean and dealt with the usual flattery that came with having a big last name, I couldn’t help but curiously study the boy out of the corner of my eye. His pale blonde, almost white hair hung in slightly shaggy, yet perfectly styled locks around his face. Pale, pastel blue eyes peered out from behind heavy, black metal frames settled just on the tip of his nose and his hands were stuck deep within the perfectly pressed folds of his pastel blue suit pockets. Slightly noticeable circles edged the bottoms of his eyes, hinting at sleepless nights, the only out-of-place feature to his otherwisely perfectly constructed persona.

To say I was intrigued was putting it lightly. The better a look I got, the more I was almost absolutely certain that this boy couldn’t have been that much older than me. With all the flattery I was getting from the dean, wouldn’t they have wanted to have me shown around by the best?

“-and that’s why, we welcome you to our campus! We hope that your studies here are exactly what you were looking for when you applied!”

I blinked a few times, realizing that I must have zoned out of the end of his speech, having focused too much on the other student. Sheepishly, I nodded my agreement with the dean’s statement and took his slightly pudgy hand when offered.

“I’m sure it will be.”

“Now, as I said previously, Subaru will be showing you around. I’m sure you’d love to start your tour.”

Slightly alarmed, I simply nodded and stepped over to join the boy as he nodded in my direction and started for the door. Had I missed the majority of the conversation, then? He’d introduced him to me?

“Subaru, is it?” I questioned as he held the door for me.

The boy nodded, dropping his hand the moment that we’d left the office.

“It is,” he agreed, then paused, his lips twitching upwards in amusement. “Not that you were paying any attention. Did you see something more interesting?”

I flushed red, instantly shaking my head in denial, despite the evidence to the contrary.

“Uh, no, I just... “

A soft chuckle left his lips as he took the hand he’d held the door open with and offered it in my direction.

“Sure, sure, the dean’s a pretty boring dude,” he replied good-naturedly, pulling a relieved nod from me. “I’ll just have to introduce myself again, be sure to pay attention this time. Kira Subaru, I’m the top student in the freshman class. If you have any problems, please feel free to come to me.”

I’d been right, he wasn’t that much older.

“Top student?” I questioned, shaking his hand. “You seem awfully proud of that to bring it up.”

He shrugged, dropping his hand as he started forward at an easy to match pace.

“Why not? A fifteen year-old being the top student in a university that only accepts the best of the common class? I’d say it’s something to be proud of.”

I stopped dead.

“Wait, fifteen?” I demanded. “And a commoner?”

He rose a brow, amusement appearing once again.

“Is there a problem?”

He was younger than me and he’d already managed to get himself into the university?

“How smart are you?”

He shrugged, although from the amusement that only seemed to be growing, I had no doubt that he was completely aware of the disbelieving tone in my voice.

“I’m not sure. They ran an IQ test once… I can’t recall the results. Although… the words child genius might hold some weight? It’s what most people used to refer to me as.”

I snorted.

“Your ego certainly isn’t missing out on any of the flattery.”

Once again, Subaru simply shrugged, starting forward so that he could grab the door out of the main building and hold it for me.

“Why should it? If you’re smart, people should know. Respect is only given to people like me once people know they should give it.”

“People like you?”

“Let’s start the tour, shall we?”

Curiosity burning, I simply nodded.

“Sure…”

A/N: It's a little short, but it's an update! Yay!
Hope you enjoyed. Oh, and a little tip from the author, remember the cute genius, he's important. *nods*