Chapter Text
“Ostania, huh?”
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka stepped out of the bus that had driven him from the airport to where he would be staying for the next month. He had said goodbye to his classmates for the time being and stepped out onto the sidewalk. The bus began to drive away, with a few of his classmates waving at him through the window. This special test didn’t seem as if it would be too difficult to get through, but his more academically challenged classmates may have their fair share of problems ahead. It seemed that instead of a normal 2nd year school trip, they would be traveling to a different country where a certain school had authorized a student exchange program. The rules of the special test were simple, it was essentially graded based on the grades that they received while studying at this elite academy for one month. The school in question being the famous Eden Academy, known for being a prestigious school, mostly for children of the most esteemed families in the nation known as Ostania. Although there seemed to be dormitories on the campus, they were all essentially full and the large majority of the students were not willing to share a living space with ‘uncultured’ children. The school had another idea anyways, they wished to have the students stay with families of the students during the foreign exchange test. Normally this would be unheard of by the school, but if Ayanokoji had to guess, this had something to do with Tsukishiro’s involvement and it was too late to cancel now. This was a very rare time where the students of ANHS were permitted to interact with the outside world to a degree.
He watched the bus travel further down the street until it was gone. All he held was a lone suitcase, filled with only his essential belongings. He had been given information on the family that he would be staying with during the time period, the Forgers. Loid Forger, Yor Forger, and their six year old daughter Anya Forger. Each of the families at the school made the decision whether they would participate or not, and since they couldn’t all be 2nd year families this led to many students from every age agreeing. The parents had also been given all of their OAA scores, and made their decisions from there. The Forgers had apparently decided to choose him, maybe because he looked unassuming enough and had decent enough abilities in every category, he didn’t really care for the reasoning.
As there was not a set arrival time due to flight times being weird, no one was waiting for Ayanokoji when he arrived. It was well into the evening, the sky nearing a dark blue. He looked again at the information that he had been given, as well as a phone number that he could contact them with. It would be polite to give them a call letting them know that he had arrived before approaching their door, but he was already there so it wouldn’t matter too much. A few of the people in the lobby sent weird stares in his direction, but he had become nearly immune to this kind of othering after his encounters with the third years. He entered the elevator and rode it the way up until he reached the designated floor. After finding his way to the apartment number listed, he knocked on the door.
“Ah! Loid-san, he’s here!” It sounded like the voice of a woman, it must’ve been Yor Forger.
He waited for a moment before the door swung open, revealing the faces of all three of the Forgers.
“Kiyotaka Ayanokoji, correct?” Loid asked with a smile on his face. He wasn’t used to hearing his name in the reverse order from normal. If he remembered correctly, in western countries, they would call people by their given names regardless of whether they knew you or not. The exception was if you were referring to people in a very formal context, where you would use honorifics.
“Yes, thank you for allowing me to stay with you this month.”
Yor ushered him inside, “Please, sit down Kiyotaka-kun. We waited to have dinner so that you wouldn’t have to eat cold food after coming so far. It’s not quite ready but we can show you around during that time.”
As Kiyotaka entered the apartment, Loid began to explain the living situation for the month. “We have a spare bedroom prepared for you, so you'll be sleeping there."
“Thank you.” Kiyotaka glanced down the hallway, seeing three rooms.
He lightly sat down on the couch and set down his suitcase to the side of it while he waited to learn which room was his. His first impressions of the family were that they seemed caring. He could see himself getting comfortable while living with them for the next month, familial love slightly intriguing him. Anya soon approached him with her dog, Bond. All she did was stand there and stare at him, Kiyotaka lightly looking back so as to not scare her.
Yor sat down on the couch to the side of him, “Anya-san, stop staring. It’s rude.” Using honorifics on your own child would be considered strange, this immediately stood out to Kiyotaka.
She looked over towards Yor, “Anya wants to help!”
“You were talking about wanting to show him around earlier, why don’t you do that now while Loid-san makes dinner.” Honorifics towards her husband too.
Anya turned back towards Kiyotaka, full of determination. “Anya can help show you around.” She spoke in a strange way, her tone clearly indicated that she was still wary of him, but that was to be expected as he was an unfamiliar guest from another country.
Anya showed him around enthusiastically, even though there wasn’t that much in the small space. He set down his suitcase in his room and briefly looked around. Anya continued to show him around the house, specifically highlighting her room as the coolest area. Through the duration of it, he took the time to think about what could possibly happen during the time he was there. It wouldn’t be impossible for his father to send people to retrieve him while his guard was down, but after learning about how wary Ostania was of spies that may not be an option. If that man wanted to drag him back to the White Room now, it may create future problems for him. For now, he was glad to be in a place where he could see how a family interacts, the right way. This would be a good opportunity to see what the image of a ‘normal’ family was supposed to be like, even if this family ended up being not so normal. Anything would be better than no mother and a distant, loveless father.
As he was thinking, Anya paused her tour and stood still. She suddenly turned around and headed back to the living room, “Anya’s tour is done!” Her movements were almost robotic, slightly endearing coming from a young child.
“Ah, uh okay.” Kiyotaka wasn’t very familiar with being in an environment such as this, so he would need to learn to adapt quickly. He followed her back into the living room and sat down awkwardly, Yor still waiting there.
It was clear that she was also nervous, seemingly relying on Loid to do the majority of the speaking work. Seeing as he was in the kitchen now, that wouldn’t be possible. “So, Kiyotaka-kun, what do you do in your free time?”
He couldn’t give a boring answer, because all things considered he didn’t really do much outside of school. “I usually read. I’m a frequent visitor of the library at my school.”
She smiled, “That’s great to know. I think there’s a bookstore within walking distance from here, we could visit it sometime if you’d like.”
Before leaving the school, each of the second years had exchanged some of their points for currency that could be used in Ostania. This would make it possible for the students to buy things using their own money instead of relying on the families to support them. Kiyotaka couldn’t deny that he wasn’t at least slightly interested in what books they may have there, so he felt it would be wise to agree to her offer. “That would be nice, even just to browse.”
Anya hopped onto the couch where Yor was sitting, she had recovered the bubbly energy from earlier that she had. The silence was awkward, but neither side could think of anything to talk about. Kiyotaka had previously turned his phone on silent, but there was the urge in the back of his mind to check it despite knowing that it would be rude. He wondered how Kei was doing since she had been dropped off almost an hour before him. They wouldn't have many opportunities to have dates outside of school for the next month, this disappointed him slightly. He would be losing vital time before winter break.
After a lengthy period of silence where Kiyotaka simply thought about the future, dinner was finally ready.
"I hope you enjoy. I made Japanese dishes today just so that you would be more comfortable adjusting.”
“Thank you for your consideration,” he was actually curious to try food from Ostania but his curiosity could wait. He was used to being patient.
They sat down around the table, Anya wasting no time digging into the food in front of her. Kiyotaka saw that both a fork and chopsticks had been offered to him, but seeing the dishes that were offered it would be best to use chopsticks in this case. He picked up a few things from the different plates they had laid out, Yor and Loid seemingly waiting for him to take his choice first. It only made sense, it would probably be rude to steal all of the food from a guest. Still, he felt out of place and as if he was being singled out in a way. It wasn’t anything like the persistent stares of the third years, but it was a different kind of uncomfortable. An uncomfortable feeling that made you feel like an intruder. Once he had gathered a few things on his plate and a bowl of miso soup, he lightly bowed his head towards the meal and began to eat. At this point, Loid and Yor finally began to take food for themselves.
Yor took a bite of a piece of tempura and her expression brightened, “Mm! Loid-san, you’re such a good cook. I wish I had your talent.”
Kiyotaka nodded to her statement, “I haven’t had a home cooked meal like this in a really long time.” The truth was he had never had a home cooked meal. Aside from the things that he made himself in the dorms, with his cooking skills not nearly being enough to create complicated dishes, a meal cooked for him like this was something new to him. Everything at the cafeteria was still good, but it would never really be the same as this. That wasn’t even mentioning the White Room which had extremely strict meals and nutrition requirements.
Anya began to stare at him once again while he was eating, slightly creeping him out. The only time he had been in contact with normal children was during the cultural festival the month before, and even then the target consumers for the maid cafe were not children. Perhaps this was normal, it’s not as if he would know. She suddenly looked alarmed and went back to putting her full attention on eating.
Loid spoke up, attempting to break the silence a bit, “So, Kiyotaka, we were given your OAA evaluation when we were first choosing a student to house for the exchange program. You seem to be a very well rounded student, are there any particular things you excel or fail in?”
He finished chewing before answering. “Math is definitely my strongest subject, but history would probably be my weakest. Too many events to memorize.” The extent of how strong or weak he was in each would be a mystery, but those were his honest opinions.
Loid let out a polite laugh, “Ah, Anya isn’t very good at math. Though considering how difficult the curriculum at Eden is for even a first grader, it’s not too surprising.”
“I wonder how difficult it would be for a second year student there. I’ve never been great at school so I think I would just flunk out in a few weeks,” Yor mentioned.
There was a full minute of silence while they continued to eat. Loid looked over at Yor and nodded slightly with a caring look on his face. “I’m not sure if you noticed, but we’re not really a normal family. Not as in we do weird things, but the situation is a bit complicated.”
Kiyotaka looked up, “I don’t mind either way.”
“That’s good to know. My wife died a few years ago leaving it as just Anya and I. Yor and I met around a year ago and we got married soon after. I don’t want it to seem strange to you if we act differently from most families, so that’s why I’m telling you this.”
Kiyotaka still had a lingering feeling that something else was going on within this family, but he couldn’t judge from just his initial observations at this stage. “I was wondering about the honorifics a bit, but I’m glad you let me know.”
Yor stuttered a few words out, “Uhm, Kiyotaka-kun, do you mind me asking what your family is like? I’m sure you’ve been away from them for a while, so it must be difficult.”
Difficult, huh? If anything he was feeling better than ever now that he had seized his freedom for the first time in his life. While thinking about his family, a memory of his father in the White Room flashed through his mind. He was unsure of whether to tell the truth, but he decided there wasn’t much harm in explaining it in a vague enough way to where it could be considered normal. Many children have difficult relationships with their parents, it would be nothing out of the ordinary if he was to have a similar situation.
“My family… I don’t have any siblings, and I never knew my mother. I also have a difficult relationship with my father, but that’s about all.” He said it nonchalantly, he didn’t want a big deal being made out of his situation.
Yor’s face turned red, “Ah! I’m so sorry for asking you that question. I-I didn’t know.”
“Don’t worry about it, my family situation isn’t really a big deal to me.” Yor sighed a breath of relief while still sweating profusely.
Kiyotaka took another bite and suddenly felt a different gaze on him, but when he looked up everyone was still smiling back. The feeling of it went away once he had looked up, but his movement was natural enough to not make it seem weird. Anya wasn’t even paying attention, but he had already learned what her gaze felt like to him. It was just a hunch, but one of them seemed to be focused on who he was.
What question should he ask? Something natural to keep the conversation going. Even though he wasn’t a fan of small talk, he was willing to do it if necessary. “What are your jobs?”
Anya suddenly looked up in excitement, “Papa is a Spy-! Spychologist!”
Loid facepalmed lightly but remained completely calm, “Anya, we really need to teach you how to say psychologist correctly. You keep giving me a scare. But as she said, I’m a psychologist.” He smiled back at Anya, "Sometimes it's almost like she's reading your mind. She's a strange child, but she's cute." Anya sunk into her seat slightly.
“I do office work for the city,” Yor responded.
Seemingly normal answers, but Anya’s mispronunciation raised a few flags within Kiyotaka’s mind. These were all just slight theories though, he didn’t particularly care about what was going on in this family anyways. It would only be an activity to pass the time if anything.
After dinner, Kiyotaka returned to his room and set his clothes out in the drawer gently. They were given new uniforms so that they wouldn’t stand out within Eden Academy with their usual uniforms. He also found some of his school items inside, along with his bag. The school bag was decided to be the only thing that would differentiate them from the other regular students, of course other than their clear differences in complexions. He also packed some of the books that Hiyori had lent him for the trip along with other library books. Usually students wouldn’t be allowed to take these books on a trip, but Hiyori and him were exceptions due to being favorites of the library staff. It wouldn’t be enough to last him a month, especially if he had a lot of downtime, but it would suffice.
He fell down onto the bed and pulled out his phone. Over a hundred messages. He really didn’t think he was popular enough to warrant this, but when he checked the majority of them were from Kei. Horikita simply told him to update her if anything noteworthy happens, same with Hirata. There was also one message from Ryuuen that was just letting him know that he would crush him while they were here. Kiyotaka questioned for a moment how he got his number, but then saw an excited message from Ishizaki and it made sense. He opened his texts from Kei briefly, and then suddenly got a call. It was Kei.
He pressed the accept button and put it up to his ear, “Hi Kei.”
<I’ve been trying to get in touch with you for an hour!>
The sudden burst of sound from the phone hurt his ear, and he had to hold it away from his head for a second before turning it to speaker phone and setting it down. “I was eating dinner. Plus, I didn’t want to be rude by answering my phone when I had only just gotten here. My phone was on silent.”
<I guess that answer is fine… but next time you really have to let me know beforehand!>
“Alright, I’ll make sure to do that next time.”
A moment of silence passed before Kei sighed into the phone.
<Looks like we won’t have many opportunities to meet up outside of school this month. I really feel like I’m losing my time with you.>
“I could try to plan something, though it seems like you’re pretty far away from me in the city.”
<The family I’m staying with doesn’t seem to be too strict. I don’t know why they would’ve chosen someone like me if they were. What’s yours like?>
“They seem nice. I don’t know why, but I just have a feeling that something is off.”
<You should totally go with your gut Kiyotaka, you’re usually right anyways. Besides, no matter what it is you’ll predict every possibility and figure things out.>
They continued to talk for some time about what they thought things would be like, or just their general opinion of what the city was like. Once they ran out of things to talk about, the conversation gradually fell into silence. It was a comfortable silence that they were used to.
Kei checked the time.
<Normally I’m not the one to say this, but it’s getting late. We should probably go to bed.>
“Hm, I guess you’re right. I’ll talk to you tomorrow then.”
<...>
“What?”
<Aren’t you forgetting something?>
“I know what you’re talking about, but usually you’re the one who says it first so I like to give you the initiative to say it.”
<It’s still nice to know that you can say it without it having to be reciprocal!> She complained.
“Okay, okay. I love you Kei.”
<I love you too Kiyotaka!>
She hung up the phone, and Kiyotaka casually looked through the rest of the texts that she had sent. They were all very much in her style, it was cute. Before he could think about going to bed, there was a knock on the door.
“Could I enter?” The voice was one of a gentle man.
“Come in.”
Loid opened the door with a towel in his arm.
“I’m not sure if you were going to take a shower tonight, but I just thought I should provide a towel for you.”
“Thank you.”
He set it down on the dresser, but hesitated leaving the room and stood there for a moment.
“Is there something else?”
“Well, yes there actually is. This was Yor’s idea, but she offered that we should take a walk around the city tomorrow and do some things to introduce you to the area. It would be a good way to get to know each other and it would be fun.”
“I’m up for anything, if it’s what you all want to do then I’d be glad to join you.” He thought about things that normal families did, and this seemed to be one of them.
“Then I’ll be sure to let her know. Please, feel free to help yourself to anything in the house. Don’t feel like you need to ask for everything.”
“I appreciate it.” He had said thank you and things similar to it many times that day, but it was the only way he could think of how to politely respond in most scenarios.
“I’ll leave you to it then.”
Loid exited the room, leaving Kiyotaka sitting on the bed.
I don’t have the motivation to shower right now… I’ll do it tomorrow morning.
He laid down on his bed after setting an alarm for early the next day and changing into better clothes. Then, he quietly shut off the light.