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Chapter Text

They were dancing. They were in each other's arms and dancing, like the night would end of they stopped, like the world wouldn't, couldn't, fall apart, as long as they held on tight and didn't let go. Hair whipped in his face, obscuring his vision momentarily before he brushed it out of the way. He blushed under his mask, figuring the stranger probably didn't have problems like this. The other's hair was wild and all over the place, yes, and a strange shade of off-white that, combined with their milky-pale skin that was just turning translucent at the edges, made him worry. Did this stranger have some sorry of disease? Would they be okay? He shivered in the night air, freezing but not wanting to admit it, having to go inside. Inside was where his mother and father were, anxious for him to choose a partner. Inside was where Souda waited, the boy his parents had deemed acceptable were he not to find a partner that night. Souda was a good guy, but he had seen the way Souda would sneak glances at Sonia, and at Tanaka. He shuddered, apparently not mentally, as the stranger stopped spinning him around. "Do you need to sit down, or go inside?" He shook his head. "If we could just sit down, that'd be great. He gestured to a conviniently located bench, perhaps placed there for just that reason. He could certainly imagine his mother doing such a thing. The stranger, not letting go of him, walked over to the bench. "Well, I guess we should..." He was so caught up in their voice he needs p barely noticed what they were implying. It wasn't smooth and low, like so many books said of their true loves', but fractured and changing in pitch every few syllables. It reminded him of rock candy, looking like it was broken, and indeed sometimes brittler, but still sharp and sweet. Then he came back to the real world. "Oh, yeah." The mask exchange at midnight. He could hear the noise from inside as gradually everyone revealed with whom they had been dancing. The stranger pulled the mask off his face, snapping the elastic in one move, and-

Hajime woke up, covered in cold sweat, tangled in his sheets. The last bit was nothing to worry about, he routinely tossed and turned in his sleep, but why was his heart going so fast? He had a moment of confusion in which he tried to remember what was going on, and then he remembered his dream. The stranger. And Souda, unfortunately. That was the one part of the dream that was true, his parents engaging him to Souda. They figured he had had plenty of time to decide. Sure, because trying to make me get married at sixteen and then, when I don't comply, forcing me to get married at seventeen is so damn reasonable. So they had given him an ultimatum: get engaged by Friday or let them choose. Technically, he still had two more days, as it was... Shit, is it Wednesday? But he had decided getting married to someone his parents liked would be better than getting married to someone he didn't know. He reached for a stand of hair, wanting to twirl it, but then he remembered. His mother had all but shaved him bald yesterday, saying 'Honestly, that long hair of yours is so ridiculous, I don't know how you get anything done with it.' Sure was easy for her to say, with long lilac waves going past her thighs, but he figured lecturing his mother on hypocrisy was perhaps not the best way to get what he wanted. A ball, hmm... An ideas was starting to form in his head one he was sure would cause him nothing but trouble. They would probably go for it. Mum's a romantic at heart and honestly, I think all Mother wants to do is make sure I'm happy, even if this is a shitty way of accomplishing that. But, this might actually work. He would throw a masked ball.

"Hey, Mum?"

Hajime figured he'd ask his mum first, as she was more likely to say yes, and she could be helpful in fighting his mother on this.

"What is it," she called from the living room. Well, the first floor one. Their estate was so large it had several living rooms, three kitchens at last count, and two bedrooms for Hajime and his mothers, respectively, a sizable amount of guest bedrooms, and the servant quarters, though those were in the basement.

"I was wondering, y'know, about the me-getting-married thing?" He carefully stepped into the room, and cleared his throat so he didn't accidentally add "and how y'all are forcing me to do it."

"Wouldn't it be so romantic," he threw in one of her favorite words for brownie points, "if we held a masked ball? Like, so I could find someone I'd actually like to marry" he kindly didn't mention Souda "and base it off personality, not who they are or their connections?"

He held his breath. His mum was a sucker for the whole 'love against the odds' schtick, and he hoped she wouldn't see the obvious problem in it.

"Okay, but on one condition." 

He let out the breath he didn't know he was holding. "What is it?" He could probably deal with it, depending on how bad it was. It was probably just something like 'you're still getting married on Saturday, whether you like it or not.'

"No Ishimondos."

Of course. He should have guessed she'd say that. Yasugiris had hated Ishimondos since, well, forever. But he couldn't help feeling that he was making a mistake. Perhaps he could invite their family, under the guise of peace, and meet the stranger he had seen in his dream. It didn't occur to him that the stranger could in fact be completely fictional, which was just as well, as in many cases, as indeed this one would, pursuing a lead had always reaped rewards. But, he couldn't help remembering the stranger's fluffy white hair like a cloud, even after he had entered a heated debate with his mother on the subject of the masked ball, or specifically three likelihood of such a thing happening. With a sigh, he readied his truth bullets and started arguing with the ultimate detective.

Chapter Text

Sonia picked a rag out of the bucket they were using to clean. "I do wonder, my dear Gundham, if there is anything more to life than this foolish rivalry."

Tanaka paused in his meticulous scouring of the window they were both sat next to. "You do realize, my beloved, that this 'foolish rivalry' of which you speak is in fact our employers' reason to live?"

"I'm not sure," she mused. "Yes, some seem to take it awfully seriously, but I do believe, given the chance, many would favor an alliance rather than this awful bickering every time one so much as sneezes."

"Such words of treason doth spout from my love's fair lips." He ruffled her hair affectionately.

"But anyways," he continued, "I would die for the chance to defend the Yasugiris, as would you."

"Well, yes, but..."

"No buts. Do this for me, please, my love?" His voice held a certain urgency. As servants, they were expendable and could easily be done away with were they to show any sign of disloyalty.

"Okay." She sounded aggrieved but did not argue the point any further.

Two people walked up, and Tanaka squared his shoulders. Sonia knew who it was, even without looking.

"Fujisaki and Nanami, how nice to see you two!"

Fujisaki looked slightly uncomfortable, while Nanami sustained her normal sleepy demeanor.

"Sonia!" Tanaka stage-whispered, sounding horrified. "They are of the Ishimondo house!"

Fujisaki shifted their feet uncomfortably. "We can leave if you'd like..."

"Not a chance! I should like some time to catch up with Chiaki, if I am permitted by her sibling, that is." She made what Tanaka called her 'hamster eyes.'

"Well, I suppose that is alright, we'll not be wanted by our masters until later."

Tanaka didn't even try to put up the illusion of being quiet. "My love, you realize you could be executed for this simple act of fraternizing."

"We can discuss this here, when my girlfriend and her sibling aren't here."

"You dare admit to such a dishonorable ass being your partner?"

Fujisaki looked red-hot with anger. "What did you say about my sister?"

"Oh, dost thou wish to fight? Then fight we shall!" He cackled and called for his for dark devas of destruction.

Saihara entered the room just as Fujisaki drew their sword. "Fujisaki, what are you doing?" He looked horrified.

"Fighting this scum who dares insult my sister's honor."

Saihara looked speechless, but not for long, as just then Ouma bounded in as though he had been following Saihara(which was in fact very likely).

"A servant, fighting for honor? What does one who forsakes honor know of it? But their sister's honor... Hmm."

"Kokichi, what as you trying to imply?"

"Me? Nothing, except perhaps that these Ishimondo scum don't know better than to keep their mouths shut."

Saihara lunged at the smaller boy as, having said his bit, attempted to escape the erupting chaos.

As Celestia Ludenburg and Kyoko Kirigiri entered the room.

"WHAT IS GOING ON IN HERE?!"

No one really noticed, though, as several others had entered the chaos before their arrival, and the only matter that was attended to was the fact that Celeste had pulled out her sword and was dueling Fujisaki.

What was, however, noticed, was the entry of Kiyotaka Ishimaru and Mondo Oowada. Mondo immediately engaged in swordplay with Kyoko, who held her ground as best she could with an opponent nearly twice her size in both width and height. Ishimaru more or less stood there, yelling at various people to "Cease this nonsense at once!"

Fuyuhiko, who had entered something during the chaos, whistled loudly, nonverbally calling for attention. The fighting stopped almost immediately.

"What is this chaos? I thought you were" he very nearly avoided saying 'men' as he shot an apologetic glance at Fujisaki "people of honor. Why would you resort to such a violent method such as bloodshed to settle such a dispute?"

Everyone looked around the room. Their comrades, from Tanaka with a bleeding scratch down his arm that looked like it would scar, to Saihara, with a black eye(Ouma looked very proud of himself), to Fujisaki, who had sustained a sizable cut to an old scar on their cheek. An almost visible wave of shame washed over them.

"I can see only one way to remedy this," continued the young prince. "Kirigiri, you are holding a party for your son's impending marriage soon, are you not?" He barely waited for the woman's nod before charging on with his sentence, not wanting to give himself a chance to think twice. "Then, the only way I see fit to handle this situation... Is to invite the Ishimondos."