I Bring An Offering

[ENOMOTO HIROKI]

Amaya never considered Eiji as a potential lover, or a threat, in fact, he wasn’t too bright either. Sure, he was shining in his own way, but not a way that would force her to wear shades, unlike Hiroki there but no one in the house shone more than that darn Yoshihiro. Though, she had to stay focused and tell her plan for the structure that she had for Eiji. She did wish that he would approve of it. She didn’t care if Eiji wanted to tell the others what they were working about, it wasn’t something she considered top secret, though, she started wondering if they could work out another anatomy model but it was probably too far from what he could do for now. You had to start small to be big, she thought.

Hiroki smiled at the answer that Eiji gave him, he knew that he shouldn’t have to worry about his friend, he hoped that it would be enough to convince his friends that Eiji was fine and wouldn’t try to flirt with Amaya. He was certain that he would have known if it wasn’t the case. Besides, wasn’t he trying experiments? Oh, hopefully, he wouldn’t do that on her either. Was that something he was doing specifically to him? He’d have to make sure without telling the others what he had done with him. That was the best option. “Ah, no wonder why you asked for her help, I will leave you two at it then.”

Hiroki was totally oblivious to the fact that Eiji was awed by his cuteness, even Amaya seemed to be affected by it but he didn’t mind it much if it meant that she wouldn’t lash out and he nodded at his friend when he questioned him. “Yes, I was practicing my lines and intend to do that all day but if you want to hang out once you’re done that’s good, just let me know.” He assured his friend.

[IWASE EIJI]

Eiji had no idea Amaya compared people based on their level of brightness. If that was the measure to use, maybe Eiji would have found it easier to realize how he felt. For Amaya had a dark aura sure, but shone in a way as well. But the one that shone the brightest had to be Hiroki, and not just as those in the room. In that house, he would say. Or even amongst the students he knew from school. Maybe some would be very bright as well, but Hiroki would be right there with them at the top. But Eiji didn't know that way to measure people.

He saw no reason to keep his presence a secret and Amaya was not arguing with him, so he had no reason to think she wanted to keep it a secret. He knew Hiroki, it was fair to assume he might mention it to him at one point. And it was not like Eiji thought they were doing anything reprehensible. Far from it, she was helping him on a passion project of his. That passion being robots. Nothing to be scared about.

He nodded when Hiroki understood what they were doing. Maybe some others would wonder why ask Amaya about robots when that didn't seem to be something she liked, but Eiji would have no problem explaining further. There was nothing to hide there. And it was the only thing he wanted to work on with Amaya. His other 'passion project' of sort was about only one person. A person standing in front of him right now.

He was relieved to know his friend would be here all day. They could talk together a bit afterward. "I'll come see you before I go," he promsied. He might have intended to experiment with Hiroki while coming here, but his main focus remained the bird structure he wanted to build. And yet, despite knowing that he could see him at any moment, Eiji went through his bag to pull out the other box from the bakery. "I brought one for you too. There was one left of this one and I think you like it?" he said as he handed the box to him. He remembered Hiroki picking that one when they went before with his sister Akemi. Eiji felt a bit awkward after that and dared not look at Hiroki. Instead, he tried to cover this by sitting back at the table and nod, as if to say goodbye to him.

[ENOMOTO HIROKI]

Hiroki considered himself lucky that Amaya was not minding his company too much. It was probably one of the few good things about being cute, he supposed, even if it annoyed him quite a lot. He had been able to have conversations with Amaya, despite her giving him the creeps on various occasions in the past. She still did though, don’t get him wrong! But mostly when she was mad and when Yoshihiro was the one causing her trouble; he’d rather stay out of the way when that happened. Speaking of which, he still smiled at the girl to make sure she wouldn’t want to kick him out and was glad to be right about Eiji-kun’s intentions. Damn his friends for having him think otherwise, he knew his friends well!

“Sure, you know where my room is, right?” He did show him the way once or twice, so he hoped his friend remembered, otherwise, he could always ask Amaya or the guys if he needed help finding his way through the house. He noticed the box that Eiji handed to him and grinned at his friend. “Really?! Thanks, I’ll keep that for lunch!” He said thanks to his friend, happy that he thought of him for a piece of cake. Amaya seemed thoughtful for a bit before she looked at Eiji. “If you want, you can stay with us for lunch.” She suggested. He did gift them with cakes, she was more inclined to cook for more people. Hiroki’s face brightened up at the suggestion. “That’s a great idea, you’ll see, if you agree and your parents let you, Amaya-chan’s cooking is wonderful!” He added, excited at the idea to have a friend longer than he first thought.

[IWASE EIJI]

Only now that he offered the cake to Hiroki did Eiji start to fee embarrassed. He did that in front of someone else! What would Amaya think? But he did this to further his research, something he mentioned to Hiroki. He was right in his assessment, he'll have to note it later on. Hiroki was so cute, he didn't need no girl, none could reach his level. He was chirping, so happy of the gift without even having a look at which one it was exactly. And he invited Eiji to his room later. Now, Eiji knew it was all innocent and he nodded even if he was not entirely sure he remembered. He had a vague idea of where to go, that should be enough, especially with so many people around to help just in case.

He was not expecting an inviting to lunch, even more so coming from Amaya. She was being nice. he didn't know if she assumed it would take a while for them to work, or if she assumed something out of what she just witnessed. It was awkward and it would be even more so if he had to explain that he only wanted to research something, he did not have any views on Hiroki. Saying it like that in front of Hiroki would add to the embarrassment too for sure.

Hiroki sounded really happy about the prospect. He didn't think his parents would say anything about it. Their kids were spending a lot of time outside of the house, for cub activities and studies. "I don't want to impose..." he began to say, trailing off. They did offer. "But if our work takes us that much time and you are fine with it, then I will, thank you."

[ENOMOTO HIROKI]

Hiroki was happy for various reasons; first, Eiji-kun gifted him with a cake and second, he seemed to be willing to spend time with Amaya-chan. If people kept going like that, her peers might see that she wasn’t someone as bad as what they first thought she’d be. She could be a caring person, but rarely was showing that side. She might enjoy horror and gore stuff a bit too much for her own good but hey, he supposed they all had their passions, just like Eiji-kun had with robots. It wasn’t as bad as this.

He and Amaya were both looking at Eiji, waiting for an answer as Amaya would need to think of a meal that would make everyone happy. She wasn’t sure what Eiji liked or if he was allergic to food. She would have to question him on the matter before she’d start cooking but that gave her time, she could think it through when they were working on his project.

“You’re not.” They both said in unison, which was a strange first. For once, Hiroki enjoyed his powers of cuteness and wasn’t complaining about these. Hiroki grinned and stood up, grabbing his cake. “Wonderful, then I’ll leave you two to your work, to work on my lines.” He said before waving at them and going to the room’s exit to find the boys. “See? He is not a pervert like you.” He said to Hideo. He could barely imagine Eiji having second thoughts with a person, let alone with him. Osamu remained thoughtful for a moment. “That’s true that Amaya-san is the best person if you want to know about a structure.” Eiji was certainly referring to bones there and she ought to be the best source he had.

[IWASE EIJI]

Hiroki looked surprised when he talked in unison with Amaya. To Eiji, it wasn't something too weird to do, he used to do that a lot with Akemi when they were younger.Sure, Hiroki and Amaya were not twins, but it was not a unique enough comment for it not to be plausible to happen. Eiji nodded when Hiroki said he would leave them. "Later," he said as he too went back to work. He pulled stuff from his bag, explaining to Amaya how he brought a bunch of material he uses so they could also determine what would be best to create the skeleton and joints.

The others were waiting outside of the room, away enough to feel safe. Amaya had apaprently not notice any of them. It did mean they couldn't hear well enough what was going on, but neither of them were willing to get closer to have a listen. Eiji returned, Yoshihiro and Hideo both straightened up and waited for him to join and tell them what happened. His first reply was aimed at Hideo who merely shrugged. "I will not apologize for this. it may be Amaya but she's still a girl, and he's a guy. We can't leave them alone together without checking for certain." Yoshihiro didn't know if he really expected Eiji to do anything towards Amaya. No doubt Hideo thought the same deep down inside. But it was weird to have someone, anyone, want to talk to Amaya in particular. It never happened ever since they were here. Osamu was considering what Eiji came here for, bringing back structure. "You mean like bones? I guess, but what is he planning to do with bones? It's not like you cannot find that on the internet, no? It could have been just an excuse." "You're saying that because you'd use that as an excuse," Yoshihiro pointed out. Hideo did not object. it really was why he said that. He then nodded at the box Hiroki had in his hands. "And what do you have in here?"

[ENOMOTO HIROKI]

Hiroki smiled one last time at the uncanny duo and made his way towards his group of friends who were doing assumptions as of why would Eiji-kun be there for Amaya. Wasn’t it in a way, similar to why Matsumi came to talk to Amaya in the first place? Luckily for him, Osamu was the first one to concede to what Hiroki was saying of his friend Eiji. After all, wasn’t he the best placed to know of his intentions? He could barely imagine Eiji as someone flirtatious, at least, not on the same level as Hideo was and that was a certainty.

Osamu and Hiroki had to agree on the matter, Amaya was still a girl despite what they could say. She might get attention from boys eventually if she was letting herself shine the way she deserved but they kept that thought to themselves. Sure, he might be wanting to ‘test’ a few things regarding his feelings but he doubted he’d have enough guts to do that with Amaya. There might be times when she would freeze but she doubted that this would be one of those, right?

Hiroki and Osamu both nodded in unison to what Yoshihiro said until their attention went on the cake that Eiji gifted him with. “That? It’s a cake.” He said, he didn’t think there was anything more to it than just getting one by default since he went to give one to Amaya too.

[YAMAGUCHI HIDEO]

"If you want to eat it now, I don't mind," Eiji told Amaya, pointing at the cake. Maybe she thought it would be good with the tea Hiroki brought them. Or she could put it away if she prefered. He was fine taking a few minutes for her to do that if she wanted, as he explained that he pulled out different materials so he could decide in what building the structure and she could have a look too. He wanted to see if he could make one with joints that were articulated first before worrying about the wiring. Either way, he was curious as to what she made for him.

Hiroki wanted to give the benefit of the doubt to his friend. Maybe it was warranted. But it was hard to believe that anyone wanted to spend with her. One could argue it was then equally weird to assume someone would want to flirt with her, but the question remained, why did he come to see her? Hiroki seemed not to find the excuse strange. Hideo figured he would have to accept it. "You don't seem too bothered by it," Hideo said as he looked at Yoshihiro, implyiing he should be jealous. "Why should I?" he argued back. But he also found it strange. Why was Hiroki's friend here? Was he really trying to flirt with Amaya? Now that Hideo suggested it, he wondered.

The attention was back on Hiroki, as Hideo noticed the box in his hands. He said it was a cake. "Which one of you is he trying to flirt with?" he let out. He was not serious with this comment, he was merely pointing out the fact that he could be using an excuse to spend time with Amaya and now was offering gifts to Hiroki. Both were ways one could flirt. Yoshihiro also didn't take that comment seriously, except maybe to show how weird that Eiji boy was.

[TSUKINA AMAYA]

Amaya looked at the cake that Eiji pointed at and shook her head. It might go well with tea but it would ruin her meal and she didn’t want to waste food..even though considering the number of boys there were around here it would certainly not be put to waste. “We can start working on your project.” She decided, besides, that was the reason he came here. She didn’t mind Hiroki being around them, aware that he was one of his friends, it was natural that he would inquire about Eiji’s presence. She was more bothered by the other boys and they were better to be at a safe distance if they didn’t want to endure her wrath.

Osamu was just as surprised as Yoshihiro and Hideo were for Amaya to bring another friend home. It was a first, but it was going in the right direction. Didn’t her aunt ask them to protect her, and help her socialize along the way? It was going well, and he saw that as an opportunity for her to be more normal he reminded the two others. Hiroki didn’t need convincing, as he was glad that Eiji decided to go ask her for advice. Hiroki couldn’t help but grin at Hideo’s comment towards Yoshihiro. “I would have believed it if it wasn’t you who urge me to check on them.” He said towards Hideo. Though, it had him and Osamu wondering if Yoshihiro was indeed jealous or not.

He blinked through when Hideo stared at his cake and commented it. “What do you mean? We’re friends.” He said with a shrug. “He loves robots just as much as Amaya-chan loves horror stuff.” He said, though it might not help them get a better opinion of Eiji. “I don’t think he has a thing for Amaya, I would have figured it out otherwise.” He added. Never had Eiji questioned him over Amaya even when he brought her up in the conversation.

[IWASE EIJI]

Amaya chose to focus on work instead. Eiji was fine with it. She could eat the cake whenever she wanted. He offered it to her, it was her to do whatever she wanted with it now. He just hoped none of the guys would steal it. But they ought to know, right? Wait, only Hiroki might have seen it, and it was if he heard Eiji offering it to her or paid attention to the box on the table, similar to the one he handed him. Still, wouldn't it be logical that someone bought that cake, someone that wasn't them? It was a small box, it clearly contained only one part. He thought it would be fine. He didn't know the guys in here. If she decided they should work now, they would. He sat there ready to look at the sketches she made and hear her explanations, offering questions and suggestions as they went along, unaware of what was going on not all that far from them.

Hiroki was glad that his friend was here. He made it sound as though it was no different than Matsumi. In a way, it was true. Someone here brought a friend hoping they could socialize with Amaya. But it was also different. In big part because he was a guy. Hiroki made it sound as though Hideo was the one jealous. Now, that was something none of them could believe, but he still felt the need to defend himself. "That is only because we cannot let a guy we don't know well enough alone with her. Who's to say what could happen and in the end we'll be the ones punished by her aunt," he argued. The woman could be scary, and Hideo didn't want her to come rattling at his parents who would find it as another reason to despair at their son's lack of serious. They already went through that though, when they convinced Hiroki to go see what it was all about.

Hideo was not expecting a reply from Hiroki but he still did, arguing that Eiji was just a friend. "I don't give cakes to my friend," Hideo objected. Yoshihiro had to agree to that point, but he still didn't think Eiji was flirting on the young man. Hiroki tried to describe his friend to them. "What interest does Amaya have for robots?" Hideo asked. That was the question. Even Yoshihiro couldn't remember a time when she had any interest for them. And he saw a few more of her horror movies than the other guys. Hiroki then said that Eiji had no interest in Amaya. Yoshihiro eyed towards the room where they were, not entirely sure. He was willing to admit as such, but there was something in the back of his mind that told him to be wary of the guy. As for Hideo, he thought it was still in response to his comment about Eiji flirting with everyone. "To be fair, I didn't think he was flirting with you. His attitude is just all over the place. Asking her help on something he loves a lot, then bring a gift, that is definitely how you flirt with someone. But then he does it with you too. He just doesn't make sense!" Hideo still didn't think EIji was a bad guy, but he had a hard time sizing him up.

[ENOMOTO HIROKI]

Amaya was busy showing the sketches she had made of the various possibilities she had thought for his bird robot, showing him different angles too in case he needed it. She couldn’t say she knew a whole lot about robots but surely it would help him to see just how he could do it. She was intrigued to see the result too if he did end up building what he wanted to do and it worked. She believed that the cake was safe too, especially if Hiroki was around, the boys would understand that it is an offering to her in exchange for her work and that they shouldn’t touch it! She wasn’t aware either that it gave them a whole different impression of Eiji.

Hiroki wasn’t ready to believe that Eiji-kun wanted to flirt with Amaya. He believed his friend when he mentioned wanting to do a robot that could fly. He might be biased but he wasn’t friends with a bunch of perverts if you forgot Hideo who was the exception to the rule. Sure, boys might be boys but he highly doubted that it was a possibility that could happen there. The arguments his friends were telling him weren’t enough to taint the impression he had of Eiji. “You might not know him well enough but I do.” He said, willing to defend Eiji and whatever intentions he could have. He knew her aunt could be scary, and it was probably where she got that scary part but Eiji wouldn’t hurt a fly. He just made sure not to mention the experiments that Eiji was doing with him. Especially when Hideo was around!

Osamu wasn’t so sure about the cakes and dates, he never did that himself, but then again, his attention was on Matsumi and he never thought that could be something she would like. It reminded him that she talked of the pastry shop the other day and established they should go there together. “What is so wrong with giving a gift? I’m sure he doesn’t mean it that way, you’ll see for yourselves.” He argued back to him.

[IWASE EIJI]

Amay's sketches were incredibly detailed, making Eiji all the ore excited over this. He could easily work with that. He asked several questions about her drawings, how she came up with that sort of design, how she thought the joints worked in certain areas. Then, of course, he could show the materials he brought, explain them, their pros and cons, how he could build it with those and the differences. In other words, Eiji was in his element and not thinking one moment just how scary Amaya may be. He was not intimidated over the fact they were sitting next to each other. He could, for the time being, forget about everything else, including Hiroki.

Hiroki was defending him in front of his friends. He said he knew EIji. They were all ready to concede that point. EIji was his friend after all. Even Yoshihiro, who went to the same school, didn't know the guy at all. Maybe it was why he found it weird than that Amaya knew him. Or what Hideo suggested earlier just refused to leave his brain and messed up with his judgement. Shouldn't they accept Hiroki's opinion. At least they did their duty by checking out. Should Amaya's aunt find out what happened, they could say they made sure to know what the boy's intentions were and that nothing happened.

He kept saying they were getting the wrong idea. And saw no problem with a gift. "Maybe he gave one as a thanks for her help," Yoshihiro suggested, not wanting to think someone was flirting with Amaya. It was just so odd. "And Hiroki?" Hideo retorted. What was the reason to give Hiroki a cake, if the only reason why he brought one to thank Amaya? Yoshihiro shrugged, not wanting to think about that. "He's his friend," was the only explanation Yoshihiro cared to give. But Hideo pointed it out just before, who gave their friends gifts like that? He still preferred to think that. It was all innocent. To show how much that conversation bothered him now, he chose to leave them. If he couldn't shut them up, he could walk away. "Your friend's weird, is all I'm saying," Hideo told Hiroki, ready to leave it at that too.

[ENOMOTO HIROKI]

Amaya wasn’t showing her drawing skills to a lot of people outside of art classes, and it was strange to her that someone was looking up to them, she asked him a few times if it was detailed enough for him. She was pretty meticulous with things she did even if she did not look like it. She could fix the guys’ clothes, as long as with hers, she could knit, mostly things for her anatomy model but who cared and she would cook and make sure every meal was delicious. She showed him what she had thought he could do with his robot and hoped that she had reached up to his expectations as she did not want to disappoint him; it was strange for her to help someone who had asked it directly. She wasn’t even mad that Hiroki might be a reason as to why they were talking about birds and robots.

Hiroki on the other hand was about to tease Yoshihiro that he was jealous and it was pointless. He didn’t think that Eiji was hitting on Amaya and if he did? Well, good for him, he’d support that even if that meant dealing with Yoshihiro’s grumpy mood because he was in denial. Luckily for him though, he pointed out what he wanted to hear. “You’re the one always adding intentions that are not always the case, who says he’s there to flirt? He’s like Amaya-chan, passionate about robots, it’s not as bad as her liking horror in general.” He added. They should be the first ones to be used to Amaya’s weirdness and why wouldn’t they be used to Eiji-kun being like that too but with robots?

[TAKAHAMA YOSHIHIRO]

Eiji had no idea how weird it felt for Amaya. If someone pointe dit out to him, he would have said it had to be because few people talked to her. He didn't think she might be self-conscious about her drawings. Even with her asking if it was detailed enough for him, he thought it was only ebcause she wanted to give him enough to work with. He still asked questions every now and then about a particular detail, ask about the anatomy of birds and her advice on certain parts. He also brought in various materials he could build the frame in to see their pros and cons based off a bird's skeleton to see which one would be best. She brought in the expertise of the visual and the structure, he brought his knowledge in robots and electronic parts. He still didn't know if he could make it fly or even glide but he thought it could be interesting. Even if it could only move like a bird, it would be quite the exploit, he thought. It might not have a lot of value in the grand scheme of things but Eiji liked to work on such projects now and again. A sort of hobby to go along with what he really wanted to do in life.

To Hiroki, the two of them working together seemed normal. He saw nothing strange in that. The others on the other hand... Hideo, and even Yoshihiro, had to admit that he didn't look like he was trying to flirt with Amaya. Unless he was trying to be super subtle and was using this as a way to get to her. Maybe others not knowing Amaya would think bringing a chocolate cake was a sign of flirting, but they knew how terrible she could be. Some cake to be on her good side sounded not as suspicious then, not when they did the same in the past whenever they upset her. "I still think it's weird to ask a horror girl about robots. Unless he wants to make a killer robot," Hideo said, without meaning it of course. No one here thought this nerd wanted to build Terminator.

Yoshihiro looked at Hiroki. "Are you the one who told him to speak with her?" After all, wasn't it why Matsumi was here? Osamu used her love for him to give Amaya a friend. Who would have thought Osamu could be this sly? Yoshihiro would ahve thought this was more a Hideo thing. It was boring to look at them, although Yoshihiro was able to see that Amaya looked interested by their work. It felt weird. He shouldn't be mad she was talking to someone, and he wasn't. It might just make one more person to look for her so he wouldn't be forced to. And yet, it was weird. "I didn't even know we had anything related to robots at school. If he's all that good at it, it's wasted there..." Yoshihiro said. Hideo seemed to agree. Yoshihiro didn't want to degrade the public school, but having so many people going to fancy schools around him, he could see how much more they had in comparison. Shouldn't Eiji be at Ouran Academy or some other fancy school if he was that smart? Maybe he was also going to a fancy cram school to compensate... But it was not Yoshihiro who would know that and he refused to go talk to him. Not because he hated Eiji, he couldn't care less for the boy, but he hated what the others claimed his attitude towards him meant.

[ENOMOTO HIROKI]

Amaya never thought that she could actually give advice to someone. How strange could it be that she could talk bones with someone? Sure, it was for Eiji-san’s robot work but she still never thought it could possibly happen unless it was with Nekozawa-san from Ouran Academy. Speaking of which, she’d have to see if she could not have yet another conversation with him as he was the one who gave her the second anatomy model that she owned and she loved that her little family grew up that fast. Luckily for her, it seemed that her work was fine enough for Eiji to work with and she was glad that he could do something about it. She gave her opinion on the items that could be used for what he wanted to do and took into account what he was saying to her too. Not really bothered by the boys who were staying at a safe distance from her work and her cake.

Hiroki shrugged at Hideo’s comments. He was happy that they found a common ground and preferred to answer to Yoshihiro. “I didn’t, he did on his own but I did talk of Amaya-chan a few times to him.” He admitted. Who wouldn’t praise her cooking when she was not around? Besides, he had no idea that they went to the same school when they first talked so he was happy that it helped Amaya get to know someone else in the long run!

“It’s not a big club, I saw them the other day but they seem to be enjoying themselves.” He said to Yoshihiro. “ Hiroki had to admit that going to a school like Ouran would open more doors for Eiji if he wanted to keep up with robotics but he also thought that he could succeed if he truly put efforts into it coming from a school like his too. “His twin is attending to the same school as mine, maybe his parents don’t have enough funds for both of them.” He was certain that was something Yoshihiro could understand. He just hoped that his friends wouldn’t bring that up to his face later.