He hadn't planned on this - a reunion, if one was willing to call it that. It had a ring to it that didn't sit well with Takashi, as though the participants had been fatefully awaiting their chance meeting. He hadn't thought much about Koji since they parted ways in middle school. To say he'd been more than ambiguously curious about the boy in all that time was giving him far too much credit.

    So he was a host.

    The rumors often flitted through the halls of their school: Taguchi got caught in the red-light district, I saw Taguchi and this woman walking together, Taguchi this, Taguchi that. Takashi hadn't put any significant amount of stock into them, unconcerned with the goings-on of a stranger, and even less so when it came to someone so obviously depraved. It was a passing thought at most, some silent acknowledgement that this could be happening, and that someone might be pursuing such a life. He hadn't cared, one way or the other - and then he'd found out it was Koji.

    It wasn't his business, he supposed. Koji was free to act as he wished. As long as Takashi and Mayumi were unaffected, Koji would do whatever he damn well pleased.

    Still--

    "Niisan!"

Takashi perked up, spotting Mayumi's familiar face emerging from the crowd of students rushing through the gates. She hesitated a moment, seeing someone with him, but then she was running to meet him, her smile wide and unabashed.

"Hey, squirt," he said, ruffling her hair once she'd gotten in range. She pouted at him, swatting his hand away with mock irritation, before turning her violet-eyed gaze on Koji.

"Uh, I know you..." she murmured, pursing her lips.

Koji grinned, squatting down a bit so he was Mayumi's height.

"I'm hurt you don't remember, Cutie-chan," Koji teased. "I'm your niisan's friend, Koji. I used to come over a lot, remember?"

"Koji-san?" Mayumi blinked, her face lighting up with recognition. She clapped excitedly, grabbing onto her brother's hand and shaking it. "You found Koji-san!" she cheered. "That's awesome, niisan! Now you won't be lonely anymore!"

Takashi made a face, clearly disagreeing with her words, but he didn't pull away from her.

"I'm not lonely, Mayumi."

"You are, too! Yoshi-san isn't around most of the time, and you work too much to make other friends!"

"...I'm not saying you're wrong about that, but it doesn't make me lonely."

"Does too!"

"Lonely, huh?" Koji joked, eyes shining with amusement as he straightened. Completely ignoring Takashi's protest, he turned a blinding smile on Mayumi. "Well, I can certainly try to help with that. Can't do it on my own, though. What d'ya think, Cutie-chan? Should me and you work together to cure this idiot's loneliness?"

Releasing her brother's hand, Mayumi leaped at Koji, wrapping her arms around his middle and squeezing.

"Yeah, let's do it!" she grinned, turning her cheek against Koji's stomach to stick her tongue out at Takashi, who stuck his out right back at her. "Koji-san and I'll help you, niisan."

Takashi stepped forward, pressing his hand lightly against Mayumi's head to force her eyes down as he glared at Koji.

"I'd rather you not brainwash my little sister," he said.

"It's not brainwashing," Koji protested, laughter just beneath his mock-indignation. "It's a genuine offer! You just said I had a good heart, Iwata. How can someone with a good heart turn down someone this adorable? Is that something good-hearted people do?"

"...I'm not lonely."

Takashi stepped away from Koji, tugging gently at Mayumi's arms to pull her off him. She obliged with only a pout in his direction, and then she was insisting that he pick her up, even though she was too old for that.

He crouched down anyway, and she climbed onto his back with a whoop of triumph.

"You walking home with us?" he asked once he'd straightened up to face Koji again.

Koji shrugged.

"Why not? Don't have to be to work for a few hours, and I did just make a promise to Cutie-chan to hang out with you guys more."

Nodding, Takashi started towards home, bouncing Mayumi slightly to get her giggling as she wrapped her arms tight around his neck.

"Koji-san~" she chirped, turning her full-wattage grin on him. "If we're gonna make sure niisan isn't lonely, are we gonna get him a girlfriend?"

Takashi groaned. Loudly.

Koji made a show of thinking this over, oblivious to the not-so-subtle glare Takashi had fixed on him.

"Hm... that might be tough... Your brother's cute, but he's not got a winning personality there, you know?" Koji joked, then made a show of snapping his fingers. "I've got it! I'm pretty cute myself. How about me, hm? It makes sense, given how we're working together to cure his loneliness."

Takashi shot him a look, but pure delight was already dawning on Mayumi's face, and she pointedly tightened the grip she had on his neck.

"Koji-san is pretty, yeah! And you like him, niisan, it's perfect!"

"It's not perfect. He's an--" No, he couldn't say that around Mayumi, she'd hit him for it. "He's not my type, Mayumi."

Koji made a point of ignoring Takashi, beaming purely at Mayumi.

"Then it's settled," he announced. "I'll be Iwata's girlfriend. Oh, but I guess that means I should be less formal, huh? Hm... now about... Taka-kun? That sounds nice and affectionate. Perfect."

"Call me Taka-kun and I'll sic the CCG on you," Takashi said flatly, his eyes narrowed irritably.

"Don't be so mean to Koji-san, niisan! Wait, can I call you Koji-nii, then?"

"No, you can't."

"I wasn't talking to you, niisan!"

"Sure," Koji agreed, skipping right over the siblings' bickering. "I've got no problem with that. I've always wanted a little sister, anyways! And if Taka-kun is off limits... then Takashi it is!"

That seemingly settled, Koji simply beamed at the other boy, enjoying the situation far too much for his own good.

"Koji," Takashi growled, deciding that if the boy was going to forgo formalities for such a stupid reason, then he might as well, too. "Don't encourage her--"

"Yay! Koji-nii's the best!"

"Aw, I'm glad you think so," Koji replied, once again ignoring Takashi's request. "Better than Takashi? Or even with him?"

Mayumi furrowed her brows, apparently taking this inquiry quite seriously. Takashi watched her over his shoulder, uninterested in Koji's question, really, but curious how she'd go about answering. He knew she loved him more than most anything - she told him so practically every night.

"Hm... even!" Mayumi eventually decided, bobbing her head as if to emphasize a point. "But niisan's handsomer! The girls in my class say he's dreeeaaaammmmy," she added, giggling as she noticed the touch of red that had crept into the tips of her brother's ears. "I always tell them he's gross, 'cause he drools when he sleeps, but whatever. They can think what they want."

"Hm... dreamy, huh?"

Koji made a show of putting a finger beneath his chin and studying Takashi critically. After a moment he nodded, putting a pleased look on his face.

"As Takashi's girlfriend, I completely agree. He's very dreamy. Just my type."

"Ew, you think so, too?" Mayumi looked scandalized for a heartbeat before dissolving into high-pitched laughter, most of which was at her brother's expense, as the red she'd seen before had migrated down to the back of his neck.

"You're not my girlfriend. He's not, Mayumi," Takashi muttered when she flicked the back of his head. "He's a guy, squirt, not a girl. And anyway, I never agreed to this."

Koji waved off Takashi's words in a dramatic manner.

"That's because we didn't ask you," he replied smugly. "Cutie-chan and I decided it. And I don't see how it matters that I'm a guy. Mayumi wanted to get you a girlfriend and I volunteered. You should be happy."

"You shouldn't be so quick to call yourself that," Takashi said tightly. He spared a glance at Koji, eyes roving from top to bottom. "Unless there's something you've figured out since middle school?"

Mayumi, clearly bemused, chose not to back up Koji on this particular point, and instead rested her head on Takashi's shoulder to watch the two of them.

Koji shrugged, an easy smile on his lips.

"If you must know, I've decided to get the top spot at work," he said, pointedly leaving his title out given their current audience. "So, I'm not gonna worry about gender. And it's not like it's ever really mattered to me, anyways. That bother you?"

"It's not that it bothers me, no," Takashi answered, sighing. "But if you date a guy, you're his boyfriend, not his girlfriend."

He paused, his eyes flitting over to Koji as if he'd made some horrible mistake.

"I still haven't agreed to this, I just can't stand you mislabeling yourself."

"Oh. I just went with girlfriend to suit what Cutie-chan said," Koji replied, clearly beaming in response to Takashi's reaction. "If it bothers you that much, I'll just call myself your boyfriend, then."

"Boyfriend?" Mayumi echoed, eyes curiously wide. "I haven't heard of that before - a boyfriend and a boyfriend. Sounds nice, though," she beamed.

"It doesn't matter, Mayumi. We're not dating."

"Why not?"

"I don't like Koji."

"Yes you do! He used to come over all the time! And you'd make him coffee!"

"I make you coffee, don't I?"

"But Koji-nii's was special," Mayumi insisted with childish intensity.

"You heard her," Koji quipped. "Mine was special."

"It wasn't special," Takashi bit out. "I just... you didn't used to look like you ate enough, so I added some blood to the coffee to help tide you over. That's all."

It was a trick he used on himself, these days, when he couldn't escape work and the exhaustion that accompanied it to hunt on a regular basis. For Mayumi, he begged scraps off some of the other ghouls that lived in their neighborhood, even if it killed his pride.

He had no intention of letting his little sister go hungry, though, and for that reason he'd sacrifice nearly anything.

"Sounds awful special to me," Koji teased. Takashi didn't deign to offer up a response.

As if the reminder of their past had stirred something in him, Takashi glanced over at Koji again, taking his time to note changes beside the obvious. Koji was taller, yes, but was he thinner? He'd put on muscle, but his cheeks weren't quite as full.

Takashi frowned.

"It's not any different from before, is it?" he asked, all traces of his earlier hostility gone. "And I was right to help you out then, wasn't it?"

"I'm not starving, if that's what you're asking," Koji replied lightly. "And... yeah, maybe. I was getting by, even then, but I guess not as well as I could have been." Koji paused, an airy smile curling his lips as he bumped shoulders with Takashi, careful of Mayumi's clinging arms. "Why, worried?" he teased.

"We were friends, idiot. I'll worry about you if I damn well please."

Takashi was like that, much to his own chagrin. He didn't have very many people he did care about, but Koji had been one of them, and apparently, even years apart couldn't break that bond that had tethered them together in middle school.

"Were?" Koji mocked playfully, putting on a hurt face. "I'm wounded, I really am, that you'd use the past tense, Takashi."

"I haven't decided if you're worth keeping around just yet," Takashi replied, nonchalant, as he finally realized that Mayumi's prolonged silence might be something that should concern him. He tipped his head back, letting it connect with hers gently - all he got for his troubles was a half-hearted groan and her snuggling deeper into his shoulder.

She'd fallen asleep. How cute.

"Prove to me that you're worth it, Koji," he said, smirking a little, his voice lowered now so as not to wake his sister. "And I'll let you stick around. Maybe you can babysit for me."

"That doesn't sound that bad," Koji replied, nonplussed. "She does like me. As much as you, I might add."

"Mayumi's a handful when she's not tired. Trust me. And she likes you more than I do," he added, because he had to.

Koji pouted dramatically, all big eyes and wobbly lips, his hand clutching at his chest.

"You openly admit your little sister your boyfriend better than you do... for shame."

Takashi just rolled his eyes, shifting Mayumi ever so slightly so that she was maybe a little more comfortable on his back.

"All I'm saying is the truth," he said, then, nudging lightly at Koji's ribs with his elbow, he added, "If you earn it, maybe I'll like you more. The choice is yours, though, Koji."

"Course I'll choose to stick around," Koji replied chipperly, a smile on his lips. "I told Cutie-chan I would, didn't I? I'd have to be heartless to break a promise to a kid like her."

"Yeah," Takashi agreed fondly, his eyes warm and bright as he looked down at Mayumi, who slept soundly despite the bumpy ride he provided for her. "You'd be a real monster if you did that."

"Exactly. So, you're stuck with me," Koji announced. "And whatever Cutie-chan decides of us."

"It's not like she can make me like you," Takashi sighed. "At least, not in that way. I might be her doting older brother, but I do have some semblance of control over my own emotions."

Takashi paused. Was this even worth adding?

Looking at Koji, seeing the smile he so blatantly displayed - the same smile from before, when things hadn't been quite so difficult...

"If that's something you want, Koji, then it's going to be your job to change my mind."

Koji seemed to consider this for a moment, a mischievous edge taking over his smile.

"That sounds like a challenge..." he mused. "I'll take it. I am a host, after all."

Takashi snorted. Which - well, he hadn't done that in a while, had he?

"That's false charm, Koji. Something you throw away on desperate men and women. I can see through that a mile away." He grinned, then, and he might have looked just a little more like Mayumi when he did it. "Making me fall for you isn't going to be that easy."

Koji smirked, picking up his pace so he could swing in front of Takashi, putting very little distance between the two of them.

"So, if it's real, serious charm?" he teased. "If I'm serious, then what?"

Takashi just kept grinning.

"If it's serious? Then you have a shot after all."

That said, he dodged around Koji, tightening the grip he held on Mayumi as he started running.

And if Koji wanted to chase after him, that was his decision to make.