"...up now. Wake up now, Master Daichi."

The deep, crackly voice of his young butler, Akino, reached his ears. Akino had been perhaps Yukio's finest investment. He was the only reason Daichi was able to get out of bed as the maids were too nice and would let him sleep in.

With a soft groan Daichi opened his eyes to see his smiling butler in suit and tie. The boy was grossly underdressed in only boxers.

"There he is. Good morning, Master Daichi," Akino greeted. Daichi hummed in response, throwing the covers off his body. "I've laid out your clothes on the dresser in case you'd like to dress yourself this time, but—"

"No," Daichi interrupted. He let out a gentle yawn, eyes fluttering closed as he sat up. "You."

"But of course, Master."

Daichi got out of bed and let Akino dress him. When he was almost done, he paused. "And for your collar today, Master Daichi?" he asked.

Daichi looked at the selection of them hanging on the wall. He had all sorts of collars and styles he'd collected over the years. However, his eyes landed quickly on the one hanging in the dead center. He pointed at it, and Akino sighed.

"Old reliable, I see. Very well."

Akino retrieved the collar and buckled it around Daichi's neck so it fit snugly. The light blue color perfectly matched his school uniform.

In a little bit Daichi stopped by the dining room to see if there was any breakfast worth having. When he arrived, neither of his parents were home, and there was nothing on the table. There were some staffs around, cleaning up.

"Breakfast?" Daichi asked, hoping one of them would know.

One of the maids simply offered him a sad smile. "Sorry, Master Daichi, but your father's instructed us to not give you any food. Oh I'm so sorry!"

Daichi's head dropped, but he quickly recovered, offering a small smile. "It's all right. I'll just be off to school then."

Soon he was in the halls of Ouran, backpack strung across one shoulder. He was enjoying his time when he noticed someone walking up to him. Tamaki Suoh.

The blond had a bright smile on his face and seemed to be in the best mood. "Hi, Daichi," he said in an airy tone. "I know you're busy, but I really think the host club would be a great place for you."

Daichi kept walking, Tamaki at his side. "Tamaki, you hardly even know me," he pointed out.

"That's not true, I—"

"And you're right," he went on. "I am busy."

Finally, after quite some awkward silence, the two made it to class, taking their seats.

The teacher came in soon after, and class went on as normal. Then, just before it was time to dismiss for lunch, the teacher looked at Daichi. "Mr. Akiyama, come see me please. Everyone else, you're dismissed."

With a bad feeling in his stomach, Daichi stayed in his desk while everyone else cleared out of the room. Once they were gone, he walked up to the teacher's desk.

"Yes, sir?" he asked.

"Yes, Mr. Akiyama. I wanted to talk to you about your recent grades in Geometry 101. I've noticed they've been slipping quite a bit. They went from 86 to 54 in only a few weeks. Care to explain?"

Daichi felt his stomach drop, his eyes flitting about the room. "Uh, y-yes, sir. You see, I— it's— not me— it's—"

"Football?" the teacher asked with a knowing look. Daichi nodded. "You're not the first student to succumb to the pressure of extracurriculurs. I'm aware of how important football is, so I'll be assigning you to a tutor."

Daichi's eyes widened. Suddenly he felt someone behind him. He turned his head and saw annoying boy from yesterday. Kyoya Ootori.

"My new pupil, Daichi Akiyama," he said with a smirk. "Such an interesting character. Free period, meet me outside the kendo gym."

Then he left. Daichi exited the room and grumbled, "Can't believe—interesting character—show you."

Still, Daichi went outside the kendo gym. He found a stone bench under the shade of a nice large green tree and set his backpack down there.

From his backpack he took out his favorite football and started playing around. The ball was a gold and black one, absolutely perfect. He'd gotten it from his mom as a present for his last birthday. That was when he turned fourteen over summer.

Daichi played for awhile before he was interrupted by Kyoya. "My apologies, I was dealing with some problem Tamaki started," he said. He took a seat on the bench, setting his heavy bag in his lap. "Let's get started then. Put that toy away. That's the reason you're failing in the first place."

With a frown, Daichi set the ball down, sitting down next to Kyoya. The other boy had out his textbook and notes already, but Daichi had nothing. "Where are your supplies?" Kyoya asked.

"Classroom," Daichi answered plainly. Why would he need his textbook and homework papers?

Kyoya sighed. "Right well, we've wasted too much time already. Just do your best to pay attention to me, okay?"

Daichi tried. He sincerely tried, but math had never been his strong suit. It was too similar to Japanese, in which he was also bad. They both involved learning. It was the same reason he was bad at history and physics. Daichi decided, halfway through Kyoya's teaching, he just wasn't meant to learn those sorts of things. If he could count and form sentences and knew that he lived in Japan, what did it matter?

As things were winding up and Kyoya was putting his things away, Daichi got up, ready to head off to football practice, when Kyoya stopped him.

"You know, Tamaki will just keep bugging you until you say yes."

Daichi paused. "How do you know?"

"I'm in the club too. He persuaded all of our reluctant members so far. Trust me, he'll get you if he wants you. Why don't you just indulge him?"

Trust him? The guy who hated football? Daichi wasn't so sure Kyoya was the one to trust on these things.