"I suspect all-night gaming sessions," said a familiar, beautiful voice.
I turned, discovered the three people I’d spent my nights thinking about, and decided to be glad for another chance to see them.
"This seems like an excellent opportunity for a Student Council Executive commiseration photo," Rin said. "It will remind us not to make bets about which of us would be Dux."
"A near-run competition," the counsellor said, smiling as they bracketed me. "It’s not too close to your flight time, Mikaela?"
"No, still plenty of bonus airport appreciation time to go."
We took a couple of shots, and then I packed my medal away, and thanked the handful of teachers who were in the office.
"Let’s have a cup of tea, and then we’ll give you a lift," Rin said. "I thoroughly enjoy the idea that you’re planning to fly to Peru dressed like this. Will you wear it on the walk up to Macchu Piccu?"
"I could, I suppose. These shoes aren’t bad for walking."
"Can this possibly constitute all your worldly possessions?" Kyou asked, appropriating the single battered suitcase I’d brought with me, while Bran took my backpack.
"There’s another suitcase, and two whole boxes, which I’ll collect when I come back to Helios," I said. "It felt strangely uncomfortable, packing those boxes, because I’m so used to having to keep all my things to a strict two-suitcase limit."
"Do you just throw away everything each school?" Bran asked, a little incredulously.
"Anything we want to keep permanently we send to my Nan’s. The boxes of the author’s copies of Dad’s books are threatening to completely take over her garage."
"Bran and his six monitors would never cope with two suitcases," Rin said.
"This from Mr Twenty-to-Infinity Guitars," Bran retorted.
They were all in spectacularly good moods, or chatting to hide nervousness, or both. I couldn’t decide, and followed them without comment out and along the path to the garden that had been so central to my year. It was the first time I’d walked in honestly, and passing the windows allowed me to see just how close we’d been to an entire row of teachers, every time I’d snuck through the fence.
Kyou, a little ahead, unlocked the gate and went to start the water heating. Bran arranged my backpack on top of my suitcase, then drew me over to the wide patch of clear grass in front of the climbing roses.
"When we were kids, Rin and I weren’t capable of having any kind of serious debate without an attempt to turn each other’s faces black and blue," Bran said. "Kyou started to make us sit down back-to-back, and wouldn’t let us up 'til we were done."
"Eventually, all three of us would do it whenever we argued or made big decisions," Rin said, sitting down.
"Not being able to see the gratuitous smirking does wonders for resisting the urge to choke them," Bran added, tugging my hand to prompt me to sit, my back against Rin’s.
Bemused, I allowed myself to be arranged, and watched him sit as well, back against our shoulders. Kyou calmly came out and took up the opposite side, so we sat in a plus formation. It was very odd to sit like this, gazing at the pale pink roses, but sensitive to every movement of three boys leaning against me. Rin had looked entirely relaxed and confident, but his back was tense.
"I owe you a debt, Mika," Kyou said. "And that is a very convenient thing."
"What debt?" I asked, frowning.
"Sage advice to the tune of razing things to the ground as a deterrent. Which gave me a way through, and even let me turn a trap into a massive profit. I cannot begin to describe the relief, and at the time I even told several people who asked why I was so happy that someone had given me a suggestion that more or less saved my life."
"But why is that useful?"
"Because you need accommodation near the university, and we’ve just bought a large house with several spare rooms. Offering to rent one to you is the least we can do."
I went still. He wanted me to live with them?
"Much as we’d like to, we couldn’t see a non-destructive way for the three of us to openly date you," Kyou went on. "There’s no denying that would have a massive impact on you, particularly before you’re established in your career. But giving you the status of housemate means we have every excuse to be walking around with you, meeting you for lunch, heading out on trips, and coming home together. It’s no-one’s business what we do once we get there."
"Your ambiguous actor becomes highly convenient," Rin said. "As is Bran’s so-called girlfriend, who has so thoroughly taken on a life of her own that half the school knows she’s just won a job that takes her frequently out of the city. As for Kyou and I: while I think it would be disrespectful to tell people we’re gay when we’re not, enough people already think we’re involved with each other that we’d simply have to sound a little half-hearted when we deny it, and they’d cease to wonder why we have no visible girlfriends."
"Are…" I paused. "Are you sure it’s possible for you? You’re so competitive, and—"
"We’re not competing for you," Bran said, firmly. "We want you to be our girlfriend. And then put a blindfold on you, and see if you can guess which of us touches you next."
Silence followed, a little startled, but interested. I bit my lip. The cover story was good, effective because it was true, but it didn’t mean there was no risk. Too many people were fascinated by these three for there not to be a handful who would target me just for being in their proximity. Nor, no matter what they said, could I believe I could date all three of them without teetering on the edge of a maelstrom. No jealousy? No hurt feelings?
But these past days had taught me that walking away would cost me more than I ever anticipated. And the idea of a blindfold, and the three of them…
"That sounds like I’d end up very sore," I said, after the longest pause. "We wouldn’t be able to do that too often."
Rin let out his breath. Kyou reached over and took my hand, squeezing it hard. Bran laughed, a sound that wavered strangely between carefree and full of bad intentions, and then turned around, and wrapped his arms around me.
This was close to painful. I blinked, but squeezed him back. Kyou and Rin, after a moment’s hesitation, apparently decided that this would be a turn-based round and left, heading into the summer house.
"The last few weeks have been torture," Bran said, relaxing his arms a little, though by no means ready to let me go. "Even when we finally found what seemed a safe solution, we knew we couldn’t push you if you decided not to risk it."
"How could I pass up seeing whether you really are a considerate and attentive boyfriend?"
"We’ll go on that coastal ride for our first date," he said. "There’s a spot north-east of the city I want to show you."
When he’s happy, Bran takes on a distinctly angelic air, and I thought it a good moment to kiss him, though just briefly. Having three boyfriends at the same time was going to be a juggling act.
Letting Bran go, I climbed to my feet and found Rin sitting at the picnic table, watching us with a thoughtful air. I considered him in return, then crossed to my backpack and drew out a leather-bound journal.
"Still a long way to go," I said, handing it to him. "I’m designing it so the music should accompany you as you turn the pages. Almost like storyboarding a short film, which is a bit of an experiment for me."
Rin’s eyes lit, and he opened the journal without hesitation. I sat beside him, watching his face. After four pages of maps, we began on scenes of the approach to the aeolian city: a gentle landscape where laundry stirred in the breeze, windmills circled lazily, and all the whitewashed stone structures featured some kind of spiralling curve, usually in the form of outer stairs leading up to rooftop patios. I’d played about in the outskirts for about ten pages, and had just started to move toward the towers glimpsed occasionally in backgrounds. Rin drank it in, entirely absorbed.