<div class="floatleft">(http://i.imgur.com/cgFJxya.jpg)</div><strong>Name:</strong>Aoi Houtarou<br/><strong>Location:</strong>Home > Second Year Classroom<br/><strong>Tagging:</strong>Open<br/><br/><hr/><br/><strong>"Botchan."</strong><br/><br/>A soft grunt escaped the lips of seventeen year old Aoi Houtarou as he turned around in his bed, facing away from the soft, feminine voice calling out to him. His eyes remaining firmly shut, he was about to doze off into sleep once more. But then the curtains were pulled open with a slightly annoyed huff, the bright rays of sunlight pouring into the room, penetrating even his eyelids. Groaning, Houtarou pulled the blanket over his head, retreating back into tranquil darkness.<br/><br/><strong>"Botchan!"</strong>The blanket was pulled away, off his body and out of his grasp. No choice now, he thought as he ever so slowly rose upright to sit in bed, yawning deeply as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. His gaze wandered over to the grandfather clock over by the wall. Just a minute past 6:30AM it was.<br/><br/>By his bed stood a young maid (http://i.imgur.com/DEF4Cjf.jpg) carrying a somewhat irked expression on her face, the cracks in her forced smile obvious.<strong>"Geez, how long were you planning on acting so laid back, Houtarou-sama?"</strong>she said, sighing softly as she began to fold back the covers of the bed. Her name was Izayoi Mika and she was one of four maids his family had employed here at their home. She was the latest addition, having started working for them about the same time last year. If he remembered correctly, she was about twenty-four years old.<br/><br/><strong>"Forever?"</strong>the young master in question answered, a bit lamely, for a lack of a better comeback, at six thirty in the morning, as he moved off the bed. His school uniform, freshly ironed out, had been placed on a chair by the dressing screen in the corner. Moving behind the screen with uniform in hand, he calmly changed, and by the time he was done, Mika had made the large, queen-sized bed and was dusting off some of the shelves of his bookcase. With his jacket folded over his arm, Houtarou went into the bathroom attached to his bedroom next to wash up. He brushed his hair, but as usual it was a lost cause, remaining rather chaotic in appearance. Once he was done, about five minute later, he left the room and headed down to the dining room for breakfast.<br/><br/><strong>"Good morning, Houtarou-chan,"</strong>his grandfather (http://i.imgur.com/HkZgc7A.jpg) greeted him cheerfully with a smile on his face, sitting at the head of the lavishly ornamented wooden dining table his parents had imported from Europe years ago. He was a kind man, but had always been intentionally vague when it came to his past... but, at the same time, he loved telling stories about it. They were all tall tales with next to no specifics in detail, but always alluding to the possibility that he might have been a spy of some sort in the past. Naturally, Houtarou took these tales with a brick-sized slab of salt.<br/><br/><strong>"Good morning, sofu,"</strong>Houtarou responded with a stiffled yawn as he sat down at the table, joining his grandfather for breakfast, which was served by Mika not a minute later, entering via the door that lead directly into the mansion's kitchen. It was a traditional Japanese breakfast, consisting of steamed rice, miso soup, and grilled fish as the side dish. Even if his family was wealthy, his parents and grandfather seemed set on maintaining a lot of these normal Japanese customs; not that the young heir cared, though.<br/><br/><strong>"Itadakimasu,"</strong>they both said in unison, clasping their hands together as a sign of thanks for the food before they picked up their chopsticks and began to eat. As usual, it didn't take long before his grandfather began spinning off into another vague tale of grandeur. Houtarou just nodded absentmindedly, as he come to do almost naturally now. It was almost like a ritual for them now, at this point.<br/><br/>After breakfast he departed for school while his grandfather retreated to his study<del>   </del>to read, presumably. It was about a five minute drive with the family limo, which was driven by Mika. The butler recently expressed the desire to make her the family chauffeur, so she was driving him to and picking him up from school at least three days a week. Houtarou gazed lazily out the tinted window during the drive, leaning his cheek against his knuckle. He saw many other students, all on their way to school.<br/><br/><strong>"Have a good day at school, Houtarou-sama,"</strong>Mika said with a bow as she held the car door open for him, allowing him to step out with his schoolbag hanging over his shoulder.<br/><br/><strong>"Yeah, see you later..."</strong>Now that he was a second year, the stares and looks he got when stepping out the limo had lessened a bit, though it seemed the new freshmen made up for the lack of response from fellow second years and the upper classmen, pointing and gossiping softly behind his back. Houtarou simply ignored them, as he had always done, and trotted off towards the second year classroom before homeroom started. Once in his seat, he assumed a position similar to what he had in the limo, leaning his cheek against his hand as he stared out the window.<br/><br/>During the actual classes he took notes when he needed to, but didn't do much else until lunch rolled around. The bento he'd been given was homemade, but wasn't in any way extravagant or something you'd expect a rich kid to be eating. This had been more his own request, rather than something his parents or grandfather wanted. Houtarou wasn't a very big eater, so he preferred simple meals. For lunch he just had some rice with vegetables and omelette slices.<br/><br/><strong>"Itadakimasu,"</strong>he said softly as he clapped his hands together, chopsticks held in one, before he began to dig in.