"That's reassuring."

"Yeah, there's like obviously money involved—not that she can say that, not to Kokonoe or the Yamadas—but money can only do so much." He smiles, a thin predatory smile that would be jarring on Aoki's boyish face if it didn't somehow also perfectly fit. "Spinning a story can do a lot more. Mother knows how to tell a story, and Father knows how to find the best people to listen."

Subaru shivers. "Your parents sound terrifying, you know that?"

"Oh, they are. You really don't ever want to be up against them." He sounds very proud. "There are a couple of people in the country who could put up a fight, in some cases, but none of them would take this case, not even if Kokonoe Tochima himself is the one backing—why are you pulling that face."

"That snake," Subaru hisses. "That slimy snake."

"Context for the uninformed?"

"It is Kokonoe Tochima who's behind all this, fuck."

"...Kokonoe Tochima is trying to go after his son-in-law?"

"Yeah."

"Come on, that's too assholish even for an alpha."

Subaru shakes his head. "He could not countenance his son dating an omega. A poor omega—middle class, but to Kokonoe Tochima everyone else is poor—and one with such a reputation besides."

"So he wants to put Yamada in jail?"

"From everything Tōkan's told me about the man? Yeah. People have their places in society's well-oiled machine and leaving one's place is just as bad as committing a crime. Same kind of thing, to him."

"Wow is my mother going to enjoy crushing him."

Subaru lets out a strangled laugh.

Aoki grins that same sharklike grin again. "She eats men like him for breakfast. That kind of mentality right there? That makes it personal. And I wasn't joking when I said not even Kokonoe Tochima has enough money to convince anyone who can stay toe to toe with my parents to work this case. It is too obviously going to fail."

"I hope for Inori's sake you're right."

"Hey, hey, stop that." Aoki snaps his fingers in front of Subaru's face a couple of times. "You're on a date with me not with Yamada," and he's blushing a bit as he says that, "so let's change the subject from him."

He blinks a few times. "Date?"

"Oh please don't tell me you fell for my lie on Friday, do I have to make everything explicit? If you tell me you're exploring your sexuality again after growing up a bit and I tell you I'm not letting you experiment with me obviously you should plausibly deniably experiment with me anyway."

Subaru bites his lip. "Aoki, I don't, don't want to lead you on again and end up disappointing you—"

"We'll just be grownups about it, then. Take it slow, not jump to any conclusions, that shit."

"Why?"

"'Cause I have feelings for you, numbnuts. And you have feelings for me, too, you may be totally in love with your boy but you're not zero in love with me."

Subaru grimaces. "I'm not, I'm, I want to get over him."