"Gather round, gather round. Now as I am sure you have noticed, there have been rumors of my imminent retire," Kyouya spoke professionally in the center of the Choir room surrounded by Guests as well as other Hosts. It had been about a year since Tamaki and Kyouya had graduated, Tamaki being wed to the countess Eclair immediately and Kyouya staying at Ouran as a resident. The only reason Kyouya was still running the Host Club being that his father was not supporting his college education, so Kyouya had to raise the money himself and Tamaki's father let him run the Club, seeing no harm in it. Being Kyouya, it had been easy to produce the money for his education, and he was now leaving Ouran Academy for the super rich and beautiful.
"I can now tell you, regretfully, that all of the rumours are true," Kyouya continued. At this there was an open ripple through the crowd. Chatter commenced and Kyouya hastened to quiet it. "Because of my departure, I am handing the Club supervision to Hosts who have been here as long as I and have helped me in running the Club. Hikaru, Kaoru... If you will." At the end of his speech, Kyouya held his infamous black notebook out to the twins who had taken a step forward. As the gingers took the sacred notebook gently, matching looks of surprise on their faces, the room was silent. There were a few girls crying, as well as Hani, but it was not as bad as when Tamaki had said his goodbyes.
Hugs were given and eventually Kyouya waved goodbye as he walked out the door. The evening went on, minus one Tamaki and Kyouya. 350,000 a MONTH?* Hikaru and Kaoru s simultaneous cries of terror were heard, echoing throughout the Host Club s room, Guests turning in alarm to look at the ginger haired brothers. What is it, guys? Haruhi had walked up behind them nonchalantly. The twins looked shell shocked. After Mori had ran quickly and gotten them both glasses of water, and fanned them so they would not pass out, the twins could speak properly again.
Kyouya has been paying Nekozawa 350,000 a month to not ruin the Club or the choir room... Hikaru had been the one to explain. Yeah, look, it s right there in the monthly log, Kaoru stated as he held up the ominous notebook, hand shaking slightly. Kyouya had taken precaution into writing down the monthly payments in an X-Y Chart on the very last page of the book, starting at the front of the book with the expenses that they used every day, how many Guests they had, etc. etc.. There were the normal monthly payments for the Club, like food, drink, decor, and outfits for when the Hosts wore them, but about halfway down the X-Y chart, there was a row that read *Nekozawa s monthly payment*
Then Hikaru gestured to the bottom of the page. At the very bottom of the paper, there was a sentence with a stars on either side adjacent to Nekozawa s payment slot. The sentence only said, in order to keep him from wreaking havoc upon the Ouran Highschool Host Club and its properties. Haruhi s head turned to the side once she had finished reading. Huh... she wondered aloud. No wonder Nekozawa hasn t cursed the Host Club... Kyouya had been paying him not to. And with that, Haruhi left the twins to grovel in their new found miseries.
Just minutes after the discovery of the hidden payments, the main double doors to the Host Club swung open in a grand show of brilliance, the light entering the room almost literally glowing. Hani and Haruhi, who had been entertaining (most of the) Guests with cake and sweets, turned to look immediately. Mori and the Guests followed Hani and Haruhi s gaze to the doors after they saw the expressions on their faces-Hikaru and Kaoru were too absorbed in scheming about how they were going to pay the Club s expenses to notice anything(hence why most of the Guests were infatuated with Hani and Haruhi.).
Standing at the door in lumination was none other than Tamaki Suoh. His smile radiated light, his eyes glistening with emotion. Tamaki s hair was slightly longer than what he had kept it when he was still at Ouran, his eyes a slightly darker shade of aqua-blue. He was wearing a white suit, something only that Takaki could pull off on a casual day. The black tie stood out against the white of the suit; the thin, shimmering aqua-blue stripes making Tamaki s eyes sparkle more. Tamaki s voice, as charming as ever, echoed through the room, Good evening, ladies. Your King has returned. He ended the sentence with a flourished bow seconds before being bombarded by Host Club Guests, who were squealing and talking excitedly around him.
Questions like where have you been, Tamaki? , what s the real world like, Tamaki? , Tamaki, will you please sit and have a drink with us like old times? floated over to Haruhi s ears as she and Hani and Mori sat alone, staring at the crowd of fangirls, Hikaru and Kaoru still muddled in their corner. Haruhi suddenly felt slightly melancholy. Hani seemed to take notice. It s okay, Haru-Chan. Tama-Chan just can t see you, that s all. I m sure once they all settle down, he ll come right over here and fawn over you like he used to. And with that, Haruhi gave one of those small rare smiles in which Hani returned with a grin of his own.
Tamaki did stay, wooing the other girls as he used to. Eventually the afternoon wound down to a close, though, and Haruhi was left in the silence of the choir room. Although it seems illegal, had Kyouya and Tamaki not plead for Haruhi to be able to stay in said choir room when her father left her, Haruhi would have become homeless. Why the choir room as Haruhi s cave? Well, there were no more rooms in the boys dorms. And she would not be permitted into the girl s dorm even if there was room, seeing as how the school still identifies her as male.
But it was not like Haruhi cared what sex she was identified as. She preferred the solitude of the choir room, anyhow. While Haruhi had the time after school and Hosting, she would play around on the piano. And then, one day, a voice appeared. He called himself the Phantom of Music. He taught Haruhi to play the piano and after a while, she discovered that she had a particular gift for song. While her normal voice was a low, almost monotonous pitch, Haruhi had a wonderful, tone-rich soprano voice. She could sing and write songs to her hearts desire while not being judged by her peers, all alone in her little sanctuary, save the Phantom. Her Angel.
The Angel of Music.
*In The Phantom of the Opera, the sum of money Erik gets is 20,000 francs a month. That is approximately 4,000 american dollars. 4,000 american dollars is approximately 330,000 yen. To make it a neat number, I just rounded up to 350,000 yen =)
A/N: I hope you enjoyed! More to come soon, hopefully.