It wasn't about the debt anymore.

Because, frankly, if it had been about the debt, any one of then could have easily paid it off, and Haruhi could have been done with the host club. In truth, it had never really been about the money in the first place- it was only 8 million yen, after all. They'd just imposed the debt so she could repay them for the slight inconvenience she'd caused.

But somewhere along the line, they had all just stopped bringing the debt up altogether, and while it was likely Kyouya still knew what her balance was, even he had stopped adding to it at every twist and turn. Because they all knew that, as popular as Haruhi was, no amount of added charges was going to keep her in debt, and to point that out to her was to lose her.

And that was something none of them could stand.

She was just too important to them. Commoner or not, none of them would have been the people they were today if it wasn't for her. The twins would have never expanded their horizons to include others. Honey would have never truly accepted himself in full, Mori would never have opened up (well, some, at least). Kyouya would never have realized that compassion was not a weakness.

And he would never have fallen in love.

To let her go now would be insanity. Things would utterly fall apart. They had so little time left in high school; they had to make the most of it. So they all ignored the little "debt" problem and prayed that Haruhi would never think to bring it up.

It had never been about the debt. It had always been about spending time with her

* * *

It wasn't about the debt anymore.

It had been in the beginning, of course. In the beginning, she could think of nothing she wanted more than to have the debt paid off and be free to leave. In fact, she hadn't understood why they cared so much about the money in the first place, as rich as they were.

But sometime along the way, things had changed. She had found herself looking forward to Hikaru's and Kaoru's nonsense, anticipating Honey's innocent antics and Mori's rare talkative moments, easily predicting Kyouya's logical statements and Tamaki's exuberant exclamations. And she'd realized that if she left, she'd lose irreplaceable friendships.

And that was something she couldn't stand.

They'd all taught her so much. Kyouya had taught her that under every harsh demeanor was a kind and caring soul. The twins had taught her what it was like to truly care about someone more than yourself. Honey had taught her that you could have fun in life and still be serious. Mori had taught her that sometimes words were not required.

And through Tamaki, she'd learned to love.

Obviously she couldn't leave now. She owed much more to them now than money- she owed them for every memory they'd helped create. Not that it mattered- she genuinely enjoyed hosting, seeing the smiles on all the girls' faces. So she was a good girl and kept her mouth shut about the eight million yen debt, and life carried on as always.

It wasn't about the debt anymore. Now, it was all about spending time with them.