"Happy V-" Before Renge could finish, Kyouya cut her off without so much as a glance away from his keyboard.
"Before you finish uttering that morbid greeting, may I just inform you of the fact that this whole Valentine's Day thing is incredibly overrated and tacky?"
The affect on Renge's face was immediate as her smile fell.
"Oh... I...I didn't realise..."
"Surely, Renge, it wasn't that hard to determine? I work with facts. What is the logical reasoning behind something as sentimental as Valentine's Day?" cut in Kyouya, absent-mindedly clicking through share market prices and exchange rates. As he paused to scribble some notes into his black book, Haruhi approached them, dropping a package onto Kyouya's desk as she walked past.
"Happy Valentine's Day, Kyouya-senpai."
He glanced at the packet, his glasses flashing as he examined it. His eyes darted to the other packages in Haruhi's hands. All the same size, wrapped in a similar fashion, albeit in different colours. Obligatory chocolate, then. Kyouya pocketed it.
"While I still think the holiday is tacky, I appreciate the sentiment, Haruhi. Thankyou."
"You think that Valentine's Day is tacky?" Haruhi sounded slightly surprised.
Renge noticed the crease appear in Kyouya's brow. There were six male members of the host club. Haruhi had entered the room holding only five packages. Interesting.
"The original story of Saint Valentine is admittedly admirable, and I don't mind the obligation chocolates even if it does mean the slight inconvenience of organising a return gift on White Day. And, whilst Valentine's Day always brings in good business and publicity for the club, overall I loathe the over-exposed tacky romanticism of the day."
"MOMMY! HOW COULD YOU SAY SUCH A THING?!" A grief-stricken Tamaki flew in out of nowhere, knocking over several vases on his way through. Unshed tears welled in his eyes as he grabbed Kyouya's lapel.
"How can you call yourself a host club member?! In Japan, it is a day set aside purely for the ladies to show how much they appreciate our beauty!" Tamaki let go, his hand held up to the sky and his fist clenched by his heart.
"And all around the world it is a celebration day for lovers! Love, the very substance which runs through my blood! The romance! The spontaneity! A couple could fly to Paris for the weekend! He could turn up at her doorstep with his arms full of roses!" Tamaki continued, full steam ahead. "He could appear by her bedroom window, throwing stones to get her attention, until she stands at her balcony and sees her prince awaiting below, reciting poetry-"
As he rambled on Kyouya straightened his blazer and tie, resuming his position at the keyboard. Haruhi was already handing her chocolates to Hani-senpai and Mori-senpai.
"-for today, love no longer needs to hide in secret!" He was closely watching Haruhi, who wasn't even facing him as Hani-senpai danced around her ankles. "Their declarations can be made public for all to see! It can be yelled for the rooftops! For love-"
Renge sighed, shifting the red heart-shaped package that she had been holding behind her around to her pockets.
"-unrequited love needs to be no more! Today is the day for long-repressed feelings to be confessed!"
Tamaki had shifted his gaze to Renge as she said this. Renge started to flush, but since Tamaki's eyes remained guileless, she couldn't figure out if he was purposely probing her.
"Tamaki," Kyouya cut in, "Before you continue, I'd just like to state two things. One: Valentine's Day is exploited by the multi-billion dollar corporations around the world."
"Ah!" announced Tamaki. "Actually, it is the habit of the commoners, if they wish to intend more love behind the gift, to make the chocolate themselves!"
Kyouya let out a small sigh, pushing his glasses further up the bridge of his nose.
"I'm fully aware of that. The Ootori group always sees increasing trends in food poisoning this time of year, due to those cooking attempts." Unlike Tamaki's innocent gaze, Kyouya's look at her was completed with a raised eyebrow.
Tamaki halted at the subtle hint in Kyouya's statement, but Renge was blushing hard now. Just because she wasn't a good cook! Renge found herself biting her lip, her fists clenched in anger. If he'd known the work she'd gone through last night-!
"Nice to know what you think of my cooking skills, Kyouya-senpai, said Haruhi, rejoining them now. Renge could see Tamaki's tail wagging.
"Haruhi," said Kyouya without lifting his head from the computer screen, "The whole club is well-informed of the fact that you are a very capable cook. I'm simply stating that... Perhaps not all others are."
There! From his side profile, Renge could see the faintest trace of a smirk! He was talking about her. Renge was flushing even more now.
In the corner of her eye she saw Hikaru trying to casually glance over Mori-senpai's shoulder, trying to compare chocolates, in an attempt to see just how obligatory his own was.
"By the way, Tamaki, the second thing I wanted to say," added Kyouya as he pulled out a calculator, "Is that Haruhi has given out all of her chocolates."
Tamaki gasped dramatically, staring at Haruhi's very empty hands.
"Senpai, I-"
Tamaki was tucked away in the corner, knees pulled up to his chest, rocking backwards and forwards as a cold wind passed.
"Did... you just... forget me?" he whispered in a haunted voice. "Or did you-" Tamaki seemed to choke on the words - "Did you purposely not bring your own Daddy chocolates?"
As Haruhi face-palmed, Renge resisted the urge to hit the Prince around the back of the head and instead turned to Kyouya. He ignored her.
"Yeah, well, like I was saying," Renge continued flatly, "Happy Valentine's Day."
She near-slammed the chocolates on the table and fled from the room, hoping he hadn't noticed the tears welling in her eyes.
Kyouya eyed the hand-made, -decorated box with "KYOU-KUN 3 3 3" scribbled in Renge's haphazard writing on top. He'd noticed her tears; of course he had. He'd noticed everything.
"Interesting," was all he said as he turned back to his keyboard.
XxX
As soon as the ladies enter the room, a switch inside him flicks over, grumbled Renge cynically as she watched the host club entertaining their guests, a glasses-bearing Shadow King in particular. The chocolate boxes pile was growing by the second.
Renge navigated through the people. Tamaki had insisted on a traditional love hearts theme. Red and pink streamers adorned corners of the room; the room's decor had been temporarily changed to feature marble cherub statues and glitter floated through the air from nowhere at random intervals.
Hani-senpai sat grinning next to a pile of boxes taller than Mori-senpai. Even Usa-chan had his own pile of chocolates which was suspiciously close to Hani's pile - so close that they could be confused. Hani-senpai hugged every girl who gave them a gift; Mori-senpai, however, stoicly and silently accepted every gift, bowing his thanks after each reception.
Renge watched, surprised, as one brunette stepped forward with her gift. She was blushing a bright red and handed over her blue-wrapped, green-ribbon-adorned gift without the usual tittering. To Renge's surprise, Mori-senpai was developing red cheeks to match.
"Thankyou," he said in his bass tone as the girl turned to walk away after nearly a minute of some awkward standing and staring at their respective feet.
"You're welcome," she managed to whisper before she left.
A romance for Mori? Very interesting, thought the otaku as she moved on through. Her mind worked through the possible scenarios for her magazine. She saw Haruhi looking shocked at the amount of chocolate near her, and heard a passing comment from Hikaru ("But apparently, because commoners don't have chefs, sometimes they even make chocolate themselves! We know! We couldn't believe it either!") until she reached Tamaki.
Tamaki was in full-fledged host mode.
"In France, my dear," he said as he accepted a gift from one girl and trailed his fingers gently down her jaw, "there is no White Day. On the fourteenth of February two lovers exchange gifts. Here you have given me a present; and yet as a Frenchman-" (Frenchman? He was hardly the macho type, only just a boy) I feel dishonoured, because I have no gift to present to you in return. I offer what I can my dear – only myself, all that I am, and my heart which I swear forever more shall belong to you."
Renge turned from the scene, a second later hearing a thump as the girl hit the floor in a swoon.
Boring, repetitive, unoriginal and nothing she hadn't seen before, at least from him. The only sign of his truly miserable state was the odd wistful, jealous glances he threw in the direction of Haruhi.
Kyouya gracefully accepted every gift given to him with a simple smile and a kiss to the back of the giver's hand. The word "tacky" never left his lips now. Renge's heart sunk as she saw the steady growing pile of designer boxes on Kyouya's table. Perhaps she should've bought him a box, like she'd originally intended to, and let the chef make the chocolates.
But no, she had to hear about the commoner's practise from Haruhi, where apparently making the chocolates herself showed more intended love for the receiver. And Renge had wanted to show him so badly. She'd thought that this would be a perfect opportunity but instead her scraggly box was just another gift from one of his hundreds of admirers.
If he even kept it, the thought of with a sudden shock. Maybe he opened it, took one look at it and threw it away?
Would he be that mean?
Then again, this was Kyouya... When it came to Renge his attitude of indifference occasionally put a toe across the borderline into cruelty.
"Excuse me? Renge-chan?" Some bright-eyed girls, regular readers of the Moe Journal, were gathered behind the speaker.
"Could you please tell us a little about how Valentine's Day is used to affect romantic relationships in anime?"
"Of course!" Renge visibly brightened. "Settle down ladies, I could be here for awhile. I'll start off with the classic example of Vampire Knight, where Kaname Kuran-"
As she spoke into her microphone, getting more and more intensely involved in the speech as time went on, she didn't notice Kyouya's eyes on her though the crowd.
XxX
"I'm still not sure that chocolate is a valid form of calculable payment for the club-"
"Come on, Kyouya senpai!"
"...well, since you insist..."
Kyouya grudgingly turned back to the daunting task of calculating who had "won" this year's Valentine's Day.
"It's me for sure, you should've seen those ladies flooding in and kissing my feet. I nearly drowned in a sea of chocolate!" boasted Hikaru.
Kaoru lazily examined his nails. "Ne, Hikaru, all obligatory. Or pity," he added with a smile as his twin shot him a glare. "Not only did I receive more than you, but mine came with all the intentions of true love."
Haruhi blinked. "What..."
Hikaru grinned. "Ah, of course you wouldn't know, being a newbie and all. Every year, we have a competition based on how many chocolate boxes each host receives."
"The Boss was last year's champion by a narrow margin," continued Kaoru.
"And might I just say," added Kyouya, fingers rapidly tapping across the calculator's keyboard, "How difficult it is to calculate the winner when Mori-senpai gives all of his chocolates to Hani-senpai, and Hani keeps eating them before they are fully accounted for?"
"Sorry Kyou-chan!" laughed Hani-senpai, chocolate smeared around his mouth, Usa-chan tucked securely under his arm. "But I'll re-pile all the boxes so you can still count them!"
"Wait, so Tamaki-senpai won last year..." confirmed Haruhi in a puzzled voice, "Who was second?"
"Mori-senpai was second last year," replied Kyouya, "Closely followed by Usa-chan."
Hani-senpai was humming a happy song as he picked up another box from the pile.
Mori-senpai was nearby as always, keeping a close watch on Hani-senpai, but only Renge and Kyouya noticed the blue-wrapped box with the green ribbon on top, that he continued to pass back and forth between his massive hands.
"Oh, that reminds me," added Renge, reaching into her bag. "These are for you." She passed out the pink packages with a flopsy bow to all of the host club members. Mori-senpai politely tried a piece, then pocketed the rest; Hani-senpai immediately gobbled his up; the twins, meanwhile, seemed to have more enjoyment in attaching the big floppy bows to their lapel in a manner akin to a miliatry decoration. They then proceeded to do the same to all the other bows from their accumulated chocolate-box pile until it was difficult to see the original blazer colour underneath.
Tamaki took his package from Renge rather soberly.
"Thankyou, Renge-chan," said he said absently, setting the gift down on the table in front of him, long fingers tugging at the bow on top. He watched Haruhi with large puppy-dog eyes, but she didn't seem to notice, or she was doing an excellent job pretending not to. Unfortunately for Tamaki, it was probably the former.
"The results are in..." Kyouya readjusted his glasses. "It appears that we have a new reigning champion."
Even Tamaki's head perked up upon hearing this. "What? Who is it?"
"Haruhi."
Haruhi and Tamaki were the only ones who looked really shocked.
"What? No way! Your piles were all higher than mine!" spluttered Haruhi. Tamaki's jaw had dropped as he stared openly at her, whilst whilst the twins looked interested for all of a second before returning back to their ribbons.
"No, this count is a definitive sign of your popularity," said Kyouya, sounding only mildly surprised. "The rule of Valentine's Day at the host club is that each host can only bring in a gift for one host. You've done very well, Haruhi. In light of this, I think this had better be calculated into your debt."
"Oh. Yeah." Haruhi frowned a little. When was the last time she'd actually thought about that debt?
Kyouya stood up, shutting his laptop and tucking it under his arm.
"Hani-senpai?" Kyouya gestured to the boxes in front of him. "It's all yours."
"Yippee!" As Hani-Senpai darted forward to the pile, Mori closely followed behind him with a ready toothbrush. Renge stared with her mouth open.
"How-How could you?!" she finally screeched.
The whole room seemed to come to a standstill.
"I know you don't care for Valentine's Day or, or chocolate! But can't you have the decency to at least give chocolates to Hani-senpai when I'm not here in front of you?!"
"Renge-"
"Wait! I'm not finished yet! I gave those chocolates to you, at the very least, out of friendship! You kept Haruhi's, I can see them in your pocket! I-"
When Kyouya interrupted Renge it was not in a harsh tone - it was so mich worse. Kyouya held up a hand and heaved a sigh, his tone exasperated, as if Reng was tiring him.
"Renge. Don't go comparing yourself to Haruhi. She means something very different to me."
Everyone, including Renge, was now staring in shock at Kyouya. He cared for Haruhi in a completely different way... was that...?
"A confession?" blurted Renge. "Was that a confession?"
And then the very worse thing happened. Instead of laughing it off or ignoring the statement completely, a pink tinge touched his cheeks.
It was the last straw for poor Renge, who fled not just the music room but the building completely. The rest of the club were left staring at Kyouya.
After a few moments Hani kept eating, Mori sat down and Hikaru grew bored and continued to pin ribbons to his clothes (heading lower into more inappropriate areas). Kaoru stood still for a second, watching Kyouya with an overly shrewd look, before joining his brother.
Tamaki, however, went forward to Kyouya, putting a hand on his best friend's shoulder.
"I think you've accidentally hurt her feelings. You should go apologise."
Kyouya lowered his Shadow King glare on to Tamaki.
"Why should I-"
Tamaki blinked calmly in the face of death, probably the only person immune to the look.
He was then thoroughly distracted by Haruhi pressing a white bag into his hand. He tore the package open, fumbling and nearly dropping it in his excitement.
"I was going to wait until later, senpai, but you kept staring at me with those eyes..."
Kyouya returned to putting his laptop next to his black, electronic code-locked case. Tapping the code into the keypad, he opened it and moved aside the contents already in there, sliding his laptop under Renge's heart-shaped box. He reached in for the bag next to it.
XxX
The young French girl was curled up under a tree in the garden.
"Worst Valentine's Day ever," she mumbled through her tears.
"Pessimism isn't usually your strong point, is it, Renge-chan?"
Kyouya.
Renge sat up, quickly brushing away the tears on her cheeks and trying to surreptitiously fix her hair.
"It's Valentine's Day. That's the good thing about Japan. You give chocolate to friends. No-one gets left out. In France, it's just a lover's day. It's a celebration only if you have a lover, or if you're pretty enough to have admirers. If you don't, it's the perfect day to become a pessimist-" Realising she was rambling, Renge stopped, turning her head away from him. She felt, rather than heard, him sit down next to her.
"As if you were ever lacking admirers," remarked Kyouya lightly, but Renge continued on as if he hadn't spoken.
"There you go," she muttered, "I've even become a cynic of the day, just like you."
"Hardly," smirked Kyouya. "Your 'cynicism' is based on emotions and deprivations. My cynicism is based on logic and fact."
"Logic and fact, no emotions or sentiments for the Shadow King," grumbled Renge.
Kyouya gave a chuckle.
"And I've always been the emotional type? Play acting with the girls in the host club is simple, but I've never been the best at expressing emotions. Besides, they can be cumbersome and adversely affect many a good financial decision."
"But it's more... fun."
"I'm sorry?" Kyouya inclined his head, but still Renge did not look at him.
"It's more fun," she repeated. "Life would be boring if we didn't have emotions. We'd just stick to numbers all the time. We'd never think outside the box or do anything romantic or spontaenous."
There was silence from Kyouya.
Then he stood up.
"Romantic and spontaneous?" he sighed. "Share markets and aggregate expenditure I understand. Romance and spontaneity aren't really my strong points, Renge-chan. You should know this. And what I said in the music room earlier appears to have upset you, Renge. I apologise."
Fresh tears dropped down Renge's cheeks.
"But I meant every word I said. In comparison to you, Haruhi is a very different person to me. I love her like a sister."
In the moment it took Renge to turn around, he was gone.
Left in his place were a bouquet of roses and an envelope. As she looked inside, Renge could hear Tamaki's (obnoxious and annoying) voice in her head.
"The romance! The spontaneity! A couple could fly to Paris for the weekend! He could turn up at her doorstep with his arms full of roses!" Kyouya had both presented her with roses and two plane tickets to Paris, as well as two tickets for Disneyland.
In the envelope there was also a slip of paper with Kyouya's perfect, precise handwriting on it.
It would be the highest honour for me if you were to accept my proposition.
His propositon? What was this, a business merger? And what proposition-
The realisation hit her. What question did millions of people pose around the world on this very day?
"Yes, I'll be your Valentine," whispered Renge.
I've never been the best at expressing emotions.
And I shouldn't really expect you to be, thought Renge. I should be better at reading the subtle signs you're subconsciously sending me. Because you'll never be obvious like Tamaki, thank God, but that just means I've got to be a bit more observant.
Kyouya thought he had made a smooth escape as he walked across the grounds but mid-thought Renge glomped him from behind and she leaned forward to plant a kiss on his cheek. From the windows of the building in front of them, Kyouya could see four very eager host club member faces plastered to the window, with only the hulking figure of Mori and Haruhi standing back.
Logic and facts. The fact was that Renge loved romance and spontaneity, thought Kyouya as he found himself sliding his arms around her. So logic said that just on the odd occasion, perhaps once a year in the middle of, say, February, Kyouya could be romantic and spontaneous, just for her.
AN: My first Ouran fic and whilst it was a little cheesy, I hope you enjoyed it regardless :