Lemonade
It was a beautiful spring morning at the Ouran High School. Sakura blossoms were budding on the bare trees in the gardens, and sunlight was streaming cheerfully like butter through a thick net of hedge roses, against which a young man with bright red hair was leaning, sollemnly drinking a can of lemonade.
He looked deep in thought, eyes glazed and distant. He breathed a deep sigh, took another swig of lemonade, and muttered a single name: "Fujioka."
Kasanoda downed his lemonade as if it were strong alcohol and buried his face in his hands, as if trying to suppress a painful memory. As much as he'd like to deny it, he wasn't completely over his crush just yet. Behind his closed eyelids, the vision of a cute, boyish girl with large brown eyes and a sugar-sweet smile played over and over again, her musical voice echoing, "I'm glad we're friends!", making him more miserable by the second.
A moment passed.
Suddenly, out of the bushes, came an overly-bright, ear-splitting voice, shattering his thoughts like a hammer. "HIIIIIIII, KASANODA-KUN!"
He stumbled back in shock, and in a state of complete bewilderment he uttered, "Yeah?" to a pair of bright brown eyes and a dazzling grin.
The person was a girl. She had large, butterscoth-coloured eyes that seemed to engulf him in their blazing enthusiasm, and a grin that could have blinded all of Tokyo.
"My name is Houshakuji Renge! Pleased to meet you!" the girl said in bright tones, an aura of zeal surrounding her like a halo.
She seemed to have come out of nowhere. Where did she come from? Kasanoda thought in bewilderment. It's as if she popped out of the ground …
"I'm the female manager of the Host Club," she announced, whipping out a laminated business card, which Kasanoda took, surprised to notice that his hands were shaking slightly. He glanced at the photograph on the card – the picture had a passing resemblance to the girl in front of him, minus the cosplay costume and thick makeup. The name 'Houshakuji' was printed normally enough in predictable kanji, but most eye-catching was 'Renge', written in stylized hiragana, adorned with tiny flowers. He swallowed.
He vaguely remembered her from his exploits at the Host Club. At first he thought she was a regular customer, but the way the hosts talked to her suggested differently. The term 'female manager' both intrigued and terrified him.
But the girl kept on talking. "Sorry if I hadn't had the time to introduce myself to all our customers," she said, suddenly adopting professional tones. "But I've come to let you know that your patronage is valuable to us. So, as a token of goodwill, I've come to give you this!"
She thrust a brightly-coloured package into his hands, and when Kasanoda had recovered from the glitter and gloss of the shining packaging and had a proper look, he noticed there were pictures of good-looking characters who bore striking resemblances to members of the Host Club splayed out over the surface, accompanied by the words, "Uki Doki Memorial" in fat, bright pink characters.
He looked at the girl and again at the package, and a long awkward pause followed before he realized she was waiting for him to thank her.
"Uh. Thanks," he mumbled, trying to figure out what was going on.
"Don't mention it!" she replied. "You'll definitely love this game. I do! I used to always pick Miyabi-kun because he's like Kyouya-sama, but after I became a fan of Haruhi-kun I started to pick Shizuka-kun as my favourite. Have fun!"
Her words were starting to make less and less sense. The only thing that she said which actually registered to Kasanoda was Fujioka Haruhi's name, which only led to another pang of heartache. Better to leave fast.
"Thanks," he said again, getting up. "But I have to leave now. I have … ah, things to do. At home. Urgently. Excuse me."
"Don't mention it!" she said shiningly, her smile overpowering him like a blast of sunshine. "Please visit again soon!"
Kasanoda fled, and it was only when he got home did he realize he was defensively holding the package to his chest like a shield.
The next day, Kasanoda had almost forgotten everything that happened that bizarre afternoon before.
He was absently-mindedly wondering what to have for lunch, and was just about to consider the sashimi set when a shimmeringly bright voice appeared out of nowhere.
"Good afternooooooon, Kasanoda-kuuuuuun!"
Kasanoda jumped back a few steps and flung out his arms defensively, only to realize the girl from yesterday was standing in front of him, grinning.
Where does she come from? He searched the floor for any mystery openings. "Uh … good afternoon." What was her name? Ranko? Rika? "I didn't hear you coming."
"So do you like it?"
There was a long, long pause, in which Kasanoda merely stared blankly at her as if she'd just sprouted fins and announced her migration to the ocean. "… Huh?"
"The game, silly!" the girl laughed, grabbing a nearly tray of sashimi and taking hold of Kasanoda's arm. "Here, let's sit here and talk. Did you get past the Level 5 where you have to deal with a bitchy rival? I was stuck at that stage for weeks!"
Kasanoda realized she was talking about the package from yesterday. He had the time that evening to examine its contents, and realize it was a video game.
"Uhm. I'm sorry, I hadn't had the chance to play it yet."
The girl stared at him, her eyes widening with barely-suppressed shock. "Oh my God! Do you realize what you're missing? Why haven't you played it yet? It's lovely, I swear! You don't have to look down on my good intentions like that!"
"It's not that!" Kasanoda gestured wildly, putting his hands up in defense. "It's just that I don't have a games console at my house. I … never had one."
Her eyes sparkled in near-tears. "Oh, you poor thing!" She touched his arm tenderly, as if he'd just confided a family death. "Look, why don't you come to my house after school today? We can play Uki Doki Memorial together!"
Kasanoda could feel his face reddening violently, for some reason, and sweat start to bead across his forehead. "Aah … I'm too sure … about going to a girl's house …"
"Oh, don't worry about it!" the girl said, missing the point completely. "I'm mostly alone at home anyway, and nobody will care if I bring you up to my room."
Room? Her room? Kasanoda tried in vain to form coherant sentances. "Ah, uh, aaah …" The blush spread to his neck, but before he could get an intelligible word out, she'd already said, "Okay! I'll see you after school, then! My driver will wait at the front gate!" and bustled off, a flurry of canary-yellow skirts and trailing pink ribbon.
Kasanoda stood rooted to the spot, with his jaw hanging half-open. Several moments passed, and just as Kasanoda was getting his bearings again, someone clapped a hand heavily on his shoulder.
Kasanoda leapt up in shock, hands flailing out defensively around him, dropping his briefcase in the process. His eyes met the startlingly cheerful smile of Ootori Kyouya, vice president of the infamous Host Club.
"Good morning, Kasanoda-kun," Kyouya said pleasantly, a disarming smile planted firmly on his mouth, his eyes twinkling good naturedly. It was at these moments Kasanoda thought Kyouya was at his most dangerous. "How are you this morning? Taking good care of yourself?"
"A-ah," Kasanoda murmured in reply, feeling the air suddenly grow cold around him. "Yes, very well, thank you."
"Good. We wouldn't want you to do something you might regret, do we?" Kyouya said in cheerful tones, flashing another charming smile. Kasanoda swallowed. "I might just let you know, my family provides excellent care in our hospitals. I could recommend a fine ward for you, just in case you experience any … accidents."
When Kyouya said, 'accidents', he flashed a bit more teeth in his grin, and this, for some reason, caused Kasanoda to have a minor panic attack. He knew exactly what Kyouya has come to remind him.
"Just came to see if you had been behaving properly," Kyouya said in his familiar, amiable tones, picking up Kasanoda's briefcase from the floor. "Be careful, alright?" As he handed the briefcase over, he added in a lower voice, "keep your secrets."
Kasanoda gulped, and nodded slightly. Apparently satisfied, Kyouya joined his fellow Host Club members at their table. Kasanoda fled before Haruhi managed to glance his way.
For the next few days, Kasanoda found himself being dragged to the Houshakuji estate after school, to play Uki Doki Memorial with Renge.
He'd expected his underlings to question him on his evening abscences, and he'd expected to give them icy glares and answer monotonously, "Nothing. I was doing nothing." He'd expected the strange looks he'd get from his classmates when someone like Renge would pop in every morning to wish him good morning, or ambush him in the caferteria to have lunch with him.
He never expected, however, that he could get used to it. And, maybe, even start to enjoy it.
He found himself starting to look forward to the long evenings at Renge's house, even if she did hog the game console all the while, and kept on squealing loudly when the game's character, Shizuka-kun (who bore a striking resemblance to Fujioka Haruhi) told her she'd levelled up. Her bright enthusiasm seemed to engulf him like buttery summer sun. And when he was by himself at home, he found himself hearing her voice ringing in his head, echoing his name over and over.
They were sitting together in one of Ouran High School's many gardens one afternoon, nursing cans of soda. It was a rare moment of comfortable silence, filled by the stray tinkling of water from the fountain, and the chirping of distant birds.
"You know, Kasanoda-kun," remarked Renge, her voice sweet and low for once, "I really like spending time with you. It's like having a sister, only as a guy."
Wouldn't that be the same as having a brother? Kasanoda thought, but he'd gotten used to her odd comments, and didn't mind as she went on.
"You know. I never really told you something."
"Mmm? What's that?"
She turned her gaze towards him, her eyes steeped in doubt. "It's just that … well, on the day I gave you Uki Doki Memorial to play with … I wasn't exactly giving it to you because I wanted to promote the Host Club."
Kasanoda raised his eyebrows, slightly surprised. She was certainly unpredrictable.
"I was actually quite lonely. Because I just moved from France, I don't really have many good friends here. Of course everyone's been really nice, but there's just no one to really talk to, you know? I thought I could be friends with you, just to have someone to talk to."
She beamed up at him. Kasanoda found himself, surprisingly, returning the smile.
"Ah," he stammered, trying to supress the blush already developing in his cheeks. "I'm glad, then."
"It's because I know you like Haruhi-kun," Renge continued pleasantly. The breeze blew the hair from her face and Kasanoda could see that she was blushing slightly. "I thought, since we both like him, we might have more things in common!"
Kasanoda swallowed. She was completely wrong on a certain aspect, but he kept quiet. He didn't want to ruin the perfect atmosphere, and while Renge looked happy, he knew she was feeling fragile inside after confessing something so openly.
They were sitting side by side and her hand was nearly touching his, and for some reason this bothered him. He was surprised by the sudden urge to place his hand on hers, and fought the urge back, calmly folding his arms around his knees and saying nothing.
Turning her large brown eyes towards him, Renge asked, "What else do you like, Kasanoda-kun?"
"Well." He blinked as he thought silently. "I like kicking cans."
"Ooh!" Renge jumped up. "Me too! I like to kick cans too!"
Kasanoda stared at her in surprise. "Really?"
"Well …" Renge stared at her shoes. "Maybe just recently … hey, let's finish our drinks and kick the cans around! That'll be fun, won't it?"
They spent that afternoon playing hide-and-seek like kids, and when Kasanoda came home that evening there was a healthy glow about him, as if he were bringing in the sunset along with him.
Tetsuya was first to notice this change in his master. Pausing his sweeping of the front porch, he politely asked, "Had a nice day sir?"
Kasanoda mumbled a vague reply as he took off his shoes. He only paused in his tracks when Tetsuya asked, "If I may ask, sir, what's that song you're humming?"
Kasanoda realized that he'd been unconsciously humming the Uki Doki Memorial theme song unconsciously all the while, and a faint blush crept over his face. "Nothing," he answered dodgily, and rushed inside before Tetsuya could probe any further.
It was one evening, as Kasanoda was toting his briefcase on his long walk home, that he realized that he'd spent the entire day without having seen Renge.
He hadn't seen her during lunch. He hadn't seen her that morning, before class. He hadn't heard her voice all day, which was strange.
He stopped in his tracks. Home was only five minutes away, and he'd already walked twenty minutes from school and was worn out. At home, Tetsuya would already have a cup of steaming green tea ready, and a warm meal waiting.
But he found himself, to his surprise, turning back and taking the route back to school. A little voice in his head was stuttering in bewilderment, and people who saw him on the way back looked on as he turned around, but he'd shut them up quickly with an icy glare.
It was nearly sunset when he arrived. The main gates were already closed, so he took the side entrance which led directly to the gardens. He didn't really expect to see Renge there, or anywhere. He wasn't really sure what he was looking for, exactly.
But as he entered the rose maze, he heard the muffled sound of somebody sobbing, quite loudly. Intrigued, he followed the sound, treading softly over the grass quietly, and as he peeked around the next corner he saw Renge sitting underneath the stone gazebo, bawling her eyes out.
As expected, she wasn't a very quiet crier. Her sobs racked through her thin body and she choked and swallowed as if she were breathing air for the first time. Her handkerchief and sleeves were already stained, but she showed no signs of stopping.
Kasanoda rushed forward before he could stop himself, and, dropping his briefcase, he placed his hands on her shoulders and murmured, "Renge, what's wrong? What happened?" She looked really upset – her eyes were rimmed red with hours of crying and her hair was a mess.
"Kasanoda-kun?" Renge's voice was trembling and small, and nearly unintelligible over the sobs. She looked at him through a blur of tears. "Oh, it is you, Kasanoda-kun! I'm so glad! It was horrible!"
She then threw her arms around him, and began crying anew on his shoulder. Without thinking, Kasanoda placed his arms awkwardly around her, and began stroking her hair in what he supposed was a comforting way.
"What was horrible?" he asked, desperately trying to coax her out of her tears. "Do you want to tell me about it?"
Renge drew away and wiped her tears away with the back of her hands. Hurriedly, Kasanoda drew a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to her. She proceeded to blow her nose on it.
Swallowing, she whispered, her voice torn by tears, "I talked to Haruhi-kun today."
At Haruhi's name, Kasanoda's heart skipped a beat. It came crashing down on him when he realized that he hadn't thought of Haruhi the past few days, and when Renge mentioned her name, Kasanoda was even more surprised to realize that he didn't feel a single thing.
"I-I-I t-tried to tell h-h-him how I felt," Renge stuttered, sobs breaking her voice. "B-b-b-b-b-but …"
That's it? That's what's made her so upset? Kasanoda thought in shock, staring down at her. He didn't know whether to laugh in sheer surprise, or comfort her. This must have been the reason why he hadn't seen her all day.
The poor girl. She must have really had it bad for Haruhi, a tiny voice in Kasanoda's head murmured. A flare of something – it could have been jealousy, or hurt – developed in Kasanoda's heart, but quietly died down. He drew his arms around Renge and let her sob anew.
After awhile, she spoke. "This morning, in class, I asked Haruhi-kun if I could speak to him privately," she said, her voice raw. "I thought today would be the day I could tell him how I felt … how I truly felt … about him."
As Renge paused for breath, Kasanoda considered telling her the truth, that Haruhi was actually a girl. But she'd probably never speak to me again, he thought, with stricken conviction.
But he could guess what probably followed Renge's confession.
"Haruhi-kun … Haruhi-kun only looked at me strangely, as if he couldn't understand what I was saying!" Renge squealed, a fresh onslaught of tears threatening to let loose. "Then … then he said, 'Renge, I'm sure you'll find someone better who deserves you'. And then he walked away. What it that supposed to mean?"
She gulped for breath. "Haruhi-kun hates me. I'm ugly and I'm horrible and I'm silly and stupid, and have terrible fashion sense. Nobody likes me. I'm a dreadful person."
"No you're not!" Kasanoda remarked, surprised at the intensity of his voice. "You're smart and funny and cute. You're bright and have a lovely laugh. You're creative. And you're kind and generous, and … and …" He was just about to continue when he realized he was babbling.
"And you look great in pink," he finished lamely.
Renge looked up. "Why doesn't Haruhi like me then?" she demanded.
Kasanoda gaped, struggling for an answer. He swallowed, desperate and about to blurt out the truth, when Renge continued, "It's he likes some other girl, doesn't he?! It's that ditzy Momoko, isn't it? Of course Haruhi would like her! She's prettier than I am. I'm the opposite of pretty. I'm hideous."
She cupped her face in her hands and was just about to resume weeping, when Kasanoda placed a finger under her chin and drew her gaze up.
Her face was blotchy, her eyes puffed and red and her lips pale from crying and she did look utterly hideous, but Kasanoda couldn't help but smile. "You are pretty," he murmured simply, meaning every word. "At least I think so."
Renge didn't say anything. She merely looked at him with her puffed-up eyes, a strange glimmer of confusion bubbling behind them. She then rested her head on his shoulder, thinking quietly as they watched the sunset together.
Stars were already dotting in the inky night sky when they arrived at the front gates of the grand Houshakuji estate. Kasanoda had walked Renge home in partial silence, broken only by thoughtful threads of conversation and stray comments.
They stopped in front of the gates, light streaming from the mansion and illuminating their uncomfortable expressions. Both realized that neither of them wanted to leave. They stared at each other in awkward confusion.
"You know Kasanoda-kun," Renge finally said, a smile tugging at her lips and her eyes regaining their old sparkle, "you look a lot better when you're not frowning scarily all the time."
Kasanoda looked back in surprise. Then he smiled. "And you look a lot better when you're not crying."
After their strained laughter faded, there was a long, cricket-filled silence. Kasanoda swallowed, and, shifting his briefcase on his shoulder, murmured a vague goodbye and said he had to leave, as Tetsuya might be worried. Renge nodded and mumbled a hasty goodbye in reply, making up an excuse about having a television show to catch.
Their feet felt as heavy as lead as they turned and parted ways. After three steps, Kasanoda turned around. He called Renge's name, and strode towards her, closing the space between them in the time it took her to turn around in bewilderment.
He grasped her arm and pulled her closer, noting the pink blush that spread across her cheeks charmingly as she gasped, her eyes widening in adorable surprise.
It all happended automatically then, as if by clockwork. He lowered his head and she raised hers higher, resting a hand on his shoulder and drawing an arm around his neck. Their lips met as if by accident.
The kiss lasted longer than each of them expected, drawing the breath of out them and taking them both by surprise. After what seemed like an eternity they drew away, but continued to hold onto each other, bodies warmed.
A strong, significant silence passed. Finally Renge said, "Would you like to stay for dinner?"
"Yeah," Kasanoda said in relief. "That would be nice."
They were making their way up her drive when Renge suddenly let out a giggle.
"What is it?" Kasanoda said, smiling.
"Nothing," Renge replied, grinning. "It's just that I kinda told everyone that you were gay."
"Oh." Kasanoda paused. "Well. Just so you know. Haruhi is actually a girl."
And, as Renge stopped in her tracks and her eyes widened, her jaw slowly falling open in bewilderment, several kilometres away in the Ootori mansion a young man with a deep frown creasing his forehead stared intensely at the computer in front of him. Every aspect of the conversation was being secretly recorded by the hidden microphone he'd planted earlier on Kasanoda's briefcase.
"My, my, Kasanoda-kun," Kyouya murmured, jotting something down quickly in the notebook in front of him. "We have certainly messed up, haven't we."