Hikaru Hitachiin was furious, and he had no idea why, which only made him angrier. He got up and started to pace the perimeter of the room.
Kaoru, Hikaru's twin brother, looked up from where Hikaru had just been laying. As his twin, Kaoru knew Hikaru better than anyone, sometimes even Hikaru himself—just like now.
"You're upset because Haruhi chose the boss over you," Kaoru stated calmly. Hikaru stopped abruptly.
Then, sighing, he laid down next to his brother. "I don't know. But I do know one thing. Tamaki-sempai himself didn't even realize he liked her until Haruhi said it for him." He stopped, then continued, "We could all see it, but he's too much of an idiot to see it for himself."
A loud clap of thunder made them jump. Kaoru watched his brother's facial expression go from irritated to worried. Sitting up, he said, "Lemme go get the phone."
"Huh? Why?" asked Hikaru.
"You're the idiot here, Hikaru. You obviously want to make sure Haruhi's gonna be okay," Kaoru answered calmly. Hikaru grinned.
"You know me so well," he said. "Come on; let's go call Haruhi."
"H-Hello?" Haruhi Fujioka answered her cell phone in a shaky voice.
"Haruhi?! Are you okay? Should I come over?!" Tamaki Suoh all but yelled into the phone.
"Hey, Sempai, calm down! Okay, yes, I'm physically fine. Emotionally, not so much. And no, I don't think you should come over. My dad is still mad at you for that pict–" Beep. Haruhi took the phone away from her ear and saw the CALL WAITING light blinking.
"I have a call waiting. I'll call you back later, 'kay, Sempai?" Without waiting for an answer, and Tamaki still screaming into the phone, Haruhi hung up.
Glancing at the picture ID, she saw Hikaru was calling. Why is he calling? she wondered. Is he trying to check up on me too?
"Hello?"
"Hey, Haruhi," said a voice that was not Hikaru's.
"Kaoru?! Why are you calling me on Hikaru's phone?"
"Wow, you really can tell us apart!" Kaoru chuckled. "I'm the one calling you because someone's being a scaredy-cat!"
"I am not being a scaredy-cat!" Hikaru yelled in the background.
Kaoru sighed. "Hang on a sec, Haruhi."
Haruhi heard whispering on the other end of the line. Then Hikaru shouted, "WHAT?! NO!" More whispers, and he grumbled, "Fine…"
"Uh…Haruhi?" Hikaru asked nervously, like it might have been her dad.
"Who else would it be?"
"Oh, the storm must not be bothering you that much if you can be so snippy. Goodbye."
"Hikaru!" Kaoru said sharply.
"Okay, okay," Hikaru grumbled again. Then, in monotone, "Are you okay, Haruhi? Should we come over, Haruhi?"
"You know, Sempai just asked me those same questions."
"What?! You mean he just called you?" Hikaru sounded kind of… jealous.
Even though she was smart enough to tell the twins apart, Haruhi was totally clueless when it came to love. The only reason she was able to tell Tamaki liked her was because she liked him too. Otherwise, it had to be said very bluntly, so she was completely oblivious to the hint of jealousy in Hikaru's voice. Still, she could tell something was up. She was about to answer him when her dad called to her.
"Haruhi!"
"Hang on, Hikaru. My dad's calling me." She set the phone down on her futon and said, "Yeah, Dad?"
"Who in the world could you be calling at ten o'clock at night? It's not that Tamaki boy, is it?"
Haruhi sighed. "No, Dad, actually, it's Hikaru that I'm talking to. He called to make sure I was okay."
"How sweet. Now tell him you have to go to bed!"
Haruhi picked up the phone. "Did you guys get all of that?" she asked.
"Yeah," answered Hikaru. "Well, don't forget we have a club meeting at lunch and after school. Bye." He hung up.
He seemed in a hurry to get off the phone, thought Haruhi. Weird.
Two blocks away from Haruhi's apartments, in a small one-story house, a boy was crying.
He was looking at some old photos of his mom and dad, two hours after he received the phone call that would change his life forever. The man on the other end had said that the bank where his parents had worked had been robbed, and neither of them had survived.
He had been looking through their belongings when he found an orange envelope, the kind you get report cards in. He opened it carefully.
He skimmed it, his vision blurry with tears, and came across two words that looked familiar. Rubbing his eyes, he looked at the words again.
That was his name.
He read it over and over again, hoping he was wrong. But no, he was one hundred percent positive that it was his name: Kodoku Fukui.
Then he found a word even more bone-chilling: "adoption." He gasped.
He was holding his own adoption papers.
Clutching the papers in his fist, he ran out into the pouring rain.