Shiro Takaoji stared in the mirror, fixing his tie. His fingers trembled as he smoothed down the crisp blue uniform and he took a long, deep breath, trying to calm himself.
This was it. The first day of the last year of high school.
Like any other person his age, he was more than a bit disappointed that school had started again. He'd enjoyed his break, spending quite a lot of time in Germany with his girlfriend.
But now, he was faced with a daunting task, one that would require much bravery. A task that would undoubtedly lead to danger, severe injury, and possible death.
He was taking over as the president of the Ouran High School Host Club.
Shiro panicked.
"How am I supposed to do this?" he asked his reflection in the mirror. "I can't fill the shoes of that idiot! He was the Prince! Everyone'll just compare me to him!" Images of him making a fool of himself sprung into his mind and he clutched at his hair. "This is ridiculous! I'm going to fail!"
"Well, he apparently must have thought you'd be good enough to be the next Prince if he chose you," his reflection observed calmly. After much deliberation, Shiro's mirror image decided that pointing out the similarity between Shiro and Tamaki's rants wouldn't help the boy at all. Pity, it would have been extremely amusing to see the boy's reaction.
"But I'm the Wild Boy type! How am I going to appear… Prince-like?"
"Practice, smart one," his reflection suggested, rolling his eyes.
"How the heck am I supposed to practice this?"
"Well, do things that Suoh used to do."
"Do… do things that Suoh did. Good idea. Things that Suoh did… what did Suoh do? Oh!" He grabbed an empty mug from his breakfast tray and lifted it into the air, striking a dramatic pose. "I will drink this coffee!"
There was a silence in the room as Shiro scrutinized himself in the mirror. Adjusting the position of his feet, he tried it again; this time, he carried the mug in his left hand. "I will drink this coffee!"
"Y'know, now you actually hafta drink some… if you wanna be like Suoh, that is…" his reflection observed casually, smirking back at him.
The tall boy gulped, looked at the cup, then back at the mirror. Instant coffee was… gross. "Do I have to?"
"That, or you can sit in a corner and start learning how to cultivate mushrooms."
"Excuse me!" Shiro was out of the door before someone could say 'it's not trash - it's a hamster home'. "Can someone get me some commoner's coffee?"