Raya stood in the locker room and pulled off her swim suit after swim practice.
"Oi! Raya! How was the distance workout today? The sprint workout was killer…Mina really needs to go softer on our Monday workouts…" Kiriko said, sighing and pulling off her own swim suit. Raya smiled as she put on her skinny jeans and t-shirt.
"You should tell Mina that, I think she'd take it well. The distance workout I planned for us was rather easy, I mean, it is a Monday." Raya chuckled and waved goodbye to her friend. She had to go and pick up Kimiko from the Host Club before she left today.
Raya approached the abandoned music room, her converse squeaking on the newly polished floor. When she opened the door she could see the hosts working tediously at pleasing the girls whilst dressed in police uniforms. As she entered, the Host Club King glided over to her.
"Good afternoon, my princess. How may we service you today?" Tamaki cooed, kissing Raya's hand. She chuckled and cupped his hand in hers.
"I'm here for my sister, Kimiko. Would you please point me in the correct direction, my prince?" She smiled, her tongue hanging on the last word. The King blushed and backed away, retreating away from the new guest.
"Ray-Chan!" Hunny yelled. He ran at Raya and jumped onto her back.
"How are you doing today, Mitskuni-Kun?" Raya asked as she made adjustments to accommodate the small boy that was now on her back.
"Great! I ate so much cake! Are you here to pick up Kimiko-san?" The tiny blonde questioned. Raya could feel him beginning to braid her hair as she carried him back over to the couch where Mori-San was sitting.
"Yeah, do you know where she is?" She asked, sitting the small boy down and taking a seat next to him on the couch.
"She still has about fifteen minutes in her appointment with Hika-kun!" Hunny informed. He giggled and rolled around on the couch. Since there were no girls around them, Raya assumed they were done for the day and decided to talk to them while she waited for Kimiko.
Tamaki was still reeling from his earlier encounter with the unknown girl. He had retreated and gone to hide behind Kyoya.
"Mommy, who is that frightening lady?" Tamaki asked. Kyoya pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and looked down at Tamaki.
"That is Raya Monimoto, class 3-A. The swim club's distance captain and the water polo team's captain. Older sibling of one of our customers, Kimiko Monimoto." Kyoya explained.
"An-an upperclassmen?" Tamaki queried.
"Yes." Kyoya answered.
"Oh my gosh. She's talking with Mori-sempai. He's talking. He doesn't even talk that much around Hunny-sempai! He's laughing. What's going on? She has him laughing! Hunny-sempai is even braiding her hair! What's going on, Mommy?!" Tamaki started to rant. Kyoya could sense that he was on the verge of a mental breakdown.
"They're in the same class. It seems they are very good friends, Tamaki." Kyoya sighed. He had to admit it was odd though. This girl had simultaneously rendered Tamaki useless and gotten Mori-sempai to laugh. She was…interesting, to him at least.
"Suou-san." Raya called, looking for the blonde. He was sitting in the corner, arms tightly clenched around his knees and completely oblivious to the fact that she was now looking for him.
"Monimoto-sempai. He's in the corner." Kyoya said, smiling toward the red headed woman.
"Ah! Thank you, Ootori-san. I really appreciate it." Raya replied as she sent him a grin back. He blinked. He blinked again. The dark-haired boy pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, shock settling in his features.
'She was nice. Overly-nice. Like an angel with devilish red hair,' Kyoya thought. He watched as she approached Tamaki. His eyebrow perked with fascination as she lightly touched his shoulder and plopped herself down next to him on the floor. She mimicked his body language, pulling her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around them leisurely. This girl was odd to him; she was a foreign type of person, a variety of person that Kyoya had never seemed to have encountered. To him, she seemed to be a calm and collected, stable, version of Tamaki. And yet…her appearance. It contradicted her soft and sweet personality. He marveled over how quiet she seemed, though her bright scarlet locks of hair made her loud. Her shirt dramatically proclaimed that she was fond of something called a….Streetlight Manifesto, and she had, even though school was over for the day, blatantly disobeyed school policy by not wearing her uniform at school. But she seemed so…nice, so put together, yet…overtly dangerous. It made him curious. Kyoya closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. He had to focus, stop overthinking that tedious girl and focus.
Tamaki held a frightened expression as Raya sat next to him. They had been silently sitting next to each other for about two minutes now.
"I'm sorry if I offended you earlier, Suou-san." She said. Tamaki could see what he thought was a genuine look of concern in her eyes. A soft smile crossed her face, a sentiment that Tamaki unconsciously returned. He remained silent, still a bit struck by the female. She began to fidget a bit.
"My name is Raya Monimoto. It's nice to finally meet you, Suou-san." Raya's voice was quiet, Tamaki noticed. She held out a pale hand to him, presumably to have him shake it.
"Nice to meet you, Monimoto-sempai. Please call me Tamaki." He shook her hand. Her smile grew wider and she closed her eyes, sighing.
"I'm glad you're not mad at me, or at least you don't seem to be. You can call me Raya, Tamaki-kun." Raya said, glancing at him from the side. He felt his breathing hitch.
"Raaaaaaaaaaayaa! Where are you? You're late!" Tamaki heard a high-pitched voice yell. It was small, but he thought he could see Raya flinch before she smiled and stood up. She cupped his hand in hers once more.
"I hope we can be friends, Tamaki-kun." Raya said. She smiled once more, let go of his hand and walked away. Tamaki said nothing, though he found himself secretly wishing he had.
Raya walked to Kimiko, who was tapping her foot impatiently. Kimiko still wore her uniform, though it was a bit tousled.
"Where were you?" Kimiko smoldered.
"I'm sorry. I was late. Let's go home. Kurogane-san is waiting for us." Raya replied, refusing to meet her sister's gaze. Kyoya glanced over. This could be fun, he thought as the sisters disappeared through the door. He might like to play with this one.