Author's note: I have not yet finished reading the manga. I'm working on it. For that reason, this story ignores the manga, and takes up where the anime left off. For those of you who have read the manga, this may be a bit AU, but bear with me. For those of you have only watched the anime, this takes place not too many months after the resolution of the final episode…

Prologue: A New Game

"Hmm," muttered Kyouya, examining something apparently intriguing on his computer screen. From where they were standing, a few feet behind him, the Hitachin brothers tried to sneek a peak of whatever it was he was reading , but the angle wasn't quite right, and they couldn't get a good look. "Interesting," Kyouya continued, in the same vaguely amused tone. "Not up to your usual standard."

"Who are you talking to, Kyo-chan?" asked Honey, around a bite of strawberry cake. Distractedly, Mori reached over and used one finger to flick a crumb off of Honey's lower lip.

Kyouya put the computer aside. "I'm afraid," he announced, "that I'm speaking to our king. In recent weeks, it appears that Tamaki Suoh has performed rather poorly, more poorly, at least, than one would expect from the founder and leader of the Ouran Host Club. Why, in the last three days, he has received only 23 requests, which is fewer by far than Mori-senpai, who has been requested a total of 46 times. The Hitachin brothers exceeded Mori-senpai by 14 requests, and Honey-senpai took, as they say, the cake, with a final tally of 68 requests."

Tamaki, who had been gazing raptly out the window at someone or something on the grounds below, snapped his head around to look at Kyouya. "What did you just say?" he asked, apparently unwilling to believe what they'd all heard.

"You're the least requested host this week," Kyouya repeated. "Tamaki, you'd best examine your methods. It seems your performance as a host might require some…reconsideration."

Everyone was staring at Tamaki, who was opening and closing his mouth uselessly, apparently at an atypical loss for words. Turning red, Tamaki finally asked, "what about you, Kyouya? How many times have you been requested?"

Kyouya shrugged. "61," he said, matter-of-factly. "Not quite enough for the lead, but…respectable."

"WHAT?" Tamaki's jaw dropped, and he was suddenly unable to meet anyone's eyes. "That's…that's impossible. Why, I'm…I'm charming, I'm enchanting, I'm…I'm the king, for goodness sake! The king can't be the least requested host, it's impossible! It's-!"

"It's true, boss," interjected Hikaru.

"Yeah," added Kaoru helpfully, "you haven't exactly been on your game lately. I wonder if it has anything to do with what happened at the Ouran fair…" Kaoru and Hikaru looked thoughtful.

Tamaki spluttered. His color deepened. His eyes looked, for a moment, as though they were going to bulge out of his head. "This…can't…be…" he whispered, twitching slightly.

"Poor Tama-chan," whispered Honey, loudly enough to be heard by the entire room. "Being the least-requested host of the week…that's really pretty bad. I mean, even you got more requests than him, Takashi, and you usually don't even talk to the guests." Mori looked slightly put out.

"I wonder," mused Hikaru, "if the boss can really still be the king if he's the least requested host at Ouran…"

"Of course I'm still your king," shouted Tamaki, jumping up and down a bit in his frustration. "No one else could possibly be the king! After all, I am the guiding force behind this family of ours. I'm our patriarch, without me...!"

"So, prove it." Hikaru shrugged. "If you're such a great host, then step it up."

"I bet," inserted Kaoru, "that I can get to 100 requests before you can, oh fearless leader."

"Tch, anybody can do that," announced Hikaru. "I bet I could get to 150 requests before either of you even make it to 10."

Competition seemed to be in the air in music room 3, as every present member of the host club chattered about how he would certainly receive more requests than any of the others. After letting the banter continue for several moments, Kyouya cleared his throat.

"I think," he said, "that something of a competition is in order. We shall spend the next week competing to see who can receive the most requests. At the end of the week, I will tally up all of the requests, and see who really is the first and most prominent host at Ouran Academy."

"YES," shouted Hikaru and Kaoru, warming immediately to Kyouya's idea. "A new game! A new game!"

Honey looked confused. "So…" he asked, "at the end of the week, the one with the most requests will be the new king?"

There was a thud, and the host club members looked over to see Tamaki slumped on the floor against the wall, staring mournfully at his shoes.

"I…don't think so," replied Kyouya. "After all, Tamaki is our founder, and will therefore remain the club king for as long as he decides is fitting. It will, however, be very useful to me to see which of us is the most useful club contributor, don't you think?"

At that moment, the door opened, at Haruhi hurried in, looking flustered and slightly out of breath. "I'm really sorry I'm late, you guys," she said. "I just couldn't get away from my last class. Honestly, I thought that guy would never stop talking…" Becoming aware of the tense atmosphere around her, Haruhi trailed off, and took a moment to look around at the expressions on the faces of her friends. "Um," she asked hesitantly, "what's…going on?"

A gleam came into Hikaru's eyes, and was almost immediately reflected in Kaoru's eyes. The two of them bore down menacingly on Haruhi, who looked more and more concerned the closer they got.

"I think," announced Hikaru, "that I've just come up with a way to make this game even more fun…"