Let's start off by saying I'm hopelessly American and I don't know Japanese customs at all. Please forgive my ignorance. Now on with the story!

Kyoya smiled and his glasses flashed as he was handed his letter by his teacher. Previously that week, the whole school had taken a test to mark where everyone was academically. Kyoya had studied rigorously for a week before the test and he expected nothing less than first place. After all, he was an Ootori.

The results were supposed to be kept to the test taker and their family only. The letter would contain what place they had scored in the entire school and what place in their grade.

Kyoya slipped the letter into his notebook as the bell rang, signaling the end of the day. He stood up and headed for Music Room #3 where the Host Club would open in ten minutes. Kyoya had to be there, now, and get ready to open because he knew no one else would.

As he exited the room with the other second years, he felt an arm sling around his shoulder. He looked at it in annoyance and then at the person it belonged to. "Tamaki, get off of me."

Tamaki smiled and lowered his arm. He held up his envelope. "Are you going to open yours?"

Kyoya frowned. "No."

"Why not?" Tamaki whined as they started up the stairs heading away from the rest of the crowd.

"Because we need to open up the club very soon, and I don't have time to get distracted. I'll open it later," Kyoya replied.

"But Kyoya-" Tamaki started.

"We're here; get to work," Kyoya interrupted. Kyoya opened the doors to find that they were the first there. Kyoya started to set up tables and got out his laptop to check his email and whatnot. Tamaki started the coffee and got out several cakes for Honey. He had placed his envelope in his pocket and would, like Kyoya, wait to open it.

Haruhi came in with Kaoru and Hikaru and after a lot of, "Stay away from my daughter!" and "Devil twins!" Hikaru and Kaoru starting to set up tables and Haruhi helped Tamaki with setting up cake.

Mori and Honey came in and they joined in setting up tables. Soon after that, guests started arriving and the hosts went their separate ways with their guests.

At Haruhi's area, the girls were begging to see Haruhi's test results. Haruhi smiled and said, "Girls, I'm sure you don't want to hear about my test results…"

"But you're an honor student! You had to have done well!" whined a girl named Kana.

Haruhi smiled. "Kana, I want to hear about your results. I'm sure you did just as well as me, if not better."

The surrounding girls squealed. Another girl, Mizuki, said, "Come on, Kana! Let's see your score!" The other girls encouraged the girl.

Kana pulled out her envelope from her purse hesitantly. "If you guys say so…"

At Tamaki's table, Tamaki was staring into a pretty girl's eyes and saying, "I waited just for you, Princess, so I could open my envelope. I wanted to share this important memory with you, so we would have a special memory…together."

The said girl nearly swooned. "Oh Tamaki, you're so sweet."

"I'm sweet only for you, my Princess."

"Aww…"

At Hikaru and Kaoru's table, they were doing their 'twincest' bit again. Hikaru was holding Kaoru and wiping away his tears. "Kaoru, don't cry. Your score was fine. I'm sure you tried your best and that's all that matters."

"But Hikaru," Kaoru hiccupped. "I wanted to be better…for you. You deserve the best."

Hikaru leaned over Kaoru. "You are the best for me, Kaoru. There is no better."

"Hikaru…"

"Kaoru…"

At Honey and Mori's table, Honey was eating cake (as always) and Mori was leaning back in his chair. The Lolita boy smiled up at his cousin and asked, "How did you do on the test, Takashi?"

Mori looked down at Honey and handed him his envelope. Honey smiled and opened it. He said, "Fifteenth in the class! That's really good, Takashi!" The girls surrounding them made similar remarks and praise.

Mori smiled and bowed his head in thanks. He reached hesitantly out to Honey's envelope and raised in eyebrow in question. Honey nodded, and Mori opened it and said, "Fourteenth in class. You beat me, Mitsukuni."

"That's okay! We came really close!" Honey said cheerfully. Mori smiled and Honey took another bite of cake.

Kyoya had no customers at the moment and was working diligently on his laptop. Occasionally, he would look up and survey the room and even more occasionally check to see that his notebook containing his envelope was sitting beside him on the couch. Eventually, the clock chimed six o'clock and Kyoya stood up and announced, "That's it for today, girls. Please exit now and I hope to see all of your lovely faces tomorrow."

The girls exited leaving only the host club in the room. Tamaki ran over to Kyoya and begged, "What's in your envelope, Kyoya? Are you best in the school?"

Kyoya gave a small smile. "I don't know Tamaki. I haven't opened my envelope yet."

"Open it!"

Kyoya sighed. "Fine."

"Yay! Gather round kiddos! Mommy's going to show us the results!"

Honey, Kaoru, and Hikaru ran over to Tamaki and cried, "Yay!"

Haruhi and Mori followed slowly and stood behind Honey and the twins. Haruhi asked, "Kyoya, have you taken this test before at this school?"

Mori shook his head and Kyoya answered, "No, this is the first year the board has tried anything like this."

"A school wide test is kind of weird," Haruhi contemplated.

Kyoya opened the envelope and extracted the letter. He skimmed over the text and his jaw dropped. He stuttered, "I-I'm best in my year…"

"Yay!" cheered Honey.

"And…" Haruhi started.

"And I'm not best in the school."

"What?" Tamaki asked incredulously.

Kyoya nodded numbly. "I'm second best in school…second…"

The rest of the host club was shocked into silence until Haruhi asked, "Um…second is good isn't it? I mean only one student in the whole school came in front of you."

Kyoya looked up, still awestruck. "I came in second…"

Tamaki patted Kyoya's shoulder but Kyoya didn't react. "It's okay buddy."

Kyoya didn't even acknowledge Tamaki. Haruhi nudged Hikaru. "Why is Kyoya acting so weird? Why are you guys acting so weird?"

Hikaru replied, "I don't think Kyoya's ever come in second place."

Haruhi's eyes widened. "Never?"

Kaoru nodded. "Never."

"Poor Kyoya…"

Tamaki guided Kyoya over to the couch and Kyoya collapsed on it. He bowed his head and groaned, "How am I going to tell my father?"

Honey bounded over to Kyoya and leapt onto the couch. "You could not tell him."

Kyoya shook his head. "He already knows about the test from Tamaki's father. He's bound to ask me how it went."

Tamaki sat next to Kyoya. "What if you found out who beat you? Then you could make your case to your father."

Kyoya raised his head up to look at Tamaki and gave him a half smile. "I think that's the best plan you've ever had."

Kaoru said, "One problem. How do we find who placed first?"

Hikaru replied, "Well, they're bound to brag about it, aren't they?"

Mori nodded. Kyoya turned to Haruhi. "What do you think? You've been strangely quiet."

Haruhi swallowed. "I think that we should listen during class to, uh, people talking about the number one person."

Kyoya nodded.

….NEXT DAY…..

"Did you hear? Kyoya Ootori is only second in the school?"

"Really? Do you know who got first?"

"No. No one is talking."

"Poor Kyoya. He must be taking it pretty hard."

"I heard he is. Plus, he's looking for who beat him."

"I would not like to be that person."

"Yeah, no kidding."

…~…..

"Hey Kyoya!"

Kyoya turned in his seat to see Tamaki waving to him from the back of the classroom. Tamaki waved him over and as Kyoya walked to the back, he could feel all eyes on him. "What do you want Tamaki?" he asked grouchily.

"I wanted to see how you're doing."

"I'm fine," Kyoya growled. "I had just had to dodge questions about the test from my dad last night, not easy by the way, and now I have to deal with the pitying and sad looks I'm getting from everyone not to mention the fact that I came in second! Second, Tamaki! I never, ever, come in second!"

Tamaki sat in silence for a while before saying softly, "Maybe we should skip school today."

"No. I've already come in second. That means I need to work even harder and pay attention in school and-"

"We're skipping today," Tamaki decided. He grabbed Kyoya's arm and headed towards the door.

Kyoya pulled his arm out of Tamaki's grasp. "We're already in school! We can't just leave!"

Tamaki turned to the class. It was still half an hour before class and only five girls were in the class. All were frequent visitors to the host club. Tamaki asked them, "You won't tell anyone about us coming to school today right?" When the girls looked skeptical, Tamaki continued, "Because if you don't tell anyone, we will owe you, big time."

The girls giggled and nodded to each other. One, named Kaya, said, "Go ahead. We won't tell anyone."

Tamaki bowed to them. "Thank you, my lovely princesses."

The girls giggled again and Tamaki and Kyoya exited the room. Kyoya let himself be led by Tamaki and they headed up the stairs and into Music Room #3. Tamaki led Kyoya to the couch and they sat beside each other. Kyoya yawned and Tamaki asked, "How much sleep did you get last night?"

Kyoya turned to Tamaki. "None."

Tamaki stood up and said, "Get some sleep. I'll call and ask the other members if they learned anything about the person."

Kyoya looked like he was about to argue until he nodded and laid down on the couch. Tamaki smiled and entered the kitchen area and whipped out his cell phone to dial the twins' number.

….~…..

The bell that ended school had rung five minutes ago and the host club members were in their club room. They had cancelled the host club due to 'circumstances beyond their control.' The girls had been devastated but had gone home. Kyoya was still sleeping on the couch, and unsurprisingly, all the members seemed reluctant to wake the Shadow King.

Haruhi was sitting across from the sleeping Kyoya contemplating her options. None looked good.

Honey quietly ran over to her and whispered, "The twins have got a plan. We're supposed to meet them outside the room."

Haruhi nodded and followed Honey and the others outside of the room. Once Tamaki closed the doors, Hikaru said excitedly, "We have an idea."

"What is it?!" Tamaki asked excitedly.

"Shh!" the twins said in unison.

Hikaru started, "You know how the dean keeps the test records in her office?"

At everyone's nod, Kaoru continued, "Well, the east library has a secret door that connects to her office that is not heavily guarded."

"And how do you know this?" Tamaki asked suspiciously.

"None of your business," the two replied in perfect synchronization.

"Now, to get in there," Kaoru started.

"We need a martial artist who can climb through a small hole and jump down two stories uninjured," Hikaru finished looking at Honey.

"No," Mori said.

"But Takashi!" Honey started.

"No," Mori repeated. "It's too dangerous."

"Takashi, I'm the only one who can do this. It's a small hole and I'm the smallest person here," Honey reasoned.

"Still-"

"We have to do it for Kyoya-sempai! We have to figure out who beat him. Without that information, I don't think he'll ever be okay again," Honey argued.

Mori looked at Honey for a long time before replying, "Fine, but only because you really want to. But if anything happens…"

"I know, I know."

"So we are a go for Honey!" Kaoru cheered quietly.

"Second, Haruhi needs to come with us!" Hikaru added.

Tamaki pulled his 'daughter' tight against his chest. "No! You two demon twins will go nowhere near my daughter!"

"Boss, we need her to work the computer," Hikaru explained.

"She's the smartest one out of us, minus Kyoya," Kaoru added.

Haruhi mumbled, "Let me go, Tamaki and stop calling me your daughter!" When Tamaki reluctantly released her, she straightened her jacket and turned to the twins. "Fine, I'm in."

The twins cheered and brought her in for a three way hug. Tamaki immediately intervened but was pushed out by the two twins. Eventually, Haruhi weaseled her way out of the hug and hid behind Mori. Mori glanced at her and raised an eyebrow. Haruhi shrugged and asked, "What about Mori and Tamaki?"

Hikaru and Kaoru said in unison, "They will keep a close eye on Kyoya and keep him occupied."

Tamaki smiled. "It's nice not coming up with the plans for once."

Haruhi rolled her eyes. "And strangely, the plan is just as hare-brained as one of yours."

"Hey!"

…~….

"Hikaru! Your elbow is in my spleen!"

"Sorry Haruhi! This closet is small!"

"Maybe if you two crazy twins hadn't needed to wait for Honey to turn off the cameras, we wouldn't be stuck in this janitor's closet!"

"Come on Haruhi! Hikaru and I couldn't think of a way around this. Honey will come get us when he shuts off the cameras and gets into the Dean's office."

"Tamaki was right. You two are perverts."

"Hey!"

"Hey!"

The door suddenly opened revealing a small boy encased in golden light. Haruhi dove out the door and said, "Honey, I don't think I've been so happy to see someone in my entire life!"

Honey beamed and said, "The cameras are off and the door is open."

"Way to go Honey!" Hikaru said.

"Mori is expecting you back now," Kaoru finished.

Honey nodded. "See you guys later."

Honey took off and Hikaru, Kaoru, and Haruhi entered the now open door to the Dean's office. Haruhi immediately walked to the computer with Hikaru and Kaoru close behind. She sat at the chair with a twin leaning over each shoulder. She sighed and opened up the test results and looked at the twins. They nodded and Hikaru said, "Can you find the order?"

Haruhi nodded and with a few clicks, numbers 1-2197 appeared on the screen. Kaoru said, "Check number two, just to be sure the results are correct and not bogus."

Haruhi clicked on the link for number two and the name Kyoya Ootori popped up on the screen. Hikaru said, "Sweet! Now go back and click on number one."

Haruhi hit the back button and left the screen there. She hovered the cursor over one but didn't select it. Kaoru asked, "What are you doing Haruhi? Click on it!"

Haruhi took a deep breath and clicked on it.

Kaoru and Hikaru gasped identically and Hikaru sputtered out, "What?"

Kaoru said, "But that's-"

…..~…

Great end to the chapter!

This is a two shot and the next chapter will be posted later today or tomorrow.