Author's note: Under reconstruction and by reconstruction, I just mean I have edited some stuff in the chapters and what not. And will be cutting out or shortening any author's notes. Enjoy! Oh, to avoid any confusion Ouran's school schedule is like that of the US with six periods for each class, I would have rewritten that to match Japanese schools but I was too lazy
Chapter One: First Day
Awkward…
She stood there in front of her first period class, advanced placement chemistry, waiting for the teacher to acknowledge her while the entire class stared as well, waiting.
This was Aria's very first class on her very first day at the prestigious school, Ouran Academy. She had worked hard just to ace the entrance exams and to join on the scholarship program, something only two other students were doing, some person named Haruhi Fujioka, and Aria's own brother, Domenico. However, Domenico, or as she called him just Dom, was attending Ouran University on the scholarship, not high school.
But that wasn't even any of her concern at the moment. Her biggest matter was to get the attention of her teacher, who was oblivious to the fact that Aria was standing at the door. She was still unsure of Japanese custom so she didn't want to be rude…but her teacher, she forgot his name, was busy writing away on the Smart Board.
Aria had cleared her throat twice already but the elderly teacher hadn't heard her and she wasn't quite sure what she should do now.
"Kiyomizu sensei!" called a male's voice abruptly in the body of students. The teacher turned around and gave an exasperated look. Aria was a little confused as to why he was already so aggravated; she assumed it had something to do with that guy that basically just screamed at him.
"Yes, Tamaki-san…?" he said, eyebrow raised.
Aria looked over to find a very handsome blonde with deep blue eyes, with a strange hue of purple, smiling up at the teacher. "You have a guest…" he said, now turning his dashing gaze at her while gracefully gesturing towards her with his pale hand. Aria noticed all the girls around him all sighed in unison over him.
She wanted to punch this guy. Did he really just shout out at the teacher just to tell him that she was standing there! He had some nerve…
The teacher looked over to his left and saw Aria standing there, looking vaguely uncomfortable. "Oh!" he said, surprised. "I'm sorry. I didn't see you there. You are?"
Aria bowed respectfully before she answered him. "My name is Aria Auditore…" she said, the Japanese language a little strange on her tongue. "I've transferred from the United States as a first year here at Ouran Academy."
At this, the class began to whisper amongst themselves while Aria handed the teacher her transcript of her being in the class.
The hissing continued on while the teacher read through her papers. Great…now I'm a novelty item, she thought dryly.
She had hoped she was in the right classroom. The academy was enormous since it encompassed primary school, middle school, high school, and a university.… She wasn't sure just how everyone managed to find their way around the place!
Kiyomizu sensei took his time going through her papers, taking no notice of his ever-growing rowdier classroom. Aria waited patiently when the Tamaki guy, who was waving vehemently at her, caught her attention. She looked at him, raising an eyebrow like her teacher.
Tamaki was pointing to the empty seat next to him, looking excited. Aria had thought that the seat beside him had been filled about a minute before but she couldn't be too sure as he was making overly zealous gestures to see if she understood. He seemed harmless; Tamaki didn't look like he wanted her to sit next to him because he was interested in her romantically…but more of an exceedingly friendly manner.
"Aria Auditore…" said her teacher finally, trying her name on for size and handing back her transcripts. He struggled with it, seeing it was nothing he had been use to and the class took this as a cue to settle down into quieter hissing. "Well, welcome to your first advanced placement chemistry class-"
One of the hands of the students shot up and it made Kiyomizu sensei grind to an abrupt halt. The girl was staring at Aria with bright eyes. "Yes, Kimi-san?" said the teacher, now sounding even more irritated.
Kimi put her hand down and stared at Aria. "I heard you aced the entrance exams!" she said with a smile. "Is it true that you're transferring from the United States as an Honors Student? I also heard you're really from Italy!"
Aria raised an eyebrow. She was just a tad bit creeped out that she knew that. The whole class looked at her expectantly.
"Uh…" she began lamely. "Yeah…I was born in Italy and lived there until I was six. Then I moved to the US. And yes…I did really well on the entrance exam so they placed me as an Honors Student under a scholarship program. Normally, they only offer one person a year the scholarship…but they let me because I did well on it."
Aria thought back on the days where she spent countless hours studying to pass this exam, having had to study Japanese simultaneously so she could translate everything. At that time, she had very few friends, and that being said…she wasn't very close to them.
She wasn't sure why she was explaining how she came to the school to these avid teenagers so she turned to her teacher before anyone else could question her. "Kiyomizu sensei…" she said in a reverential tone, "may I sit now?"
"Of course…" he said, also looking relieved. Aria glanced to see if there happened to be any open seats closer to her than the one that the Tamaki guy was begging her with his eyes to sit in. There wasn't. She sighed quietly to herself and took a seat on his right.
Kiyomizu sensei promptly went back to lecturing about the Periodic Table of Elements. Aria took out her notebook and diligently took notes, ignoring the feeling that the entire room was watching her intently as if she was going to burst out into song or something.
After about fifteen minutes of class, Tamaki placed a note on her desk. You can't be serious…Aria thought, staring at the folded piece of paper next to her left hand. Their teacher was going through a slideshow, his back turned to his class.
Aria glanced over at Tamaki; he was grinning at her with possibly the goofiest smile she had ever come across. He looked as if he really wanted her to read it.
She opened the note. Hi! I'm Tamaki Suoh! It's nice to meet you, Auditore-san. I'm really impressed! You're in a second year class when you're just a first year.
Aria figured he was older…not by the way he acted because he certainly came off childish in some aspects. He seemed nice though and she didn't want to blow him off by not replying back, even though listening to Kiyomizu sensei was much more important.
It's nice to meet you, Suoh-senpai. Thank you for getting sensei's attention. It was pretty awkward just standing there like that.
She slid the folded note back to Tamaki when the teacher wasn't looking. Tamaki looked like he was a kid at Christmas and received what he had wanted for ages.
It's no problem! ^_^ Oh! And you can spare the formalities with me, Aria-chan. Just call me Tamaki!
Aria wanted to laugh. He certainly was audacious; if wasn't for the fact that she didn't care that he called her by her first name, he would have insulted her. She had studied Japanese culture and to assume that you can just say someone's name in a familiar way after just meeting them, was considered to be extremely rude. But Aria wasn't at all Japanese, so she didn't mind.
However, she didn't think he was full Japanese to begin with anyways. He had really blonde hair and looked much more European than Japanese.
Even though he said to just refer to him as Tamaki, she felt she had to respect her superior and decided that she'd call him Tamaki-senpai.
You can drop the –chan. I don't think it suits my name since it's not Japanese¸ was the reply she gave back on the note.
Throughout the next hour of class, Tamaki and Aria passed notes back in forth. Aria noticed the envious looks on some of the girl's faces in the class but she paid no attention to it.
She came to the conclusion rather quickly that Tamaki was a genuinely good person with some strange personality traits. He was theatrical and loud, even in writing, optimistic, extremely weird, kind…and supercilious but not in a condescending way where he made Aria feel incompetent about her lower fiscal status. Because Tamaki was wealthy, she figured he didn't really understand that he was incredibly conceited about his looks and money. Even so, Aria liked him; he was certainly entertaining…and they were only passing notes back and forth. She hadn't even formally held a real conversation with him.
What's your homeroom, Aria? Do you need help finding it? ^_^
Aria looked at her transcript, which was with her at all times so she could memorize her schedule quickly, and looked at second period's class. Here, just look at it. I'll be able to find it…no worries, she wrote while passing her transcript to Tamaki.
That was her pride speaking. Aria, in fact, had no clue where her homeroom was, even though she had a map of the school, and she knew she would get lost but she didn't want to seem as though she was an idiot.
Tamaki passed the note and her transcript back, and he looked as though he was envious of something…but in a sad sort of envious way. His eyes were glistening.
When she looked at the note, she did a silent scream. He wrote a novel! How did he write that so fast? And why does his writing have hearts and little drawings everywhere on it?
You're in homeroom with my Haruhi! He's really quite the charming one and in my Host Club. And not only that, you're also in class with two of my other Host Members, Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin! They're twins. I think you'll like them all. I'm not sure, but I think you're also in Conversational French with the three of them, if I'm not mistaken. Plus, I think that Hikaru and Kaoru are in your World Literature class. You'll be best of friends! But you should be best of friends with Haruhi. He overworks himself and he is an Honors Student too, Aria. You should definitely become best friends with Haruhi. But that's just your Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule. On your Tuesday and Thursday schedule, you and I have calculus together! Isn't that great? We're going to have so much fun! And Kyoya is that class. You and Kyoya have classes all day together on Tuesdays and Thursdays! Both of you are in AP anatomy and AP physics. Kyoya is my best friend in the whole world. Maybe you'll like him. I like him. But wow…you're in classes that are really advanced but you're in your first year. You must be as smart as Kyoya and Haruhi!
There was a lot more that he wrote but it basically stated how much he adored Haruhi. Aria could only assume that this was the same Haruhi Fujioka that she had heard about. Tamaki also was blathering on about his Host Club, whatever that was…. Aria was too afraid to ask what it was, fearing he'd write an entire trilogy about it.
I'm not sure…what to write…haha, she wrote on an entirely new piece of paper; this was their fourth one already.
Tamaki was smiling to himself as he wrote. He passed back the note as the sounding bell for first period to end was heard overhead.
"That was fun!" he exclaimed, rising to a stand as the rest of the class did. "I'll see you at 3:30, okay?"
"What?" Aria asked, confused at what was at 3:30. School was done by that time.
But before she could ask, he was leaving. "Oh!" he said, remembering something. "Say hi to Haruhi and the Hitachiin twins for me! And remember, bring that note!"
And he was gone.
Aria was utterly confused. What the heck was Tamaki talking about? It obviously had something to do with the note so she decided she would read it when she was in homeroom.
She found the room just in time, thankfully. It was a little noisy with all the kids talking and what not and Aria was hoping she wouldn't have to introduce herself again like in chemistry.
But…she thought too soon.
"Hey! Look! It's the transfer student!" said two identical voices. She froze in the doorway and again, all eyes were on her.
Aria looked over and found the twins that Tamaki had been speaking of were looking back at her.
She never was one to care for appearances or boys for that matter, but these Hitachiin twins were very good looking, much like Tamaki, but in different ways. They parted their hair in opposite directions, so hopefully, Aria would be able to tell who was who soon enough. The twins had light brown hair that they spiked up and golden eyes that twinkled with mischief. They were about a third of a head taller than her and she could tell that they were on the leaner side in physique.
They sauntered over to her and both put out a hand to her.
"Welcome to class 1A's homeroom," they said in perfect unison that creeped Aria out. She didn't make to grip either of their hands but they beat her to it by taking hers. Both placed their lips on both her hands. More than anything, she felt uncomfortable more than flattered.
Were all of Ouran's male students this weird!
"I think you guys are just freaking her out," said a voice behind them. Aria looked through the gap between the twins and there was a brunette boy looking a little irritated with the pair of them.
"Don't mind them," he said, smacking them both upside the heads. "They're harmless."
"You must be…Haruhi Fujioka-san, right?" said Aria, not looking at the twins, who were rubbing the backs of their heads tenderly. She bowed politely at him and Haruhi smiled gently.
He looked like an extremely feminine boy. He had short, dark brown hair, these big, innocent chocolate eyes, and was just a tad shorter than Aria. He was pretty…in a girly way, not a pretty boy way. Then again, Aria was aware of the culture of the Japanese and how many an anime portrayed woman as boys or vice versa; she didn't see how that managed to happen because to her, it was very easily discernible who was female and who was male.
Or so she thought.
"That's me," Haruhi said, in a voice also much more feminine then manly. Aria just waved it off though. "Pleasure to meet you."
Haruhi turned to the twins. "These two idiots are-"
"Hikaru!" said the twin on the right, whose hair was parted to the right.
"And Kaoru," said the twin on the left, whose hair was parted to the left.
"-Hitachiin," finished Haruhi with a roll of his eyes just as the bell rang. "Or you can just say the Hitachiin Twins."
Now that Aria had heard them speak individually, it actually wasn't that hard to tell them apart. Hikaru's voice was slightly deeper with an almost raspy tone to it while Kaoru's voice was more innocent, and playful; the hair directions also helped out Aria immensely.
"Class rep!" shouted the twins abruptly, turning to the front of the class. Aria could only assume they were referring to the guy with the glasses and the untidy hair standing behind the podium.
"Yes?"
The twins jumped around to behind Aria and pushed her towards the front of the classroom. "Make her introduce herself!" they exclaimed, giving one last shove at her back.
Aria stumbled forward, feeling a bubbling irritation growing in her chest. The class rep sighed briefly. "I guess…" he said, waiting for the class to sit down. "Homeroom class 1A, we have a new transfer student joining our class as of today. I do ask we make her feel welcome."
Then he turned to Aria, who was a little irked that she had to introduce herself again, thanks to the Hitachiin twins. "Care to introduce yourself?" he asked, sounding a bit bored.
She huffed quietly before she let her emerald green eyes scan the room. It was like déjà vu as she looked at the teenagers all staring up at her like she was a freak show.
Aria bowed slightly to them all. "Uh…" she started. Why did she always start out her introductions like she was unintelligent? "Hi, I'm Aria Auditore. Like he said, I'm transferring into Ouran as a first year in high school. I'm from the United States, but I was born and lived in Italy until I was six-"
"Rumor has it you only missed one question on the entrance exam!" cut in the Hitachiin twins. Aria saw Haruhi's interest perk up at the comment.
"Yeah, that rumor is in fact, false…I missed two," said Aria, sweeping her long, black hair from her shoulders. "I'm here on the scholarship program as an Honors Student, like Fujioka-san."
At this, the twins glanced at each other with crafty smiles but Aria didn't notice because some boy in the front of the class asked if she was single.
She was in shock. Did this guy really just ask that!
"Hey, don't ask Auditore-san questions like that!" snapped Kaoru, both twins hovering over the boy with dark expressions.
Hikaru agreed. "She only just transferred today and you're already trying to make passes at her! Despicable!"
Aria stared as the boy cowered at them. Was this how they always behaved? "Uhm, guys…" she attempted to say, putting up a hand to stop them. "It's okay, really…"
The twins didn't apparently hear her and didn't stop berating the poor guy until Haruhi punched both twins in the back of the heads. "Cut it out!" Haruhi shouted.
After another few minutes of the shouting, which also now involved the class rep, Aria was finally allowed to sit down. She took a seat next to Haruhi, who had moved to the back of the class, away from the Hitachiin twins.
"Thanks for that…" said Aria gratefully. "Are they always so temperamental?"
Haruhi sort of chuckled. "No," he replied. "But they're always very unpredictable. Let's just say that they're a bit of troublemakers."
Aria rolled her eyes before they landed on the twins staring back at her and Haruhi with sad expressions, like they had been abandoned. "Umm…?"
"Just ignore them. They'll come back here within the next five minutes," said Haruhi, pulling out his homework. "Trust me."
Aria shrugged and pulled out Tamaki's note that she had been trying to read since she got into the classroom.
You should visit the Host Club today! We're having a special event so you don't want to miss it. It starts at 3:30 in Music Room #3. I think you'll like it. In fact, I think you and I will get along so well, that I will let you in for free for your first day! Just show this paper to Kyoya and he will let you in. Hopefully, he won't give you a hard time. See you at 3:30!
She had no idea what the heck a host club was. She had never heard of something like that in the US or in Italy. At the bottom of the note, it said, Kyoya! Let this lovely lady have her first day free of charge at the Host Club! Love Daddy!
"Daddy…?" said Aria under her breath, utterly confused.
The paper flew out of her hand suddenly and she found herself staring up at the twins, both reading it. As they neared the end, they're faces formed into those of intense mischief.
"You've met the boss?" asked Hikaru, Kaoru's head resting on his twin's left shoulder. Haruhi pulled his attention away from his work and looked over at the three of them.
"Who, Tamaki-senpai?" asked Aria.
"Yeah, he's the President of the Host Club we're in," said Kaoru.
"He and I have AP chemistry together," she replied. "What the heck is he even talking about anyway? He invited me to the Host Club but-"
"Tamaki-senpai invited you?" said Haruhi beside her.
Aria turned to him. "Yeah. Something about free of charge and whatever nonsense. He was really excited, to say the least. Oh, right he told me to tell you three hi."
"If you want to keep your sanity," said Haruhi, turning to his homework again, "don't come."
"Aww, Haruhi!" whined the twins in unison, now on either side of his shoulders.
"You don't really hate the Host Club, do you?" said Hikaru.
Haruhi laughed darkly. "Yeah, I do," he muttered.
"But you're such a good host!" said Kaoru aghast. "Don't you like hanging out with us?"
There was a pause in the scratching of the pen Haruhi was using. "Yes, guys…" he said with a heavy sigh as if in defeat. "I do enjoy spending time with all of you."
The twins jumped for joy.
Aria was thoughtful. The way the twins acted around Haruhi was not really a male/male friendship. Aria quickly came up with two theories. One: Haruhi was gay because he was so feminine or two: Haruhi was so feminine because he was actually a she. Aria couldn't be sure which one would be true. She'd have to let it all play out.
As it turned out, Aria had Honors Conversational French with the three Host members as well. The twins had taking a liking to Aria, like Tamaki had. Haruhi did as well, but wasn't overly joyful with new company like the others, which Aria was grateful for.
Aria had been forced into introductions yet again for her French class. And like before, she easily enamored the class. She was never one of the popular kids back in school at the US. She usually kept to herself, doing her own thing and only had a few close friends. Why was it that the Japanese were so fascinated with her?
"Because you're a commoner who made her way into a wealthy man's territory…" said Haruhi flatly at lunch. Aria couldn't help but frown at the gender specifics but did not voice it.
The twins and Haruhi offered to eat lunch with her since Aria had no one else to eat with. They sat in the dining hall, Aria with her plate from the kitchen (being on the scholarship program as a transfer student from another country had major benefits. Not only does it cover Aria and her brother, Dom's schooling and gives them free meals at the school, but the scholarship program also let the two Auditore siblings stay in a house on an Ouran Academy housing tract. The scholarship program also pays for everything the house has. The house was already furnished and the school sends bi-weekly checks for the Auditore siblings for food and pays for the utilities of the house).
Aria figured that Haruhi would understand. He was a "commoner" as well.
"And because you're transferring in as an Honor Student," added Hikaru, eyeballing Haruhi's bento lunch.
"From another country and culture entirely," finished Kaoru, smiling at Aria.
She growled underneath her breath. "Joy…" she said sarcastically, staring at the food in front of her. Aria had no idea what any of it was, it all was extremely fancy stuff that she had never heard of before. Kaoru had come to her rescue and ordered something for her.
He noticed her unsure gaze at her food. "This is duck," he said, pointing at a piece of meat all decorated with sauces and other food before he pointed at the china bowl. "And that is the soup of the day. Broccoli and cheddar."
Kaoru indicated the other items on her tray but she didn't hear anything after the broccoli and cheddar. So, she started to eat it and it was the most delicious broccoli and cheddar she had ever tasted.
During lunch, she found she had her last class of the day, Honors World Literature, with the twins. She just couldn't get away from them!
Not they were bad company, but they did like to artfully pick on her with side comments and teasing. Their relationship very quickly evolved from Aria feeling unsure of how to interact with them, to her having no problems with playful banter. Usually after they would pick on her, usually about how foreign she was, Aria would just jab back but it never deterred them. She also forced them to stop calling her Aria-chan because she couldn't stand the way it sounded. Haruhi still called her by her last name but at least he didn't say it with an honorific at the end of it.
After lunch and when they said good-bye to Haruhi, the twins and Aria walked off towards their world literature class. "So, the boss wants you to come to the Host Club?" said the twins in their creepy perfect unity.
"Yeah…after school gets out," explained Aria, adjusting the stupid bow on her uniform. She was not a fan of the Ouran's uniform for the girls. She felt like a giant yellow mushroom! The uniform was heavy and way too girly for her taste. Aria was much more comfortable in a t-shirt and jeans.
"You have to come!" said Hikaru, grinning almost evilly at her.
Kaoru also had the same look. "We'll drag you there ourselves if you don't!"
Aria raised an eyebrow, not the least bit intimidated by their claim. "I was already planning on going, since I apparently don't have to pay anything so chill out, guys. Tamaki-senpai said there was some special event or something going on."
Her comment only made the smirks on their faces grow wider. "Oh yeah…" they said…and they looked like they were planning something.
"Well, that's not at all suspicious," said Aria with a chuckle as they walked into their class. The twins didn't reply but made Aria sit in a seat between them. Thankfully, they were so wrapped up in their plans (they were texting each other) that they didn't make Aria introduce herself to the class, even though Harada sensei looked as if she might have wanted to have Aria present herself to the class.
As she took notes on the lecture, she wondered what the Host Club was…and what the "special event" entailed. She was really quite curious. The twins seemed excited and Tamaki was thrilled to invite her.
She would just have to wait and see when class was out.