Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran High Host Club.
Author's note:
For once in my life, I was grateful for the invention of one-line disclaimers. Why must I be awake and posting this thing at such an unearthly hour, I seriously cannot understand... But apparently, my brains like to sprout ideas during the most inappropriate times, so here it is!
What about luck? Yes, what about luck?
Kyouya had always thought that he was unlucky. To be born as a third son to the Ootori family. To have a father who had already planned out his sons' future... just that... he did not plan to have him.
How unlucky.
The top of the clock tower was a long spiraling stairway up. Kyouya wondered how far he has climbed as he dared himself to look over the edge - there were no railings, should he fall... - he jerked back. What a dangerous expedition this is.
It was a long way up but Kyouya knew that no one comes here.
Perhaps...
Who was he to say? After all, he is doing it.
Finally, he reached the top. A plain old wooden door stood there in the solid grey wall. Kyouya felt his heart thumped strongly in his chest. This feeling... It reminded him of something from the past...
When he was really young, he had been to his grandmother's room - only once. It was a quiet room. Nice and peaceful. The warm gentle sunlight filtered in through the curtains and settled on a mysterious-looking box on the table. Beside it was a shiny golden key. Curious, he climbed onto the chair and fixed the key into the box. As he turned the key round and round, a pretty tune sung and sung...
Oh, he remembered what happened after that. Where did he put that box...? Perhaps he would look for it when he returned he pushed open the door, his thoughts were brought back to the present.
He had always wondered what the top of the clock tower would look like, but now that he was here, it was quite a disappointment. Instead of a nice peaceful quiet place, that he had always envisioned, the noise from the turning of gears and the loud rhythmic ticking annoyed him. At least he could be sure that, even if there were adventurous souls - like him - who explored this place, no one would ever come here again. There was no scenic view, just a whole array of spinning gears all around. The walkway was slightly cramped and that reminded Kyouya that he was just a little claustrophobic. He would be very delighted to leave this place immediately, but his curiosity held him from turning back.
As they always said, curiosity killed the cat.
The music stopped and the key could turn no further. He panicked, wondering if he had spoilt it. All of a sudden, the box opened with a click and something jumped out at him. He jumped and fell backwards only to be caught by his grandmother. He clutched onto her for her presence itself was comforting. He looked to the box again. The strange clownish creature bounced left to right, as though mocking him. A jack-in-the-box...
He had asked his grandmother to put him down and she kindly did. He thoroughly examined the box, but found nothing. He was upset. He was disappointed. But with what? It was as though he wanted something more. Something... like a mystery. But it was nothing more than just a mere jack-in-the-box... He knew that it was just childish fantasy. He stopped.
His grandmother must have known about it - that deep desire that never died, and even now... She smiled at him with that knowing smile and gave him the box, and the key. She told him he could keep it.
He had forgotten where he put the box after that, but he knew it was somewhere at home, locked up in some safe corner.
Kyouya walked in further. While he did so, he could feel panic clawing at his soul... the type of panic that would send people into irrational thoughts about ghosts and monsters that reside in such lonesome places... and soon these creatures would come out to haunt him, attack him...
Kyouya sighed at himself. The noisy silence was freaking him out.
"Good job, Ootori Kyouya... go ahead and fantasize about unknown creatures on unchartered land..." his voice started off in a shaky whisper, and he willed it to grow into a louder and more confident one. "... and in the end, only to realise that this place is indeed isolated... there is nothing but the willing hallucination of your mind..."
The small walkway led him to an open empty space. It was dark because of the limited rationing of light through the small crevice between the top of the walls and the eaves of the roof. Kyouya supposed that the small space was made to facilitate air circulation. Still, he was able to see quite clearly since it was still early in the afternoon.
There was a ladder leading up to rooftop and Kyouya walked over to it, pondering whether he wanted to take the risk to climb up the ladder only to have it break during his climb, causing him to fall and break a leg at a place where no one could find him or help him.
Maybe later.
Kyouya walked around, exploring the area. As he did so, he spoke to himself to try and keep himself sane. He does have doubts on his own sanity though. The fact that he came here and the fact that he is still here could only be due to two things. One, he is secretly a daredevil, and two, he is doing it out of pure insanity that was driven into him... After spending so much time at the Host Club, and around that ditzy blonde, it is to be expected.
He needed some time alone, and he meant, alone, at a place where no one could find him.
Right, that is why he is here presently...
He came to a place blocked off by wooden boards, newspapers, buckets and all sort of junk. Out of curiosity, he started to move those things aside. As he did so, he spoke to no one but himself.
"The most dangerous thing about these places is not anything supernatural, but just your thoughts. Irrational thoughts cause you to do irrational things. And even if there was indeed nothing here, your thoughts could send you into frenzy, and you might trip and fall... and tumble down the stairs or fall out of a window..."
He removed the last wooden board to reveal an open hole in the wall. Beyond that hole was open air, several storey above ground floor.
"...that you did not know existed..."
Kyouya covered the hole back with the wooden boards and put the junk aside as neatly as he can. Amongst the junk, he found a book. Someone had been here before, that was certain, but a very long time ago. He could tell from the yellowing pages of the book. He flipped through the pages but it was empty. Disappointing.
Still, finding a hole in the wall was unsettling. He toured the place three times over to make sure that they are no other dangerous sites that he does not know of. After becoming more familiar with the surroundings, he proceeds to quench his curiosity by climbing up the old wooden ladder. However, when his head was barely protruding from the floor above, he spotted sleeping bats in a small corner of the ceiling. He climbed down the ladder as quickly and silently as he could, trying not to alarm the bats.
He grabbed the book on his way out, probably just because he did not want to leave empty-handed, and then proceeded to climb down the long spiraling staircase. When he was out of the clock tower, he gave a call to one of the twins and told them that he was going home.
He didn't give a reason.
They didn't ask.
They probably thought that he was tired, after all, the school festival just ended yesterday. After all the drama and everything, they probably thought he needed a rest too, which he did.
They probably thought that it had something to do with his father slapping him in public... which was partly true... Although he did not say anything and acted as though it did not affect him, they knew that it was not the case. Thankfully. And yes, he was angry and have avoided talking to his father ever since. His sister has caught wind of it somehow and is coming down to see him. Kyouya sighed. How problematic.
But that is not the reason. He needed the time alone to think where is he going to go on from here. From this point onwards.
He knew the reason behind his father's anger, of course. The Grand Tonnerre was going to buy over the Ootori Medical Group. He had been monitoring secretly. When his father saw that he was spending his time and efforts on the Host Club, he could not help but be furious. Their family business was at stake and here he was, playing around in school.
Out of the desire to proof himself, he bought over his father's company before Grand Tonnerre could get their hands on it. He returned it to his father's management after that.
To be truthful to himself, he never once thought that he would buy over the Ootori Medical Group. He wanted to do something, achieve something... but he was still unclear over what he wanted to do. The money he used to buy over his father's company was meant for something else... something that he has not figured out. So where is he going to go on from here?
He is earning a considerable amount of money from managing funds, and pretty soon, he is going to earn more from his father's management of the Ootori Group... How is he going to face his father and his brothers?
Pretend that nothing has happened?
That doesn't sound half bad. But he is not going to ignore his father forever. And about his sister coming back to visit him... Maybe a bath would clear his head.
Upon reaching home, he went straight for the bathroom and head for the shower. Cool water trickled down his hair and his body and he let his mind wander off the troubling topic. He found himself thinking of Tamaki and the Host Club. If he used to think that he was unlucky, he thought that he was really lucky now.
If he had not been the third son of the Ootori household, he might have been like his older brothers who took things for granted. To have so much talent and to be restricted by his father's decisions and plans, it drove him crazy, it drove him to work his hardest... it drove him to look beyond the boundary that was given. But that would not have been the case if he had not met Tamaki.
That crazy blonde... He gave him quite a lot of trouble...
But Kyouya knew that if he were to run into any more trouble in the future, he would be the first to put a landing pad in his way. He isn't as stupid as to put himself forward physically to catch him. That would probably result in both of them ending up in the hospital with broken bones and everything.
If he had not met Tamaki, his life would probably be quite miserable. Sure, the Host Club was a huge headache by itself, but it gave him the opportunity to train his management skills, to test his resourcefulness... The Host Club did not earn him as much as his secretly managing of funds, but it has taught him to see what was beyond the fundamental stage of life - where he believes that his father was stuck at. All his father wanted was to be successful in business.
But what about life? There has got to be something beyond doing business and earning money.
What about friends? And what about things that you like to do? And the things you believe in?
Although he would like to think himself as an egotist, someone who only cares about himself, Haruhi was right. He does care for others in a way that he did not realize himself, until recently.
The Host Club is a place where he learnt more about himself, his dreams, his ambitions, his beliefs, friendship and so much more... where he had a lot of fun despite all the problems and troubles that came his way.
He was truly grateful for that, because it made him the way he is now.
Now that he thought of it, it is actually possible to say that the Ootori Group was saved because of Tamaki. Grand Tonnerre was acquiring many of the businesses in Japan, and its interest includes Ootori Medical Group. If Kyouya have not met Tamaki and become such a sly and scheming person, then the Ootori Group would have been sold to Grand Tonnerre.
So, although his father did not plan to have him, did not plan to for him to be the successor of his company, and definitely, did not plan to have him buy over the business, everything turned out to be quite all right for him.
Kyouya stepped out of the bathroom with a towel on his head. He looked to the book on the floor and picked it up before going back to his bedroom. He flipped through the book again, perhaps hoping to find something, instead of empty yellow pages, but there was still nothing. Then he threw it aside, fell back onto the bed and sighed.
He stared at the ceiling for quite some time before his eyes brought him the top corner of his cupboard. He jumped out of bed.
"That stupid... jack-in-the-box..."
He managed to find the box, and the key. He wound it up again.
It was old. He knew it was old.
So he thought that it wouldn't work anymore... until he was shocked out of his life for the second time...
Disappointed for the second time... for it was really just a simple jack-in-the-box.
He sighed. He stared at the book, stared at the box... stared at the golden key. He felt it again... That same feeling of being confined, of being restricted, of the need to release that potent energy within him... Like before he met Tamaki. He fingered the metal key and its colour reminded him of Tamaki's hair.
What is it that he is missing?
Frantically, he took out a piece of paper and randomly wrote down lists of words.
Jack-in-the-box, key, grandmother
Father, Ootori Medical Group, brothers, sister, Tamaki, Host Club, buying over Ootori Group
Clock tower, book, bats
Cross, circle, cross, cross. After looking through several times, he realized a pattern.
He wanted something more... He wanted something more than just a normal jack-in-the-box, he wanted something more from that clock tower, and from that yellow-paged book... he wanted something more than his father's company. But how? How is a mere jack-in-the-box going to turn into something more? How are going to get more out of the empty pages of a book? He could figure out something if it means to get more than his father's company, but about the clock tower then?
He looked within the circle: Tamaki, Host Club
"To paint beyond the canvas..." Kyouya spoke in deep thought, before coming to a conclusion. "You go beyond the boundary! You can create what is not already there!"
Then he turned to the objects before him.
"But what?"
He opened the book and flipped through the pages. A thought flashed across his mind. He flipped to the first page, took a pen and wrote.
Who are you? What is your name? What is your story?
"Tamaki-sempai, what are you doing?" Haruhi asked.
Tamaki-sempai, as she observed, was hiding behind a pillar, but very outrightly spying on Kyouya-sempai who was apparently talking to Nekozawa-sempai not very far ahead. Tamaki-sempai looked at her with his teary eyes in response.
"He put a curse of Kyouya! I'm sure! He was acting weird yesterday... and now he is even talking to him!"
"Oh, really..." Haruhi said doubtfully.
"Kyouya..." Tamaki called out from behind the pillar.
Meanwhile, with Kyouya and Nekozawa...
"Here." Kyouya said, passing the box and the golden key to Nekozawa.
"What is this?"
"Something that I think you would find more useful than I would."
"I see..."
By then, Tamaki, with Haruhi trying to pull him back, arrived by his side.
"What is that?" Tamaki demanded.
Nekozawa laughed in an ominous tone.
"This," Nekozawa emphasized, "is the rumored Pandora Box... and this young fellow here had chanced upon it. Thankfully, to his greatest wisdom, he has come to me for help to keep this safe and out of reach of pesky ignorant humans like you to prevent disaster upon the earth once again! Begone! Or I shall set the horrors within upon you!"
Kyouya pushed back his glasses as Tamaki fled quickly out of sight, with Haruhi in hand.
Kyouya set the book down in a small corner of the clock tower. This is the second time he has been up here and it is probably the last of his attempts. He looked around for the final time before going on his way down the long flight of steps.
When he returned to the music room, no one asked him where he had gone, nor did they notice his short disappearance. After-class activities carried on as per usual.
After the Host Club activities, he was going home and he realized that the chauffeur is not the one who usually sends him home. He recognized him, however, as one of his father's chauffeurs.
"Kyouya! I shall grace your lonely house with my presence today!" Tamaki said, attaching himself to his friend, but when he obtained no response, "Is there something wrong?"
"... Not really... Just that..."
"Just that...?" Tamaki repeated, worried.
Kyouya thought for a bit before replying.
"My uncle's brother is trying to kidnap his own son."
Kyouya could literally see question marks flying out of the blonde's head.
Kyouya sighed. His father knew that K.O. was him, and he wanted to talk to him. But he didn't want to deal with his father now. He knew he had to deal with it sooner or later, but still...
Kyouya looked at Tamaki who was still very much confused.
"Do you want to get kidnapped together?"
"Huh?"
Kyouya simply dragged him into the car.
Tamaki talked a lot. Kyouya didn't mind that much. He was pretty much too absorbed in his own world to notice. The only air time he had was when Tamaki asked him about Nekozawa-sempai. He did not expect to talk anymore, but he judged too soon.
"Hey, Kyouya, did you know that Grand Tonnerre planned to buy over your father's company?"
"I know."
"So, it's okay now?"
"Yes."
"Did you know that your father planned for you to inherit Ootori Medical Group?"
"I know."
Tamaki was surprised. Kyouya was also surprised by himself.
Did he really knew?
Did he...?
Perhaps... he did.
Deep at the back of his mind, he knew it all along. He already knew.
Perhaps, it was just that he didn't want to accept it. Perhaps it was just that he wanted to wallow in self-pity. Or perhaps, he did not know how to deal with that truth and didn't want to deal with it... like he didn't want to deal with his father now.
He saw that Tamaki was waiting for him to speak.
"I don't need it."
It was the truth.
"But do you want it?"
Did he want it? Perhaps he wanted it, but...
"I want something more."
"What?"
"I don't know yet."
Tamaki didn't press on.
The chauffeur was clever though. He sent them to Tamaki's place first before taking Kyouya back to the main house, where everyone was waiting for him.
He sat down beside his sister while his brother sat opposite them. Their father stood before all of them while their mother sat beside him.
For the first time, perhaps, Kyouya truly tried to see his father for the person that he really is, and not to see his father in the light that he himself preferred. The father who knew more and who did more than what he himself is ready to accept...
"Kyouya, you have something to say?"
It was more of a statement, rather than a question.
"Yes."
There was silence.
"Two days ago, I bought over Ootori Medical Group and gave the managing rights to our father."
There was another period of silence. It appears that everyone already knew. For the first time, Kyouya realized that he was not particularly close with any of his family members. The closest to him was probably his sister, but even so, they were not exactly very close.
"What are you planning to do with it?" his eldest brother asked.
The atmosphere was serious, and he didn't like it.
"What do you want me to do with it?"
Everyone raised their eyebrows. Somehow, Kyouya liked the way things are going now.
"What if we want to take over it?" his second eldest brother asked.
"Why would you want something so old?"
Everyone else blinked. Father flew into rage in a split second.
"What do you mean by saying that it is old!" demanded his father.
"Well, isn't it older than you?"
Mother burst out in laughter and his sister followed suit. Kyouya could no longer hold it in and started laughing along with them as well. His father and brothers seemed to realize what has happened and started to laugh as well.
"Kyouya, we are being serious here!" chided his second eldest brother.
"Yes, I'm sorry."
The family quieted down before Kyouya continued.
"I have no plans for it at the moment. Father may do whatever he wants with it, except to sell it."
"You have no plans for it?" his mother asked. "Is there something else you want to do?"
"Probably." Kyouya could see that everyone was confused as to what he has said. "I haven't figured out what I want to do yet."
"I see," his mother smiled at her child.
She never had a chance to know what goes on in her youngest child's mind and was glad that he was willing to share with her, as well as the rest of the members of the family. There was too little time spent together and she had almost forgotten what it means to be a family. Her youngest child, her favourite son of all... and yet, she knew so little about him. He was nearly a stranger to her.
Kyouya turned to his brothers and spoke.
"I might start a new business in the future, and I would probably need your help."
"... Our-!" too shocked for words, his brothers could only say "Yes, yes! Of course!"
For the first time in their lives, they truly felt like an "older brother" to someone. To feel that someone needs them and honor them for simply being older. In this family where their futures were planned by their father, where every daily interaction felt so business-like, it was difficult to feel anymore. And yet, now... Just because their little brother was asking them, they were willing to put aside any differences they once had.
"Isn't that a little too early to say that? After all, there is no such thing as friendship or family on the battlefield of business." spoke their father.
"Perhaps, but is strength not greater in unity and number?"
He saw something flashed across his son's eyes, like some ghost of an idea, and he believed he knew what Kyouya was planning to do.
"I'd pray to live and see it," his father spoke. And he meant every word he said.
And Kyouya thought, perhaps luck is something that can be created...
Yep, yep, yep... Review please... unless you want to scold me or something, then please save your energy and go to sleep. I feel like writing more about his "supposed" grandmother though... but we'll see... I might be too lazy to write... Cya!