Hello everyone! *creepy evil laugh* I hope you are all getting into the Halloween spirit! It is fast approaching... only 13 more days! Anyhow, this fanfic is about Ouran High School, obviously, and Halloween. (Also obviously, if you read the description). Details about this story: There will be a chapter for each day of Halloween, so 13, and every day a new chapter will be posted. Also, each chapter has a reference to two different episodes. See if you can catch those, but if not, I'll put it on the end of that chapter. Finally, I will thank the reviewers from each chapter in the chapter after it. So, other things. This story will include: humor (I hope), randomness, contests, and just a smidge of scariness. Actually, probably no scariness at all. Never mind. Thanks everyone for reading and I hope you enjoy my first holiday themed fanfic. Bye!
Haruhi Fujioka was shopping at her supermarket. It was a normal day, the 19th of October, and she was on break from school because this year Ouran gave two weeks off for Halloween.
So far, two days into the holiday, Haruhi was enjoying her much needed time off from school, namely the Host Club, which had gone crazy lately over the Halloween rush. Not that they weren't already crazy enough anyway, but whatever.
She had soon finished her shopping for dinner and proceeded to walk back home. When she got there, her father called her.
"Haruhi! You have a letter!"
"Coming," she said, wondering who in the world would send her a letter. She received the letter from her father and sat down to read it. It looked very expensive, and so Haruhi gathered that it must be from Ouran.
The envelope itself was black and had orange lace decorating it. She opened the envelope to find a card stock invitation with the same design. On the card, in fancy orange script, was written: "You are hereby invited to Ouran High School's Halloween celebration! This takes place from October 19 until Halloween, and will include all that accept. You will be sleeping at the school and there will be many activities planned. We hope to see you there! It starts at 5:00 on October 19th. P.S. - Food will be supplied and there will be some... field trips."
Haruhi immediately decided not to go, and she said this to her father, who had already read the letter.
"Why not?" he asked. "I think it sounds fun!"
Haruhi internally groaned. There were some things in life that were fun. This, however, seemed more like a disaster. Especially if the Host Club was going to be there, and Haruhi had no doubt that they were.
"I think I'll pass this time," she said. Her father sighed. "Okay, if you're sure."
He then walked away, possibly to do something else that required his attention. (Well, no duh. That was a super Captain Obvious statement. Oh well.)
Haruhi also walked away from where she was sitting and started preparing dinner. The time read 4:00.
13 minutes later
Haruhi was almost done making dinner, and was ready to relax, when suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Curious, she opened the door and immediately wished she hadn't.
Standing in front of her was all 6 other members of the Host Club, plus Renge. Everyone was in school uniform except for Renge, who was wearing... something from some anime that Haruhi did not know of. She had a look of extreme anger on her face, and Haruhi guessed that she was in for trouble. As usual, she was right.
Before anybody could greet her, Renge demanded, "Where have you been?! The Host Club was supposed to be at the Halloween celebration at 4!"
"I wasn't going to go to that," Haruhi responded, confused.
"Well, sorry, but the whole club has to go," Kaoru explained. "Yeah, Kyoya apparently decided that it was a good time to get more customers," Hikaru added. "So, we all had to be there early to help set up," the twins chorused.
"Yes, and we have to go now!" Renge said impatiently. Then her and the twins grabbed Haruhi and pulled her to a waiting car, the twins yelling, "Bye!"
When they reached Ouran, the Host Club went up to Music Room 3, Haruhi muttering about the damn rich people all the way.
When they got there, a horde of people were milling around, looking excited and talking rapidly to one another. Renge left the Club and walked to the front of the room. She climbed up onto a table and cleared her throat expectantly. The group settled down.
"Okay people!" Renge yelled. "You are all here because you accepted the invitation to Ouran's Halloween celebration. Right now, it has officially started!" There was some cheering, but it quickly fell silent again.
"Now," she continued. "You all will be shown to your rooms shortly, and when that happens, you have until 9 to do whatever you want, provided you stay in the school campus. I suggest taking a short nap, because once we get started we aren't done until 4 in the morning. Finally, you all must meet back here before 9 pm, or there will be... punishments. Everyone got that?" "Yes!" everyone yelled. "Okay, good. I will see you all at 9, or else," Renge said cheerily. Then everyone hurried away, finding friends and roommates.
"9 to 4?" Haruhi asked quizzically. "Doesn't that seem a little long?"
"Well, normally, yes, but you're thinking more of a simple party. The total hours equal less than a normal day. The only difference is that this takes place during the night, with sleeping happening during the day. Plus, if you subtract eating time, and occasionally, travel time, the result isn't all that much time," Kyoya characteristically pointed out.
Then, Renge walked over. "Haruhi," she called. "You're rooming with me, Momoka Kurakano, and Kimiko Sakurazuka. We're on the third floor, room 13."
"Okay," Haruhi said, and trailed Renge to her dorm room. On the way, she saw many students talking, eating, sleeping wherever possible, and running around. Apparently, just because you were rich didn't mean you couldn't have a crazy side.
Finally, after climbing some stairs and passing many doors, Renge and Haruhi got to room 13. A peek inside told Haruhi that the classrooms had been converted into temporary bedrooms. The two girls stepped in, and saw that both of the other two weren't there yet.
Renge sat down on one of the beds and said to Haruhi, "There's some food downstairs, when you get hungry. You might want to eat now, soon the place will be packed with people who waited until the last minute to get some food."
"All right," Haruhi agreed, and after a few more moments of getting situated, she headed back downstairs, this time without Renge.
When she got to the food area, it was relatively empty, and her dinner went by surprisingly uneventfully. Little did she know, in a couple of hours, she would wish for the peacefulness of that moment desperately.
Later, at around 8:53 pm, Ouran's students were trickling back into the area around Music Room 3. Mostly everyone, including Haruhi, had taken Renge's advice to eat and sleep before 9, and the atmosphere was slightly more calm than before.
Renge had a megaphone, for some odd reason, and was standing on the table again.
"Okay," she screamed at a slightly lower decibel level than before. "The exclusive charter buses are parked outside. You can sit wherever you want, but there are three buses and we have to make an equal number of people in each. First, though, we have to take roll."
There was a collective groan from the crowd, and then everything fell silent again as Renge started calling names and those people were excused to board the buses.
After a little while, Haruhi heard her name called. "Here," she said, then walked out to the buses, wondering exactly what "exclusive charter buses" were. As far as she could tell, they looked exactly like regular charter buses.
She found out how wrong she was soon enough, when she got on the first bus. The whole thing seemed bigger than her entire apartment. Somehow the designers had managed to fit a chandelier in there, along with 4 huge fluffy couches. There was even a marble staircase leading to a second floor. Behind the couches, there were 5 floor to ceiling bookcases - completely filled. Beyond that was a gigantic tri-screen TV. All throughout the bus, for some reason, were fluttering rose petals. Curious to see the second floor, Haruhi walked up the steps and was greeted by the sight of a full restaurant and enormous bathrooms.
Haruhi was standing in amazement when the twins came up behind her. "Oh, hey Haruhi," they said nonchalantly.
Haruhi shook herself out of her trance. Before she could say anything in return, however, the twins interrupted her. "We're on the same team for this Halloween thing!" they said excitedly. "Along with your three roommates, the rest of the Host Club, Nekozawa, Kazukiyo Soga, and a mystery teammate."
"That's great," Haruhi responded, though not as enthusiastically. All three of them then went back down the stairs to the main floor. As soon as they got downstairs, the bus doors closed and it started moving.
Haruhi, with no idea where they were going, sat down on a couch and tried to mentally prepare herself.
Haruhi stepped out of the bus a while later and was greeted by the sights and sounds of a beach at night. The waves were gently rolling, seagulls were making noise, and it was deserted. Probably due to the fact that it was around 9:30.
More people were getting off the bus and waiting for instructions, so Haruhi joined the group. After everyone had gotten off, three girls who didn't look like Ouran students climbed onto a nearby rock and one of them yelled for quiet. Everyone shut up abruptly.
The girl cleared her throat, and then announced clearly, "Thank you. Now, we are the Mix and Match triplets, and we will be your judges/coordinators for this Halloween challenge. First things first. This challenge is to test your bravery and skills. Every day there will be a new contest, and there will be a winner. You are arranged into teams, and the team with the most wins at the end of the 13 days will be the champions of Halloween. Today, our competition is an obstacle course along the beach - but in complete darkness. A few things to keep in mind: one, not everyone on your team must participate, two, the first one to the finish line wins for their team, and finally, make sure you don't cheat. Cheating will be dealt with... questionable methods of punishment." At the last sentence, the girl had such an evil look that it caused Haruhi to let out an involuntary shiver.
"Now then, let's get started!" the girl finished, and clapped her hands twice. The three jumped off of the rock and headed to their left. A different girl from the first held up a sign reading "If you are participating, follow us" with absolutely no expression. Around half of the crowd followed them and the others went the opposite way.
Haruhi was going to join the group not entering the contest when a sea of people forced her the other way, towards the start of the competition. By the time they had passed, it was too dark to find the way back. Haruhi sighed, knowing she would have to enter the game now.
Kazukiyo Soga was also attempting to leave the game, but did it a little better than Haruhi and managed to get away. As he followed the others, he smiled, relieved, but then remembered that there were 12 more days of contests - and that Hikaru and Kaoru were both on his team. His smile disappeared faster than it had come.
Momoka Kurakano and Kimiko Sakurazuka were having trouble deciding. "Should we do it or not?" Kimiko asked nervously. "Everybody's leaving."
Momoka made an executive decision. "Yes. Let's go," she said, and pulled Kimiko's arm in the right direction.
Hikaru and Kaoru were running toward the contest. There was no way they were missing out on this. On the way, they spotted Tamaki, who was standing still in the middle of their path. "Come on, boss!" Hikaru yelled. Both of the twins grabbed one of Tamaki's arms and pulled the blonde behind them.
Umehito Nekozawa seemingly appeared out of thin air and silently followed the group going to the contest. He gave out an evil laugh. This was going to be entertaining.
Kyoya debated his options for all of two seconds, then headed right, to the end of the obstacle course. Perhaps he would use the time to find out who these judges were and where they came from.
Renge walked a little bit behind Nekozawa. She was excited for this whole competition as well. In fact, she had a few surprises planned for later...
Honey and Mori were heading toward the contest when something else caught Honey's attention. "Is that... cake?" he asked, sniffing the air curiously. "It is!" he said, then followed where it was coming from. Mori tailed him.
The mystery teammate made sure that their black cloak was secured properly, then headed to the contest as well. Nobody observing could have seen, but underneath the mask, they were smiling.
"Okay all! I already explained the rules, so just get set, and when you hear the buzzer go off, you may start. Have fun everyone!" the first girl yelled.
She walked over to the side where the last girl was holding her hand over a red button. In her other hand was a microphone.
"Three... two... one...!" she yelled into it. "GO!" She slammed her hand down on the buzzer and everyone took off.
The actual obstacle course was a hedge maze, and the 9 contestants on Haruhi's team funneled through the various entrances. Momoka and Kimiko waited as around 10 people in front of them fell into a pit trap not deep enough to break any bones but enough to make sure they weren't getting out soon.
As the girls were looking down at the unfortunates, the twins passed by in a rush. They ran around different bends, dodging poles and jumping through holes. (I did not make that rhyme on purpose.)
Nekozawa was cackling while running ON TOP of the hedges, freaking out tons of more students, and Haruhi was taking her time, being cautious not to fall prey to any traps.
Meanwhile, Tamaki had lost the twins but had found Renge, and they both were attempting to swing on a rope across a pool of water. Tamaki lost his grip and tumbled down, but Renge made it across and kept going, not bothering to help her teammate.
The mysterious person for Team 3, aka Haruhi's team, was nimbly bypassing the obstacles, but was still behind a number of people. Including the twins and the 4 girls.
After running for a long time, Hikaru and Kaoru began to notice that there was nobody around them. "Hey, do you think we're in first place right now?" Kaoru asked his twin. "Probably," Hikaru responded, but unfortunately, while they were talking, they became distracted and Hikaru was caught in a net.
Kaoru wasn't captured, but thrown to the ground. When he got up he saw his twin stuck. "Hold on, Hikaru, I'll help you," he said, looking for anything that could cut through a net. "No," Hikaru said. "You go. You have to win this, Kaoru. I'll be fine." Kaoru looked at his twin for a few more seconds, then nodded. He ran forward, calling, "I will win this for you, Hikaru!"
Kyoya sat in a room somewhere near the end of the obstacle course. He was having quite an interesting chat with the three girl judges, who he now knew were named Ex, Why, and Zee, that had cleared up a lot.
They were wrapping up the talk when Why checked her watch. "It's been a while. We should head to the finish line to get ready for the mob of people." The four of them headed out the door of the room they were in and over the sand to the clearly marked finish line. Nobody was there yet, but there was the faint sound of noise, so the group knew that somebody must be close. After a tense 5 minutes of waiting, Kaoru, looking defeated, stumbled out of the maze and collapsed on the finish line.
"We have a winner!" Zee yelled into her microphone. "Now what do we do?"
Ex held up a sign. "We wait for the rest of the people" it said. Again, her face was blank.
"Oh. Great," Zee sighed.
2 hours and 49 minutes later
Everyone who had taken part in the obstacle course was rounded up near the finish line. Most looked beat. Tamaki was drenched in water, Hikaru had pieces of net stuck on him, Renge sported a nasty bump on her head, and Nekozawa added a few bruises to his look from when he fell off of the wall. The other three girls weren't as bad off, but they did end up at the finish line rather late. The mystery teammate looked unharmed, and had come in only a little while after Kaoru.
"Okay," said Why when everyone was present. "I'll give the prize to our winner and then we'll get on the buses to go back to Ouran."
Zee took it from there. "All right, ladies and gentlemen, the winner of the beach front obstacle course is... Kaoru!" Most of team 3 cheered. "Okay Kaoru, your prize is a trophy cup... but not just any trophy cup. You get a miniature model of a priceless vase!" Ex held up the cup, which was a perfect copy of the expensive vase that Haruhi had broken on her first day meeting the Host Club. Haruhi stared in shock. If this was Renge's idea of a joke, she needed to get a sense of humor. But one look at her face told Haruhi that she had no idea what was going on either.
Kaoru took the trophy while looking sideways at Haruhi. Then everyone flocked to the buses and there was no time to say anything. Unfortunately, as Haruhi was getting on the bus, she bumped into Kaoru, who was also trying to board. He dropped the trophy cup and it shattered into hundreds of pieces.
Suddenly, Kyoya was behind her. His glasses flashed as he pushed them up. "Well, Miss Fujioka, it seems that you've put yourself back into debt. That will be 100 more customers." Haruhi's jaw dropped. For at least the second time, she muttered, "These damn rich people."
On the bus, many people from team 3 were discussing the Halloween challenges and speculating about what would come next.
"Speaking of the challenge," Haruhi said to Ex, Why, and Zee. "How did you make a hedge maze on the BEACH?" The girls shared a private look with Kyoya and Zee grinned. "Trade secret," she responded.
"Well, if the next challenge has to do with finding something, I'm sure to win," Hikaru bragged. Just then, Renge butted into the conversation. With an especially sinister smile, she spoke to the group.
"Don't be so sure..."
Well, that was the end of chapter 1! Hope you like it so far. It gets more interesting closer to Halloween, so don't worry if this one was kinda boring. Anyway, the two references for this chapter were episodes 1, the vase that Haruhi broke, and 8, the beach. Thank you to crystalgolem248 for all the help with the exclusive charter buses description (as far as I know, they aren't real, though I wish they were). So that's pretty much all I have to say for right now, except for to review, follow, and favorite! See everyone tomorrow!