Chapter 1
The tap of my shoes echoed in the expanse of the large hall. I began to climb laboriously up the flight of a grand staircase, headed towards the destination that had been written on the paper I clutched in my hand. Turning around corner after corner for what seemed to last forever, I found my destination. Halting before a pair of double doors, I once again peered closely at my paper.
"Music Room Three, huh?" I thought out loud to myself. "Well, this must be the place..."
Cautiously, I placed my hand on the cold door handle. I breathed in, mentally preparing myself for the task ahead. Mustering every inch of courage I had, I twisted the handle and gave the door a slight push. Despite its groan of protest, it swung open rather easily. Taking two steps into the room, I looked up from where my eyes had been glued to the floor.
"Excuse me, I'm looking for..."
EEEEEP!
I was stopped mid-sentence. Seven gorgeous high-schoolers instantly blinded my view... all in the process of removing their shirts (minus one). I blinked repeatedly, attempting to discern just what exactly was going on. At the sound of the opening door, all of their faces turned toward me.
"Um.. oops, sorry..." I managed to stutter. "I didn't mean to interrupt, errrr... whatever it was you were about to do." I began to slowly back out of the room as a slight blush formed on my face.
"Ahhh, I don't believe I've ever seen your lovely face here, mademoiselle," said the tall blonde one. He said this as though it was the most natural thing in the world for him to be shirtless with a bunch of other dudes. "In fact, I don't believe I've ever seen your face at all! Are you a new student here at Ouran?"
"Well, yes but..."
"My my! I don't believe I've ever seen such a lovely face on a girl, wouldn't you agree, men?" He turned towards his "men" and waited almost expectantly for their answer.
"Well, she is quite attractive." I peered around the blonde boy to discover that the voices in unison had come from two red-headed twins. Well... It was actually more of an orange. Orange-headed was probably a better term. "Although her hairstyle could use some work."
Annoyed, I casually brushed my bangs away from my face, only for them to fall back to their original place.
"Hikaru! Kaoru! Be kind to our first time guest!" Turning back towards me, he swung his right arm down low in front of him and bowed. "We welcome you to our Host Club!" Straightening himself, he smiled and excitedly began what seemed to me to be a well practiced welcoming speech. "So what kind of guys are you into? Do you like the strong, silent type?" Blondie said, gesturing towards the very tall, black haired boy standing silently in the back of the group. Besides his emotionless stare, the boy made no attempt to even acknowledge my presence.
"Or perhaps you are into boy-lolitas?" I assumed he meant the little blonde boy clutching a pink bunny to his chest. His eyes were unnaturally large. However, it made him look extremely cute, and I could almost feel my Moe senses tingling.
"The little devil type?" The twin boys smiled deviously at me, making gestures for me to come closer. I grimaced in their direction, but this almost seemed to excite their playful mood.
"How about the natural type?" The smaller, girly looking boy smiled in a friendly way, waving his hand. He seemed... almost unsure of himself. Very weak, to be precise.
"Maybe the cool type?" The one with glasses looked up from the black book he had been scribbling in and nodded towards me in acknowledgment.
"Or perhaps," Blondie said, creeping closer and finally grasping my hand and pressing it to his lips, "You're into the princely type, like myself. What do you say?"
Gathering all the strength I could possibly gather into my hand, I slapped him away. Smirking at the sight of his horrified face, I said, "Sorry to disappoint, but I didn't come here for your Host Club." Surprisingly enough, none of the other members made any advances to support their now-in-pain leader. I briefly wondered if Blondie was slapped often.
With a hurt expression on his face, he began to massage the place where I had slapped him. "Then what did you come here fo..."
"WHOA HO HO HO HO HO HO HO HO HO HO!"
(Electric Motor)
Suddenly, a platform began to rise from within the floor of the music room. I panicked internally, but when I noticed that no one else seemed to be very surprised, I cooled off. I also realized that the maniacal laughter that had seemed to be coming from underneath the floor of the music room was extremely familiar.
"Grrrrr! Renge! Couldn't you show up at a different time?" Blondie whined. Still shirtless, I might add. As where the rest, however some of them began to put on their shirts when they saw Renge. "We were just about to figure out this young lady's reason for coming!"
"Actually..." I said, smiling. "She IS my reason for coming."
Confused, the Host Club members looked at Renge, who suddenly exclaimed,
"Kara? Kara Houshakuji? Oh wow! It's so good to see you!"
Leaping off the platform, Renge charged towards me. I barley had time to prepare for impact before she embraced me in a suffocatingly powerful hug.
"I'm so glad to see you! I just knew you'd come to Ouran Academy! I just knew it!" Without releasing her choke-hold around my neck with one arm, she swept her other arm in a dramatically large gesture toward the high school boys (who all looked thoroughly confused) and proclaimed, "These boys are all part of the Host Club I manage. Impressive, huh?"
Practically choking, I managed to squeak out, "Sure Renge, but can you please let me go?" After releasing me, and after I relearned how to breathe, I smiled and said, "Good to see you too."
"Now wait! Hold on!" The twins yelled in perfect unison. "First off, who the hell are you?" One said, pointing at me accusingly.
"And who are you to Renge?" The other finished. Both of them seemed slightly huffy, most likely from not having complete knowledge of the situation.
Renge chuckled in that strange way of hers. "Can't you see the resemblance?"
Forcefully pulling my face close to hers, she announced,
"We're cousins."