Recharge

NOTE: Occurs after the Mori side story after Episode 21 in the manga.

DISCLAIMER: Ouran High School Host Club and its characters belong to Bisco Hatori.

Takashi Morinozuka loved sitting quietly by the window.

In the chaos of the Third Music Room, especially during service hours, the window ledge offered solace. The view out into the courtyard was beautiful year-round – of course, the quality of landscaping at Ouran Academy was always maintained as excellently as humanly possible – and he quite enjoyed the change of scenery.

Sitting there also made him quite fatigued. After all, it often took a lot of work to block out all the noise of the Host Club and enjoy the view.

He was quite unfortunately disturbed one day by… someone. And after that, his memory was blank for about the span of an hour and a half.

Even though he didn't show it, it puzzled him, and the rest of the Host Club seemed to not want to answer.

So he went back to the window the next day, as though he was attempting to figure out the problem.

Mori arrived there earlier than usual from the Kendo Club in order to avoid the influx of girls who arrived soon after him. Taking his place on the window ledge, he looked around for clues of what could have possibly occurred. The scenery from yesterday was the same as usual, falling autumn leaves from the trees colouring the green grass various shades of red, yellow and brown. He noted how some leaves were removed and others remained for artistic effect. It was even raining like yesterday.

All of a sudden, he considered landscaping a future career.

The mass of girls that indicated rush hour for the club invaded the moderate tranquility of the room, immediately seeking out their hosts. Some of the more quiet girls – probably the ones looking for him, he figured – scanned the room, but probably assumed he was not here yet.

Mori did quite enjoy being able to meld into the background.

As time passed, however, the girls started to notice that he had not arrived, especially when Hunny walked in without him. Keeping a calm mind, Mori continued to look around his area for indicators as to what happened, but his searches continually ended up fruitless.

But keeping his mind as clear as possible was getting very harrowing and quite tiring…

Finally, he heard one of the girls ask Hikaru, "Where's Mori-kun?"

Hikaru, interrupted mid-'brotherly love' act, quickly scanned the room while still clutching Kaoru's hand. Kaoru also looked around, and his and Mori's eyes met. Kaoru's eyes widened, for a reason Mori didn't quite comprehend. He turned to whisper to his twin, who started nodding and whispering back. The two of them then dashed over to Tamaki, as though they were reporting to him.

"Th-that's… I see… it all makes sense now!" Tamaki shouted, startling the girls he was hosting. "Sorry, ladies, but the Host Club has a crisis!"

The twins dashed over to where he was sitting and immediately dragged him away from the window. Tamaki jumped to his chest and started digging around.

"Kyoya, help me!" he yelled. Kyoya turned from his small black notebook and gave Tamaki a dubious glance, but started walking over.

By this time Haruhi and Hunny had stopped their own business to see what the commotion was. Hunny, noticing Mori's state, ran to him and asked, "Takashi, what's wrong? Are you sleepy again?"

"A little," Mori replied after a moment, which was true.

"See? I knew we were right," Hikaru said to Kaoru, nodding.

"It must have been the cause," Kaoru replied, nodding as well.

"… what are you guys talking about?" Haruhi asked slowly as she walked over.

Before the twins could answer, Tamaki dashed over holding two small cylindrical objects in his hand. Closer inspection proved them to be AA batteries. Panting, he then proceeded to extend them out to Mori, who blinked.

"For your recharging, Mori-senpai!" he said breathlessly.

"Recharging?" Haruhi repeated, slightly bewildered. "You don't mean…"

"That's right!" Hikaru said. "We have deduced that Mori-senpai's fatigue is due to sitting on that window ledge!"

"Notice how it was raining yesterday," Kaoru added, pointing to the window. "We think that the short-circuiting is what makes the fatigue – after all, overheating of the systems could be interpreted as tiring. And the rain, or even the condensation off the windows, could mess up his systems."

"So we decided to offer you these batteries to help you recuperate!" Tamaki finished. "Sorry I don't have a 9V…"

"So that's what happens!" Hunny exclaimed as though he had a sudden revelation. "I get it now, Takashi! Though you could have just said so…"

By now, six pairs of eyes were staring at him – no, probably the entire club was.

Mori blinked. Again.

"… ah," he said slowly.

The next morning, Mori woke up to find a huge stack of batteries of various shapes and sizes waiting for him in the Morinozuka mansion foyer. Attached to each battery was a note, from his various fans, but the common trait between them all was this:

To help you get through the day without getting sleepy!

Mori decided that he still had no idea what exactly transpired two days before.

On a whim, I decided to write something. After reading some Ouran fanfiction again, I felt an urge to write something about Mori. My friend challenged me to use the prompt 'Duracell AA battery'. This is what I came up with.

Sorry if characterization is shoddy, especially on Mori's part. I have no idea why I tried to write from his point of view.

-EmbeRin