I heard Tamaki's voice echoing down the hallway and glanced up from the book I had been reading. Tamaki was bounding down the hall towards me, with Kyoya following close behind. They had left me sitting in the courtyard while they ran off and made 'preparations' for the Host Club that afternoon. From what Tamaki had told me as he showed me around Ouran High that day, the Host Club was some kind of social organization that entertained the girls of Ouran, and of which Tamaki was president. That last part he had emphasized numerous times.

I couldn't help wondering how, of all the juniors at Ouran, the head of the Host Club had been selected to show me around when I transferred here. I knew the headmaster had promised to assist me in my pretending to be a guy at Ouran, but having the president of Ouran's female entertainment and dating service show me around seemed like a little too much. I could get some great data and observations at the Host Club, but I was worried that my appearance as a guy would be seen through, I wasn't sure how well I could act when being bombarded by fawning girls and flirting guys. When I transferred from my old school, Madeira, to Ouran High, my mother, a famed actress and I had made a bet: I would pretend to be a guy at Ouran High and see if anyone here would find out that I was actually a girl. My mom wanted to know if I could keep up the act of being a guy, and I was interested as to how I would be treated different in society based upon my gender; it was my own personal social experiment. I was distracted from my thoughts as Tamaki and Kyoya reached me, Tamaki exclaimed,

"Hurry up Yuki! We have to get to the club before everyone else arrives!" Before I could reply Tamaki grabbed my hand and dragged me to my feet, and then began to sprint back down the hallway. I wrenched my wrist out of his grip and fell back to walk next to Kyoya. We walked in silence for a moment, and then Kyoya asked, his pen poised to write on a page of his black notebook,

"So, what were you reading back there?" I looked back at him in surprise, and then replied,

"It was As You Like It, we were reading it in my English class at Madeira. I don't have to keep reading it now that I'm at Ouran, but I like it." Kyoya smiled, jotting down a note. I wondered what he could be writing about my reading habits when, in front of us Tamaki turned suddenly and opened a pair of large white doors, with a sign above them reading 'Third Music Room.' Kyoya and I followed him inside, where there was a flurry of activity as couches and tables were pushed into position and set as if for a grand party. Tamaki turned back towards me and exclaimed with a flourish,

"Welcome to the Host Club Yuki!" I resisted the temptation to giggle at Tamaki's excitement. Kyoya and I were ignoring Tamaki's babbling about the Host Club and all the girls that were coming, when the doors opened again and three people came into the room. One was a tall, dark-haired senior who stood protectively next to a short little blond boy who I couldn't believe was a high school student. He was even shorter then me, and I am very small. The third person was what looked like a feminine boy or a girl masquerading as a guy. I looked at the person a little closer and realized they didn't have an Adam's apple and although she was wearing a boy's uniform I got the feeling the person was a girl. I guess I wasn't the only person playing as something I'm not around here. Somehow that doesn't quite surprise me. She had small delicate facial features, short dark, nearly black hair, and dark eyes, as a girl she would have been quite pretty. The girl looked strikingly familiar, as if I had seen her face before. The girl noticed me and asked quietly,

"So who is this exactly? Honey told me that Tamaki was showing someone around, but who?" Kyoya offered an answer to her question, saying,

"This is Yuki Yakusha. As you know, the transfer student that Tamaki volunteered to show around." We examined one another for a moment, and then spoke in perfect unison,

"You look familiar, have we met?" We both chuckled, and then the girl announced,

"I guess we've met somewhere before, if we both think the other looks familiar. Tamaki, Yuki is sitting with me today." Tamaki gaped at us in confusion and slight annoyance. The girl quickly added, "Of course if Yuki here doesn't mind that is?" I chuckled, I liked this girl but I didn't even know her name yet. I answered,

"I don't mind, but you care to tell me your name?" The girl gasped; apparently she had forgotten that I didn't even know her name. I couldn't blame her; it felt like we had known each other for a long time, even though we had just met.

"I'm sorry. My name's Ace Marionette." Suddenly I realized where I had seen her face, and name before. Our schools had done a penpal project 5 years ago, only we weren't allowed to sign our names to any of the letters we sent. My penpal had always signed as Marionette-doll, while I had signed as Snow-actress. After the project ended we continued to send each other letters as we got along very well and loved talking to each other, even if it was only over paper. We had also sent one another our pictures, which is how I knew her face, even though she had cut her hair since she had sent her picture. I told her excitedly,

"I can't wait to talk to you alone. I think I know where I've met you before."

"Really now? This will be good conversation then." We gave each other identical smiles, easily falling into how we interacted in our writings, even though now we were face to face. While we had been talking another one of the Hosts appeared, like Ace and I she was dressed as a boy. Apparently there was a trend in the Host Club for girls to dress as guys. That or all of us just didn't want to be part of the ridiculous female culture at Ouran, where girls worship the Host Club boys. The new girl watched Ace and I, and remarked,

"You know those two remind me of the twins in a way."

LATER

Ace and I ended up sitting on one of the couches, surrounded by girls. Apparently Ace was a host, and everyone except for the Host Club thought she was a guy. My own pretense of being a guy seemed to be working fairly well, given the fact that the Ouran girls kept commenting on what a cute boy I was. I was very pleased with my success at acting like a guy, and had already gathered plenty of observations about the unusual gender culture at Ouran, where boys are expected to be chivalrous and adorable, and girls tend to enjoy judging and ranking the boys. In between talking to the girls, I had explained to Ace my realization about us being penpals, and why I was dressed like a guy. Our happy conversation was interrupted when one of the girls who had just come over asked,

"So Ace-kun who is this?" Ace turned to her and replied,

"Well Sakura-chan, this is Yuki Yakusha. He is the new transfer student in class 2-A, a year younger than me. Tamaki and Kyoya have been showing him around today, which is why he is at the host club with us." The girls all stared at me, before stammering,

"H-he is very attractive, d-do you think he'll join the host club, Ace?" I tried to keep from blushing but I think I failed. Ace seemed used to the attention and only responded,

"He might. I keep telling him he should ask about joining, but he doesn't want to feel like he is intruding. It is his first day here, after all. Isn't that right little Yuki?" I frowned at Ace, because of the fact I was shorter and younger than her she was enjoying teasing me. I had learned how to tease her back however, and I told her,

"I told you not to call me that Acey! Just because you're taller doesn't mean anything." Now she was the one to frown and she snapped back, half-annoyed and half-amused,

"And I've told you not to call me Acey! Besides I'm older than you!" To my surprise some of the girls began to shriek and squeal as they watched us interact. I looked at them in confusion until one exclaimed,

"You two act like siblings!" The others chimed in as well,

"It's like Yuki-kun is the younger sibling who wants to impress his older brother!"

"And Ace-kun is the older brother who looks out for his annoying younger brother!" I looked at Ace and we smirked at each other, I hadn't realized coming to Ouran and pretending to be a guy would be this amusing, or that I was going to meet Ace.

The Hosts' POV

The hosts all watched Ace, and this new boy, get all the customers attention. They were acting like they had known each other for a very long time, when they had only talked for five minutes at the most. The girls were correct though, the two definitely acted like siblings.

"They're stealing my customers!" Tamaki shouted, very displeased with the two.

"Your customers? They're stealing our routine!" The twins shouted out just as displeased as Tamaki.

"Incorrect!" Ace and Yuki's voices suddenly shouted out. All of the hosts, aside from Haruhi, Kyouya, and Takashi, jumped from shock. They both let out a laugh, taken a slight enjoyment from the Hosts' reaction.

Yuki's POV

Ace informed the twins, "We didn't steal your routine. After all we aren't pretending to be gay lovers; we're pretending to be brothers. It's totally different, especially since we aren't related to each other." I added onto her statement, telling the Hosts,

"After all we only met about a half hour ago." I winked at Ace; we had decided we were going to let the Hosts figure out our secret on their own. The twins stammered,

"T-then how?" We replied in unison once again,

"That you will have to figure out on your own." Ace quickly turned to Kyoya, saying,

"And no telling them the answer once you know, that is if you don't already know." I smiled, only a day with the Host Club and I had already determined that Kyoya was the only one truly capable of digging up my records from Madeira and finding out that I was a girl and that I had known Ace before Ouran. I declared to all the Hosts,

"And from what Ace tells me, I need to speak to you later Kyoya. As for now, we have girls to get back to." I winked at the Hosts, and then Ace and I strode back to where the girls were sitting, leaving a group of very confused Hosts behind us.