Ouran Academy. Known as a prestigious school for the rich and famous. Being a high-class establishment, that also meant that it had a good curriculum with many different options to choose from. The school was attended primarily by children of the rich and famous—children of prominent families, business magnates, politicians, and celebrities.

So when there was a new student, people tended to talk—to gossip. Which was exactly the case at the moment. Some conversations halted as he walked by and students subtly glanced at him, it was hard to avoid getting attention when not in proper uniform. Wearing casual clothing while everyone else wore suits and dresses tended to garner attention.

Curly ebony hair bounced with each step he took even with the white toque he wore to try and calm the raging curls. His headphones would make them think that he couldn't hear them, but that was his ploy. No music was playing and he could listen in without compromising himself. Though they weren't necessarily trying to keep their volume down. The little red book that he was pretending to look over snapped shut and he glanced over to look a girl in the eye.

He kept a straight face and didn't acknowledge her as he walked passed. My God, those dresses are hideous. I'd be surprised if anyone could pull it off.

He probably would have been interested in the gossip that was spreading, and he would have been if he didn't have headphones on—though they weren't necessarily trying to keep their volume down—and the red book that he was engrossed in didn't help with his unawareness, his one visible green eye moving over the pages as he strode past.

"Why is he wearing casual clothing?" A student asked themselves. Uniforms were not required, but everyone wore them as a show. "Plaid with jeans? No thanks."

"I'm not complaining." A girl said with a grin, "Aesthetic."

"Excuse me," he put on a small smile and moved his headphones to his neck, "May I ask how to get to the principal's office?"

"You'll need to go up those stairs on the left here to the third floor, then it's straight down the hall on the right. You can't miss it."

He looked over to the direction she pointed to and looked up, adding it to his mental map. "Thanks, I doubted the directions I was given before."

He forgot them actually.

Turning with a small wave, he continued to go to his destination. He was glad to be in a less populated area—he could feel those stares on him and was pointedly ignoring it, acting as if he didn't notice them. They could be a little more discreet about it. Way to make someone feel uncomfortable. Since he was focusing on his book—making it look like he was, his peripheral vision wasn't that good, things outside of his glasses frames were quite blurry—he didn't really have a chance to appreciate the school's architecture.

He paused in his endeavor—the staircases of the place were terrible, long and tiring—to look out of the window. The windows themselves were huge and had fine silk curtains as decoration. One floor in the building was roughly the same height from floor to ceiling of a two-story building—so technically the school was six stories tall. That was a lot of stairs. He continued up and went right as the girl told him.

The view from each of the many windows in the main hallways overlooked the courtyard. A large fountain in the middle with various kinds of trees around the perimeter accented by colourful flower beds in the area.

The landscapers did a good job.

Almost passing the large doors of the chairman's office—he was entranced by the view—he looked up at the massive red doors. Everything was extravagant and made out of fine materials with either subtle silver or golden lining. Thankfully the walls weren't the colour from the schools' website. Pink is a horrible colour for a building.

Knocking on the door, he was called in from the voice beyond the door.

He closed the door behind himself and nodded his head in a slight bow, "I'm a transfer student. I have arrived for my meeting with the chairman and to receive my schedule." He beat the lady to the punch, giving her the info that she was about to ask for—to state his purpose.

The lady, her name was Saura from the ornament that was currently being used as a paperweight, looked through some files, "Hm, Hakuba Shion, correct?"

"Yes."

"You're early. The principal is still in a meeting, it will be approximately ten minutes before it is finished."

"That's fine, thank you." Shion sat down on a couch that was set at the side of the room to wait. He started to feel impatient and the incessant ticking of the grandfather clock in the background grated on his nerves.

Twenty minutes later, the grandfather clock chimed eight o'clock, and Shion sighed.

As if it were some cue, the door of the principal's office opened and the people inside ushered out of the room. He was gestured to go in by the lady. Shion smiled to her in a silent thank you before going in, feeling faintly anxious.

"Hakuba Shion, correct?"

"Yes sir," Shion bowed. The action was starting to feel awkward since he wasn't used to it yet, but he knew it was a necessary thing. It showed respect.

"No need to be so formal Hakuba-kun," Suoh smiled. "Now, as you're our first student on multiple scholarships, and I congratulate you, there are a few conditions that you must meet."

"What would those be, sir?" Shion panicked internally, he hadn't heard of any conditions other than a standard grade of seventy percent. He was careful to keep a neutral face, his acting skills coming in handy while he was feeling uneasy.

"One, you must have over a seventy percent average, and two you must put on performances at the end of the year in your different areas of skill."

"So music and drama," Shion mused. He already had his own compositions, but with the drama performance, he would have to think of a monologue of sorts to perform. He was glad that art wasn't included—he couldn't draw for his life. Though I wonder if I can pull off abstract...

"If at all possible, would there be a music room that I could use for my own purposes? For practice?" Shion asked warily, hoping that it wasn't asking for too much. He had equipment that hadn't arrived yet and it would be difficult to practice loud instruments in an apartment setting.

The man chuckled, a warm throaty sound that soothed his nerves, "Of course you may! You are able to use music room number two," he went through a drawer in his desk and tossed Shion a pair of keys. "One is for the main door while the other is for the door that connects to the room beside it."

"Thank you, Sir," he caught the keys and put them in his satchel. He would have to put them on his lanyard afterwards.

Suoh clasped his hands over his desk and leaned in, "Just don't lose that pair of keys. I will have you return them after a copy is made in replacement." Then he brought out a piece of paper, "All of your conventional classes are with the same students, so hopefully you'll make some friends, but the extracurricular classes are not other than phys ed." He looked over Shion's schedule briefly. He was in his son's classes and he definitely knew that he would annoy Shion.

"Thank you for the advice," he smiled but forgot to be polite, "sir," he added in as an afterthought. He saw the man crack a smile before coughing into his fist.

The bell rang just as they finished.

"Now run along, you wouldn't want to be late to your first class, right?"

I think he'll interest them quite a bit. He reminds me of my son's friend. The one with the glasses.

Closing the huge doors behind himself, Shion sighed and tried to relax. He felt way too stiff and formal. It wasn't his normal self to be so prim and proper, and while he was accustomed to his mother's fancy social parties, it didn't mean that he acted like that regularly.

Looking at his schedule, he made way to his classroom, class 2-B. It took roughly five minutes to get there since he had to go down a flight of stairs and turn left down the extravagant hallway. He saw his new teacher and before he could speak she had already acknowledged him.

"Hakuba Shion?" Shion nodded. "Good thing you didn't get lost or you would have been late." She chuckled, "Our campus is gargantuan. Now, let us introduce you to the class. Wait out here until I call you in please."

"Alright," he answered, and he was surprised—introductions? I didn't know that actually happened. I thought it was only in anime. The teacher smiled and walked in to calm the class down. Shion could hear what the teacher was saying through the door.

Fuck. This means I need to think of what to say...

"Alright class, we have a new student joining us, so don't intimidate them too much." She chuckled at the amused faces of the class. "You may come in now."

Time to bullshit my way through this.

Heeding his teachers' words, Shion cracked his neck and strode in.

All eyes focused on him, and Shion knew he was the focal point of the room—the victim of the classes appraising stares. A neutral expression was on his face as his eyes scanned the room. Some girls were whispering and giggling and a few boys glared at him. Ah, there are even delinquents here, how reassuring. He had transferred many times already and he was used to it, but he felt out of place in such a high-class place. This wasn't a stage play either. People here have connections upon connections.

"My name is Hakuba Shion," he said, fixing his black-framed glasses. "I've transferred here from America so my Japanese may not be at its best right now, so bear with me here." A short introduction. He just wanted to sit down as he was mentally exhausted already, and class hadn't even started.

A few students put up their hands, wanting to ask questions, and Shion raised an eyebrow. His introduction didn't sate them, apparently.

Shion looked over to the teacher, silently questioning her what he should do. She gestured for him to do the obvious.

"Hmm, alright... you then." He nodded in the person's general direction.

"Why aren't you wearing a uniform?"

Of course, the subtle wealth question comes first.

Shion glanced down, assessing of his choice of clothing was up to their standards. Not that he cared. "Too expensive. Unfortunately, I do not meet the financial requirements to spend an absurd amount of money on a uniform. Besides, it is not required."

He did not want to wear a suit for eight hours a day.

"Then how could you pay for tuition?" Someone else asked, not bothering to raise their hand. Shion was not amused. They were skirting around the fine line of curiosity and discrimination.

Shion levelled them with a stare and he could see the person get anxious. "Well… I could have paid tuition but couldn't afford the uniform after payment." The person didn't look like they had anything else in them, and the classroom was silent. "...Any more questions?" He stood there for a few seconds, waiting.

No hands were raised and the teacher asked for him to go sit down. It was the only empty seat in the classroom.

Once he sat down he took his satchel off and took out a notebook and an erasable pen. The teacher was about to start a math lecture that he needed to pay attention to. He would need to talk with her to see what he would need to catch up on. With all his classes really.

"Psst."

Shion vaguely heard a sound come from somewhere but dismissed it. He was concentrating on his classwork.

"Psst."

Now he knew where the sound was coming from, the seat behind him, and he could feel his eye twitch in irritation. He had ignored it a few times already and it was getting annoying.

"Alright, I'll get you to work on these problems and after five minutes I'll get you to show me your steps." The teacher instructed and the sounds of moving desks and chairs filled the room.

"Psst!"

He heard the sound again. It was obviously directed at him too, they just didn't know when to stop. "May I help you?" Shion asked without turning around. He was trying to finish the last question and it appeared that the person didn't hear him as he continued to try to get his attention.

"Psssst!"

"Tamaki," Shion heard a sigh, and the owner of the voice sounded just as annoyed as he felt, "it seems like Hakuba-san doesn't want to talk."

"I just wish to introduce myself to the new student, Kyoya."

Shion sighed and turned around, expression bland and unimpressed. "If you're going to purposely use each other's names then you don't need to introduce yourself."

"Oh look, he was listening!" The blond guy's violet eyes lit up happily. The black hair guy with the glasses looked amused. He didn't like that look on his face though, he looked like he was analyzing him.

"Yes I was, now what do you want?" Shion's bluntness didn't deter the blond.

"I'm Tamaki Suoh, and this is Kyoya Ootori."

"Yes I heard, it's a pleasure. So what did you need?"

"I would like to offer to give you a tour of the school during lunch if you're interested."

"Hmm..." Shion debated on whether he should take the offer or not. It could be a chance to make new friends, but he would rather just wander around in his free time and get a feel of the layout. It was much easier for him to remember it that way.

The teacher came in and interrupted his train of thought. "Mr Suoh, if you're going to talk instead of work, then you must already be done. Why don't you answer this question?"

"Ah, well um..." Tamaki was caught off guard, sweating nervously. He was obviously not listening to the teacher when she started talking again and didn't know what was going on—too adamant on trying to talk to him.

"I'll do it. I was also talking," Shion had actually been following the problems on the board before they started talking, so he got up with his notes in hand as he had already done the problem.

"It was this problem, correct?" He pointed to three 'c' on the chalkboard, the teacher nodded. He glanced at the process of the problem in his notebook then he closed the book with one hand and tucked it under his arm. Writing the process and the steps down, he foiled the equation and solved it. "The answer is thirty-seven x and twenty-five y."

"Good job, Hakuba-kun. You may take your seat."

Tamaki didn't attempt to talk again after the teacher sent him a sharp look. He seemed to have good intentions but was disruptive in doing so.

The class had been given a time period to work on the homework that was handed out. The booklet of equations wouldn't take long, and Shion got to it right away, wanting to finish it so it wouldn't have to be done at home. He put his headphones on and listened to instrumental music. It helped to keep him focused as there were no words to distract him.

There was still time left until the end of the class and he put his work away and in place of it brought out a red book. Flipping through the pages, he stopped on the work he had in progress. Tapping his pen on his chin, he got to work during the time remaining.

Tamaki and Kyoya finished their work and were chatting as per usual, though Tamaki kept glancing over to Shion, curious to what he was doing in the mysterious red book. Shion had a faint smile and was tapping his foot and he would occasionally tap his fingers on the desk, testing the rhythms in his mind. Every now and then, he would stop for a second before continuing writing, having a eureka moment.

Tamaki had no idea to what he was doing and was overcome with curiosity—he would have to ask later. When the bell rang, Shion gathered his stuff and put his satchel over his shoulder. He looked at his schedule.

"So you have English next?"

"Shit!" Shion jumped and bashed his elbow on the desk. His chair fell with a loud clatter while his desk jerked forward and screeched against the floor from the sudden impact. He spun around to face another guy with glasses. "Don't do that to a person. Gave me a heart attack," he sighed, "and yes, I have English next." Shion sighed, exasperated, and fixed the chair and desk.

"Then we just stay here," Kyoya said, amused by the situation. "We don't move classrooms unless there is an extracurricular class."

"Huh…" Shion forgot that was how the system worked. Then again, he hadn't been in Japan for eight or nine years. "Thank you for the info Ootori-san. In the U.S students change rooms for each class. It's quite annoying frankly".

"Let's talk!" Tamaki bounded in, curious about Shion.

Shion raised an eyebrow, they were already talking. "About what?"

"Well, what have you been writing in your red book?"

"Why don't you take a look? You high-class people should have experience in the field." Shion took the item in question back out of his bag and opened it to the first page, putting it on Tamaki's desk behind him.

"Sheet music?" Kyoya questioned, not expecting the content inside.

"Yeah," Shion felt the corners of his mouth upturn, he was excited about the topic they were on. Music always made him happy along with his other favourite hobby, acting.

Tamaki was smiling but scowled childishly when Kyoya took the book and started flipping through the pages.

"I only know violin, but these are all for different instruments." But there was something odd about it. His knowledge of music theory was not the best, but he noticed it. There were two parts of a piece, one for piano and the other for trumpet, but the notes weren't in different places. "I'm having a hard time understanding this though," he pointed out two different parts of a piece, "They both have the same melody, but they're written in the same key."

Shion was confused to what he was getting at for a second, "Oh. That. Both the piano and trumpet parts are in the key of C Major, so the trumpet part would have to be transposed to the key of D." Shion scratched his chin with a thoughtful frown, "I'm too lazy to transpose it as I'm writing. It is just easier for me to transpose the notes afterwards." He just had to shift the piano notes down two semitones to be able to play it with a trumpet.

Kyoya was impressed. Both the violin and piano were in the key of C so he didn't have to worry about changing keys in his head.

Tamaki tried to follow what Shion and Kyoya were talking about, but it was giving him a headache. "I know the piano!" Tamaki piped in, wanting to get back in on the conversation.

"Do you guys take music class?"

"I learned the piano and Kyoya learned the violin!"

Subtly, Shion rolled his eyes, "Yes, I know. Ootori-san just said that, Suoh-san. I meant did you take it as a school course," and Shion was taken aback when Tamaki bent down into a ball, a depressing aura emerging from the blond. Shion blinked owlishly, confused, "Did I say something wrong?"

"No, he's just..."

"Emotional?"

"Yes." Kyoya adjusted his glasses and shook his head.

They just stared and observed Tamaki growing mushrooms in the back corner of the classroom. Tamaki had gotten a stick from somewhere and was poking the mushrooms. Kyoya glanced at Shion to see him shaking. Was he laughing?

"S-Suoh-san, you have some wild mood swings don't you." Shion chuckled, and then the teacher walked in. "Come on, it's time for class." Shion held out his hand to help Tamaki up and he brightened. Smiling from ear to ear, he grabbed Shion's hand.

"You should go to music room three after school."

"Sure." Then Shion leaned closer to Kyoya and side commented, "Is the room full of mushrooms?"

Kyoya laughed lightly, and by the way Tamaki reacted, it seemed like it was a rare occurrence, "I wouldn't be surprised if that happened one day." I would have to punish him severely if that actually happened.

• • • • • •

HAHA First chapter done! This is my first OHSHC fic, I hope it isn't too cliché as I haven't read enough Fanfics from this anime to know any of them. Also my chapters for this are going to be roughly around 1000 to 3000 words per chapter. They're shorter than my other fics that are usually from 4000 to 5000 words each chapter so it's nice to not have to write as much per chapter.