Chapter 2
The Host Club Is Now Open
"Well, Ms. Houshakuji, you certainly caught us off-guard showing up a whole hour before we began our club activities, wouldn't you agree?"
"Mm." I made no attempt to give a coherent reply. I was still a little bit ticked off. Renge had insisted that I stayed and watched the Host Club members "in action." She thought that it would be a good opportunity to get to know some kids from Ouran. However, this was much to my dismay. My personality didn't really call for repetitive patterns of human interaction, and that went double for hanging out with a bunch of weirdos. So instead of being at Renge's lush mansion, listening to music, drawing, or even... dare I say it... taking care of my monster of a little brother (who moved here with me against my will)... I was here, listening to this blonde idiot prattle with a platoon of crazy high school girls on both of his sides.
Great.
"You know, my lady..." Blondie began. When he didn't continue, I forced myself to make eye-contact with him. As soon as he "had my attention", he continued. "You don't have to stay here beside me. Go on, go ahead and see the other hosts. I'm sure they'd love your company." With that, he smiled and motioned me on with a flick of his wrist.
More than happy to take up his offer, I speed-walked my way over to the closest hosts. This just so happened to be the twin boys, Hikaru and Kaoru. I hadn't had the time (or the interest) to realize that they were all in similar cosplay. Apparently, today was "bad-boy gangster". Dressed like two dangerous dudes, the twins almost appeared to be mirror images of each other, only with subtle differences. As I neared them, I happened to stumble upon the start of one of their acts. With their cosplay marking them as violent thugs, the little performance they where putting on didn't seem to fit them.
"Hikaru, you would protect me from anyone who tried to hurt me, wouldn't you?" Kaoru looked up with overly-dramatic, tear-filled eyes. He seemed to be genuinely frightened. Mesmerized by his excellent acting skills, I waited for Hikaru's reaction.
"Don't be silly, no one would even be able to try to hurt you with me around." He wrapped his arms around Kaoru's waist in an almost seductive manner and whispered, "Don't worry, I'll protect you."
Kaoru then tenderly embraced him back, a blush crossing his now relieved, thankful face. They held each other like that for a long while. The girls at their table sighed and whispered things like, "How beautiful," and, "Their love for each other is so strong!"
...
"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"
I burst into a fit of laughter. It hurt so much that I clutched my sides for support.
Breaking from their affectionate display, the twins glared at me and simultaneously exclaimed, "What's so funny?"
Between giggles I began, "You two... ha ha.. are... hee, hilarious! How... ha ha ha... you... heh heh... even get business... ha ha... is beyond me!" I continued to laugh. The girls around Hikaru and Kaoru stared at me, uncomprehending. The twins continued to glare, although their piercing gaze had softened a little into a slight look of... wonder? I suppose that is how I would describe it. After realizing that my presence was hindering the twins ability to attract customers, I decided to move on to the next host. I could almost feel their stares burning a whole into my back as I walked away.
Next stop was the boy Lolita and the, errm... stoic one.
As I approached the table where the silent, extremely tall boy and his guests were, I realized that there was a stunning lack of boy-lolita. Before I could ask, however, something quickly zoomed past me. Nearly knocking me over, said little blonde boy raced by. It was obvious that he was freaking out, as he began to tug harshly at the big one's uniform. I eagerly awaited the spectacle. "Takashi! Takashi! I can't find Usa-Chan! He's gone! What'll I do?" Huge tears began to pour down his cheeks. The girls became teary-eyed as well and began to offer suggestions about where he could have left... "Usa-Chan". Little bunny-boy just continued to sob. He really was pretty adorable.
"Mitskuni." Takashi said, reaching to the right of his position on the couch. "You left him here on the couch." He then held up the stuffed bunny for Mitskuni to see.
He has a deep voice. I thought to myself.
"Takashi!" Mitskuni leaped into Takashi's arms and sobbed, clutching his "found" Usa-Chan to his chest.
"Awwww! SO cute!" The girls shrieked, flailing about.
Swallowing my growing sense of Moe, I forced myself away from the spectacle. I began to cross to the other side of the room, headed towards the little girly one. However, before I reached him, I halted beside glasses. He was leaning against a wall, writing casually into a black notebook.
"So," I began, approaching him. When I didn't garner a physical response, I assumed he was listening and continued, "What exactly is your position at this Host Club of yours?" I used this opportunity to sneak a look into his notebook. It was mostly in Japanese characters, however sometimes he slipped into English. I found this rather amusing.
"Well, as the vice-president, it's my job to take care of the funds and what-not. Mostly, however, my job is to make sure that our king, Tamaki, doesn't over-shoot our budget," he said, still scribbling into the book.
"Interesting," I whispered quietly, mostly to myself. "Is Tamaki that much of a hassle?"
"Hmm?" Glasses looked at me curiously. I really couldn't see his eyes because of the glare, but I assumed they held a curious look.
"Oh... it's nothing." He continued to jot things down. About me? "So... what's your name? Or rather, what would you like me to call you?" I asked, mostly to break the silence.
He paused writing in his book for just a moment to answer my question. "You may call me Kyoya."
"I see." After standing there for a while, the atmosphere became a little too awkward. This was mostly because of the silence, but I couldn't really think of anything to chat about. So, without another word, I casually slipped away towards the last host.
"Excuse me." I said to the girly one as I approached. He looked up from his guests and, after taking a look of dumbfounded-ness off of his face, smiled warmly at me.
"Hello there, Ms. Houshakuji. My name is Haruhi Fujioka. How do you like the Host Club so far? I hope no one has weird-ed you out yet." The girls giggled and said, "Oh, Haruhi." They then continued to chat pleasantly amongst themselves.
Too late for that, Haruhi. I thought to myself. After this, I found myself staring intently at Haruhi. He had a dark shade of brown hair and deep, dark brown eyes. All in all, a really... pretty person. That was the only way I could describe him. Pretty. However, this got me thinking. I felt like there was something off about him. The way his eyes were. Too big to be boys' eyes. And his body language. Almost... girl-like.
"Something wrong?" Haruhi asked, obviously concerned as to why I had been staring at him for so long. Even his voice was off. Soft and low, femininity clouding its every intonation. Yes, there was something strange about this boy.
Very strange.
