AUTHOR'S NOTE: How is Arihiro/Ayuuka as an OC? Sorry that this chapter is so boring and suckish. Have you ever gotten chilli juice in your eyes? It burns like hell.

Ouran High School Host Club © Hatori Bisco.


Arihiro sighed for what seemed like the fifteenth time that day as he looked around at the Host Club members from his seat by the piano. The Host Club and their customers looked at him quizzically, not sure as to why he had stopped playing; except for the twins, of course.

"Oh my, whatever is wrong?" crooned the twins. They were certainly mocking him.

A crease formed between his eyes. 'Arihiro can't get up.'

"Eh? That's terrible! Hiro-chan can't get up?" whined Honey, looking horrified. Mori nodded in agreement.

Not sure what he meant by 'can't get up,' Haruhi asked, "What do you mean you can't get up?"

Arihiro grimaced, his cheeks turning pink from embarrassment. As he attempted to stand up, the chair moved along with him, clinging to the back of his pants. Somebody had covered the seat in glue. Very sticky glue.

Everyone sweat dropped while the twins burst into tears from laughter.

It had been 3 days since he had met the Host Club and a lot of 'things' were happening—waking up in Social Studies to find pen marks on his face, the soles of his shoes glued to the ceiling of the women's bathroom and random flying objects always seeming to come into contact with the back of his head.

But the most dubious thing of all was that the twins always seemed to be present in those unfavorable situations, grinning maliciously. Sure, they were meant to show him around but really, Haruhi was actually the one who bothered to tell him the correct directions to the high school bathroom. Finding himself using elementary-sized toilets seats wasn't a very pleasant experience.

No doubt they were the culprits.

But despite it being highly inconvenient, highly painful, and highly difficult, he honestly didn't mind. The twins were actually quite funny.


Beams of moonlight peeked in through a crack between thick curtains, where snuggled under the sheets of the bed, were the exhausted frames of two devilish type hosts. It took a profusion of ink, paper and super glue to live up to that name. It was just something they did. They'd always liked to play around with someone. It wasn't the same though. The satisfying feeling of messing with Tamaki to the point of insanity didn't seem to match up with their passion for driving Arihiro up the wall. However, unlike Tamaki, he hadn't snapped.

Yet.

"Hikaru?" murmured Kaoru's soft voice from under the covers.

"Hnn? What is it Kaoru?" replied Hikaru in a hushed but grumpy voice.

"What shall we do about that guy?" Already knowing what the answer would be, Kaoru wanted to hear it directly from his elder brother.

"We're going to tell that guy to piss off, once we finish up our research on him." Hikaru rolled over onto his side, tugging on the sheets and scowled, "The host club doesn't need anymore members."

Kaoru listened as he stared up at the ceiling, the blanket pulled up to his nose, watching his brother through his peripheral vision before grunting in agreement. He could understand his brother's irritation. He always could. It was probably the main difference between the two of them. Not many could see that.

But despite how immature Hikaru sounded, he couldn't help but feel the same. If only things didn't have to change, if time would just stop for them to live their lives together forever. If only life would not amend itself.


A hand and a notepad raised in the air of the classroom momentarily paused the lecture.

"Can't you wait another twenty minutes before school ends?" asked the teacher.

'Arihiro's busting.'

Mr. Tanioka sighed, releasing his disapproval into the air. With a flick of his wrist, he gestured to the door, ignoring the word 'idiot' imprinted in what seemed to be blue pen across Arihiro's face.

"Moving on, we'll talk ab—"

The scraping sound of a chair, followed by a deafening crash cut through the biology teacher's voice.

Mute. The boy is mute and still capable of making a such a racket. Mr. Tanioka glared at Arihiro as he shuffled past and out the door.


Sunlight beamed out from the large windows of the hallway, casting shadows about the thin figure. The echo of his unsteady footsteps stopped as he turned to gaze at the setting sun, its radiance spread out in the sky, outlining the grey clouds scattered about.

"Dazed as usual, Arihiro-kun," stated a cool voice a few paces behind him. "Wandering the halls during the commence of classes is against the school rule, you know."

Arihiro blinked before turning around to face the calm presence. Kyouya Ootori. Searching for his emerald fountain pen and notebook, he slapped his thighs in an attempt to check his pockets. The Shadow King watched as Arihiro took several moments to realise he had left his only means of communication in the classroom.

His cheeks puffed out in irritation. A crease formed between his eyebrows from concentration as he attempted to show Kyouya that he didn't have his notebook with him, desperately miming actions. The freshman had been walking in circles for a while now, so his bladder was in need of relief.

In other words, he really needed to pee, really, really badly.

Kyouya eyed the childish boy before him failing at his game of charades and cocked an eyebrow. There had always been something he had wanted to confirm and that's why despite knowing Arihiro's dilemma, he was raising his eyebrow.

His face turned a diverse number of shades of colour as his mouth was clamped shut, almost as if he was struggling to breath. Explaining to Kyouya that he was looking for the toilet, was becoming pointless as Kyouya continued to give him the same questioning look. He even mimed using a toilet, for God's sake! Sighing in defeat, Arihiro spun around to check for any students wandering nearby—he checked both ends of the hallway, outside the window and beneath a vase. Seeing that the coast was clear, Arihiro took a deep breath, "Arihiro is not always dazed! And where are the toilets? Arihiro can't find them!"

Arihiro had spoken. His tone was urgent but hushed; he didn't want anyone nearby to hear his voice. The clumsy pianist looked around, paranoid that someone may have noticed his extremely girly voice.

Kyouya smirked. "I know. I just wanted to confirm that you are indeed not mute, for my records," he said in a matter of fact tone. And just to give him a kick while he was down, Kyouya pulled something out of his pocket and held it up for him to see. "I also always carry a pen and paper with me at all times."

"Records? Kyouya-sempa–a–a–ai," Ayuuka wailed, incredulously, not believing that she was just tricked into speaking aloud. Leaning against the wall for support, she slumped to the floor for a quiet moment of distress and depression.

Arihiro was indeed, not mute, nor was he a boy. His bubbly voice was an instant give away that he was in fact a she. It took lots of makeup, plenty of practice and a whole lot of money for no one to be able to realize this. With the exception of Kyouya, of course.

Kyouya crossed his arms, shifting his weight to one side as he pushed his glasses further up his nose, the smug smile never leaving his face. "Down the corridor, take a left and then three doors down, turn right to the toilets. I highly recommend that you use the male toilets."

Ayuuka recovered quickly. Kneeling on the ground, she looked up the ceiling, fingertips at her lips as she tried to memorise the Shadow King's directions, "Down the corridor, take a left and then—"

"Ayuuka." His use of her original name made her turn her gaze from the ceiling to his back. He had already started to stalk away only pausing to give some 'motherly' advice.

"Hikaru and Kaoru's pranks don't bother you?"

Ayuuka remained silent, considering this for a moment, before saying, "Nope, doesn't bother Ayuuka at all." With a nostalgic smile plastered on her face, she added, "It's actually kinda funny."

Kyouya remained silent as he studied the hall, calculating the amount of time before the clock tower would start hollering. "Don't pass off everything as a joke or people won't take you seriously."

"Eh?" She frowned, puffing out her cheeks, "What do yo—"

"Also, you should be careful. Would there not be harsh consequences should your secret get out?" Turning his head slightly, Kyouya gave her one more quick glance before stalking off.

On her hands and knees, Ayuuka's copper hair fell onto her face as Kyouya's warning began to sink in.

Harsh consequences.

Then something struck her. Literally.

Ayuuka ogled at the object that had just hit her in the back of the head.

It was rectangular shaped, white in colour, with some grey smudges and she'd just about seen everyone in the class have one.

Someone chuckled. It was an awfully familiar sound, something she'd been hearing a lot of recently. Whipping her head around Ayuuka's eyes met with one of the red haired twins.

"You really are a funny guy." He laughed again and murmured to himself, "He doesn't even know what hit him."

"Um, are you Kaoru-kun or Hikaru-kun?" asked Ayuuka, curiously. She'd been wondering what this peculiar object was for a while, might as well ask now. He'd thrown it at her. Was it some kind of item you use to throw at people? Ayuuka recalled looking out the window, where a group of children on the grass were playing. One would stand in the middle, wearing an oversized glove and chuck a round thing at another child who would attempt to hit it back with a stick. Once he'd hit the ball he'd run around in a big circle.

How peculiar.

"I'm Kaoru. You took too long at the toilet, so—" Kaoru's amber eyes widened as he realised that the soft and light voice had just come from the 'mute' boy before him. He jumped up, not believing his ears. "You can speak?"

Ayuuka's eyes bulged as she realised her mistake, her hands involuntarily flying to her mouth. She could feel the dizziness coming, her eyes swirled, gripping the sides of her head as she continued to mumble, "Um, um, um, um, um."

Not sure what to say, Kaoru sweat dropped at the panicking girl. The same girl that was now tearing out her hair and the same girl that still hadn't stopped saying 'um'.

"Um, um, um, um, um, Ayuuka really needs to go pee! Ayuuka will explain later! Please don't tell anybody!"

Kaoru stood rooted to the spot, too stunned to say anything before the boy or girl or whatever ran off.


Waaah, Kaoru-kun heard Ayuuka speak! Ayuuka hopes Kaoru-kun doesn't tell anyone, otherwise...

"Would there not be harsh consequences should your secret get out?" Kyouya's warning resounded in her mind as she sat on a toilet seat of the boy's bathroom.

Ayuuka dropped her head. It hadn't even been a minute after Kyouya told her to be careful that she slipped up.

Pulling at her short hair, she shook her head violently, a frustrated noise escaping her lips. But of all people, it just had to be him. An image of the red haired twin laughing maniacally flashed before her eyes. If it was Haruhi-kun then maybe she could keep Ayuuka's secret, but it just had to be him.

She smacked her head against the wall of the cubicle, letting it support her as she began to feel woozy.

Ayuuka let out a tired sigh as she left the bathroom. "You take too long," nagged an annoyed voice. Ayuuka's head shot up to see Kaoru leaning against the wall waiting. "School's already finished, so you better hurry up with your explanation if you don't want anyone to hear. Hikaru's probably going to come looking for me."

Not looking him in the eye, Ayuuka moved closer to him, putting her hands on his shoulders firmly, so that only he could hear in case someone happened to walk by. "Kaoru-kun, is it okay if Ayuuka explains at another time and place? Ayuuka doesn't want to risk anyone hearing Ayuuka's secret."

"You said 'Ayuuka' again, three times. You're a girl, right? No wonder you don't speak, it's an instant give away," said Kaoru, not even bothering to lower his voice.

"Shhh! Don't speak so loud." A vein popped up on Kaoru's forehead as he wiped Ayuuka's spit off his face. However, when the girl gripped the collars of his blazer with both hands as she looked around, the vein disappeared. "Ayuuka promises to explain to Kaoru-kun later." Curling her fingers tightly around his school jacket, she pleaded, "Please, please don't say anything to anyone!"

Kaoru sighed as he gave her an indifferent shrug, his palms facing the ceiling. "Fine. You can tell me later."

Once again, she spoke hesitantly, "Kaoru-kun really won't tell anyone?" She wasn't convinced that it would be this easy to convince a Hitachiin twin to keep a secret.

"Jeez, I won't tell anyone so don't worry about it. Do I really look like that kind of person?"

Whether it be because a group of students walked past or because she really did think of him as someone who would 'accidently' spread rumours, Ayuuka didn't reply. Instead she gazed into his frustrated amber eyes, searching for a glimpse, a hint that the next day everyone would know her true gender.

She saw nothing of the sort.

As if she had just slapped him in the face, Kaoru turned his head to the side to glance at the oil painting of a pudgy looking lady down the hallway. Still looking away, he ran a hand through his hair, before sighing again, "I'm not that bad person. Well, at least I don't want to be." His sigh was different from before. It was certainly a sigh of irritation, however it was different from his annoyed tone earlier. It had a slight sense of sadness.

"Eh? Ah—" Kaoru-kun thinks that Ayuuka thinks that Kaoru-kun is a bad person?

Before she could clear up the misunderstanding, Kaoru interrupted, "You should hurry up and get your stuff. Hika—" However he himself was interrupted.

"Ka–a–a–aoru–u–u. Ka–a–a–aoru–u–u. Ka–a–a–aoru–u–u." A strong voice rang out, followed by the sounds of swift footsteps, the thumping of something being dragged along the floor as well as the huff and puff of someone out of breath.

"Ka–a–a–aoru–u–u. Ka–a–a–aoru–u–u. Ka–a–a–aoru–u–u." The boy's tone changed from calling to a simple statement when he spotted his target. "Kaoru."

"Ahh, Hikaru," murmured Kaoru, not the least bit surprised to see his elder brother tearing down the hallway, half dragging Haruhi by the wrist. Or half amputating her left arm in Haruhi's point of view. From behind Kaoru, Ayuuka noticed the straggled Haruhi scolding Hikaru as they both doubled over, catching their breath.

"Sorry Haruhi." Hikaru scratched the back of his head, giving her an apologetic smile, while Ayuuka counted from 10 in her head. Over the past three days she'd been quite fond of her newfound friend, despite Tamaki's protests.

5.

4.

3.

2.

1—

Ayuuka sprang forward. Sliding on the floor slightly, she latched herself to Haruhi's leg, rubbing her cheek on the victim's leg, affectionately.

On seeing the girl—boy, in Hikaru's and Haruhi's eyes—flat on the ground with her arms wrapped tightly around Haruhi's ankle, he screamed. "Get away from Haruhi, Hobnobber!" Hikaru lunged forward to tear off 'the leech' off his 'toy' with Kaoru flanking him.

Ayuuka pouted at the two boys that pulled on her ankles, lifting her up a few centimetres off the ground. She struggled to not scream, 'Let go of Ayuuka!' Haruhi simply didn't like the idea of them pulling so hard. Sooner or later she was going fall from both imbalance of one foot being heavier than the other (Ayuuka) and the twins' combined force. "Wai—"

Too late.

It was a tug o' war situation where both sides were pulling with all their might, one team suddenly letting go—BAM!

The three of them flew back wards into a stand holding a vase of flowers, after Ayuuka finally surrendered to the force of the twins tugging on her ankles. Though the ceramic vase didn't shatter, it did tip over, emptying its contents (water and a couple of assorted flowers) on Ayuuka, and Ayuuka alone.

"Score!" On each side of her, the twins clapped their hands together in a hi-five.

Haruhi who had landed on her backside, shuddered, "No way. You—you guys planned the whole thing?"

The twins looked at each other as they jumped to their feet, their shoulders set into mischievous shrugs, "Who knows?"

They definitely planned it.

"Arihiro-kun?" Haruhi looked at Ayuuka who remained hunched over, unmoving. Water dripped from the locks of her hair that covered her eyes. The twins turned to study the boy/girl between them, believing this to be the prank to have finally piqued their enemy's dormant fury. Ayuuka sniffed as she rubbed her eyes. "Arihiro-kun, what's wrong? Are you crying?" frowned Haruhi as she bent over to help him up.

Ayuuka's eyes are dying of thirst. There was an intense burning sensation in her eyes, forcing them to water in a failed attempt to relieve the pain. She rubbed her eyes more vigorously with the cuff of her sleeve. There's something in the water from the vase.

The Hitachiin Brothers stood their ground as they observed Ayuuka as Haruhi took her to the Nurse's Office. They did not laugh. They did not snicker. This prank wasn't anywhere near as amusing as the twenty-three from earlier that day. Maybe it was because their victim was mute—they had half expected her to be screaming, 'ARGH, WHY DO MY EYES BURN?' and continue to rub them, when actually rubbing them was the very reason his eyes burned.

Maybe not.

"We were so sure that he'd snap after today."

"How boring."