... and now for the second chapter! From now on, the chapters are shorter. The first chapter was longer so I could introduce the concept, etc.

Just so you know, this story is generally angsty and might be a bit cliche. But I hope you enjoy it anyways.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Except hopefully the English dub once it comes out.

x x x x x

As I rushed to school the next day, I couldn't stop thinking about a certain tall, half-French blonde. A lump that wouldn't go away rose to my throat whenever I remembered his agonized expression as he gazed at my apartment. Why, oh why did he let his mask slip?

The bell tower began to reverberate and I increased my pace. My debt would be raised again if I was late. The sound of my frantic footsteps echoing on the floor slowed when I heard a voice that sounded vaguely familiar. "You just have to take the denominator and multiply it by the value of x that you found..." the voice was saying. I raised my eyebrows. Sounded like a tutoring session. "... gotta go! I'm going to be late!" the voice continued.

"Thank you very much," a deeper voice responded. My back stiffened. Kasanoda-kun? "I'll leave first so no one suspects anything." My guess was confirmed by the red-haired yakuza's appearance. He immediately walked away from me, head held low. Moments later, an all-too-familiar blonde strode through the door, hands in his pockets. He froze when he saw me but made a fast recovery. I braced myself for the inevitable.

"Haru-chan!" the tiny senior exclaimed, tackling me with a hug. "I kinda got lost, and I was waiting for someone to find me. Have you seen Takashi? I want cake!" His childish babble almost fooled me and made me doubt what I had heard earlier. But then I remembered Tamaki's mask, and my own.

"Hon- no. Mitsukuni-sempai?" I inquired. Large brown eyes locked onto mine at the use of his given name. "You weren't lost. You were tutoring Kasanoda-kun in advanced math." The eyes widened, then gazed at the ground guiltily. "Your act for the Host Club is just that... an act. Isn't it?" By now my voice quavered. Honey was nearly the most predictable of all of us, with the exclusion of Tamaki- an invalid point since yesterday afternoon. If Honey suddenly proved to be the same...

"You know I do it for Tama-chan," the boy said in an innocent sing-song, his shoe scuffing the floor. "He's the second person ever to take me seriously, only after Takashi! That makes him a very special person to me. And Haru-chan, Haru-chan!" He rushed to my side and tugged at my sleeve, an adorable little-kid grin dimpling his cheeks. "Even when I'm like this, you take me seriously. You're the third person ever."

His grin abruptly faded, his eyes gaining a far-away look and his features changing from cute to something more mature. His voice, too, was different, no longer carrying a lilting tone. "That makes you a very special person indeed."

I forgot. I forgot to be stupid. I forgot to be naive. I forgot to be oblivious. For one crucial moment, I forgot my mask. "Isn't it... hard?"

A cynical smirk- so out of place on his cherubic face- crossed his lips. "To act like I'm half my age? Unbelievably so." He laughed, a short harsh sound that I thought the boy incapable of producing. "But Haruhi," (and no, a lolishota did not just send a shiver down my spine by the strong way he said my name) "you of all people should know that you're willing to sacrifice a lot for the people special to you."

His voice had changed again, back to "normal." Not out of a sense of necessity, like Tamaki, but out of love for his special people. Which apparently included me. Before I could make a dumb-Haruhi-like response, his face lit up. "Takashiiii!" he cried, and I ducked to avoid the blonde projectile aimed over my right shoulder. I turned in time to see Mori striding away with Honey perched on him. "Come on, Haru-chan!" he shouted. "We'll be late!"

When I entered the opulent third music room, seven whole seconds passed before Tamaki gushed about how cruel I was to make Daddy worry by being late.

At that moment I realized that the supposedly unshakeable foundation of the Host Club- our united mask- was beginning to crack.

x x x x x x

Ha! You thought it was going to be about Tamaki, didn't you? Like many other writers, I am getting tired of seeing hundreds of hits on my works and so very few reviews, so I'm issuing an ultimatum. I'm not going to update until I get five reviews on each chapter. You can say briefly that you liked it or hated it, you can tell me in great detail how you wish my writing would spontaneously combust, I don't care. I know it sounds desperate, but hey. I already have the next three chapters written. Don't you want to know how everything turns out? #grins evilly#

So... the button is waiting...