Disclaimer:All fictional characters that make an appearance or are mentioned in this story do not belong to me. They belong to Bisco Hatori. I only own my OCs. You'll recognize them when you see 'em; they're the ones who never show up in any official OHSHC media.

Thanks everyone for the reviews. (: I really appreciate them. They keep me motivated.

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3. Meet the Hosts

Minori slowly opened the door to the music room and peaked inside. A group of six extremely good-looking boys stopped what they were doing to look at her as she walked in. Minori quickly scanned the room for Haruhi but he was nowhere to be found.

"Sorry!" she squeaked, thoroughly embarrassed under the many gazes. But before she could retreat back into the hall, a tall blonde-haired boy approached her and – putting a finger under her chin – gently lifted her face towards his.

"I apologize, Princess but we're closing now," he said, leaning forward so that his face was mere inches from her own. "But if you come back tomorrow, I'll be waiting. And I can devote all of my time to you."

Minori blinked. "Uh…."

She was at a complete loss for words. Did she have the right room? Who were these people? Who was this boy? And why did he feel it necessary to invade her personal space? Answers to these questions couldn't be found so she simply stared dumbfounded as the colour in her face intensified.

"She's not a customer, Senpai."

Haruhi stepped out from behind the curtain of a changing room and walked over to them. "I told her to meet me here. She's new and I'm tutoring her."

"What?! Haruhi, you made a new friend and didn't tell Daddy?!" the blonde boy nearly screamed, holding on to Haruhi's shoulders and shaking him slightly. "When did you become so distant? You used to tell me everything!" He looked just about ready to cry.

"That's not true…" Haruhi muttered, looking away from him with a twitching eyebrow. "Stop exaggerating…"

Minori tilted her head to the side while her eyebrows knitted together in confusion. '…Daddy?'

The blonde whipped around to face a bespectacled dark-haired boy, tears now freely streaming down his face. "Mommy, Haruhi is being cold again!"

"I think it's time to go…" Haruhi groaned, walking away.

Minori nodded in agreement – this scene was starting to get a little weird – and followed Haruhi towards the door. But the blonde boy hurriedly stepped in front of the pair, blocking the exit. He stared at Haruhi expectantly with large violet eyes.

"What?" Haruhi asked irritably after a few seconds of the blonde's unwavering gaze.

"Aren't you going to introduce us to your new friend?"

Haruhi opened his mouth to protest but gave it a second thought and let out a defeated sigh. Maybe asking Minori to come to the music room wasn't such a good idea.

"Everyone," he started, turning back to the group of boys. "This is Minori."

Minori raised her hand in greeting, her face still a little flushed.

"That's Tamaki."

The tall blonde gave Minori a charming smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Haruhi pointed to a pair of auburn-haired twins. "Hikaru and Kaoru."

They both waved and gave her identically mischievous grins.

"Kyoya."

'Mommy' looked up from his laptop and offered a polite "hello".

"Mori and Honey."

The much taller boy with spiky black hair simply nodded while the short blonde excitedly ran up to her.

"Would you like to have some cake, Nori-chan?" he asked in a childish voice, tugging at her dress. He then held up the stuffed pink bunny he was cuddling. "And then you can play with Usa-chan!"

Minori gazed at the boy standing in front of her. He had to be the cutest living thing she had ever set eyes on and Minori was tempted to just reach out pinch his chubby little cheeks. She could have sworn she saw little pink flowers dancing around his face. Although in the back of her mind she wondered why a grade-schooler was wearing the senior's uniform.

"So you're new here," said Hikaru, snapping Minori out of her momentary daze.

She looked up to see the twins standing on either side of her. 'How'd they move so quickly?'

He continued. "Which school did you go to?"

"Shizouka High School."

Kaoru gave her a confused look. "Isn't that a public school?"

"Yeah," Minori said, after a few seconds of hesitation. Though the upward inflection at the end made it sound more like a question than a statement.

Tamaki scratched his chin in thought. "Hm. Are you a scholarship student like Haruhi?"

"If she were a scholarship student she wouldn't need tutoring," Hikaru and Kaoru replied simultaneously.

"So why were you going to a public school?" Honey asked, now sitting on top of Mori's shoulders.

"Um, well I…" Minori started. But she wasn't sure what to tell them. If she told them why she went to a public school before coming to one of the most expensive private schools in Japan, then she would have to tell them the situation with her father. And she wasn't about to tell her life story to a group of strangers.

Just then, Kyoya spoke up. "Your name is Akimoto, right? Would your father by any chance be Akimoto Katsuro?"

"Uh-huh," Minori replied, wringing her hands nervously.

"I didn't know he had a daughter…" Kyoya said, raising an eyebrow. The moment Minori was introduced Kyoya had started searching for any information he could find on the girl, being Kyoya and all. But not much came up other than her birth certificate and files from her old school. And neither of those indicated she was the daughter of the airline tycoon.

Everyone stared at Minori. There were very few things in this world that Kyoya didn't know or couldn't find out about.

Minori became even more nervous as she tried to think of something to say. She cleared her throat as small beads of sweat appeared on her face. "I'm not - I mean, I am. Well, I'm…um…"

Haruhi noticed the girl's growing uneasiness and quickly intervened. "We should go, or we won't have much time for studying." He took her hand and led her out of the room, shutting the door behind them.

"Well that was weird," Hikaru commented a few seconds later. "There's a new student and she seems pretty secretive. We don't usually get new students this time of the year."

"Yeah," Kaoru replied, turning to his twin. "It's like we're in a bad fanfic or something."

Later, after tutoring with Haruhi was over, Minori was sitting in the back of the limousine that dropped her off at school. She has still thinking about the group of boys she met in the music room.

'Odd bunch, aren't they?' she thought, thinking back to Tamaki calling himself 'daddy' and addressing Kyoya as 'mommy'. At the thought of the eccentric blonde and the memory of how close he had gotten, Minori couldn't help but blush. She'd never had anyone come that physically close to her. Especially a boy. Especially one so attractive.

For a second, in her state of absentmindedness, she was expecting to pull up in front of her grandmother's house but was disappointed when instead the mansion came into view.

With a heavy sigh she got out.

On her way to her room Minori was met with the sight of Katsuro and Etsu locked in an intimate embrace. He was whispering something in her ear that made her giggle and hit his shoulder playfully.

Minori's anger hit the roof. So he didn't have enough time to see her off on her first day at Ouran (or any day since then) but apparently had more than enough time for his precious trophy wife.

Minori cleared her throat loudly, which snapped the two lovebirds out of their reverie. Katsuro quickly slipped his arms away from Etsu's waist and walked over to a glowering Minori.

"H-How was school?" he asked nervously, beads of sweat already dotting his forehead.

Without answering him, Minori walked briskly past them, her nose up in the air and her eyes closed tightly in aggravation. Once she reached her room a couple feet away, she opened and slammed the door with such force that it shook the framed pictures off of nearby walls.

The next morning Minori woke up, got ready and went to school.

She promised herself she would stay clear of the Third Music Room, tried to convince herself that it was a little too odd for her tastes. But curiosity had gotten the better of her. Haruhi had mentioned something about customers yesterday, which stirred Minori's curiosity even more. So she opened the door and went inside.

It looked different.

Instead of seeing an empty music room, Minori found herself staring at a room full of giggling girls – a few she recognized from her homeroom. They were all sitting in expensive-looking chairs around expensive-looking tables with expensive-looking China teacups and teapots. The boys from yesterday were scattered around the room with random groups of girls, who seemed to be keenly listening to whatever it was they were saying.

With a shrug, thinking that she made a wrong turn and entered the wrong room, Minori turned and was about to leave when she felt two pairs of hands grab hold of her shoulders and spin her around. She suddenly found herself wedged between two bodies with arms thrown casually over her shoulders. She looked up to see the twins grinning down at her.

"Ah! Minori-chan, we were wondering if we were going to see you today!" said Hikaru. Or was it Kaoru?

"You weren't about to sneak off without saying 'hello', were you?" the other twin continued; his Cheshire grin widening.

Before Minori could respond, Haruhi walked in carrying a small bag of groceries.

"What did I tell you two about harassing the customers?" he asked, his eyes trailing towards Minori. "Minori-chan? What're you doing here? Our session isn't until tomorrow."

"I know but I guess I just got …lost?" she lied.

"You can let go of her now," Haruhi said to the twins who waltzed back to the group of girls they were previously entertaining. "Sorry about that."

"It's ok," Minori said, looking around. "What is this place, anyway?" They were in a music room, but this was obviously not a music class. There wasn't an instrument in sight.

"It's the host club."

Minori turned back to Haruhi with a slightly freaked look on her face. "H-host club?!"

This was certainly going to be an interesting year.