"Congratulations, Suoh. As of right now, you are our new Club President."


Well, THAT was certainly unexpected.

I haven't even been in this club for two days and now I'm running it. I just became President of a club with no activities and no real purpose. It all seems so… anti-climatic. I don't know if that's the right word, but it's the only one I can think of that comes close to describing how I feel about this.

Does it even matter what position I hold? From what I saw yesterday, being Club President did nothing to impede on Mei's reading time. Am I just going to spend my afternoons sitting around doing nothing while watching the others sit around and do nothing?

It seemed a much more appealing concept yesterday; before I got received this job, before Kurosawa threatened me, before I finally had a real conversation with Haruhi.

I think that in spite of it all, I'm finally starting to feel something besides gloom again. I keep telling myself I'm going to make the best of things, but something always comes to take that away. I can't stop it, I can't control it. There's nothing I can do but lay down and take it.

Or is there?

I can't say for sure. All I know is that I don't want to sit quietly anymore. At the same time, I have to keep my head down and do as Katsuo-san tells me so I don't get killed. It's quite the conundrum. I want to have fun and make friends and do something with my life, but I can't put anyone else in harm's way.

There has to be a way around this.


Kasumi leaned over.

"Uh… what's he doing?" she hissed in Mei's ear, not taking her eyes off of Tamaki as he went on spacing out.

"I have no idea," Mei answered. "But I have the strangest feeling, like I've just unleashed something dangerous."


The next day saw just the scene one would expect after the final bell rang: complete pandemonium as students packed the not-wide-enough hallways, trying to get to their lockers or their club meetings or both. Numerous voices mixed and meshed together to form a veritable storm of unintelligible chatter. Unless you were standing right next to someone and really paying attention, you probably wouldn't be able to hear a thing amidst it.

Knowing this made Haruhi wish all the more that the crowd would clear up and she could discreetly edge away from the talkative boy beside her. Tamaki-senpai had been all but hunting her down since this morning, appearing during her lunch period and even while she was walking to her next class. Every time, he would wave furiously and call her name, the bright, shining happiness in his expression making her wonder if this was really the same solemn person she'd gotten used to seeing.

He always wanted to take about one thing, and one thing only. It didn't really come as a shock, he had just gotten the job after all and was probably still dealing with the sudden power shift. Haruhi used the word 'power' loosely, of course, and it became abundantly clear to her as the day wore on that she and Tamaki weren't exactly on the same page about what the word meant here.

"I was thinking a lot yesterday about new things we could introduce to the club. I'm still new of course, so any changes will have to happen gradually, but I thought maybe we could start having group discussions. I'm not sure what we'd talk about yet or whether it would function as a debate or just an exchange of ideas… Maybe we could have everyone make a list of their interests and pick some topics from that. I'm sure we can find something we all have in common!"

And for that matter, why was he talking to her about this? Mei was his predecessor, why wasn't he following her around and getting advice from her about his Club duties?

'Because Mei would just tell him to keep everything Status Quo,' a little voice in her head whispered as Haruhi stopped in front of her locker and entered the familiar combination into her school issued padlock. 'And he clearly doesn't want to do that.'

"I know Kohaku is interested in politics and business management. She sure had a lot of questions for me yesterday about my family's business dealings and my opinion on the government's current economic plan. To be honest, I didn't really know what to tell her. I haven't been paying much attention to that sort of thing as of late. My tutor keeps me up to date on current events, but… hey, there's an idea. We could form study groups!"

Haruhi sighed and clicked the door shut, throwing her repacked bag over one shoulder. By now, things were starting to die down, but she still found herself getting accidentally pushed here and there while Tamaki went on espousing his supposed brilliance.

"Aren't mid-term in another two months? It's never too early to start hitting the books! We could also use this as a method of learning how to better act as a group. We could delegate responsibility for covering certain subjects. I could do language for one. Kohaku could do history… and maybe we could even get our classmates involved! Wouldn't that be great, think of all the friends we'd make. By the way, what subject would you want to take, Haruhi?"

At the sound of her name, Haruhi's patience finally wore itself out and she whirled around to face him.

"Senpai," she said exasperatedly. "A study group is a nice idea, but you do realize that we're not supposed to do anything at club meetings, right? That was the whole point of Mei starting it."

It was like she'd reached out and turned off a light bulb. Tamaki's easy cheer was gone in the blink of an eye. His smile vanished and his glow diminished into nothing. The shift was far more noticeable than it should have been, and Haruhi felt inexplicably unnerved by it. The saving grace was that he hadn't gone back to his misery, or at least not outwardly. He didn't look sad, just confused, and maybe even a little reproachful.

"I don't mean to question you," Haruhi went on, not liking the silence one bit. "I know you have first say, but please understand that when we made this club, it was specifically because… well honestly, we don't want to do any club activities."

Tamaki blinked, the first display of emotion she'd seen from him in over a minute.

"Why not?" he asked with all the sincerity of a child who'd just heard someone say they didn't believe in Santa Claus.

Haruhi was a bit taken aback by this, and it took her a little longer to answer.

"Why?" she repeated. "We all have our reasons. For example, I joined because the school rules say everyone needs at least one extracurricular activity on their transcript, but I don't have time to spend on club business."

Tamaki pursed his lips more and more as she went on, and Haruhi paused when she caught him glancing over her shoulder at something. Looking in that direction revealed nothing or interest besides the white washed floors and her school bag.

"You spend a lot of time on your school work," he observed. "That's right. You're the top in all of your classes, aren't you? I can see why."

Haruhi adjusted the shoulder strap, now becoming aware of how heavy the five or six books crammed inside really were. His expectant eyes and easy smile betrayed that he wouldn't be saying anything until she did, much to Haruhi's growing displeasure.

"Next year will be my last in middle school, and I'm not just going to have schoolwork to worry about, but also entrance exams. I have a lot of work to do if I'm going to get into a good High School and College. Once I'm through with that, there's also law school to consider…"

"Law school?" Tamaki repeated, making Haruhi's insides jolt.

'Did I really say that last part aloud?' she thought to herself, fingers twitching with a desire to slap herself for not thinking before she spoke. Haruhi just knew from an entire day of being around him that her senpai would certainly jump on that bit of information.

Lo and behold…

"That's a wonderful goal," Tamaki squealed as he grasped Haruhi by the shoulders, pulling the unwilling girl into a bear hug. "I bet you'll make a great lawyer someday, Haruhi! You're already so smart and all. I bet every law school in the country will want you."

"You're getting a bit ahead of yourself," Haruhi's response was muffled by a her mouthful of his open blazer. "And can you please let go of me?"

Tamaki would eventually do just that, but not before spinning her around a time or two while proclaiming to a non-existent audience the amazing things she'd apparently do as a high power attorney. Haruhi was beginning to get the feeling that he didn't have a clue what he was talking about, but that this was him attempting in his own weird way to compliment her.

It was a nice gesture, but she could have done without the hugging and the gushing. She got more than enough of that from her dad every single day.

When she was freed from his grasp, Haruhi took a moment to run her hands done her buttoned up coat and smooth out the newly formed wrinkles. When she looked back up, Tamaki was frowning at her.

"But Haruhi," he said. "Don't you realize that Colleges like it when you participate in extra curricular activities?"

Haruhi blinked, shaking off the double take she'd done at Tamaki's near instantaneous switch from 'overly bouncy happy' to 'stern and serious.' The way he bore down on her, gentle yet unrelenting, left her taken aback and unable to think up an immediate response as she would have liked.

"That's why I'm in the club," she argued. "Sure we don't do much, but it still counts as extra curricular and it gives me more time to study."

She'd be fooling herself if she believed Tamaki would be satisfied with that. His complete lack of a reaction aside from staring harder was confirmation enough. Then he sighed and shook his head, releasing her from his gaze as he took to walking up and down the width of the hall.

"But how would you write that on a transcript?" he queried, thoughtful eyes finding her again.

Haruhi furrowed her brow. "You mean… how would I describe the club?"

"Who knows if they'll want you to or not? I don't mean to be rude or intrusive, but I wonder how you would explain such a club to College recruiters should that be the case."

From there, both parties were silent. Tamaki waited calmly for Haruhi to say something, Haruhi wanted more and more to walk away and not finish this conversation. In her mind's eye, she tried to visualize the College Applications she'd downloaded online, looking for anything that might indicate they needed a full description of the clubs and teams applicants had been a part of, rather than just the names. The more she thought about it, the more sense it made that they might, and she was not at all pleased with the notion that this overemotional, and frankly kind of idiotic, 'President' of hers had figured that out before her.

At least he wouldn't be smug about it, he'd probably just try to hug her again. Haruhi took an unconscious step backwards, putting a little more distance between them.

"You see? I want us to do more than just sit around," Tamaki said, soft and more to himself than anyone else as he slowed to a stop. "We should be getting out there and being involved."

"I'm sorry, but don't you need to keep a low profile?" Haruhi was unable to hide her irritation, but at the moment didn't care.

Tamaki paused, his foot caught in mid air and coming down harder than before. She watched him bite his lip and lower his head.

"That's why I was hoping we could figure something out that wouldn't put me in the spotlight. I know I can't be the center of attention, but I don't want to be out in the cold either," he paused, his hands curling into fists as he looked wistfully into the distance. "I don't know how long I'm going to be here. I may never get my old life back, so I want to make this a good experience and have friends. I don't want another day like yesterday. If I could just figure out something we could all do together..."

Tamaki ran fingers through his hair, leaning his elbow against the lockers as his speech devolved into mumbling. Whatever he was saying, it reached Haruhi's ears as little more than gibberish.

'He really is into this, isn't he?' she thought to herself.

Further speculation on Tamaki's newfound dedication was rendered moot when a loud shriek pierced the air like a knife. It came from behind a door, with a massive window taking up the bottom half, where light sniffles could be heard, accompanied by a soft female voice speaking in low, soothing tones. Tamaki and Haruhi glanced at each other for a second, then the former took off.

Haruhi followed almost immediately, though she wasn't sure how willing she was to go and possibly listen in on another stranger's private conversation. Hadn't it worked out great the first time?

Haruhi leaned low, while Tamaki had to outright crouch down due to his height. Peering inside, they found a normal class with the desks in disarray. Several of them also had papers sloppily thrown here and there. One near the middle was taken up by what appeared to be an unfinished poster. It was plain white with writing in the middle. Only the top part of the phrase was outlined in thick blue marker, leaving the bottom a mystery. What Haruhi could see were the words: 'COME SEE US AT-'

Looking away, she was unsurprised to find that the source of the sudden screaming fit had indeed come from here. Three students, one male and two female, sat in a huddle near the very back corner of the room. The boy was in the middle and had his head down and wrapped in his arms. The shaking of his shoulders and the two girls' worried faces as they rubbed his back comfortingly gave her a good idea what was going on.

"Aren't they in the Drama Club?" she wondered aloud.

By now, Haruhi was staring so intently at the glass, it came as a real shock when the wooden part of the door suddenly obstructed her view. It was at this time she finally realized that Tamaki was standing back up and pushing the door wide open, exposing them to the trio inside. Two female heads shot up at the disturbance, the boy didn't move an inch.

Haruhi's mouth fell open, but she couldn't find appropriate words to express what she was feeling at the moment, and Tamaki was faster than her anyway.

"Good afternoon," he said with a courteous bow. "I didn't mean to interrupt, but I couldn't help overhearing your friend's distress."

The two girls, one whom Haruhi vaguely recognized as a third year in Tamaki's class, glanced down at the boy, embarrassed redness creeping up their cheeks. The boy, sensing the attention directed at him, lifted his head a crack. It wasn't much, but now Haruhi could clearly see tearstains running down his face. Loathed she was to admit it, but this piqued her own curiosity and made her almost forget her exasperation with Tamaki and his nosiness.

"Is everything okay?" she asked, not taking her eyes off the boy. "Your friend, he's not sick, is he?"

The girl on the right rolled her eyes. "Only if being a drama queen counts as a disease now."

The boy slammed his hands on the desk, startling everyone with his sudden ferocity. He grabbed the sarcastic girl by the collar and shook.

"What are talking about, Konimi?" he demanded through fresh, angry tears. "I am perfectly justified in being upset right now, or do you not understand the weight of our predicament? DON'T YOU SEE, WE MIGHT HAVE TO SHUT DOWN!"

Konimi was not moved.

"Take your hands off me," she deadpanned. "And you're blowing this way out of proportion. The play is not in any trouble, we're just short a few stagehands."

"Um…" the other girl chose now to speak up, one quivering hand rising into the air unnecessarily. "Actually, the last two we had pulled out earlier today. That's why I called this meeting… so, you know, we could discuss it..."

Following a brief pause, during which the boy adopted a look not unlike a puppy that had been kicked and deprived of food, there came a loud cry as he flattened his face against the desk and let loose a river of tears.

"We're doomed…" he sobbed incoherently. "The play… all that work… my life… it's oveeeeeer."

Nothing he said after this could be made out. The more sensitive girl rubbed his shoulders while holding back her own tears. Konimi groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose, looking away from the spectacle. Haruhi was feeling more awkward by the second. She wished Tamaki could have been a little less friendly. It wasn't like their was anything they could do to help.

She wanted to tell him this, and ask that they please excuse themselves now, but when she looked at him, something told her that wasn't going to happen. Though his eyes were dry, Tamaki's fists were clenched, and his lip quivered like a girl watching a teen drama. In a flash, he was away from her side and in front of the distraught young man.

"Excuse me, um…" he trailed off, glancing at the two girls.

"Ichirou," the sensitive girl supplied.

"Ichirou," Tamaki repeated with a grateful smile. "My friend, how many stagehands do you need?"

Ichirou's shoulders shook, so hard it almost looked dangerous. He didn't move otherwise, but breathed deeply to ease his hysterics.

"We-we," he gasped out. "…bou… 'bout five would be good."

Haruhi looked away. It seemed the very air around her was now changing, it's dismal gloom fading. She didn't even have to open her eyes to see the smile growing on her Club President's face. Tamaki, in the short time that she'd known him, wore his emotions like gloves on his sleeves. She knew exactly where this was going, what he was about to do.

"Ichirou-kun," his gentle voice rang out. "I have a proposal for you."


"YOU IDIOT!"

An unused, bound notebook sailed just over Tamaki's head, the sixth so far. He was ducking behind an overturned desk, hands wrapped around inky black hair in a futile attempt at protection. Any second now, Mei's rage could spill over completely, and she'd stop trying to attack from far away and come over. Then he'd be in real trouble. Shaking furiously, Tamaki lifted his head, just enough to see the very top of her hair and none of her frightening expression.

"Mei," he said weakly. "Please, let's talk about this calmly. It's a good opportunity for us to-"

He was cut off by anther book, this one a heavy textbook. Though it went well over his head and Mei had probably meant for it to, Tamaki still let out a high pitched scream and dove for cover. His body flattened out with the side of his face pressed against freezing cold tiles. Fast approaching footsteps made his heart stop.

"You can't hide anymore, Suoh," Mei growled his true name out like a curse. "I'm going to kick your ass so hard..."

"Mei, hang on a minute."

"Back off, Kasumi! Don't try and stop me. I'm gonna beat his face in and then let everyone know what a liar he is! Let's see you mess around with my club then!"

"WAIT!"

Tamaki sprang to his face, all fear of Mei's wrath eclipsed by a greater danger. He drew in breath and got to his feet, holding out his hand in surrender. This had the effect of softening Mei's scowl, as well as gaining the attention of the other club members and several people walking by the open door, who slowed for a moment before continuing on. Tamaki swallowed, holding back horrific images of what might happen should Mei make good on her threat.

"Mei," he said. "I understand that you're upset. I know this club meant a lot to you and being forced to give it up hurts. It was never my intention to dishonor you. I just really believe that we should do this. The school play is important to the Drama Club, and working as stage crew will be good for us. We'll meet new people and learn more about what goes into putting on a show, doesn't that sound exciting?"

He put on a big, innocent grin, but neither it, nor his words seemed to have any effect on Mei. Her frown was still etched in and her face remained red. At least she wasn't clenching her fists, as if preparing to knock his lights out, anymore. Though Tamaki didn't break eye contact, his side vision caught sight of something colorful right beside her. He noted that it was probably another of Mei's fashion magazines, and that set off a light bulb in his head.

"Maybe you could help out with the costume designing," he suggested. "I'm sure they'd appreciate an extra opinion."

"Why would I care about that?" Mei shouted, but there was no bite behind it and the way she bit down on her lip and looked away briefly spoke louder than any words.

Tamaki felt like laughing, so great was his relief. If he could just convince Mei, the other girls would be easy. Kasumi already had no objections (though she hadn't express much interest either) and Kohaku wasn't even paying attention now that Mei had stopped trying to throw her school supplies at his head. He turned to Haruhi. The girl alternated between watching the confrontation and staring at the window. Her desk was bare, not a book or a pencil in sight. Were Tamaki not busy with Mei, he might've had more time to wonder what she was thinking about.

A chair skidded out, pushed by Kohaku so she could stand and place herself in the middle of the fight.

"How about we take a vote?" she suggested, sideways glancing at Tamaki and Mei in quick succession. "It'd be better than doing this all day. What do you say, Pres?"

At first, Tamaki didn't realize she was talking to him, due in equal parts to Kohaku not looking at him and his bafflement at the nickname she'd given him. He blinked stupidly at her for a few seconds before it all clicked into place.

"Oh! Yeah, that's a great idea!" he proclaimed, hoping that he'd covered himself well enough. "Alright. All in favor of-"

"Just for the record, your vote only counts as one," Mei interrupted, crossing her arms over her chest. "Don't pull any 'I'm the leader so my vote matters more' crap."

Kasumi smirked. "Isn't that what you did last year when we were deciding how to avoid Culture Week?"

Mei shushed her.

"O-okay," Tamaki said, though less confidently than before. "Every vote counts as one. So, how many say yes?"

He raised his hand high, trying not to pause and think on how many others would do the same. Ideally, everyone would, but no matter how much Tamaki's optimistic side told him that his compelling arguments and gracious manner had won the girls over, slivers of doubt still hung over him. In the end, only one other hand went up, and Tamaki's heart sunk.

"Kasumi!" Mei shrieked, pointing an accusing finger at the girl's extending arm. "What are you doing siding with him?"

Kasumi snorted as she brought her free hand up to her arm and stretched back. "Last I checked, he's the President now. Besides, it might be fun."

Mei ground her teeth, muttering something under her breath about 'getting her later.' Tamaki decided immediately that he didn't care to know what that meant, and that he hoped Kasumi's home had strong locks and windows.

"Alright, how many people vote 'no?'" Mei asked without waiting for Tamaki. Her hand shot up, as did Kohaku's. When Tamaki gave her a hurt look, she shrugged.

"Sorry Pres, I'm not really big on artsy drama crap."

Exhaling through his nose, Tamaki went over the poll count in his head. He and Kasumi voted yes, Mei and Kohaku voted no. That only left…

"Haruhi," Mei's handed slammed down on Haruhi's desk, but the latter didn't flinch. She did look away from the window however, frowning in annoyance. "You don't want to do this, right? I know you only joined because you want to study without being bothered. This stage crew thing would be putting way too much on you."

"Hey!" the affronted Tamaki charged forward. "You can't coerce her into voting the way your want, that's just dirty. Besides, Haruhi is more than smart enough to handle the workload. It's only a couple of hours a day for the next two weeks, surely it's not that much time spent. What do you think, Haruhi?"

"Oh, now who's coercing?" Mei said before throwing her head back and laughing.

Tamaki narrowed his eyes. Much as he didn't want to think anything bad about his friends in the club, Mei was really starting to get to him with her cocky attitude. It wasn't befitting of a pretty girl, but then he already knew that some commoner girls would do to make themselves less so.

Brushing that aside, Tamaki rounded once again on Haruhi. The girl had gone back to staring into space, and even when he kneeled before her, gave no response to his presence until he cleared his throat.

"Haruhi, I know your future is important to you, it is to me too. I want to see you reach your dream, and I really think this will help you. It's not just because of your transcript, but also think about the experience it'll give you. You can't just isolate yourself, not if you want to be a lawyer. Haruhi, you're better than that."

In the pause that followed, Haruhi was completely blank faced, the barest of frowns visible. Tamaki noticed that her eyes always looked much bigger and cuter when she was this way, and felt heat rising in his cheeks. Haruhi's fingers drummed on the desk, picking up little speed. She glanced down, then back up again.

"What makes you care so much?" she asked suddenly. "You don't know me that well."

Tamaki shook his head. "Not yet, but I'd like to."

In the background, in between fuming and boiling with frustration, something registered in Mei's mind as she watched Tamaki and Haruhi stare at each other. The latter pursed her lips, inhaling and exhaling heavily through her nose, while everyone waited with varying degrees of patience for her tie breaking decision. The seconds snailed by, making Tamaki increasingly nervous and fearful that she would side with Mei. Then Haruhi gave a sigh, and looked at him resolutely.

"I guess… it wouldn't hurt to try."


Tamaki didn't know how he'd gone this long without breaking his back, but the weight of the dozen wooden prop trees was taking it's painfully slow time in crushing him. He pushed back with all his strength, but it wasn't enough. Not even the two on either side of him were making much of a difference, and everyone who walked by was too busy going over their lines or preparing other portions of the set to notice them. They were left alone, trying to prevent the stack of expensive wood from getting scratched or broken on the messy concrete floor.

"This is all your fault! You can forget about us ever doing lunch once I'm Prime Minster," Kohaku hissed at Tamaki, who gulped and looked away.

The other member of their impromptu rescue team wasn't doing much better.

"Why are these so heavy?" Haruhi groaned, bending her knees lowering and taking her end of the trees with her.

The others struggled to make up the difference, but it was too much on them. Beads of sweat tickled Tamaki's cheeks as they slid down from his forehead. He was reminded of all the times his limousine drove past construction sites, all the men walking around carrying huge metal pipes over their well muscled shoulders. Especially in the summer months, they often went without shirts, revealing skin that was red from working under the hot sun. He wondered if this was how those men felt on a daily basis, only instead of the sun, they had a wandering strobe light, and Mei insisted that it wasn't going to burn them any time soon.

Speaking of Mei, the ganguro seemed to have adjusted quite well despite her early complaints. She was currently arguing with the costume designer over the frilly collars on all the dress jackets. Kasumi, meanwhile, was outlining a background in black, to presumably be colored in later. With both girls distracted, and everyone else ignorant of their plight, there was nothing Tamaki, Haruhi or Kohaku could do except try their very hardest to keep the trees up straight until it was time to set them up.

A few more people walked by, including one girl Tamaki knew very well. His heart stopped when she looked up from her script and their eyes met.

"Okada-kun?" Oshiro said, coming over. "You're one of our new stagehands?"

Tamaki glanced around, making sure their was no snarling Kurosawa around before answering.

"Y-yes," he grunted. "I overheard you're friend Ichirou-kun talking about how he needed help, and-"

"And he decided to volunteer us without our permission like an idiot," Kohaku drawled, drowning out Tamaki completely with her volume and sheer rage. "Now we're getting flattened into pancakes. How fun."

Oshiro blinked, then glanced up and let out a gasp.

"Oh! Hang on, I'll go get help!"

With that, she was off, shouting for some people whose names Tamaki didn't know. A few seconds later, she was running back, several young men behind her, including Ichirou.

"You could have just said you were having trouble," Ichirou scolded them once they had managed to fix the trees so they wouldn't fall and relieve Tamaki and the girls of the burden.

"Seriously?" Kohaku stalked up to Ichirou and shoved her face close to his. "You walked by three times when we were trying to keep those stupid things up, and I didn't see you stopping to help."

Ichirou puffed out his chest, his face scrunched up like he was smelling something awful. "First off, get out of my face. The last thing I'd ever want to do is kiss you. Second, I'm the director, and you're the stage crew. My job is the make sure everything runs smoothly and everyone does their jobs. Your job is to set up the props and keep my expensive fake trees from getting broken."

"And how do you expect things to run smoothly when you're an ass who alienates your entire crew?" Kohaku shot back. "You know, I'm starting to understand why the old crew members quit."

"Okay, stop," Haruhi said, having decided now was the time to end it before things got ugly. She took the two combatants by the arms, gently pushing them away from each other. The two continued to glare, but didn't stop her. "Fighting isn't going to get us anywhere, and we all have a lot of work to do, don't we?"

Ichirou eyed her, grinding his teeth as he begrudgingly nodded his head and walked off, still muttering under his breath. Also watching him go was Oshiro, who gave a nervous chuckle and placed her hand on the back of her neck.

"I'm sorry about him, Ichirou's just excited," she explained, bowing slightly. "This play is really important to him."

Haruhi and Tamaki both nodded, but Kohaku gave a 'hmph' and looked away childishly.

"He wrote it on his own, didn't he?" Haruhi asked, motioning at the bound papers in Oshiro's hand.

"Yeah, he did," she said, holding it up so they could just make out the small written text. "It's been his pet project ever since he joined the club last year, when his mom tried to stop him."

"Why did she do that?" Tamaki asked, amazed that any parent would try to stop their children from pursuing their passion.

At this, Oshiro tensed up a bit. She chewed on her lip and glanced around, as if not knowing how to answer the question without it coming out awkward.

"Well you see…" she trailed off. "Ichirou is… well, when he said to Kohaku-chan that he didn't want to kiss her, he was more referring to girls as a whole, if you catch my drift."

Tamaki briefly sought out Ichirou and finding him examining Kasumi's paint drop, giving pointers here and there.

"I see," he said. "So his mother is ashamed of him?"

"Oh no, not at all," Oshiro clarified. Actually, she fully supports him and is happy that he's comfortable enough to share things like this with her."

"It's his being into theater that she doesn't like," Konimi said, wandering over with an armful of blankets. "She thinks it promotes stereotyping. Ichirou says it's because she's passionately liberal or something."

"I hate her already," Kohaku muttered.

A tinkling tune came from Oshiro's pocket, and she reached for her cell phone while smiling apologetically.

"Sorry, I have to take this."

She ambled off in the opposite direction, cheerfully greeting her caller. Now alone (Kohaku lost interest and left some time ago), Tamaki felt a warm hand on his arm, one that made his heart speed up.

"Come on," Haruhi said. "We have more work to do."

He followed wordlessly, letting her guide him towards the back where several boxes full of various props awaited them. Some of them stick out at odd angles and obstructed Tamaki's view as he carried them out to center stage. He almost ran into a few people in his attempts to see out. Haruhi, not quite as bothered, walked silently beside him. It started getting to him around the time they were putting together a vase of fake flowers for the living room set. Haruhi was blank faced as ever and refusing to look away from her work, no matter how many times Tamaki smiled or nodded in her direction.

"Are you having fun?" he asked when he couldn't take it anymore.

She shrugged and still didn't meet his gaze. "It's fine."

Tamaki wasn't sure what to make of that, whether to be satisfied or press for a more detailed answer. He was leaning more towards the latter, but was interrupted at the last second by a voice wafting through the air.

"I don't know what to do about him…"

Tamaki stopped, holding the completed bouquet and empty vase tight in his hands. Oshiro, it seemed, had made it all the way across the stage in her aimless walking. He was amazed nobody had bumped into her, the way all her attention was focused on that phone of hers. Whatever she was talking about, it must have been important.

"He keeps causing trouble and acting out in class. I'm wondering if I should talk to his mother."

Tamaki hadn't moved an inch since first hearing her, a fact that was noticed only by Haruhi. Eye twitching in annoyance, she pulled the flowers and vase away from him and set them up. This action brought Tamaki back to reality, and he was about to apologize profusely when Oshiro's voice rang out again.

"Yeah, I've noticed it too. I think Kurosawa-kun may have threatened Okada-kun."

Tamaki's head whipped around, and it was such a fast and unexpected motion that Haruhi found herself curious, and turned to look as well. Oshiro paced up and down the stage, unaware of the eyes on her.

"I try to talk to him all the time, whenever I see him at home... Well of course I have! We've been neighbors for years."

Oshiro sighed solemnly and stopped to sit on a randomly placed foldout chair.

"Kurosawa-kun used to be so sweet and kind. I don't know what happened…"

She trailed off, ending a call a minute later with a quick good-bye. Even after putting her phone away, Oshiro didn't get back up. She appeared lost in thought, and more unhappy than Tamaki had ever seen her. His stomach twisted unpleasantly. If there was one thing he couldn't stand, it was a young lady in sorrow, particularly one he considered a friend. Subconsciously, he inched forward. What he would say to her, or how he'd excuse himself to Haruhi, he had no idea. His thought process had only one track at the moment, and that was to make Oshiro smile again and find out what this business about Kurosawa really was.

The doors of the theater suddenly bursting open stopped him, along with everyone else, in their tracks. All eyes went to the light streaming from the setting sun beaming through a window outside. A trio of shadows covered most of it; that they were all rather tall and large helped as well. All three were male and wore their uniforms loosely, jackets unbuttoned and shirts severely wrinkled. Tamaki's stomach dropped when he took a closer look at the one on the far right and recognized him as Sato, one of Kurosawa's equally mean and bullying friends.

Him and the other two looked around distastefully.

"I told you they were still here," the one in the middle scoffed. "Unbelievable that they let these dorks hang around and take away all the best spots."

A tension arose from everyone, making the hairs on Tamaki's neck stand on end. Looking around, it seemed that nobody was fond of the way this boy described them. Even Oshiro was glaring at them.

While the one on the left snickered in agreement, Ichirou came forward, proverbial smoke coming out of his ears. Tamaki backed away, feeling like standing too close to him might be detrimental to his health.

"Hey!" Ichirou called out. His voice boomed across the room even without the aid of a megaphone. The three guys stopped and stared at him. "I don't know if you gentlemen realize, but this is a theater room. It's for performing, not for jocks and slackers to spend their off-time. Now if you have nothing else to say, kindly leave. We have a lot of work to do."

"Oh really?" one of the boys rudely shot back. "I didn't know being a loser was such required effort."

The other nameless boy laughed, but Sato was oddly quiet.

"I just can't believe they actually found guys gay enough to want to do this theater crap," the boy on the left jeered.

All males in the room except for Tamaki narrowed their eyes. One or two looked ready to run over and punch the cocky smirk right off his face. Though he might not have done something so extreme, Tamaki couldn't say he blamed them. All three of these supposed manly men were rather annoying.

To his surprise, it wasn't any of them who spoke up next. It wasn't even a member of the drama club.

"You know, it's not nice to assume things about people," Kohaku said conversationally. "It's always such negative stuff. I mean, I could assume that you three are a herd brain dead monkey people due to your unfocused eyes and ugly faces, but that would just be rude."

Everyone burst out laughing. Ichirou put a grateful hand on Kohaku's shoulder and briefly hugged her to him in thanks. The way they looked now, it was as if their fight had never happened.

The three boys didn't look too happy with being insulted. Only Sato wasn't glaring hatefully. He stood off to the side, staring at the wall and looking highly uncomfortable. Even when the laugher died away, it seemed he couldn't relax.

"Let me just say," Konimi piped up. "I'd much prefer to date one of these guys then someone like you."

"There's nothing better than a man who isn't afraid to partake in so-called 'girly' hobbies," Oshiro added.

The rest of the girls murmured in agreement. The only ones who didn't were Haruhi, who was staring at the floor, unwilling to get involved, and Mei, who was watching her and Tamaki carefully.

The three boys were steaming now. In the face of these people who had no fear of them, they didn't know what to do. Finally, Sato grabbed his friends' arms, leading them out and telling them not to waste anymore time with 'the dork club.' They filed out one by one, not stopping to look back and slamming the door behind them.

A few people applauded and Ichirou gave Kohaku another pat on the back. Otherwise, everyone quickly got back to work and it wasn't long before Ichirou was calling for all crew members to leave the stage so they could rehearse.

Tamaki and Haruhi walked past the curtains, meeting up with the others, who were all huddled in front of a set of spare lockers.

"So," Tamaki greeted them. "Are you enjoying yourselves?"

The three girls glanced at each other, as if telepathically debating on how to answer. During this, Tamaki looked again to Haruhi. She had seated herself on a messy table, brushing scraps of paper and cloth out of her way first. When his eyes fell on her, she smiled politely, but didn't answer.

"It's…" Mei started, pursing her lips. "It's not so bad, I guess."

"I don't care much for the heavy lifting," Kasumi admitted. "But painting the backgrounds was actually pretty fun."

"Whatever," Kohaku shrugged indifferently.

Though it wasn't quite what Tamaki wanted to hear, he clapped his hands and cheered all the same. Several of the cast members shushed him.

"How wonderful!" he said, jumping up in the air. "I just knew this was a good idea!"

"Yeah, sure, great for you…" Mei muttered flatly. Her scowl then turned to a devilish smile. "So what about you? I bet you're having a blast hanging with Haruhi here, right Suoh?"

His smile fell. Mei's question hit him right as he was in the air, and he had to struggle to not fall on his behind coming back down. It was like a record scratching in his head. One minute happy music was playing, the next dead silence. Tamaki didn't even care that she'd called him by his real name again.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked robotically, which did little to help his cause and a lot for Mei's ego.

"Don't play dumb," she said, waving a finger in his face. "I think we all know you guys have a thing for each other."

And thus, Mei now had two flustered and red faced people staring at her.

"What?" Tamaki and Haruhi cried in unison.


He stared out his window, watching a bird fly by and land on the ledge of the building across the way. It poked it's little head into the nest, feeding it's young no doubt.

Looking away, he ran the dirty white cloth up and down the barrel of his gun, cleaning away all dirt and fingerprints. When it was shining clean, he threw the rag aside, satisfied and ready to get on to more important matters, like finding out how the geniuses he was oh so lucky enough to have in his employment were doing on their assignment.

Out came his cell phone and he punched in the familiar numbers. It only took one ring for someone to come on. His men knew very well that he didn't like waiting.

"Good afternoon, sir," the voice on the other end said respectfully.

"Any progress?"

There was a pause, during which his frown deepened into a snarl. If this idiot hung up on him, he was going to be waking up one morning with certain limbs missing very shortly.

"I-I'm sorry, sir. We're working around the clock to find him."

"Then either he's extremely well hidden," he said slowly, like he was talking to a slow child. "Or you're just incompetent, aren't you?"

"I- I-"

"Save it," he ordered. "Find Tamaki Suoh and call me back by the end of the week or there will be dire consequences. I'm sure you remember what happened to the last person who disappointed me. Take some time to decide what you like better: your eyes or your ears."

He hung up, not caring to hear the idiot beg for mercy or cry like a baby. Throwing the phone onto his unmade bed, he closed his eyes and leaned back in his easy chair as far as it would go. This was the only way he was ever comfortable when in a bad mood.

"I swear, it's so hard to find good help these days."


A/N: So things are moving forward and changing, all thanks to Tamaki. XD

Not that it'll really be this easy, of course.

On a side note, I'd originally intended for Kohaku to call Tamaki 'Boss' the way Hikaru and Kaoru do in canon. I decided against it in the end because I want her to be her own character and not just a parallel to the twins. So Tamaki is 'Pres' to her instead.