Figs. of Imagination by Tori Lo
As Viona climbed into the silver Lexus car, Vanier couldn't help but notice the huge grin on her face. "Something good happen today, Ma'am?" he asked as he started the car and pulled away from Ouran. Viona only smiled for a little bit before looking solemnly at Vanier.
"I followed my feelings, Vanier. That man, Hayase Goro-san... is a nice boy. I'm giving us some time together," she said, smiling again.
Vanier smiled, too, and then concentrated on the road. "Good for you, Ma'am! I'm glad you found solace in my advice, and I'm happy you're happy. As always." Viona nodded along with Vanier's words. She briefly went over some of her most precious memories with Vanier.
"Thank you, Vanier." There was an underlying tone of uneasiness, who's home laid in the pit of her stomach. Viona's relationship with Goro wouldn't last very long, Viona knew, and she also knew Goro's feelings would wither over the next few days. What Goro had was called a 'crush.' And crushes didn't last long. But, for whatever reason he liked her, she'd bask in the love while it lasted. Viona thought Goro was a nice boy, and deserved someone better than her. In the future, she could see herself falling head-over-heels for that sort of guy... but not now. Now was high school, where love rarely mattered in your overall life.
The sun had set not that long ago. Vanier drove up to the Ohtori house with ease and said, "Call me anytime and I'll be here within fifteen minutes, okay?"
"Sure thing," Viona replied and stepped out of the car. She was greeted by Kyouya's father, brothers, and Kyouya himself at the top of the stairs. After the formal greetings were done and they were heading inside for dinner, she quickly whispered, "Is Suoh-sempai here?" Kyouya nodded and led her to the dinning room.
The room was decorated in a minimalist style that Viona highly favored. Everything, down to the tablecloth, had a nice theme of nature colors mixed with the modern, minimal furniture and patterns. Tamaki was guided into the room by a maid, and took a hurried seat next to Viona.
"Viona! You're fashionably late, I see! Glad you could come."
Kyouya rolled his eyes. He sat across the table from Viona, face straight and sarcastic. He entwined his fingers in thought. "Did your father agree with the deal?"
Viona swayed her head side to side. "He asked to raise the price to sixty-five thousand instead," she declared, sipping the soup appetizer. Kyouya's eyes narrowed.
"Is that so?" Kyouya's glasses flashed in the light. Viona nodded. "I'll have to think briefly on that. Maybe tomorrow."
"Your decision will have to be made quick, you know, Ohtori-sempai. Halloween is coming up fast." Viona smiled a sly smile.
"I know, I know." Kyouya sounded exasperated.
"How about we just go with it, Mama? I'm sure it's well worth it in the end... Isn't that right, Viona?" Tamaki said happily, leaning in and adding on extra enthusiasm. He seemed like a little bit of sunshine in the gloomy pasture of business deals.
Kyouya stared at Tamaki for a bit, before facing Viona. "I'll give in this time, but only because Halloween's so close."
It was five days before Halloween, and the Host Club finally released their 'Halloween Special' clothing line for ball joint dolls. Each outfit was specially crafted and designed with the host's type and real life outfit in mind. Actually, the small costumes for sale were mere miniatures of what they'd be wearing in real life, and for the ball.
The Halloween ball was announced the day after the meeting at Kyouya's house, and it came as much of a surprise to most of Ouran's population.
Today was Friday, the day before the aforementioned 'Kaito Hunting Trip,' dedicated to finding out where Ichirou Kaito had run off to. It was after school and the Host Club was getting ready for their first overseas trip of the year.
"Where are we headed for, exactly?" Haruhi asked, falling back and resting on one of the sofas, his sleeping bag slipping frailly out of it's loaded place on his backpack.
"Hokkaido!" Tamaki replied loudly, standing in a victory pose. "Leo told me he knew Kaito was staying for summer vacation, and it's Lake Shikotsu!"
Viona turned to Leo who sat next to her at the table. "Stalker much? … I heard Lake Shikotsu's a great place."
Leo sent a chilling glare at Viona in return. "I'm not a stalker!" he said. He looked around the room at his fellow hosts while he continued. "And yes, it is. Cold during the winter, warm during the summer... Great place! In fact, I have a villa up there somewhere, too."
"Is that why you're so close with Kaito?" the twins asked, prodding.
"Yeah, it is."
Kyouya walked in the main doors with a clipboard in hand, doing last minute mathematical calculations. He began pacing around the room. When he came to Viona, he looked down at her with his chiding, annoyed frown. "You're paying for yourself, right?" Viona rolled her eyes.
"Yes, I am. Do you think I'd take money away from this place? I'm not even a member!" Viona flailed her arms to add emphasis to her words. She didn't understand why she'd use any yen from the club's bank when she never even belonged to it in the first place. All she did was act as the medium between the Host Club and her father's BJD company.
Suddenly, Hiraku strode up behind Viona and said, "Actually, according to the club's roster, you're on it. Same level of authority as a host."
Viona jumped. "Eek! … Don't scare me like that, Itsuki-kun!"
"Maybe if you pronounced your words better I'd be nicer, Ms. Dull-with-Japanese," Hiraku snapped back and retreated back to his corner desk of books. Viona stared after him, shocked by his words, and sulked with her head down on the table.
"Cheer up, Viona. It'd be out of character for him to be nice to an unsmart person," Leo said, patting her back.
She sat up straight and stared horridly at Leo. "I'm not dumb, Leo-kun! I just... am bad at speaking Japanese." She grabbed a piece of paper out of no where and started writing down what she was saying, every stroke, every character being perfectly written. "Actually, I'm very good at Japanese when it comes to reading and writing. My dad's a pro, considering he's a foreigner, and it's because of him I'm so great!" With a feeling of being over triumphant, she slammed the pen down on the table and crossed her arms.
"And why is that?" Leo leaned on the table, chin resting on his palm. He was smiling a pristine smile. Viona didn't catch the flirting; she was too into being 'omnipotent.'
"Two years after my mom died, my dad couldn't handle taking care of me and the business at the same time, so I was shipped off to the Netherlands to live with my mom's parents. We kept writing letters, though, and as he excelled in his kanji, so did I." She laughed a bit, remembering her youthful days of bliss like an old Granny does her twenties. "I had to keep up with the language, right? So we'd always communicate in Japanese, even over the phone. I'd speak Dutch to everyone else, and my obaa-san would give me free English lessons."
"But weren't those such a drag?" he asked, knowing exactly what she meant. Then he laughed.
"They were!" She joined in the laughter. "But because of their consistency, I'm pretty good today."
Leo nodded. "You are, you are," he said slowly, having to seriously consider it, and whether it was a good or bad thing.
"To the plane!" Tamaki shouted, leading the hosts up the stairs and into the plane. Viona tagged along at the end, Leo in front of her and stopping every few seconds to halt her up.
Vanier, who Viona had to persuade to come, was helping carry the luggage into the plane. Fortunate for Viona, Kyouya was in a busy mood, so he hurriedly agreed and dismissed Viona's annoying complaints just to get her out of his face.
The inside of the plane was very luxurious, with seats of white leather and a plush white carpet. There were groups of chairs set up around a rectangular hardwood table, and another area where two leather sofas sat facing each other. The roof was low, but not so low that Vanier had to bend.
"Who's jet is this?" Viona asked, falling back on one of the sofas.
"I think it's Tamaki-sempai's," Kasai said, lazily taking a seat on the sofa opposite Viona.
"Is that so? … What do you think of it, Tsururu-sempai?"
Kasai shrugged his shoulders. "The modernism of the interior isn't very unique or creative, but more of a general interpretation of a private jet. Nothing fancy, nothing suiting Tamaki-sempai's personal needs, or such." He paused to take another swing around the plane with his eyes. "The special arrangement of bolted down furniture gives off the air of it being roomy, when in fact we're in a small inclosure."
"Oh?" the twins came and sat on the sofa Kasai was sitting on. "What about the lights?"
"They're not placed nicely." Kasai pointed to a row of lights along the side of the wall. "See how they give off a faint glow with a bluish tint? That makes them seem more like nightlights than real lights." He then pointed to the skylights. "Our only source of light during the day comes from the roof, which has thick glass windows. Not very smart, for a plane in general. Big windows can cause disasters, you know?"
Hikaru snickered. Kaoru said, "The type of report expected from such an artistic person like Kasai."
It wasn't a very long flight to Sapporo, and the drive up to Lake Shikotsu took only a couple of hours. Within the allotted time of six hours, the Host Club's hosts made it to Leo's villa by Lake Shikotsu for the weekend.
The three blue Honda Stepwgn's crunched through the dull forest path, and when they reached the paved parking lot, the servants jumped out of the third Stepwgn and got to work with the luggage.
Viona noticed Vanier's closeness with the servants already, making jokes and conversation, and she smiled as she watched them work. "Gotten close already?" Viona turned and saw Kaoru next to her, watching the same scene.
She raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, you could say that. Vanier's a very friendly guy. … Where's your brother, Kaoru-sempai? It's very unlike you two to be separated." She smiled slyly, as if knowing a great and precious secret.
"He went inside to claim a fantastic room. I'm here to make sure they don't break our stuff," he explained, hands on his hips. He looked sort of business-like, and Viona laughed. Kaoru shot her a displeased look. "What's so funny?"
"Oh, nothing. … Mind telling the servants I only want Vanier touching my things?" she asked before turning and leaving Kaoru by himself.
He shrugged. "I don't see why not," he mumbled, and walked over to the working group of serving adults. "Hey, yakko! Only Vanier-san is allowed to touch Viona's things." They nodded, and Vanier gave Kaoru a curious look.
As Kaoru walked away, Vanier nudged the closest servant. "Did Hitachiin-sama just refer to ojou-sama rather familiarly?" The servant nodded and got back to work, not wanting to be yelled at by the head butler for slacking off. "I wonder why?" he mumbled, and raised a hand to his chin. After a few seconds, he looked down at Viona's luggage, grabbed it, and carried it up to her designated room.
"Come in!" Viona shouted and sat up from the bed to greet her guest. Vanier opened the door and walked in with the biggest bag of luggage Viona had.
"Where do I put it, Ma'am?" he asked.
"Anywhere's fine." She swung her feet off the side of the bed and smiled happily at her personal butler. "Wanna take a break?" she asked.
"Actually, yes. I have something I want to talk to you about," he said. Vanier grabbed a random chair and sat on it, facing Viona. "What's your relationship with Kaoru Hitachiin?"
Viona gave him a weird look. "We're sort of... kind of friends, why?" Vanier shrugged, his eyes diverted. Viona rolled her eyes and gave him a playful tap on the head, knocking his hat off. "Please don't keep information from me, Vanier. … We may be friendly and close, but that doesn't wipe over the fact I'm the master and you're the servant." Vanier stood, nodded, and set the chair back. He bent down and grabbed his hat, setting it on his head.
"I know," he said and smiled down at her. "There's nothing for you to worry about, because there's nothing wrong or out of the ordinary."
"You sure?" she probed.
Vanier nodded and it gave Viona weird vibes. "Trust me." He bent down suddenly and gave her a peck on the forehead. "Closest friend, and dearest sister," he whispered in her ear, and then left. "I may just be overreacting," he said as he exited the building and fetched another of Viona's bags of luggage.
Viona gently touched the spot Vanier kissed. Tears started coming down her cheeks and her body lurched in a silent sob. "Vanier?"