Happy New Years! I want to thank you all for taking the time to read it means a lot. Sorry I've had a really hard time finding motivation to update any of my fics it seems I can only write when I don't have the time to. Like, I just sit there at stare at the screen like, "How do I make good words?" Good news though, I'll stop having time to in a couple days meaning I might actually started updating!
A soft trumpet was all I could hear in the empty multi-office building. The soft and lonely sound was scratched and echoed, bouncing through the abandoned corridors, with the distinctive scratched sound of an antique record player. I creped through with light steps down empty darkened hallways. Following the sound and knowing I was alone, I hummed along softly, the song long since memorized.
I stopped at a non-discrete door, pulling a bobby pin from my hair to pick the lock, I know, not very original. The static trumpet gave way to the ominous plucking of an orchestra of violins and I stopped my humming, the door clicking open to an empty unused space. The main area was barren of any furnishing, still waiting for a company to take up the lease, or so it would appear on most days.
A light creeping under the door of one of the back offices betrayed its occupants. I entered the room, the family gathered around a table. The phonograph off to the side, amplifying old Vegas blues through its dirty brass pavilion. They looked up, "I'll be," Said Uncle Freddy, a foreign ex-mafioso married into the family. "Youse actually found da meeting spot, we was starting to doubt youse was gonna show up." He crossed his hands, fully displaying his tacky golden jewelry. He really did embrace the mob stereotypes. He was still one of my favorite people though as well as someone I'd much rather have as a friend than an enemy.
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked offended.
"It just means that everyone else already cracked the code and got here." Said my Aunt Aneko smugly crossing one of her long slender legs. She, although being my actual blood relative and his wife, I did not quite like as much. If I had to describe her personality it would be... pointy if that makes sense. As a kid when I was only about as high as her legs the thing I always noticed about her was her deadly razor sharp heels. Pointy toed with high frighteningly thin pointy heels. Pointy, it's the only way I can think to describe her. It turns out you really can tell a lot about a person from their shoes. My cousins watched me with disapproving glances raising their almost unusually narrow noses and I suppressed my frustration. They really did think they were better than me but I knew I was every bit as capable as them.
I eyed the fresh deck of cards lay abandoned at the center of the table, they weren't lying, they really had been there a while. They played with a new pack each gathering, we may be family, but we're also thieves. No one was trusted not to cheat. Well, actually the whole point was to find ways of cheating that no one at the table would notice. It had become the main focus of the game over the years and was tremendously more entertaining than playing by the rules.
I plopped into the only empty chair left beside my mom. "I was out late working on my first job." I defended, if it weren't for the host club after school I wouldn't have had to endure this embarrassment.
"And how is it going?" Asked my mother in interest.
"I'm not talking to you right now." I dismissed her coldly.
She put up her hands sarcastically, "teenagers." She said to the table and they chuckled. I flushed in embarrassment and annoyance.
"Take it she doesn't like her mission?" Asked Uncle Yamamoto.
"You could say that." My mother laughed.
"Shall we get to the matter at hand?" My grandfather asked impatiently. He flicked his whitening beard, "The diamond's departure date to England has been moved… to tomorrow night."
"That gives us no time." My uncle said angrily slamming the table.
"We'll have to move fast." My mother bit her thumb.
"Why don't we nab it in transition?" I asked.
They all looked at me condescendingly. "We aren't doing anything." My aunt scoffed.
"Don't get ahead of yourself junior." My uncle laughed, "Ya still gotta finish da job before you can roll with da big dogs."
I clenched my fist under the table, I was still being treated like a child. If I had just been able to complete my job today, things would be different. "I'll get it done." I mumbled, "Just you watch."
I had entered my second day at Ouran with renewed enthusiasm and determination. (Corset and crinoline thankfully abandoned) It seemed like nothing could go wrong- but then the actual school work really started to catch up to me. By break time I just felt hollow. Ignoring the surrounding commotion, I stared at the blackboard blankly. I hadn't learned any of this stuff before, as expected of the top class of an elite school.
It was a gamble now, do I focus solely on the twins with the intention of finishing the job before I fell too behind or do I catch up in grades to buy myself time?
I sighed, I have never seen so many numbers before in my life, even if I wanted to catch up…
"It's nice to see someone taking school seriously." Said a voice, I turned.
The other host Haruhi smiled, "You've been looking at the board all break."
"I don't get any of it." I said deflated.
"I could help you if you'd like." He said.
I blushed. He was so nice, no one had ever gone out of their way to offer their help to me before. "Uh sure." I said, "When could you?"
Haruhi looked up thoughtfully, "I have host club every day after school…"
"Right." I sighed.
"Though I don't really get many customers on Thursdays so maybe we could work together there?" He asked.
"Sure." I said immediately.
"Well then," he smiled, "I'll see you there."
"Absolutely." I nodded excitedly and then paused questioning why I would feel so excited about studying in the first place.
I was in for a surprise at the host club. Today was apparently a "themed day". Something Haruhi had neglected to mention. I was whisked away by hired help the moment I entered the music room.
"The host club is trying something new today!" Smiled the woman dressed as a maid, or maybe she was a maid. "We will be haveing both the hosts AND the guest dress up as you you enjoy the wonders of the ancient Egyptian deserts." I let my guard down for a minute and somehow in that minute the super maid was suddenly able to strip me down to my drawers and wrap me in luxurious white cloth all I could do under her hulk strength was protest loudly enough that the students in the other room were probably turning their heads in puzzlement.
The deed was done and I wobbled out of the change room feeling utterly violated.
I tugged at the fabrics uncomfortably. "You look nice, Ueda-san." Said Haruhi coming up to meet me and leading me to an empty table.
"Oh, um thanks." I said with a voice way to quiet and meek to be my own. I blinked and shook myself out of it, electing to glance around. the host club pulled out all the stops in decorating, I hardly even recognized it as the place I was in yesterday. They even filled parts in with sand and an actual oasis in the corner with real exotic plants. Rich people events. I bet they won't be the one cleaning this mess up.
I heard footsteps behind me but didn't bother to see who it was until they suddenly were thrown off pace, pausing behind me. "hmm?" I heard.
I turned, the black haired host with the glasses had stopped behind me on his rounds. "Ueda-hime." He said.
"Yes?" I asked, how did he remember my name? I didn't even remember his name.
"Your muscles are surprisingly toned for someone who's never played any sports." His glasses flashed.
"I played baseball in jr. high." I said going through all the checks of a convincing lie. Don't give more detail than he needs, it sounds as if your covering up something.
"But you weren't on your school's team." He said, "Or on any outside leagues."
"I played at home. You don't have to compete to play a sport. I also work out, I like to stay in shape." I said evenly.
"With no gym membership?" He asked. What the heck was with this guy? I'd only been here two days and I've done nothing to compromise my cover, yet he had to be deeply suspicious to dig up all this info on my fake history.
"Why would I go to an outside gym when there's one at home?" I asked.
"Home." He said thoughtfully, typing a few words into his computer "Where exactly are you living there's no registered address?"
"We haven't decided on our permanent home yet, my mother is really picky and is still looking for the perfect place that fits all her requirements. In the meantime we're living in a suite nearby." I had to be very careful with my words apparently, this guy was sharp.
"Kyouya-senpai." Said Haruhi with annoyance, "Ueda-hime here is trying to study."
"Apologies." He nodded his head and left.
"What the heck was that?!" I asked her. "Who was that?"
"The bloody shadow king." Haruhi muttered dryly. "Don't mind him he just likes to know every last detail about every last person here at Ouran, particularly our customers."
Have I already messed up, Kyouya did not seem like someone I wanted to be under the radar of. Obviously the host club was not the gift opportunity I thought it was. Though my family was incredibly thorough in identity creation, he shouldn't find any hiccups unless I got him suspicious enough to really dig.
"Shall we keep studying?" Asked Haruhi.
"Right." I nodded. "Uh, thanks for doing this again. I'm sure it's a kind of boring way to spend your host hours."
He stopped and looked up at me, "No not at all. I'm really glad you're here. The host club has been taking out a lot of my study time. This is really helping me out also."
"You're a scholarship student, right Fujioka-san?" I asked.
"Yup." He nodded, "I can't stay if I don't remain top in the class."
I coughed. "How do you have time to be here?! Isn't it stressful?"
"I owe the host club money after the twins cornered me into an expensive vase." He said dejectedly.
"Well how much do you owe them?"
"Who knows at this point? Senpai is always adding and subtracting amounts for various things…"
"Bloody shadow king." We both repeated at the same time and laughed. I was feeling a little giddy at that moment, I had never really connected with a person like this outside the family before.
'So let's move on to the next sample question." He smiled, a warm feeling blossomed in my chest. "Okay."
"What's this?" Said a mischievous voice and a twin slinked over my shoulder, the whole world was against us studying weren't they? I flinched at the contact the shear costumes allowing the sensation of skin on skin. The other twin leaned in front of me a little miffed. "Weren't you our customer?" He asked. "Right after you said you'd learn to tell us apart too. Have you already given up?"
"You know we were joking when we said Haruhi was going to steal you away from us?" Said the one behind me.
"I haven't forgotten what I said. Fujioka-san is just trying to help me with the school work." I said evenly. "I'm having a bit of trouble making the leap."
One of them picked up a paper, "You're having difficulty all the way back here, you must be pretty dumb, how are you in class A?"
"Hikaru." Snapped Haruhi and he slinked back.
"Whatever." He scoffed, "We've gotta get back to work."
I turned back to Haruhi in surprise, "You can tell them apart?"
"Of course." He said, "For one, Hikaru is a lot meaner, their actions are subtly different too. It's not that hard to see once you get to know them."
Information noted. "You must be pretty close to them." I commented.
"Yeah I guess. Don't take what they said to you to heart. Stuff's happened to them in the past, they'd been looking for someone to tell them apart for a long time before I came. Apparently a maid they once trusted betrayed them or something." Haruhi shrugged, I looked away guiltily. "So when you said all those things yesterday, called them individuals and told them you'd learn to tell them apart they were really happy."
"Well I meant it." I said, "I really want to be able to tell them apart."
"Well I'd be happy to help you with any of that." Haruhi smiled.
With that I had just made a very powerful ally.
"Huh, hope this isn't going where I think it's going."
If it is Mei's gonna be shocked when she find's out Haruhi's gender. Poor girl.