I roll onto my side in bed, the thin stream of light from my window hitting my eyes. I groan and roll onto my stomach, burying my face in my pillow. I don't know what time it is, and I don't care. I am not ready to wake up yet. I spent hours the previous day trying to reverse the damage done to the costumes the boys rented. There really was no other way to put ball gowns on their pointy frames than to do some temporary sewing. Which I then had to remove. And it took so long because there were five of them. And with homework and my usual dance class and preparation for the release of the newest lines, I'm exhausted from a late night of hard work.

My phone begins to vibrate, loudly disturbing my slow descent back into sleep with the shrieking ringtone. I growl in frustration, plucking it off my night stand and flipping it open without checking the caller ID. I swallow to give a calm, collected greeting. "Hitachiin Natsumi speaking."

"Natsumi, it's Kyoya."

I check the time. "What are you doing awake?"

"Tamaki called me in a panic. He wants to visit Haruhi. Of course, he wants to do it right this second."

I sigh, throwing my arm over my eyes. "And this has to do with me how?"

"I thought the entire club should go. I doubt Tamaki is brave enough to go alone. He needs some support." I hear his usual smooth sarcasm and I shake my head. No doubt Tamaki did request that this just be between them but Kyoya is going to make Tamaki suffer for waking him up so early. I groan, "If you're going to punish Tamaki, can't you do it without me? I need my sleep."

"If I'm awake, you're awake."

I roll my eyes, "I was up all night. I'm going back to bed."

I snap my phone shut, and put it back on my nightstand. A few seconds later it starts to ring again. I check the caller ID- Kyoya. I turn my phone off. I hug a pillow to my chest, and just start to fall asleep when my door bursts open and two bodies fling themselves onto my bed. I groan as Kaoru and Hikaru yank the covers from me, stealing my pillows to launch across the room.

"Good morning, Natsumi!"

"Time to go to Haruhi's!"

I sit up, crossing my legs. I glare at them as they grin at me. They're already dressed and I sigh, covering my eyes. "Kyoya called you, didn't he?"

Hikaru skips around my bed things to get to my closet, stepping into it to pick some clothes out. Kaoru leans back, still smiling at me. "He said it'd be a shame for you to sleep through this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

Hikaru stepped out of my closet, a black dress in his hands. "He'll be here in ten minutes to drive us over there. So you might want to get dressed."

Ten minutes later I stand in the drive as Kyoya pulls up, hair fixed, make-up on and feeling pretty nice in the clothes picked out for me. I ran my fingers through my hair, yawning as the car door opened and we climbed in. I wound up between Kyoya and Tamaki.

"Why are we doing this again?" I asked. I was ignored, however, as Tamaki stared out the window, dazed. He seemed caught up in a funk, distracted and moody. I glanced out the windows myself, watching the scenery change slowly to the narrow streets and plain buildings that marked the neighborhood Haruhi lived in. Even before we got out of the car, people were gathered. Curious, I guess, about what such high make automobiles were doing in this area.

Right as we get out, Tamaki starts walking back and forth, slouched over while the others looked up at the apartment building. My eyes find the right door immediately, then I turn away and look around us at the people. And I spot Haruhi, slouched against a telephone pole, plastic bags at her feet. I grin and choose to keep this knowledge to myself as the boys continue their shenanigans, Tamaki pulling together the group to say that we must not say anything to embarrass Haruhi just as she storms up behind him.

"Well it's too late for that, go away!"

I grin. She looks pretty cute in a pink dress. I lean against the car, watching as they argue. I'm just too tired to go along with the madness. I really missed out on my full eight hours, for the third time this week. There's a slight buzz in my vest pocket- I pull out my phone to see I have a new message. Seeing who it's from, I frown, and slip it back into my pocket. I'm not in the mood to play pretend today.

I follow the others up the steps, keeping quiet as Haruhi opens the door for us. I automatically slip my shoes off, following the rest into the apartment, though I don't squeeze into the little living room with the rest of them. I instead stand just outside the door, leaning against the jam, ignoring another small buzz. As Hikaru hands Haruhi a bag of tea, I walk towards the stove, glancing at the tools there.

"Um, Natsumi-senpai?" I look to see Haruhi staring at me. I just smile. "I thought I'd help you make the tea. Where do you keep your tea pot?"

"In that cabinet there." Haruhi points at the cabinet above the window, and I open it up, pulling out the kyusu tea pot. Alongside it were some mugs, enough for all of us, though they don't match. I pull them out too as Haruhi starts to brew the tea. I glance at her. "I'm sorry for this visit. I'm sure you were looking forward to a day free of us."

Haruhi looks at me, "I don't mind you, Natsumi-senpai. You're not as obnoxious as them."

We look back at them- Suoh and the twins seem to be over-reacting to something. Kyoya is looking through the bookshelf. Honey-Senpai is already opening the box of sweets. I open another cabinet to find some plates. Haruhi pulls some forks from a drawer. Just then, Kaoru tells Haruhi that it's no trouble, they'd be fine drinking water. I giggle as Haruhi tells them that she already fixed the tea. No doubt they had come to some illogical conclusion that just because it's a fancy kind of tea that she wouldn't know how to make it. I follow Haruhi with the plates and as she serves the tea, I place the dinnerware in front of everyone, taking a seat between Kyoya and Honey-senpai.

My phone vibrates again as I pick out a little chocolate mousse cake from the box. Taking a sip of the tea, I think about the person texting me. Can't she just get the hint that I don't want to talk right now? Kyoya notices my phone buzz again and looks at me. "Is it someone important?"

I shake my head just as lunch was suggested. That distracts Kyoya from me- and he offers to pay. I look at him suspiciously. Kyoya doesn't just pay for things- ah, it's from those photos of Haruhi. That explains it. My stomach rumbles a bit. I didn't get to have breakfast this morning, so sushi sounds really good. But it looks like Haruhi is going to make something instead? I can barely keep up with the pace of the conversation but one moment I'm sitting at the table and the next I'm getting picked up by the twins and dragged outside, the chant of 'Commoner's Supermarket' ringing in my ears.

I shake them off just outside, and that's when my phone starts playing that horrible tune the twins had put it on it. I sigh, and pull it out, opening it and putting it against my ear as a lovely person passes me. "Hello?"

"Natsumi! Why didn't you answer my messages?"

I pinch the bridge of my nose, annoyed. "You've been texting me for half an hour, couldn't you figure out on your own that I don't want to talk to you?"

"How could you be so mean!" The tone was so hurt that I almost felt bad. Almost. "I just wanted to talk to my only daughter, ask her what she wants for her birthday next week, and she snaps so rudely at me."

My hand wraps around the railing, and I stare up at the sky. I didn't want to play pretend today. "My birthday is three months from now, not next week. If you're going to try and act like you give a damn, at least remember when you gave birth to me."

Silence on the other end. I chew on the inside of my cheek. I'm too tired to just give some bullshit answer and act like it doesn't matter that she can't even remember my stupid birthday. Like it doesn't matter that I haven't seen her in person in over a year, that the last time I did see her, she was too distracted to see how upset I was. She just ran away and I can't forgive her for that. Because she's still running.

"Natsumi…I…"

I shake my head. "This isn't the kind of conversation we can have over the phone, Mom. You have to come home for this. Really come home."

There's silence again and right now, all that matters is what's going on right here. What will she say? Will she come home? Come home without her agent and put her phone aside so that we can finally mend this hole in our relationship? We could watch bad movies in our pajamas, cook weird snacks, play board games, just like we used to. And we could visit Dad's grave. Together. All she has to do is come home.

"I'm sorry, Natsumi." Firm, concise. "I have a movie that I'm shooting for. And there's the tv show too. I'm booked for a long time. Maybe you could come here, you have a break coming up-"

I shake my head. She wouldn't make time for me if I was there. I would just be in a strange country, with strange people, all by myself because she'd be too busy working to spend time with me. "No. I have my own plans, just like you do. Bye, Mom."

I hang up. Leaning over the railing, I sigh at the ground below. She'll never get it.

"Um, Natsumi-senpai?"

I turn my head to see Haruhi standing there. The door to her apartment was closed behind her. I look around for the boys, and don't see them. She looks agitated, but concerned for me too. I take a deep breath and smile, slipping my phone into my pocket. "Hey. Are we still going to the supermarket?"

"I am. I told the others that they have to stay behind. Apparently Kyoya and my dad have been talking behind my back."

I raise my eyebrows and nod. "Have they now? That's…interesting."

"It's unbelievable, that's what it is." Haruhi starts walking, and I follow her. Of course I knew that Kyoya had been talking to Ranka- heck, I came here in person once before. I know Haruhi wouldn't approve of that, so I keep quiet about it as she complains to me about how she feels about it. I nod and make agreeable noises in the right places. Finally, it's silent as we get to the 'commoner's supermarket'. We step through the sliding glass doors, I look about, curious. The ceiling is rather low, and it doesn't seem like there's much fresh food- most of it is boxed stuff like that coffee she always brings.

"So, that person you were talking to earlier- that was your mom?" Haruhi asks suddenly and I cringe. I wonder how much of that conversation she heard.

"Um…yeah, it was." I rub the back of my neck, looking around. I just barely catch a glimpse of the twins in another aisle. So they followed us here.

"You don't get to see her much, huh? What does she do?" Haruhi is looking at a pack of beans. I run my fingers through my hair. It's getting a little longer, which is good. I was missing it.

"Um, she's an actor. She's has a busy schedule because she's really popular over in America. So, no. I don't get to see her often."

"Well, what about your dad? Do you get to see him?" I look at Haruhi- she's still looking at the vegetables. I run my hands over my dress, smoothing the black fabric down, my fingers fiddling with the ring around my neck. "Um…no, not really. He…"

She looks at me then. I swallow, "He passed away a couple of years ago. Car accident."

Her eyes widen slightly. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know."

I wave my hands. "No, it's okay. I couldn't expect you to know."

We walk around in silence then, a bit uncomfortable. Finally, Haruhi says, "My mom passed away when I was little. I miss her sometimes."

I smile, looking at the vegetables. "Yeah. I miss my Dad too."

I roll my shoulders, letting my smile grow. "So, what are we getting to make for lunch?"

Haruhi smiles too. "I'm not sure. But, hey, do you think you could go grab some instant coffee? I think the club is running out again."

I nod. "No problem."

I walk away, Looking up at the large signs that hang over every aisle. To be honest, not much of it makes sense to me. A lot of these foods I've never heard of. But I find my way to the coffee aisle no problem only to see Kyoya standing before the instant stuff, considering it. In his hands are some multi-colored slips of paper, and he's looking between those and the coffee labels.

I sneak up behind him and glance over his shoulder at the papers. They're coupons for instant coffee. I look up at the shelves, eyes scanning the surprisingly numerous brands before finding the one pictured on the coupon and point. "That's the one that's on sale."

Kyoya jumps, apparently not realizing I had been standing right beside him. He coughs, and nods. "Right. I was just trying to figure out if I need two coupons or just one to get the double coupon deal."

I take the coupons from him, reading the small print. "Um…I think it means you can use two coupons. So we can get four bags of the coffee for just a fraction of the cost."

"Hmm." He looks at the coupons again. "You're right, Natsumi. "

He grabbed two and I grabbed two more and we walked together in silence towards the register. I saw Tamaki and Haruhi talking, Mori-senpai pushing Honey-senpai in a cart. As we stood in a line, Kyoya says, "I was thinking we could have another themed event tomorrow. What do you think?"

I sigh and look up at the ceiling, considering, running the options through my head. "How do you feel about being police officers? Men in uniform are always attractive."

He looks at me. "Well, then what would you be? A police officer as well?"

"Of course." I sniff as I put the coffee on the counter. "Women are police officers too."

He smiles as he pulls out his wallet. "You're right. No surprise there, I suppose. That's usually the case."