Disclaimer: I have no rights over any Ouran characters. Nor do I own any rights for Antique Bakery.


It was a good four years in England.

But Haruhi was glad it was over.

She hadn't had the funds to travel back to Japan once a year, like she had in high school. In fact, she hadn't been back at all – though her father had managed to come visit her between her sophomore and junior year. She'd gotten a part-time job at a local Japanese restaurant, but her father had insisted that she use the funds she made there to tour Europe with her friends. And, since she had the bad habit of making wealthy friends, she'd been able to visit virtually every country in Europe with her meager earnings. Mainly because she'd never had to pay for lodging due to her friends refusing to stay anywhere but the best and then insisting she stay with them.

It had been nice but Haruhi had never enjoyed mooching off of others, even when it forced on her.

Now that she had her bachelor's degree she was finally heading back to Japan. She'd thought about going to the USA for law school, but she'd ultimately decided on Tohoku Law School, since she wanted to practice law in Japan, and their classes would help prepare her for the board exam.

So, here she was, on an Air India flight, with fifteen hours of flight time and a ten hour layover because it was the cheapest flight home.

And she was stuck with Mei the entire way.

"How much longer to Delhi? It feels like we've been traveling for forever," Mei complained.

"Mei, it's only been two hours, we still have almost seven more hours," Haruhi answered.

"Seven hours left?! In these seats?"

"These are the normal seats."

"But, I can't feel my legs anymore! I'm claustrophobic!"

"Mei?"

"Why are planes so small? They're trying to kill us! I know it!"

"MEI!"

Mei jerked in surprise, "What?"

"Mei, look at me."

Mei turned to stare at Haruhi, who took one of her hands.

"Why didn't you tell me you were an anxious flyer? You could've paid more for an emergency exit seat with more leg room."

Mei gulped and took a deep breath. "I always think I've got it beat, but, I never do. It slowly starts, and, well, that's why I never went hope to visit my mom."

"And that's why you wanted to fly with me, right?"

"Yeah, it is."

"Mei, how in the world did you get to Oxford?"

"Um, I drank lots of the little alcohol bottles."

"Does that help?"

"Yes."

"Do you want me to go ask for some alcohol for you?"

"Maybe?"

Haruhi unbuckled and began to stand up, but Mei grabbed her arm.

"No! Don't leave! Please."

Haruhi sat back down and instead pushed the call button. She hated doing that, flight attendants weren't servants, but there was no way she could leave Mei alone right now.

"Can I help you?" A young man in a flight attendant uniform asked.

"Yes, my friend here started having a panic attack due to flight anxiety. Can we get some bottles of something alcoholic? We're not picky."

The young man looked at Mei's death grip on Haruhi and nodded, "Sure, I'll be right back."

Mei drank several little bottles of wine until she eventually passed out, only then did her grip on Haruhi's hand let up. Haruhi took the chance to run to the bathroom.

Mei was just beginning to stir again when they landed in Delhi. The two of them proceeded to raid a store for snacks and set up camp in a fairly empty part of the airport. They had about a ten hour layover. The two of them took turns napping, so someone was always watching the bags.

About two hours before takeoff Mei dragged Haruhi over to a bar where they ate some greasy burgers and Mei began to drown herself in alcohol.

By the time they boarded the flight to Japan Mei was past tipsy. After the 'dinner' meal and a few little bottles of wine she passed out, not stirring again for the rest of the eight hour flight.

Haruhi envied her.

She was wide awake from the naps on the plane and she was bored to tears. The plane was an older one and so didn't have a screen for every seat and the movie currently playing was in Hindi with English subtitles that were much too small to read from her seat.

So all she had were her thoughts.

At times like this, when she had too much time to think, she wondered what life would've been like if she hadn't gone to Brekleys, if she'd gone to Ouran instead.

Ouran was one of the most exclusive schools in Japan, which made it likely that those boys went there, since she knew that Tamaki Suoh went there. Alianore had told them all about him and how his family owned Ouran and Suoh Industries.

Which meant Glasses Boy was likely from one of the most prominent families. She wondered which one…

Haruhi shook her head and rolled her eyes at herself. She shouldn't be thinking about Glasses Boy. Even if she became the best lawyer in Japan he'd be beyond her. They didn't have the same cultural background, even if they came from the same country. He probably flew first class and had gone to Ouran with his daddy paying every bill. He never had to work a part-time job or go years without seeing Japan because it wasn't practical.

No, he was way beyond her.

Just like Alianore was way beyond an idiot playboy like Tamaki Suoh.

Alianore had told them, after they'd ended up at a less exclusive bar, how she and Tamaki had gone to middle school together. How they'd spent all their free time together. He'd given her her first kiss by lake between their country homes. He'd told her that she was the only one for him.

And then he'd disappeared.

Alianore had gone to their special spot by the lake, but he never came. So she'd gone to his house, but he hadn't been there. In fact, no one had been there at all. Not even the gardener who she had remembered being there long before Tamaki and his mother had arrived.

She'd immediately gone home and tried to email him and call him, but he'd never replied.

So she'd started digging, which is when she learned that his name wasn't even Rene de Grantaine. Or, at least, that wasn't his name anymore. There was no record of a Rene de Grantaine anywhere in the world. She did track his mother to a hospital on the southern coast of France, but there was no sign of Rene. But that was ultimately a dead end, since Anne-Sophie told her, "Rene is as unreachable as the stars," before she broke down crying.

Alianore had never gone to bother Anne-Sophia again. Part of her had feared that Rene was dead, but, if that was so, why hadn't someone told her?

Haruhi still thought the circumstances in which Alianore found out that Rene was still alive and healthy were pretty contrived, but then, weren't some things accomplished in very unlikely circumstances?

Alianore had been killing time on her school's online when some girl named Renge Houshakuji had posted:

'Sorry for the late notice, but I'm in Japan! My soulmate is here! As you can clearly see in the below photo:'

The photo had contained six boys with a title proclaiming them the 'Ouran High School Host Club.' One of those six smiling boys had been Rene.

Alianore had started digging again, only to discover that he was now Tamaki Suoh, heir to one of the most successful conglomerates in all of Japan. He wasn't dead as she had feared, rather, he was happily flirting with girls at a school halfway around the world.

It had broken Alianore's heart.

Haruhi didn't blame her, though, she did wonder, if Tamaki's playboy exterior was hiding something else. The hope that had been in his eyes when he spoke to Alianore, compared to the pain that quickly followed as she left him covered in Sex on the Beach in the middle of that exclusive bar…

Well, it made her wonder, and, if there was something more to it, did Glasses Boy know?

Maybe…

No.

Haruhi shook her head at her own thoughts. It would never work. Anyways, it wasn't like she even knew Glasses Boy.

And she likely never would.

XXX

Haruhi collapsed into a chair at a small café near her Tohoku University.

She was so tired. Exam week had just finished and all she wanted to do was find a flat spot and just sleep. But she'd promised Mei that she'd meet her here for lunch after Mei's interview at Hitachiin International for an internship.

A waitress came over and Haruhi ordered some hot tea before ignoring all the rules of polite society and putting her head down on the table.

Mei could wake her up when she arrived.

The next thing Haruhi knew was the sound of her phone ringing. She stared at her phone for a moment, not comprehending what it was. By the time she woke up enough to grab it, she realized it had stopped ringing.

She immediately hit call back.

"Hello?"

"Dad?"

"Haruhi! There you are! Where are you? You said you'd be home by five so we could have dinner together to celebrate before I go to work. And it's almost six."

"What?" Haruhi pulled her phone away so she could see the time. Her jaw dropped. Why had Mei never shown up? "Oh, I'm sorry dad! Something happened with Mei. Can we do dinner tomorrow? I'm really sorry."

"You sure everything's alright?"

"Yes, Dad, everything is fine. Don't worry."

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow then. I'm off, so we'll go out for dinner and have a proper celebration. I'm heading to work now."

"Okay, Dad, love you!"

"Love you, too. Have a good evening."

When they hung up Haruhi looked at her phone to see a couple text messages from Mei.

Mei: I'm sorry Haruhi! I need to cancel! They want us to wait here

Mei: OMG! HARUHI! I got the position!

Mei: I just called EVERYONE! Drinks on me at Stars at 8!

Mei: You better be there!

Mei: Hey! Answer me!

Mei: Haruhi!

Haruhi groaned and took a sip of her ice cold tea. Then she sent Mei a message.

Haruhi: I wasn't ignoring you. I fell asleep. In the MIDDLE OF THE CAFÉ, waiting for you.

Haruhi: Sure, I'll come. But I'm going home to change and shower first. So I'll be late.

Mei: OH! I'M SOOOO SORRY! I'll buy you a drink to apologize. See you soon!

Haruhi groaned again and snapped her phone closed as she slumped back onto the table. There was no point in pointing out to Mei that she'd already promised to buy drinks. Sometimes it was painful to be friends with someone like Mei.

"Um, are you okay?"

Haruhi groaned again and looked up to see a rather familiar looking short blonde boy with a very unfamiliar girl in all black.

"Do you need me to curse someone for you?" asked the girl.

"Huh? Oh, sure, you can curse my friend. That is, if you have a curse that will make her think before she acts."

"No, sorry, my curses are a bit more negative than that."

The short boy giggled, "You're funny! What's your name? I'm Mitsukuni Haninozuka, but you can call me Hunny. This is Reiko Kanazuki, my girlfriend."

Reiko sent a glare to Hunny, "I did not yet agree to be your girlfriend!"

Hunny blushed, "Sorry! This is Reiko, my maybe girlfriend."

Reiko smiled and nodded, "That's better."

Haruhi chuckled, "You think I'm funny? I'd say you should look at yourselves." She deliberately didn't say her name, hoping they wouldn't notice. She didn't look like a good lawyer should, and since she'd be interviewing at Tachiki and Sons in a few days, she didn't want anyone to remember her this way. Tachiki and Sons did a lot of business law, it would be bad for someone as well-dressed as this couple to see her like this. Or so Masaye and Mei would say.

Hunny grinned, "Yes, we are. Now, beautiful lady, how may we help you?"

As soon as he called her beautiful lady Haruhi knew where she'd met him before. This was one of the boys who went to Ouran with Tamaki Suoh – one of the boys from Paris. One of those infamous (at least to Alianore and all of those friends with her) Ouran High School Host Club Members.

She narrowed her eyes at them, "Why do you want to help me?"

Hunny shrugged, "Reiko and I came here to eat cake a couple hours ago. You were sleeping then, now you're awake, but you don't look happy. I don't like it when people aren't happy."

Reiko chuckled, "He really doesn't. That's why we were wondering if you needed help."

Haruhi grabbed her wallet and put some money on the table for her tea. Then she smiled up at them, "Thank you for the offer, but no thank you. I was just upset that I fell asleep. I really didn't mean to. I was supposed to meet my friend here, but she had to cancel. By the time she canceled, though, I'd already fallen asleep."

"Aw, well, if you ever need help, here's my card," Hunny said, presenting her with a simple white card with black lettering.

"And here's mine," Reiko added, giving Haruhi a rather morbid looking black and red card.

Haruhi smiled and slipped both in her wallet, "Thank you, very much, goodbye!"

She gave them a quick bow and then headed out of the café as quickly as she could. She didn't want to give them enough time to realize she hadn't given them her card or even told them her name.

How could she? She hadn't had a haircut in months and she was wearing clothes that would make her father faint if he knew she was wearing them in public.

Haruhi chuckled at herself as she hopped on her bus. It was funny how friends could influence you so much. She never used to care about her looks, but ever since Mei had lectured her on how appearances are merely the first weapon in any social, she couldn't help but notice. She noticed how someone with a pleasing exterior was able to accomplish more than someone without.

She didn't think that was right or fair, but, she also recognized that that's the way world was and while she wasn't currently in a position to change it, she might end up in one if she at least attempted to play by the rules.

Which was why she was now heading home with two peoples cards in her wallet, two people that had been nothing but kind to her, and she hadn't been able to at least tell them her name.

Haruhi hung her head in shame.

She felt like a terrible person.


Author's Note: Here you go, a little mid-week update. I'll have another chapter up on Saturday or Sunday, we'll see what my schedule allows. Also, I just love a little HunnyxReiko interaction. I did another fic that focused on them (Everyone Loves Hunny and Reiko) which was actually the first HunnyxReiko fic here on . I actually posted it before they were made official, which I find rather amusing. It's a sequel/side story in the Facade Universe.

Oh, and if you don't get the reference to Antique Bakery, go check it out, it's an interesting little anime that my sister adores and I found pleasant.