A/N: Haruhi's not one for touchy feely speeches. She just relates.
It was the weekend, but, for Haruhi, it was two days dedicated to searching for a new class to enroll to. She asked the headmaster if she was permitted to switch out, and he agreed; he reminded her that he would have liked it if she found herself a passion that she was born to commit to, but Haruhi still doubted that her dreams of being a lawyer could be swayed at all.
Originally, she planned her weekend to studying. A couple days absent of school—an actual school, not this sing-a-long and dance-to-the-beat institute—made her head feel empty. Like her brain-cells were leaking out of both ears from trying to pay attention to the musical lecture the teacher was giving. No matter how much she focused, she just couldn't keep up. It was curious as to how she was ahead with her academics but music made little sense to her.
However, now that she had the time, she was going to find what other classes that she could join, something that could veritably result in being an advantage. Singing? Composing? As if she would use any of those talents in the future (she wasn't good at them anyway).
Haruhi slammed down on the alarm clock when it began ringing. She slid out of bed and headed to the bathroom to get the day started. From there, she could hear Tomochika grumble and whine, and eventually pulled herself into a sitting position while making rustling sounds.
"Geez, Haru-chan, what're you doing up so darn early?" she complained.
"It's almost ten o'clock," Haruhi pointed out through a mouthful of toothpaste froth.
"Well, it's still too early," Tomochika harrumphed.
The smaller girl gargled water and spat, and then splashed water on her face. "I'm planning on changing my current class with another subject, but I need to find out which," she explained. "I'm assuming that it might take me more than a day to come up with a decision, so I'm using today and tomorrow to go and see."
That got the other girl wide awake. "Ehh?" Tomochika's eyes widened. "But—but why?"
"You know why. Though I'm not proud of it, but I'm pretty sure that I made a fit or two about it aloud."
"I see your point…" She sighed and pouted. "But if you have your class changed, then you would be placed in a different section of the school! We would hardly see each other then."
'I think we see each other fairly enough,' Haruhi thought. "Don't worry," she reassured. "We're still roommates and share the same lunch period."
"Yeah, I guess you're right," Tomochika sighed, the pout still stuck on her lips. Her face then contorted into a grin. "Say, mind if I tag along? It's always fun to do things when you're in company!"
Haruhi smiled. "Not at all, but, first, you need to get already, and then we'll down to grab something to eat."
"Right-o!" The idol-in-training jumped out of bed. She was about to barrel inside the bathroom until she got an eyeful of what her roommate was wearing. She skidded to a halt. "Just what are you wearing?"
Haruhi blinked and looked down at herself. "Um, clothes?"
"You look like a boy!" Tomochika exclaimed, pointing a finger at her. "You—you're even wearing trousers! I don't get it! I mean, you were just wearing a perfectly girly pajama—how can you go around wearing something like this?" She narrowed her eyes. "Wait, are those hand-me-downs? Do you always wear hand-me-downs?"
"Yes, these are hand-me-downs; no, I don't always wear hand-me-downs," Haruhi sighed, rolling her eyes. "I do possess girly clothes, but I do not have a whole closet full of them. And the shirt isn't a hand-me-down; I got it from a sales-off selection."
Tomochika's expressing was inquisitive but looked as though she didn't quite know how to ask her question, so Haruhi continued on. "I'm not poor, but I'm definitely not rich either. My dad and I just try to make ends meet by saving money—well, more so me than him."
"I see." Tomochika didn't appear curious about why her roommate didn't mention her mother; instead, she just smiled and nodded in understanding. "You're a commoner just like me."
"I…" She blinked. She looked at the taller girl in slight disbelief. "Uh, really?"
"Ehehehe." Tomochika sheepishly rubbed her neck. "I know that the clothes I brought in looked like they were something pricey, but I'm just fashionable! I got the pieces from discount stores and matched them together; arranging clothes was a hobby back then. Sadly, I used to be bullied for that."
Haruhi raised an eyebrow at that. She didn't want to pry, but…
"I mean, it's okay now!" Tomochika quickly amended with forced cheerfulness. "The girls from my old school just assumed that I came from a rich family or I earned cash the sleazy way. Of course, there was no way I could get my hands on so much money; my mom works as a nurse, so there's no way… Especially with her and Dad being divorced…" she trailed off.
Silence hung on the air rather heavily. Tomochika kept her gaze trained on the floor while Haruhi stared at her.
"Ah, geez, looks like I said too much!" Tomochika laughed, but it sounded faked. "Look, let's just forget about this and go get breakfast, yeah?"
"My mom died when I was five," Haruhi cut in, and the other girl fell silent. "It was from an illness, I think. I never thought to ask my dad because I know that it would break his heart going back to memories about her. He didn't tell me much about my mom, so I relied on my faint memories of her—her smile and her eyes and her touch. What he did tell me was that she was a strong woman who worked hard as a lawyer."
"So that's why you want to be a lawyer?" Tomochika asked softly.
Haruhi nodded. "I wanted to be like her. Additionally, the pay is impressive, and I'm already planning to send my first paycheck to my dad so that he could quit his job as an okama bartender."
Tomochika choked at that. "Y-you're dad? An okama?"
She smiled. "Not the best occupation in the world, as you can see. He said that he's cross-dressing because he could never love another woman."
Tomochika released a giggle. "My mom always wanted to own a cake store," she sighed. "I think she could have achieved her dream if she and Dad stayed together, but things weren't going so well between them; they filed for a divorce when I was ten. It was hard, really hard. Being the brat that I was, I always complained and blamed things on Mom, yet she took it all in. I never was as appreciative as I am now until a few years ago."
"What happened?" prompted Haruhi.
"My dad wanted to take me away. Long story short, through the crazy mess that my life had always been in, I came to realize that my dad never watched me grow-up or had taken care of me like how my mom worked hard to do. From recalling all this time when I was just skipping school or shoplifting, whether to avoid my bullies or snag myself some clothes that I couldn't afford, I felt incredibly ashamed of myself. I wanted to change, so I did. Along the way, I found a passion of being an idol, and I knew that I had to do this, that I had to be a student of this school and become an idol, and then repay my mom for everything that she had done for me."
"I guess we have something in common," Haruhi said. "We both want to repay our parents."
"Yeah, but you're stronger than I am, Haru-chan," Tomochika said, grinning. "I was just an unappreciative brat."
"You just needed time to understand, that's all. By the way, are there any other commoners like us here?" Haruhi reflected on that one time when Hojo was sighing something about house-keepers and a yacht, and the other boys treated the situation as though it was a regular occurrence.
"Oh yeah. I mean, I'm pretty sure that there is some attending this school, but there are mostly those coming from moderately rich families."
"Do you know whether the boys are…?"
"You mean Saito-kun and the others? I never asked, but it seems apparent to me that they're more than well-off."
'That answers my question.' Imagine that. Her new friends were rich kids. She wondered, had they not chosen to become idols themselves and that this little transfer mishap never happened, would they ever come to know one another at Ouran High. Well, Ouran High was for students coming from the quite influential and wealthy families, and how Tomochika described the students here sounded as though they weren't as prestige.
Although, there was Hijirikawa, the eldest son and scion of the Hijirikawa family of the Hijirikawa Corps. Him being "insanely rich and important," quoted from Amori, Haruhi idly wondered if he would be a student of Ouran High. If so, would he be her classmate? She didn't know how old he was, but she assumed that he was her age. Apparently, age didn't matter what class rank the students were placed in at Saotome Academy. She had heard that Jinguuji was eighteen-years-old while few of his classmates were sixteen.
"Mrrow."
The girls jolted in surprise, which ended up with Tomochika falling on her rear and Haruhi tripping and catching herself by grabbing the desk. In the middle of the room was a small black cat with green eyes. In her stunned awareness, Haruhi could see that it was a kitten almost growing into adulthood. But why bother with that now? How did it get in here?
"D-did we leave the balcony door open last night?" Tomochika wondered uncertainly.
The girls glanced at the balcony, and there was indeed a dearth of space the glass entrance left.
"It looks that way," Haruhi said. She pushed herself upright and went towards the cat. Haruhi grabbed the cat by its scruff, walked out on the balcony, and threw it over. Tomochika gave a startled cry and leapt onto her feet.
"Uwah! What are you doing, Haru-chan!?"
"Don't worry. Cats always land on their feet."
The girl stared at her incredulously, but relented (somewhat). "Eh…if you say so… But it's still crazy to throw a cat at this height!"
The cafeteria wasn't as flooded as usual. There were some students lingering here, but it was several vacant tables available, which was something that pleased the bespectacled girl. After retrieving their food, the girls found themselves a relatively quiet spot (Tomochika wanted to sit near the crowd, but Haruhi refused).
"So, what do you got in mind?" Tomochika asked, digging into her bacon and eggs.
"Nothing, to be honest. The headmaster gave me a list, but it's rather long."
"Do you have the list with you? Can I see it?"
Haruhi dug into her pocket and handed the folded paper to her roommate. "Just so you know, it's hard to read."
Tomochika squinted and brought the paper close to her face. "Dang! The print is tiny!"
"I warned you."
"Well, since you're planning on changing classes, we might as well cross out singing and composing. There's dance, drama, art…" She put the list down on her lap and frowned. "Hm, I wonder how the boys are going to take the news. I mean, I don't know them very well, but they seem to like you a lot."
"I'm planning on telling them once I see them. I intended on doing it yesterday, but they were so caught up with whatever that they were doing." Haruhi shrugged.
"You think you're gonna be okay without them?"
"Of course. It's not like I'm never going to see them again." And then she added, "And it's not like we know each other that well, so we're not that good of friends."
Tomochika squawked. "Haru-chan! How can you say that?" she berated the girl. "True that it had only been a week since you met them, but keeping friendships are important!"
Haruhi sighed. "Alright, alright."
"Pinky-promise me that you'll still keep in contact with them and be the best of pals with them!" she said, holding out her pinky.
"Tomo-chan…"
"Pinky-promise!" she insisted.
The smaller girl rolled her eyes, but hooked her pinky with the other girl's anyway. "I pinky-promise," she assured monotonously.
"Good! I'll be watching you…" Tomochika narrowed her eyes and stuck out her lower lip. "Like a hawk!"
"No, that's creepy."
After discussing briefly about what possible choices there were for Haruhi, a familiar figure strolled on by.
"If it isn't Fujioka. Nice morning we're having, eh?"
Jinguuji stopped at their table. Tomochika seemed to be holding in her breath, and Haruhi made a mental note to ask her about it later. "Good morning," she greeted.
"I see you're having a breakfast date with this lovely lady over here." With that said, the older boy flashed a charming smile in Tomochika's direction, who blushed prettily in return.
"It's not a date," Haruhi clarified. She raised an eyebrow. "Anyway, is there something that you want?"
"What? I just can't walk by and see how my classmate is doing?"
"I think you'd already know since I always give you the same answer whenever you do."
Jinguuji smiled. "Always talking back," he chuckled. "Yet, no matter what I do, I can never seem to bring out your voluble self."
"I don't have one."
"You can't discourage me from trying."
"Try as you might," she sighed. "Now, if you are quite finished, you may leave."
The boy remained smiling, yet eventually did what she requested. "It just breaks my heart how you would want it that way, but, alas, it appears that I have no choice. I'll see you later, then, Fujioka." He delivered a wink to Tomochika."Bye there, miss."
When Jinguuji was out of hearing distance, Haruhi exhaled loudly. "That guy…"
"H-how do you know Jinguuji Ren?" Tomochika immediately gushed out.
Haruhi blinked. "Um, well, he's my classmate in the S class…"
"But I wouldn't think that you two would normally carry out conversations!"
"We don't! Argh, that is, at least I don't. He tries to, but he usually gets annoying." She scratched her head.
"Haru-chan, did you just call the third son of the Jinguuji Corps annoying?" Tomochika gasped, scandalized.
Oh great. Jinguuji had a title? Who knew.
