Over the next few days I avoided the Host Club at all costs. If I saw one of them walking down the hallway I would walk the other way or dart into the closest room. Yuki and Mina invited me to visit the club every day after school, but I always came up with an excuse: 'I have too much homework', 'Mum asked me to come straight home' or 'Kenichi has people coming over tonight'. Yuki and Mina never really noticed anything different with me. They continued to chatter excitedly, totally oblivious.
Like Yuki and Mina had said, many girls regarded me coldly and glared at me when I walked past them. It was the worse on the second day after visiting the Host Club. By then everyone knew what had happened at the Club. But by the third day the glares started to lessen and then eventually disappear.
But even through that I continued to make more friends. At lunch and between classes I hung around with Yuki and Mina. Sometimes we hung out with Arashi and Yuki's brother Takuya who was in third year. Yuki and Mina introduced me to Michiko Saito from second year. Michiko was tall and slim, with a heart shaped face and long black hair. She stared down at me as though I was a bug that she wanted to step on. According to Mina she was one of the highest requesters of Tamaki and had been furious when she had seen Tamaki catch me. I was also introduced to Miyuki Fujita who thought that Michiko was the best person ever and followed her around all the time. It was clear upon meeting Miyuki that she was obsessed with Tamaki. Apparently she had spent 50,000 yen on a piece of paper he had drawn on. Miyuki was short with black hair, usually tied into two pigtails and thick-goggle like glasses that covered her brown eyes.
I was amazed by how normal everything seemed. How could I be kidnapped by a group of teenage boys and then just return to normal life? It seemed so strange how everybody could act so normally completely oblivious to what had happened.
Yuki and Mina managed to con me into joining the Tea Club with them. I was acing my foreign language class. We were learning French, which was similar to Italian. But my Japanese was still average. Yuki offered to tutor me but I declined.
By the last day of school that week I was exhausted, both physically and mentally. The Host Club's threat continued to hang in my mind like someone had scrawled it on my brain in permanent marker.
As I sat in my last class for that week, French, I let my mind wander. I was glad I managed to get a window seat in class. At least I had a distraction when I got bored. I looked over at Yuki, who was in a seat to my left. She was staring down at the textbook in front of her, her face twisted in confusion. Mina, who was on Yuki's other side, looked equally confused.
I turned away from my two friends and looked out the window. The sun shone down on the grass and trees. I could see the maze, decorated with colourful roses.
I turned back to the blackboard where the teacher was writing in French. I copied down the notes and then turned back to look outside.
Looking now, I could several students standing in a patch of grass next to maze, all wearing the boys uniforms. They seemed to be playing some sought of game. One of them kicked a metal can that glimmered in the sunlight and the other ran off. Four ran into the maze and two ran into the trees.
Something in me clicked; the Host Club.
I turned away from the window, as though one of them would look up and see me staring. My face flushed. Everywhere I looked they seemed to be there. There was no escaping them.
I looked back up to the rest of the class. They were packing up, the bell must have rung. Standing up, I grabbed my things and shoved them into my bag. I turned and ran up to Yuki and Mina who were exiting the classroom, occupied in a conversation.
As I walked I listened to everybody's footsteps as they thudded against the marble flooring. I took a deep breath, still shaken by seeing the Host Club. Over the last few days I'd been usually stressed, for me at least. Not many things shook me.
"Hey Hana," Yuki said, turning towards me. "We're going to see the Host Club, Do you want to come?"
I shook my head, trying to look calm. "I can't." I said. "I've got some stuff to do."
"You've had a busy week." Mina remarked
"Yeah…" I said, my voice trailing off. They didn't know half of it.
"Anyway," Yuki said, cheerful as ever. "See you on Monday, Hana."
"Bye."
"See you later,"
Yuki and Mina walked off; I could vaguely hear their conversation shift to Honey and Mori. I turned in the other direction and walked down to the car park. Looking around, I spotted Kenichi's car a few metres away. I climbed in. The driver looked over his shoulder at me and stared for a few seconds them turned back around and started the car.
As the car took off I leaned back against the seat and took a deep breath. I reached forward and pulled a magazine out of the pocket in front of me. I flicked through the pages, not really paying attention.
When I arrived home I was surprised to see a long line of people standing out the front of my house. I climbed out of the car and stared at them. They were all adults, a mixture of men and women some looking like they were barely into adulthood and others elderly. I walked up the path to the front door. Realising I was there, their eyes rested on me.
I slipped through the door and saw mum talking to Shima. Noticing me she turned and gave me a hug.
"Hey honey."
"Hi…" I said. "Why is there a bunch of people standing outside?"
"Oh," Mum said, giggling. "Did I forget to tell you? It's far too hard to look after an estate this size with only four workers so we've decided to hire some more."
"Oh."
"So, Kenichi and I are gonna be busy for the next couple hours interviewing all these people."
"Kay."
"See you, honey."
"See you, mum."
Mum turned and walked up stairs, towards the study. I shrugged and walked off towards my room. I couldn't decide if it was a good thing, getting all these new people to work for us. I had an uneasy feeling in the bottom of my stomach; though I'd been getting this a lot lately.
Once I was inside my room, I collapsed onto the couch and turned the TV on. The first thing that came on was a weird show about Samurai. I couldn't understand half of what the characters were saying because they were talking so fast and there were a bunch of explosions. I changed the channel to the local news.
"Crime rates have increased dramatically over the past few months." The newsreader said in a serious voice. "Police believe that this is the work of the Yakuza. The crimes include: break ins, robberies, arsons, assaults and hit and runs. The police are urging anyone with information to come forward."
I flicked the TV off. I wasn't in the mood for the news. Instead I pulled out what little homework I had and started it. I finished it in less than an hour.
Standing up, I turned and went out the door and town the corridor. I didn't know where exactly I was going, until, as I was passing a guest bedroom, I heard a voice. I froze and pressed myself up against the wall next to the door.
"Who is this?"
Kenichi.
I heard a quiet buzzing noise. He must be on the phone. I turned to tiptoe back to my room but stopped when I heard what he was saying.
"This better be important. You've interrupted a meeting … Pardon? … Who is this? … Ah. … Ah, yes, I've updated my security tenfold; cameras, alarms and an entire squad of men rivalling the Ootori private police! No one will be able to get in or out. … Tomorrow night? … Yes, definitely. … Of course. No problem. … It's a deal then. … Goodnight."
The second I heard the phone hang up, I turned a sprinted down the hallway and into my room. There was no way I wanted Kenichi to discover I'd been listening to his phone calls. But what had he been talking about? It sounded like he'd been making a deal with someone, or going over one.
I collapsed on my bed. It felt like everyone was scheming about something.
My phone chimed and I pulled it out of my pocket. It was Yuki.
What are you wearing for tomorrow night?
I frowned. Tomorrow night?
What's on tomorrow night?
The reply came instantaneously.
Don't tell me you don't know.
Know what?
Have you not seen the huge flyers all around the school? Everybody talking about it?
Talking about what? I texted, starting to get frustrated.
The dance on tomorrow night from 5 to 10. It's fancy dress at that huge ballroom. That's all Mina and I had been talking about for days.
I dropped my phone beside me, frowning. How did I not know that? It's true, I haven't really been focusing on the things around me, but surly I would have known that a there was going to be a dance. I picked my phone back up and typed in a quick text.
I'll have to ask mum if I can go.
Text me when she says yes.
"If she says yes." I muttered to myself.
And here it is. I'm so sorry that I've taken so long to write this but I've been suffering a severe case of writers block and have barely been able to write a work. And sorry this chapter is so boring, but, the next one will be tons better. I have to have a boring chapter before I can do a good one.
Comment any theories, advise or anything.
-AxieJade
