I Didn't Wish for This!

Chapter Nine: Stand Your Ground


Nanako was noticeably different the following day.

Aside from the fact that she had curled her hair for the first time and wore it freely to school, she had a different kind of pep in her step that made her look even more attractive than she already was, and it didn't go unnoticed.

Many of the girls who regularly attended club activities complimented her and even invited her to eat with their groups at lunch.

Overall, Nanako would call it a wonderful day.

The club did not have activities today; instead, they opted to have a meeting to discuss the current situation.

Nanako sat contently next to Kaoru.

"I thought about it last night, and I think having a lady manager might not be a bad idea." Tamaki began, crossing his legs across from where Nanako was.

"Why do you say that?" The twins asked in unison.

"It's fairly obvious, isn't it? Renge just transferred into the same class as Haruhi, so if Haruhi has a girlfriend around, it could bring out the female within her. Renge's girlish air of tenderness might be able to stimulate Haruhi's own sense of femininity."

Nanako raised her hand.

"And am I not a girlfriend to Haruhi?"

"Well, yes, but your girliness is the same as Haruhi's and isn't as impactful as Renge's would."

Nanako's eyebrow twitched.

She was slightly less than content.

"Hey, everyone!"

Nanako felt okay.

"You'll be happy to know that your new manager, Renge, has baked all of you some cookies!"

Tamaki instantly got up and trotted over to her. "Oh, isn't that ladylike? I'm so moved by your generosity!"

"I didn't make any for you, you phony prince."

Nanako felt a pricking sensation in her abdomen and neck.

She said she made cookies for everyone, but Tamaki is not included. Right. How nice of her.

The prickling soon turned into tingling as it spread into her chest and up the backside of her head. Her dress was becoming crumpled in her white-knuckled hands that were collecting more fabric with every passing minute.

She wasn't sure how much longer she could keep on a content face.

Breathe. It'll be over soon. She'll leave and everything will be okay.

"Except for Kyoya, every single one of your characters are lukewarm!"

Nanako could hear the gears in her head beginning to grind—or maybe that was her teeth?

"Each of you needs to have some kind of dark side, do you understand? Girls are vulnerable to handsome young men who are troubled! If you keep carrying on like this it's only a matter of time before the girls get tired of you and stop coming all together! Are you trying to ruin my precious Kyoya's business?!

"As manager is it my duty to change each of your character backgrounds."

Honey became the baby-faced thug while Mori became his childhood friend flunkie.

The twins became basketball players that are enslaved in their own world.

Haruhi became an honor student who is constantly bullied.

Tamaki became the school idol with an inferiority complex.

"Lastly, Nanako!"

It's Morikawa. I don't know you well enough for you to address me like we're friends. Nanako thought bitterly as Renge stared at her.

"I've observed enough to know that the girls are just as interested in you as they are the other hosts. You have no depth! You're going to be the clumsy maid who yearns for praise because her parents never gave her any."

Renge turned back to Kyoya after spewing her final decisions and commented on how perfect he already was.

Nanako felt like she was suffocating. Her throat tightened. Her stomach churned.

She needed to leave.

Swiftly, she crossed over to the backroom, closed the door behind her, and pulled a chair into her dressing room.

As soon as she sat down, she sucked in a shaking breath of air and shoved her face into her coat to stifle any noises that might have come from her mouth.

She wasn't sobbing, but she felt her eyes fill up with tears as she tried to pull herself back onto her feet. Her father's words looped in her mind, but it didn't seem to help at all because what she was feeling wasn't about the change.

It was about the truth.

Nanako's mother, she felt, had never given her any kind of praise for anything she did. From dancing to memorizing lines to impress her, nothing seemed to make the woman proud. Perhaps she was just apathetic, but even if that was the case she would have acknowledged something good in the past fifteen years of Nanako's life.

In Alexae's life, her parents seldom praised her for things other than achieving high marks in school. Other than that, they never seemed to notice or listen to her achievements. They were always focused on themselves.

It was so wonderful to have someone who was proud of you, even if he was fictional. She needed someone to believe in her, to encourage her to be her own person, to laugh and joke with her and actually care for once about her wellbeing.

Now, for Renge to throw something so insensitive at her without any regard to how she might feel, it made her angry, frustrated, and sad.

You didn't need to have a dark side to be liked by others. The girls would never get tired of the club because everyone in it was so nice—including her! They actually cared enough to ask about her day outside of the club. They actually cared to have lunch with her.

They actually cared about her well-being.

Nanako lifted her head from her coat.

She didn't need advice from someone else on how to live her life to get more appreciation! She didn't need Renge to tell her who to be!

She had to put her foot down, just like her father had told her.

"Nanako?"

Because she wasn't expecting anyone to come in, she shrieked and fell out of the chair, clonking her head on the wall as she did so.

"Are you okay?"

Nanako moved her legs from the seat of the chair onto the floor. "I'm okay."

She took the hand that was extended out to her and was gently pulled upright onto her feet.

"I saw you leave," Kaoru stated.

He seems to notice a lot of little things. Nanako thought as she looked at him.

"I was upset, but now I'm better." She said bluntly.

"What were you upset about?"

"The truth."

He wasn't expecting that.

"I don't yearn for praise, but my mother didn't appreciate anything I did to please her growing up… so I took Renge's insensitive statement personally, and it made me really upset." She sighed. "However, I needed some time to breathe and I thought of my father's words of wisdom and began to feel better."

"Is that why you looked so happy today?" Kaoru asked.

She nodded.

"I'm glad you moved past it. Most of us are annoyed at this point."

"I felt like she was going to make unreasonable changes just by the way she critiqued Tamaki yesterday. I just got that vibe from her." She picked a few pieces of hair from her coat before putting it on with a little help from Kaoru. "I don't think anyone needs to change, if I'm being honest, and I also don't think the girls will ever be bored of the Host Club. There's no other club like this in the school, and the kind of practice you guys follow is good for them."

Kaoru held the curtain aside for her. "Practice?"

"Everyone in the club is so nice to the girls, and they always give compliments and encourage them to do things they like… Not to mention all of you guys are different, so there's always other choices if you do need a break from your current host… It's very refreshing, really." Nanako explained, wrapping her scarf around her neck and tied it in a bow.

"That's a relief." He sighed and watched her rummage through her bag. She pulled out her cell phone, checked it, and then slipped it into her pocket.

"Thank you for coming to check on me," Nanako smiled at him, and he stifled a laugh. She blinked in surprise. "What?"

Kaoru explored with laughter. "Your cheeks look so chubby, I'm sorry!"

Nanako blushed and immediately pulled her scarf up over her mouth. "I'm naturally chubby! Don't be mean!"

"I'm not trying to be mean, you looked so cute, I couldn't help it." Kaoru wiped his eye and froze.

Nanako was staring at him, her dark eyes wide and her mouth (although barely visible by the new height of the scarf) was open. Her face was as red as a cherry, and he noticed what he had said.

His face turned equally red, if not more.

Neither of them said a word as they stared at each other in shock and embarrassment.

"I'm…cute?" Nanako asked, her voice significantly higher than normal.

Kaoru nodded. "You looked cute with chubby cheeks, and with your hair curled today…But it's not just today, I think you look good every day."

Nanako's heart was beating out of her chest.

"Thank you." She looked down.

The door swung open. "Kaoru, we have to go, our driver is waiting for us."

The two looked at the intruder.

"What's going on?" Hikaru asked, trying to figure out what was happening before he opened the door.

"Nothing," Nanako picked up her bag and jogged towards the door. "I'll see you guys tomorrow. Have a nice evening." She bowed quickly and went on her way.

There was a moment of silence before Hikaru asked his brother what had happened.

"She was upset and I wanted to make sure she was okay."

"What was she upset about?"

"Renge."

Hikaru knew that feeling too well.


/-\/-\/-\/-\


How did we get roped into filming a movie?

Because Nanako hadn't gotten the chance to speak with Renge all day—their classes never seemed to line up outside of homeroom—she didn't have the opportunity to explain her viewpoint on the situation.

When she did get the chance to speak with her (just after giving the members of the club—minus Kyoya—the scripts they were going to be using), Renge didn't listen to her and instead got sidetracked by the Hollywood director on what kinds of scenery she believed was best for each scene.

Nanako was currently downing her seventh bottle of water in an attempt to sooth her burning soul.

"You look like you're frustrated,"

Nanako looked Haruhi in the eyes and exhaled a strained breath.

"I'm frustrated and angry that she didn't even listen to what I had to say."

She squished the bottle and tossed it into the trashcan before snatching another bottle and drinking half of it.

"You could probably find her before your scene and explain it to her," Haruhi suggested.

Nanako opened her mouth to reply, but Haruhi was called for her scene and had to leave.

Emptying the bottle, she grabbed another and drank all of that before finally feeling uncomfortable.

Talk about getting water-logged…

She took her script from the table and looked it over.

Her character began by cleaning up spilled tea from the floor and apologizing almost inaudibly. When she was done, she was supposed to wipe her forehead and look around for anyone to praise her on how good of a job she had done by cleaning up the mess; however, there was no one around and this causes her to cry.

The voice over—Renge—goes on top of Nanako's acting, but Nanako never looked at it until now.

"A heart that yearns for the attention of others—to be praised for a job well done. How can she accept others if she cannot accept herself? How can others accept her if they do not notice she's there?"

You have got to be kidding me!

She wanted to rip the script into a million pieces.

"Nanako!" Renge's shrill voice caused the hairs on the back of Nanako's neck to stand up.

Nanako turned around after rubbing circles in the space between her brows—hoping her frustration would not show on her face as she approached the manager.

"Renge, I think we need to talk,"

"Talk about what?" She asked innocently.

Nanako held up the script. "About my scene,"

Renge frowned. "If it's anything to do with your character, I'm not changing it."

"No," Nanako protested, "it's-!"

"How about we try acting out the scene before making any changes. I think this is going to be a good run!"

"Renge,"

"If it doesn't work out well, I'm sure I could tweak something like adding a romantic interest,"

"Renge,"

"Or give you a dark secret that you hide from everyone!"

"RENGE!"

The atmosphere around the two grew cold.

"You're not listening to me! I've tried to explain this to you, but you don't seem to understand what I'm saying, let alone show any sign of actually caring." Nanako pointed the script at her. "I'm not comfortable doing this scene. I'm not comfortable with you creating a character for me. I'm not a character, and even if I was I wouldn't let you change who I am. You're not my keeper. You don't control who I am. I'm very upset that you have disregarded my feelings as well as everyone else's—including Kyoya-senpai." Nanako took a deep breath to calm herself. "I'm not your personal dating simulator character. I'm not doing this for you." She handed the script to Renge and walked away.

Seeing as Renge didn't go after her or say anything else, Nanako assumed she got her point across.

Her next goal was to have a chat with Kyoya about the girl and ask him to do something. He was the only person who could.

After having a brief chat with him about Renge's disregard for the well-being of the members of the host club, he finally decided to handle the situation, and just in time, too.

Renge hadn't learned her lesson, despite everything Nanako had said to her and was planning to showcase Tamaki seconds away from beating up another student.

Kyoya smashed the camera lens with a rock.

"What? Is something wrong?"

"I'm sorry, but I cannot allow there to be any record of a club member engaging in violence. I think you've caused enough trouble around here Renge. Please stop being such a pest."

Thank you, Kyoya!

"A pest?" Renge began to cry. "But you're supposed to pat me on the head and tell me not to worry. You're supposed to be kind and affectionate, Kyoya! Why are you acting so differently now? Tell me why!"

"Because that's not the real Kyoya," Tamaki stated.

Renge turned around and dropped to her knees.

"Does it really matter? Who cares is Kyoya is a little different than what you expected him to be. Take a look at the person inside and get to know them little by little. It's more fun that way."

Nanako stared at her friend.

Haruhi was truly a wonder.


/-\/-\/-\/-\


Several days later, the members of the host club found out that the film they made had been produced and purchased by many patrons.

Kyoya, the mastermind behind it all, cut out the violent part but left everything else.

The weirdest part of the day, though, was when a certain someone showed up out of nowhere (again).

Renge had returned from France, and she was now going after Haruhi.

She doesn't listen to anyone, does she?


Hello, everyone!

If you couldn't tell, Nanako was extremely frustrated with Renge-and I was too when I had to write for this episode. She means well but man... she is frustrating.

Aside from that, we see something slightly more than friendship happening with Kaoru and Nanako! Ooh, how nice. I'm enjoying it, and while it may or may not develop into a romance, I wouldn't mind them being very good friends.

After all, we're still destined to meet someone else~

Did you guys forget about the childhood friend that was mentioned in chapter one? It's okay, I only mentioned him once...on purpose.

I can't tell you when we'll be seeing him, but it's going to be a fun time.

Who knows what will happen!

Thank you for reading this chapter! I appreciate all the support you guys give me, even if you don't verbally tell me.

I'll see you all next chapter!