Chapter Nine
The Queen's Garden
The Monday following the ball was a tired one for most of the student body of Ouran Academy. Most students, particularly the female population, had attended the Host Club's ball. The ones who hadn't, had taken advantage of the reduced homework load for their own amusement. This led to a frantic Sunday of playing catch up - because a reduced load for Ouran is still quite a lot. This all, inevitably, led to a completely drained student body on Monday. All, of course, except the always energetic Host Club who seemed to have endless and envious energy.
"Our beautiful flowers are wilting!" Tamaki proclaimed dramatically after a rather lackluster club hour.
Kyoya glanced up from his laptop, "Yes... it appears our guests are tired from catching up on their homework or are anxious about not being able to."
"This cannot stand!" Tamaki pounded his hand against his fist.
Koaru and Hikaru perked up, sensing one of Tamaki's plans coming on.
"What cannot stand, Tama-chan?" Mitsukuni asked with deceptive innocence. He too was curious as to what (likely unreasonable) plan Tamaki would present them with.
"We can not allow the life to drain out of our precious princesses!" Tamaki wailed.
Haruhi rolled her eyes, "What are you talking about?" She asked, not mincing her words when dealing with Tamaki's flamboyancy, "They're just tired and stressed. They'll get over it in a few days."
Kyoya's glasses gleamed in the light as he adjusted him, "You're missing the point, Haruhi." He said, announcing another brief lecture was about to begin, "This is a prime opportunity. Our guests would be more likely to indulge in something different and fresh then they would be otherwise."
"You mean you want to capitalize on their anxiety." Haruhi deadpanned, interrupting Kyoya's lecture.
Tamaki broke in by loudly proclaiming, "If we want to raise the spirits of our lovely princesses we must show them sights that will invigorate them! Something that radiates life! Something that cannot help but lure them out of the doldrums they have fallen into!"
Koaru, Hikaru, and Mitsukuni mused on what improbable event they thought Tamaki would suggest.
"A trip to the stars," Koaru thought.
"Paris," was Hikaru's guess.
"Charle's Chocolate Factory theme day!" was Mitsukuni's, obviously slanted, guess.
Kyoya discreetly slid a pamphlet about a sakura viewing festival forward on his table. He kept these pamphlets on hand, in case of one of Tamaki's fanciful moods occurred. It allowed him to subtly steer Tamaki back into the land of human possibilities. Kyoya passed the pamphlet right under Tamaki's downturned eyes, as he tried to come up with a scheme off the top of his head.
"A flower viewing reception!" He announced, not even realizing that Kyoya had manipulated him.
Koaru, Hikaru, and Mitsukuni all exchanged a look.
"No offense boss," Koaru began.
"But that's kind of lame," Hikaru finished.
Tamaki's cheeks lit up red in agitation.
"It is not lame!" He defended passionately, "Just think about it! We could dress up in traditional or butler costumes and serve our lovely ladies tea while they admire the beautiful sakura trees! The beauty and vigor of those blossoms would surely awaken the same in our princesses!"
The twins mused before deciding in sync, "That's actually a good idea."
"What do you mean by 'actually'?!"
Haruhi nodded her head, ignoring Tamaki (who deflated comically), "Yeah, and the sakura trees are just reaching full bloom."
Hikaru rubbed his chin, "The serving tea idea is pretty good too."
"I like the idea of the butler costumes," Koaru admitted.
Mitsukuni shook his head, "No, traditional!" He voted, jumping up and down in excitement.
"Cosplay again?" Haruhi groaned though she was completely ignored.
"We can do both," Kyoya decided.
"Tamaki, Hikaru, Koaru, and myself can dress as butlers. Haruhi, Hani-senpai, and Mori-senpai can wear kimonos."
"I don't have-"
"one will be provided for you."
Haruhi breathed a sigh of relief as the burden on her wallet lessened.
"I'll just add the cost of renting one to your debt-" Haruhi groaned. "-I already have your measurements from your suit. I will have one for you by tomorrow."
"Will you really have everything ready by tomorrow?" Mitsukuni asked, surprised but also fishing for information. He knew that the gardens would have to be prepared, which meant they would be interacting with the gardening department. Mitsukuni hoped for one particular gardener.
"Yes, I'll contact Hana-san and have her send Taka-san over tomorrow morning to prepare the garden."
"How do these things always happen to me?" Was Yumi's first thought when she walked into the greenhouse Tuesday morning.
From the second Yumi crossed the threshold, Hana was marching towards her with a look in her eye that meant trouble. Yumi's first fear was that Hana was still mad about the smoking incident but Hana had a terrible memory and Yumi had washed all of her clothes (including her backpack) so that the smell wouldn't jog her memory.
"The Host Club requested you."
Yumi would have almost preferred that Hana was still mad at her. Already she felt a headache coming on and Yumi hadn't even talked to the Host Club today. In fact, Monday had been shaping up into a great day.
"Oh, don't give me that." Hana scolded, catching the look on Yumi's face, "Even if they hadn't requested you, I would have sent you. You're the only one who gets back in timely way with my money!" Hana snapped.
Hana was always in a mood but any mention of the Host Club but her in a distinctively bad mood.
"And if I recall they gave you a very generous tip." Hana threw in chidingly.
"They aren't generous tips when you factor in emotional recompense." Yumi quipped.
Hana snorted.
Yumi froze.
Yumi hadn't gotten Hana to laugh but she had managed to get some amount of an emotional reaction out of Hana Watanabe that wasn't about plants and wasn't anger or frustration. It was official the world was ending and it was the Host Club's fault.
Despite her amusement, there was nothing Yumi could say to cajole her way out of the job. Yumi's patience shattered against the "Unmovable Wall" that was Hana Watanabe once her mind was made up about something. Yumi eventually sulked off to her assignment before Hana attempted to chase her off with a gardening spade.
Yumi headed for the Host Club but she didn't even make it to the music room before Kyoya appeared, looking incredibly out of sorts.
"What crawled into your ass and died?" Was the question that was on the tip of Yumi's tongue but she checked it. She wanted a good tip after all and Kyoya rarely appreciated humor when he was in a good mood and he was petty enough - in Yumi's estimations - to take his mood out on her tip.
"We're hosting a flower viewing reception this afternoon," Kyoya informed her, before Yumi could think of a more appropriate greeting, going straight to business without any of the social niceties such as acknowledging Yumi's existence, never mind wishing her a good morning.
Yumi went with it.
"So where are you hosting it?"
"I'll show you."
Kyoya led Yumi back the way she had come for part of the way from the green house to music room 3. Then they took a sharp left and went a way that Yumi was sure she had never seen before. Yumi wondered just how big this school was. She couldn't imagine what the AC and electricity bill must be.
The walk was silent and it was the kind of awkward silence that made Yumi jittery and almost want to fill it with chatter. However, the very palpable aura of death that emitted from Kyoya cautioned Yumi just as strongly not to talk.
Eventually - and none too soon - Kyoya led Yumi into one of the many walled off gardens. It was really more of a lawn then a garden. There were beautiful sakura trees lining the walk way that led from one of the numerous school exits through the lawn out into one of the many branching walk ways that ran through Ouran Academy's land.
Already there were a handful or so workers setting up tables and chairs around the garden. Yumi's nose wrinkled as the interior - or in the case exterior - designer in her railed. They were just setting them up willy-nilly with no order whatsoever. It looked, frankly, awful.
Kyoya collapsed into one of the spare chairs and Yumi was unable to tell if he was awake or not, but either way he was clearly going to be useless to her.
Yumi's head spun. Where did she even start? Then slowly the anxiety and frustration melted away as her mind began to answer her questions. A nice little list began to compile in her mind of what exactly needed to be done, while a smaller list appeared alongside it with things that she wanted to be done. She focused on the first list.
With a frown clearly fixed on her face, Yumi began to roll up her sleeves ready to get to business.
"I'm always cleaning up after these boys," she grumbled before addressing the workers. "Hold up!" She commanded, holding one hand up in the air to enforce her order.
The workers, to her surprise, actually did stop. Back in Karuizawa, Yumi would have just been ignored. Though she supposed these workers were probably used to taking orders from teens.
Instead of chastising them for their terrible organization skills (something that she had learned from dealing with Tamaki) Yumi announced, "Before you can set up the tables the lawn needs to be mowed and the sticks that can't be mowed need to be picked up."
Before Yumi knew it, she had the workers divided up, moving the chairs and tables out of the way while another team picked up the various fallen branches and sticks that the lawn mower couldn't handle. She had them mow, clean the walk way, and then arrange the tables and chairs in a way that was casual but flowed well and allowed the guests a good view of the trees - at least in her opinion.
One of the workers who seemed be something of the leader informed her of the budget Kyoya had given them - since Yumi wasn't going anywhere near a sleeping Kyoya to find his treasured, black book. There was enough extra in the budget for more than just lawn work. Kyoya hadn't really informed her what she was here to do. She knew lawn work was probably the majority, but the last two times she had worked with the Host Club it had to do specifically with flowers and floral arrangements. There were even flower pillars and vases. Clearly Kyoya wanted flowers but he passed out in his chair - which was really uncharacteristic of what she had seen of Kyoya so far.
Grabbing a scrap piece of paper from her pocket and borrowing a pen, Yumi jotted down to different orders for flowers. One for the table centerpieces which needed to be pretty but simple and not distracting at all. The floral arrangements for the flower pedestals needed to be a bit more showy but not enough to distract from the Sakura trees.
"Hmm... maybe more of a flowered plant then a flower arrangement," Yumi realized, crossing out that order and rewriting it. She handed the list to one of the workers, "Go to the green house -" at his look of confusion she gave him brief directions, "Find an elderly woman named Hana, and give her this. Tell her that you're requesting Sato Junko specifically for the order."
The man took her scrap of paper and bustled off to deliver the letter. Yumi watched him go. She had never thought she was much of a leader and she still didn't. This was a frantic mess of Yumi making one request then changing it a second later. Not to mention she couldn't keep a distinct tone. Sometimes her requests were timid messes and other times she was sure she sounded like a military commander. However, for her first attempt at doing anything like this, things seemed to be going well.
"How many of you know anything about tree maintenance?" Yumi' s question was returned with blank looks. She sighed. Nothing was ever easy with the Host Club.
A/N: Still updating this, I promise! Here we have the start of the second arc.
Please favorite and review! Nothing is more motivating than a review!~
