Haruhi aged 6.
Haruhi was playing in one of the local the parks near her home. It had been a seriously hot summer's day that even the cicadas had decided to stop their persistent chirping to find a cool place to hide. Haruhi sat quietly on one of the small blue park benches that circled the playground. It was the only shaded area left in the park and as she attempted to cool down Haruhi watched the other children play on the equipment. Her neighbour Mrs. Tanaka had dropped by with the invitation of "playing" with her two daughters and some of their friends for the afternoon. Haruhi had been unwilling at first but had been assertively coerced by the older woman.
"A young girl like you should be out playing with other children, not cleaning cobwebs from the curtains." She huffed and puffed about for ten minutes before Haruhi finally conceded and accepted.
She'd quickly came to the conclusion that Mrs. Tanaka's 'generous' invitation was more of an unpaid babysitting role as she watched her move closer to another parent on the other side of the playground.
So she had traded cleaning with child minding, one chore for another. Haruhi was more comfortable with this idea, otherwise she would have felt guilty about wasting time playing in a park, when she could be at home finishing her chores before her father returned home from work.
She moved from the cool metal bench to join the youngest child play with a toy truck in the sandpit. While driving the small red truck into one of his forlorn sandcastles he pointed out a boy standing on the outskirts of the park.
"Look" he said pointing excitedly. She looked up following his finger in the direction over her shoulder. A boy was standing not too far from the bench she had just been sitting on. Haruhi did not recognize the boy. From what she could see he was about her height and very thin. He had messy short black hair that looked as if he had been running at full speed. She could not see his eyes clearly but they appeared dark brown like hers.
"Do you think he lives nearby?" the young boy asked.
Where were his parents? Haruhi thought her gaze searching the park.
The strange boy looked completely mesmerized staring out over the play equipment. He stood completely still as if he couldn't physically bring himself to enter the park at all. Haruhi thought this odd, why would he be so confronted with a park?
"Haruhi-chan, come play cops and robbers with us." One of the girls from her complex yelled from across the playground.
"Sure." She yelled back standing and dusting the sand from her dress. She wore the pale blue dress her father had laid out for her on her bed this morning. She didn't usually like to wear dresses as they got it the way of her rigorous cleaning. However, he had bought it for her months ago and decided to indulge him.
Asurito watched the younger boy run toward the group of girls ready to join in their game. His companion, the girl in a cute baby blue sundress slowly straightened and headed to join the group too. Suddenly she stopped and turned to look directly over at him.
"Excuse me, would you like to play with us?" she called out before she realized she was talking to a total stranger.
His eyes widened so much at her question that she feared his eyes would pop out of his head. His mouth gaped and began to open and close like a fish but Haruhi heard no audible sound.
What do I do? Why is she talking to me so easily? Asurito thought.
Haruhi watched the boy indecisively rock back and forth on the balls of his feet as if contemplating running away.
His eyes dropped to the ground, but this only seemed to encourage her to walk over to him.
"I'm Haruhi. What's your name?" she said smiling. Now that she was close enough she could see a hint of green that circled his iris.
"Asurito" he replied still looking at the ground.
"Haruhi-chan hurry up." the girl called again.
"Come on." She said taking his hand forcibly. Asurito didn't have time to shake her off before she was pulling him along behind her. Dazed, he watched her brown hair bounce in time with her stride, as they joined the others in their game. That afternoon was the best time of his life. He laughed and played more than he ever had before. Haruhi was the nicest girl he had ever met and probably his first true friend.
"Where are your parents?" Haruhi asked him as he pushed her on the swing set. They had been running all afternoon and had only stopped when their legs had given out on the dry summer grass.
"They are working" Asurito replied vaguely.
"Haruhi-chan where are your parents?" he finally realized there were no adults around supervising them.
"I told the neighbours I would babysit their children while they worked" she said proudly. Mrs. Tanaka had left irritated about an hour ago as she was called away due to an emergency at work. Before she left she informed her children that Haruhi was in charge until she returned.
Asurito looked at her amazed. He couldn't believe adults trusted her so much to let her look after their kids.
"What about your mum?" he asked.
At first he thought that her silence was to do with the pace of the swing. He slowed down his pushing so he could see her expression. Her eyes that had sparked with pride a second before were now dulled and fixed on gravel underneath the swing.
"She died." She whispered, blinking rapidly willing tears to disappear.
"Oh" he replied. He was shocked and didn't know what to say. He'd never meet someone who didn't have both of their parents. The only sound between them was the squeaking of the chains attached to the swing.
"It's ok. I've got my dad and one day I want to grow up and be like just like my mum" her tears faded and a proud smile crossed her features.
Asurito could see her determination and was stunned by her inner strength. Looking down he couldn't think of anything else to say but simply grunted in agreement. They continued to chat about other things like cartoons, where they went to school. It was only when Asurito heard a familiar voice that he noticed how low the sun had dipped in the sky.
"Asurito! Where are you?" he heard his mother calling.
He spun panicked. He didn't want this day to end, not yet. He wanted to keep playing with Haruhi and her friends forever.
"Haruhi-chan do you think we can play together again one day?" he asked hurriedly.
"Sure" she shrugged.
"ASURITO?" his mother's voice was getting louder, closer and angrier.
"Promise?" he practically begged.
"I promise Asurito-kun" Haruhi said seriously as if knowing how important this promise was to him.
He nodded and ran off toward his mother's voice. She would be furious that he had run off during one of his father's meeting with one of his sponsors but Asurito didn't care. He had the best day of his life and finally made a friend. He turned one more time to look at Haruhi. She waved and grinned at him. His face burned with pleasure as he waved back. Then regretfully returned to his mother.
10 years later
Asurito Kobayashi has come from a distinguished line of athletes. His grandfather had represented Japan in the 1500m final at the 1964 Olympics. His father had won back-to-back gold at the Asian Games in the 200m and 400m sprint in 1986.
Asurito had started training in athletics when he was 5 years old. He had been raised destined to follow in his fathers and grandfather's footsteps and from the age of 14 he had been competing professionally through sponsored sports clubs. It was through these professional sporting connections that he had managed to receive a partial scholarship to Ouran High school in his freshman year. It also didn't hurt that his family name was registered on the Alumni list.
Years of continuous training had sculpted his body into the perfect running physique. Due to the tremendous repetitive drills his quads, hamstring and glutes were like a well-oiled machine, very muscular and powerful while his calves remain relatively lean. To balance this out, he made sure upper body was equally as toned and strong. He was over six feet with his onyx hair usually pulled back with headband provided by his latest sponsor.
From the very first athletics festival at Ouran High School, he had attained a reputation as a track superstar. He had repeatedly come first in every running event and had even beaten the schools long standing record for the fastest time in the 100m and 200m sprint.
His reputation though respected was no more glistening than any other first year. His name, though good enough to be accepted entry, Asurito was different to the other wealthy students who attended Ouran.
These students were a mere brand representing their esteemed family corporation and exploited this power on a daily basis. He had his name but he'd done more for himself through laborious training than any social connection could bring him. Due to his extensive training he had never had the opportunity to build a social life; let alone to make any real friends. But this did not bother him. He had a fixed goal to win every race he entered and ultimately to win gold at the Olympics. He decided this when he was 7 years old, after meeting a girl who already had such high set goals in her life. He smiled at the memory; she was his first friend. Even now the memory still continued to drive him to achieve his goal. The knowledge that someone else out there was also working equally as hard for their goals was more motivation for him that any bogus business development class his school could dish out to him.
Asurito remembered the day Tamaki Suoh transferred to the school. He was in his class and some how by the first break had instantaneously become popular. He was friendly, loud and had an easy smile that brightened his face making him extremely approachable. Tamaki Suoh was everything that Asurito was not. He was not jealous of Tamaki's personality nor of his ability to easily make friends and continued to blend into the background of the classroom.
One morning during first break he overheard plans that Tamaki-kun was forming a new club. Asurito usually ignored this type of gossip until he had over heard some of the girls in class speaking of actually attending Tamaki's club the day before.
"I had such a good time at the host club yesterday." Three girls were sitting right next to his desk. Their voices drifted over allowing him to unintentionally easvesdrop on their conversation.
"Me too. I am definitely going back. Whom did you share tea with yesterday?" her friend asked.
"I tried to organize an appointment with Tamaki-kun but he was too busy." The first girl said.
An appointment? Asurito thought confused
"I got to spend time with Honey-senpai. He is so adorable" she gushed her hands flying up to cover her cheeks.
Why are they so excited about talking to some guys drinking tea? He thought, still confused by the growing fuss surrounding the club. The discussion divulged into a topic relating to the homework assignment so Asurito returned his attention to his own exercise book.
That afternoon Asurito was doing his usual laps around the school grounds when he saw the notorious host club in action for the first time.
A western style afternoon tea had been set up in one of the main gardens known for it's different coloured Japanese was a large gathering of female students separated into six groups all surrounding a single male student. Each group of girls had their own table with pots of tea, cups and platters of small cakes. The girls seem to be fixated on trying to talk one on one with each of the boys they had latched onto. Finer details of the party became visible the closer he ran towards them.
Ornamental pinecones and wooden bowls filled with assorted nuts were also spaced out on the tables in an obvious autumn theme. Rounding the corner to be running directly in line to the party he watched as Tamaki suddenly broke away from his large mob of girls and led a pretty brunette into a secluded area
"Tamaki-kun we should not be alone like this." the girl said sounding afraid.
Tamaki turned to wrap an arm around her waist "I could not resist the temptation to have to you all to myself" his other hand came up stoking the under side of her chin.
"Oh Tamaki-kun" the girl sighed closing her eyes in pleasure.
Tamaki looked up and noticed Asurito watching them as he ran past. He winked at him before whispering something to the swooning student and finally leading her back to the group.
Asurito's mouth dropped open in shock. He couldn't believe what he had just witnessed. Disgust pulsed through him forcing him to stop running.
Is that what this club was for? For guys to emotionally manipulate girls into believing…what exactly?...that they loved them?
He couldn't believe that the school would allow a club like that to function, to exist. Looking back over he noticed that the identical twin brothers from the year below were also apart of the club. He had always disliked them after hearing rumors of how they would torture girls who would confess to them as if it were some kind of game.
Not that he had much or any experience with relationships but personally it seemed cruel to blatantly manipulate someone else's feelings.
Pathetic he thought as he started running again.
He started counting one breath for every two strides and stopped thinking about Tamaki and that foolish club of his. It didn't matter, they were irrelevant to him and his training, besides there is no way that type of club would last.