Hey. Sorry for the wait for this story. I haven't been up for writing it lately. I'm sort of losing interest in OHSHC, but I'm gonna try to keep it up. Thank you all for being so patient once again. By the way, the episode this chapter is set in is my least favorite out of OHSHC. I tried my best though lol

I walked the short walk home as my fingers fiddled around with the curse doll inside my bag. I scratched at the wood, peeling little strips off of it until I approached the steps of my monochromic home. Though before I could lay a finger on the door knob, it was already slammed open, the door connecting harshly with the tip of my nose as a woman with blonde hair came storming down the steps, shortly after my step dad came out, not acknowledging the fact that I had blood pouring quickly out of my face, "Rosaline! Please, come inside we'll talk about it-"

"There's nothing to talk about you womanizing son of a whore!" "Rosaline" shouted, "You love that woman more than you love me! And I'm not going to stay here if this relationship is nothing but a lie!" It took me a minute to realize that the woman was a previous partner to him. She spent a month in Spain to visit her family, but she came back only to see that her spot on the bed was taken by Ms. Yori. No doubt she'll have her spot will replaced by someone else not too much longer.

After a moment of my face numbing up, it slowly turned into a throbbing pain. I sniffed as I saw my step dad chase after Rosaline, and with him out of the way, I finally walked into the manor. The blood from my nose dripped onto the maroon-shaded carpet, but blended in perfectly, leaving me with only one bloody mess to clean up. I walked into the nearby restroom, gently shoving a tissue into my nose and washing the blood off of my hands. I was just glad none of it got on my suit. Not only would it be difficult to wash off, but it'd raise a few questions or more if anyone were to see it. I replaced the tissue with a clean one before leaving the bathroom and walking into the living room, sitting on the couch only to take out Berzenef. The old man already seems to be having a bad day already. I moved onto taking out a sharpie, the tip of the marker barely touching the wood as I contemplated. Would he leave me alone if he were to have more?

Before I could write anything down, I was interrupted by Daichi's voice coming down the stairs. I looked over only to see he was holding Ms. Yori's hand while explaining the memories he had with Rosaline. In a way, he made it sound like she was better than Ms. Yori. "She once took me out for cake two days in a row, and she said she'd take us to Spain, a-and-"

"Sounds like she was quite a friendly woman," Ms. Yori seemed fed up as she let go of Daichi's hand at the last step, "But you know, we can still have a lot of fun together. We can go to so many places, eat all the sweats and treats you want. You name it!"

"Really?"

"Yes, of course-" She finally seemed to acknowledge my existence in the room, "Oh, Yuri. Your nose. What happened?"

"Uh, just a nose bleed," I shrugged, smirking a bit, "Got it right after that woman left the house. Have you seen her?"

I could obviously see that she was more than annoyed, but she hid it off as I could almost hear her teeth clenching, "Mm, yes. I could see why anyone could have a nose bleed over her. I'll be right back."

She went back upstairs, I guess to vent off her annoyance. Daichi stayed behind and sat next to me, "I got Yukio back today! She's a little muddy but she'll be out of the wash soon."

"That's great, Daichi," I replied, "What about that girl?"

"She's not picking on me, but she's still mean to everyone else," He looked in my hands, "What's that? Is that a toy?"

I nervously began to play it off, "Oh, y-yeah. I got it today too. You know they say if you write someone's name on this, it'll bring that person bad luck."

"Really?"

"Mm-hmm." I paused for a moment before inquiring, "What's that girl's name?"

"Um... I think it was Hana... Hana Maria."

"Hana Maria," I repeated the name as I wrote it down on the doll's back before handing it over to Daichi, "Okay, now she'll forever be cursed with misfortune."

"Wow! That'll teach her a lesson not to be a big bully!"

It was good to see my little brother excited and full of smiles, but behind my friendly grin, I too could feel a tugging feeling of slight regret. Dammit, it's just a silly toy. Then again, if Nekozawa was serious about Berzenef, I don't think Daichi could go through everyday with seeing his father getting unlucky. Sure, I'd be amused to see him slipping on banana peels or just going through unfortunate days, but one of those days could be misfortunate enough to change our lives.

"What happened to your nose, Yuri?" Maru asked, tilting her head.

I furrowed my brow for a second in confusion, "My nose?"

"It's slightly bruised. What'd you do to it?"

I touched the sides my nose only to feel slight throbs in that area. "Oh, I uh... I just-"

"You got into another fight with someone, didn't you?" Aiya spoke up, and I could imagine her having a whole scene played out in her head of how I got this bruise, "But you taught them a lesson right? They won't be giving you anymore trouble?"

I stared at her for a moment, but seeing how her answer seemed to be better than nothing at all, I smiled, "Yes. That's exactly what happened, Aiya."

"Really?" Maru seemed more worried than Aiya, who was really just fangirling over my "bravery", "You reported it right? Was it someone from our school?"

"Y-Yeah. But I guess he's in different classes because I've never seen him before-"

"Hey you should make the crossdresser do all your stupid chores!" We were all thrown off by a child-like and bratty voice shouting in the room, "I'm not here to carry tea sets, I'm here to make women happy!"

That only reminded me that Tamaki took in a little boy named, Shiro, to be his apprentice earlier today. Throughout this hour of our host service, he's been having the little boy observe what it means to make women happy. By the looks of it, it seems that he wasn't catching onto it like Haruhi on her first day, and I guess he found out that she was really a girl in a boy's uniform.

"Would you excuse me, ladies?" I smiled politely before walking over to where all the hosts were gathered. "Hey, is everything alright over here?"

"Oh no, there's more of you," Shiro groaned before looking at me, "What kind of host are you, huh? Someone who give fake compliments? Another homo? Childish?! Where'd you get the bruise on your nose? I bet you're a target for bullies then, huh?"

I stayed silent, not enjoying how I was allowing this boy to be the advantage of insults here. He was a little boy for Christ's sake, and I wasn't going to let myself be tangled in his string of insults."Hmph, I can take care of bullies just fine," I said, feeling a tense anger all of a sudden, "Would you like to see how I take care of them?"

"Yuri, settle down!" Haruhi got in my view, "He's just a little kid!"

"That still gives him no right to disrespect you or anyone else," Tamaki said between his teeth before pointing to Shiro, "Put this brat in isolation!"

Out of nowhere, a giant cage came from the ceiling and was put over Shiro, preventing him from going anywhere else. Wait, was that cage always hanging there? "This is no way to treat your 'loyal' apprentice!" Shiro whined, "Now let me out of this cage!"

When I realized that he was powerless, the tense anger inside my muscles were gone. I felt like a different person again, like back to the same old "Yuri" with less anger. It was surprisingly exhausting, like it was almost as if there was a flame in my stomach burning my insides and all of a sudden it just burned out. "Yuri?" Haruhi was still standing by me, setting a hand down on my shoulder and waiting for my response.

"I need to sit down," I said, walking away and finding a table next to the window, where I could sit in my own isolation. The tea was still warm, and it helped me relax somewhat. As I looked out the window, I could somewhat see my reflection. Somewhere in my mix of eyes, I saw someone who was being abused, and suddenly felt as if a revelation came raining down on me. Moments ago, I felt the blood of the abuser. There was so much heat burning inside, and for me to be staring down at a little kid and giving him a threat like that, I could practically see through the eyes of my stepdad. He feels power when he raises his fist in front of me. He feels pleasure when he actually hits me.

I finally stopped thinking when I saw another reflection in the mirror, sitting across from me. Surprise, surprise. Kyoya was also joining me for a cup of tea. I swear we need a bell for him. "That won't be necessary," He said.

"Uh, what?"

"You were muttering how you think I need a bell."

"Oh... Uh, sorry. I guess I'm just..." I set my cup down, "I'm just out of it all of a sudden."

"Care to explain then? It can help relieve any sort of stress you're feeling right now."

I looked up at him. Kyoya wasn't writing anything. He just looked at me with trust in his eyes. I bit my lip and looked away, setting down the small cup before I could shatter it with my bare hand. I could almost feel the spark in my stomach, and hearing him ask if "I'm okay" every time something happens only feels like he's reaching into my core and touching that flame, either tending it or trying to snuff it out, "No... I don't know what happened back there, but it's nothing I want to talk about." I stood up, "I don't want you asking if I'm alright. I don't want you to worry about me at all."

The trust in his eyes was suddenly replaced with suspicion and I shivered in discomfort. I didn't express it though. He was staring right into my soul again, but I kept a firm look in my eyes so he got the message. Then he finally sipped the rest of his tea and got up as well, "We may be a host club, Yuri. But as you may have noticed, we also take the time to help those with trouble on their hands. I don't know what you're not telling me, but don't be afraid to speak up about it when you're here."

The firm look in my eyes softened just a little bit as Kyoya pushed his glasses further up his nose, "Now, if you don't have anything else to say, I'll be aiding Tamaki with training that apprentice of his. After all, it seems like he might need the help."

This section of Ouran Academy was filled with a strong, nostalgic smell of vanilla and cinnamon. For such a rich school, I didn't expect that it would smell the same like any other public elementary school. The next day, we went to the part of the academy where Shiro was learning his daily subjects. The purpose for ditching some of our own last minute studies was to somehow spy on him and see his own purpose for making women happy. More specifically, making at least one girl happy after hearing him state how he's "running out of time". The real plan anyway was just to send in Haruhi and Honey-senpai, but instead for some strange reason we ended up following them without even wearing disguises like another uniform. The entire time we trailed them, Tamaki's face was just flushed a pure red as he kept murmuring his thoughts out loud, almost in a tone in which he saw the cutest puppy in the world. But eventually he pulled me into his fantasies by making me look at Haruhi dressed up in that middle school uniform, "Would you look at her, Yuri? Isn't she just so adorable? So cute!"

I glared at him, "Is that why you made her put on that dress-"

"Shh shh! Just keep looking at her. It's not everyday when you get to see her wear a mini skirt."

"Mm yeah, she looks fine."

His fantasies seemed to shatter at that moment as he turned to make me look at him, obviously offended, "You listen to me, Yuri Ryota-"

"Guys!" Haruhi turned around and hissed, "If you're just gonna barge in like this, why'd we wear these stupid disguises?!"

"Don't worry about it," Kaoru (I think I finally figured it out) said, "There's no one here to catch us."

Before I knew it, we were standing in a small elementary room, dim with light as a row of desks we lined up. It was strange for me to see something like this since the elementary I grew up in, there were table groups instead of rows. But we only had a short amount of time to observe everything before we heard faint footsteps echoing throughout the hallway. At the exact same moment we all hid under a desk as the footsteps grew closer. But shortly, they passed by and we all got up, thinking we were all in the clear.

"Guys," Haruhi sighed, "We came here to get the scoop on Shiro, so what do you think we should do now?"

"Well here's something interesting," Kyoya pointed out, and that drew our attention to the other side of the room, where a bundle of pictures were hanging on the wall.

We all approached him as he pointed a picture on the wall, Haruhi the next to say, "Hey, that's Shiro."

"So he's in the classical music club."

"He looks like he's enjoying himself-"

Haruhi was interrupted as we heard more footsteps again, this time it sounded like a group of kids. They were too close; Close that we didn't have time to leave without getting caught. Once again, we all took our places under the desk. I don't know if I was the only one, but I could feel an extreme fear building up at the moment when the door opened up, coming in a teacher and a group of small students. They were in preschool, and among one of them was my brother. Oh no, if he sees me too soon, there won't be any way of explaining to the teacher of why we're here. The woman was explaining how this would be their classroom in the next few years to follow. But as the group of preschoolers walked around the room, I felt one of their tiny legs trip over a part of my foot that stood out. I turned around only to see a little girl now on her stomach, beginning to cry loudly as I completely froze. She didn't see me yet, but I didn't know if I should say sorry for tripping a little girl. A little preschool girl for gods sake.

But before I kept my mouth shut as a pair of arms dragged me out from my hiding spot. I was petrified at first, thinking it was a teacher until I was thrown onto someone's shoulder's. Teachers can't do that. I was quick to realize I was being picked up by Mori, and with everyone's backs turned to focus on the little girl, we made a sneaky escape. But at the last seconds of getting out, I caught glimpse of Daichi's eyes tearing his gaze away from the little girl only to be looking at me in surprise. Figuring that we were out of trouble, I found that it was safe to wave for only a split second before being carried out from the room and settling down in the empty hallway.

"That was a close one," Tamaki let out a sigh of relief as the twins followed, "No kidding."

I was eventually put down and I changed the subject to, "So where do they normally hold the classical music club?"

"Where else?" Kyoya answered my question with a question, but gave me an answer any way, "In a music room."

"Okay, so where's that?"

Honey-senpai took my hand, giggling, "This way Yuri-chan! I still remember it like I've been here yesterday!"

The music room really wasn't that far away, it was just down the hall and to the left, and when we peered inside, we saw Shiro, isolated from the other students. Yet his eyes were glued sweetly onto a girl playing a crescendoing introduction followed by a homorhythmic melody. An innocent look in Shiro's eyes was something completely different from what we saw the day before, which was the behavior of an impatient brat. "Pardon me, mademoiselle," Tamaki was crouched on the ground, being at the eye level of a little girl as he gave her a white rose, "I've never seen a rose more lovely than you, my dear, and I was wondering if you could tell me anything about that young lady playing the piano. Do you know her?"

"That's Hina Kamishiro," The little girl replied, smelling the rose.

"Her name is Hina?"

"That's right, but you better not fall in love with her."

"Why?"

Well, let's see. She's, oh I don't know, an elementary student and you're in high school?

"Didn't you know? Hina has to move away soon. Her dad just got a new job in Germany. So they have to move there at the end of the week."

I peered through the window to observe Hina playing the piano once more, but another thing I noticed was that Shiro wasn't in that spot he was last time. In fact, he wasn't anywhere to be seen in the music room. Oh shoot. Where'd he go? "What do you think you're doing!?" There came his voice shouting at us from behind the little girl, "I want you idiots to leave immediately!"

The hosts just stood there, and I glanced over at Tamaki, who apparently wasn't having any of Shiro's shenanigans, and in a flash, he picked the little boy up and settled him on his shoulders. "Put me down! What're you doing?!"

"It's time to go, gentlemen," Tamaki turned around and began to lead us back to the third music room. Shiro kept on thrashing around, but I couldn't care less about him being manhandled. I was more worried about anyone seeing us carrying around a little boy and seeing it as a kidnapping. Fortunately for us, there was no one around to witness this, and we made it back to the music room with no problem whatsoever. Shiro was finally put down, almost thrown on the couch actually.

"What's your problem, you big idiots?!" Ah, there's that bratty behavior.

"I'm sorry but you're the idiot!" Tamaki snapped back, taking Shiro by surprise, "You said that you wanted me to teach you how to make women happy. But that's not it, is it? You're not concerned with the happiness of just any woman. You've got your sights set on one woman in particular. You only care about one, and that's Hina Kamishiro!" There was a pause before he continued, "But I'm afraid, there's nothing I can do to help you with that. Listen, Shiro. I know that I told you it's the job of a host to make women happy. But when you care for someone, you must find the courage to express what is in your heart! You have to tell her how you feel about her! You didn't come to me looking to become a full-fledged host. You want to be a full-fledged man."

Tamaki is actually a lot smarter than I thought.

"It doesn't matter anymore," Shiro let out a sigh, "I've run out of time. I just... I wanted to hear her play before she left for good. That's all."

"That piece she played, it's Mozart's sonata in D major for two pianos, isn't it?" Tamaki turned around and walked over to a giant curtain, pulling it to side only to reveal a giant grand piano.

"Wait a minute," Haruhi interrupted as Tamaki sat in front of it, "Since when is there a grand piano here?"

Her answer was followed by all the hosts responding one at a time, "Well this is a music room, after all."

"So why wouldn't it have a grand piano?"

"It is a music room, after all."

"It is a music room."

"It's always been there. We've just had it covered up."

I snickered silently, but it was shortly cut off by Tamaki's fingers danced on the keys of the piano. The grin faded off of my face as I looked at him in awe. He's actually pretty good. I didn't know he could play. I frowned for a moment. Now that I think about it, I really don't know anything about anyone in here.

I hope this chapter was enough. I'll try to get to the next one as soon as I can (And by that it'll probably be another couple months until the next update xp)