The music room's door slammed open as Tamaki sauntered into the room with a shout of glee.
"Tomorrow, we are going on a vacation!"
To say everyone in the club was confused was an understatement. Ootori was the first one to question the sudden announcement. Tamaki wasn't deterred, though, because he twirled around the room to a song no one could hear. He was lost in his own thoughts. "Lanterns! Yukata! Taiyaki! Takoyaki! Goldfish! The opportunities are endless! We, my friends," he started before stopping in front the expanse of windows, "are going to a festival tomorrow!"
The rest of the hosts, save for Haruhi and Ootori, burst into excitement and smiles at the idea of celebrating amongst commoners, even Mori was smiling at the idea, Hunny talking his ear off about all the sweets they were going to buy.
Haru went a little quiet, her eyes glazing over. She had been muttering about the different sales going on this weekend prior to Tamaki bursting in and scratching out the math in her notebook before club hours had started. Her mouth turned up just the slightest – I bet she was imagining the different food she could eat at the festival. I couldn't help but laugh wholeheartedly at the prospect of Haruhi letting loose in her comfort zone. The club's heads turned to face me as I was clutching my stomach from the raucous laughter. I was gasping in pain as my sides started to ache, but I didn't care – Haruhi was practically drooling.
"You good, Chi?" Kaoru quirked a brow at my state.
"Y-yeah," I stuttered out through the laughter. I wiped away tears that collected at my eyes. Looking to my left, Haru was still lost in her thoughts of food at every stand. "Sorry, sorry, just excited." I agreed to the outing on both of our behalf.
Tamaki's smile lit up the whole room. With a sweep of his arms he cried out how much he loved his family and was gone in his own little world. The rest of the club just stared at him in exasperation with a touch of contentment because it would be another great day in the Host Club when our president was that happy.
I happily sighed to myself at the memory as I walked down the empty hallway. I had been forced to walk alone because Haru had been dragged away by the twins the second class ended. I had shown up to 1-A only to have Kurakano regretfully tell me the devils fled with Haruhi in tow once the bell rang. My dissatisfied frown was enough for Kurakano to rush to apologize when it wasn't even her fault. I waved the apology off and decided to not waste anymore time, and made my way to Music Room 3.
Once I neared the room, I heard shouting flowing out of the room. Confused, I quickened my pace. In front of the wooden doors, I pressed my ear to the door and heard a cacophony of male voices mixing with Haru's. I opened the door slowly and peered in, only slightly scared.
The group was spread around the space, Tamaki looking enraged at the twins, both of them smirking and shrugging him off, Kyoya sitting at a table with his laptop, Hunny and Mori seated together watching the younger students in amusement. All of them were dressed in casual attire that I assume they had stored in the music room. Everything seemed normal, except Haruhi was nowhere to be found, so I was freaking out a little.
"Hey, Chi-chan! Want some cake?" Hunny turned to face me as the first one to notice me, and before I could accept the slice of chocolate cake, I felt a pair of hands pull me forward and veer me toward a changing room.
I squeaked from the sudden motion. "Hikaru, what are you doing?" I rushed out, planting my feet to the floor to no avail.
The twin tugged on my hands harder to the point where I nearly fell forward. "Nope. You're changing. We gave Haruhi her clothes already, meaning you have to get changed," Hikaru explained quickly, pulling me all the way to the changing stall, tossing in a sundress.
I peeked past the curtain, looking back at him annoyed. "I could have picked this out myself, you know?"
"Too bad." He grinned victoriously. "Go. Change."
I sighed, disappearing back into the occupied changing room. Haruhi was sitting there patiently waiting for me. I have to admit that the sundress they picked for her was a decent fit. The pink wasn't the best choice, but to each their own. I noticed the ruffles the dress had, knowing exactly what their intentions were. I doubt she needed a bigger bust for a freaking festival. Or anywhere, honestly. Seeing Haru in a sundress too made my realize someone had to have talked Tamaki out of wearing yukata, and I bet it was Ootori.
I smiled at my best friend, acknowledging her presence before I quickly started to put in the dress. I've had weeklong sleepovers for with the girl, I've slept in the same bed, she's seen me when I've woken up, and trust me, it's not a pretty sight. Changing my clothes in front of her was nothing.
"It looks really nice, Chi."
The outfit the twins chose was a white lace dress with a thin hunter green belt at the waist. I wouldn't expect anything less than this from them; it was stylish and comfortable. I slipped on the tan sandals accompanying it and gave myself a once over in the mirror, aware of Haru casually looking at me in the background of the mirror.
Things were still a little awkward between us, mostly on my end because I had yet to think about how to talk with her and apologize, so I tensed up slightly when she came right behind me and whispered so only we could hear, "You know, Kaoru picked it out himself."
I had briefly mentioned his and my conversation the other day to tide her over and give myself more time to think about how to apologize, to explain my confusion. I blushed at her comment and brushed it off with a deadpan stare inspired by her own.
Haru has no point whatsoever; Kaoru was being a good friend.
A very attractive, good friend.
A flirtatious, very attractive, good friend.
Pushing aside the curtains, we saw the six boys still lounging around, waiting for us to finish up. Upon leaving the changing room, though, we didn't expect some of them would blush, though. Kaoru and Hikaru wouldn't look us in the eyes, Tamaki had fainted somewhere from seeing Haruhi in a dress, Mori was faintly blushing and smiling softly at us, and Hunny was smiling madly and ran up to me in order to hug us.
"Wow! You look really cute, Chi-chan! And so do you, Haru-chan!" He took me by the hand and led me over to where he and Mori sat. Haruhi was soon bombarded by Tamaki as he threw out embarrassed mutters of compliments while she stared at him inquiringly. The tall senior had a very faint tint of pink to his cheek. I giggled when I noticed how frazzled most of the hosts had become, and the light laughter didn't help their issue.
I noticed Kaoru's face turn incandescent. He completely turned around and fiddled with the sleeves of his jacket. I flushed at his reaction and noted how Hikaru's gaze lingered longer before turning to tease Tamaki for his reaction to Haruhi. Hunny grinned widely amidst his snack time, nudging Mori with his foot. The giant was covering his face with his hand and facing away from me.
The only boy that didn't seem fazed at all was Ootori, but that was to be expected. He was the stone cold shadow king to the end.
Said host rose from his seat and made his way over to the doorway, until he stared at us from over his shoulder. "If you'd like to know, the limo's here. I'd hurry it up if I were you." With that, he left the now quiet room and seconds later the remaining members bolted after him. We eventually learned that the Ootori meant every word.
The limo outside was sleek and black, making me doubt that these boys know the word "inconspicuous" if they chose a limousine for a festival. Feeling uneasy about driving there in this car, I reached my hand out to Ootori's forearm, gaining his attention. He turned around to face me with his hand on the car door.
"Why don't we just walk?" I offered. The other boys all whipped around, confused by the suggestion. "I mean, if you want to, that is, it just seems a little ridiculous. It's just... A limo, to a festival? You guys would be crowded in two seconds. The walk isn't long, so let's just go," I said, my voice getting softer and softer near the end. I wasn't scared. Just wary of the Shadow King and editing his itinerary.
"I agree," Haru said. She stood toward the back of the small group. "It's over the top and ridiculous to think you guys would suggest a limo to the festival. Wasn't the whole point of this to be like commoners for a day?" Haruhi favored her left leg and crossed her arms, daring the Shadow King to argue.
"I'm all for it."
I saw the ginger who had selected my dress give me a small smile, and I returned it earnestly. After he spoke up, the others soon followed and that's how we ended up walking the short route to the festival.
The sun was still high enough in the sky to warm the air – summer was nearly upon on us. The breeze flowed eagerly and cooled my face. It was as perfect a day as I could ask for. The obligations dragging down my mood for the past few days were shoved to the back of my mind and I felt free. Just for today I would allow myself to indulge in normality and elation.
I was strolling hand-in-hand with Haru at her behest when she brought up an interesting point. "I can't remember the last time we went to a festival, Chi." I paused in my stride, causing her to almost trip forward. "Gah! Jeez, next time try warning me. Hello, Chi?" She waved her hand in my face to see if I was awake, but it didn't help.
I pursed my lips at her. Within a second, I was shaking the girl back and forth, annoyed at her terrible memory. "Haru! The last time we went to the festival was the first time we went out together!"
"EH?"
Whoops. Probably shouldn't have used those words.
The Host Club gave us shocked faces, clearly misinterpreting my words. "I-It's not like that, guys," I stammered, redness in my face increasing again. "I meant that it was our first date." Even worse looks. "OK! So bad choice of words." I pressed a hand to my forehead rethinking if I could go the whole day without even a mild headache. "It was the first time Haruhi and I spent hung out together. We had met a few weeks ago and there was a festival going on near our houses. My parents decided to take her out with us." I gently laughed, remembering the fond memory.
Haru placed her finger on her cheek, thinking back to that day. "That's right. I remember it now, it was a couple of weeks before..." Haru let the words hang in the air, eyes lowering to the floor midway through.
It was a couple of weeks before her mom's death.
I rubbed her shoulder as a small comfort, understanding how she was feeling. Even if it was so long ago, it still hurt. No amount of being comfortable talking about her mother to her dad or my family meant she wasn't still reeling from her mom's death so many years ago.
Suddenly, I felt an arm snake around my waist and it was a pair of twins we love so much. I gazed up at bright eyes and felt my expression softening ever so slightly. "Come on, you two." Kaoru chuckled, ruffling my hair softly. "We have a festival to get to."
"We only have a few hours until the fireworks start. Meaning we only have that long to ride everything possible, do everything possible, and eat till we feel sick," Hikaru stated in a matter of fact tone.
I giggled at the two of them who were obviously trying to cheer us up. I can tell that they were joking about those ideas. I don't believe I'll ever see the day when Hikaru would willingly hop on a rollercoaster – as if there would be anything to ride there – much less eat to a point where he was sick. I doubt Kaoru would reciprocate the actions.
They have got to be up to something, I just know it.
I tugged on Kaoru's arm, catching him off balance and having him stumble forward. "Well? What are we waiting for? You said so yourselves, we have a festival to get to!" The boys and Haru all grinned at my enthusiasm, yes, even Mori and Kyoya. Albeit, they didn't express enthusiasm to the degree Tamaki did, no one can, really.
That's how we ended up spending the following hours: playing every game possible, rolling down hills despite Ootori's disdain, and eating until we were about to puke. Hunny, Haruhi, and I were trying to not collapse from lack of consciousness. Eventually, the boys saw a goldfish stand and couldn't believe they really existed. Tamaki practically it up the night with his utter joy at the prospect of being a "normal Japanese boy". Haruhi followed him to make sure he didn't make a total fool out of himself, the twins decided they wanted to try and win, Ootori sighed and hung at the back of the group, and Hunny said he thought his brother would like some while Mori decided he would play for himself too.
I chose to sit away from the group as they huddled around the goldfish stand. Watching them argue over who would play first and more than likely scare all the fish, I decided to try and find a quick dinner at one of the nearby stands, except it soon became a hunt for takoyaki because I was craving it. I was turning the corner to start looking in a different aisle of stands when I jumped at the feeling of a hand at the small of my back. In a flurry, I turned around. It was Kaoru.
I crouched down to the ground and placed a hand over my chest where my heart was beating erratically. Kaoru, on the other hand, decided that was the funniest thing he'd seen all day. His laughter attracted onlookers who invited themselves to ogle at the attractive teenager full of joy. He was absolutely beaming. I glanced up at his through my loose hair and felt all the tension flee. It wasn't like earlier where the thoughts only moved to the back of my mind – they had vanished. My heart was now thumping for a different reason, and I knew why. There was no questioning why.
As unreasonable as I found it, I knew what it was and I decided to place a lid on the emotion for now. It would me my own treasured secret for now.
Eventually his laughter ceased for the most part and what short snickers he couldn't stop, he tried to muffle with his hand. All the while, his cheeks were on fire just like I'm sure mine were. It was in that moment I noticed the bag with goldfish at his side.
"I didn't know you liked fish that you couldn't eat," I teased. "You're not above commoner pets?"
He smirked behind he fist. "Of course not, consider it a trial test in the life of a commoner."
"Well then, have the fish deigned names yet? Or are they going to stay as Thing 1 and Thing 2?"
Kaoru tilted his head from side to side for a moment, considering the names before frowning. "Nah, I don't think they would fit. Besides, they're not even mine," he finally said.
"Huh?" It slipped out before I could stop it. "What do you mean?"
The bag was soon in front of my face. I peered up at him, looking through the plastic bag to his distorted body. "They're yours, Chi." I gripped the top of the bag firmly, scared they fish would spill out. My mind was whirling for a response; I wasn't often left speechless. I vaguely felt my phone buzzing in the pocket of my dress. I vaguely felt the chatter of the people around us. I vaguely felt my heart try to beat out of my chest.
I felt Kaoru wrap his hand around my arm and lift me up to lean against the stall. I still couldn't understand the sentiment, or maybe I just didn't want to focus on any possibilities when I had just finalized my feelings. So I settled for hugging him.
It was awkward. The girls who were still staring at Kaoru gasped around to their friends. Mothers who were strolling by with their children urged their kids on while whispering to themselves about "young love".
"This is awkward, isn't it?"
I just nodded. His heart trying to beat out of his heart gave me some semblance of comfort, though. I decided we were fine how we were and I rested my interlocked hands on his waist. My head was against his chest; somehow it was easy to ignore the zipper of his jacket digging into my face when this was singlehandedly one of the best and most awkward moments of my life.
Kaoru went to put his arms around me when we started to hear the club. We both went rigid at the thought of them seeing us like this and we just… we just sighed, and stepped away from each other. The people stopped staring at us and went on their way. My face was bright red and I held onto my bag of goldfish for dear life and Kaoru was beside me whistling and checking his phone.
"Where have you two been?" Haruhi had barely turned the corner when she saw us causally standing there by a stall. "And I thought you went to go get food, Chi." She looked at me questioningly at my empty hands, save for the bag of goldfish. "Besides that, we've been calling you both nonstop to go watch the fireworks," she reminded us both.
Kaoru merely glanced at me quickly before offering me his hand, his head turning away from me. I gave him a half smile and accepted it.
"Don't sweat it, Haru," I said, following Kaoru to where we saw the rest of the Host Club gathered. "We're good." We shared a smile between just us two, and I knew in that moment I could talk to Haru about anything, and I would.
With reprimanding from Tamaki and Hikaru stared at the hands behind his brother's back. We apologized some more and I promised I'd take them out to eat pizza to really finish the day off like commoners. With more sighs and apologies for having worried them, we hustled over to the spot we had all chosen earlier. The eight of us decided on a place high on a hill, making it easier for us to watch the display and far away enough from crowds. I looked around at my surroundings, and other than the handful of strangers strangers, I was around some of the best people. A group of people who had become great friends.
There was the pair of best friends in my grade, Kyoya Ootori and Tamaki Suoh, the co-founders of the Host Club.
The two seniors who were cousins, Mitsukuni Haninozuka and Takashi Morinozuka, the voices of reason and the first ones of the Host Club that I met.
Then there were the three youngest members, Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin and Haruhi Fujioka, an amazing match up if I must say.
I sighed contently as the first firework screeched up through the sky before exploding and lighting up the black sky. The sky was a canvas for the million little sparks that flew up high. Reds, blues, greens, yellow – their beauty was astounding.
I briefly wondered if being in love would be like that: a long course of trial and effort that exploded into love. I wondered if I could have that, if I deserved that. Or maybe it would be better to be like that, to be high up in the sky, unbothered and instead complimenting the moon like a good friend. Maybe that's just what some people are meant to be, a complimentary figure. And I wouldn't mind being in the shadows if it was with these friends.
I didn't realize I was crying silently until after Tamaki mentioned it. "Chi? What's wrong?" He sounded so worried, but I couldn't focus on that. I glanced at the group again. The tears came again and this time I grinned like a dork. They must think I'm insane, but I couldn't stop it. I was laughing and crying. It was all because I was happy, though.
"For being such a tough girl, you've been vulnerable a lot lately," Ootori pointed out, smirking slightly.
I sniffed and wiped my face, glaring at him as I kept a tiny grin. "Shut up, you ass."
All of them started laughing or smiling at the scene I was making. We didn't even have a solid reason, we just did. The people around us were either drooling over the boys or staring like we were crazy. I couldn't blame them nor could I be bothered by them.
Why would I be?
I was around my friends.
The firework show had ended a while ago and we were lying down, strewn about the grass with Ootori and Mori preferring the bench behind us. I was about to stand up and stretch when small hands came to my eyes, blocking my sight. "Um, what do you think you're doing?"
"It's a surprise, Chi-chan! Tama-chan wanted to give you and Haru-chan a gift," Hunny answered for all the boys. I'm assuming they covered Haru's eyes as well. I started shaking my leg while waiting as I heard ruffling of paper and the boys moving about.
"Ta-da!"
The hands were removed from my face, leading me to face a poster with pictures from the past month.
I gasped, my hand going to Haruhi's. She wasn't quite as dramatic, but you could tell she was feeling the same. What caused the gasp was what they have written on the top of it.
Happy One Month Anniversary, Chiyo and Haruhi!
It had been a month already since we joined, and the boys had kept track of it all.
"Are you going to cry again, Chi?" Hikaru teased from where he sat on Haru's left side.
I reached over and halfheartedly punched his arm; he didn't even twitch. "No way! I wouldn't cry for this. I'm just really... I'd say happy, but it doesn't even begin to cover it. I can't believe you guys kept count."
"This really is unexpected, though, guys," Haru said with a small smile. Her free hand went over to land on the poster, her finger trailing across the photos in order, noting the difference in how we interacted in them all.
Kyoya adjusted his glasses before speaking. "Someone had to keep track of your debt and how long you take to clear it."
"Thank you, Kyoya, way to ruin the moment." The change in name didn't go unnoticed by anyone, much less him. I could see the shift in his gaze as he deftly nodded with appreciation and interest in the new name.
Before he could retort, Hunny jumped onto my back and squeezed my neck to the point where I struggled to breathe. "We're all really happy to have you two. Even Kyo-chan, Chi." He hugged me tighter and hopped over to Haruhi to repeat the motions.
"We're glad to have our Natural-type host and our new designer," Tamaki said, addressing Haru and I specifically.
As Haru and the boys started talking amongst themselves and recalling some of the moments from the photos and which were their favorites, I examined the poster closer and saw there were pictures from the ball, Haruhi in her handmade suit dancing with a customer, and me from the start of the ball away from the crowd in my silk dress. The one Kaoru called me beautiful in. And there was a picture of that moment, too.
Wait, there was a picture of that moment.
I wanted to strangle Kyoya for somehow ruining the innocence of that moment, but I didn't. Not because it would be considered assault, but because the bright side was that now I could never forget that moment. Not that I would have anyway. And there were so many more beautiful moments; there were pictures of us messing around in the club room, our first day there, parts from the movie Renge directed, and some of us from after the physical exams.
It was perfect.
I lifted my head to stare at Haruhi. The expressions on our faces was enough to send us into a fit of laughter another time. It was uncontrollable, joyous, and fun. The others could only stare at us with caring eyes.
"I've said it once and I'll say it again," I started amidst the giggling. "You. Are. Not. Normal. People." Their faces dropped a bit before I continued. "And I wouldn't have it any other way."
We were quite the sight: a seemingly insane girl busting a gut, a feminine-looking "boy" chuckling beside her, and six boys who appeared to have nothing in common gathered in a circle with a colorful board.
It was amazing.
So this chapter was originally more like an OVA, side chapter, but I decided to have Chiyo continue to grow amidst a more lighthearted atmosphere. And big part was when Kyoya finally gets called by his first name, shocker. I actually wanted that to happen during the beach scene, but while editing I saw it fit better in this chapter, and Chi just really wanted to start calling him Kyoya.
Once again thank you for reading, following, favoriting, and don't forget to let me know what you though and any constructive criticism you may have.