Chapter Eleven: Indebted
"Let me congratulate all of you for making our début host club talent exhibition a success" Kyouya said in his silky smooth voice along with a small and approving smile.
It was now seven o'clock at night and all of the host club members sat on the velvet couches in the music room as they listened to the vice president, who was standing in front of them, speak. All of them were physically exhausted since not only did the performance drain a lot from them, but the clean-up afterwards did as well.
However, only three of the club members had actually earned the right to complain about being tired. Even though there are seven of them, only Mori, Hunny, and Michelle did any of the work putting things away and cleaning up.
Tamaki flitted around the room, making grand and dramatic gestures saying "Oh, to be so blessed by God to not only have a perfect body and soul, but to have the ability to entertain the fair maidens and gentlemen of our school with the humble talent of my musical skills" and other like statements, still on an obvious happiness high from the performance.
The twins promptly pulled out their game console as soon as the final customer left and they were playing on that. It puzzled Michelle to see that only Hikaru pulled out a game console and Kaoru simply sat next to him, pointing out where to go next and warning his twin of any upcoming dangers. 'You'd think that since they're wealthy enough, they'd have two game systems to play on. I mean, it's really awkward that only one of them is playing' the female host thought as she was vacuuming around the sofa the twins were on.
Being the recluse he was, the shadow king of the host club was merely typing away on his pineapple laptop. As usual, no one really knew what he was evilly grinning about when he was typing at the time, but they were all about to find out.
'Whew, I just want to get home, take a quick shower, and collapse on my bed' Michelle thought as she pulled her now messy hair into a ponytail and away from her neck and shoulders which were beginning to perspire.
'I wonder how long Kyouya's going to talk. Knowing him, it shouldn't take that long; as long as he doesn't ask Tamaki how he thought the evening went. At that point I might actually fall asleep right here' she continued, looking around to visually figure out where would be the most comfortable place for sleeping on the couch if it came to that. Seeing that the crook of the sofa would work in a pinch, she turned her attention back to the tall dark haired boy who stood in front of her.
"The audience truly enjoyed the evening and Tamaki and Michelle performed quite wonderfully" Kyouya said as he nodded at them in acknowledgement. Michelle lazily smiled at his compliment while Tamaki excitedly jumped up at the grey eyed boy's head nod, taking it as it was his turn to speak.
"I'd like to thank Mic-"
he grandly started to say before Kyouya curtly cut him off.
"This is not a Grammy award Tamaki, please take your seat again and wait for me to finish."
Pouting slightly, the energetic blonde plopped back into his seat and listened to his best friend continue with his summary of the evening.
"We have enough interest to make this event a regular host club specialty" Kyouya said as he glanced quickly over his notebook. "We have the next seven performances booked solid and I'm sure that Tamaki and Michelle are prepared for that".
'What? He wasn't kidding earlier? Michelle thought as her eyes slightly widened at Kyouya's comment.
'There's no way that's true. Even if it is… Well… I guess it's good practice for later on in life' she thought as her mind wandered to her dream of becoming a music minister one day.
"Even though overall the show was a success, there was a mishap that almost destroyed the entire evening." the raven haired boy continued as he repositioned his glasses. "Luckily a prolonged moment of awkwardness was avoided, but the matter still remains that a very valuable vase was broken during the incident. That being said-,"
Kyouya said as he turned very nonchalantly towards the female in the group, "Michelle you now owe the club eight million yen."
Snapping Michelle back to reality from her day dreaming of her future job, the girl almost choked on her saliva at that comment. Her blue eyes widened as much as they could and her jaw dropped as low as it could go.
Tamaki was also completely surprised at this comment and stared at his best friend in disbelief.
"Wa.., wai.., wait, w..w..wait" Michelle sputtered out. She paused for a second to clear her throat and started again. "I mean it's awful that a vase was broken during the tumble Tamaki and I took when we fell to the ground, but-" she added brimming with annoyance and disbelief "HOW THE HECK IS THAT MY FAULT?" she raised her arms in question as she yelled at her smirking antagonizer, who was now looking at his notebook.
Upon hearing the normally sedated host yell, almost all eyes turned to her in shock.
However, not even looking up to acknowledge her question, Kyouya responded "It was your fault that the tiara went flying in the first place."
Before the sympathetic violet eyed boy could speak out and say that he was the reason she fell and therefore it was his fault that the tiara went flying, Kyouya continued, addressing only Michelle,
"Tamaki's falling over and pulling you down would not have been a problem, but since you didn't allow the twins to properly attach the tiara to your head, it flew away from you. You should be grateful that Hunny-Senpai caught the item or else your debt would be well over twenty two million yen" he said as he finally tilted his head in her direction, but in a way that a white and intimidating glare shielded his eyes.
Shocked speechless, Michelle could only place her hand in front of her mouth in disbelief. She wanted to chew him out more for his faulty reasoning, she wanted to turn and appeal to Tamaki, heck she even wanted strangle Kyouya on the spot then and there, but for some reason the girl was too shocked to say or do anything at all.
The other hosts just sat there in the uncomfortable silence and felt bad for the blue eyed girl. They knew better than to disagree with Kyouya, but none of them felt like he was being fair to her.
Hunny felt the worst of all.
'If I could've caught the tiara without knocking over the vase, Mi-Chan wouldn't be in this mess' the dejected senior thought as he squeezed Usa-Chan tight.
"I-I-I don't have that much money" Michelle finally stuttered out, trying her best to gain a sliver of her composure back, even if she for some strange reason couldn't drop her polite charade enough to fully lash out at him. If anyone from her old life saw her at a loss for words like this and saw that she wasn't verbally and/or physically lashing out at her antagonizer, as she would have if someone tried to pull this crap on her back home, no one would know who she was.
'What's wrong with me?' she questioned herself as she tried to get fully past her shock and to a place where she could attack her pompous opponent. 'I mean I know I left all of my sarcasm and anger when I left America because I didn't want any part of my past life to be attributed to who I am now, but damn it! I need that fighting edge back to take down this bastard.'
Not knowing the inner battle going on in the blue eyed girl's mind and hoping to get her to admit the truth, Kyouya edged her on by saying "Well, then maybe your aunt and uncle can help out".
"They don't have that much money, they barely could cover the tuition" she sputtered out, unable to come up with a better lie. Apparently she's been so stuck on 'interaction mode' as she put it, that even her ability to lie her way out of anything has been currently stunned as well.
"Well then", Kyouya said frustrated that Michelle's wall of secrets was more impenetrable than he thought it would be. "Since you already are an official member, you can continue participating in the club on a worker's basis on top of your normal hosting duties. By that I mean that you will do the set-up, clean-up, and anything else that we deem you need to do." he finished as he looked back into his notebook and wrote something down in it.
Knowing that there was nothing she could say or do to get out of this mess, but still refusing to give up since her stubbornness was slowly creeping back in, Michelle said obviously annoyed, "But I already help out with the set-up and clean-up, and –"
"Then you'll continue your duties and find yourself being called upon for more responsibilities" Kyouya said as he glared at her to let her know that the discussion was finished.
"Tamaki" he then said nodding to the saddened violet eyed boy and before Michelle could continue bantering with him, "Would you like to add anything about the performance?"
Knowing that Tamaki would lighten the mood and efficiently shut the girl up for now, Kyouya let his energetic friend stand in front of the group while the be-speckled boy just silently slid over to his desk and laptop.
'Hrumph, and I thought that he would be a joy to figure out. The only thing I want to do with him now is strangle him' the strawberry blonde thought as she mentally shot daggers out of her eyes towards the calm and collected dark haired boy who was fully immersed in his work. She was completely ignoring the bubbly blonde who was babbling something about adding lights and getting props for the next show and she just continued to scowl at his best friend.
'What the heck gives him the right to charge me for that? I mean, did he want Tamaki and me to be further delayed for the curtain call? And what the hell does he think he will gain by making me in his debt? I mean, does he need to own everyone?'
"MICHELLE-SAN!"
Tamaki exclaimed as she looked up to find the boy's beautiful purple eyes literally inches away from her face. Jolting slightly at his closeness and snapping her out of her evil thoughts of Kyouya, the girl questioned
"Yes?"
"We are all going to something called a zoo tomorrow. It's apparently a place that common people go to in order to see animals that they are too poor to own. Would you like to come with us?" he said with a huge grin and anxiously awaiting her answer.
Remembering that she had to help Fr. Kichi with a baptism tomorrow morning along with the regular Saturday afternoon Mass, and not to mention the pile of homework that she had to tackle for the weekend, Michelle was getting ready to decline the prince's invitation.
"She'll be there" Kyouya coolly said as he looked up at his best friend and before Michelle could formulate any words, "We need someone to carry the souvenirs that will be purchased". The cool tempered boy fixed his glasses and smirked at the girl's reaction to his response as he turned back to his work to continue to type away.
'HOW DARE HE ANSWER FOR ME!'
Michelle thought as she managed to only slightly keep her outward cool. Her hands were turning white from being formed into two tight fists, but she calmed herself before she spoke up, not wanting to yell at the raven haired boy again. Michelle cleared her throat and turned to face Tamaki, who was completely ecstatic to hear that she was going with the hosts on their field trip.
"I'm sorry, but contrary to what Kyouya said, I can't make it tomorrow. I have other plans and I-" she said dripping with annoyance before she was cut off by the shadow king.
"Surely you can get out of them. Unless you have already figured out another way to pay the club back for the vase, of course" Kyouya said disinterestedly.
Knowing there was absolutely nothing else to do, Michelle stared into the grinning face of Tamaki and forced out
"Sure, I'd love to go with you guys tomorrow, what time do you want to meet up?" through her clenched teeth.
Getting the information she needed for the next day's excursion and wanting to get out of there before Kyouya found something else to force her into, Michelle asked if she could be excused.
"I promised my aunt that I'd help her bake her famous banana nut muffins tonight for our church's bake sale tomorrow" she lied, praying that they would buy her explanation and let her go.
"Ok, Michelle-senpai, see ya tomorrow" the twins happily said in unison, without ever removing their gaze from the game console.
"Have fun baking" Hunny said as he grinned happily at the thought of baked goods.
Mori simply said, "good night" as he watched the strawberry blonde reach for her book bag.
"See you bright and early Michelle, and why don't you bring some of the muffins with you tomorrow" Kyouya said as she walked to the door.
'Of course he'd say something like that. Why is he trying to make me so uncomfortable' Michelle thought before she strainingly said, "Will do" while refusing to make eye contact with her protagonist.
Her hand was finally on the door knob and she prayed yet again that no one would stop her this time. Finally making it out of the room, Michelle muttered, "at least Father keeps a batch of fresh made muffins on the kitchen table at all times. I hope that he lets me take a few of them and that he understands why I can't help him with the set up tomorrow, like I promised I would."
Her final thought lingered on Kyouya as she stalked down the now familiar halls of Ouran, 'I wonder what else that evil person has in plan for me?'
Hey All! I'm back again! Yay the school year is almost over for me! That means more time to write (hopefully) :D
First of all I really want to thank Of Kings and Queens for her review! I completely agree with her comment about there being too many 'Mary-Sues' in the fanfic world and as I assured her, Michelle most certainly is not a 'Mary-Sue'. She just had a slow beginning because she's testing the waters with her new friends and, as I mentioned in this chapter, she for some stupid reason thinks that acting like herself is going to give her identity away. As you saw in this chapter, her personality walls are beginning to slowly break-down now, so she'll get real fun soon.
Anyway, I hope that you guys like this chapter, it was a lot of fun to write! The next few chaps will be on the Zoo trip, so stay tuned!
Thank you once again for all the comments, 'story fav', and 'story alert' notifications and I'll see ya soon! :)
