*Disclaimer I do not own Ouran High School Host Club
Life Continues….
Chapter 13 Puzzle Pieces
Kaoru's POV
With two mocha cups of heaven from my old coffee bistro in hand .I decided instead of wasting all that time to search the city for a replacement cup of coffee I should have just sent my driver in the first place. It would have saved me time and more importantly my tastes buds as they were the ones that were repeatedly assaulted with the experimental cups of coffee.
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Well, it was either that or have the barista fired which is well within my right as she was rather rude to me. But no, I didn't want to bother with so much drama and found this way to be a satisfactory alternative ….although if she attempts to misbehave with Hika in his current mood I can predict the outcome …and the barista won't like it much at all.
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My heart weighed down heavily knowing the girl that could be our ghost girl was attacked. The thought of our normally sweet and gracious "Princesses" and I use the term loosely. Viciouslyclawing at the girl that I believe belongs in our world, in fact the only other person besides myself and my brother.
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The thought of our sweet and innocent Haru being harmed in anyway caused a small bit of bile come up into my mouth as my stomach turns. It didn't help matters as several pairs of eyes silently watched me make my way. Finding myself staring at her door holding two cups of coffee and a little get well gift in my hand. I wanted to check on our ghost girl after her attack and to sooth my own fears for her safety….and from the wordless burning eyes following my every move my fears are validated causing me even more concern .
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Juggling the coffee cradle and my little gift in my curled arm before reaching out with my free hand to lightly knock on the girls' door.
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Not a moment later her blond roommate opened the door with a rather irritated face. "Ah, Good Morning Renge-san I was in the area. I wanted to check on Haru, if it's alright?"
Her eyes brightly shined as she sneered. "Well, it's about time you showed up. She grabs my free hand and forcefully tugs me into her dorm room. A little caught off guard by her rather abrupt conduct ….Seeing our regular host club's Princess stray from her normal boy crazy behavior …of course I'm not Kyoya so that might be the reason.
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She speaks while hanging on her door and motions for me enter. "Please, come In, I've been wanting to talk to you, as well."
Once I'm inside she lets go and goes to shut the door as I try and keep the two full coffee cups from tipping. The sound of the door locking behind me causes me to look up. "Ah, where's Haru?" A shiver runs up my spine wondering if this was such a good idea…..I mean this girl is really boy crazy and well she just locked the door.
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"Oh, its Haru now is it? What the hell are you bipolar are something? You are driving my roommate crazy with all this hot and cold crap! First the sweet little coffee date that she would not shut up about and then you treat her like she's nothing the next day "Rather confused at the blondes behavior but somewhat amused as the blond rolls her eyes at Haru's reaction to our little date which I thought was quite interesting.
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"….You should know very well where she is now she's still there!" She pokes a finger hard in to my chest several times.
Shaking my head to try and make sense of Renge's rant. "Hold on, you're not making any sense at all... Where is she?"
"She's still at the hospital from the attack where else would she be …..You do know about the attack or is your memory effected by your hot and cold behavior?" She speaks in a sarcastic tone.
"Wait...I…thought ..."
Renge clenches her teeth before angrily speaking over me. "You call two cracked ribs and a broken wrist with bruises all over her body fine….You really are twisted, Hitachiin."
"What she didn't …" I begin to walk away from the ranting girl for the door to see for myself.
"Where the hell do you think you're going Hitachiin, I've been trying to find you for days?"
Her anger flashed in her eyes and grasped on to my button down shirt tightly with both hands pulling me in to her angry face while sneering. "But I really shouldn't be surprised….. After all you're hot and cold behavior is what caused it."
My eyes went wide before backing away. "I caused it? Wait, I have it on good authority it was Tamaki-sempi's fans."
She lets go of my shirt to push me away before folding her arms cross her chest .Speaking with an annoyed tone. "No doubt that came from your bubbleheaded king."
Completely stunned by her behavior I nod my head. "Uh, yeah."
She gives me a side glance before speaking. "Well, then your babbling king and you would be wrong."
She waved her arms wildly. "Did the mere event escape you? Is it not worthy for the mighty Kaoru Hitachiin to be bothered with? Well then, let me enlighten that twisted mind of yours …. The day ….the next day after your little coffee date You treated her like shit in front of some of your Hitachiin fan girls after she called you some nickname…..right after that they attacked."
Wait, what …..that's when it hits me…..
"Hikaru" My brother name slowly pours from my lips.
He knows …..Our ghost girl is back….Damn it, he must be furious with her reappearance.
"No, they were your fan girls Kaoru…..They even called you by your name."
I hold out my hands cautiously to hopefully get her to calm down and listen. "Wait, Renge-san there seems to be a …."
"You caused this with your fan girls! Did you really think your little replacement present from your family's line would set things right?"
Rubbing my head in frustration. "Wait you're not making any sense."
"Don't play dumb with me I may not have been born into it but I do recognize next seasons Hitachiin signature sweater .That isn't even supposed to be released for two more weeks. Which means there is only two people at this school who have access and I'm looking at one of them. "She throws her hands on her hips.
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With her description only one sweater came to mind. I spoke firmly not backing down." Renge-san what's this sweater look like?"
Renge's eyes went wide as she wasn't expecting for me to stand firm." Well, the second one was destroyed but the one from the first attack is in the wastepaper basket over there. "She speaks with a rather annoyed voice but I can tell her mood is calming as she points to the sweater's whereabouts.
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Walking over to the wastepaper basket I lace the shredded plum material in my fingertips noticing the embroidered logo. Renge was right this is from our upcoming season. With the torn sweater held in my hands my eyes caught sight of a torn purple hand bag and the hang tag is missing but I could tell by the stitching it was one of ours.
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I knew exactly why he picked this sweater ….after all he designed it. This doesn't make sense why would he be pissed about her arrival at school one minute…. And next give her a piece he's been beaming proudly over. Hikaru, what are you up to…..?
"Wait, first attack?" Fear struck at my heart as Renge's words were slowly clearing away my troubled thoughts of my brother.
"Are you mental, haven't you heard a word I've been saying?"
Glancing down at the rag. "Wait, you said second sweater. Renge do you know how she received the first sweater?"
Renge shrugged her shoulders. "How do I know? Her closet is full of the stuff. She said it came with the fully furnished dorm, lucky girl."
An odd feeling started to poke at me. "The school doesn't normally do that."
"Yeah well, the normal dorm room doesn't normally look like this…..So I guess this is some special case complete with a closet full of designer clothes." As she motions to the room.
After being verbally assaulted by the blonde for what looks like my brother's actions this entire time my eyes lift to glance around the room for the first time. That odd feeling begins to poke at me harder from what my golden astonished eyes were observing.
Letting the signature sweater fall back down in the waste paper basket I stood to face the annoyed girl. "Renge-san, it wasn't me it was Hikaru, I'm sure of it …..The sweater is his design."
"So you're telling me your brother filled a perfect stranger's closet…..? That's just weird. "She spoke sarcastically to me.
Shaking my head I spoke softly to the blonde. "No, it's not. " Decideing it's time to let "Our worlds" most heavily guarded secret out to the irritated blonde.
I take a long breath as I say a small prayer in my head that my brother won't kill me for doing this. Dropping my head in defeat as I begin to speak honestly. "It's not …if he's known her since she was two."
"What the hell are you going on about? There's no way …she's been my best friend for years, she would have told me…I don't have time for this I need to get back." She starts to head for the door.
I quickly catch up with her to stand in front of the irritated blond .Throwing up my hands up and give her my best pleading look. "Wait, please just let me explain."
The blond looks into my pained honest eyes for a moment before crossing her arms to listen. "Fine but make this delusional story of yours quick Hitachiin."
"From what my father told me …..One day my mother ran into a long lost childhood friend in front of one of our buildings. That day my mother brought her friend over to the house to introduce us to her and her daughter "
"The daughter's name was…is …Haruhi Fujioka." Hearing a gasp of air being taken in from the blonde I glance over at Renge's frozen face before continuing.
Damn, it was so hard to finally speak about the faded memory….it had been so long. "At first we didn't pay any attention to her but for some reason Hika gave her one of his most favorite cars to play with." With my heart twisting I fought intensely to hold back the tears the bittersweet memory caused.
Speaking with tenderness a misplaced chuckle slips out about the moment. "She came over and I taught her how to make sounds with a stupid car, Hika saw me and did the same." I couldn't help but turn up the corners of my mouth at the memory of the three of us.
"She was so different….. She knew nothing about our family name ….but we found ourselves drawn to her." I begin to turn my body and roam the room I couldn't help it anymore as a tear escaped my eyes.
My body ached just mentioning our locked away most cherished childhood moments. "We would have playdates at least once a week… God, how my brother and I waited for those playdates." Giving off a sad chuckle as my hand extended to pick up a framed picture of the two girls.
Placing the picture back down I managed to take a deep breath. I knew I wasn't fooling the blond but I had to protect somewhat of my manly presence. Lifting a hand to casually wipe my moisten eyes before turning around to let the one secret only three ….well now two people know outside my immediate family. "She's the only one to ever win the "Which one is Hikaru game …..But then her mother…."
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She walked up and grabbed my shoulders staring at me with desperately watered eyes that were astonished when she asked the question. "Kaoru, what about her mother….Kaoru what happened to her mother?"
Somewhat taken back by the blonde's sudden emotional behavior. I swallowed hard before answering I wasn't even sure my brother knew the information I was about to tell the blonde. "We were not told this at the time but years later my father told me …..Her mother was hit by a driver on his way to court."
With my words the blonde dropped her hands from my shoulders and turned to lean against a wall.
"She stayed with us and we made get well cards with markers and crayons and tried to cheer her up… but as you can imagine with your mother dying somewhere in a hospital bed It wasn't easy for her so we did our best …..She was called to the hospital one morning for her mother." I turned my head once more to hide my face feeling a miserable tightening around my chest reliving the bittersweet moments.
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"We don't really know what happened to her after that, she promised she would be back. Hell, even Hikaru gave her his favorite car at the time to make sure she would come back. "I wiped my face and breathed a heavy sigh to help control the over whelming emotions of the last time I had seen my friend.
I turned to face the blonde. "That was the last we saw her… she just vanished. If she's the same girl then the next time I saw her was in the art class we shared two years ago."
With red tear stained astonished eyes she looks up and raises a hand to wipe away her fallen tears from her cheeks. She breathed "Car?"
A little caught off guard by her emotionally driven state to my story I nodded my head at the blond. "Yeah, the same stupid little blue car she first played with. The damn thing meant everything to Hikaru. Our mother designed a special kind of pants for it believe it or not."
Renge grabbed my hand and started pulling me down the hall. "Kaoru, I think you need to come with me for minute."
"Where we going." I stopped dead in my tracks.
"To the back bedrooms." She bluntly spoke.
My face turned bright red as I begin to pull my hand away from her. "Ah, I'm flattered in all but I barely know you and…."
She grabs on to my arm once more. "Oh knock it off, I'm taking you to see Haruhi's closet."
With a little confusion and a bit awkward I allow her to pull me to the back bedrooms. "Wait …I thought you had to go to the…"
"Yeah, I do but I think we need to get a few things worked out first. Standing at Haruhi's door she gives me a strong look before warning me. "Ok try not to touch anything while you're in here." She let's go of my arm to swing open the door.
"Yeah, sure." Shrugging my shoulders before tossing my hands into my pants pocket and strolling into the room.
My breath is taken back as I see a blue bedspread under various orange and blue throw pillows. Turning my head I notice an orange desk lamp perched on a desk with a blue throw rug laying on the floor. The sight makes me smile as it truly is her two favorite colors and it wasn't an act for her to get close to me some many years ago.
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"The closet is over there." Renge walks off as she points to the door. Always curious to what people could possibly have in their closets I stroll over to open the double doors to the closet. I had that odd poking feeling once more. I had a feeling I wouldn't have to look for a light switch. So I stepped inside and sure enough the lights flicked on just as it would in my own closet.
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Throwing up my hands as I start to shuffle through the clothes. My eyes just grow wider and wider with every twist of my wrist to view a new Hitachiin design every time, some were exclusives others hadn't even been released. Until I pulled out a rather ugly looking denim jacket.
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I notice Renge walk into the closet and my hand pulls down the offending garment. "What's this?"
"Oh don't get me started I've tried several times." She shakes her head.
Offended that the ugly garment is mixed in with some of our most beautiful pieces I toss the garment to the floor where it belongs. "Well, there's no time like the present…now is there."
As she goes to find yet another offending piece and tosses it to the ground. "Sneaky I like it …. Listen I need to tell you something."
My hand pauses on another offending garment as I glance over. "Ok, go ahead."
She pauses for a minute nervously before speaking. "Well, what if I told you she can remember you two but just can't… yet."
I look at her with a confused look on my face. "I would say you're not making any sense at all."
With depressed eyes she cautiously speaks softly. "She literally can't remember you."
I stepped back a minute in the clothes but recovered. "Well, that hurts." I spoke in a sarcastic tone but it truly did hurt…but it wasn't like it wasn't expected. The cold hard truth of the matter is that if my art room girl is actually our ghost girl then her behavior would lead me to believe. She had somehow forgotten about us ….it just hurt hearing it out loud.
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"No, I mean not because you weren't important to her because… you are I know that you absolutely are." The blonde smiles wide as she speaks.
"What?" a bit confused by her swinging emotions …..And she was the one calling me bipolar.
Renge looked serious before speaking. "You see, after her mother died….. The next morning all her memories till that morning were…. wiped clean."
I didn't much care for Renge's little joke so I made a joke of my own and continued to busy myself. "Yeah sure, and I have a spaceship to sell you." Pulling more offending clothes from the closet creating quite a sizable pile.
"I'm not kidding she's been seen by doctors for it. They said it was a way for her young mind to cope with the loss of her mother." The persistent girl's eyes began to water.
"Here, this is the one thing she holds most dear, she told me and I quote. "It's the only thing I can kind of remember from my past. Someone of great importance asked me to hold on to it and keep it safe until I can return it." I notice how tears begin to roll down the blonde's cheeks as she gently places a red tin in my palms. I gaze down at the little tin and my lungs begin to squeeze in my chest making it hard to breathe as I whisper to myself. "It can't be ….."
Flashback 12 years ago…
"Haru, are you sure… your coming back?" a five year old Hikaru asks with a sad voice.
She nods her head towards my brother.
I pull my brother's hand back to the door. "Hikaru, mom's waiting… we better let her get ready." I try and mask the sadness from saying goodbye and stay firm for my brother who I know is having a tough time.
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Hikaru wiggles out of my hand and reaches in his blue jean's pocket. My eyes go wide as I watch my brother pull out his favorite blue car from his pocket .The one he let Haruhi play the first time we met. He grabs her hand to gently place the car in her palms than closes her fingers around the car. Hikaru leans in to quickly kiss her on the cheek before running back to me….. He grabs my hand and pulls my frozen and somewhat shocked body to the door without even looking back as he speaks to her. "I want that back. Ok? It's my favorite."
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My eyes went wide to my brother's behavior. I had never seen my brother go anywhere without that car in his pocket. He had our mother change the design of our jeans, so the car would fit easily without poking him. Hikaru never would bother giving anything to anybody except when I would pour on the puppy dog eyes… but even then the little blue car never left his hands for me.
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Haru reaches up touching her freshly kissed cheek with her hand as she stares at him with wide chocolate eyes. She quickly gazes down at her closed fist and unfolds her fingers revealing the little blue car .She turns her head to my brother. "Hika, you shouldn't give me this …here have it back. " Reaching her hand out.
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With his hand and his eyes set on the door knob. He shakes his head. "No…it's no big deal. It's just a toy car. Kaoru and I have hundreds of them. It's alright… just make sure you give it back to me, the next time you see me. Ok?"
Glancing at the car and then back at her friend, she nods. "Alright, Hika."
End of Flashback
My legs collapse under me as I fall to the closet floor among all the discarded clothes. Feeling my heart pound in my ears. I take one more deep breath before removing the cap….
I allow my eyes to slowly drop to the tin and its contents. "Yeah it is …..It's Hika's car." I could barely breathe the words as I looked down at the little blue car my brother loved so long ago. Uncontrollable tears begin to stream down my golden emotional eyes. My exhausting twelve year search was finally over. She was no longer a ghost …..The proof is in my palms. I finally found the only other person that belongs in our world.
Renge kneeled down in front of me with a wide sad smile formed on her lips between the streams of tears that flowed down her cheeks. "I can't believe it I really did find you."
Not being able to tear my eyes from the small toy I nod my head while lifting a hand to wipe my own happy tear filled eyes.
"I guess you have been friends with her for a really long time." The blond sniffles.
Again I just nod my head as I stare at my one piece of proof I've been searching for.
"Although …I don't think it gives you permission to go around kissing people." She speaks with a bittersweet smile.
My head snapped up astonished. "Kiss, what kiss?"
Renge bit her lip before speaking. "Ah, the kiss you shared before you carried her to hospital last night? You don't have to play innocent with me Haruhi told me."
Wiping my face giving her a confused look. "Last night I spent the entire night looking for my brother until it began to pour with that awful thunderstorm. After that I gave up and spent the night at the estate looking for some kind of proof to prove to my brother who she really is."
Pointing a finger at my chest her eyes suddenly grew with the realization that I too was coming to terms with. "If you didn't kiss her then that only leaves …..One other person."
A fact bubbled inside my body until it shot out of my mouth. "Hikaru knows she's here…. Hikaru's the one that sent the sweater…. He's the one that came to her rescue."
"Which means Hikaru is the one that kissed her, not you." Renge eyes go wide as she points to me once more.
Stunned, I just nod my head.
"Yeah, but why would he just drop her off like that? It's pretty crappy …After he rescued her you would think he would stick around for another kiss at least."
"My guess is since he called himself "Kaoru" pretending to be me …..Then technically in Haruhi's eyes they have never met so he has to keep pretending that's what's causing all the hot and cold feelings"…at least that's what I hope is going on with my brother.
"I've been wondering lately if she knew you two were twins or not."
"Maybe, that's why she can't tell us apart any longer because normally people don't expect to have copies running around so she wouldn't expect a twin….so maybe that switch hasn't flipped in her memory yet ."
"Well seeing you two in class together should fix that once school starts. "
"Gee you think, if my brother and I stand next to each other it "might" clear up both of us being twins for her …you don't say "I sarcastically spoke.
"Ha-ha, you know what I mean." She crossed her arms over her chest.
Leaning back against my hands when a thought just occurred to me ."Yeah, but you know ….Something is just not clicking. If her memory was wiped that doesn't explain her disappearing."
Renge folded her ankles next to her as she smooths her clothes out with her hands. "Ah, I might have an answer for that, Haruhi thought her father was moving her around to keep her from something or someone."
"Yeah, well I might know something to add to that ….her phone. That's one of the reasons I'm here is to replace her crappy cell phone." Lifting Haru's little get well gift in the air for Renge to see.
She grabbed the bag from my fingers to peek inside. I didn't see the problem with her doing it. In fact knowing the rather boy crazy Princess I expected it. "I think you have your girls mixed up. Haruhi's phone was far from crappy it was…..some crazy prototype. I never seen anything like it."
My heart stopped at the word. "Prototype …"
"She kept it in her bag for the most part. She rarely used it …..it came with the dorm."
Before the girl had even finished speaking I begin fumbling in my pocket. Pulling my phone out to toss it in the girl's hands. "Does it look anything like this?"
She catches my phone and takes a good look at it. "Yeah, that's it."
She tosses my phone back to me. "This phone happens to come from one of my father's companies it is as you call it a "prototype" …..Only my immediate family and my grandmother are allowed to have one of these…..we are kind of like my father's own private test group."
"I didn't know the Hitachiins made phones."
"It's not under the Hitachiin name it's under my father's family's surname. Hitachiin is my mother's maiden name. My father took her name because her side of the family is ranked higher than my paternal side. The clothing company that one day we will takeover is under my mother's name so it just makes matters simpler in the long run." I spoke in a matter of fact tone ….being as I was born with the name I really didn't see a problem.
"Oh, I had no idea …I've heard your mother is a force to be reckon with."
Knowing my mother's evil creative ways I just shook my head before speaking the first part in a defeated tone. "Oh, you have no idea …..But that's not the phone I was talking about."
"Then what?"
"I found the phone she had before she disappeared …..The second time." My stomach twisted a bit for being reminded of the unpleasant time both my brother and I went through.
"What, you can't she said it was lost when they moved." Renge shook her head not believing me.
"Nope, I found her old phone in my mother's desk drawer at our estate…and before you ask yes I'm sure it's hers. Which means if you put the two phones together plus the closet of Hitachiin exclusives and the dorm. "Tilting my head to try and remember all my puzzle pieces.
"Our dorm?" Renge gave me a confused look.
Flash back last week
"Kao …I thought you couldn't talk?" Hikaru speaks over the phone.
"Well, I can't really. Grandmother has me running all over fetching supplies for her… but she wanted me to call you .It seems the school has some problems with the dorm room plans ." Chuckling while I try and explain to my brother who's pouting.
"I wouldn't be surprised, I was just on the phone with the boss and he thought the family was renovating four rooms "Hikaru's voice grows irritated.
"No, it's always been just the two. How small are these rooms anyway, for the boss to think we needed four?" I shake my head at our bubbleheaded king.
"Hey, why would the school be calling our grandmother, in the first place? Our schooling arrangements have always been through mom and dad."
"She said she was helping mother out since she was busy with work." I sounded a bit bored.
"I swear the crazy old lady just likes to screw with us. First off she orders me back to Japan to oversee family business. When I arrive, I find out it's not just family business but our personal business. As I'm informed by one of her lackeys that we will be taking up residents in the school's dorms. Anyone of our servants could have stood here watched the movers. …Kao I'm so bored I'm literally watching paint dry."
"Hika I think she just wants to see if we can oversee business on our own, besides you are the eldest.
"Yeah well, it sucks being the eldest right now."
Chuckling at my older brother's normal behavior. "Ok, Hika I have to go. Grandmother wants me to make sure you take our copy of the blue prints to the main office, immediately to avoid any further problems."
"But Kaoru?" My brother pouts over the phone.
"Hika, believe me, I wish I was there with you but grandmother needs me. I have good news it looks like I'm coming home in a day or two. Okay?" Attempting to make my brother feel better ….he's not the only one who misses his brother.
"Fine, I'll leave right now."
End Flashback.
….."Grandmother." Whispering to myself my stomach turns as I name our family's matriarch…the highest ranked member in our family. I swallow hard knowing she has something to do with our ghost girl.
Playing the memory back in my head in a whole new light of what I now know….. I begin to lay out all the pieces in my head.
With all the pieces of the puzzle named I started to set the pieces in place…..
A closet full of Hitachiin exclusive designer clothes.
Haruhi's new Prototype phone from the Hitachiin's
Haruhi's old phone found in my mother's desk at a Hitachiinestate
Identical dorm rooms remodeled by the Hitachiins
Grandmother Hitachiincalling Hikaru back early and has him take the blue prints to the office… most likely the same time Haruhi moves in.
"Grandmother Hitachiin "requesting' both of us to move in the dorms." I mindlessly let the words fall from my mouth.
"Dorms?" Renge asked confused.
"Yeah there's only one other dorm room like this and it happens to have been remodeled by my family. You add all that up and we now know who Haruhi's father was running from…..my family."
"The Hitachiins"
And even worse ….. It was my fault she disappeared the last time.
The puzzle pieces finally fit …..Haruhi is the only person in our world.
A/N Wow a lot happened in this chapter. Thanks for taking a peek Please Follow /review
Renge: Managed to get everything off her chest …..Too the wrong twin but Kaoru took her ranting in stride. Do you think we've seen the last of Kaoru and Renge? I think ….not. They make good mischief makers.
Hikaru: Well nothing happened with him in this. Well….except we found out for sure Hikaru was the mystery POV from chapter11 .Which means Haruhi and Hikaru shared the gazebo moment. What do you think is going to happen when Haruhi realizes there twins and he's been pretending to be his brother….Oh and we have yet to hear what he thinks about the second attack.
Kaoru: I hope you really enjoyed Kaoru's little moment with the car .My gosh he finally found his proof. He's done it, he's put most of the puzzle pieces together .He knows his Grandmother has something to do with Haruhi but the question is how far does it involve Haruhi and for what purpose? He believes Haruhi's father was hiding from the Hitachiin family. Is he right?
Haruhi: Ok loved how she described her gazebo moment with Hikaru .Yes I know it was from last chapter but I just wanted to mention it .Her memories are slowly coming back .do you think it has anything to do with the twin's getting closer. Haruhi is on a roll kissed by a bewildered knight and a puppy dog eyed prince.
Kyoya: more to come.