I'm a liar that needs to rot in Tartarus...
I went on an Ouran read through,
And realized that it's been almost a year and a half.
Don't hate me!
It was the next Friday at Ouran academy. Unbeknownst to our dear Ame, trouble was brewing. This 'trouble' came in the form of second-year student Seika Ayanokoji. This girl had let her anger and contempt grow to an unhealthy level. Who was she angry at? Why, the Host Club, of course.
Miss Seika couldn't let go of the fact that mere commoners had been chosen over her. She, who was descended from royalty! She, who was the eldest daughter in one of the biggest antique dealers in Japan! It was madness! That Fujioka was bad enough, but Arashi? She didn't even try to show deference to those of a higher station. And so she needed to be properly humiliated.
However, Seika couldn't get close enough to her to do it. And how to do it, anyway? Her parents had refused to listen when she told them how improper Arashi was – even they were under her filthy influence! What do they see in her, anyway? She dresses like a hooligan, and what's with those gloves and that scarf all the time? Is she hiding something?
Suddenly Seika knew what to do. If she could make Ame remove those gloves, whatever filthy commoner secret she had would be thrown into the open. Is it some hideous skin disease? Maybe old burns?
And that brought us to one of Ouran Academy's very clean bathrooms. Seika was there alone with a first year student, Supea Moji.
"You're clear on what you have to do?" Seika asked.
"Y-yes, Miss Ayanokoji. But are you sure that spilling tea on Miss Arashi's gloves will get Tamaki to notice me?" Supea was too shy to talk to the host 'king' directly, but she was desperate to get to know him. She would do almost anything, which made it very easy for Seika to manipulate her.
"Oh, of course. Arashi will get very angry, and Tamaki will swoop in to protect you. He's such a gentleman, it's sure to happen. And remember to make Arashi take her gloves off – we won't want her to get burned."
Supea nodded. "Thank you, Miss Ayanokoji! I never would have thought of this!"
Seika smiled coldly. Even if she wasn't there to see it, knowing Arashi had been embarrassed in public would be enough. If she didn't reveal what was beneath her gloves, Seika would think of something else. This would be fun…
I made one last costume check. My skirt wasn't caught in my underpants, my scars were thoroughly hidden with makeup and cloth, I was good.
Cosplay day had come at last. I was Sailor Mars – the Eternal form. Partly because it covered the most and partly because the Stars arc had been my favorite.
I folded my normal clothing and exited the club's dressing room. Why did they even have a dressing room in a music room?
The other hosts were already in costume. Hikaru and Kaoru were the Weasly twins (Harry Potter wasn't an anime!), Tamaki was Sven from Black Cat (He was a self-proclaimed gentleman), someone had forced Haruhi into a maid outfit (Maybe that kid from Haganai?), Honey had tried to cosplay as Happy of Fairy Tail (In what looked like footie pajamas), Mori had followed Honey's lead and gone as Fried of Fairy Tail (It was weird seeing him in that long wig), and Kyoya had gone as Shikamaru from Naruto (They were both calculating people).
"You really do look like Mars!" Kaoru laughed, seeing me.
"I am cosplaying as her. I should. And what's with your outfit? We were supposed to pick anime characters."
Kaoru shrugged. "Mischievous red haired twins. It fit perfectly."
"Stop chatting and attend your stations. We open in five minutes." Kyoya said. I blew him a raspberry and retreated to my purple corner.
Since Mars was a miko, there were a couple Shinto artifacts in my area. A tiny prayer rope, an offering table with sutra on it, and a ceremonial bow with an arrow resting on it. A red teapot and cups had been set out. There wasn't really anything for me to set up, so I sat on a couch and started doodling.
Then I heard an extremely loud and high-pitched squeal. I looked toward the doors, finding the source of the noise to be my classmate Renge. She seemed to be having a fangirl attack. Other girls filed in after her. I greeted Ichigo and one other girl. The second girl was a new one – a first year like me, by the looks of it.
"Hey, what's your name?" I asked as we all sat down.
"S-Supea Moji." She twirled her hair nervously. "May I have something to drink?"
"Yeah," I opened the lid of the teapot and sniffed the contents. "we have some green tea, if you'd like. But calm down first, I don't bite."
I gingerly picked up the pot and poured the tea. Steam curled off it – the stuff was hot!
"Your costume is very well made. Who was your tailor?" Ichigo asked curiously, accepting her cup.
"Oh, I did it myself last year for Halloween. I had a creative block and needed something to do." I offered Ichigo her teacup, which she accepted. I gave one to Supea as well and asked, "What about you? How do you like to spend your time?"
She shrugged and wouldn't look at me. "My family is in the publishing business, so I read a lot…I considered joining the newspaper club, but I never got around to it."
"I hear they only print garbage, anyway. Or at least they used to." Ichigo said helpfully.
I nodded. Haruhi had told me the story of the Hosts and the newspaper club a while ago. I picked up my sketchbook again and continued my drawing.
"Oh, may I see?" Supea asked, standing up, still holding her tea.
"I could have just handed it to you, you know." I said as she sat down beside me. "See? It's a Sailor Scout of my own design."
"Oh, very nice. May I look through the book?"
"Sure, since you asked first. Here," I extended my hands and offered the book. Supea went to take it, but apparently forgot she was holding a full cup of tea. She dropped the cup and it splashed all over my sketchbook and hands.
I screamed a little, not expecting it – the stuff was really hot! I dropped my sketchbook and shook my hands, trying to get the liquid off me. "Damn, that hurt! Are you stupid or something? How'd you forget you were holding the tea?"
"Ame, are you all right?" Ichigo asked.
"Hey, what happened?" Someone called out. Suddenly all the other hosts were there.
"I spilled my tea on her! I'm so sorry, it was an accident! Here, let me take those gloves off! That should help." Supea made to grab my hands, but I swatted her away.
"No! Don't you dare touch the gloves!" I sprang off the couch and away from her.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't want to hurt you!" Supea had tears in her eyes. Tamaki, ever the gentleman, tried to calm her down.
"Burns do need to be treated right away. Don't be unreasonable." Kyoya said calmly.
"No way!" I backed away from them.
"She's just embarrassed. Come on, I'll help you." Kaoru said, turning me towards the dressing room. I took one step, then made a run for it. Only when I was out of sight did I stop. Kaoru showed up behind me.
"Hikaru is making sure nobody will follow us. Now let me see." I huffed angrily, but peeled of my soiled gloves. The skin where I wasn't scarred had turned bright red, and my scars stood out even more.
Kaoru winced. "How bad does it hurt?"
"It stings a little, but I'll be fine. That was way too close." I walked over to where I'd left my things and pulled out the gloves I had been wearing earlier, which were purple. Thank god this matches the front ribbon on my costume. "That was way too weird. I mean, she forgot she was holding a full cup of tea and just dropped it on me!"
"Accidents happen. Are you sure you're okay?"
"Yeah. But accidents don't happen like that." I pulled on the clean gloves .
"You think she did it on purpose? I've never even seen her here before!"
"I have no idea. But…I'm thinking I have more than my mother to worry about."
I actually wrote this like six times but never finished.
OH! And I've made some edits to the story.
Mostly to fix typos and such.
But the scene where Kaoru sees Ame's scars for the first time got a major makeover.
The changes don't affect the plot, though.
Also, Supea Moji literally means 'spare character'
And Seika IS Ayanokoji's real first name, I checked the wiki.