Chapter Fourteen – Angry Haruhi is Scary Haruhi
"Hey Haruhi," Shuuchi said, dropping down into the chair opposite her.
"Hello Shuuchi," Haruhi replied. "Did you designate me as a host today?"
"Yup." Shuuchi nodded. "Thought I would help out with your debt."
Haruhi smiled. "Thank you. That's very nice of you."
Shuuchi stared.
"Shuuchi, you're staring," Haruhi said. "Would you like some tea?"
"Erm, er, yes," he mumbled. What was he about to ask Haruhi earlier? Oh yes, tutoring for Shiori.
"Haruhi, can I ask what's the syllabus for the first years like?" Shuuchi asked. "Like what you're learning for your subjects? I mean, I've got the syllabus list printed out but I just wanted to know more. And since you're the top student and all…you know."
Damn, he was rambling.
"Oh. Okay sure," Haruhi said. "But why are you asking though?"
"Erm well, I am asking for a classmate's friend's sister. She's a first year and needs some extra tutoring," Shuuchi said.
Damn Shiori.
He was surprised the Host Club hadn't found out about her enrolment yet. Then again, everyone had been preoccupied by Tamaki's sudden fever.
"So you're tutoring her?" Haruhi asked.
Shuuchi nodded.
"But don't Ouran students usually have private tutors?"
Damn, Haruhi was perceptive.
"She would prefer a peer tutor," Shuuchi said.
Haruhi nodded, buying the excuse. The Hitachiin twins did not.
"Ehhhhh." They each slung an arm around Shuuchi. "Shuuchi, does this girl have a crush on you?"
"What?"
"Why else would she request for you as a tutor when she could afford her own private one?" Kaoru – or at least Shuuchi was seventy percent sure it was Kaoru; you could never be completely certain with the twins – said.
"How could you not have noticed?" Hikaru added. "It's the oldest trick in the book. Unless…"
"You reciprocate her feelings?" the twins chorused together.
Shuuchi sighed in exasperation.
Damn Shiori once again.
Haruhi came to his defence. "That's not necessarily true," Haruhi said. "She might have other reasons."
"Oh Haruhi you're so naive in the arts of love, it's precious," the twins cooed. "Cute Haruhi. Cute cute Haruhi."
Shuuchi decided the only course of action was to ignore the twins. "So, Haruhi, tell me about the syllabus."
"Okay."
"Waaah! Haruhi! Don't ignore us!"
"Haruhi!"
"Tono! Shuuchi is monopolising Haruhi!"
"Why don't you two get back to your hosting duties and let Haruhi do hers?"
The twins pouted and turned to face an annoyed Kyoya.
"Kyoya-senpai, did you know that Shuuchi has a girlfriend?"
Kyoya slid his glasses up his nose. "Really. I wasn't aware of that." His tone was flat.
"Really really," Hikaru insisted. "He says he's tutoring a classmate's friend's sister."
"But no one in Ouran uses peer tutors. Ever. Isn't that suspicious then?" Kaoru added. "Shall we investigate?"
Kyoya shrugged. It wouldn't hurt to get more information on the mysterious Kisakis.
Thus, an hour later after club activities were ended early, the Host Club was found crouching on the second storey of the main building with some binoculars in hand. Shuuchi was standing at the front porch, waiting for his ride. The Host Club hadn't dared to go further because unlike most of their other victims, Shuuchi was actually aware of his surroundings.
"He deliberately made sure none of us was following him when he left," Hikaru observed.
Kaoru nodded. "Something is definitely up."
A girl with short hair walked up to Shuuchi.
"Is that Shuu-chan's girlfriend?" Honey asked. "I wanna see her face!"
"Do you know who she is, Kyoya-senpai?" Kaoru asked.
Kyoya shook his head. "Let me run a facial-recognition scan through the school database."
"Shuuchi kept her a secret from us; I feel so betrayed," Tamaki pouted. "Haruhi – wait, Haruhi! Why are you running down? You're ruining our reconnaissance mission!"
Haruhi ignored him and kept on running down the stairs. She had to check.
A sedan rolled up in the driveway and Shuuchi and the girl was about to get in.
"Shiori!"
The girl stopped but didn't turn around.
"Shiori, is…is that you?" Haruhi asked, hands on knees, panting from the short run.
"Haruhi, what are you doing here?" Shuuchi asked, walking up to her and offering his handkerchief. "Has Host Club already ended?"
The girl still hadn't turned around.
"Shiori?" Haruhi asked.
Shuuchi glanced between the both of them and something seemed to click in his mind.
He walked up to the girl. "Whatever it is, it's time to stop hiding." She didn't move. "Shiori."
Behind them, the Host Club had arrived and was gaping in shock.
Shuuchi sighed. There was going to be a lot of explaining to do.
He walked up to the chauffeur. "Sato-san, I'm sorry. Shiori and I have something to resolve. Can you come back in around an hour's time?"
Then, he turned to face everyone. "Now, shall we go to the music room and discuss everything over a pot of tea?"
And he dragged a very unwilling Shiori back up the stairs to the room at the end of the Northern Hallway on top floor of the South wing.
X
Haruhi was angry. No, that wasn't the word. Haruhi was furious, no, livid.
It wasn't the yelling kind of anger – Shiori could totally deal with a bit of screaming – but she had apparently provoked Haruhi right past the violent part into the you've-made-me-so-mad-I-will-sweetly-shove-reason-down-you-throat-till-you-beg-for-mercy zone.
Oops.
She seemed to saying that a lot lately.
But anyway, Shiori was terrified.
She sat like a deer caught in headlights, her eyes darting frantically between Haruhi, the door and the windows and calculating her odds of escape.
"I have stationed some of the Ootori force outside," Ootori – should she call him senpai now? Nah, she'll pass – said.
Jesus, he had a private police force? As if Haninozuka and Morinozuka weren't scary enough.
She glanced at Shuuchi but he was sitting comfortably in an armchair with his arms crossed, surveying the scene with a sort of amused look on his face.
She glared at him. Bastard.
He smiled angelically. Charming, sister.
Traitor.
Hey, you got that one coming to you.
You little bitch.
At this rate, she should probably start calculating the odds of her survival instead.
"So?" Haruhi spoke and everyone in the room jumped. "Are you going to talk or not?"
Angry Haruhi was scary Haruhi.
Shiori feigned nonchalance. "My dearest grandmother – the one still alive, I mean." Shiori paused for effect. Shuuchi had pursed his lips together in the way their grandmother dearest often did but for him, it was to keep from snorting with laughter.
Haruhi still had that stone-cold expression on her face.
Maybe this wasn't the best time for sarcasm.
"Decided that it was a good idea for me to attend Ouran so she packed me off to this school," Shiori finished. "I started last Monday and have been living my peaceful life since. Anything else you'd like to know?"
"Yes."
Shiori flinched.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I thought that your, erm, sources would inform you soon enough."
"Shiori," Haruhi sighed, finally breaking the frigid silence. "I thought we were over this. Didn't you say you would keep in touch?"
"I did!" Shiori squealed. How dignified. "I sent you a New Year's card. And there was the New Year phone call. And the phone call last week about Shuuchi moving back to Japan."
Haruhi deadpanned. "Right. Because keeping in touch with your friend apparently does not cover telling said friend that you transferred to her school."
Shiori finally understood how annoying she could be to others.
"Shiori," Haruhi spoke again. "Does this, you not talking to me thingy, does it have something to do with Shuus –"
Shiori's eyes widened.
Shit.
She flew over and grabbed Haruhi's hands, interrupting. "No, no, no, no! Whatever you're thinking, no!"
"You're denying it again," Haruhi muttered.
"Not this time," Shiori said and looked around wildly. She spotted a small room in the corner.
"What's that place?" she asked.
"Erm, the pantry?" Haruhi replied. "And don't change the subject."
"No, I'm not," Shiori replied and hauled Haruhi over to the pantry. "We're just going to have a peaceful little girls talk in there. Privately." Shiori glared at the boys who were about to follow. "Don't you dare follow if you still want children because trust me, I will not hesitate to render you into the eunuchs of imperial China."
With that, she slammed the pantry door in their faces.
Haruhi blinked. "So, what was that all about?"
Shiori pulled Haruhi to the furthest corner of the pantry and sat both of them down.
"I broke up with Shuusei one month after the summer holidays."
Haruhi looked at her blankly.
"I. Broke. Up. With. Hinakawa. Shuusei."
"Oh."
"Yes oh."
"Why?"
Shiori shrugged. "It wasn't working out anymore."
"Was it because of the, the…" Haruhi gestured to her hands.
"Partly," Shiori said. "Well, it kinda was an accident. Shuusei didn't mean to hurt me. He got carried away and lost control. But then again, he didn't make that much of an effort not to do it again either."
Shiori stopped. She was rambling. Was she even making sense?
Haruhi looked at Shiori uncertainly and then reached out a hand to pat Shiori's shoulder. Despite herself, Shiori smiled. Poor Haruhi was totally out of her depths.
"Don't worry, it ended a long time ago. I've gotten over it," Shiori said lightly.
"But you loved him," Haruhi blurted out.
"But love doesn't last forever," Shiori replied.
Haruhi didn't say anything.
"Haruhi, not everyone is lucky enough to feel what your dad felt, feels for your mom or she for him," Shiori said, looking straight ahead. "Case in point: my parents."
Pause.
"I mean, they've gotten remarried but it took like ten years. So, I guess what I mean to say, is that, love fades…and sometimes it never comes back."
Haruhi was hugging her knees, thinking.
"On that note, I've got a favour to ask you," Shiori said. "Please don't tell Shuuchi about Shuusei. Or anyone else."
Haruhi looked at Shiori with those brown doe eyes.
"It's all in the past; what's the point of talking about it now?" Shiori explained.
Haruhi wasn't convinced.
"I want to keep the good memories," Shiori said looking down at her palms. "Good memories. They're all I have."
Finally Haruhi nodded.
"Thank you."
"But I'm not going to lie if Shuuchi asks me about it."
"Fair enough."
"In return, you have to tell me why you..."
Shiori sighed.
"Are you still angry with me for going to Ouran? For leaving you alone?" Haruhi asked.
"No –"
"Don't sugarcoat things."
"No I'm not. I was angry," Shiori admitted. "At first. But I've grown up. It wasn't your fault. You didn't leave. I was the one who childishly chose to stop talking to you."
"But I wasn't there when you needed me most. And then I wasn't there at all." Haruhi looked down guiltily.
"Does it matter? In the end, we still ended up together at Ouran."
"Things aren't the same anymore," Haruhi said.
Shiori stared at a spot on the ground. "Well, after Grandma died, I realised something. That even the ones we love most will leave us in the end."
Haruhi took a sharp breathe.
"You're wrong," Haruhi finally said, shaking her head.
"Am I?"
"Yes." Pause.
"Yes," Haruhi repeated more firmly. "You were the one who told me I was wrong. That just because people will leave in the end doesn't mean you should keep everyone at a distance. Because a short summer is better than a long winter. Because life is too short not to enjoy it to the fullest."
"That's why you never made friends in Ouran until you were forced into the Host Club were you?"
Haruhi stuttered. "You always said that my attitude was wrong."
"No you were right. Like you always are."
Haruhi was at a loss. Somewhere along the way, Shiori and Haruhi had switched positions.
"Well, I would have told you about coming to Ouran earlier," Shiori said. "But there was the problem of the Host Club. Shuuchi told me about how they planned this reunion for us 'long-lost' siblings." Shiori shuddered. "So imagine what they would do if they knew I was coming to Ouran. I wanted to settle in first."
Haruhi nodded, accepting the explanation. "Erm, they're not that bad?"
"Well, Shuuchi's bound by some constitutional right to back me up now so yeah I imagine not."
They sat in silence for a while.
Then there was a thunderous crash and some scuffling outside the door.
"You think we should go out before they kill themselves?"
Haruhi nodded, laughing. "I swear they're not too bad."
"Yes, defend your boys, won't you?" Shiori ruffled Haruhi's hair.
"Hey stop it, what happened to your hair by the way?"
"Following your example, I chopped it off. At a hairdressers of course." Shiori winked. "They told me this hairstyle's real popular with the boys."
"Shut it," Haruhi warned and opened the pantry door. In tumbled four idiots. Two gingers and two blondes.
"So how was your girly talk?" Shuuchi asked chirpily, standing a safe distance behind. "Any hair pulling? Scratching?"
Shiori ignored him. "Yup, we're done. Let's go home. I'm tired. Can we give Haruhi a ride?"
"Yeah sure," Shuuchi replied, slightly surprised by her calmness. "Haruhi you fine with that?"
"Sure."
The Host Club gasped in outrage.
Haruhi had never accepted a ride from any of them before.
X
"Shiori-chan and Haru-chan are really good friends ne?" Honey said as the Host Club watched Haruhi leave from the glass windows.
"They've known each other since elementary school," Tamaki said, pressing his face up to glass to watch his daughter. "It's to be expected."
"Haru-chan really cares about Shiori-chan," Honey said, hugging Usa-chan. "But Shiori-chan is so cold."
"Maybe something happened between them," Mori spoke in his calm placid voice and everyone turned to him. "They are not as close as they used to be."
Tamaki nodded, his face still flat against the glass "But I think, Shiori-hime still understands Haruhi more than we do."
The twins shifted uncomfortably at Tamaki's statement. That girl knew things about Haruhi they didn't? Haruhi was theirs. Their toy, their classmate, their friend. Theirs, theirs, theirs. And they did not share.
Meanwhile, Kyoya sat on his armchair, clicking and unclicking his ballpoint pen with murderous intensity.
He missed out crucial information on Nakamori Shiori, not once, but thrice. It was unforgiveable. Especially her transfer to Ouran High. He had certainly been occupied with Tamaki's sudden illness but it was no excuse.
He had underestimated Nakamori's importance. But she had looked so ordinary.
His phone let out a beep. It was a message from Shuuchi.
That's a great idea. I'll ask Shiori. Thanks Kyoya.
Finally, things were in his control. Kyoya smiled.
XXX
Thanks for reading. Please review! I'd love to see what yall think :)