Author's Note: Thanks for all the reviews, favs, and follows. I've been told I need to update more often :-) But don't expect this to happen regularly – this is a treat, I just happened to have a lot of time to write last week. It typically takes 4-5 days for me to write a chapter.

At long last – confrontation with Kyoya – will it work?

(I took a lot of liberties with how Kyoya does the club accounting. I haven't read the manga yet, so if it's explained there, oh well.)

Disclaimer: Still don't own Ouran. The final pairing would have been completely different.

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Date Posted: 12/12/2017

Chapter 21 – The Debt

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Approximately 1:00 pm – Ootori Estate – Security Office

Kaoru took a deep breath, "I almost don't want to ask this, but did they leave last night?"

"They went directly back from her apartment. They left again at about 6 pm. They went to dinner at Skytree and spent time looking at the view." Kyoya used a casual tone, hoping to keep the rest, especially Tamaki and Hikaru, from wanting to see the video. It looked so much like a date that is wouldn't do anyone any good to see it.

"I want to see it," Hikaru demanded.

Shit. So much for casual tone. "No. Nothing new was learned. It is unnecessary." That was his boardroom voice. It should shut down the discussion.

"I still want to see it," he demanded again.

"Hika-chan, we don't have time for this. It sounds boring anyway," Honey commented, picking up on what Kyoya was doing. "We have lots to discuss and a meeting to get ready for. If there is nothing new to learn from the video, then we need to move on.

"I'm glad she got out of the Compound and had some fun. A stressed out and exhausted Haru-chan will make negations harder tonight. And before you say anything," Honey held out his hand in a 'stop' gesture to keep Tamaki and Hikaru from interrupting. "I don't care that she was out with Kasanoda. Right now our best information tells us that they are only friends. Until we have evidence to the contrary, we need to focus on getting Haru-chan back into the Host Club. After that, we can work on Kasanoda."

"Only friends? He confessed!" Hikaru was livid. How can they be brushing off this threat like it was nothing? Tamaki was nodding in agreement and mumbling under his breath.

"STOP!" Kyoya's glasses flashed around the room and the Shadow King glare was given to everyone, ending with Hikaru. "This is getting us absolutely nowhere. I'm not going to say this again. We must get her back before we can do anything about Kasanoda. The romance discussion – no matter who we are talking about," he glared at Tamaki, "is shelved. Anyone bringing it up again will be escorted off this estate and kept from the meeting tonight. Am I clear?"

Yes's and nods all around.

"Good." He leaned back in his chair and sipped his tea, "Now, how do we approach tonight?"

They all looked around, no one wanting to go first after that threat. If you looked hard at their faces you'd see various emotions, but, overwhelming, you'd see exhaustion and desperation. They all wanted to fix this. They all wanted her back. They all loved her – in various degrees and stages. And, if they would admit it or not, they had all screwed up their friendship with her.

"I don't want to say this after what you just threatened, but I'm talking logistics, not romance." Tamaki braced himself, "We need to keep Kasanoda out of it. He or his goons cannot be there."

Kyoya looked at his best friend and nodded, "That is logistics, and I agree – we have to keep him out."

"That's easy to say, Kyoya, but remember what one of her conditions was…no physical contact. I agreed to that condition on behalf of all of us, we need to honor it. However, because of the state of our friendship with her, I think she will assume it's something that will not be honored. If I was her, I'd come with bodyguards, and where else is she going to get those if not from Kasanoda?" Mori stared at Hikaru, Kaoru, and Tamaki. If anyone was going to break that condition, it was going to be them.

"Well, what are we going to do, Mori-senpai. Build a cage around us? Handcuff us to our chairs? Tie our feet together so we can't walk? You obviously don't trust us," Tamaki didn't understand why the upperclassman didn't think he could control himself.

"You idiots dislocated her shoulder. Of course we don't trust you," Kyoya's voice was like a whip, and they flinched.

"Couldn't you station some of your bodyguards around all of us to show her we are serious?" Kaoru asked, looking at Kyoya. He knew this was going to be a problem once she said it, but he didn't really have a solution.

Mori spoke up, "No. That won't work. One of her other conditions was none of our bodyguards in the room." He looked at Honey, "Mitsukuni, she may be thinking we'd be able to guarantee her safety."

"I don't know why she would think that, Takashi. We never have before," Honey sighed. It was painful to admit that and he saw the slight flinch and tightening of the jaw that was Mori's reaction.

Kyoya interjected, "The way I see it, only Tamaki and Hikaru present a real problem here. I think the rest of us can manage not to touch her. Why don't Mori-senpai and Honey-senpai each take one of them and keep them from her. I'll keep an eye on Kaoru, but he shouldn't give me any trouble, right?" Kaoru gulped and nodded as he got an eyeful of Shadow King. "Will that work, senpais?"

Honey and Mori agreed while Tamaki huffed and Hikaru mumbled under his breath about it not being necessary and how he can control himself, clearly not getting it. It was all up to the martial arts experts now.

Kyoya took another drink of his tea and flipped through his notebook. "We've taken care of most of her conditions…no physical contact, no bodyguards, none of us own the restaurant, the club is paying for it, and her debt will not be increased. Now we need to finalize our new set of rules and be ready to present them."

"Kyo-chan, there is something else we need to talk about. It's not just rules that need to be created, but some fundamental things about her position in the club need to change. She is not treated as an equal member of this club and she needs to be. Without equality, she will always be treated and feel 'less than.' None of us want that." Honey started in on another piece of cake and looked at Kyoya from under his hair.

"She's not equal, Honey-senpai. She owes the Club a lot of money," Kyoya explained patiently.

Honey smiled to himself – Kyoya fell right into that one. "Let's look at the debt details you sent out on Thursday night, Kyo-chan. Both Takashi and I were very surprised by the various debits and credits. We were alarmed to find that she's been charged rental for all of her costumes. I've never paid a rental fee for any of my costumes and neither has Takashi. Have any of you?" Honey looked around the room and everyone shook their heads. "How do you explain that, Kyo-chan?"

Both Mori and Honey were looking at Kyoya like he was evil, and he wasn't going to take it. He could justify all debits, dammit. "Costume rental or costs (for those we buy outright) are charged to each member's profit for that event. Since Haruhi has no profit yet, I had to add it to her debt."

"Kyoya, I never realized that's how events were budgeted. Don't you think that's a little unfair?" Tamaki wondered.

"Yeah. We all have to wear a costume, no matter what our profit is," Kaoru pointed out.

"Even you, Kyoya-senpai, and you don't really bring in much profit because you rarely Host. How are you paying for your costumes?" Hikaru questioned, like he'd caught Kyoya in some kind of embezzlement scheme.

"My profit comes from being the accountant for this club. I assign a portion of everyone's profits to mine because I handle the schedule, keep the books, and manage the Club overall."

"There's something about that that just doesn't sound right." Mori commented. "Besides, it sounds overly complicated. Profit should come in by categories (sales, hosting, special event fees, etc.) not by person. If you want to track who's bringing in what profit, it should be a subcategory of hosting but not be linked to individual expenses. It's not like we work on commission."

"Kyoya, have you been managing it like this the whole time?" Tamaki asked. Mori was right – it's too complex.

"It is the best way to make the charges for expenses fair. Everyone needs to pull their own weight." Meanwhile, he's thinking – 'just get through this; you know why you set it up this way.'

"Wait – let me get this straight – if we have an event and buy costumes and my profit doesn't cover mine, I'll have to pay the balance out of pocket even when the overall profit for the event is in the black?" Hikaru questioned. "That's stupid."

"No, it's not. Each member must be accountable for their expenses. Profits have been enough to avoid individual charges. Haruhi's would be too if she hadn't started with a debt," Kyoya clarified.

"That whole system is unfair. We all bring in the same amount of profit per designee, but because we make her dress like a girl a lot, most of her costumes are the most expensive," Kaoru exclaimed. "We can also reuse ours – we don't need a new tux for every event, but Haruhi needs a new ball gown. If the profit is the same, than the costume expense should be the same."

"Kyoya, this discussion has brought up things that disturb me. Our accounting system is biased and needs to be simplified. Please draft new procedures and we'll go through them together. We need to change this," Tamaki declared. "As president, I insist."

"I don't think that's necessary, Tamaki. This system has worked fine and we've shown lots of overall profit." Now Kyoya was getting pissed. Who were they to tell him that his accounting system was wrong? Of course it was wrong. Of course it was complex. That was the point. It had to be that way. Besides, this system tracked individual work habits and profits. He could easily tell who needed to step up their game.

"Well, either it's an order from me as president, or it's a 5 to 1 vote. Either way, it needs to be changed to be more equitable."

"And with the new system, Haruhi's costume charges come off her debt," Mori demanded.

Kyoya gritted his teeth and glanced around the room. "Fine," he exclaimed, "I'll implement a new system that is less individualized. We need to move on to the rules."

"No, we don't, Kyo-chan," Honey protested. "We still have questions about Haru-chan's debt. I find it hard to believe that she has broken over 30 teacups. We all know she's clumsy, but she isn't that bad. Besides, with the new system, breakage charges would be under a general club breakage account."

"She knocks them off tables," Kyoya stated simply.

"What – like some kinda asshole cat?" Hikaru joked. Hikaru and Kaoru high-fived.

"No. Usually when she eggs the three of you on and ends up getting twirled around the club room. Her feet knock them off."

Tamaki stared at Kyoya like he was from another planet. "Are you telling me that if I run up to her, grab her, swing her around, and her feet knock a teacup off a table, you charge HER for that?" Tamaki's voice was full of disbelief.

"Yes. She instigates it. I always tell her right then that I'm charging her for it. It shouldn't be a surprise to any of you," Kyoya noted.

"I always thought you were joking," Tamaki mumbled. "Regardless, that stops now. All teacup charges come off her debt and they are now charged to a general breakage account."

Kyoya could feel imaginary steam coming out of his ears. He'd kept them on track for over a year, and now they were questioning all of it? None of them could have done any better – especially with this asinine system. Tamaki would have driven the club into bankruptcy within the first two months. The rest either didn't have the creativity to develop new income streams or didn't care enough to put in the effort. Doing it his way was important. Do they think he's an idiot?

He was just going to have to grin and bear it to get through today. "Fine," he barked. "Are we done with this yet?"

"No, Kyo-chan. You charge her for each minute she's late. So not only does she not have the chance to make as much profit as the rest of us because she's late, but you charge her on top of that? Does everyone else get charged for every minute they are late?" Honey had to admit there was a certain amount of fulfillment in this discussion. They had detailed Tamaki's and Hikaru's involvement and now it was Kyoya's turn. He was not as innocent in Haruhi's leaving as he seemed to think he was. And this system was crazy. No wonder he spent so much time on Club accounts.

"No, no one else gets charged for being late. Haruhi gets charged for being late for her duties as Club Dog, not hosting. She performs the supermarket shopping and the cleaning. Those bring in no profit, so she must be debited for being late," Kyoya clarified. He was getting really aggravated and they needed to move on.

"That doesn't make sense either, Senpai. As long as those get done, and when have they never gotten done, she shouldn't be penalized," Kaoru grumbled.

Mori was contemplated the Shadow King. He could feel a small amount of sympathy for him. Not for having to change the accounting system – it was overly complex and biased, but for having it all dumped on him in front of everyone. Still, he had to question just WHY Kyoya did it this way. It's not a standard practice in accounting, and Kyoya didn't do anything without a reason and a plan.

Mori looked at Kyoya and asked, "Why?"

"Why, what?"

"Why is the system designed this way? You wouldn't have this senseless system without a good reason that brought merit, so why?"

Everyone looked at Kyoya and everyone's lightbulb went off. Of course, he wouldn't do something that seemed stupid unless it was according to some plan of his.

"Yeah, why?" Hikaru asked.

"It doesn't matter. With the changes you've made, there is only 135,000 Yen left on her debt. If she comes back, she'll have that paid off quickly," Kyoya hesitated.

"It matters to me. You've developed a highly time-consuming accounting system that really doesn't make much sense and I want to know why you've been spending so much time doing it," Tamaki demanded.

Mori had been connecting the dots in his head. "But, it does make sense. What did this inane system accomplish? It ran up a huge debt for Haruhi, while still generating profits – the same profits any other system would have shown. That was the goal, wasn't it? To increase Haruhi's debt so she could never pay it off."

Kyoya looked around the room at angry and incredulous faces. It was useless to continue this charade. He sighed, "Yes, that was the goal."

"But, why? What did it accomplish? Don't you realize how crushing that must be for her, to have this huge debt that never decreases, and she'll never be able to pay off? What the hell, Kyoya-senpai?" Kaoru fumed.

"It kept her in the Host Club. It kept her here with us," Mori explained softly.

"I didn't want her to leave." Kyoya stood up and wandered around the room. "She means so much to all of us, has improved all our lives. The Host Club would be ruined if she left, so I kept her in debt. I kept her beholden to us. I kept her with us." He was almost yelling by the end of his statement. He knew how important it was to keep her in their lives. Couldn't they see that?

Hikaru jumped to his feet, yelling, "Well, congratulations – she left anyway. And I'm sure having a debt that she'll never be able to get out from under made it easier. How dare you do that! What were you thinking? I mean…FUCK!" Hikaru ran out of words and stomped over to Kyoya.

Before anyone else could get there, Kyoya was on the floor, his glasses across the room, blood trickling from a split lip.

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Author's Note: Not quite a slap, but I think Kyoya had more than that coming (and still more, it's a slow boil). What did you think? I'm not an accountant, so if that really didn't make sense, I'm sorry. It made sense in my head.

Please give me a quick review and let me know what you think of the direction..the pacing…the level of detail. I've outlined a story that could easily go on for quite a while – would you all still be interested?

I'm writing the meeting now, if anyone has suggestions. I may not use them, but they are appreciated.

Next Chapter: Final plans before the meeting. Fallout from the debt and the punch.

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