— Chapter 26 —

An Old Friend

The helicopter landed somewhere in the vicinity of where Haruhi and I were standing, and the strong breeze had gone away in a matter of seconds. Within a few minutes, Tamaki could be seen in the distance, running in our direction along with the other five. It seemed as though he was trying to sprint at the speed of light. We clearly weren't in any danger; I wasn't sure why he was so eager to reach us.

Then again, there was Haruhi to be excited about. He hadn't heard from her in a week, after all.

Haruhi slapped her hand onto her forehead as Tamaki continued to leap towards us. "I was looking forward to another two weeks of relaxation," she sighed.

"At least we got one," I replied dismally.

"Haruhiiiiiiii!" Tamaki shouted with a ridiculously huge smile on his face. Tears seemed to be streaming down his cheeks as he swept her up and squeezed her like there was no tomorrow. "Don't you ever do that to me again! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!" he wailed.

"Ugh, I can't breathe, Senpai!" she angrily grunted. "What are you talking about?! What did we do?!"

Hani puffed his cheeks up. "Tama-chan was worried that you two were in danger," he hummed casually.

"No, no, no," I sighed.

Tamaki persisted in embracing Haruhi tightly and pinching her cheeks as she yelled at him.

"Pocky-chan!" Hikaru and Kaoru chorused happily, nearly suffocating me in a group hug. I gave the both of them a pat on the back.

"The boss hasn't shut up about the possibility of you being kidnapped, you know," Hikaru sighed.

Kaoru giggled. "He especially wouldn't keep quiet about Haruhi."

The host known as the "cool type" finally caught up with everyone else. He wasn't as pressed to rush, so he strolled instead, his thin black notebook back in his hand. It felt like I hadn't seen him in quite awhile. He seemed like an entirely different person before he nearly married Nanako, but it was refreshing to see that he was back to his old self, with a slightly smug expression on his face instead of the dismally blank one.

"We missed our other commoner!" the twins continued.

"Hey!" I shouted.

Soon enough, Kyouya was only a few feet away from us. Instead of the twins being obnoxiously loud and shoving me in his direction, they gave me a wink and skipped away arm-in-arm.

"How have you been, Hiroshi?" Kyouya asked with that slightly crooked smile on his face. He stared down at my work uniform. Apart from the cloth in my tied-up hair, it consisted of knee-length pants, a white tee, and an apron. Maybe the girly apron caught his eye.

"Why do you always look at me like that?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

He stood about two feet away from me with a slight grin. "Irritable already, I see."

"Shush."

He took a few seconds to look at me and chuckled lightly. "Cute apron," he said.

I could easily tell from his confident demeanor that he was back in the swing of things. It made my heart race for some reason. Maybe I just wasn't used to seeing him like this; he'd been completely monotone for so long. I could feel my face heating up already because of the lack of significant distance between our faces. Not this again, I thought. "W-well, I've been enjoying the peace here quite a bit. How have you been managing?"

"I've been doing quite well," he replied.

"And things at home?"

"Ah, about that," he said, pushing his glasses further up the bridge of his nose. "My father didn't give me hell, which was unexpected. I can't complain. We've been going about our own business since then," he explained in a more laid-back tone, as if this was how he and his father usually interacted.

I wished that there was something I could do about it, but it wasn't my place. I didn't want to be intrusive. At least Fuyumi loved and cared for him like an older sister should.

A light breeze began to blow through the warm air again as we stood staring at each other. Some strange feeling rushed over me. I couldn't quite describe it in that moment, but I suppose one could call it some sense of completeness. I sighed and decided to put up with my own confusion, as I always did when it came to situations like these. It wasn't uncommon for Kyouya's actions to induce such odd feelings.

"Will you quit it already, Senpai?!" Haruhi shouted.

Tamaki came rushing over so quickly that we were almost sure he'd trip. "Mommy!" he sobbed. "Haruhi's being so mean to me!"

Misuzu-chi came strolling out gracefully with his ankle-length dress flowing behind him. His hair and makeup were still perfectly done and well-kept, but he wore an annoyed expression on his face. "Girls, what on earth is all of this commotion about? I could have sworn..."

He paused to take a look at the teenagers in front of him, and his expression soon changed into a cheeky, charming smile. He swung around a little and played with his gown flirtatiously. "Oh, why hello there! What's a group of handsome young men like you doing here? Would you like a drink? Have you become acquainted with my housekeepers here?" he giggled, rushing over to me and Haruhi and gathering us in his arms. "Aren't they adorable?"

"Misuzu-chi, these are our classmates," I explained.

"So you mean to tell me that you get to see these fine young lads on a regular basis?! And I thought that the men here were refreshing. I'll need to pay visits to you all in Tokyo more often," he sighed dreamily.

"Hello, Misuzu-chi," Kyouya smiled cheekily.

"Ah, you must be handsome young fellow I spoke to on the phone just a few days ago!"

"How do you two know each other?" Haruhi asked as her eyes began to widen by the second.

"I managed to obtain his number after finding out about where you and Hiroshi would be spending the next few weeks. I wanted to check in every once in awhile to make sure things were going well."

Tamaki pouted. "And you didn't even tell me for an entire week!"

Haruhi turned towards me with her half-lidded eyes beginning to twitch. "So Kyouya-senpai knew about it," she muttered.

"I'm surprised he was able to keep it from Tamaki-senpai for an entire seven days, though," I half-laughed.

"Haruhi, Hiroshi, I'm terribly sorry to interrupt you and your friends, but would you be so kind as to greet our delivery boy at the front door? He's been waiting there for quite a while, carrying our watermelon."

"He's been waiting this entire time?" I asked, rushing inside along with Haruhi.

I felt bad for making someone with such a big load to carry have to stand there for such a long period of time. Before even opening the door completely, Haruhi was already beginning to apologize. "We're sorry for making you wait for this long, sir! Can we offer you a glass of water? Please, have a seat."

Silence followed once Haruhi looked up. He had short and slightly spiky brown hair, and he wore a red shirt and a blue cap. I knew that he looked too familiar for me not to know in the past, but it wasn't until he'd lifted his head slightly and said something that I recognized him.

"Uh, hey... what..." I began quietly and nervously. I knew how informal and uneducated I sounded, but it couldn't quite be helped.

He looked back and forth between me and Haruhi, and his brown eyes widened.

It seemed as though I'd been in the world of Ouran Academy for so long that I'd nearly forgotten what it felt like to be around, well, normal people. Bumping into a friend from middle school kinda felt like going back in time, especially since he began to talk about what things were like during those years.

Here was Arai Kimura, sitting with Tamaki, Kyouya, Mori, and Hani at one of the small tables in Misuzu-chi's inn, discussing with them what the Haruhi and I used to be like. We haven't changed drastically, but of course, since he used to have a crush on Haruhi, I was sure he'd be wondering about how she was doing. He seemed to be hiding the fact just a little, though.

"I haven't seen you since graduation," Haruhi said.

Arai laughed half heartedly. "Right, you cut all of your hair off!"

"Well, it's easier to manage," she shrugged.

He looked over at the rest of the hosts, minus Hikaru and Kaoru, who were sitting at the breakfast bar. "So," he began, "Are you two in a club with these guys?"

"Uh, a host club," I replied awkwardly.

"Ah, is that so,"

Hikaru let out an exasperated sigh, holding up his empty glass and turning his head towards Haruhi from where he was sitting. He had an excessively irritated expression on his face. "Hey Haruhi!" he called out. "Hiroshi! Shouldn't you two be working?"

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Ah, give us a rest! Misuzu-chi said we could take a break."

From the other side of the room, there was a faint sound of tearing paper. I turned my head to find that I was correct... Tamaki-senpai was ripping the napkins into little strips, hunched over with such a dismal expression on his face that I could almost see a black cloud floating above his head.

"Senpai," Haruhi called out irritably. "Why are you doing that? You're just making a big pile of trash that I'm gonna have to throw out later!"

He looked over at her ever so slowly with an even more gloomy expression. Haruhi hesitated for quite a bit at such a sight; we hadn't seen Tamaki with such a look on his face before.

"It's a hamster home," he muttered. "I'm making a hamster home."

"Senpai, you don't even have a hamster."

Haruhi and I had introduced everyone else earlier in the day, but once Tamaki's turn came up, he'd likely been expecting Haruhi to introduce him as someone of a higher standing in her life. She didn't quite live up to his expectations, however.

He responded with a grumble. "Don't call me your Senpai; I'm merely an acquaintance of yours, remember?" he pouted.

Arai couldn't help but giggle. "Wow, your Ouran guys are really funny," he said, turning to the both of us. "I thought that they'd be entirely different, since they come from such a prestigious school,"

"Oh, they're different, alright," Haruhi replied with an exhausted tone of voice.

"I was worried for you two," Arai laughed. And then he looked over at Haruhi with the expression that he used to in middle school, with the slight blushing and the little smile. "But I'm glad to see you're doing well."

Hikaru seemed to have noticed this expression as well; the fact that Arai was only looking at Haruhi when he said something like that made him a little suspicious that something was going on. I just wasn't sure why he was so concerned about it. Couldn't he give the guy a break?

"Ah, well, everyone else was worried about you!" he laughed. "Especially Kazumi. She still talks about you guys once a week, at least."

"Gosh," Hikaru smirked, leaning back in his chair and stretching his arms out behind him. "What the heck is with this guy, trying the refreshing innocence approach," he sighed as he narrowed his eyes.

It seemed as though he intended for his haughty smirking and chuckling to be noticeable, and it was getting on my nerves. He really didn't have a reason to be acting like this. Even his own twin was eyeing him peculiarly; something was up with him and him only.

Arai was clearly surprised. His eyes widened quite a bit, but afterwards, he looked down with a pained expression on his face. This wasn't right.

I shot Hikaru a look. "Hey, would you cut it out?" I asked. "We'd appreciate it if you showed some respect."

"I'm just sayin', it's just obvious that he has a thing for Haruhi!" he called out bluntly in a childishly agitated tone. "Gosh, it's so sickening to watch him try to flirt. Sure you don't notice it too, Hiroshi? Or are you just taking sides here?"

The way Hikaru looked at me stung. I'd never seen this side of him before; I wondered what on earth Arai could have possibly done to put him in such a horrible mood.

"What's the matter with you?" Haruhi asked with an angry tone, getting up out of her seat and pounding her fist on the table. "Just knock it off; quit being such a jerk!"

"Hey, hey," Arai nervously smiled, "It's okay, Haruhi, he's right. I did have a thing for you once, but it's okay; you already turned me down, remember?"

"... What... huh?!" she gulped. Her eyes widened.

Tamaki-senpai gasped dramatically. "You must tell us this story! When did this happen, Arai?" he exclaimed, rushing over to Arai and setting his hands on his shoulders sympathetically.

This brought more nervous laughter out of him. "Ah, well, it was about a year ago."

This brought me back to the days of middle school, when he'd come to me for advice about how to get his feelings through to Haruhi. I'd always happen to be in the library studying after the school day was over, and he'd sit next to me whenever he could to ask questions about Haruhi. "You're her best friend, right?" he'd ask. "What should I do?"

I finally got him to confess to her towards the end of the year, constantly reminding him that Haruhi's chances of getting into Ouran were pretty solid. I knew that it broke his heart to hear it, but it was the only thing that would push him to take action. Unfortunately, his confession wasn't quite clear to her, given that she was even more oblivious to romance at that point in time than she is now. She took the words "go out" literally.

He was heartbroken to the point where I had to sit with him for over two hours, awkwardly patting his back as he muttered to himself gloomily and repeatedly pounded his head on the desk. "Ah, there, there," I sighed. "Don't feel too bad... Haruhi just hasn't always been the most perceptive person when it comes to things like these."

He only continued to exhale deeply and smack his palm to his forehead.

"Ah, c'mon, Arai, don't take it personally," I'd have to say nervously time and time again.

And so it's taken this much time for Haruhi to finally see what Arai actually meant to tell her. Her eyes widened even more once she looked at Arai again in realization of what he truly wanted to convey over a year ago. "A-Arai!" she gulped. "I'm so, gah, I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed, smacking her hand onto her forehead. "Gosh, I... sheesh," she muttered repeatedly.

"Ah, no, don't worry! I'm over it!" Arai smiled. "But I did always admire you," he said in a sweeter tone. "That faraway look in your eyes... and the way you'd look at someone when you talked to them... I always thought you were special, you know."

I'd expected Tamaki to gasp and run into his pile of ripped napkins again, but what he did was quite the opposite. "Kyaaaaaa!" he beamed, rushing over to Arai once more and took him by both of his hands. "You really think that much of my little girl?! Don't you worry; I shall never forget your gallantry!" he nearly shouted, smiling so broadly that it seemed to make Arai a little uncomfortable. "Would you care to do more storytelling?!"

All of us, minus the twins, remained gathered around the small table and talked endlessly about how "commoners", or normal people like us, lived during our middle school years.

"Wow, you went to Kyoto?" Hani asked after taking a few bites of his pastry and giving Usa-chan a squeeze. "You stayed in the country for your field trip? That's pretty unusual; so neat!"

"Ah, well it's actually pretty normal for us," Arai smiled.

"Well I've always been a fan of Kyoto!" Tamaki replied with an expression that hinted a flashback; he'd probably been there a few times before.

Kyouya spoke up. "Oh, I can't tell you how many times I've had to tour the temples with him."

"Hikaru! Kaoru!" Tamaki called out. "Why don't you come and join us? This could be one of our only chances to find out about Haruhi's and Hiroshi's middle school experiences! Come on over."

I feared that Hikaru would reply bitterly, and he most certainly did. "Sorry, but I'm not interested," he yawned as Kaoru continued to stare at him with a slightly concerned expression on his face. "Man, how stupid can you guys be?" he continued.

Kaoru eyed him cautiously. "Hikaru—"

"I don't see how you guys can be so interested in sitting around and talking about the past."

Haruhi got out of her seat with an expression that could kill. I reached out in an attempt to stop her, but this was one of the looks on her face that rarely appeared. I wouldn't be able to do anything about it, and so my hand stayed still as she began to slowly walk in Hikaru's direction.

Kyouya's hand grabbed on to mine and slowly pulled it down. I peered over at him in worry. He wore an expression that calmed me momentarily, but a bit of panic surged once again as I looked over to where Hikaru was sitting.

He only continued to talk, not even paying attention to the fact that Haruhi was looking him dead in the eye. "Besides, doesn't that guy know that Haruhi and Hiroshi don't want anything to do with him? They've got plenty of friends now; they don't need you around. Get it?"

A loud slap resounded in the air, and there was a moment of silence that was dragged on for an eternity. Hikaru sat slouched in his chair with a mark that was barely noticeable on his face. Haruhi still wore a deadly expression on her face. "That isn't for you to decide, Hikaru!" she shouted. "I'm not gonna tolerate you insulting my friends anymore, you got it?!"

"But why..." he muttered. His voice began to shake. "Why... why should anyone else even matter to you?"

He stood up abruptly, pounding his fist on the surface of the table and facing Haruhi. "I thought we were your friends! Are we or aren't we?!" he shouted.

"Hika—" I began quietly.

His eyes began to brim with tears as he looked back and forth between me and Haruhi, and he quickly ran out with Kaoru trailing behind him and calling his name repeatedly.

Another silence followed that seemed even longer than the first. "Their world is still so small," Tamaki muttered. "It's such a shame."

We never really expected Hikaru to react so harshly about something as simple as a reunion Haruhi and I had with one of our friends from middle school. It was embarrassing on our part, but Arai didn't seem to be too phased by it. I just couldn't quite get the image of Hikaru's expression out of my mind; he looked so hurt and so angry. None of us knew what on earth had gotten into him.

All of us apart from the twins now stood outside the entrance of the inn, and Arai was leaning on his bike with the same carefree, pleasant expression he always seemed to be wearing.

"We're so sorry, Arai," Haruhi said sympathetically.

"Ah, it's alright," he smiled, being the forgiving and nice guy that he's always been. "I'm not really sure what I did, exactly, but it sure seemed to set him off, huh?"

Suddenly, the door creaked, and someone walked out. To the others, it appeared to be Hikaru.

"Hey," he said awkwardly, scratching at the back of his neck. "I was out of line. I'm sorry."

"Thanks, don't worry about it," Arai smiled once again. He hopped back onto his bike and looked at the rest of us. "Well, Haruhi, Hiroshi, I'll see you guys soon! Bye, guys!"

"Bye bye!" Hani-senpai beamed as Arai began to walk away. All of us waved.

"So you changed into Hikaru's clothes, didn't you, Kaoru," I asked once Arai was out of earshot. Everyone except for Haruhi made an audible gulp as they looked over at us.

Haruhi chuckled. "Changed your hair part too, I see."

"You got me, you got me," Kaoru sighed. "Hey, I don't think Hikaru's temper is gonna let up anytime soon. He's no fun when he's like this, so Haruhi, would you mind if I asked a favor of you?"

"Sure," she replied.

He grinned. "Well, how would you like to go out with me tomorrow on a date?"

I should have known that there was some sort of plan behind this once I turned around to see a slightly smug expression on Kyouya's face. I figured I'd be able to speak to him about it separately when no one else was around. That afternoon didn't seem like such a bad idea to do so.

He was sitting alone on a swinging bench on the porch, seemingly absorbed in the magazine he was reading until I sat down beside him. "So, what's this date business about?" I asked quietly.

He looked up at me. "You'd really like to know?"

"I kinda think I have the right to," I replied. If my own best friend was being set up on a date, I should have known more about it.

"Well," he began quietly, "Let's just say Kaoru's going to be faking a cold."

"He told you?"

He sighed. "He wanted us to go with him to see what happens. I had plans to enjoy a little leisure time, but I suppose I'm going to have to find a way to sightsee while we're following them around."

I gulped. "This just feels a little too weird."

"It won't really remain a secret any longer, Hiroshi," he replied. "She'll know about this once Hikaru shows up instead of Kaoru."

"As long as this works out," I sighed. "If things start to go wrong..."

"We should be able to be sneaky enough," Kyouya said reassuringly. "Well, so long as we can keep Tamaki calm."

I was hoping that this plan to patch up their friendship would work out. It still felt incredibly unnatural to keep something like this from Haruhi, but if it was for the good of her friendship with the Hikaru, I could do my best to let things slide this time around. I knew that Haruhi was always independent and had a knack for caring for herself, but I was still a little worried. Hopefully everything would go smoothly.