Observation Subject: Asuka Sakuma
Asuka Sakuma was an...interesting person if Kyoya was to say the least. She wasn't the cold, apathetic 'Akuma' that everyone made her out to be. In fact, she just may have been the exact opposite.
True, Asuka did have her moments where she would just stare at others blankly which creeped others out and whatnot but Kyoya quickly learned that it was only because she wasn't sure on how to respond to them.
After trying to teach Asuka how to swim, Kyoya realized how more comfortable Asuka seemed to be around not only the other club members but himself as well.
She was more open to having conversations, even if they didn't last long and she would let out small smiles and bits of laughter here and there more often. It was all very endearing in Kyoya's eyes. It was surprising how much you can learn about someone just by observing them, but of course Kyoya knew that all too well.
Today, the host club was having a day off in a way. The club was closed and the hosts had opted to just spending time with each other without all the screaming girls.
Tamaki was off daydreaming about whatever ludicrous things he normally dreams about, Honey was having his snacks as per usual with Mori, the twins were practicing their brotherly love act, and Haruhi was trying to engage in light conversation with Asuka.
Emphasis on 'trying'.
The girl was barely awake as Haruhi talked to her and even though Haruhi noticed this, she still decided to try and coerce Asuka into the conversation.
She had meant it when she said that she would try to help Asuka on her social skills but at the rate this was going, Asuka would forever be a sheltered hermit crab.
"Asuka-senpai!" Haruhi exclaimed as Asuka had finally succeeded in nodding off for a split second. Asuka jolted a little before looking at Haruhi with a confused and dazed look.
"What's wrong, Haruhi-san...?" Asuka's voice came out drawled and thickly laced with tiredness.
"What's wrong is that we're having a conversation and you aren't paying attention. How do you expect to communicate properly with others like this?" Haruhi asked with a frown.
Asuka's lips formed a slight pout before she had began to mumble some things under her lips and all Haruhi managed to hear was 'not talking is just fine'.
Haruhi sighed.
"Asuka-senpai, why exactly don't you like talking to people?" Haruhi asked and all she got in return was Asuka's blank face staring back at her.
Asuka continued to stare at Haruhi like that for a few more seconds before a small blush tinged her pale cheeks and she averted her eyes.
"...not good at it" she mumbled and Haruhi raised an eyebrow.
"What exactly about talking are you not good at? We're talking right now and you seem okay aside from the fact you were falling asleep" Hearing Haruhi's words, Asuka huffed.
"Perhaps we just need to get you out more?" Both girls turned their heads to Kyoya who was now standing next to them with his black book in hand and a pencil in his ear.
"And how do you suppose we do that? She's not gonna just start talking to random strangers" Haruhi said.
Suddenly, the lights had cut and a spotlight was cast on to Tamaki who was listening to their entire conversation unbeknownst to them.
A small smirk was on his lips as he pointed his finger directly at Asuka and a spotlight shined down on her too, to which she squinted her eyes at.
"Asuka will become a host!" Tamaki cries and everyone's eyes widened.
"But...Asuka's a girl" the twins said and before Tamaki could reply, Renge appeared out of seemingly nowhere a shoved Tamaki out of the spotlight.
"That's perfect! The twins have their yaoi brotherly love, so why can't their be yuri?! Or even better, a harem!" She exclaimed and Asuka's face paled immensely.
She had no experience what so ever in romance or the things you're supposed to say to someone. This all just seems like some humiliating scheme to her.
Everyone watched as Asuka had just shook her head continuously but Renge and Tamaki didn't pay her any attention as they had started whispering to each other.
"Hmm, now all you need is a little practice and we'll be ready to go!" Renge said.
"Let Operation: Make Asuka Into A Host-, er...Hostess commence!" Tamaki declares
And so the operation began.
"Alright, Asuka. It's easy. All you have to do is a simple greeting and a compliment! Just say the first thing that comes to your head" Tamaki said.
They had seated Asuka and Renge across from each other and Asuka was currently struggling to make eye contact with Renge who was beaming at her.
The girl's aura was too bright and Asuka felt her eyes might fall out if she stared any longer.
"Don't worry, Asuka-chan, I'll start first!" Renge said before clearing her throat and sitting up.
"Good morning, Asuka-chan. You look lovely today" Renge said. Even though Asuka knew the compliment was just for the sake of practice, she still couldn't help but blush at it.
"G-Good morning...Renge...you l-look c-cu...c-c...c-cu..." the whole club watched in deadpan as Asuka started to stutter like a broken record and her lips quavered while her face turned the deepest shade of red any of them had ever seen.
"Asuka-chan...are you alright?" Honey asked worriedly as Asuka had seemingly completely shutdown.
"This is going to be harder than I thought" Tamaki said.
"Hm" Hikaru wore a thinking expression and his brother looked over to him.
"What cha' thinking, Hikaru?" Kaoru said.
"Asuka-senpai, are you into yuri?" Hikaru asked and Asuka's soul had literally left its body. Honey cried and tried to catch Asuka's soul before Mori grabbed it and brought it back to Asuka.
"Maybe she's having difficulty because she's saying it to a girl? If Asuka-senpai practices it with a guy then saying it to a girl later will be a piece of cake" Hikaru said giving a thumbs up.
"You're a genius Hikaru!" Tamaki exclaimed.
"I don't think that's the problem" Haruhi said but her words fell on deaf ears.
"I volunteer as a stand in!" Tamaki exclaimed and everyone looked at him suspiciously before all agreeing that Tamaki should be the last person they use as a stand in.
"I wanna go home..." Asuka mumbled.
First up was Honey who was rocking back and forth in his seat, the excitement getting to him a little.
"Morning, Asuka-chan! I'm so happy to see you today, do you want to share some cake?" Honey asked as he smiled sweetly over at Asuka.
Asuka stared blankly at Honey before answering.
"I don't like cake" she said blatantly and everyone shouted,
"DON'T SAY THAT!"
Next up was Mori but there wasn't even a point as both of them had just stared blankly at each other before Tamaki decided to move on.
Now sitting before Asuka was Kaoru...or was it Hikaru? Asuka didn't really know nor did she really want to try to think about it.
"How about you try starting off the conversation this time, Asuka-senpai? Preferably with a smile and a compliment" The twin said.
The host club watched as Asuka's lips had slightly twitched, and then that slightly turned into heavily as she seemed to be experiencing some serious malfunctioning.
"Stop that!" Tamaki yelled, creeped out by the look on Asuka's face and Haruhi just sighed.
"Kyoya how about you try? After all, you and Asuka have spent the most time together. Maybe it'll be easier for her to converse" Kyoya looked over at Kaoru with a curious glance before shrugging.
"It doesn't hurt to try" he said as now he had taken the seat in front of Asuka.
For some reason, Asuka felt her heart begin to beat a little faster. It was as if this time it was...different? Sure she was somewhat used to talking with Kyoya but having to talk to him in such a set up made her feel awkward.
"Hello, Asuka. If I must say, you are looking quite lovely today" Kyoya said with an effortless smile that made Asuka stop in her tracks.
Her thoughts had fled back to when they were all at the beach and the sun was glimmering around Kyoya. It was exactly like that moment but once again Asuka couldn't find the words she was thinking of.
The host club watched as Asuka had froze up even worse than before and her entire body, from the tip of her ears to the tip of her toes turned red.
"C-Can...cannot compute..." Asuka muttered.
"She turned into a robot!" Everyone exclaimed.
"Okay, maybe that's enough for today" Haruhi said and Asuka nodded her head vigorously in agreement.
"Wow, I guess it is harder than we thought" Hikaru said and at his words, Asuka's eyes turned down to her hands where she just stared at them.
"Sorry for wasting your time..." she muttered and Hikaru panicked as he saw the gloomy aura around Asuka.
"N-No, Asuka-senpai! You didn't waste our time!" Hikaru stuttered out and Tamaki just grabbed his baseball bat before striking a home run with it.
"You bastard how dare you make Asuka feel bad?!" He yelled.
Kyoya's eyes noted that Asuka truly did seem to feel bad about everything. Her lips were slightly frowning and her hands were clenched in her lap with her shoulders hunched slightly.
Pushing up his glasses, Kyoya opened his little black book.
"Asuka" he said and said girl picked her head up at the sound of her name being called.
"I think the problem with this is that this is a set up. You talk better when it's natural, no need to be forced to think of an answer under pressure, am I right?" Kyoya asked. Asuka shrugged her shoulders a little.
"I guess so..." she said and Kyoya hummed.
"So talk to me normally. What is it that you want to talk about? It can be the first thing that comes to your mind, and even if you don't think it's worth talking about, i'm all ears" he said while offering her another smile.
Asuka's eyes were widened slightly at Kyoya's offer and she briefly tried to think of something to talk about before speaking.
"I still think you look like the fish..." she said and Kyoya couldn't help but laugh at the statement. Of all the things she could have said, she's bringing that up again?
"Is that so? Why is that?" Kyoya said and Asuka had actually begun to compare their similarities and differences and even though Kyoya didn't necessarily agree, he still let Asuka speak her mind.
"Wow..." Haruhi muttered as she listened to the conversation going on between the two. There was a small smile on Asuka's lips and even Kyoya help an amused one as he listened.
Something was picking at Haruhi as she watched the two and when it hit her, she herself couldn't stop smiling.
"Asuka is finally talking...I'm so proud" Tamaki cried. Honey giggled at Tamaki.
"Kyoya really is one of a kind! He got even the reclusive Asuka-chan to talk!" Honey cheered and Haruhi smiled.
"Yeah, but something tells me there's more to it than we think" Haruhi said and Honey stared up at her curiously before looking back at the two.
"Hey...where's Hikaru?" Kaoru said suddenly realizing that his brother isn't in the room.
"Well with the home run Tamaki-senpai made, he could be anywhere" Haruhi said and Kaoru sighed.
"Oh brother..."
