AN: before reading this, please note that the italicised and bolded initials are part of the Ouran HS 'groupchat' that the girls have

For example; J, K, O could be a random student. (This way I don't have to focus entirely on characterization for an O.C. that no one wants to read) So if a conversation as such follows:

J: I love toast

O: i hate toast dude

K: TOAST IS SO GOOD THO?

E: MY MOTHER WAS A PIECE OF TOAST HOW DARE YOU

You can see that each initial has a differing typing style. This won't vary much between the girls, as a lot of them are from similar backgrounds.

The girls at Ouran had been a flutter all day. Throughout the afternoon, like little honey bees, they jammed themselves into a corner of the hall to buzz about the hive's latest disturbance. Would they go to the club? Of course they would. Would they- they whispered this scandalous question amongst themselves- request a girl?

Kagome was a strange girl, at that. She, a commoner, had come back with Ouran's two most eligible bachelors and been made an official part of the club. It was bizarre, and unheard of. Higurashi, Kagome. Just a plain pauper poppet, racing up the staircase of hierarchy. She was beautiful, sure, but so was every other girl here. Why was a commoner so special?

Then again… there was the American girl who sat next to Kagome in class- Nekeisha Pierce- who had relayed an interesting reaction between the new hostess and Kyoya. Nekeisha was so excited to finally dish out unknown gossip that she stumbled a bit on enunciating her Japanese, but after finally getting the whole situation out the other girls looked just as stumped. From Nekeisha's recount, it almost appeared as if Kyoya had wanted to either make Kagome jealous, or embarrassed. Kagome's desk mate insisted it was the latter.

"No way. One, Kyoya was ignoring everyone else- I would know, I was waving him down- and two, Kagome wasn't even jealous. She looked…" Nekeisha stewed a bit. "I think she actually looked pretty happy at the sight of them together?"

"What if she and Kyoya are..?"

"Is that why his name changed?!"

"But if Kyoya was making her jealous with him and Tamaki..?"

While the girls collectively admitted that they were unsure which one it actually was, it didn't stop speculation. Was Kagome apart of it, or a part of it?

Whispers flew even faster when Headmaster Suoh was reportedly distant from his only child, but the gossip grew garbled upon seeing the man's signature stamp on the new club notice. Did he, or did he not disapprove?

Even stranger was the supposed trip that Kyoya and Tamaki had returned from. After the weeks of time off (randomly taken in the middle of the year, which they hadn't done at all their first year), the entire ordeal had been swept under the rug. No announcements, no new ideas on club themes- no one spoke or brought up the trip in any circumstance. No appearances reported in the papers, no photos, no media coverage whatsoever. No one had even known where the duo had gone, much less why they returned a trio. It wasn't until a few female students had thought to check in with contacts in France that they struck pay dirt: there had been no funerals in regards to either boys' families, but Tamaki's name had popped up in several notices in the papers. Most of the newspapers discussing the event had been mysteriously confiscated, but a few especially determined teams were able to send copies to their employers.

First the mention was tentative, as if the author didn't want to openly associate themselves with the heir. Then, the more articles that mentioned Tamaki began to mention another unnamed man: a young, tall brunet who wore glasses. He was confirmed to be of Asian descent. The articles grew more and more frantic in its plea for any information on the whereabouts of two missing young men, before all publication ceased immediately.

The explosion that information had caused was akin to a small bomb going off, but the girls tried their best to keep it to themselves. Frantically the buzzing in the halls grew louder and more desperate, until hall monitors began to scour the passageways for unsuspecting students, eager to assign study halls.

As the girls scattered, they murmured amongst themselves. Surely nothing bad had happened to the school's princely duo, right? They hadn't even left the country. Then why did the two of them come back with such a drastic change in appearance? And if things had gone so terribly wrong, why was every article they found about the incident only in French? What had kept it from coming to Japan? The girls of Ouran Academy were stuck in a phase of incredulity until one of them pointed out the author of the articles.

Anne-Sophie de Grantaine.

Tamaki's own mother.

It was the final clue to figuring everything out. Headmaster Suoh wasn't the one to stop word from spreading. It had been Tamaki's own grandmother, focused on Japan's opinion of her family image.

P: Wait a minute.

L: hm?

P: If they were both,,, taken, why didn't KYOYA's family look for them?

A: hey yeah, why wasn't the ootori police squad deployed? don't they have protocol for this exact scenario?

W: Because the Ootori family has an heir. He's the third son.

O: that's so wrong…

W: Yes it is. But am I lying?

Read 12:42 PM

At the end of the day, the girls at Ouran were just that: teen girls. They weren't inherently malicious, or cruel, or vindictive. The most they could be accused of was jealousy, or perhaps immaturity. A lot of them had struck up friendships with the members of the club in and outside of the brief time slot the club was open, and so were eager to come back. After the entire morning was spent gossiping, it was hard for the girls to push the theories from their minds but ignoring the idea of being kidnapped was harder. That knowledge, combined with then seeing the way Kyoya, Tamaki and new girl would orbit around each other without realizing it, had their schoolmates looking at every daily interaction twice.

Kagome had offered Tamaki a pencil in home room. When the teacher wasn't looking she would slide sheets of notes over to him so he could copy easier.

The three of them often sequestered themselves away with home cooked lunches.

Kyoya was reported watching the two of them interact, then was witnessed reaching in and tucking a strand of Tamaki's hair behind his ear, his hand lingering. Little gestures that made the girls want to crawl up the wall with how oblivious they had all been. All through the day girls had their phones confiscated because of the numerous pings! of the gossip grapevine.

J: It's… well, it's almost romantic, in a way, isn't it?

E: if u mean incredibly depressing, sure, go off

J: I MEANT that it's nice to see the three of them happy at least. IDK

J: This whole situation is kind of unprecedented

I: i wonder if they'll say anything? it'd be nice to know

P: I doubt it. The Hosts would never let us know if something was wrong- all they do is cheer up the girls.

The general opinion of Kagome had shifted from curious distaste to plain curiosity. In several group chats, it was generally agreed that the girls of Ouran would give the new hostess a chance. A few of the girls in the higher grades had formed a group to request Kagome in order to make sure she had an equal shot.

"It's what we did when they added in Haruhi," said a girl by the name of Jola. "I don't see why we supported him and not Kagome, too."

"Exactly," agreed another.

A young lady named Laurene, who was often found by Jola's side. "If… if what we read was true, then the Host Club needs our support! We should definitely book Kagome to give her a chance!" Laurene cleared her throat, embarrassed. "Right?"

"Right!" responded the girls.

With that agreed, the atmosphere in the room lightened up a bit, and the seniors huddled together in order to plan for their first afternoon with Kagome. Everyone seemed to be on board with it, whispering excitedly amongst themselves.

There was one question that bounced around the classrooms, carefully avoiding the Host Club's ears: what would be Kagome's shtick? Hosting certainly wasn't easy, no matter how the guys made it appear to be, and a lot of the roles had already been taken.

So what kind of hostess should they expect?

A.N. (another one, sorry)

So... what type of hostess should Kagome be? I was thinking she would have to be a really flirty, charming sort? Or maybe she completely flips their expectations by acting shy and sweet, but there's so many fics where Kagome is this demure waif. Nah. Sis is badass.

Also like I've said OCs don't matter in this story other than world building.

Also also I'm sorry if the pacing's weird or it seems jilted. Been struggling really badly w just getting out of bed in the last few weeks so I tried really hard to churn out this chapter. I'm really sleepy right now but I wanted to upload it so you guys can read asap :)will begin writing more if I can. want to respond to reviews but I'm really tired (2 AM and the melatonin I popped at midnight is kicking in finally) so I might do that next chapter. Would it be dumb to address all reviews, even from chapter one? I reread them all, all the time.

Thanks you guys, love you lots, Val