Ouran Academy was like a hive. Everyone had their place and their role. There was a king and a queen, and they came and went with every passing term. They abided by the rules: lineage counted first and wealth a close second. It was simple, really. Ouran royalty was as fickle as its student body, but most shifts in social power were predictable. Mitsukuni displaced the previous king and Kyoya would have replaced Mitsukuni. When Tamaki came to Ouran, he displaced Kyoya and Mitsukuni. Likewise, Hanako displaced Seika Ayanokoji as queen bee, and Seika took the first opportunity to regain her title.
Following the events of the Ouran Fair, the Ouran hive was abuzz with disorder. For the first time since Hanako's fall from grace, nobody knew what to do. Replacing Ayanokoji after Tamaki abruptly dethroned her in the spring had been surprisingly natural, and Renge's transfer to the school provided an easy solution to the vacancy.
However, as Hana made her way through campus this particular morning, it became clear that everyone in the school knew about her acquisition of her company. The re-establishment of her ownership had not been advertised nor kept secret, and word traveled fast among boys and girls with too much time on their hands.
Students couldn't seem to figure out if Hanako assumed Renge's favor the way that Kyoya came to be in Tamaki's or if Hana had entirely resumed her place at the top of the hierarchy. The chatter and confusion flying around the school reminded her of those days when Ayanokoji made a point of ostracizing her, but this time, Hana found herself less concerned with what they had to say. When she arrived at school that morning, her schoolmates either shunned or flocked to her, as if they couldn't make up their minds. Meanwhile, Kyoya intentionally parted ways with her when they arrived at the front gates, leaving her to fend for herself and deliberately showing the crowd that Hanako Negida stood on her own two legs.
It was a clever, subtle, and deeply meaningful display of support, and nothing less than she expected from the school's Shadow King. Although, Kyoya alone wasn't nearly enough to sway the entire student body.
"Hana-senpai!" a girlish voice called to her brightly. The enthusiastic greeting practically thundered over the messenger bees buzzing around Hana, and the new president of the Black Onion smiled despite the commotion. Renge made her entrance grand as usual, but the obnoxiousness of it had been carefully calculated in order to draw attention to them. It was sweet, and Hana couldn't help but notice the effort. "Congratulations on your new position!"
Renge's whole hearted greeting seemed to do plenty to settle the crowd, but she hadn't said it for their benefit. The light in her eye, and the skip in her step was enough to let Hana know that Renge's felicitations were for her alone. Hana smiled warmly and let her hand fall on the top of Renge's head, not unlike how it often did on the Hitachiins' auburn hair. "Thank you, Renge-chan."
The honorific attached to Renge's name seemed to give the younger student a spring in her step as she walked alongside Hanako. "You know, despite everything else that happened during the fair, you're all the school can talk about!"
"It's only because they're all scared about where they stand now that I have ownership." It was a practical and honest assessment. Finding the right balance between reality and fantasy came with time and experience, and Hana knew better than to give all of her peers the benefit of the doubt.
"Well, I think you should blacklist all of them for the way they treated you." Renge huffed and blew up her cheeks disdainfully.
Hana giggled at her friend's loyalty and judgmental nature. Although the assumption that Hanako would be in a position to punish all of the peers who did her wrong was completely off base, she had to admit that she liked Renge's fervent allegiance. "I'm not interested in being queen bee around here."
"Huh?!" Renge shrieked in disbelief, eyes going wide and jaw dropping. "Why not?"
Hanako turned her molten caramel gaze to her junior, and the gold flecks glittering in their depths danced with amusement in the early autumn light. "You're far better at it than I ever was."
Renge's jaw snapped shut, and her cheeks went bright pink at the unexpected praise. For the first time since Hanako met her, Renge fumbled over her words. "Is that really okay, senpai? You're older, and you've been a student here longer than I have."
"Ayanokoji-senpai was older than me when I took her place." Hanako shrugged, "Age has nothing to do with it, and it doesn't matter how long either of us has been here. This school is all about the wealthiest and best lineage, sure, but it's also about preparing students for the roles they're best suited for. You don't just become Ouran royalty by being rich and noble. Whoever is at the top of Ouran society needs to be charismatic, friendly, and energetic. More importantly, they have to want it, and that just isn't me anymore."
Renge blushed under Hana's attention and praise, and the oler girl thought she looked very cute. Renge had a girlishness about her that neither Hanako nor Haruhi possessed, and because of that quality, Hana knew that people would underestimate her. Not so hidden away was that lonely girl who played otome games alone day in and day out Renge had an awkwardness that she tried to hide with boldness, but at her core, Hana knew that Renge just wanted to have friends.. There were many qualities of Renge's that Hanako had come to admire, but the foremost were Renge's courage and willingness to grow – which was why she decided that Renge was ready to do more.
"Congratulations on your new position, Negida," a slick voice sounded from the path leading to the third years' courtyard. Hana tucked her hands in her pockets and glared over her shoulder. Komatsuzawa's gaze felt like grease over her skin, and she displayed her repulsion openly with a scoff, breaking her habit of holding her tongue for people who didn't deserve her restraint. After all, she wasn't Kyoya's little guard dog anymore. She didn't need a muzzle.
"It was only a natural acquisition," Hana lifted her chin proudly and regarded him with a disdainful smirk.
"Of course," Komatsuzawa replied cordially, sidling up the path like the snake that he was. "An eventful night, wasn't it? I don't think we've had a Fair that lively in quite some time. I heard the most interesting scoop about Kyoya getting into a bit of a spat with his father."
"What's a scoop worth when there's nobody to write about it?" Hanako pointedly spoke over his last syllable, and her eyes flashed a dangerous ochre that almost had him taking a step back. "How is your newspaper club doing these days, Komatsuzawa-senpai? Our club has been so, so interested in your editorials. I found the Halloween edition… fun."
Renge snickered beside her at the dig, and Hana's smirk widened as her condescending tone and thinly veiled threat chipped away at his slimy arrogance. His thick framed, square glasses deepened the harsh shadows of his glower. "I not surprised that the Host Club resorted to such a dirty trick to tie my hands," Komatsuzawa noted about his reflections on Kyoya's trap. "I always knew they were deceptive, superficial bastards."
"Watch your mouth." Hanako turned fully, taking a menacing step in his direction. It was enough to make his legs tremble as the object of her hatred. She could see him starting to sweat, but the look in his behind his lenses made no sense. The gleam in his beady eyes contrasted with the frightened grimace on his face, and if she didn't know better, she would have said he seemed exhilirated by the thought of inciting her wrath.
"We should get to class, Hana-senpai," Renge interjected. She caught Hanako by the elbow and wove her hand through the crook of Hana's arm, walking them past the journalist. It was a gentle reminder not to give in to his goading, and Hanako leaned into her friend gratefully. "He's just wasting our time."
Renge walked her all the way to the second year wing, and she made sure that as many people saw them as possible when she parted ways with Hanako at the 2-B homeroom. Hanako heard the whispers before she felt the stares, and she sighed heavily before making her way to her desk. Her stomach felt queasy now that she was alone and Renge had gone. Whatever comfort she had been able to find in the B Class at the beginning of the year was replaced by hushed exchanges of her peers.
"So, if Negida's president of her company, does that mean she'll be doing business directly with our parents?"
"Should we go say hi?"
"I don't want to get in trouble."
"It's not like you ever gave her a hard time. If you were one Ayanokoji-senpai's friends, though…"
"Hang on, we still don't know if it really changes anything."
Hanako tuned them out after that and let them debate whether or not they needed to befriend her. It was just another power shift, and everything would settle down sooner or later. Besides, she didn't care one way or the other. Hanako had been at the top, bottom, and middle of their school's hierarchy, and it didn't matter where her name fell. The people who mattered didn't care.
Hanako sat at her desk and noticed a familiar scent at her desk. Curious, she reached into the storage compartment below the surface and found a surprise left for her. Hanako's fingertips pinched the firm, green stems and moved the small bundle onto her desk. The whispers around her desk grew, and she laughed quietly to herself.
Hanako pulled the silk lilac ribbon free and let the bouquet of purple alliums and bright blue and orange roses fall apart while she gathered the hair at the crown of her head. Carefully, Hanako tied the front and top sections of her long strands back with the ribbon. Then, she picked up the card that came with the bouquet and read the note scrawled with Kaoru's loopy cursive and Hikaru's hurried scribbles again.
'We wanted to make sure you started the day on a good note.'
'We'll have a vase sent to your classroom.'
'P.S. Stop using that gross old hair tie.'
Hana picked up one of the obnoxiously large, spherical flowers and let it wobble back and forth on its stem. "Subtle," she noted with some sarcasm. Although, knowing them, it could have been much worse.
{OR}
The midday chimes flooded Ouran Academy, and morning classes came to an end. However, uncertainty flying around the Ouran hive did not, and the lunch recess only brought more surprises to the Class 2-B homeroom. An inharmonious holler joined in before the notes had even faded away.
"WAAAAAAAAIIIIIT!" The cry caught the attention of every student in the corridor, and before the instructor could even leave the room, Tamaki Suoh skidded to a halt in the doorway with a cloud of dust flying behind him. He quickly regained his balance and righted his posture, "Are you ready for lunch, Hana?"
Hanako raised a manicured brow, but the slight wideness of her eyes gave away her surprise, "I thought we were meeting at your homeroom?"
"Tamaki, I told you not to run," Kyoya's cool voice scolded as he joined Tamaki by the door. "Are you two ready? I heard that today's special has a chili beef dish, and I'd like to get there before the line forms."
"I don't think you've ever gotten stuck in the lunch line before," Hana remarked with amusement, forgetting her surprise altogether. The three of them started walking towards the dining hall together. They started with Hanako standing between them, and the trio of beautiful students conversed easily despite the chatter following them.
"Do you think Haruhi would like anything from today's menu?" Tamaki wondered. "I want to try to trade her for one of her lunchboxes."
"I'm sure that there isn't anything on the menu she wouldn't like."
"Haruhi may be a commoner, but even she can appreciate a five-star menu."
Tamaki bounded around Hanako and clenched Kyoya's shoulders tightly, "Kyoya! Don't say such things about my precious Haruhi! Why, just the other day she brought us a limited edition instant coffee from the grocery store!"
"You know that even Haruhi acknowledges how mediocre that stuff actually is, right?"
"She only says that because she's so humble!" The self-proclaimed father of the Host Club continued to bicker with his best friend, and the trio began walking towards the dining hall again. They continued in step, but Tamaki had maneuvered between the black haired boy and girl, placing himself at the center of their line. His exuberant back and forth with Kyoya drowned out the whispers that followed their trail. Neither Hanako nor Kyoya commented on the change of order, but they recognized just as well as anyone else what Tamaki wanted to get across to any uncertain onlookers.
Hanako walked into the dining hall with Tamaki and Kyoya as an equal. She flanked the club's president in the same way that his right hand man did. They fell in line and ordered their meals before finding the table that their first year clubmates had claimed.
"Oh, Haruhi!" Tamaki sang as he fell into the seat beside the girl, knocking Hikaru out of place by one seat and pushing the younger boy's tray across the table to the empty spot next to Kaoru. "What do you have for lunch today? I thought we could trade. Have you ever tried French food?"
"I'll never understand how it's possible that his mouth moves so much faster than his brain," Kyoya commented, gracefully settling into the seat across Haruhi.
"Ah, well, he thinks with his heart not his brain," Kaoru shrugged. He leaned back in his chair and looked past Kyoya on his left, scanning the room thoughtfully. Then, he looked up over Haruhi's head. Finally, he leaned back again and surveyed his right side. "Hey, has anyone seen Honey-senpai and Mori-senpai?"
The chairs at the end of the table were unoccupied, and there didn't seem to be any sign of the two oldest members of the club anywhere. "Huh? No, now that you mention it, I didn't see them at all today," Haruhi commented.
"Weird," Kaoru remarked around a mouthful of food.
"Jeez, don't they know how important today is?" Hikaru added, taking the seat he had been forced into by Tamaki.
"Huh?" Haruhi looked at her classmates questioningly and then glanced around the dining hall. "Oh, there they are."
Hanako looked up and followed Haruhi's gaze across the room. Mitsukuni and Takashi approached, but the taller of the two carried a tray in each hand while following the other. Mitsukuni's face in that moment reminded her a little bit of the expression he used to wear as the karate club captain. Stern and serious, it almost seemed unusual on his round, boyish face.
"Hana-chan," Mitsukuni started in a tone that matched his demeanor. The entire room seemed to quiet for him, and Hanako was reminded of the authority that the two oldest club members could command on their own. They deferred to Tamaki, but each member of the host club had the potential to be a king in his own right. The boy held out a sealed pink envelope to Hanako, and every pair of eyes in the room could see what it was. "Please accept this invitation to train with us at my family's private dojo."
Mitsukuni held Hana's gaze, unwavering despite the attention on them. After a moment, her blank expression melted and a soft smile pulled at her lips. She extended her fingers and took the crisp invitation from the other student, "I'd be honored to rejoin your family's dojo."
Instantly, the seriousness that the cousins carried disappeared, and a haze of flowery joy covered them as Mitsukuni threw his arms up, "Yay!" The boy skipped up to the chair beside Hanako and let Takashi set his tray down for him. The chatter rose back up around them after that overly dramatic display, and it seemed as if all was normal again.
"What was that about?" Haruhi wondered.
"Have you really not noticed?" Hikaru questioned in reply.
"What do you mean?"
The twins exchanged a look and shook their heads at her. "Since Hana's the new president of Spring Onion International," Kaoru started.
"She's not an employee anymore," Hikaru continued. "The school doesn't know how to treat her."
"All of the members of the Host Club are at the top of the school's hierarchy, so we've been doing everything we can to show everyone else here that Hana's as good as the rest of us. Didn't you see how Tamaki-senpai was walking between Hana-nee and Kyoya-senpai when they got here?"
"Yeah, didn't you notice that Kyoya-senpai took the chair furthest from Hana? You probably don't know this, either, but nobody outside of the Haninozuka and Morinozuka families is allowed to train in their private dojo. Apart from the Negidas, of course." Hikaru used an elongated spoon to point at his godsister's hairstyle, "The ribbon we sent her is from our family's private selection."
"Guess how much it costs," the devilish twins chorused with matching smirks.
Haruhi paled at the thought, "I don't even want to know." The brothers dissolved into giggles, and the Host Club's lunch table settled into a relatively normal conversation. Yet, Haruhi kept thinking about what they just said. It wasn't unlike her friends to flaunt their wealth or status, and she usually found their blatant elitism annoying. This time, though, she glanced down the table to where Hanako chatted with Mitsukuni and felt a twinge of pride in her club.
{OR}
The rest of the day passed quickly for Hanako, and by the time the end of the day chimes sounded, most of the chatter had died out. She received and returned some pleasant good-byes from her classmates and went on her way. It was the first time in a while that she didn't go straight to the music room for club activities. The summons she received during her last period took precedence. Hanako walked by the 2-A classroom on her way, continued through the hallway where she confronted Yoshio Ootori, stepped into the elevator, and rode it to the top floor.
She didn't spend much time in the office, and it never filled her with the same dread that Yoshio's did. The soft cushions and familiar pieces surrounded a man who exuded warmth and regarded her with a patience and understanding that he didn't even openly show to his own son.
"I'm afraid I must refuse, Chairman Suoh," Hanako declined with an apologetic dip of her head, sliding the paperwork across the man's desk.
"You have your father's modesty and prudence," Yuzuru noted wih a touch of approval for the young heiress of the Negida family business.
"It isn't modesty."
"Do you feel like an imposter now that you've lived the life of a servant?" he asked with genuine interest. Suoh men, it seemed, had a knack for picking up on the thoughts and feelings of the people around them.
"It isn't imposter syndrome, either. Even if I feel that I do belong, everyone will just see me as a servant climbing the ladder." A burning shame ate at her usually healthy ego, embarrassed at the admission. She knew the kind of derision that she would be met with if she accepted his offer, and she wasn't entirely sure that it was worth the trouble. They would be out of school soon enough, and then it wouldn't matter anyway.
"And what's wrong with that?" Tamaki's father prompted her. Her gaze widened a little bit, and she leaned back in the chair, physically taken aback by the question. It hadn't even crossed her mind.
The recognition in his face reminded her so much of Tamaki that she almost forgot where she was and who she was speaking with. "There is nobody in the school who isn't climbing that ladder. The connections that your company needs you to forge will be with students in the A classes. Just because you've reclaimed your company doesn't mean that you're in the clear yet, Hanako. There's still more work to be done. Now, what do you say to transferring into the 2-A homeroom?"
He offered her the pen again. This time, she accepted and signed her name on the transfer papers before thanking the chairman and excusing herself. The entire meeting ran ten minutes over the expected time, and she missed the club's scheduled start time. She walked through the halls with her hands in her pockets, and she considered how much this decision would affect the rest of their term. She caught herself reminiscing about the ways her friends had come to her aid, and throughout the day, they continued to out do themselves.
The feeling that filled her on the night of the Fair returned, and the sense of accomplishment brought a small smile to her face. She strode across the rose colored tiles, and the sound of her heels on marble bounded off the walls in empty corridors until Hanako finally found herself standing in front of that door. Gazing at the double doors with her head cocked to the side and hands in her pockets, she thought that she might burst with the pride rushing through her in that moment.
Everyone who found their way to Music Room 3 got something out of the Host Club, but nobody in the entire world had gained as much from it as Hanako Negida. The model reached out to the gilded handle, and for the very first time, Hana opened the door from the other side. The fragrance of roses in bloom flooded over her like a familiar blanket, and the softest petals caressed her skin as they rained down upon her.
"Welcome!" a chorus of angelic voices greeted in unison, and Hana found the hosts waiting in perfect formation. The hosts wore various athletic gear ranging from basketball to tennis to martial arts, and each held a matching prop. Kyoya stepped out of place first, holding a tennis racket in one hand and the worn, black clipboard in the other. He handed the padfolio to her, and she took it smoothly, smiling at the familiar weight and realizing how naked she felt without it.
"You're late," Kyoya chastised with exaggerated sternness.
"My meeting ran a little bit late," she replied lightly. She walked onto the service floor with him, flipping the book open and inspecting each section as she passed. They set up nets, mats, and fencing strips all across the room. Every represented sport could be played, and the guests could cheer for their host as if they were really watching the boys play. "Although, it seems you were all able to manage on your own." Hana's smile widened just a little bit as she realized with pride that she had been growing alongside them all this time.
{OR}
A/N... I'm sorry this took so long! I've been having such a bad time lately and had a good cry tonight. PSA to let it all out if/when you can and take care of yourselves. Writing is my self-care :)
I'm not sure if you've all seen my page, but I've finally included info about my fiction press, wattpad, and ko fi pages where I will be posting information about my writing style and my upcoming original projects! Not too much published yet, but I have a lot in the works! If you think you'd be interested in that, please check it out and follow!
Who are you hoping to read more of in this story?
Next time: A priority list