Stopping to note where she was, Haruhi scolded herself. In her daydream, the girl had wandered back to Class 1-A. Turning around to leave her former classroom, she bumped into someone.
"Ouch!"
"Ah, gomen..." Haruhi lost her tongue when she saw the other party. It was a boy with a crop of neatly-combed brown hair. However, what fascinated her was those pair of light-purple eyes. She had never seen the boy before; nonetheless, she felt her heart beating just that little-bit faster...
"Daijoubu ka? (Are you alright?)"
Haruhi stared at the boy. His voice was gentle, perhaps even more so than Tamaki-senpai, the King of the Host Club, she thought. Noticing the queer look the boy was now giving her, she nodded. He smiled.
"I'm sorry too, for bumping into you. Are you in 1-A as well," he asked as he walked towards the door of the classroom. This time, she shook her head.
"I'm actually a second-year student. I came back to my old class by mistake."
"I see." Before the boy entered the room, Haruhi did a very unusual thing.
"What's your name," she asked.
"Yamato, Kira Yamato. And yours?"
"Haruhi, Fujioka Haruhi. I'm in Class 2-A now."
"Ja! See you around then, Senpai!" The girl blushed. She didn't expect to be called that on the first day of school. Remembering the time, she hurried towards her own classroom...
After school, at the third Music Room...
"Ne, ne, Tama-chan, how was school today?" Being "free-lancers" now, Hani and Mori had been waiting for their juniors in the room. Suoh Tamaki smiled as he spotted Usa-chan in Hani's arms. The seniors may have left school, but some things just couldn't be changed.
"The usual. Now, time to prepare ourselves for the lovely ladies." The roses blossomed around Tamaki as he said those words. His deputy, however, had something else in mind.
"Not so fast, Otosan. We need to discuss an important matter first."
"It can wait, Okasan." Otori Kyouya pushed up his specs.
"No, it can't. We need to draw new hosts to the club, Tamaki." The blond quit fooling around. He had given the issue some thought towards the end of last year, but when the seniors made it clear to them that they would be staying, he chucked the problem to a corner (no pun intended).
"Takashi, what do you think about the juniors this year?" The seniors had doubled as guest teachers for the first-year students. Although it may seem odd to the new-comers that this little midget (Hani) was their teacher for the day, he quickly silenced their doubts (although he did encounter some problems while writing on the board; no, he didn't go into "cute" mode). For Mori, it was a skill which he desperately wanted to master: talking for more than one minute. Despite the giggles which could be heard whenever the students felt that the tall teen was awkward in his speech, Mori thought that he did pretty well, for beginners.
"I didn't notice their looks, Mitsukuni. Did you?"
"Ya, there's this boy from Class 1-A..." Hani was distracted by someone entering the room. It was the Hitachiin twins, and Haruhi.
"Haru-chan! Hika-chan! Kao-chan!"
"Why, it's Hani-senpai," greeted Hikaru. Kaoru smiled as his brother and Haruhi were swamped by the senior's questions about their day. Hikaru, despite his feelings for Haruhi, had yet to ask the girl out for a date. As for their beloved Tono, he's still into his "loving father" role at time; Tamaki himself knew that all of them were growing up, and tried to cut down on his silly ways.
The decrease was not nearly enough, for Haruhi that is. Right now, Tamaki was hugging her so tightly that she could hardly breathe.
"Tamaki-senpai..."
"It's been so long since I last saw you, Haruhi! Let Otosan hug you for a while longer," said the president with tears of joys.
"Tono, we just visited her two days ago," reminded the twins. Remembering his promise, Tamaki let go of the girl.
"Anyway, Mitsukuni, you were saying?"
"Oh, sorry, Takashi. This boy in Class 1-A, his name is Kira Yamato..." Haruhi found the name familiar. Where had she heard it before?
"Ah. That also brings me back to my point." Kyouya was a little surprised that Hani had managed to identify one of his potential recruitment targets. (Actually, Yamato was the only one so far; the rest just don't cut it.) Referring to his trusty file, he cleared his throat.
"Kira Yamato from Class 1-A. Second commoner to enter Ouran High School. Like someone we know, he's on a scholarship as well..."
"We have another commoner in the school? Wow." The twins tried to fake their interest in the topic. Haruhi, however, remembered the encounter she had in the morning.
"I've seen him before."
"You WHAT!" Hikaru and Kaoru were now fully awake. Tamaki resisted the urge to approach the girl with puppy eyes and ask, "How could you meet up with new people without letting Otosan know?"
"Haruhi, then you should realise that he would be an excellent addition to our team. He could share your workload, if you know what I mean."
"Kyouya-senpai, the thing is: How is the club going to get Yamato-kun to join us?" Haruhi certainly did not want to put another student through the horrors which she had endured in her first year at Ouran High.
"I'll be taking Kira-chan's class tommorrow. I'll help to persuade him!"
"Ano...Sumimasen." The seven hosts turned their attention towards the door. Haruhi was going to be reminded of her first day at Ouran a year ago, for a certain brown-haired boy had just poked his head into the music room.
"Yamato-kun?" As he scanned the room, Kira caught some familiar faces.
"Haruhi-senpai? And Haninozuka-sensei? What are you two doing here?"
"Kira-chan! Come in, come in!" Kira sweatdropped as Hani ran forward and led him into the room. Was he the same sensei who explained the day's Math formulae a few hours ago? And what's with the stuffed bunny?
"Haninozuka-sensei..."
"After school, call me Hani," insisted the short blond.
"Hani-sensei..."
"Now, that's something new. Right, Kaoru?"
"You nailed that one, Hikaru." Seeing that her fellow hosts were slowly (but surely) scaring Kira out of his wits, Haruhi quickly thought of an introduction.
"Yamato-kun, we are the Ouran High School Host Club." Although she had not planned for it, roses began to blossom around every single host, including herself.
"Huh?" 'May be a little dense', noted Kyouya in Kira's profile.
"I'm sorry if I interrupted anything. I was just looking for a quiet place to study..."
"Now, where have we heard that one before, Hikaru?" Kaoru was in a playful mood today. Haruhi felt her face reddening, although she quickly recovered. The introduction...
"Yamato-kun, these two are the Hitachiin brothers, Hikaru and Kaoru."
"I'm Kaoru..." (Actually, it was Hikaru.)
"I'm Hikaru..." (vice versa)
"Yoroshiku, Kira Yamato!"
"Wait, how did you two know my name?" Although Kira wanted to run out of the room right away, he couldn't help but be a little curious.
"Actually, Yamato, we wanted YOU to join our club."
"Oh, that's Otori Kyouya, our vice-president." Haruhi had wanted to add a few more descriptive terms, namely "shadow king" and "money grubber" (among others); she stopped herself just in time.
"Me? Joining the Host Club?"
"Yes, Yamato-kun!" Kira suddenly had this blond teen towering over him, with roses and other flowers blooming around him. Tamaki then went on jabbering away about beauty, wealth and lovely ladies. Haruhi winced. It was exactly the same things which he had told her before.
"That's Suoh Tamaki, our president." The girl found her tongue at last.
"And resident blockhead," added Hikaru with a grin. Tamaki retreated to his usual corner.
"Is Suoh-senpai alright?"
"Ignore him. This, as you know, is Hani-sensei. He's formerly from our club, along with Mori-senpai." Kira bowed to the two senseis. Mori bowed in return; he wasn't used to being treated like a teacher.
"Haruhi-senpai, what about you? Are you a member of the club as well?" Cue faster heartbeats for Haruhi. What's wrong with me, thought Haruhi.
"Yes, I am," replied the girl, not terribly proud of herself.
"But, if the Host Club is meant for girls, why are you a member? In fact, why aren't you wearing the ladies' uniform?" Kira had apparently paid attention to Tamaki's ramblings before they stopped. Noting the boy's words, the six male hosts surrounded the first-year student.
"Neh, Hikaru, what should we do with him?"
"I say we bash him with a baseball bat until he has amnesia!"
"Kira-chan! You're fast! Ne, Takashi?"
"...Ah." (Mori couldn't resist going back to his monosyllabic way of speaking.)
"..." Tamaki was shocked by the fact that a stranger had seen through Haruhi's disguise so quickly (by his standards), and was so calm about it.
"Yamato, since you know of Haruhi's 'secret', I'm afraid that you'll have to join us whether you like it or not." Kyouya flashed a smile at the junior.
"No! I don't have time for this!" Despite the intimidation of the twins and Kyouya, Kira rejected the vice-president's offer without a second thought.
"If you're thinking about your family's financial problems, the Host Club will pay you for your time here." As always, the Shadow King had all the information he needed to know at his fingertips. The new offer changed Kira's mind.
"When do I start?"
"Right now!"
Afterthoughts
-I'm sure all of you know who Kira Yamato is. If not... please watch Gundam Seed. Another Seed Destiny character MAY appear...
-Please RnR!