- Chapter 4: The Shaquille O'Neal Of Lying -
I stared wide-eyed at everything as we made our way towards the train station. Blue skies, fresh air, people passing us every once in a while, traveling to their next destination. We made our way onto the trains, my hand tightly gripping onto Haruhi's sweater as we sped away on the tracks towards our own destination. I looked at the girl in a lumpy brown sweater and thick-rimmed glasses next to me. She ruffled through her bag, not paying any mind as to how tightly I was gripping her arm. The hand around my own bag wasn't shaking. However, I had another piece of gum in my mouth and my knuckles were white. Just breathe, Sasaki. This is fine. It's fine. It's normal for a normal student. We are going to do this every day. We're fine-
"Sasaki? We get off here." Shaken from my anxiety, Haruhi and I stood up, walking our way towards the school. The place where the adventure was just beginning.
-And now they're at school skip-
Haruhi kept gently placing her hand on my chin and trying to close my mouth as I stared in awe at the scene before me. Grand, pink buildings with intricate details surrounded us as we walked towards the academy.
"THiS iS wHeRe wE-" I trailed off.
She smiled and nodded, "I was a little shocked at first, but you get used to it quickly." What the hell did I get myself into? The androgynous brunette dragged me there before the bell could ring. Tons of people everywhere I looked. I gulped nervously, then realized I swallowed my gum. I quickly pulled out another piece and popped it in my mouth. Time flew by as my nerves took hold. My knuckles around Haruhi's arm gripped her sweater tightly. My other hand protectively clutched at my bag. The world seemed to be brighter than it had been back at the house. I don't remember talking to the headmaster or receiving papers. Haruhi was my savior. She was calm and collected about the whole process.
As we left the office, my breathing began to get ragged, and I wiped the sweat from my neck. People looked our way as Haruhi dragged me by the hand down hallways and corridors. The feeling of their eyes burning into my back. Whispers all around us.
After what felt like barely any time at all, I rammed into Haruhi's back as she came to an immediate halt in front of a classroom. She stumbled forward a bit, but caught her footing as I grabbed her, pulling her backwards into an upright position.
"Sorry! S-sorry! Oh god! I- I'm so-" Haruhi paused, her thick glasses blocking her eyes from my view. I grimaced and squeezed my eyes shut, preparing myself for the slap I was going to get. A moment passed. I opened my eyes a bit and saw Haruhi with her forehead tilted to the side, peering at me with a quizzical look on her face. Her brown eyes filled with concern and confusion. It disappeared as soon as I trailed away, rapidly chewing my gum.
"It's alright Sasaki. I'm the one who stopped so suddenly. You're not to blame." Her voice had a calm and soothing tone to it, like telling a child that they weren't at fault. She walked into the classroom as I paused outside the entrance. I took a few shaky breaths. One step further into the unknown. I mentally chuckled. I've already gone this far - might as well keep going. Anxious, I could hear my rapid heart beats pumping in my ears. I slowly steeled my nerves, taking deep, slow breaths to calm and regain control of myself.
Haruhi and I introduced ourselves to the class. Rather, Haruhi kept her cool while I stuttered through my name. I don't remember exactly what I said. All I remember was being told to sit in the seat closest to the back of the classroom. Far away from the windows. Whispers and stares were directed on both of us. Outsiders in a strange domain. Plain folk in a land for the rich. It felt like being back in the streets, except these were unknown streets that one wasn't familiar with. Everything was too clean, too pristine, too… rich. Slumping in my chair, I relaxed a bit, glad that the focus wasn't on me anymore. As the teacher started their lesson, I had another problem; the blackboard was so far away that I couldn't make out any of the writing. I tried squinting at it for a good minute, but gave up. It was futile. I sighed, and began to doodle, letting my mind wander aimlessly as I tried to see the window from my corner seat, past the heads of others.
-Another time skip cuz this is my fanfic and I'm lazy-
The school bells began to chime, pulling me out of my reverie. Exasperated, I breathed a heavy sigh of relief and collapsed onto my desk.
"This is too much to handle," I muttered under my breath. Suddenly, I felt a hand suddenly come down on my shoulder. My head shot up and my body recoiled in reflex. Doing so, I swatted the intruder's hand away. The invader, in turn, startled and jumped away, eyes wide and clutching their hand.
"What the heck! That actually hurt!" he cried at me, as someone who looked identical to him came over, a concerned look on their face. I jumped out of my chair immediately, bowing as low as I could and sputtering out a half-assed apology.
"Are you okay Hikaru?" A carbon copy of the boy said.
"I am, now that you're here to care for me." The first redhead assured the other, holding hands as their faces inched close. I stared agape as the two fawned over each other. Haruhi looked at the two with a quizzical expression on her face, glancing back and forth between me and them. The brunette's eyes were shielded by the thick glasses she wore. Some of the girls let out squeals of delight at the display before us.
"Come on, Sasaki. Let's get out of here." Haruhi said, dragging me by my collar as the twins kept serenading the girls in front of them. I caught my footing and followed Haruhi around the school, sticking another piece of gum in my mouth as students passed us. I peeked over the brunette's shoulder, peering into the library. A large room. People, everywhere. Talking and laughing. Noise. I gulped, slowly backing away from the entrance.
"I-I don't really wanna go in there-" I stuttered, rapidly chewing the fruity flavor. Haruhi nodded in agreement and closed the door, muffling the chatter on the other side. I let out a quiet sigh of relief as we marched to another library on a different floor. I squatted against the wall, resting my feet for a moment. Who knew this school would be so large? The tall windows seemed to loom over me as Haruhi checked a third library.
"Let's just go back," I said, standing up and stretching.
"I want to wander around some more." The brunette mused. "You can head back if you want." I nodded and turned to head off. I took a few steps before pausing.
"Haruhi-" I turned around to see she was gone. Oh god she was gone. I looked around wildly, and began running down one hallway after another.
Half an hour later, I submitted defeat to the enormous school. Sitting on the steps of a staircase, looking up at the beautiful paintings on the ceiling. The sky was beginning to turn crimson and purple. I stared at it, entranced by the colors that painted their way across the sky. I was far too terrified to ask for directions. They would have laughed or scoffed at me. My stomach grumbled in annoyance. I lifted my nose. What was that? Turning my head, I smelled a faint scent of something other than fresh air. I let my nose lead the way, moving my body towards the delicate smell of what smelled like flowers. There were flowers outside before, maybe this was the exit! Hoping for some food, I grabbed my bag and stumbled my way over, hoping it was an opening to an exit.
It wasn't an exit.
Inside was a colossal-looking room with tables and couches and all sorts of stuff. Many tables were filled with girls, sitting and chatting amongst themselves. I peeked my head in a little more, still unsure of what lay ahead.
Staring at the people before me, one guy tossed his blonde head back and made eye contact with me for a moment. My eyes widened as I backed away from the door, slamming it shut. No no no no no this was-
"Shit!" I cried as I tripped and fell over my own bag. Pain blossomed from my butt.
"Dear prince, did you get hurt?" A boy's voice asked. By now, the blond-haired man was in front of me - on one knee - trying to help me back up. I shook my head from the pain and opened my eyes, staring back into his soulful purple ones.
"Ah, but you're no prince! You're a princess!" he cried, and sparkles seemed to radiate from his body. Was he a vampire? I thought only vampires sparkled. He offered a hand to me and I hesitated for a moment, before taking it slowly. How could someone's hands be so soft?
Suddenly, I felt my entire body being dragged into the room. I could sense everyone's eyes on me. More than in class. More than I had ever known in both of my lives. I could feel my face flush as people shuffled over to take a look at me and ask the blond-man where he "found this cute stranger." I felt my mouth instinctively start moving up and down, but the gum was gone. I scooted backwards, away from the noise. Away from the ruckus. This is too much. I should've just gone back to my place. I'm safe there. Not here. Not here. My eyes bulged a bit, and I could feel my face heat up even more from the overload. Haruhi saw me and I silently pleaded with her to take me away. She understood the look in my eyes. I stretched out my hand to her and she helped me up, my knees suddenly feeling like giving out as she chastised the blond man for scaring me. Wait... Haruhi?
Looking up, I jumped a bit at all the new faces but stood my ground, hand still locked onto Haruhi's shoulder for support.
"I'm terribly sorry for scaring you off, princess," the blond man Haruhi had called "Tamaki" said to me, getting down on one knee and taking my hand.
"We only wish for you to be happy, here at the Ouran Host Club!" I blinked a few times. I could have sworn that there were roses in the background as he winked at me.
I blushed a bit at his compliment and he went on, twirling around and crying, "But why is this princess wearing the uniform for boys! She should be in nice dresses like the princess she is!"
Haruhi deadpanned and one of the twins from class started, "Isn't that," "sexist, boss?" the other finished. The blond man called Tamaki stopped his twirling suddenly and ran to a corner, squatting on the ground. He started sulking as the others just sighed and turned to me again, not paying the dramatic blond any mind.
"So, what's your name?" one of the boys asked. I turned to him and opened my mouth, when I was cut off by one of the twins.
"This is Sasaki. She's the new student in our class." The boy with glasses pulled out a black notebook from out of nowhere and began listening and began to read out loud.
"Let's see... Sasaki Junzo. Age 16, blood type is O-, birthday is July 22, height is 5'4 or 162.6 cm. And... Well, this can't be right. It says here that you're a male?" he questioned and everyone turned their heads to the side, confused.
"Uhmmm..." I gulped. Do I tell them the truth or not? But… this can be my little secret. I was a girl in some sense. Just not physically… Plus, Haruhi was in a boy's outfit as well. I'm sure other students did the same thing. I saw no reason for there to be a rule that dictates what you should or shouldn't wear. All I need is time. Time to figure out who I am, who I want to be and where I want to go in this new life. No one needs to know. I had already screwed up by coming here. Might as well dig the hole deeper and see where I end up.
I smiled sheepishly, and blushed a bit.
"They... They messed up when I filled out the papers." I shifted from foot to foot, trying to act more girly.
The twins looked at each other in realization.
"So that's why you're wearing the male uniform!" They smiled at each other, understanding. I looked past the group surrounding me and noticed that the girls were all gone. Leaving me and Haruhi with this so-far wild bunch of guys.
A tiny boy came up to me and tugged on the edge of my jacket.
"Ne, Sasa-chan! Sasa-chan! Do you like cake?" I swore there were tiny pink flowers surrounding him.
Smiling innocently at him, I asked, "What's cake?" The entire group sweat dropped and the little boy started to tear up at my response.
"WAAH! POOR SASA-CHAN!" He jumped into the arms of a taller boy, with a stoic face and clutched his pink bunny tightly.
The tall boy made a deep "hnn" and comforted the tiny blond. Suddenly, I felt a bunch of arms grab me and held me, their faces nuzzling into my hair. I froze in place, not used to the physical contact.
"Poor thing." one twin said.
"I can't believe you've never heard of cake!" wailed Tamaki. Haruhi gave me a sad smile and asked
"Would you like to try some?" I backed up a bit and nodded, curious about what this cake stuff was. The little blond boy suddenly leapt out of the tall student's arms and clung onto me and started swinging me in circles around the room.
"YAY! I know you're gonna like the cake we have today! Cake is amazing! You'll love it, Sasa-chan!" Flying through the air, I grinned at him, glad he was so enthusiastic when mid swing, I suddenly felt my feet make contact with something.
A crash.
I suddenly stopped being swung around and found my balance leaning against something. I couldn't tell what it was because my eyesight was dizzying. Out of nowhere, the object I was leaning on became unbalanced with my weight against it and tumbled to the floor. I tried grabbing it.
I was able to feel it.
But it slipped out of my fingers and went shattering against the floor. I stared at what was now a broken statue of Buddha. The entire statue in smithereens.
"Oh boy, Sasaki-chan. That was a pretty expensive statue of ours." one twin remarked.
The other added in, "On top of that, you also broke a custom-made tea set while swinging around with Honey-senpai."
"In total, you now owe us a total of $20,522,013 yen," added the megane. I kept staring at the mess I had made. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a broom and silently walked over to it, my face blank completely devoid of emotion. I started to clean up the mess I had made. After sweeping, mopping, and throwing out the shards of both priceless works of art. I contemplated how much money I owed them.
Wait... Did I hear it right? 20 million yen? The word million echoed around my brain for a moment before I fell on my knees, the numbers finally sinking in. I swear if this was an anime, my soul would have left my body and I would have been an empty shell from the shock.
"Guess it finally sunk in, huh," said the twins at the same time.
The little blond boy came up to me and poked at me while Tamaki asked me, "How on Earth are you going to pay us back? Do you have any wealth? Or are you a commoner like Haruhi?"
"As far as we can tell boss, she's a commoner," chirped the twins.
"She doesn't even have a uniform from Ouran. Just a fake one." as they circled around, examining me with piercing golden eyes.
I sat up, finally coming to terms with the fact that I screwed up. Big time. I had no way to pay off these guys and would be stuck paying them back. My grandchildren would still be paying them back after I was gone! I tugged my feet into my chest and curled up into a ball.
"Kill me now, because I'm done saving myself," I whined. Haruhi gave me a funny look as I said that, but Tamaki was already figuring out how I could repay this newly found debt.
Suddenly, he exclaimed "I know! Since you don't have the money you'll have to pay us back with your body! Starting today, you are a member of the Host Club!" He smiled brightly, momentarily blinding me. I blinked my eyes a couple of times.
Silence.
"wHAT?" I shrieked.
"Uhmm. If you want, I can pay you $262,000 by selling my kidney!" All the hosts paled at the thought of doing that.
"We don't want any bodily harm to come to you while you're a member of this club, Junzo-san," remarked the boy with glasses.
I made a sheepish grin and rubbed my hand against the back of my neck, "Yeah, I guess not." I looked up at him and for a moment, the glare off his glasses went away. In its place were a pair of brownish-grey colored eyes.
"Plus, what fun would that be with our new toy!" The twins exclaimed, both on either side of me, their faces, very close to my own. I blushed profusely and took a few steps back.
Tamaki pushed them off of me and yelled, "Back to business! What job to give you? Would you like to be the maid? A female butler? Or a Host?" Quickly, before anyone could speak for me, I cried "Host! Please..."
I didn't realize the actions that would come with saying that.