Hello! I'm on a serious creative-roll for some reason! I couldn't stay away from my laptop today! This is a little bit of a filler chapter, but we get to see interactions outside of the Host Club! Please let me know your thoughts! Tell me who you think Meli's romantic interest should be!

Also! I am using modern technology in this fic! I can't deal with early 2000's tech, so we're giving the Host Club a minor upgrade.

"Nani, are you home?" Meli called into the entry way. This mansion still didn't feel like home, and Meli felt that it never really would. The design was similar to their house back in Kapa'a, but it didn't have the same feeling that a home normally would. There were no memories preserved in the walls, no past footsteps in the hallways.

"Yeah, I'm in the living room," a voice called from down the hall. Meli discarded her school bag and shoes at the door, knowing that the maids would quickly move them to her room. Maneuvering through the tall corridor, she found her way to the room her sister occupied.

Nani was older than Meli by 4 years, which was physically evident by her tall stature and sharper features. Meli had inherited the opposite features, with a round face and short height, only meeting her sister's shoulders. They shared a few similar traits, their amber-brown eyes and wavy dark hair. Nani resembled their father's side of the family and Meli their mother's.

"Hey Nani," Meli said, standing in the archway. Nani looked away from the book in her lap.

"Hey Honey-bee! How was your first day at Ouran?" Nani cleared her schoolbooks from the couch, making a spot for Meli to sit down. Despite the love-seat on the other side of the room, she wanted her sister by her. The move had taken a toll on all of them, being no longer near your close friends really makes you rely on your family for comfort. Meli plopped down next to her sister and propped her feet up on the coffee table in front of them, letting out a huff.

"Well, I think I made some friends. I'm not quite sure how genuine it is though."

"What makes you say that?" Nani asked, turning her body in on Meli. The younger girl searched for a way to explain the situation. Both Haruhi and Honey said that they were her friends, but she wasn't sure if it was for real or if it was because she now knew Haruhi's secret.

"So, to summarize, and correct me if I'm wrong, you are indebted to the Host Club because you knocked over an expensive vase, and they are making you repay it by being a host? And they all assumed you were a boy based on your appearance when they first met you, and didn't realize you were a girl until it was too late?" Meli stifled a laugh as she tried to get a grasp on Haruhi's situation. "I'm sorry for laughing, but this doesn't even seem like something that would happen in real life!"

Haruhi only shook her head with a small smile. The two of them were leaving the building after the school-day had ended.

"Yeah, and I'm sorry for involving you in all of this."

"No, it's okay, really! It was my own doing, after all, I was the one who stayed after club hours to wait for you, you didn't do anything that put me in this situation. Besides, I kind of like the Host Club! Maybe I'll request you some time," Meli added with a shy smile, but quickly realized that Haruhi might not like the sudden advancement and tried to backpedal her previous statement. "I mean, it must get tiresome of having tons of girls fawn over you, maybe you'd just like friendly talk- oh gods, I'm just digging myself into a deeper hole!"

Haruhi laughed at Meli's flustered state, offering Meli her hand to hold as they continued down the main pathway.

"No, I think I would appreciate it actually. You're my friend Meli."

Meli blushed at the memory of Haruhi holding her hand. Do I like Haruhi? No, she's just a friend!

"Well, the teacher assigned another student to help me for this week. Her- I mean his," Meli was unsure whether she could tell Nani about Haruhi's situation. She was sure that her sister wouldn't tell anybody, but the thought of Kyoya catching wind of Meli spreading the secret didn't please her. There was something hiding behind that boy's charming smile, something sinister that she didn't want to ever have to come face to face with, and thus she decided that Haruhi's secret was better kept away from Nani. "His name is Haruhi. He's super sweet! He showed me all around the school grounds and took me to all of my classes."

"He sounds nice, but why don't you think he's your friend?" Nani readjusted herself on the couch again, taking a bite from the bowl of food she had on the coffee table. "Does is feel like forced friendliness? I knew those rich kids would be rude to you."

"Nani, we're not exactly in poverty," Meli said, gesturing to their lavishly decorated living room.

"No, I mean, compared to the other kids there, we aren't at the top of the totem. I'm just saying that, comparing ourselves to them, our family is still 'new money.' Most of the kids there have had family fortune for several generations, ours only started with tutu*."

"I get that, but it isn't like that. Haruhi is actually there on a scholarship."

"Oh," Nani said, her cheeks darkening realizing her remarks were rather harsh.

Meli combed through her hair with her hand and loosened the ribbon about her neck.

"It's just that, I don't know, it feels like I'm a novelty right now, being a foreign new student and all. I feel like this will wear-off, and I won't have friends later. I mean, when I went to the host club, the girls all wanted to talk to me instead of-"

"What the hell is a host club?" Nani cut her off. Meli bit her lip, unsure how to word her answer correctly.

"It's um- well, it's a club where these boys entertain the guests that come in." She hid her face in her hands, suddenly remembering what they were wearing when she was greeted by them. "I know it sounds bad, but it isn't like that! They just flirt and drink tea!"

Nani shrugged and took another bite of food before responding.

"Some people are just into weird things."

"Nani!" Meli exclaimed, throwing a pillow at her sister. The older sister laughed, and shoved Meli's shoulder.

"Hey, I'm just messing with you! No need to get defensive." Nani tossed the pillow back to her sister. "So, what did you do at this host club? Any cute guys?"

"Nani, you are too old for them!" Meli giggled, face turning pink. She knew her sister wasn't actually interested, but rather liked embarrassing her little sister. "I sat with one of the boys and ate cake, nothing romantic happened." She purposely didn't mention the moment Tamaki melted her heart with a simple touch. "And for your information, they are very cute. Enough about my day, what about your business classes?"

"Oh you know, the usual. I had a couple lectures today, which weren't too interesting. I really just want to get into the branch instead of taking these classes at the university. I prefer to learn in the moment instead of three-hour lectures," Nani huffed, hugging one of the pillows to her chest.

"I'm sure you'll get to go in soon. Daddy just wants you to know the fundamentals before you go charging into the conference room." Meli could see her sister's deflated mood. She knew how frustrated she was, not being able to actually do things hands on.

"Yeah," Nani let out a sigh. She suddenly perked up, the look of an idea crossing her face. "Do you want to go shopping?"

In less than half an hour, the two sisters had been chauffeured to the train station, taken the line into downtown, and were now standing in front of the designer shopping center. Large crowds of people bustled about the streets and neon signs lit the area.

"Did we need to take the train, Honey-bee?" Nani inspected her blouse for any stains, to which Meli giggled.

"Yes! We need to have to true 'tourist in Japan' experience before we completely settle in!" The younger girl was completely taken by her surroundings. The pair of them loved to go on shopping sprees together, even though could have clothing made custom for them by personal tailors, there was something special about spending ungodly amounts of money on frivolous items. Meli grabbed her sister's hand and proceeded to pull her into the building. "Oh! This reminds me that I need to get a dress for the party!"

"You've been at school for one day, and you've already been invited to a party? And I thought I was the extrovert between us," Nani remarked with a laugh.

"Well, I guess you could say I was invited…"

"Can I count on your attendance for our party, Miss Kealoha?"

It had been a few minutes after the whole fiasco of Haruhi's secret being let out, and the rest of the hosts had taken to putting the rest of the room back in order.

Meli looked up at Kyoya, who had was writing down on his notepad. She knew that he wasn't really asking, more reinforcing that she needed to be there in order for them to 'keep an eye on her.' She merely nodded before answering verbally.

"Yeah, I'll just need to find something to wear." She was sure he didn't care about that last part, but he nodded anyways. I'll also need to brush up on my formal dancing skills. She hadn't taken formal dancing since…well ever. She was used to doing performance dance, where every move was choreographed, not dancing that required trusting you and your dance partner to do whatever while remaining formal. She enjoyed freestyle dancing, but she had a feeling the skills she had in that department wouldn't be appropriate in the setting of a party thrown by the Host club.

"Ah, princess, we'd be so happy for you to make an appearance!" Tamaki called from across the room.

"Thank you, senpai! I'd love to get more involved here at Ouran!"

"Perhaps you'd care to join some of the sports teams? I'm sure given your skills, you could easily qualify for the top tier volleyball team," Kyoya said, hardly looking up from his papers. How does he know- "Don't be shocked, Miss Kealoha, I like to keep tabs on all of our clientele."

A shiver ran down her spine when she caught glimpse of his sinister smirk. She didn't stay uneasy when she was suddenly being twirled about by her small-statured senpai.

"Do you hear that Takashi? Meli-chan is coming to the party! We'll get to dance together and eat all sorts of yummy treats and cakes!"

"Nani, why aren't you letting me pick out any dresses? I'm the one going to the party after all."

The two girls were now wandering through a store. Nani was picking out the dresses, while Meli trailed behind, carrying at least seven ballgowns.

"Because," Nani started, pausing as she examined the bead-work on a new dress. "You and I both know that if you picked out what to wear, you'd look like Picasso's and Dali's artwork had a love-child."

"Would not," Meli huffed.

"Would, and you know it." Meli couldn't argue too much with her sister on this topic; she knew that Nani was correct; she didn't exactly have the most sophisticated sense of style. "Be thankful that you wear a uniform at Ouran. If you had to dress yourself every morning, I'm sure just being a new student wouldn't be the only thing your peers would talk about." Nani added the dress to the pile Meli was carrying.

"Do you really think that these will look good?"

"Hmm…" Nani inspected a couple of the dresses in Meli's arms. "You'll just have to try them all on. Don't be worried if the don't fit, we can always send them off to get properly fitted."

Eventually they made it to the dressing rooms. The woman at the desk eyed them and their large stack of gowns before directing them to an empty room with several mirrors around a pedestal. Nani excitedly shoved Meli behind the curtain, telling her to get changed.

Meli sighed looking at the amount of dresses her sister had pulled. Shaking her head, she started with the light blue dress adorned with crystals around the bust. Stripping herself of her normal clothes, she pooled the gown on the floor and stepped into the center opening. The material was silky-smooth and hugged her body from the chest to her mid-thigh. It was a mermaid style without straps and dipped in the back to just above her tailbone, exposing her back muscles.

She wasn't very self-conscious about her strong body; in fact, she was proud of it. It showed-off her hard work and dedication to the sports she played back home. However, she was sure that most of the girls at Ouran didn't have the same muscle definition she had, they were all rather slender and petite.

"Did you get lost in your dress or something?" Meli heard her sister ask from the other side of the velvet curtain.

"Give me a second…" Meli replied, adjusting the fabric around her legs, and pulled back the curtain, walking up the pedestal to look in the mirror. Nani instantly came to her side with her phone out to take pictures.

"Oh my gosh! Meli, this one is so pretty on you!" Nani began going into different angles. "Honey-bee, pose for me please!"

Meli laughed at her sister's antics, but posed none the less, moving her body around every few seconds.

This continued for the next hour, Meli trying on a different dress and Nani taking pictures. Meli was sure they were being obnoxious to the other patrons at the store, but didn't care about them; she was having fun with her sister.

"So, which one will it be, Honey-bee?" Nani asked as Meli changed back into her normal clothes.

Meli wasn't sure which one to pick. She loved the light blue mermaid dress, as it was the closest one to her gaudy fashion sense. The light pink one was also a favorite; it had a more 'ball gown' shape, as the skirt had several layers and a crinoline lining underneath it, and had a high-low cut that started just above her knees. She also really liked the sunset orange dress. It was more simple than the rest; it didn't poof out very big and it wasn't covered in crystals; it had a gradient effect, starting at the bust of the dress in a deeper orange, that gradually became lighter at the bottom; the material hugged her body, but only to the hips, where the skirts flowed freely.

"I'm not sure, but I really like these three," Meli answered, taking the three dresses with her. Nani was silent for a moment, looking at her sister's choices.

"I suppose we'll get all three then," Nani said, grabbing the dresses and making her way to the counter. Meli didn't protest but felt a little bad about buying all of them if she would only end up wearing one. Nani handed over her credit card to the woman at the counter, not really paying attention to the price that rang up, knowing that their father wouldn't care too much at the sudden expense.

As the girls rode the train back to Bunkyo with their shopping bags, Meli stared out the window at the sun that had nearly disappeared against the horizon.

"Do you have any plans for tomorrow? With your new friends and all?" Nani asked, a teasing inflection in her voice at the last part.

"Haruhi said that we could go over the notes from class. I invited her- him to come over after school. He has to learn how to dance properly for the party during club hours."

Nani only nodded before going back to texting, no doubt it was to her friends back in Kapa'a. Meli checked her phone as well, seeing a few new messages from her friends too. She opened the group chat, seeing several messages from Celina, Lani, and Lokela.

Cleina: I hope your first day goes smoothly!

Lani: Well, considering she's like 12 hours ahead of us, her day is already over

Lokela: its actually more like 19 hours

Celina: It's the thought that counts

Lokela: Have you made any friends yet?

Celina: I bet they can't replace us :P

Lani: Of course they wont! Nothing could break up the golden foursome!

Lokela: do not call us a foursome

Celina: good lord lani!

Celina: it's a QUARTET not a foursome!

Lokela: anyways…

Lokela: Meli please answer, I'm so bored

Lokela: it's too early to deal with this nonsense

Celina: meeelllliiii

Celina: I guess she found new best friends

Lani: we've been replaced D:

Meli laughed at her friends. She hadn't meant to ignore their texts, she was just so busy today, she didn't have time to check her phone.

Meli: hey guys! No, you haven't been replaced, I was shopping with Nani

Celina answered almost immediately.

Cleina: ah that makes sense

Celina: how was your day?

She thought about how to respond before typing.

Meli: I'll tell you all about it over skype when I get back to the house. I'm on the train rn

"Hold on, hold on! You went to a what?!"

Meli sat cross-legged on her bed. She took a bite from the food her maid had brought her a few minutes ago when she started her video call with her friends on her laptop.

"It's a host club." Meli watched Cleina's face contort in confusion and Lani's light up in excitement. Lokela didn't seem too bothered by it.

"What, is it like a strip club?" He said casually. Lani shoved her brother with a pillow. Meli laughed at their antics on the screen. Gods, she missed them so much.

"No you idiot! It's where handsome men entertain women! Right, Meli?" Lani said excitedly.

"Yeah…how did you know that? I've never heard of one until I went to it."

"I read it in a manga once," Lani answered smartly.

"Weeb," her brother muttered, to which she gently smacked his arm.

"Of course, you would know about it Lani," Celina said, shaking her head. "So, what happened?"

"Umm, well…" She could tell her friends, right? They were across the ocean after all. Kyoya wouldn't find out... "I found out that Haruhi was actually a girl."

"Holy shit!"

"Language!" Lani exclaimed at Cleina.

"So now, they want to 'keep an eye on me' or something like that." Meli said, putting in air quotes as she spoke, rolling her eyes.

"Are they cute?" Meli looked at Lani, who was positively beaming. Only Lani would be interested in this; this situation was basically from a shoujo anime or something. Meli was silent for a moment, and her friends leaned into the camera.

"…Yeah, they are," she finally said, hiding her red face in her hands. Lani and Celina squealed while Lokela shook his head with a smile. "Listen! They're like, the most good-looking boys in the school! Of course, I'm going to find them attractive!"

"Who's the hottest though?"

"Lani! Don't ask me that!"

"What? It's not like we're going to tell them! We don't know anyone you go to school with."

"Okay fine!" Meli could feel her face get hotter; these were her classmates she was talking about! "Umm…okay, their leader. He's really pretty. His name is Tamaki; he's got blond hair and violet eyes…" She trailed off and heard her three friends laugh to themselves. "And this other guy, Kyoya, he's like the 'cool-type,' he's got dark hair and glasses, but he's like, kind of shady. Oh! And this other one, Honey! He looks really young, but he's a third year! He has such a sweet and cute demeanor. And his friend, Mori, he's like this stoic guy. He's super tall. I told you about Haruhi…And the twins! Yeah, the Hitachiin twins, Hikaru and Kaoru, are in it too."

Celina's face lit up.

"Hitachiin? As in world renowned designer Yazuha Hitachiin?" Meli shrugged. She wasn't as well versed in the world if fashion as Celina was. Her friend picked up her phone and began frantically scrolling, while the rest of them waited in confusion. Celina found what she was looking for and shoved her phone in front of the camera. Displayed was the Yazuha Hitachiin Instagram page, one of the latest pictures was of two red-haired twins in semi-matching outfits. Meli looked closer, recognizing the two boys in the picture.

"Yeah, that's them!"

"Meli, you're going to school with the children of my style idol! You have no idea how jealous I am!"

Meli laughed as her friend stared longingly into her phone.

"I should have recognized the last name sooner, I guess," Meli said, twirling a strand around her finger.

"Uh, yeah! This settles it then! Meli, when is the soonest we can visit you?!" Lani and Lokela nodded in agreement.

"Guys! I've only been gone for, like, a week!"

"Yeah, and you're already friends with fashion designers," Lokela retorted.

"Sons of fashion designers," Lani corrected.

"Who knows who else you know! You could be friends with inheritors of entire industry empires!"

"They aren't my necessarily my friends. They're just the boys at this club that I happened to go to!" She could feel her face heat up and tried to fight her obvious embarrassment by tilting her face away from the screen.

"Yeah, and they want to keep an eye on you! Girl open your eyes! You're going to be hanging out with rich hot dudes who are going to run the world someday, what more could you ask for?" Celina leaned forward.

"Maybe some sleep," Meli yawned, looking over at the clock. "It's already 10. I'm going to have to say goodnight, guys, I have school in the morning."

"Yeah, it's late here…well early, I guess," Lokela said, checking his phone.

"I miss you all so much," Meli sighed. "I love you all, aloha."

She waved a goodbye into the webcam as her friends said their goodbyes before shutting her laptop closed. She crashed back against the pillows, feeling warm all over, and quickly found herself wandering into her dreams.

What do you think? Don't worry, we'll get back to the boys soon enough.

*tutu - term used to refer to grandpa or grandma

For anyone who is curious, I chose the nickname 'Honey-bee' for Meli because the meaning of her name is literally that. I think its cute.

Also, in the text conversation where Lani refers to them as a 'foursome' and Celina replies that they are a 'quartet' is a reference to something that happened to me when I was in a production of the Wizard of Oz a few years ago. The director told me and my three companions that we 'had to get used to being a foursome,' to which we all replied 'we're a quartet! NOT a foursome!'

Please leave your thoughts in the reviews! I want to know what you think!