"I am rather upset that you did not show up at all yesterday," Kyoya says with a menacing glare. Ebira just looks up at him with a blank look on her face. "Do you have nothing to say for yourself?" he asks.
"I have a lot to say and none of it that you need to hear. I understand that we were really close the other day, but that does not make us friends," she tells him a little harsher than she meant to. She pushes past him and selects a couch that will be her domain for the duration of the club. Haruhi is nice enough to bring over a tray of snacks for her table. The tea and or coffee is her responsibility to make fresh for any guests that request her. Once that is done she actually pulls out some homework. That is the hope anyways, until a group of girls stops in front of her.
"Hello Ebira-san, I hope you do not mind, but we requested some of your time," the one in the front of the group says in a rather timid tone of voice.
"Not at all, please be seated," she says with a big smile. She stands and directs them to find seats on one of the three couches provided around the coffee table. "What would you three lovely ladies like to drink?" she asks politely.
"Do you have any green tea?" the blonde on the left asks.
"For you , of course," Ebira says easily.
"We will have the same," the other two say.
"Very well than, I shall be right back," she says with a slight bow. She walks away to the kitchen. It only takes her a minute to brew the tea, and set up the tray. She also places a small bowl of sugar cubes, a small bowl of honey, and a small bowl of lemon slices. That way the girls can prepare it to their preferance. The three girls smaile at her as she approaches the table.
"This looks lovely," the blonde says happily.
"Will you three lovely ladies do me the honor of telling me your names?" she asks them sweetly as they make their tea to their tastes.
"My name is Azami akiko," the blonde says very happily.
"Mine is Asuka Morimoto," the bubbly brunette says next and she smiles even bigger then normal.
The last girl is rather shy, and while she does say something, Ebira is not really able to hear what she says. "I am very sorry my dear, but I could not hear what you said," she tells the shy brunette. The girl's face turns bright red.
"My name is Ayako!" she says quickly and at a slightly higher than needed volume.
"Well, Ayako, it is a pleasure to meet you," Ebira says sweetly. the shy girl blushes a deep red. The rest of their visit proceeds smoothly after that, and the girls leave happy. Kyoya approaches her table, and makes a few notes in his black book.
"I think that you did a very splendid job for your first time," he says in a slightly prideful tone of voice.
"Well thank you for that little motivational comment," she says with a snarky little smirk.
"You may be very good, but Tamaki is still the best host in the club," he reminds her. He adjusts his glasses, before walking away. Ebira pulls out some homework, and makes it through most of it before another group of guests approaches. The rest of the first day is spent doing homework and entertaining groups of girls. By the end, she is able to finish all of her homework with time to kill. So she pulls out her sketch book, and starts to sketch the people around her.
"Could I sit down and speak with you?" Hikarou asks softly. Ebira looks up at him, and studies him closely.
"I suppose you may. Are you going to be rude to me again, and call me names?" she asks.
He takes a deep breathe, before sitting down next to her on the couch. "It was brought to my attention yesterday that my assumption of you were incorrect and hurtful," he admits solemnly.
"I am very glad that you admit it," she says.
"Kaoru insists that I apologize. He refused to speak to me at all today unless I do," he says further.
"So then you are not truely sorry for hurting my already fragile feelings? You just want your brother to speak to you again," she surmises.
"Basically, but you can't take it personally. I do not really like most people in general," he says with a shrug of his shoulder.
"I get that, but you need to try if you ever want to make other friends besides your brother and the hosts," she says.
"Look I came over and apologized. I hope you enjoy the rest of your day," he gets up and marches back over to his brother. I don't bother even looking towards them. I frown angrily at the picture I had been working on. The two identical boys are laughing at something, and Ebira rips the page out of her book, crumples it up, and throws it away in the nearest trash can. Then she scoops up her belongings and heads over to Kyoya.
"May I please go home?" she asks.
"Sure thing. The guests you see in here right now are the last of the day. Normally we would ask that you stay long enough to clean up your seating area, but if you are having a hard time with the twins the others will understand. We all had a difficult time dealing with them when they first joined," he explains.
"So, what, is it like a hazing period?" she asks him.
"I suppose you can say that. They will be used to you before you know it. Just give them some time," he tells her.
"Sure, I'll give them all the time they need," she grumbles before heading home. Haruhi stops by to check on her later, but she refuses to let the other girl in. It's been so long since she actually had anyone she could really rely on, that to have Haruhi practically following her every move feels sufficating.
She sends a text message to Kyoya, letting him know that she will not be at the club tomorrow, before turning her phone off, and going to sleep.
The next morning, she finishes all of the unpacking, then just relaxes on a coach with a book she has been meaning to read and a warm cup of tea. Being able to lounge in her favorite off the shoulder top and fuzzy slippers is a rare treat she will not pass up. But of course most things this good are doomed to be intterupted. No sooner did she get to the fifth chapter, there is a very loud and determined knocking on her front door.
She goes to see who it is. Of all the things she thought it could be, the Host Club wasn't even an option. But sure enough, there they all are. Looking worried about something. "Is there something I can do for you fine gentlemen?" she asks. They are of course speechlees, because she is just wearing an oversized shirt and underwear with her fuzzy slippers. There are even several bright red faces.
"I told you she was fine, but none of you wanted to listen to me. Now you are just staring at her," Haruhi points out. Tamaki, the twins, and Honey all turn around really quickly.
"I needed to see that you were ok. After you sent that message to me last night I was not able to get a hold of you, and that caused the others to worry as well," he explains.
"You couldn't get in touch with me because I turned my phone off. I do that sometimes. I may seem like some young delinquent with an easy life, but that is not the case. Sometimes I just need to be alone, and have peace," she explains. She turns away from the hosts, and walks to her room to put some pants on. she makes sure to leave the door open so that they can come in while she is getting dressed.
"I see that you finished unpacking," Haruhi calls from the other room.
"Well yeah, it needed to get done. There hasn't been much time between club activities, memories, and studying," she calls back.
"This is surprisingly a very nice place," Hikarou says looking at the pictures on her walls.
"Thanks, I guess," she says. Now that she is wearing pants, the others can look at her without becoming beets.
"So, your a girl?" Honey asks.
"Well yeah, I certainly don't remember having the equipment for being a boy," she teases him.
"That is no way for a lady to speak!" Tamaki yells with a red face.
"No duh, I am not a lady. I am a female," she says with a sly smirk.
"That is not what I mean!" the loud blonde says.
"Any way, is there any other reason you lot decided that interrupting my book and cup of tea?" Ebira asks the group.
"We were just worried about you," Honey says with big watery eyes. He is staring up at her, and clutching his bunny close to his chest.
"Well thank you Honey. But I was hoping for some peace and quite for today," She tells the smaller boy. He nods his head.
"I get it. You just don't like us enough to have us over," he says with several sniffles. Ebira clutches her chest as it hurts from his teary expression.
"That is not it and I thought you knew that," she returns fire with her own watery eyes, and trembling voice.
Then the host in Honey came out, and he comforts her. Then he realizes what just happens and giggles a little. "Come on Takashi, we have a few things to handle at home anyways," Ebira watches as the two boys leave.
"Now that took some serious skill," the twins say in awe.
"There are not many that can out talk honey when he uses the puppy dog eyes," Tamaki says with an equal amount of awe.
"Alright, well how about the rest of you come over to my place, and I will cook food for you," Haruhi offers, and just like that Tamaki and Hikarou are up and out the door. Kyoya follows at a much slower pace. To her surprise though, Kaoru hangs back.
"I was wondering if you wanted any company?" he offers. For a full minute the two stand there, staring at each other closely.
"Sure," she finally agrees, and closes her apartment door. Though when she turns the lock it makes Kaoru really nervous. "What would you like to eat?" she asks as she heads towards the kitchen.
"Would it be ok if I wanted to learn how to cook?" he asks.
"Sure, anything in particular?" she asks.