...I got really inspired for this fic, so here's chapter two! Please sit back, relax, and enjoy the show!
They. Wouldn't. Leave. Her. Alone.
Everytime she turned a corner? Orange.
Everytime she sat down for lunch? They trapped her between themselves.
Even when she went to the library in an attempt to study, they were always there!
After going on for what felt like weeks, (it was three days), Ren blew up. "STOP FOLLOWING ME!"
"But we just want to be friends! I don't think you realize how many people would love to be in your shoes." Even with the twins leaning far too close into her personal space, they didn't catch her mutter of, "That's why, you idiots."
The amount of people, specifically fangirls, that would try cozying up or blatantly hating her was already headache inducing. She was completely fine with being the girl of rumor, mainly due to the fact that everyone would eventually lose interest. But with all the attention coming from the famous Hitachiins?
Shoving them away, Ren massaged her neck while trying to think of what to say. "Then why don't you bother someone else? I'm not special, and again there are many who'd want to be in this position. I am not one of them." Plus don't you have Haruhi by now? She had an actual uniform now, so shouldn't they be hanging off the new host?
"That's what makes you so interesting! Originally we thought you were nothing," They ignored her sarcastic gee, thanks, "but you managed to tell us apart and really don't seem to like us either. It's weird!"
"Have y'all never had people dislike you before?"
"Well probably, we just didn't really care then. Also, y'all again?"
"Why do you guys care about my opinion on you? And yes, got a problem?" Ren bristled, feeling the familiar rush of embarrassment from using the slang. "It sounds weird when you guys say it!"
"Say what? Oh, you mean y'all?"
"Stop!"
"Only if you let us hang around ya!"
Ren sighed, practically feeling the growth of the gray hairs increase dramatically. "...Fine. Show me your hands."
The twins complied, wearing matching cheshire cat-like grins. "Of course!"
"So you promise to never say y'all in my presence ever again, correct?"
"Promise!"
"I'm definitely going to regret this, but… Fine. You can… be around me, I guess." You'll get bored soon enough anyway.
"Aye aye, captain!" She narrowed her eyes in suspicion, they were being way too… compliant than she thought they'd be. Ah, who cares. It wouldn't matter in a little bit. "Whatever. Do you guys know of a good place to study at least?"
"As a matter of fact, we were heading there right now!" They both hooked arms with Ren, and dragged her up to the infamous Music Room #3.
"Wait no, I can't, I can't..!"
A rush of rose petals had her coughing violently, trying to breathe but the swelling of her tongue was relentless. "Welco- Is she alright?"
The Hitachiins were stunned, and all they could do was keep holding her up while her eyes watered and she held her mouth as if to keep from vomiting.
"I'm calling my doctor, she's going into shock. Tamaki, call the Kamiya house, they need to know." Kyoya ordered, and Ren all but slumped over to the ground. "Ro- it's… roses…"
"Roses?"
"Allergic?" At her weak nod, Kyoya immediately called Haruhi to sweep away all the flowers and move the vases. "Hikaru, Kaoru, take her out of the room. Honey, bring her some water."
Turning around, he put a smile back on his face to apologize to the guests. "I'm truly sorry ladies, but we have an emergency. If you wish to reschedule, please write your name on the paper by your table. Everything will be taken care of shortly."
It was almost scary how efficient he was.
The Ootori family doctor was not pleased in the slightest to be called for a person who wasn't in the family. Still, he did his job and did it well because the heir gave him no choice.
"Just because this incident happened does not mean you two are off the hook. You know full well when club activities begin, yet you were almost half an hour late." Kyoya, while Ren Kamiya was being treated for her extreme allergies, was busying himself with scolding his fellow hosts.
His glare softened when he noticed the twins still looked incredibly guilty, most likely not even noticing he was talking to them. That's when Kyoya let Tamaki take over, because despite them calling him 'mommy,' he was nothing like a mother.
"Seriously you two! You've got to pull yourselves together!" The host club president Tamaki Suoh complained, but it helped pull them out of their dazed state.
All they could do now, was wait.
The phrase, 'wake up and smell the roses,' has always seemed ironic to Ren. Mainly due to the fact that it would usually be the opposite order for her, though the meaning of the idiom tended to apply as well. To realize the truth about one's situation, or to become aware of what is really happening.
The first time she woke up and smelled the roses was when Ren realized she had been reborn.
The second was when she figured out this was previously a fictional world.
And the third? When two members of a certain host club kidnapped her.
Maybe she hadn't completely known what their plan was. Maybe she was too cocky that they'd leave her alone. Maybe… they genuinely wanted to be her friends.
Oh.
Wasn't their whole backstory that they didn't let people in because no one could tell them apart? While Ren just… knew.
She was stupid. Really and truly stupid.
Was she really so dense to not notice the loneliness?
Hikaru and Kaoru had crafted these beautiful masks, but only for those who didn't bother looking behind it all. So why was she content with that? Why didn't she try harder to see if it was truly them?
Ren gasped frantically, and finally opened her eyes.
"You're finally awake. Mr. Ootori and Mr. Kamiya are waiting in the hallway for you. Would you like for me to get them?" She nodded tiredly, not trusting her throat just yet.
"Ren! I was so worried, are you okay sweetheart?" Yuji Kamiya fretted over his only child, pacing around the room worriedly.
"She's fine and stable."
"You need to be more careful!"
"If I may," Kyoya interrupted, "the fault lies with two members of our club. They've come to apologize, so I ask that you listen." He glanced at the door, coughing intentionally when nothing happened. Then it opened slowly, revealing the guiltiest looking people Ren had ever seen.
In this life, at least.
"Ren Kamiya." She blinked, while Hikaru and Kaoru bowed deeply. "We're so sorry!"
"Hold on. Listen, it's my fault for not saying anything, you didn't know. Don't beat yourselves up over it, okay?" The Hitachiins looked up hopefully, and had… was that... tears in their eyes?
"Still..." Hikaru took the lead on this one, while Kaoru focused on getting the crying to stop. "It was clear you didn't want to go, and we should have respected that."
"I… appreciate that, actually. Thanks." She gave them a small smile, the first one she had since school started. If any faces got significantly redder, well… It was probably just the temperature of the room.
Nothing more.
I did some research on rose allergies, then exaggerated it because it worked for the plot. I'm sorry if it felt like it was too much! Nonetheless, I do hope you liked this chapter!
~ TheAngelicPyro