Mami's inner thoughts
People talking in unison
I own nothing but my own characters.
"But Mami! You have to help us protect Haruhi's secret!" Tamaki had tears streaming down his face. He had pulled me into the Host Club room as I was walking to the library to get some work done. Physical Exams were the next day and Tamaki was freaking out about how to save his 'daughter'. Just last night he was gushing over how cute Haruhi would look in the girl's school uniform.
"I'm sure you guys have it covered. Besides, I'll be on the opposite side of campus, I won't be much help." I couldn't help but glance at the elaborate plan Tamaki had wrote on the chalkboard in the middle of the room. Tamaki's plan is to pretend that he's Haruhi? Does he not realize there is a huge height difference?
"She has a point Tamaki. Class B will be having their examinations on the West side of campus while Class A is in the East wing." Kyoya explained sending Tamaki into a dark corner to mope. I just shook my head and headed toward the doors.
"I promise I'll come over as soon as my physical is done. I really need to go though, Tamaki. I have a lot of work to do from missing all those days." Honey suddenly jumped on my back almost knocking me over.
"Takashi and I will help you, Mi-chan! We're not hosting today and we didn't get to help you before." I glanced up to look at the taller senior. I felt kind of bad that Honey volunteered them both but I would appreciate the help.
"You don't mind?" Mori just shook his head. Honey dropped down from my back before grabbing our hands, pulling us out of the third music room. He skipped happily ahead of us, humming to him self as he led us toward one of the libraries.
"Mori-kun, are you going to tell Tamaki that his plan is never going to work?" To my surprise, he chuckled. I don't think I had ever heard him laugh before; it was nice and made my stomach do flips.
"No."
"I can't wait to see Tama-chan in a wig." Honey giggled. I couldn't help but laugh with them. I don't know what Tamaki had done to deserve such a prank but he probably earned it if even Mori was in on it. As we continued to follow Honey, I realized something.
"Honey-kun, the libraries are the other way."
"I know Mi-chan! They don't allow cake in the library." He pouted a bit at the thought of a cake-less place before perking up again. "So we're going to go study at my house and eat cake together~!" I sent a quick text to my driver letting them know I wouldn't need them to pick me up from school today as we climbed into Honey's limo. I wasn't surprised to see that his limo had a case filled with small cakes inside. I like sweets as much as the next person but Honey really takes it to another level.
Honey sat right next to the cake case for easy access and started to munch on the treats happily. Mori sat next to him, pulling out a novel from his bag. It had a picture of a traditional samurai on horse back on the front. I settled in next to him, happily taking a slice of cake when Honey offered. Honey continued to munch away happily on the cake, the case slowly becoming more and more bare.
"Oh! Mori-kun, I almost forgot." I dug around in my bag and pulled out the freshly clean and folded jacket. "I had it cleaned for you. Thank you for letting me um… borrow it." Mori gently took the jacket from my hands and placed it in his lap. He rewarded me with one of his rare smiles.
"You're welcome." Someone is talkative today.
"Mi-chan! We're here!" Honey bounded out of the car with amazing speed. I followed after him, stopping short after seeing his house, well more like estate. It was huge. From what I could see it was made up of several traditional Japanese style buildings.
"All of this is your house?" I was used to big houses but this seemed to be a bit much.
"No silly. Just that one is mine." He pointed toward the biggest one of the property. "The rest are other Haninozuka families. We also have three dojos! Takashi lives next door too!" Right, Tamaki mentioned that they were cousins. I guess it would make sense for their families to live so close together. Honey grabbed my hand and excitedly led me toward his house, stopping only to allow us to remove our shoes and put on slippers before continuing further into the house. Eventually he stopped at a room that looked like a dinning room. Honey pushed me on to a cushion next to the low table before taking one for him self.
As soon as we all sat around the table, a servant came in with a tray filled with cake. I wouldn't be surprised if this was an everyday thing. Honey happily ate the offered cake while explaining how to do the math problem. He was amazingly good at math, doing the calculations in his head in a few seconds while I struggled to get the correct result with the help of my calculator. He was patient though, never getting frustrated or making fun of me for making simple mistakes.
"Ugh!" I stretched my arms up above my head, trying to loosen up my tight shoulders. I had gotten a chunk of work done but I needed a small break, my brain felt like it might explode. "Oh! Do you guys want to see pictures of the our newest addition at the rehabilitation center?" I was scrolling through my phone trying to find the pictures when the sliding door slammed open. I let out a short scream from the sudden loud noise, dropping my phone in the process. I could feel my face growing warm when the two boys looked at me with a questioning look.
"Mitsukuni, prepare yourself!" In the doorway stood a younger boy with golden-brown hair and glasses, dressed in a traditional gi. He looked like larger version of Honey. He got into a battle stance, his light brown eyes focused only on Honey, who had put the cake he was working on down.
"Hi Chika, do you want some cake?" The younger boy didn't answer; instead he threw himself at Honey with a flying kick, which Honey easily dodged. Mori pulled me away from the table to the safety of the far wall. He didn't seem too concerned with the intense battle that was happening before us. Honey continued to dodge that younger boy's advances, landing a few blows here and there. It was amazing to watch how naturally both of their bodies moved and responded to their opponents attacks.
"Mitsukuni wins again." I looked up at Mori, tearing my eyes away from the battle for a brief second before turning back to see what he was talking about. Honey had knocked the boy back with a staff he had pulled from somewhere, causing the boy to fall on his back. He began to brush himself off with a sour look on his face before the sliding door slammed open once again.
"Yasuchika!" A tall dark haired boy who looked strikingly similar to Mori raced in and hit the brown haired boy on the head with a shinai. "You shouldn't be so rude to your brother especially when he has company over." The dark haired boy turned to me and bowed deeply, forcing Yasuchika's head down, with a loud protest. "We're sorry for intruding."
"Satoshi." With a single word from Mori, Satoshi let go of the younger Haninozuka. Yasuchika grumbled under his breath as he nursed the bump forming on the top of his head.
"Sorry, Taka-nii! We were training and he slipped away." He pulled Yasuchika into a headlock, which caused the dark blonde to protest.
"It's okay Sato-chan! This is our friend Kusumoto Mami. Mi-chan this is my brother Yasuchika and Takashi's brother, Satoshi."
"Oh so you're the Mami, Taka-nii is always talking about!" Satoshi grinned widely. I glanced up at Mori, trying to picture him talking about me. His face was stoic as usual but his eyes were narrowed just ever so slightly. I looked back at the younger boys.
"I can see the family resemblance."
"I LOOK NOTHING LIKE HIM!" Yasuchika yelled, his fists were balled up. I'm not ashamed to admit it, but I was terrified of this middle schooler. Satoshi was quick to scold him, knocking him upside the head again, causing tears to pool in his eyes.
"What were you going to show us Mi-chan?" Honey asked smiling sweetly, bringing my attention back. I hurriedly picked up my fallen phone, fumbling a bit.
"Oh, we recently had two Siberian tiger cubs born at the rehabilitation center and they just opened their eyes." Honey and Satoshi rushed over behind me as I pulled the photos up. Mori simply leaned over to catch a glimpse. Honey and Satoshi cooed about how cute they were and squealed with delight when I played a video of the two cubs playing with their first ball.
"Baby tigers." Yasuchika mumbled under his breath. His body was tense but a light blush brushed across his cheeks.
"Chika-chan! Come look at how cute they are!"
"Cute things are for the weak." The younger brother crossed his arms and turned away from Honey, refusing to look at him. I watched as Honey's face dropped slightly. The room fell into a moment to tense silence, I wanted to say something to comfort my friend but I couldn't figure out the right words to say without setting Yasuchika off again.
"I should probably head out though." I broke the silence after glancing at the time. "I'm going to visit Ojiisan tonight, I don't want to be too late." I gathered my things "Thank you so much for your help. It was really nice to meet you, Satoshi-kun, Yasuchika-kun." I bowed slightly toward the younger boys as the older ones started to get up to walk me out.
"W-wait." Yasuchika said suddenly, catching me by surprise but he quickly gathered himself. "I'll show you the way out, I don't want to be near this freak any longer."
"Thanks Chika! See you tomorrow Mi-chan." The younger boy grumbled under his breath again and stomped out of the room. I looked back at the other boys, silently pleading for them to come along. However, Honey just shrugged with a sad smile while Mori was holding back Satoshi from hitting Yasuchika again. With a small wave, I reluctantly followed Yasuchika out the door.
We walked together in an uncomfortable silence, I could tell he wanted to say something but I was afraid to poke the beast. The younger boy made me nervous. He was angry and unpredictable. He attacked his own brother out of nowhere! I just fiddled with my ring and hoped that my driver was already waiting for me so I wouldn't have to withstand the awkwardness for much longer.
"-tiger." His voice was soft but it broke through me scolding myself for being scared of a middle schooler.
"Huh?" Yasuchika's face was flushed pink once again. He refused to look me in the eye but repeated himself a little louder this time.
"Can I see the baby tigers?" His blush deepened as he rushed to finish his explanation. "Only because I want to see your rehabilitation efforts." I pulled my phone out yet again and showed him the video of the cubs. He took off his glasses as tears filled his eyes.
"They're so cute." He hurriedly brushed the tears away. I pretended not to notice them. Yasuchika was more similar to his brother than I had originally thought. Preteen boys were one species I don't think I'll ever be able to understand.
"If you want I can send you more photos of them and our other babies. So you can see the result of our efforts." Apparently that was the right thing to say because Yasuchika looked exactly like Honey in that moment but he hurriedly collected himself, though he was unsuccessful in getting rid of the blush on his cheeks. He gave me his number quickly, while still trying to play cool, and I sent a few photos over with the promise of sending more. He looked at the pictures on his phone with such delight. It was hard to believe that this was the same angry teen that had snapped at his brother just moments ago.
"Thanks for walking me out Yasuchika-chan." He pulled his eyes away from his phone, realizing I was still there while he was gushing over the tigers.
"Don't tell Mitsukuni-nii." Yasuchika said quickly as he composed himself.
"My lips are sealed." Besides, I'm still terrified of you.
I walked down the hall away from where the physicals for my class took place, lost in thought, thinking about my visit with Ojiisan yesterday. He was having a good day yesterday. We spend the night looking over old photo albums as he told me stories of each person. If you didn't know it, you wouldn't believe anything was wrong with this mind, he was so bright and lively. Every thing was starting to look up.
"Agh!" My foot slipped out from under me, causing me to stumble forward before I just barely managed to catch myself. On the floor lay what looked to be a hand puppet in the shape of a cat. I picked up the piece of cloth and brushed it off. "I'm sorry for stepping on you, Beelzenef. I didn't see you there."
"You found Beelzenef." I let out a small yell whipping around to see a figure peering around the corner cloaked in a large black robe that succeeded in covering all but the bottom half of his face. The person was grinning at me, which made my face heat up even more. He must think I'm an idiot. Not only had I yelled out of surprise yet again but I was caught talking to a puppet.
"Oh! I'm sorry, Nekozawa-san. I didn't mean to step on him; I wasn't paying attention to where I was going. I tried to clean him off for you." The words were coming out as fast as my heart was beating. I held the limp puppet out to him, as I got closer. He took the puppet and slipped it on his hand, making the cat wiggle around a bit.
"It's okay Kusumoto-san." He grinned. "I see my curse on Matsuura worked."
"You knew?" I asked after a beat. He nodded.
"You see a lot in the shadows. The black magic club helped me perform a curse on her." I didn't have it in my heart to tell him that it was actually Kyoya that had made her disappear. He was so happy that his curse had worked, and who knows, maybe it did.
"Thank you for your help, Nekozawa-san. Please thank your club members for me as well." I bowed in thanks. "I'm sorry about leaving you alone in class last week as well. If there is anything I can do to make it up you, please let me know." His grin grew.
"Actually, Kusumoto-san, you could help. What do you know about Lotería cards?"
"This is the room Kyoya said they'd be in." I said out loud to myself double checking the note vs. the number on the door. I had rushed over to the East wing, just like I promised Tamaki I would, after chatting with Nekozawa for a while. I opened the door to see the boys surrounding a disheveled looking man in a doctor's coat. Haruhi was finishing buttoning up her school shirt while Tamaki was shirtless for some reason. Though that explains why he made me help him apply those temporary tattoos last night…kind of.
"Mi-chan! You came!" Honey bounded over, hugging me around the waist. "I grew 2cm, Mi-chan~!"
"That's excellent Honey-kun. What exactly did I miss?" I asked taking in the strange scene that was happening around us.
"We protected Haru-chan from the perverted doctor who was looking for his daughter at the wrong school!" That somehow explained everything and nothing at the same time.
"We've got the real pervert here!" The twins declared as they finished tying up Tamaki.
"Mami help me." Tamaki cried, trying to wiggle out of the ropes. I went to step forward when a hand on my shoulder stopped me. Kyoya looked down at me with an evil look in his eye.
"Not yet. Let him suffer a bit more." Tamaki must have really messed up this time.
Author's note
Thank you all for the kind reviews and all of the favorite/follows. When I first started this story I never thought so many people would like to read it, let alone make it one of their favorites. I'm so thankful for all of you for supporting me.
I'm having a bit of writer's block with the next chapter. I know what I want to do but nothing really seems right, mostly because I have a hard time writing the twins. That being said, if anyone has anything they want to see happen, please let me know. I'm always looking for inspiration.
I also really wanted Mami to meet Yasuchika and I couldn't wait any longer. I like to think that even though he tries so hard to hide his love of baby animals to everyone that he would unintentionally let his guard down around Mami because she's super non-threatening (I mean she's still terrified of him). Eventually, I like to think that she is a huge help in setting up the Animal Breeding Club that Satoshi and him start later on in the manga.
I hope you continue to enjoy the story!