I get to class the next morning to find I'm a little early and no one else is there. I sit down and pull out my earbuds and book.
After a while, kids start wandering in. I don't pay much attention until I see two figures standing in front of me. I finish the paragraph I was reading and mark my page. As I pause my music and pull my earbuds out I look up to see Tamaki and Ootori.
"Hello Tamaki. Ootori." I add a little sass into Ootori's name.
"Hey Kairi. I told Kyoya and everyone else in the club" Tamaki informs me.
"Cool. Would it be wise to assume I should talk to Ootori about the specifics of what you need from me?" I ask Tamaki.
"Yes," Ootori answers. "While Tamaki may be the president, I calculate all the funds and handle the business side of the club."
Suddenly, the bell rings and the teacher walks in.
"We'll talk more at lunch," Tamaki says as he walks to his desk.
When the lunch bell rings, as promised, Tamaki and Ootori walk over.
"Will you join us for lunch in the club room? We can talk more in there," Ootori invites.
"I take it I don't have much choice in the matter?" I look at Ootori and he shakes his head. "Alright, let me grab my lunch and a notebook."
Tamaki looks at me funny. "Why a notebook?"
"So I can take notes," I explain.
After grabbing my stuff I follow them to Music Room 3. When we enter I see everyone is in there, even Haruhi.
"Tamaki? Why do I need to be here?" Haruhi asks.
"So you can have a say in our discussions," Ootori answers. "Unless of course you don't mind adding more to your debt."
"Fine," Haruhi grumbles.
I quickly notice a pattern. Ootori tends to answer questions about the club even when someone else is asked.
"Now everyone, I would like to introduce our newest member Himura, Kairi," Ootori introduces me.
I glance around and see Morinozuka. I immediately remember what happened last time I was here.
"Uh, sorry about before Morinozuka. You too, Hitachiin twins. I shouldn't have done that." I bow in apology.
"Don't mention it. We shouldn't have gotten physical to begin with," the Hitachiin twins said. "Right Mori?"
"Yeah," Mori grunted.
"Well, enough of that. I take it you'd like details on your job?" Ootori interrupts.
"Yes please." I pull out my notebook and take notes while we talk business. After we finish, I ask them all questions about the sweets.
"Do any of you have allergies? And preferences? Tamaki, I already know about you so don't worry about answering," I ask.
"I like anything sweet, Kai!" Haninozuka exclaims.
"Kai?" I ask.
"It's a nickname. Do you like it? I can call you something else if you want," Haninozuka panics.
"No. It's fine. You can call me Kai, I guess."
"Yay! And you can call me Honey!"
"Ok, Honey."
"And you can call Takashi, Mori!"
"Will do. So, Mori do you have any allergies or preferences?'
"No," is all he says. I get the feeling he only says the bare minimum.
"Ok. What about you Hitachiin twins?"
"Call us Kaoru and Hikaru," they said together.
"Ok. Kaoru do you have any preferences?" I ask the one on the left. They both look surprised momentarily.
"How…" Hikaru starts to say.
"I don't have any allergies. I tend to prefer sweets with a contrast to them. I'm not a fan of full on sweet," Kaoru answers.
"Ok. I'll keep that in mind. What about you Hikaru?"
"Same as Kaoru," Hikaru answers.
"Ok. Haruhi?"
"No allergies. I don't really have any preferences," Haruhi answers.
"As I expected from you. Ootori?"
"Call him Kyoya!" Tamaki exclaims.
"Ok," I begrudgingly reply. "Kyoya?"
"I do not have any food allergies. I'm not particularly fond of sweet things so I probably won't eat your food," Kyoya answers.
"Good to know," I grumble.
Fucking prick. He could've been nicer about it.
I smile at them. "Well. I have ideas now. I look forward to baking for you all." With that I grab my stuff and leave. As soon as the door closes behind me I practically run back to the classroom. By the time I get back to the classroom the bell rings signaling the end of lunch.
The next classes go by faster than ever. Before I know it the bell is ringing. As slowly as humanly possible, I pack up my stuff and walk to Music Room 3 with Tamaki. He wanted to walk me there so I wouldn't get lost.
When we get there, I walk straight to the kitchen and set my stuff down. I pull out the apron I had packed this morning and get to work. I kept in mind everything the other had said at lunch as I work.
I decide on 3 different desserts today. The first is red velvet cake. I based this on Honey's, Mori's, and Haruhi's tastes. I add lemon to the icing so it wasn't too sweet for Mori and Haruhi, as I suspected they wouldn't like it as sweet as Honey.
The second dessert is key lime pie. This has a lot of tartness to it that helps balance out the sweetness of pies. I base this off od Kaoru's and Hikaru's preferences.
The third dessert is almond chocolate fudge. I use dark and semi-sweet chocolate to balance out the sweetness. I remember Kyoya's 'distaste' for sweet things and Tamaki's love for chocolate. This dessert should satisfy both of them.
All 3 of the desserts also pair very well with tea and coffee, so even if the person prefers one over the other there's no issue.
After an hour and a half Haruhi comes in.
"Hey Haruhi," I greet as I cut up some more fudge.
"Hey. Just so you know, everyone really enjoys your desserts. I even saw Kyoya try the fudge and he looked a little surprised. He ate the rest of what was on his plate and a little more. One of the girls had me try the red velvet cake and I loved it."
"Thanks. I'm glad everyone is enjoying it all. I wish I could have seen the look on Kyoya's face. There!" I exclaim. "That should be enough desserts to last the remainder of the club time."
"What are you gonna do now? They won't let you leave before club hours are over. Trust me, I've tried."
"Well, I figured I'd probably do some homework. Either that or find some way to piss Kyoya off."
"Oh?" Haruhi raises her eyebrows. "Why would you do that?"
"Cause he pisses me off. He's a fucking [rick and I'd love nothing more than see him pissed off. Besides, someone needs to kick him off his high horse."
"Ok then. Well, I gotta go. More customers to serve. See ya."
"Bye." I walk over to my stuff and pull out my math homework. I'm really good at math and I enjoy solving the problems so I start there.
More time passes and I finally hear the doors close as the last of the girls leave. I put my stuff away and walk to the sink. I can tell a huge amount of dishes are about to come in.
Right as I thought it, Haruhi comes in with trays of dishes. She sets them down next to me and leaves. I start washing them and Haruhi comes back with more.
"Sorry about this. There are still some more," Haruhi explains.
"It's no problem. It comes with the job. There isn't a single kitchen you can work in where you won't have to clean up. I'm used to it."
"Ok. I'll help you after I finish bringing them in."
"It's fine. I get the feeling you have other cleaning to do, so go ahead and do that. Leave the dishes to me."
"If you insist?"
"I do."
"Ok. I'll bring in the last dishes and then go clean. I'll leave these to you."
"Ok." I offer a smile which Haruhi reciprocates.
Just as I start the last of the dishes Kyoya walks in. I turn around and greet him.
"Hello asshole. To what do I owe the pleasure this time?" I ask with as much sarcasm as I can muster.
"It would seem I'm to take you home today. Tamaki informed us all that we are to take turns giving you rides and they decided I would do it today."
"Lovely," I reply sarcastically. "Well, I'm afraid you're going to have wait until I finish these up. They're not gonna wash themselves."
I then proceed to turn back to the dishes and take as long as humanly possible. What was a 10 minute job, I make a 45 minute job. When I finally finish I turn around to see Kyoya sitting at a table. He looks rather unhappy.
"I'm finished. Let my grab my stuff and we can go," I announce.
I walk over, grab my stuff, and we leave. We get into his limo and head off. He pulls out his laptop and starts typing away. I glance over and see he's working on finances for the club. He does realize he has unnecessary large amounts of money he's spending on things he can get a lot cheaper that has equal quality right? Whatever. These rich assholes can go ahead and keep spending their fucking money. I don't care. As long as I get paid I'm happy. Besides, I don't wanna do anything to make that asshole's life easier. I hope he stays up till 4 in the morning trying to budget the club. Serves him right for being a fucking asshole.
I open up my bag and pull out my earbuds. I turn on music and text Ryoji.
+Hey "Ranka", how's it going?
-Shut up! I tell all her friends to call me that. I couldn't exactly tell her we know each other now could I?
+No, you're right. It just makes things slightly more complicated.
-I know. But you're smart. I believe in you.
+Thanks.
+Oh! What do you know about Ootori, Kyoya?
-Kyoya?
+Yea.
-Well he checks in with me to inform me about Haruhi and the Host Club. I know he's the 'brains' behind the club. He's from the Ootori family, who own many hospitals. He's the 3rd son of Ootori, Yoshio. His 2 older brothers are Ootori, Yuuichi and Ootori, Akito. He has an older sister Ootori-Shido, Fuyumi.
-Why do you ask?
+Oh, no reason. Is that all you know?
-For the most part. Since he's the youngest he has to work harder than his brothers if he wants to become the successor. That's pretty much the extent of my knowledge.
+Thanks! That really helps.
-No problem. Am I to assume you're not going to tell me why you asked?
+That would be correct. Oh, we just arrived, I gotta go. I'll text you later.
-Ok. Bye dear. We all miss you at Bits and Bites.
+I miss you guys too. Bye.
The car stops in front of my apartment.
"Well, thanks for the ride I guess. See you tomorrow asshole." I get out of the limo and walk inside the apartment.
"I'm home," I announce. I walk into the kitchen and see Uncle sticking something in the oven. "Hey Unc. Sorry I took so long. I was trying to piss someone off."
"Hi. Why does this not surprise me? Well, what did they do to you?"
"Well first of all, he acted like a complete asshole to me after meeting me. Then he threatened me to get me to join the Host Club. Then he accused me of something. And then he proceeded to act like an asshole towards me. So, I wanted to try and piss him off."
Uncle shakes his head. "When are you gonna learn to just forgive?" he mutters to himself. I pretend not to hear him.
"Is Aiko doing her homework?" He nods. "Ok. I'll go see if she needs any help."
I walk into our room to see Aiko glaring at her papers.
"Woah there munchkin. If you keep glaring at the papers you might set them on fire. What did they do to you?" I ask. Aiko looks over at me.
"Hi Kairi. This stupid math problem. No matter what I do I can't seem to figure it out."
"Do you want some help?"
"Yes please!"
"Alrighty. Let's take a look." I glance at the paper. "Ok. I see. Try solving this. I need to see where you're going wrong."
I then spent the next half hour helping her with her homework. When we finished the math homework, Uncle calls out that dinner is ready.
Tonight we have lasagna for dinner. I try to give them a variety of cultures so they taste things from everywhere.
"It's been a while since you've eaten with us Kairi," Aiko says.
"Yea. Sorry munchkin."
"It's ok."
"At least I have a new job that allows me to be here for dinner."
"Yea! I'm really glad you got a new job. I mean, I liked everyone at your old job, but you were rarely home. Now you're home a lot more. You even get to eat with us now!" Aiko starts eating her lasagna while I sit there and think about what she said.
Was I really gone that much? I didn't realize that was how she felt. I tried to be here as much as possible. Maybe I shouldn't have taken up his offer. Maybe I should've gone to a public high school. Something closer so I wouldn't have been gone so much. I could've tried to find a job closer. Then I wouldn't be as much under his control. Fuck. I really fucked up didn't I?
After dinner, I wash the dishes while Aiko finishes her homework. We have some cake for dessert and then Aiko goes to bed. While I'm in the kitchen making our lunches for tomorrow, Uncle approaches me.
"Hey, Kairi. Don't pay attention to what Aiko said earlier at dinner. She knows you were gone all the time because you were working. She doesn't hate you for it. She understands you have to work in order for us to live here and have food."
"But she was right. I have been gone a lot. I couldn't even celebrate her birthday properly with you guys. I never should have made that deal to add on to the pre-existing one. If I hadn't agreed to it, I would go to school closer to here. I would've found a job closer to here. Even though Ryoji would've probably fought to keep me there. But, like any foolish girl, I accepted it. I agreed to those stupid terms. If it weren't for the recent development, thanks to the Host Club, I wouldn't be here at dinner time. I would still be at work, working, and probably waitressing because he decided to show up."
"Kairi," Uncle says as he hugs me. I had started crying by this point. "Don't ever think poorly of yourself because of him. You did what any rational person would do. No one blames you for anything. Aiko and I are both so grateful for your decisions. I don't know what would've happened if you hadn't stepped in. We both know I won't be getting a job anytime soon. No one wants me. Without a job, Aiko and I would've become homeless. So see? You agreeing to his terms has saved Aiko and me. I can never even begin to repay you for everything you've done for us. Thank you so much."
Uncle holds me for a while longer as I calm down. Once I've finally calmed down, Uncle lets me go.
"Thanks Unc. I guess I didn't realize the positives to the situation. I forgot what the original deal was and only focused on the newest deal. Thank you for reminding me why I made the deal to begin with."
"Of course. I'm always here for you. Even when the deal is over, I'll still be here for you. You'll always have a home here."
"Thanks." I take a deep breath. "Alright. Well, I think it's time for bed. Do yu need any help?"
"No, I'll be fine."
"Ok. Goodnight. I love you."
"Night dear."
I head to bed and slip into a dreamless sleep.