Disclaimer: Ouran story-line and characters belong to Bisco Hatori. Any other character and story-plots belong to me. Author's note is now going to be at the end of the story. Enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 44: Practice, Planning, and Cancelation

That same day we had that tasty watermelon, I ended up having to go back home. The others were able to stay an extra day, but sadly I had to go back due to otou-san picking me up because he freaked about that storm. Saying goodbye to the Host Club was actually hard. I didn't want to leave, but I had to. Even saying bye to Takashi, even though we were going to see each other once he got back, was freaking hard. Jeez. But as I was already heading home, I received a text message reminding me something really important that I have completely forgotten about: Battle of the Bands.

Anzu had texted me, reminding me of the fact that we were going to meet up during the first week of break to start rehearsing for the competition. I did tell her that I was going to be out of town, but when you're with the Host Club, time happens to fly by extremely fast. I had her text me the songs that we were going to be playing so that I could already begin practicing and memorizing them as we drove back home. I knew more than half of the songs for the first set, but I wasn't prepared when it came to singing them. Sure I have sang two of these songs when we had that mini-concert, but it's completely different when you're going to sing them at a competition in front of a crowd.

I think it's time to start hyperventilating.

"It's going to be okay, Setsuna!" Anzu told me as she sat in the passenger seat while Kain drove to the place we were rehearsing.

It was two days since I came back home from Karuizawa. I was picked up around ten in the morning and was a bit freaked out when I saw Kain in the driver's seat. After being bribed candy, I got into the car. Kind of ironic since as a kid, you're told never to take candy from strangers and not get into their vehicle.

"It's been a while since I've performed in front of a crowd," I admitted to her, biting off the head of a gummy worm.

"Which was your okaa-san's wedding, right?" Kain asked.

"I don't think that counts since it was mostly family."

"It counts," Anzu said.

I pouted. The last time I fully performed to a crowd filled with random people was when I was part of the dance team during the time I lived in Hongō. The difference was that one, I was dancing; two, if I messed up, I could easily improvise. This time, I can't. One single mistake, I will completely mess everything up.

"Setsuna, relax!" Kain looked at me through the rear-view mirror.

"Shoot me with a tranquilizer!" I pleaded.

"Nope, sorry," Anzu said. "You're going to suffer with the rest of us."

"Besides, we got people who are going to be coaching us during this," Kain mentioned.

"Who?!" I was ready to jump out of my seat.

"Relax. You know them," he laughed.

It took about ten more minutes to arrive to where we were going to be rehearsing. We got out of the car and walked into the studio that we would be rehearsing at for the rest of the competition. I kept fidgeting by playing with the hem of my navy blue shirt. I could already hear Shigeru tuning his guitar and Arashi hitting his sticks against his drum set. Anzu turned to look at me and noticed that I still looked like I was ready to pass out.

"Don't worry, Setsuna. Everything is going to be okay."

I nodded my head and just walked in to notice two people that I know.

"Ah! Setsuna-chan!" Keiko-chan hugged me as soon as she spotted me.

"Keiko-chan, it's nice to see you again!" I greeted her.

"Hey," Sousuke greeted me from where he stood next to Arashi.

"Hi, Sousuke!"

"Now that we are all here, let's start discussing on what you all plan on doing in this competition," Shigeru stated as he walked over towards us. "Hey, kid."

"What up, old man," I teased.

"You're still calling me that?" Shigeru groaned.

I just smirked, "As long as you keep calling me a kid, I will continue calling you an old man."

By now, we were all seated around a table. Anzu passed out a complete set list of the songs that we planned on performing and some of these included stage clothes. There were two themed set lists. The first of the two was about love, relationships, stuff like that. The other was the costumed theme one. Looks like Shigeru was right about researching songs for the Alice in Wonderland theme. He got some pretty good songs for this theme.

"Who came up with the songs for the first theme?" I asked aloud as I read through them.

"Arashi and I did," Anzu answered.

"Yeah, we basically decided to go on a different approach when it came to the song," Arashi began. "See most people would just create a set list about lovey dovey stuff, but we preferred if it started out bad. From there, it would go to just trying to find someone you want to be with and then actually getting in a relationship with a few struggles along the way."

'Sounds like my life story,' I thought. "That's brilliant!"

"Thanks!" The two cousins said in unison.

"Plus, after hearing the original artists, we think that these songs go well with your vocals," Kain mentioned to me.

"First things first, do we all agree with the song choices for all the sets?" Keiko-chan brought up to us.

"Yes," was all that was heard around the room.

"Good. Now let's get to work!"

We all separated and moved to where we would have the best place to concentrate and work on our material. Keiko-chan, Anzu, and I moved to one area where we were able to practice the vocals and memorize the first set of songs that we would be performing during the first round. Kain and Shigeru worked together in a corner, learning the chords of the songs. Arashi and Sousuke worked together with the drum set.

The first day of rehearsal went pretty well. After working with Keiko-chan and Anzu , my confidence boosted up more than it was when I first walked in. I was dropped off at home around five in the evening, the sky already turning into shades of orange and pink. Not knowing whether anyone would be home, I simply threw the door open as soon as I unlocked it.

"I'm home!" I shouted, while removing my shoes. "Otou-san? Kazumi? Fuka? Anyone here?"

Since there was no response back, I shrugged my shoulders and walked up the stairs heading towards my room. Stepping into my room, I threw my shoes onto the floor and tossed myself onto my bed. The warmth that was radiating from my bed was slowly lulling my to sleep. I was ready to welcome the land of dreams when the door bell rang.

"If I ignore it, then it doesn't exist," I muttered to no one as I gripped my Ichigo tighter.

Again, there went the door bell. I kept telling to myself to ignore the sound, but apparently whoever was at the door just kept on being persistent. Grumbling in annoyance, I left the comfort of my bed and headed down the stairs to see who the hell was bugging me. Perhaps I ought to slap whoever is behind the door for repeatedly pressing the door bell. That sounds like a good idea. By the time I reached the door, I hauled it open. Why was I not surprised to see who was there and who were the ones pressing the button.

"I know I was only gone for a day, but I didn't think you'd miss me that fast," I said annoyed.

There waiting in the front of my door was the Host Club. I simply sighed and opened my door wider, allowing them all to enter my house. Hikaru and Kaoru were the first to enter, since they were the ones who were pressing the damn door bell; after them came Hunny and Haruhi, the latter sending me apologetic looks; Kyoya and Tamaki stepped in after the two, the first was just looking at his black book; the last to enter was Takashi, who had his hands behind his back.

"I brought you something," he smiled at me.

"Really? What is it?" I questioned, trying to peek behind him.

"Close your eyes," he commanded. I did as told.

I felt something soft and fuzzy being placed into my hands. Takashi told me to open my eyes and a huge smile just came onto my face. In my hands was the same stuffed animal squirrel that we saw in Karuizawa. I jumped into his arms and wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him down for a kiss. When we pulled away, I looked up to him and grinned.

"You remembered."

"Of course I did. It's something that you like," he told me while wrapping his arms around me.

"You're the best. You know that, right?" I smiled.

He blushed and was leaning down to kiss me when...

"Hey love birds, whenever you're done, come join the rest of us," Hikaru and Kaoru poked their heads from the living room.

I groaned and placed my head on his chest. Takashi just chuckled and kissed the top of my head and grabbed my hand, leading me towards the others, who just happened to make themselves comfortable at my home. Since the couch was occupied by Tamaki, Kyoya, and Haruhi, the rest of us decided to take a seat on the floor. I sat myself down and felt Takashi behind me, bringing me closer so that I could lean against his chest.

"So what brings you all here?" I questioned while playing with my new squirrel. "I mean, seriously, this is a very random visit."

"I can't come visit my own daughter now?" Tamaki cried as he reached out towards me, trying to hug me.

"Yeah, no," I used my leg to kick him back.

"We came to discuss what we are going to do as themes for when we return to school," Kyoya said while reading his little black book. "First, we want to discuss the anime theme. Hikaru, Kaoru, if you may begin, please."

"Kaoru and I decided that for the anime theme, we could do some changes," Hikaru began.

"The first would be changing the groups," Kaoru continued. "Instead of doing groups of two, we thought that it would be better to have two groups of three and one group of two."

"Oh that's not bad," I said.

"Who's in what group?" Haruhi asked them.

"First we have the Freshman trio-" Kaoru spoke, but was interrupted by Tamaki.

"What?! That means that my precious Haruhi won't be with me!" Tamaki complained.

As usual, we all ignored him.

"What are you all going to dress as then, Hika-chan?" Hunny asked as he tilted his head slightly to the left.

"We are still going to do the Kingdom Hearts theme," Hikaru pulled out a notebook, literally out of nowhere, and began explaining the concepts. "I am going to be dressed as Sora, while Kaoru is going to be Roxas."

Kaoru then contributed, "Haruhi is going to be dressed as Kairi."

"Won't that be suspicious though?" I questioned. "She is going to be dressed as a girl, when girls think she is naturally a boy."

Kyoya peeked away from his book and answered, "They won't know. As a matter of fact, they have been wanting to see Haruhi in women's clothes."

I turned to look at Tamaki and saw him look hard at the image of Haruhi's cosplay. His face started turning a shade of red. He's hopeless.

"What's next?" I felt Takashi's body rumble as he spoke.

"Tono and Kyoya-senpai are going to remain together and will have the same cosplay. Tono as Naruto and Kyoya-senpai as Sasuke," Kaoru told us.

"That means Takashi, Suna-chan, and I are grouped together!" Hunny cheered.

"Who are we cosplaying as?" I questioned.

The looks that Hikaru and Kaoru gave me sent a chill down my spine. Hikaru turned the page and once I saw those long flowing locks that was drawn in the paper, I already knew who we were going to be dressed as. Tilting my head back, I looked at Takashi to see his reaction to the image. His eyes were looking at the paper and then they locked onto me.

A small smirk appeared on his face and he leaned down towards my ear and whispered, "I can't wait to see you dressed in that."

A blush was plastered on my face and I smacked his right leg. My eyes turned back to the images on the paper.

"Setsuna-senpai is going to be dressed as Sailor Moon. We haven't decided which version of her yet, but we are set on with her being that character," Kaoru looked at us as he explained.

Hikaru then turned towards myself and Takashi, "Mori-senpai is going to be dressed as Tuxedo Mask. Hunny-senpai is going to be dressed as Chibi Moon. You don't mind, Hunny-senpai?"

Hunny shook his head indicating that he doesn't mind, "Can we also dress Usa-chan up, too?"

I looked at my fellow senior, "Of course we can."

"When exactly are we going to be doing this cosplay?" Haruhi asked.

"We'll be doing it the first week we go back to school," Tamaki told her.

After we discussed that theme, we started looking into other possible themes. Hunny brought up the idea that maybe we could do a circus theme and that perhaps we can do it outdoors and have a tent. Tamaki, being the most enthusiast person he is, liked the idea and made Kyoya to write it down. I then mentioned the idea of having a pirate theme. It would be pretty cool to do something like that. Even Takashi gave input and said that a samurai theme would be something that we can possibly accomplish.

All of these ideas were being written down by Kyoya. He told us that for some of these themes we can have props and actual settings, like the circus theme. Tamaki was extremely excited about all the ideas that we kept bringing up. It was about twenty minutes later that we heard the front door opening and saw otou-san walk in with Fuka and Kazumi behind them.

"Hello, everyone!" Otou-san greeted my friends as he walked in.

The Host Club greeted him back and said hello to my two sisters. According to Takashi, Hikaru and Kaoru contacted otou-san and asked if it was okay if they all dropped by to visit. Not only did otou-san said it was alright, he even said that he would be bringing pizza for us to eat for dinner. Leave it to otou-san to welcome them with arms wide open. The remainder of the day/night consisted of us munching on pizza and watching a movie before they all decided to head home.

A Few Days Later...

"This is gospel, for the fallen ones, locked away in permanent slumber. Assembling their philosophies, from pieces of broken memories," I sang Panic! at the Disco's This Is Gospel.

According to Shigeru, he believed that this song would be a much better song for me to sing. Even though I was slightly sad that I wasn't going to do the song I originally would have liked, I didn't mind. Especially since it still was a Panic! song.

"Ooooooh," I vocalized.

"This is the beat of my heart, this is the beat of my heart," Anzu sang after me.

"Ooooooh."

"This is the beat of my heart, this is the beat of my heart."

"The gnashing teeth and criminal tongues, conspire against the odds. But they haven't seen the best of us yet," I was ready to sing the next part, but I got stopped.

"Lunch break!" I heard Arashi shout from his area.

I dropped my head in defeat, "I was in the zone, man."

Anzu just shrugged and patted my head, "There, there. We'll let you get back into the zone once we all have food in our systems."

"Food does sound pretty good," I lifted my head and looked at her.

"Great! I want some ramen," Anzu dragged me towards the guys.

"Isn't it a bit hot out for ramen?" I questioned.

"It's never hot for ramen."

That's true. I'm just starving right now. Plus, ramen does sound delicious to have right now and I haven't had it in quite a while. My stomach growled in agreement.

"Feed me!" I shouted.

"Feed me!" Arashi shouted right after I did.

We both looked at each other and just grinned, "Feed us!"

"Alright, alright," Sousuke looked at us. "Relax, we'll go get some lunch. What do you kids want?"

'I'm not a kid,' I grumbled to myself mentally. Why do people always call me a kid. I'm bloody turning 18 soon.

Today was the third of August. That meant that my 18th birthday was coming up in ten days. I am so excited! I'd been talking to otou-san about what I could do for my birthday and he simply told me that I could do whatever I wanted. As long as it wasn't illegal and it didn't involve murder, I had the a-okay.

We gave our ramen orders to Sousuke and Keiko-chan and the two went to go and get us food. The rest of us just sat down and began to talk about anything that came up to mind.

"Hey, isn't your birthday coming up, Setsuna?" Kain mentioned as he took a drink of his water.

"Oh yeah! Aren't you turning twelve or something?" Shigeru joked.

"Ha ha ha. Very funny, old man," I told Shigeru with a blank look. "I'm actually turning 18 on the thirteenth."

"That means you only have ten days before you get older!" Arashi pointed out.

"Yup! I've been trying to figure out what to do for my birthday with otou-san. I've got multiple ideas, but I am not sure which one I really want to do," I told them while fixing my hair. It's actually been getting longer and reaches close to halfway my shoulder blades.

"Have you considered doing a party?" Anzu asked.

"I was thinking about it. I just don't know where exactly to do it since we don't have a back yard at my house. If anything, maybe have a small party with my family and then do something with friends and all."

"We're invited, right?" Kain, Arashi, and Shigeru asked.

"No duh!"

When the two adults came back with our food, we went crazy. I guess we were really hungry seeing that we just started devouring our food. I had gotten soy sauce ramen since it's my favorite one. As we were eating, we started talking how fast our break was going and whether we were excited to go back to school.

"I'm kinda excited to go back, but I am not excited about all that extra studying I am gonna have to do for the university exams," I groaned. So much studying.

"I think we all are not excited about that. But, we have to do it," Anzu said before eating her food.

A phone then suddenly rang. I found it hilarious that we all took out our phones to see whether it was one of ours. It turned out to be Keiko-chan's phone that rang. Before I placed my phone back into my pocket, I noticed that I had a text message from Haruhi. It asked whether she was able to come to my place to do some studying. Texting her back, I let her know that it was okay since her presence would actually encourage me to do some studying.

"How is the Host Club going, Setsuna?" Kain asked me.

"Why are you even in a Host Club?" Shigeru gave me a pointed look.

"It's going good. We recently had a meeting about upcoming events and cosplays that we are planning to do once we are back to school. The reason I was joined was to help Haruhi out by keeping her sane," I explained. "That and I was new with no friends so I thought to myself what the hell."

"But why? You could have joined another club and made friends there."

"The first person that I met upon entering that school was Haruhi. I felt comfortable around her since we come from similar backgrounds. Meaning we both are 'commoners' in an environment with rich students. Plus, I have fun with the Host Club. I've had more fun with them than with the people I used to hang out with in Hongō. Do you not like me being in the Host Club, Shigeru?"

Shigeru gave me a look, "No. I just find it odd since I've never heard of an actual Host Club until I interacted with the one you're in."

"Believe me, it's odd."

We heard someone walking towards us and saw that it was both Keiko-chan and Sousuke. The looks that were on their faces was one that I couldn't interpret.

"Kids, I have some bad news," Keiko-chan told us.

"What is it, 'kaa-san?" Kain asked.

"The Battle of the Bands got canceled."

WHAT?!

"What do you mean it got canceled?" Arashi cried. "Can they actually do that?"

"How does an event like that get canceled?" Anzu questioned.

"Seriously? Why?" I questioned.

Keiko-chan sighed, "The reason it got canceled was due to the fact that the venue they had was needed for an important business convention that was going to occur. And because it was such a late notice, they weren't able to book another location that would be able to fit the amount of people they want to attend."

Silence. We all took in what she said and well, it just sucked. I mean, we all were working our butts off for this competition and to hear that it got canceled really did suck. What were we going to do now?

"Did they give you the date for when the event is going to take place?" Shigeru asked.

"Yeah, next year around March," Sousuke told us.

"Until next year? Man, that just sucks," I commented. "But at least that gives us more time to work on our material."

"Thanks for finding the positive in this tragic new, Setsuna," Arashi told me.

"Eh, it's my job."

Since we received this disappointing news, we decided to end practice that day and head home. Us teens made plans to hang out within the next few days to get rid of the sad feeling that we all felt. When I finally got home, I called Haruhi, letting her know that I was already home and that she could come over when she wanted. Seeing that I had nothing else to do besides play the waiting game for Haruhi to arrive, I went to my room and opened the window. Feeling that summer breeze hit my face felt refreshing and relaxing, but it didn't stop the heat that I felt.

"Need ice cream for the heat and my feelings," I spoke to myself and made my way to get some.

As soon as I was in the kitchen, I slid my way towards the fridge and pulled the freezer door open. Fate was not with me. There was no ice cream. Why, why must you do this to me, world? Have I been a bad person that you decided to punish me by there being no ice cream. Oh the cravings. The cravings! The door bell then rang and motioned for me to go and open it. Slamming the freezer door closed, I went to go open my front door.

"Hi, Suna-chan!" Haruhi greeted me. "I brought us ice cream since it's really hot out today."

"Haruhi," I sobbed, "I love you!"

Ah, hello all! Hope your New Year is starting off nicely. I would like to apologize for the lateness of this story update. 2013 was a very crappy year that cause me multiple problems, one of which was writer's block. But after having a recent talk with my friends, I decided to come back since I officially decided that I want to do something with writing as a career. Not sure what exactly, but as long as writing is involved, I'll be happy.To all those who reviewed, added this story to their alerts, etc., thank you! Going back to reading all those reviews and helpful comments made me come back to this story.

After reading this chapter, I am sure many of you may be questioning why I decided to cancel the Battle of the Bands. The main reason was because that was one of the major events that gave me writer's block. The music that I had kept changing consistently during 2013 and I decided that if I want to continue writing this story and providing you all more updates, I decided to push back the idea. It's still going to happen, but in a much later date. I am so, so sorry for those of you who were really looking forward to it.

For those of y'all who have a tumblr and want to see what I post and write about what's going on in during my life and my writing process, go on ahead and follow me: sandy-yesenia. I've seriously got addicted to tumblr. So much good stuff on there. Anyways, thank you all and I hope you enjoyed the chapter.