Tenth chapter! Woo! APs are almost over! Woo! :D

Thanks to anyone who followed or favorited. And, of course, thank you so much for reviewing, Neon Wish, JadeCrispy and GlassyTheRosePen. You guys rock! ^-^

On to the chapter! It covers both Honey's 3 Bitter Days & the Newspaper Club one.

It was just another day at the Host Club, with Valentine's day approaching. Tamaki was spouting his extravagant lines. The twins were messing around - with each other and with Haruhi. Kyoya was being all-smiles while selling Host items. And Honey was eating his cake with his usual grin.

"Honey-senpai, you're still eating cake? You might end up with a cavity if you're not careful," Haruhi said. She was going around, changing the empty tea pots for new ones.

"It's okay! I'm brushing my teeth diligently!" Honey grinned, taking a bite into a cake. Suddenly, he froze and pressed a hand against his jaw.

"What's going on?" the guests whispered among themselves as the Hosts surrounded Honey and tried to make him open his mouth.

The door opened, and Mori entered. "Mori-senpai hurry! It's Honey-senpai!" Haruhi waved him over. Honey now had both hands clamped over his mouth, refusing to let go.

Mori rushed over, pushing Honey down while forcing Honey's mouth open.

"Kyaaaaaa!"

Emi fit right in with the other fangirls, enjoying the fanservice. What a great ship! What a great ship! If only it would sail into Port Reality!

Honey had a cavity. "Tamaki," Mori said, glancing at the club president.

"Ah, yes!" Tamaki nodded and proceeded to ban all sweets in the club. "Cooperation mode!" he called it.

"Wait-" Ryuu grabbed the nearest host - which turned out to be Haruhi.

"What is it?" Haruhi asked. Ryuu stared at her and realized that he was touching a girl. He quickly dropped her arm, blushing.

"Um…" He couldn't look her in the eye either. She had pretty eyes. How had he not noticed it before? "Does that mean we won't be getting chocolate? Fr-From the guests! The guests!"

"I guess so," Haruhi said. She was oblivious to Ryuu's sudden nervousness and the cause of it. "I was kinda looking forward to it actually."

Huh? She was looking forward to getting chocolate from other girls? She has got to be gay! Ryuu nodded, feeling numb. "Okay then. Okay." He trudged back to his table.

"Aw, I really wanted to give Mori-senpai chocolate," Ryuu heard one girl whisper to another.

"You can still confess," the other girl said.

Wait! That's right! That means Emi can't give Haruhi chocolate! Mwahahaha, that's not bad then! Thank you Honey for getting a cavity, and thank you Mori for taking such extreme measures, and thank you Tamaki for having the entire club participate!

Ryuu smiled, feeling very smug.

"Why are you smiling?" Emi said.

"Hm?" He looked at her, eyes lit in delight. "Nothing. Nothing."

Akiko started to giggle. "You're so cute, Ryuu."

The smile disappeared, replaced by wide eyes and a red face. "Sh-Shut up! Don't call me cute!"

The girls at his table giggled. Emi rolled her eyes and went back to Haruhi's table. I guess that means I won't be able to give Fujioka-kun any chocolate. I was really looking forward to seeing his smile. It's not like I would have confessed! Right now, I don't stand a chance with him.

She knew why Ryuu was so happy. When they were eating dinner, she said, "Since I can't give Fujioka-kun any chocolate, I think I just won't make any chocolate this year."

"Wait what?!" He almost dropped his chopsticks. "Wh-What?"

"Aw, I was looking forward to your delicious chocolate, Emi-chan," Akimi said with a smile. Bertrand nodded in agreement.

Emi made a face at the two. "Maybe I'll make it for you two, but Ryuu, I'll just give you some of my allowance and you can go buy some chocolate."

"Nooo, please no. Why Emi? Why are you being so cruel?" His mouth dropped open.

She frowned at him. "Maybe cause you were clearly happy about this sweets ban. It's not like I would have confessed to Fujioka-kun. I just wanted him to have some of my chocolate."

"Well it's not like he'd eat it anyway. So why bother giving it to him?" Ryuu said. "Can you imagine how much chocolate he'd get?"

Emi's frown disappeared. Her brown eyes darkened. She stuffed the rest of her food into her mouth, stood up, and set the bowl in the sink. "Thanks for the meal, Berty."

Bertran nodded, and then Emi left the dining room table.

"Shit," Ryuu said. He stared at her empty seat.

"Don't swear, Ryuu-kun," Akimi said, shaking her head in disapproval.

"I messed up," he said with a sigh. "How the hell can I mess up with my own twin sister?"

He chomped on his chopsticks, grumbling while thinking of a way to apologize. If only I could tell her that Haruhi is a girl. Emi has different tastes when it comes to girls anyway, so maybe she'd stop crushing on Haruhi. Ughh.

"Emi, you're still mad at me?" Ryuu asked, as they entered school the next day. "I apologized, didn't I?"

"Yes, you apologized. No, I'm not mad," she said.

"Yes you are."

She sighed. "It's just that you always get in my way. You never like it when I have a crush on someone. Seriously, you're like my worst enemy and my best friend at the same time. It sucks. It'd be nice if you'd, for once, approve of who I love and give me some support."

"Oh." He didn't know what else to say. "But, you always fall for the wrong people."

"How is Fujioka-kun a wrong person?" Emi said.

"He's…" A girl. Impossible to get. Probably in some complicated love triangle rather similar to your love web but not as crazy.

"Exactly," she said when he still couldn't think of anything to say. They turned the corner and saw Mori dumping Honey's school bag upside down. Piles and piles of candy fell out.

"I was only looking," Honey said. Mori handed him an advertisement covered with cakes. Tears filled Honey's eyes.

"Wow, that's harsh," Ryuu said.

So this is what Mori-senpai's tough love looks like! Emi thought. She pulled a notebook and pen out and began writing.

"What are you doing?" Ryuu asked.

"Taking notes," she said. She glanced between the 3rd years and her notebook while trying to record as many details as possible. I have to add this to my fanfic!

"This is too much." The Hitachiin twins appeared from another hallway.

"Oh hey you guys," Haruhi said.

"Hi." Ryuu nodded but didn't look at her. He was sure his behavior was bordering rude, but he was too flustered and confused to care. Why did I have to find out that he was a girl? That she was a girl? That- wait, what?

"What is Emi-chan doing?" Kaoru asked, watching the girl scribbling like crazy.

"Taking notes," Ryuu said. "Apparently."

"Of what?" The twins leaned towards her.

Emi snapped her notebook shut before the twins got a good look. A triumphant glint was in her eyes. "Yes. This is great material. I can't wait to go home now!"

The twins didn't understand. Ryuu hardly could.

"Anyways, I never would have imagined Mori-senpai to be so forceful," Hikaru said. They began heading towards their classroom.

"Right? Right?" Emi said. "Isn't it refreshing? Seeing this new side of him?" She was grinning, clutching her notebook to her chest, practically buzzing with excitement.

"Suuure," Ryuu said. The Hitachiin twins just gave her a weird look.

"Won't it be tough for you two if there's no Valentine's Day this year?" Haruhi asked.

"Yeah right." Kaoru said. "If we got chocolates while Honey-senpai didn't, we'd be digging our own graves."

They headed to class, while Emi began thinking of what to write next in her fanfic. Yes, yes! Wouldn't it be so nice if Honey-senpai and Mori-senpai got together?

"Emi, could you help me?" Akiko asked Emi at the end of the day. "I have to take a makeup test for Japanese Literature tomorrow but I don't understand anything at all."

"Eh, me? Why me?" Emi glanced at Ryuu. He had always been better at studying.

"I heard you were smart and that you did well on the test," Aki said. She clapped her hands together while pleading. "Pleeeease. I know you want to go to the Host Club, but just for one day."

"Sure," Emi said.

"Yay! Thank you so much!" Aki grinned and gave Emi a quick hug.

"Let's go to the library then," Emi said as she stood and grabbed her things. She nodded at Ryuu. "See you at home, Ryo."

Ryuu nodded back. "Okay."

Guess I'll just have to go to the Host Club by myself.

Meanwhile, Akiko and Emi chatted while going to the library, and Emi found herself really liking the girl.

I think she's my type. She is totally my type. She's like Chiharu but more optimistic and really cheerful. And dang is she cute. Emi tried to let it not distract her. She still liked Haruhi more anyway.

"Hey, I know this might be a bit unfair," Akiko said, about an hour into their studying. "But do you think you could give your cousin my chocolate?"

Right. She likes Ryuu.

"I don't know," Emi said.

"Please? Even if it's just one piece of chocolate?"

Emi's mouth fell open. She wanted to say yes, but it would go against the Host Club's current rules. Plus she felt bad for Honey not being able to eat anything sweet.

"Ah, never mind. Never mind! I'm really sorry for asking, Emi!" Akiko said. A conflicted look crossed her face. "I shouldn't have asked. Sorry, it wouldn't be fair of me."

Emi relaxed and smiled. "It's fine, Aki."

"Ryuu is so cute though!" Akiko continued. "Hey, if you or Ryo were a guy, would you two look like that?"

Emi laughed. The idea of "Ryo" being a guy was too ironic. "Yeah, probably."

"Ahh that's so cool!" Akiko grinned, waving her arms around.

"Emi! Emi!"

Emi was packing up her things in the library when Akiko came running in. It was the day before Valentine's day, and Emi wasn't sure whether she wanted to go to the Host Club. Last she heard from Ryuu, Honey had been trying to get sweets from the guests and hosts. She wasn't sure if she could abstain from giving Honey candy, so she'd been hanging out in the library.

"What is it?" Emi asked.

"I got a 76!" Akiko said, holding her test high up in the air. "Woo! It was all thanks to you!" She gave Emi a hug with a huge grin.

Emi tried not to blush. "N-No it wasn't. You worked hard, Aki. You totally deserved that."

"You're so modest!" Akiko punched Emi's arm lightly. "I'll treat you to ice cream or something later, okay?"

"Sure." Emi smiled. "I'll see you later then."

"Okay, see ya!" She waved as Emi left the library.

Gosh she's cute. Super cute.

Emi was about to open the doors to Music Room 3, when the door flew open and a bawling Honey burst out, running right into Emi.

"Wah! Honey-senpai?"

Honey's arms wrapped around her waist, picked her up off the floor, and kept running. Huh? Huh? Emi watched as the double doors became further and further away. She was almost hanging over Honey's shoulder, yet Honey kept on running, as if he wasn't carrying someone two times his size.

What is going on? Why is Honey-senpai crying? Why did he pick me up? Why is he running away from the Host Club room? Oh, but this is a bit like a manga… except usually the guy is taller than the girl… And um usually the guy isn't crying.

"Ho-Honey-senpai, could you please put me down?" Emi said.

The third year was still crying but he slowed to a stop and set Emi down gently. Then he started crying into her dress, arms wrapped around her. Tamaki came out, leaving the door open and hurrying over.

"Honey-senpai," Tamaki said, prying the boy off of Emi. "Please listen to what Mori-senpai has to say."

And so they headed back towards the room and listened to Mori's sad tale of punishing himself. Honey ran back in, tears falling like crazy, and into Mori's arms.

Aw, they're so cute together! They're so perfect for each other! Emi gushed over the sight.

"Now then everyone, let's prepare for tomorrow's Valentine's day event!" Tamaki said, clapping his hands together. "Dear guest," he said to Emi, pulling her close and taking her hand. "I wish tomorrow to be a pleasant surprise, so if you would kindly leave."

"Oh of course." Emi grinned. "See you later then, Ryuu."

"Eh? Wait what?" Ryuu said. He was quite lost about the turn of events, but Emi was gone before she heard the rest of what he had to say though. "What are we going to do? I thought Valentine's day was cancelled!"
The twins chorused their agreement.

Tamaki chuckled, looking extremely pleased with himself. "Didn't I tell you that I'm a French gentleman?"

Ryuu cleared his throat as the Mazawa twins walked down the hallway. "So, um, are you sure you want to come to this thing?"

"Of course," Emi said.

"But it's uh…" He looked away, scratched his head in thought, and then sighed. "Fine. I'll see you in a while then." He disappeared into Music Room 3 to prepare.

Now I'm really looking forward to what the Host Club has prepared! Emi thought. Boy am I glad that I'm not a host! I can enjoy this properly!

Everyone was pleasantly surprised, as Tamaki had wished for, when they entered the music room and saw mountains and mountains of beautiful roses.

"Hey there Emi-chan," Kaoru said, holding out one of his orange roses. "Happy Valentine's Day!"

Emi's eyes lit up, and she grinned. "Wow! Thanks Kaoru-kun!"

"Don't forget mine either," Hikaru said, handing her a blue rose.

"Thanks Hikaru-kun. Where's Fujioka-kun?" Emi asked. She wanted to see what color rose Haruhi had.

"Over there." Hikaru pointed to another corner of the room, and Emi skipped over.

"Fujioka-kun!" Emi said.

"Hi Emi," Haruhi said with one of her usual smiles. "Would you like a rose?" She held out a red rose.

"Wow, as expected of Fujioka-kun! You have the best colored rose!" Emi said as she accepted the flower. "Thank you."

"Emi!" Sumiko came over to her friend. "Isn't this so awesome?'

"I know right?" Emi was practically bouncing on her feet.

"I can't believe it! It's so sweet of them to do this," Sumiko said.

"Yeah."

"Oh hey Emi." Ryuu maneuvered through the crowds of guests, hosts, and roses towards his twin. Then he spotted the three roses in her hands, and immediately shoved one of his roses into the mix. "I'll be back!" And then he disappeared into the crowd again.

Sumiko giggled. "Your cousin is weird."

"Yeah." Emi looked at the new rose. It was a peach color, and just as pretty as the rest. "I wonder where they bought these roses from."

"You could go ask Kyoya-senpai," Sumiko said.

Ryuu came back, holding more different colored roses in his hands. "Here you go, Emi!"

"Why are there so many?" Emi asked, taking them.

"Uh, the lavender one is Kyoya's," Ryuu said, pointing at the flower. "And this pink one is Honey's, and then this dark blue one is Mori's, and the white one is Tamaki's. Now you have everyone's rose!"

Sumiko giggled some more. "Why would you get her every one?"

Emi sighed. She knew why. "That way it won't seem all that special if I have Fujioka-kun's rose."

"And Hikaru and Kaoru's," Ryuu said.

"At least try to pretend that's not the reason why," Emi said.

"No point in doing that since you'd see right through me." He shrugged.

Whatever. Emi stuck her tongue out. Then she turned around. "I'll be with Fujioka-kun today."

"Of course," Ryuu said.

"He is like Ryo," Sumiko said as they headed towards Haruhi's table. "Are you sure he isn't actually Ryo's twin?"

"Thank God they aren't, because if they really were twins, they would be a big pain in the butt," Emi said.

Sumiko laughed. "Yeah, definitely."

Pink cherry blossoms, peaceful breezes, and handsome men. What better way to spend the afternoon?
Emi sighed happily as she took a sip of tea. Haruhi looked very cute in her Heian Aristocrat cosplay. The large flowing robes, however, didn't quite suit Ryuu.

"They're hard to move in," he grumbled, trying to push the sleeves up his elbow to no avail. The girls around him giggled and gushed about how cute he was, which only made him blush and yell, "Who's cute? The only cute ones here are you girls!"

Which led to the girls blushing and squealing some more.

Somehow he's pretty good at this. Emi thought, observing while sitting on a blanket under a blossoming cherry tree. I guess experience is making him a better and better host. Wait! What if this leads to Ryuu becoming a terrible playboy? And he goes around flirting with every girl until he has won all their hearts? What if he ends up dating five or six girls at once? Nooo, Ryuu don't turn into such a terrible person!

"Emi, you're thinking of something weird again, aren't you?" Ryuu asked.

"Nonsense," she said.

"Hey, Ryuu! Let's play soccer!" Hikaru called, dribbling a ball between his feet. He kicked and sent the ball flying towards Ryuu.

Ryuu caught the ball easily, and a smirk appeared. "Sure. If it's soccer, let's play!"

Yes, please play. Play with each other, Emi thought.

"I wonder what Haruhi's thinking about while looking at the cherry blossoms with such benevolent eyes," a guest said, pulling Emi's attention away from the other hosts.

Emi turned. Haruhi indeed had a benevolent gaze (in reality, it was a blank look masking Haruhi's usual rude thoughts, but the fangirl/crush filter was on). He's so cute! So cute! So freakin' cute!

Bam!

"Ow!" Ryuu grimaced when the soccer ball slammed into his thigh. "What's with your terrible aim, Hikaru?"

"Not my fault you're so bad at moving around," Hikaru said, ignoring Tamaki as he came running over saying that he wanted to join in.

Ryuu glared at the twin, and the girls burst into screams of, "Kyaa! It's Ryuu's Tsun-Tsun side!"

Ryuu kicked the ball, and it hit Hikaru's chest. Hikaru bounced it onto his knee and then kicked it back. This time Ryuu dodged.

"Tono, hurry up and catch it!" Kaoru called.

"Eh? Ah! Wah!" The ball whizzed by Tamaki, heading straight towards the peaceful Haruhi. "Haruhi! Get down!"

Tamaki tackled the girl and began chewing Hikaru out for having almost "extinguished the flame of Haruhi's life." The twins in turn blamed it on Ryuu and Tamaki's inability to catch the ball.

So Tamaki decided to show the Hitachiin twins.

"Starlight kick!" Tamaki yelled, and the ball disappeared as a twinkle in the sky.

Crash!

"Oh great," Ryuu said. "Good job, Tamaki. Good job."

"So why exactly are you guys playing… commoner games?" Ryuu asked, watching the Host Club play Red Light Green Light the next day.

"My thoughts exactly!" Akira Komitsuzawa, the Newspaper Club's president, said.

"Are you going to join them?" Tomochika Sato, another club member, asked.

"Ew, no," Ryuu said. "Who plays games like that in high school?"

"Hey, you're Ryuu Mazawa, right?" Akira asked. When Ryuu nodded, the president continued to say, "Why did you join the club?"

"Ah, well, it looked like fun," Ryuu said with a shrug. There's no way I can say it's to overcome my fear of women. What if they put that in the newspaper? I could never live it down!

"Ryuu! Come join us!" Tamaki called, waving enthusiastically.

He's an idiot. And annoying.

"Come on!" Tamaki kept on waving.

"Hurry up, Siscon," the Hitachiin twins said.

"Huh? Who the hell is a siscon?!" Ryuu stormed over to give the Hitachiins a piece of his mind.

Akira narrowed his eyes, watching the Host Club continue playing while the Hitachiin twins teased and goaded Ryuu. He was sure there was a different story behind Ryuu, something that had to do with the Mazawa twins, and the lack of Ryo's presence whenever Ryuu was around.

"Ryuu! There you are!" Emi jogged over towards them, and Ryuu immediately stopped yelling at the twins to run towards her.

"Siscon!" the twins called.

Ryuu blushed. "Sh-Shut up!" Noticing the suspicious gazes of the newspaper club, Ryuu said, "And she's my cousin."

"What?" Emi said.

"Nothing," Ryuu said. "What is it?"

"I'm going home with Aki today. We're gonna go get ice cream first, okay?" she said.

"Okay." He nodded. It'd be better to have her away from the creepy newspaper club anyway. "Have fun."

"Okay, see you later," she said. She waved at the Host Club, who waved back. Haruhi flashed Emi a charming smile.

Gahh! Such a dazzling smile! If this were a manga, a bunch of "Doki doki" would be surrounding me right now. Emi thought, blushing slightly, as she headed away.

"Excuse me, Emi Mazawa." Akira intercepted her path. "I'm the president of the Newspaper Club. Could I ask you a few questions?"

Emi had heard a bit about the situation from Ryuu. Thanks to Tamaki's excellent aim, he broke the Newspaper Club's window and hurt the club's president. So the Host Club was allowing the Newspaper Club to write a special article about the Host Club as a form of compensation.

"Sure. How can I help you?" Emi said.

"It's about your, um, cousin. Why exactly is he staying with your family?" Akira asked.

"Oh that's private," she said. "I'm afraid I can't tell you."

"Then, why has he decided to Host when he isn't even enrolled in Ouran?"

"He thought it'd be fun." Emi smiled.

"And the Host Club just allowed him to join?" Akira didn't seem too convinced of the story.

"Sure. Ryuu is handsome and has his own charm."

"Hm." He frowned at his notebook, where he'd taken some notes. "Then, why is it that whenever your cousin is around, your twin sister isn't?"

"They don't get along very well."

"But not once has someone seen Ryo at the exact same time as they have seen Ryuu," Akira said. "Not to mention, Ryuu looks a lot like you and your sister. Why is that?"

"Genes, Komitsuzawa-san," Emi said with a smile.

"Oi you Glasses-Nerd!" Ryuu ran over, having finally noticed the two hidden in the corner. "What do you want with Emi?"

Akira stared at Ryuu and then at Emi. "If anything, you two could pass as twins."

"Allow me to say it again," she said, still smiling brightly. "Genes, Komitsuzawa-san."

The Newspaper Club president glowered at her, while Ryuu glared at him. "Very well. Thank you for your time, Mazawa-san." With a shallow bow, Akira turned and went back to his clubmates.

"What did he want?" Ryuu asked with a deep scowl.

"Stop that," Emi said, sighing. "Just some basic questions that anyone would ask. I'm gonna go now."

"Okay. Next time, don't let that creep get so close," he said.

"Yeah, yeah." She rolled her eyes, turning to finally leave the area. Then she muttered, "Siscon."

"What?" Ryuu said. He hadn't quite heard her.

"Nothing," she said. "See ya."

"Bye."

So the KaoruXEmi stuff will really start to happen after the next chapter. Like things will start to shift towards that.

Next chapter: Summer break and Karuizawa! :)

Any feedback is very much appreciated! Thanks for reading!