Hi everyone! :D School is almost over! Yay! Thanks for anyone who has followed or faved!

GlassyTheRosePen: First, thank you so so so much for all your awesome, sweet reviews! :D They really make my day. But, uh, the KaoruXEmi doesn't start until next chapter, and it's gonna be if I wasn't clear enough. _ Thank you, again, for your super lovely reviews! ^-^ I hope you enjoy this chapter!

And of course, thank you Joliegold09 for reading and reviewing! :)

And to the Guest who reviewed, I don't think I'll be making this HikaruXOcXKaoru cause there are tons of stories like that, and it's so cliche that I'd rather not write that. I hope you'll understand. ^-^ Thanks for reading and reviewing!

On to the chapter!

Summerbreak! Finally! Emi was excited to meet up with her parents in Kyoto. It was where most of the Mazawa family was situated and not too far from their mom's hospital in Osaka. They would be able to spend each blissfully hot day with their dad or mom. They were also planning on meeting up with some middle school friends.

"So we're meeting up with Chiharu, Koji, Daisuke, Yoshiaki, and Fudo tomorrow right?" Ryuu asked, clicking through his messages on his phone.

"Yup! Twelve o'clock at the nearby cafe," Emi said. She'd burn the date and time into her mind in her eagerness to meet Chiharu.

Ryuu frowned at one particular message.

"What is it?" Emi said.

"Nothing." He kept on scrolling through.

"I wanna see what it is." She pulled his phone out of his hand.

"Hey! Emi!"

Emi found a message from Hikaru, asking if the Mazawa twins wanted to go on a trip with them during summer break. She grinned at her brother while handing the phone back. "You're messaging Hikaru-kun, Ryuu?"

I know that look, he thought, certain of what she was thinking about. "Yeah, but we don't message often."

"Mm-hm. Sure."

She doesn't believe me!

When they arrived at the mansion, there was another car parked in front. "Does Dad have a guest?" Ryuu said as the two got out of the car.

The front door burst open, and a little boy and girl ran out yelling.

Kids! The Mazawa twins thought at the same time.

"Thank you so much, Onii-sama." A young lady came out of the house with a smile. The twins exchanged looks as the little kids ran to them.

"Who are you?" the boy said. The girl giggled and tugged on Emi's jeans. They looked like they were the same age.

"Twins?" Emi and Ryuu said at the same time.

"Oh, Emi, Ryuu!" Mr. Mazawa appeared at the doorsteps, right behind the young lady. He smiled at them. "Those are your… I suppose you'd call them your cousins."

Cousins?! But they're so tiny!

"Hello." The young lady smiled. "I'm Chiasa Mazawa."

"She's my cousin," their dad said. "Chiasa-san, these are my children, Ryuu and Emi."

"Nice to meet you." The twins bowed. They were used to all the siblings and cousins that their dad had.

"Up! Up!" The boy pulled on Ryuu's leg, while waving another hand in the air. He had a chubby face and the same brown hair as his mom.

"Um." Ryuu turned to his dad with pleading eyes. If there was one thing Ryuu would admit to being bad at it, it was dealing with kids.

"They're really cute," Emi said, but she didn't move. She wasn't any more comfortable with kids than Ryuu was.

"Thank you," Chiasa said. She unlocked the parked car. "Come on, you two. Let's go home."

She opened the back door and tucked the kids into their carseats. Ryuu watched as she buckled them in and then slid into the driver's seat. "Thanks again, Onii-sama."

"You're welcome, Chiasa-san. Come visit anytime."

She nodded. "Bye." Then she drove the car out.

Ryuu pointed after her. "Did she just-?"

"Her husband left her about a year ago. She's having some trouble working and caring for her kids, so I'm giving her the rights to a small building downtown. She can rent the rooms out, sell it, do whatever she wants," their dad said in explanation. "Let's go in." He wrapped his arms around their shoulders and squeezed them in a hug. "I've missed you two."

It was nostalgic to see their rooms once again. Emi stared at the large room that she'd slept in for three years. Just about five months ago, it'd been filled with all her manga and school things. Now it was empty and bare.

"Feels weird huh?" Ryuu said, coming to her side.

She nodded. She couldn't lift her gaze away. The memories were coming back. The hours spent in her room as she delved deeper and deeper into the world of manga and fanfic. The time spent blushing on her bed, reading Kei's emails, or panicking about what to wear in front of the closet. Or all the times Chiharu came over to play, and they studied and laughed about stupid things.

"Maybe we shouldn't have come?" Ryuu's voice was low, and Emi knew he was worried. She shook her head.

"It's fine," she said after taking a deep breath. She turned to him with a small smile. "Let's walk around, Ryuu."

They walked to town. The stores hadn't changed either. Emi knew she shouldn't have been surprised. Maybe if it was two or three years later, something might have changed. But not that much time had passed. She couldn't have expected things to look or feel different.

She didn't feel that much more different herself.

Ryuu took her hand and gave it a squeeze.

I'm just being melodramatic and an idiot. If I keep up this stupid sad act, Ryuu will end up all worried, and he'll regret that we came. And then Mom and Dad will start fussing all over me. I can't let that happen. What happened in the past is in the past.

"Hey, it's still here!" Ryuu grinned at the sight of his favorite arcade. "Come on! Let's go in!" He pulled her in without another word.

Emi smiled. There was definitely some good coming out of this.

Ring! Ring!

Ryuu rolled over in bed.

Ring! Ring!

His hands groped around in search of the annoying sound. He found his cell phone buzzing on the bed stand and grabbed it.

Ring! Ring!

Ryuu rolled onto his side and stared at the caller ID. It was Tamaki. He quit the call and closed his eyes. A few seconds later, his phone started screaming again. Ring! Ring!

So persistent! Ryuu snatched the phone up, saw that it was the same caller, and hung up again. He was getting a weird deja-vu feeling too, and right before he could drop the phone, it rang again.

RINGGGGG!

This has totally happened before! He reluctantly accepted the call.

"Finally! Why'd you keep hanging up on me Ryuu?!"

Ryuu sat in a daze for a moment. "Why the hell are you calling so early? Are you an idiot? Do you have a death wish?"

"Of course I'm not an idiot! I'm your beloved Tamaki-senpai!"

"Yeah, so an idiot."

"No, Ryuu, it's really just that crazy lord of ours," a different voice said.

"Ah, it's a Hitachiin twin," Ryuu said. He should have known it was the entire Host Club calling. This had happened before, but with Kyoya, the Omniscient Creep. He really wanted to sleep though, not deal with the crazy blond.

"What? You can't tell which twin I am?" the second voice said. He sighed. "Man, you're so incompetent, Ryuu."

"Huh? Who's incompetent? You're Hikaru right?"

"Congrats. You figured it out," Hikaru said in a dull tone. "Where's Emi-chan?"

"She's sleeping in her own room," Ryuu said curtly.

"That's good to hear," Hikaru said.

"It's none of your business anyway!"

"So Karuizawa?" another voice.

It's the Omniscient Creep! Ryuu thought, a chill running down his spine. "What about Karuizawa?" he said.

"Haruhi has been kidnapped!" Tamaki said, sounding horrified.

"You would have heard about this if you'd picked up like one minute earlier," Hikaru said.

"Shut up you evil dog," Ryuu said.

"What is that?" Hikaru said. "A weird nickname you have for me?"

"Do I have a nickname too, Ryuu-chan?" Honey's childish voice came over the phone.

"Ugh, yes. You're the Cake Monster. Now I'm hanging up if there's nothing important," Ryuu said.

"HARUHI is important!" Tamaki screamed into every host's ear. "And she has been kidnapped! To Karuizawa! We must go get her back!"

"What does that have to do with me?" Ryuu asked.

"How could you not care about Haruhi?" Tamaki said. It sounded like he was close to tears, but Ryuu was sure that the prince was just being overly dramatic, as usual. "She's your sister you know!"

Ryuu let the words process for a moment. "Uh. What? Sister? Last I checked, I only had one, and that was Emi."

Hikaru sighed. "It's just Tono's weird family thing."

"What?" Ryuu still didn't get it.

"Tamaki is the father," Kyoya said. "I am the mother. The twins, Haruhi, and you are the children, and Honey-senpai and Mori-senpai are our neighbors."

"What the hell?"

"Yeah, we don't get it either," Hikaru said.

"So Haruhi is your sister!" Tamaki said. "You should be concerned for your sister!"

"I'm sorry. I have one and only one sister that I care about. And she is sleeping in her room, and I'm not going anywhere without her."

"Well duh," Hikaru said. "Bring her along."

"No no no no no." Ryuu shook his head. "I'm not bringing her to go meet up with a bunch of flirts like you guys over the summer."

"We're not a bunch of flirts, Ryuu-chan!" Honey said, all sweet and flower-surrounded like.

"Fine, a bunch of weirdos. You guys go to Karuizawa. It's not like you need me to go and save Haruhi. I bet she's fine. I bet she's there because she wants to be, and you guys are just going to bother her. Again. Like usual. Who's surprised? Not me!"

"You ramble a lot Ryuu," Hikaru said.

"You're so cold, my Lost Son!" Tamaki said.

"Stop it with that Lost Something!" Ryuu yelled. He was sitting now, when the door opened and a sleepy Emi poked her head in.

"Ryuu why are you yelling when it's only six in the morning?" she asked.

Oh no. This is bad. What if Emi hears that Haruhi has been "kidnapped" and wants to go save her? Then I'll have to go and meet those weirdos who will totally ruin my summer vacation with their weirdness and their annoyingness. Mainly their annoyingness. No no, I better believe that Emi really wants to see Chiharu, more than she'd want to go save Haruhi.

Ryuu cupped a hand over the receiver, and said to Emi, "Sorry. Go back to sleep. I'll be quiet."

"Who are you talking to?" she said, trudging over and flopping down on the bed next to him.

No no. Go away Emi! You're usually very uncurious about what I'm doing, so why now? Ryuu watched as she slid under the covers. Go away! Please! This is probably the first and last time that I'll ever think-slash-wish this!

"Oi Ryuu!" Hikaru's voice blared out of Ryuu's phone. "Then we'll be leaving for Karuizawa without you."

"Sure! Sure! Go on! Have fun. Live out your youth!" Ryuu said in a hurry. "Bye now!" Then he hung up.

"Hikaru-kun?" Emi said, half-mumbling into a pillow.

"The Host Club called asking if I wanted to go with them to Karuizawa. Where is Karuizawa anyway?" Ryuu laid back down, staring at Emi's peaceful face. Her eyes were shut, and her breathing was slowing.

"Mmm," she said, shrugging just a bit. Then she was fast asleep.

Emi had long forgotten Ryuu's mysterious, too-early-to-be-true call with Hikaru by the time she woke up. Hopping down the carpeted staircase, she found her parents seated at the dining table, which was crammed full of food.

"Good morning Emi," her dad said. A cup of coffee was in front of him, and he was looking at some papers.

"Morning darling!" her mom said with a grin.

"Good morning." Emi smiled and sat down.

"I heard you and Ryuu are going to meet up with some middle school friends," her mom said. "That will be fun, huh?"

"Yeah." Emi nodded. A maid set a bowl and chopsticks on the table for her.

"Is he still sleeping? Oh, do you want porridge dear? Or bread? Maybe pancakes or waffles?" Her mom gestured to the maids waiting.

"I'll just eat porridge," Emi said. It'd been awhile since her mom fussed over her like this. She began grabbing vegetables, egg, and some fish off the dishes on the table.

"Are you sure? Do you want soup? Maybe just a bit of bread?"

"Mom," Emi said, already taking a bite.

"You need to eat more, dear. You and Ryuu both are too skinny."

"Just let her eat," her dad said, flipping to a different page.

"What if she's on a diet?" her mom said to her dad. "Emi, dear, don't go on a diet, okay? You're not fat, you understand? And if you really want to go on a diet, tell me, and I'll help you lose weight in a healthy way. Okay?"

"I'm not going to go on a diet," Emi said. She tried not to roll her eyes, but sometimes her mom just worried too much.

"What? Diet?" Ryuu came into the dining room. "Who?"

"Nobody," Emi said.

"What do you want to eat, Ryuu dear?" her mom said, starting up the "eat whatever you want and eat a lot" speech again. She pampered them too much. Everyone in the house knew that.

"I'll just eat whatever you guys are eating. It's kinda weird not seeing Akimi-nee-chan or Berty in the morning though," Ryuu said as he sat down next to Emi.

"They're finally getting a vacation," she said.

"A well-deserved one." He grinned.

"Would you like us to call them back?" her mom said.

"Mom, seriously," Emi said. "It's only been one day. You don't have to worry about us so much."

"And if you worry this much, why don't you visit more?" Ryuu grumbled.

"I'm sorry, Ryuu dear. You know, my hospital is getting even busier! Ever since that last operation on-"

"We already heard it before," the twins said in unison.

Their mom chuckled. "I've missed you two."

After precious time spent on picking out an outfit, Emi and Ryuu finally left to meet their friends.

"I look good right, Ryuu? Cute but practical?" Emi said as they walked to their meeting place.

"Yes. You always look cute," Ryuu said.

"You're not even looking," she said.

"Well you're cute no matter what, so whatever."

"That's cause you have your siscon filter on. Take it off for a moment."

"I do not!" Ryuu turned to her, starting to blush.

"Admit it. You have a sister-complex, and I sorta have a brother-complex. We're twins with an angst-able past. Who'd be surprised if you were a siscon?" Emi said, shrugging.

"Emi!"

"There it is!" She perked up upon seeing the store and grabbed Ryuu's hand. "Come on! I bet Chiharu is late!"

"Then why are we running if she's gonna be late?" he asked.

Koji, Yoshiaki, and Fudo were already seated when they arrived.

"Hi!" Emi said with a smile.

"Hey," Ryuu said with far less enthusiasm.

"Hey." The guys nodded and smiled at the twins as they slid into the opposite seat.

"Where's Daisuke?" Ryuu asked. He'd been good friends with Yoshiaki and Fudo, but best friends with Koji and Daisuke throughout middle school. And because Emi was often excluded from the girls, she'd became friends with the guys too, mainly Ryuu's friends.

"Eh," Koji said. He looked hesitant to say it. "He couldn't come today. Something came up." He ran a hand through his dark brown hair, all spiked up with gel.

"What?" Ryuu said. "He said he'd come today though."

"Yeah." Koji shrugged.

A waiter came back to take the twins' order.

"Do you guys have strawberry milk?" Ryuu asked.

"This is a cafe, Ryuu. Of course they don't," Emi said. Then to the waiter, "I'll have Sandwich A and iced tea please. Thank you."

"Then I'll get Sandwich B," Ryuu said.

"When's Chiharu coming?" Emi asked.

"That idiot's always late," Yoshiaki said with one of his usual grins.

The cafe door opened with a jingle, and a girl burst in. "Emi!"

Emi gasped and jumped out of her seat, dashing towards the girl. "Chiharu!" She ran into Chiharu's open arms, and they hugged each other tightly.

"Waa, I've missed you so much!" Chiharu said, swinging Emi around.

"Me too!"

They let go to grin at each other.

"Your hair got longer," Emi said. Chiharu had light brown hair, usually worn in a loose ponytail the way it was today.

"Hehe, yup." Chiharu nodded while brushing her bangs aside. "I'm thinking of maybe cutting my bangs like yours."

"Hmm. I dunno if that'd look good with you," Emi said, trying to imagine it.

"Well maybe it can make me cute like you!" Chiharu grinned. "Why aren't you wearing a skirt today? Ah you should have worn a skirt!" She stared at Emi's khaki shorts and the white t-shirt she had on.

"It's not like you are," Emi said.

"As if I could wear a skirt," Chiharu said.

"Hey, do you guys want to sit down?" Koji finally said, interrupting their conversation.

"Oh yeah, oh yeah!" Chiharu slid in behind Emi. She saw Ryuu and grinned. "Ayy, it's Ryuu-chan! Ryuu-chan, how have you been?"

"Fine," Ryuu said. He was keeping his expressions carefully controlled, but everyone knew he was trying not to frown.

Chiharu giggled, wrapping an arm around Emi in a hug. "What? Still getting jealous over me? Get over it already."

"I-I'm not!" Ryuu said. "And Emi! Don't just blush!"

"What? I'm not - I'm not blushing." Emi's hands went up to her flushed cheeks. It's been awhile since I last saw Chiharu. Wow I've totally forgotten how freaking awesome she is.

"Emi's so cute!" Chiharu hugged her.

"Hey Chiharu, Emi's mine," Yoshiaki said, kicking the girl lightly. He glanced at Ryuu, not even trying to conceal his eagerness to see Ryuu's reaction.

"I'm so done." Ryuu put his head on the table.

"What?" Yoshiaki gaped at him. "You're not going to start yelling something like, 'Emi is a person and nobody's property'?"

"He's getting used to it," Emi said.

"How?" Koji asked.

"The Host Club," Ryuu mumbled. "Is draining away… my life force."

"The hell is that?" Yoshiaki burst out into laughter. "The Host Club?"

"Oh you haven't heard about it?" Chiharu asked.

"No, what is it?" He stopped laughing so that Koji could give a brief explanation about the Host Club.

"That's… weird," Yoshiaki finally said.

"Yeah," Fudo said.

"Aye, Fudo spoke!" Yoshiaki cheered, and then proceeded to thump the guy on the back. "Say something to Ryuu, bro."

"What's Ouran like?" Fudo asked. He'd always been the quieter one in the group.

"Ahh, pink." Ryuu said. This caused everyone to start giggling. "And super dramatic and flamboyant-"

"Woah, Ryuu-chan knows the word flamboyant?" Chiharu said, causing more giggles, mainly from Yoshiaki.

"Aw, shut up Chiharu," Ryuu said. His head was still on the table.

"It's nice," Emi said.

"Better than Midoriyama?" Koji asked.

"Questionable," Ryuu said, and Emi shrugged. "If I were a guy, then we could compare, but well-"

"You're not a guy?!" Yoshiaki yelled. Nearby costumers shot him glares and grumbled audible complaints, but Yoshiaki just ignored them.

"No, I'm talking about my-" Ryuu lowered his voice here. "-Crossdressing."

"Oh that." Yoshiaki sat back and waved a hand in the air. "Pfft, crossdressing, everybody does that like everyday-" He lurched forward towards Ryuu. "What the hell you seriously are crossdressing?"

Ryuu nodded.

"Oh my God. Why does it seem like everyone already knows?" Yoshiaki said, glancing at his classmates.

"Emi told me," Chiharu said.

"Ryuu told me," Koji said.

"Chiharu told me," Fudo said.

"What? And ya'll just decided to forget about me?!" Yoshiaki said.

Everyone started laughing again.

Their food came, and they ate while talking. Sharing stories, updating each other on what was going on in their lives. Emi felt like she hadn't laughed like this in a long time, and she enjoyed it, because it reminded her that coming to Kyoto wasn't a bad thing. That Midoriyama hadn't been a bad experience, a bad mistake.

Chiharu's phone buzzed, and she checked it. Then she leaned over and whispered into Emi's ear, "Can we go outside? Just the two of us."

Emi's breath caught in her throat, and she nodded. "We're going outside, Ryuu."

"What?" Ryuu asked. He grabbed her arm, forcing her to meet his gaze. "Why?"

"Don't be such a worrywart, Ryuu-chan," Chiharu said, slinging an arm around Emi's neck. "I'll take care of her."

"You guys talk about your video games and stuff," Emi said. "I wanna hang out with Chiharu."

Yoshiaki snickered. "More like, make out with Chiharu."

Ryuu kicked Yoshiaki's shin from under the table, which only made him snicker some more. Emi, on the other hand, was blushing.

"Wow I haven't seen Emi turn this red in a while," Koji said calmly, but it only made things worse.

"We're leaving now. Bye!" Emi started shoving Chiharu towards the door.

"We'll be back later," Chiharu said.

Once outside, Emi relaxed and let the pleasant summer breeze wash over her. "So what are we doing?" she asked Chiharu.

"Let's go to the park!"

"Okay."

They walked to the nearby park. It was a small place, with a short path surrounded by trees and a plastic playstructure. It wasn't far from Midoriyama, and students often met up here. Emi herself had met with Kei here countless times for dates.

"Emi, would you want to meet Kei?" Chiharu said softly. It was as if she'd known that Emi was thinking of him.

"I-" Emi stared at the worn, dirt path under her sandals. "I don't know."

Chiharu let out a slow breath. "He… wants to meet you and talk to you. And I told him about the meetup today-"

"You what?" Emi stopped walking to face the girl.

Chiharu stopped too. "I know, I know. But I told him that he can't talk to you unless you want to."

"Well it's not like we're on bad terms," Emi said, struggling to find a response. She wasn't sure if she wanted to meet him again, to hear his sweet voice, to see that smile of his that had charmed her.

"Yeah, but you're not exactly on good terms either," Chiharu said. "Do you want to or not? It's your choice."

My choice? Emi stared at Chiharu, wishing her best friend could give her some advice, but she knew what Chiharu would say. "It's your choice. I'm not you. You decide." But I don't know! Kei-kun… he…

"Sure," she said.

"Really?" Chiharu sounded surprised. "Are you sure?"

Emi nodded. "Yeah."

"Postive? Super duper positive?"

Emi nodded again.

"Okay then," Chiharu said, pulling her phone out. She sent a message. "Let's wait here, Emi. I'll stay, or unless you don't want me to?"

Emi shook her head, still staring blankly at the ground. What am I doing? Why am I doing this? See Kei-kun? I hope I don't regret this.

It didn't take long before someone came running down the path towards her. Familiar gray sneakers appeared in Emi's vision. Then she stared at the legs that came out of the sneakers, the blue shorts on the legs. The skinny wrists and arms and the white t-shirt all came into view as she slowly raised her head.

"Emi-san." The head attached to the body. The slightly tan skin, the short, neat black hair, the forehead peaking through the bangs, the oval lips, and the brown eyes that looked rusty-brown when the sunlight fell into them.

"Kei-kun."

Gah, so much angst! XD Please tell me what you think! Approve of this drama/angst? Disapprove? Excited to meet Kei? Could care less about these OCs? What do you think of the OCs? Good, bad, who cares? Well, the Host Club will be back in full force next chapter, including Kaoru and Haruhi. ;)

Thanks for reading!