AN: I've got a few ideas for a ship or two, but I'm just interested to see what you guys think. Which host would you pair Su Tong up with (based on her current personality etc)? But meh. I won't be able to grind the next chapter out so soon- after being sent to the hospital this morning etc ugh.

edit: I forgot to mention but WARNING: slightly ableist and racist slurs- called out on, but still, if that disturbs you/is a trigger, skip this chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own OHSHC

Panting slightly, Su Tong presses on, willing herself to finish at least three rounds around the track. She's earlier than usual, and figures that she'll be able to outdo her record in China. Morning runs in China were terrifying, especially with that positively creepy and upbeat music, and the boys who ran a little quicker every single time.

Maybe one more round, she thinks- and foolishly follows that train of thought. Surprisingly, she feels slightly better after the run, and misses that weirdly energetic music (blasted through old speakers every single morning run). She'll try loops around the school next week, she figures. It's extremely huge- so perhaps one run would be accomplishment enough.

After heading to the showers, she walks back to class, and finds her desk littered with roses. Granted, it was only a bouquet, but Su Tong's already used to fading into the background such that this sudden intrusion had her wary. Glancing around, she notes that no one is in class. Shrugging, she picks the bouquet up and dumps it in a bin along the corridor, barely noticing the card attached to it.

"Dumping a bouquet of roses into the bin like that? How surprising, considering the way you look," someone says.

Su Tong looks up to see Takeko. Takeko is strutting over, hand over her hip, devilish smirk set in place. Su Tong can see how she would have reason enough to dump a bouquet of roses, and realizes a moment later that she's checking her out. She, the victim of a direct racist act, checking out Takeko, the racist asshole. Her mother's always complained that perhaps her only daughter was dropped when she was a child, thus explaining her unnaturally silent nature and illogical thought processes.

"Oh, look, a card!" Takeko exclaims, tilting her head back and peering into the bin. "What a fool to have left a message: 'All our love- The Host-'!"

Takeko gasps and narrows her eyes at Su Tong. But Su Tong's too busy noticing the way Takeko's eyelashes curl up- naturally?- to walk away. Takeko leans back, and looks at Su Tong as though she's a dead rat floating about in a bowl of filth and mud.

"Throwing away roses from The Host Club now, are we?" Takeko's pink (and glossy, Su Tong adds internally) lips twist into an ugly sneer. "You don't even deserve this, you Chinese chink. Go back to that wasteland you call home."

Su Tong only stares at Takeko, unsure if replying would be a good course of action.

"Stop staring at me, you retard," Takeko snaps, and turns to leave.

At that, Su Tong tenses, and grabs Takeko by the arm. Takeko flinches, and jerks her arm away as though scalded. She distances herself from Su Tong, and glances down at the shorter girl, hand cupping her elbow where she had been touched.

"Don't touch me," Takeko spits out.

"Your insults," Su Tong begins to say, "are founded on a system which has a long history of oppressing and antagonizing persons of marginalized identities. It's honestly terrifying."

Takeko rolls her eyes, and haughtily strides away, hand still covering her elbow.

Classes pass in a whirl, and Su Tong's still trapped in a dilemma; she might be slightly more appreciative of Takeko's mesmerizing looks than she should be. It's even worse, considering that Takeko probably hates her guts and is repelled by her very existence. It also doesn't help her case that Takeko's an ableist and a racist.

All in all, her appreciation of Takeko is unnecessary and extremely inappropriate. Sighing into her palm, Su Tong decides to employ her usual tactic of ignorance towards the matter of her sudden unwarranted interest and the bouquet of roses by her desk this morning. She will not think about Takeko's nice eyes and intimidating (but awfully attractive) glare, nor will she think about how the Host Club managed to find out where she sat or even her class.

"I'm looking for Su-senpai… SuTong."

Su Tong sits up immediately and walks out of the classroom. "This is she."

"Ah! Su-senpai, I'm here on behalf of Ryo, who couldn't make it. Oh! I'm Akiyama Mii, from the strings section," Mii says uncertainly, nervously pulling at her hair. "Oh! Do you mind if we lunch together?"

"Just Su Tong will do," Su Tong says, and awkwardly motions for Mii to follow.

"Well, Su Tong," Mii says, trying to wrap her mind around the possible enunciations of the name. "I'm here to congratulate you on getting into the Orchestra! It took a while, but we finally got to Kita-sensei yesterday. Ryo's lying low for the moment, because Ueda-senpai isn't going to be happy… But that's Ueda-senpai for you, ha, I mean. Well."

Mii stumbles a little- both in speech and in her faltering steps.

"Ueda-senpai?"

"Ueda as in Ueda Takeko, I mean!"

Su Tong nods thoughtfully. "Then- Ryo?"

"Ryo? What about Ryo?"

Su Tong brushes it off, and continues walking to the canteen with Mii next to her, blathering on and on about the members in the club. Training's every afternoon, but each member only has to attend three sessions every week. It's extremely lax, Su Tong thinks, and tries hard not to be disdainful of this 'training regime'.

"-but of course, I wouldn't know much about this. I mean, it's from waaaay before I joined, but to intimidate your batchmate such that she's got to forgo her name, and adopt a new one, and stick to it… Just kinda tells you a lot about how U-"

"Host Club," Su Tong interrupts Mii's monologue ungracefully, chopsticks pointing at the younger girl.

"H-host club?" Mii squeaks. "Well, I don't know much about them- that is to say, I don't frequent their- um- services, you know! It's more of Ueda-senpai's thing, seeing as she's in the same class with Honey-senpai and Mori-senpai… But! It's not like the entire school doesn't know about them… They're so charming, and they just talk to you, or listen to you like you really matter…"

By the time Mii ended her impromptu- and rather flustered sharing of the Host Club, her entire face was red, and Su Tong bored out of her wits.

"-so I was forced to designate, and I didn't know who to choose! But if it were you, Su Tong, I'm sure you'd have gone for Fujioka-kun…"

"Fujioka Haruhi?" Su Tong asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Exactly!"

Reviews: if you'd like.

AN: I don't even know how I came up with Su Tong's slight crush on Ueda Takeko. It just. spun out of control. But I hope this won't be the main ship ugh.