Tamaki's jaw dropped as the door banged shut. Tears pricked his eyes. "Mommy! What did Daddy do wrong?!"
He knew the club was technically finished for the day, but that didn't mean they wouldn't entertain any ladies that showed up a little late.
Kyoya sighed, still tapping away at his computer. "I suppose the club simply wasn't to her tastes."
"Nonsense! We cater for everyone's tastes!" Tamaki immediately objected.
"True. It could also be a possibility she was a lost foreigner."
"Or a lesbian," a Hitachiin twin snickered, slinging an arm around his twin.
"She did have that exotic air to her," Haruhi spoke up from wiping down a table and pointedly ignoring the twins commentary. Only four more to go and then home time. She resisted the urge to smack the identical brothers with a dirty cloth when she saw them start flicking cold tea playfully at each other. "She wasn't in a uniform either."
Tamaki placed a finger on his chin, frown beginning to form. "A lost foreign Princess wandering about the school alone?" He gasped dramatically. "We must help her!"
"She slammed the door in your face, sempai. I don't think she wants any help," Haruhi deadpanned.
"Mommy! Tell our daughter to stop being so mean to Daddy!"
Kyoya paused his typing, rapidly reading the screen. He snapped his laptop shut and tucked it under his arm with a sly smile. "Actually, I agree with you for once Tamaki. Our duty as Host Club members also extends to attracting new customers. Being a new student, I'm sure she'll want to meet some new people. Haruhi, leave that. I'll get someone to finish up."
Tamaki cheered and raced for the door, gleefully filling in the rest of the club along the way. Haruhi stared at Kyoya's back. That last bit was almost nice of him. She was instantly wary.
And how did he figure the girl was a new student?
"Music Room 1, please don't let me down," Merry murmured, pushing the door open. It was filled to the brim with broken chairs. She sighed and closed the door. Music Room 2 had been dedicated solely to spare vases and tables so it was also a bust.
They were also tucked away in a hallway that looked rarely used.
She fished out her map, squinting at the fine print. She could only see three music rooms listed.
She could have cried.
Two were unusable and one was used for tea parties. She wasn't keen to stay after hours, waiting for the others to leave so she could practice. She'd have to try and find a room at home that was out of range of Ran's keen ears.
A pair of arms settled over her shoulders, making her flinch slightly.
"Well, well, Kaoru. What do we have here?" a voice to her left purred.
"I don't know, Hikaru. Looks to me like a little lost lamb, ne?" a voice to her right replied. A finger poked her cheek. "And what a cute little lamb she is."
Merry's eye twitched before she settled into a stoic mask. She spoke bluntly. "Remove your hands from my person, before I remove them from your person."
The one on her left chuckled. "Maybe not a little lamb…"
"More like a tigress," the one of her right suggested, growling at the end. "Meow."
She ducked out of their grasp. Any longer and she would have punched them somewhere that would make their voices a few octaves higher.
She spun to see her tormenters. They were young, maybe her age or slightly younger. Identical auburn haired twins with the same mischievous smile and glinting amber eyes. She didn't trust them.
They were suddenly parted by a grinning blonde face, the boy's violet eyes alight with childish glee as they settled on her. She didn't trust him, either. "Found you, Princess!"
Merry quirked an unimpressed brow. "What?"
The boy quickly took her hands in his, cradling them gently. "You took off so suddenly! My dearest Princess, are you lost? Fear not, for I will guide you to safety! I shall be your attentive chaperon and wait on your every whim if it shall give me the greatest prize of seeing your smile!"
Okay, this was getting weird. She snatched her hands back with a frown. "Do you have a mental condition? Are you allowed to be without adult supervision?"
The twins snickered as the blonde looked thunderstruck. To her mild horror, tears began leaking from his eyes as he clutched at his heart. "So cold, Princess! But I am positive that your harsh exterior hides a soft and kind heart."
"You don't know me," Merry deadpanned. "If this is how you greet strangers, I'm surprised you don't have a restraining order against you."
The blonde tucked himself into a ball in a darkened corner of the hallway, drawing imaginary circles on the ground with his finger.
"Tamaki-sempai is too dramatic for his own good," a new voice stated. "Just ignore him."
Merry glanced over and down into a pair of brown doe eyes. "I planned to."
The effeminate boy grinned and stuck out a hand in a show of knowledge of how westerners greeted each other. "I'm Haruhi."
She shook it. "Merry."
"Are you a student?"
"Starting Monday I will be."
"Isn't it a little late to be starting at a new school? I mean, there's only two months or so of school left for the year…"
"I know."
"Oh… Alright." Haruhi shifted uncomfortably. "Are you lost? I can take you to the Dean's office if you'd like."
"I was just there. I got bored waiting for my… assistant so I thought I'd look for a music room."
Realization flashed across Haruhi's face. "Ah. And you found the Host Club instead."
"Is that what all that frilliness was?"
"Yeah. We're pretty much the only people who use the Music Room. It can be a little over the top sometimes, but it's actually kinda fun."
"I'll take your word for it."
Tamaki suddenly bounded over, happiness wafting off him in waves. "You must come to the club, Princess Merry!"
"Don't call me Princess."
Tamaki blinked in confusion, his head tilted cutely. "Eh? But every woman is a Princess in my eyes!"
"How considerate of you."
"Leave her alone, sempai," Haruhi growled. "If she doesn't want to come to the club, she doesn't have to."
"Mommy!" Tamaki whined.
Merry's day kept on getting weirder. She leant over to Haruhi. "He asks for his mother? He really is a child."
Haruhi giggled.
"What is wrong now… Daddy?"
Merry's eyebrows disappeared into her hairline as a bespectacled boy joined the group, a tall brunette with a blonde boy koala-hugging his head trailing behind silently. With the exception of the middle schooler clinging to the senior boy, and Haruhi, Merry felt short and closed in at five foot five.
All attention was on her like she was something fascinating.
"Kyoya! Haru-chan was being mean! Scold your child!"
Merry almost choked. "You two are married? Congratulations."
Haruhi and the twins hid smiles poorly as Tamaki turned a little green. The boy with the glasses, Kyoya, glanced at her with flashing grey eyes. "Merry Watanabe, I presume?"
Merry stiffened, her gaze narrowed. "You presume correctly."
He smiled. It was as plastic as Ran's. "Pleasure to meet the heiress of Watanabe International."
The young blonde boy gasped happily. "Merry-chan is a Princess?" He tapped his tall ride's shoulder. "Hear that Takashi-kun? Merry-chan is a Princess!"
"Aa."
Merry hadn't taken her cautious gaze off Kyoya, not noticing the twins circling around from behind. "You seem to know a lot considering most of that information isn't general knowledge."
"I know a lot of things," Kyoya hedged. "Our families actually have a long standing contract."
Merry wasn't impressed but plastered a small smile on her face. "Interesting," she drawled. "And your family is…?"
"Kyo-kun is an Ootori!" the blonde youngster chirped, shimmying down to the floor and skipping over to Merry. He held out a stuffed pink bunny. "You wanna hold Usa-chan? He likes meeting new people!"
"No, thank you."
His face fell. "… Oh, okay."
Haruhi pat the boy's shoulder with a kind smile. "It's okay, Honey-sempai. She's probably a little overwhelmed."
Merry glanced at the blonde again, noting the high school uniform and Haruhi's use of 'sempai.' Maybe not a middle schooler…
She felt a weight lift off her shoulders and spun to see the twins inspecting her travel case. She paled as they turned it over roughly in their hands, squinting at the stickers.
"Why do you carry such a ratty thing?" one asked.
"It looks like it's gonna fall apart," the other added.
"What can you be hiding, Princess?"
"Something expensive?"
"Or maybe…"
"Something naughty?" they both hummed slyly, shaking the case for good measure.
Merry dove forward. "Don't touch that!"
Her yell reverberated off the hallway, filled with such malice that the twins froze. She snatched the case back and hugged it close, glaring daggers at her wide eyed audience. "Touch this case again and I'll make sure you lose what makes you physically recognisable as men."
A thin layer of ice settled over the group as they crossed their legs with pained, pale-faced grimaces. Haruhi flinched sharply. What had been a meet-and-greet quickly turned hostile.
Merry straightened, pulling together her composure despite her rapid heartbeat. She nodded stiffly. "It was… nice meeting you all. If you'll excuse me…"
She retraced her steps back to the Dean's office, the group of boys parting like water to let her through.
Their gazes burned her back until she rounded the corner where she let her face crumble a bit. Her grip on the case tightened until her knuckles turned white.
Once everything had defrosted somewhat, Haruhi sighed, placing a hand on her hip. "Well, that could have gone better."
"She was so scary! Right, Takashi-kun?"
"Aa."
"What an icy demeanour," Tamaki said, his words not matching the smile on his face. "I wonder what her Type is? Ooh, what a challenge! Right, Mommy?"
"Whatever you say, Daddy," Kyoya murmured distractedly, scribbling away in his notebook.
"You know what's gonna happen now, right?" Kaoru stated.
"Yeah," Haruhi nodded. "She's not gonna talk to any of us."
"Close," Hikaru grinned, slinging an arm around his twin. "But, we were thinking something else, right brother?"
"Right," Kaoru nodded, his grin matching Hikaru's. "What's gonna happen is…"
Haruhi felt a chill go down her spine. "Boys," she warned cautiously.
They ignored her and spoke in tandem. "We're gonna find out what's in that case!"
Despite the makeup on her face, the Dean's secretary looked a few shades paler than when Merry had seen her last. The poor woman had obviously been a victim of Ran's vitriol because of her brief disappearance.
"I told you not to wander off, Miss Merry!"
"My apologies."
Ran sucked on her teeth before turning sharply on her heel, ignoring the tight look on Merry's face. "Come along, Young Miss. We've wasted enough time dallying. Time for you to return home and refresh your studies for Monday's classes."
"Yes, Ran."
She raced up the stairs to her room the moment Ran's back was turned and slammed the door shut, locking it for good measure.
She gently let go of the case that had been in a death grip since leaving Ouran, placing it carefully on her bed. She spun the lock and clicked it open, peering inside with a critical eye.
She visibly sagged with relief and closed the case, holding a hand to her heart as she glanced at an old photograph on her bedside table.
"It's okay, Grandpapa. It's okay…"
Review if you wanna :3