Surprise Visits

Yumi

A couple of weeks had passed since that completely mortifying incident, and I'd become a regular customer of the Host Club. Not that I buy anything, so I don't understand why they call visitors "customers." I usually requested Haruhi.

Actually, I always requested Haruhi. I sometimes considered requesting one of the boys, but the idea still drove me wild with nerves.

Haruhi

I couldn't believe that the Host Club actually came to visit me at my house! It got even more embarrassing when my dad got home.

Then I heard strains of "Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats" through the wall. Oh, Yumi must be worried about some upcoming exam. Sometimes she plays the video too loud; usually I banged on the wall to quiet her down. This time…hmm…

"If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go visit Yumi." I stood up to leave.

"Can we come with you?" Tamaki-sempai immediately jumped up.

"I agree, actually," Kyoya-sempai suddenly said. "I've noticed that while Yumi's become a regular customer, she still hasn't truly shown signs of enjoying herself. There must be something we can do to help her relax."

"Well…okay."

We all left and walked over to her door.

"What's that sound?" Kaoru asked.

"Yumi's watching a movie; sometimes she turns the volume too high." I banged on the door. "Yumi, it's me, Haruhi!"

The music didn't stop, but I knew Yumi and her sense of timing. I listened carefully to the song, holding up a hand to silence the boys.

"Jellicle Cats are queen of the nights,

Singing at astronomical heights!

Handling pieces from the Messiah,

Halleluiah – angelical choir…"

Right on a bang in the music that silenced the singing, the door opened suddenly.

Yumi was standing there, in a short-sleeved shirt, knee-length pants and bare feet, with her hair hanging as loose as she ever leaves it when I see her: one braid dangling to a point about even with her knees.

And like the music, she came to a full halt. I swear that her face went dead white at the sight of the Host Club behind me.

I could tell she was relying on the movie to start her back up again, because as soon as the song started again, she plastered a smile on her face and, with a swing of her arm, invited us in.

Normally, I don't read subtext from expressions very well. But the message that Yumi was sending me right then was pretty obvious: You are so going to pay for this one.

Wonderful; as if I wasn't already in debt.

We all sat together watching Cats. "I'll have you guys know," I added to the Host Club, "she dances to this movie."

Yumi

I couldn't believe that Haruhi dragged the Host Club to my house! Still…when it came right down to it, her timing wasn't bad: I could ignore their presence pretty quickly.

Throughout the movie, I danced and made oblique remarks about how different members of the Host Club reminded me of certain cats. And yes, I was pretending that the only person there was Haruhi.

I will be the first to admit that my behavior during "Magical Mister Mistoffelees" is completely shameless. Can I help it if I really like that tuxedo tomcat?

Around "The Addressing of Cats," I…sensed, I suppose is the word…that somebody was staring at my hair. Well, staring is probably the wrong word. Whoever it was, he'd been periodically glancing my way through the whole movie. Right on the last beat of the music, I looked back.

Kyoya-sempai, apparently sensing he'd been caught, turned his attention to something in his little black book.

"Surprised?"

"Not really; it's an excellent musical."

"I meant my hair."

He stopped moving his pen and, of all things, blushed! Had I actually succeeded in embarrassing Kyoya-sempai? "I don't mean to be rude…"

"It's okay, sempai. Anyone who first sees me with my hair down has stared at me for a good five minutes afterward. Haruhi did."

"Yumi-chan, your hair's amazing!"

I felt somebody lift up my braid. Thanks to that look behind me, I was pretty sure that was one of the Hitachiin brothers. Just don't ask me which one. "You could use this thing like a whip!"

"Sometimes I do. Sometimes I even pretend it's a tail. Mostly I tie it up, though."

"Why?" That was the other twin. "It looks amazing!"

I rolled my eyes and turned around. "Oh, and you'd traverse the school with a python hanging from the back of your head?"

I…think it was Hikaru holding onto my braid. He still was, and now the two of them were staring at each other. I'm going to hear something about what I'd said in three…two…one…

"Traverse?"

I sighed. But before I could say anything, Kyoya-sempai spoke up. "We are in the presence of an aspiring writer."

I twisted to look at him, making my braid fall from Hikaru's hand. He was flipping through some papers I'd left on the table and forgotten about. "Ah…it's a work in progress."

"So I can see."

I felt my face getting hot. I don't show my work to just anyone, because I have a bit of trouble taking criticism: if a compliment isn't made first, then my project has failed. I doubted that Kyoya-sempai knew that, though. In another minute, he was going to say something about my work that just shatters my shaky confidence in that book.

For a long minute, the only sound in the apartment was the turning of pages. At that moment, I couldn't remember which book I'd been working on before I opted to watch Cats.

Then he spoke. And it wasn't what I was expecting to hear.

"So what happens to Mina?"

Oh, that one – the book about the girl who falls into a strange new world and wants nothing more than to get home again. A common theme, but I plan on ending it differently.

"Um…I'm still working on that, but the gist is she stays in that world."

His eyebrows went up. "She doesn't seem very happy with her surroundings right now."

"That changes…somehow. Like I said, I haven't quite gotten that far yet."

He stayed quiet for another minute. Then he said, "I think I would like to see more of this…as you write it, of course."

Of all the things I'd been expecting to hear him say, that wasn't one of them. Yet, I liked it!

A/N: The Cats musical and Yumi's comparing the Host Club to different cats from it is important! ^_^