Haruhi made herself a cup of instant coffee. Her friends had always loved it – to the point that they had created an enormous instant-coffee fountain for the host club reunion. She still remembered her own shock at being introduced to it.
"Haruhi!" Honey greeted her as soon as she arrived. It took her a moment to recognize him – he had grown considerably, but still retained a few of his boyish looks. Haruhi smiled.
"Honey!" Honey tugged at her arm.
"Look at what we got!" Haruhi followed him into an enormous chamber, at the center of which was the most intricately designed fountain she had ever seen – filled with instant coffee. Hikaru and Kaoru were scooping up coffee from it. "It's instant coffee!"
"No way!" Haruhi breathed unbelievingly. In her days as a host, she had seen many a complete waste of money, but this was beyond credible. Rich bastards, she thought.
"Isn't it amazing?" Honey asked.
"What it is is a complete waste of money," Kyouya said frankly, coming up to them. Honey pouted.
"Is not!" he said. He went and joined the twins.
"Hello Kyouya," Haruhi said, smiling. Kyouya eyed her critically.
"You've changed. You're feminine." Haruhi pretended to look offended.
"Well, I am a girl, you know."
"You are?" Kyouya asked coolly, before making his way to a table laden with sweets. Haruhi glared at his retreating back, before smiling. He hadn't changed at all.
Suddenly there was a loud trumpeting. In rode … an ostrich pulling a carriage? Tamaki sat stiffly in the carriage. Haruhi gasped, before breaking into laughter. Tamaki looked down at her and sniffed haughtily.
"For your information," he informed her, "this is the latest in fashionable transport." He couldn't hold his conceited expression for long; he smiled. "Care for a ride?" Haruhi smiled and climbed in.
She couldn't believe it. She was at a host club reunion, riding around an instant-coffee fountain in an ostrich-pulled carriage. She laughed, and Tamaki smiled down at her.
Haruhi dug through her albums and finally pulled out her reunion album. The very first picture was of the Tamaki, Honey, Hikaru, and Kaoru greedily drinking from the beautiful fountain, next Kyouya and Mori, who had had the manners to get a cup and drink from it. She laughed. They had demanded that she get rid of the picture, which made them look like "uncivilized commoners", but she had kept it, so she could laugh at it ever after.
The next picture was of her ostrich ride. She looked so happy in that picture – a happiness that wouldn't last long. No! she scolded herself. She wasn't going to think unhappy thoughts right when she was dwelling on the happiest moments of her life. But even that reunion had brought so much sorrow…
The ex-host club members sat around a large circular table, chatting and reminiscing about their high school days.
"Remember that one time Tamaki spilled coffee on Honey's bunny?" Hikaru asked, grinning. Honey was outraged.
"What? How did I never know about this?"
"Mori told you that your bunny was trying to drink coffee, and you believed it," Kaoru said, laughing. Honey blushed furiously.
"I… believed that?" Kyouya nodded.
"You were rather gullible in those days." Honey pretended to hide his face in shame.
"Goes to show how much I've matured," he said.
"We all have," Tamaki said. "As have our relationships." He gave Haruhi a significant glance, but, oblivious as always, Haruhi simply popped a strawberry into her mouth.
"Except Haruhi," Kaoru, who had noticed the glance, said, "She's as oblivious as ever." Haruhi looked up.
"What?" Tamaki quickly shook his head.
"Nothing." The group continued thier friendly conversation for a few minutes, before Tamaki stood up and tapped his wine glass with his spoon. "I have an announcement to make. I called this reunion because, most likely, I will never see you guys again." Their attention was sparked.
"Is it bad?" Kaoru ventured.
"My mother is fatally ill," Tamaki admitted quietly.
"There's something else, isn't there?" Haruhi asked apprehensively. Tamaki nodded.
"My grandmother refuses to pay the expenses unless I get engaged to the heiress of Grand Tonnerre – Éclair Tonnerre. I will most likely never return. So let's enjoy today to its fullest!"
His jovial behavior was lost on his friends.
Haruhi sighed. She should have known from the beginning that a commoner such as herself could never be good enough for Tamaki.