Back in one day, all for you guys! Here it is, and if this were an actual anime I suppose this would be the second half of episode three:)
MIROKI: Now this is more like it! Much better on your update speed, FeatherSong, keep it up!
AIKO: Hey! I'm in this one! :D
ARIANA: Oh, for the last time, shush, you two! The story will never get told if you keep interrupting the author!
Once again, thank you, Ariana. Oh! And don't forget to read my little note at the end, I kinda need your guys' help. But for now, here's the story!
"Mimi, don't you think you're going a little bit overboard?" Akihiko asked from somewhere underneath the pile of clothes and fabrics in his arms. They were at her house after school on a Thursday, in her very pink room, and she had been throwing these things to him one after another nonstop for the last ten minutes.
"Nonsense, Kiki my dear!" she cried dramatically. He silently thanked god that his red face was invisible behind all these clothes. She looked at him mischievously. "I need a killer uniform idea if I'm going to beat the other girls!"
"Yeah, but…" he dropped the pile on the ground, his arms finally growing too weary to hold it all. "If you wear all this you're just going to look like a ragdoll."
"I have to have options." she explained, picking up a shirt, considering it for a moment, then shaking her head and throwing it back into her closet. She looked back over at him. "Now, are you going to criticize me, or are you gonna help?"
He sighed and started sifting through the pile as well. "May I suggest ruling out anything that isn't yellow or blue? My dad was lenient enough to let us change the uniforms, but there's no way he'll let us do anything that's not the school colors."
She frowned for a moment, but then nodded in agreement. "I guess you're right…" she began picking a good deal of the large pile and throwing it back. "I would have loved to do pink though…"
Akihiko laughed. "Your sister would have a conniption."
There was a light rap at the door. "Miroki, I made some snacks in case you and…" Ella caught sight of the disaster area and put her head to her hand. "What on earth happened in here?" she shot Akhiko a look of mock scolding. "Didn't you try to stop her?"
He laughed nervously. "Sorry, Mrs. Ootori, I don't know how to do that."
Ella laughed. "Yeah, that's okay, neither do her father and I." she gave her middle child a somewhat stern look. "Young lady, I want this all cleaned up by the time you go to bed tonight."
Miroki sighed. "Okay mom." she then looked up with pleading eyes. "Can we eat our snack in here please? We have a lot of work to do on this."
"Oh, alright." Ella said, handing her a plate of fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies. "But if you get crumbs on the carpet you're dead."
"Thanks Mom!" She said with a grin.
"You two have fun." Ella said, smiling and shutting the door. She walked down the hall with the other plate of cookies in her hand, and opened the door to Ariana's room, where she and Kotoko were talking on the bed. Ariana had her laptop on her lap, as usual. "Hey, girls." she said with a smile. "I made cookies!
"Thanks, Auntie El!" Kotoko said with excitement, lunging for them the second she put them down.
Ella laughed. "No problem at all! Are you guys working on the same thing Miroki and Akihiko are working on in the other room?"
"That is correct." Ariana said, not taking her eyes off of her screen. "We are having a contest to redesign the girls' school uniforms."
"Oh, that's great! But how the heck did you get Tamaki to agree to that?"
Kotoko raised her hand and hung her head. "They guilted me into charming Daddy into it."
"A necessary evil. You'll get over it." Ariana said, still not looking up.
Ella laughed again. "Sometimes you just gotta do what you've gotta do. I'll leave you two alone now to work on your stuff. Good luck!"
"Wait a minute." Kotoko looked up with a frown after Ella shut the door. "Miroki is getting help from Akihiko? That's not fair!"
Ariana chuckled. "Come on, Kotoko, how much help can he really be?" she put her laptop down and made a note in her notebook.
Kotoko stood up. "Still! I want a helper! I have a lot of ideas."
"Like what?" Ariana asked absently.
"Well, like—wait." she gave her friend a suspicious look. "Don't think I don't see what you're doing. You think you're soooooo clever!"
Ariana looked up, raising an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?" she said tiredly.
Kotoko pointed an accusing finger. "You're trying to steal my ideas!"
Ariana laughed, turning back to her work. "Hardly."
"Well, I'm not taking any chances." Kotoko opened the door. "If you need me, I'll be working on my plans…elsewhere!" she left the room, shutting the door behind her dramatically.
Ariana chuckled and shook her head. "Idiot."
...
Aiko had just finished her homework, and was about to pull out her writing, when there was a rap at her door. "Come in!" she called.
"Heyyyyy, Aiko!" she turned around to find Kotoko bouncing into the room.
"Hey, Kotoko, what's up?" she asked curiously.
"Well, you see, I need your help. We're supposed to be designing new school uniforms for the Ouran girls, but I think I could use an extra set of eyes. I can't use Ariana, because she's competing with me. So, seeing as my own little brother has abandoned me for his dearest Mimi, I was thinking that the two of us should put our heads together! Whaddaya say?" she grinned.
Aiko gave a small laugh. "Well, that sounds great and all, Kotoko, but are you sure you want to be asking me? I mean, all I ever wear is tee shirts and sweats."
"Pshh, please." Kotoko brushed her off. "You can be fashionable when you want to be, I believe in you!"
Aiko sighed and smiled. "Well, I guess, if you believe in me, then what do I have to lose?"
"Great!" Kotoko enthused. "Now let's get started!" she suddenly pulled a mannequin and a few designs and fabrics out of nowhere. "Now, what I was thinking is…"
Aiko's eyes widened as she continued. "Uh-oh." she thought. "What did I just get myself into?"
Meanwhile…
Kyoya was walking down the hall, his nose buried in a document. He chuckled when he walked by Miroki's room and heard Akihiko's exasperated voice.
"Mimi, please, slow down a second, I can only dress a mannequin so fast!"
Tamaki had called him earlier and told him about the club's idea. About time they replaced those uniforms, everybody but Tamaki could see. Kotoko was probably the only one who would have been able to convince him, though.
He raised an eyebrow when he walked by Aiko's room to see her dressing a mannequin with Kotoko. Both of them waved to him excitedly. He waved backand kept walking. "Wonder how she roped Aiko into this."
He was back to reading his document and nearly ran into the tall form making its way up the stairs.
"Sorry." Matsuko said. It seemed to Kyoya that his house was some kind of meeting place today.
"That's alright, Matsuko. Welcome back, we haven't seen you around here in a while."
"Good to see you again." he said.
"Were you looking for anyone in particular?"
Matsuko nodded. "Ariana."
"I believe she's in her room." her door had been shut, but she was nowhere else to be seen, so Kyoya assumed she was working on her laptop.
Matsuko nodded his thanks and continued up the stars.
Matsuko opened the door to Ariana's pale blue bedroom to find her with her nose buried in her work, as usual. She was sprawled across her bed, her left hand on her laptop, her right with a pen scribbling something or other into that notebook of hers, surrounded by papers with sketches on them. She didn't even notice him.
He chuckled silently and gave her door a light rap.
She looked up suddenly. "Oh! Hello Matsuko. I'm sorry, have you been here long?"
"No." He smiled and shook his head, coming to sit down next to her.
"I'm not entirely sure which way to go on this design." she chuckled. "After all, if I had my way, we'd all be wearing pants, but people like Miroki and Kotoko—and most of all, Tamaki—won't go for that. I have to play to my audience. The question is, to what ends?"
Matsuko shrugged.
"I know I want to go with a button down and tie, but with a skirt it just looks so bland. Nobody will ever go for that."
Matsuko furrowed his brow for a moment. He looked through her sketches, then put them down and went to her closet.
"What are you doing?" she asked curiously.
He turned around and held out a blue vest that she had, something that went with a suit she wore to her father's most recent benefit.
She raised her eyebrows. "That's actually very good."
"Thanks." He smiled and tossed her the vest then sat back down next to her.
"Well, it would seem that everyone in the club is partnered up now." she said with a chuckle. "Tomorrow is certainly going to be interesting, isn't it?
The next day…
Kotoko peeked out from behind the curtain, grinning. "This is a great turnout, guys!" she said to the club, who were gathered behind her. "Half the school must be here!"
Music Room Number Three had been transformed into an auditorium of sorts. There was a stage, rows upon rows of seats filled with students, and a runway that jutted out into the middle.
"Wonderful, but where are the twins? We can't start without them, they have the…"
"Have no fear, we're right here!" they said from behind her.
"Once again. Creepy." Kotoko said.
"Where have you two been?" Ariana asked.
"Why, we were putting the finishing touches on our outfit!" Taylor replied.
"We had to make absolutely positive that we would blow the competition away." Zura added, throwing pointed looks to Kotoko and Miroki.
Ariana sighed and rolled her eyes. "The models?"
"Right behind us." Taylor said, as four identical looking girls strutted in. "Fresh from auditions at Daddy's company. It's their first gig."
"C'mon Ariana, don't you have any faith in us?" Zura teased.
"No." she said flatly, making Matsuko chuckle. "Now come on, let's get them ready. We should be starting any minute."
"My, what a joyous occasion this is!" Tamaki suddenly appeared from nowhere, startling everyone but Ariana. "I just wanted to come back here and wish you all luck! So, good luuuuuucckkk! I'm gonna go introduce you all now!" and he was gone as soon as he appeared.
He was still grinning as he stepped out onto the stage, but regained his composure. He had to keep his reputation as professional school headmaster. (Not that he had one.)
"Good afternoon, Ouran Academy, and welcome to the first ever Ouran High School Fashion Show, hosted by our very own Subete Club! Today is a very special day, because today you ladies and gentlemen will get to choose the new girls' uniforms for the rest of the forseeable future!" there were cheers from the audience, which mainly consisted of girls. "Alright alright, so, without further ado, here are the designs of our contestants!"
The curtain opened up, and out first was a model sporting a dress that looked awfully similar to the preexisting Ouran uniforms. It had a shorter, less poofy skirt, more frills, non-puffed sleeves, and a thicker bow around the neck.
"This design comes from Subete Club President, Suoh Kotoko, with the help of Middle Schooler Ootori Aiko!" Tamaki announced.
"Way to change it up, Kotoko." Zura teased.
"Oh, shut up."
The next model was wearing an puffed blue skirt with yellow trim that was slightly higher than knee-length, with a yellow blouse with puffed sleeves, and yellow mary janes.
"Our next design comes to you from Miss Ootori Miroki, with the help of Suoh Akihiko!"
"Miroki, this is almost as bad as what we have now!" Taylor complained.
"What are you talking about? It's way prettier!" she replied with a grin. The twins groaned.
The next model was sporting a short, pleated yellow skirt with white knee high socks, coupled with a white button down with puffed sleeves and a blue vest.
"This next model is wearing the outfit designed by the Hitachiins, Itazura and Taylor!"
The audience was definitely reacting best to this one. The two high fived as the rest rolled their eyes. "In the bag!" they said.
"Not so fast." Ariana said with a smirk.
"And last but not least, our final contender!"
The last model was wearing a knee-length yellow skirt, with a white button down, a black tie, and the blue vest Matsuko had picked. The audience was reacting just as well to this one.
"This outfit was designed by Subete Club Vice President, Ootori Ariana, with the help of Morinozuka Matsuko!" Tamaki announced.
Everybody turned to give the two a confused stare. Ariana smirked. "What, so you guys are the only ones allowed to have helpers?"
"And now, for the fun part!" Tamaki cried from onstage. "You were all given little buzzers as you walked in, with four different buttons on them. If you liked Kotoko's outfit best, press the red one! If you liked Miroki's, press yellow! For, Ariana's press blue! And for the twins', press green!" I'll tabulate the scores up here!"
There was a moment of nothing but button clicking. The twins gulped. Miroki grabbed Akihiko's hand and squeezed it, making him blush like crazy. She didn't notice, of course, because she was staring at Tamaki intently.
"And, the votes are in!" Tamaki said. "And…uh oh, it appears that we have a tie!"
"A tie?" the twins looked at each other, then at Ariana. "What do we do for a tie?
Ariana was slightly surprised. "I…did not consider that."
"Would Ariana and the twins' models please step forward?"
Kotoko went up to Tamaki and whispered in his ear. He grined. "Well, it would appear as though I am the tiebreaker!" he said. "This should be fun…hmm…both designs are very good…I wish I could just…oh! I know!" he ushered the two models backstage.
"What is he doing?" Zura asked Kotoko.
She laughed. "You think I know?"
"Aha!" Tamaki reappeared, startling the whole audience. "Ouran Academy, I present to you…your new uniform!"
The model came back onto the stage. She was wearing the black mary janes and stockings that both outfits had. She was also wearing the yellow flowy skirt and black tie from Ariana's outfit, and the blouse and sweater vest combo from the twins' outfit.
Ariana smiled. "Very clever. He combined the two uniforms."
The twins shrugged. "Well, we half-won." Taylor said.
"Yes, I would say that I'm quite satisfied with the way things turned out today." Ariana agreed.
"Guys, guys!" Kotoko came running back up to the group from the crowd.
"When did you even leave?" Akihiko asked confusedly.
"Never mind that." she said, brushing him off. "We've gotten so many people saying they can't wait to come to our next meeting! The club has, like, doubled in guests!"
"Wow, now that we have so many people, who knows what kind of other stuff we can do next!" Miroki cried in excitement.
"Well," Ariana turned to the reader. "I guess we'll just have to find out."
Okay guys, here's some exciting stuff. I would love your help in writing this, and by that I mean I'd like you guys to submit characters for me to use! Like the original anime, these guys are going to help out a lot of people, and I'd love to use some reader OC's to do so:) If I use your character I'll give you credit, of course. PM me with the details, anything you'd like me to know, you know, looks, class year, maybe they know a club member or like them, they're new to the school or the club, whatever you want! I'll PM you back if I'm going to use it, and I might have some questions for you. AGH! I'm so so so excited about this. Love you guys! Thanks so much!
-FeatherSong