In the next couple of days, I was announced as a new Ouran Hostess, taking on a few male clients in the afternoon and chatting with them, while also serving the Host's woman clients and making "friends" with them. To be honest, it wasn't nearly as much fun (if that's a good word to use at all, that is) as just being a waitress of sorts. I didn't feel like having to entertain boys. I didn't like them. They were rich, stuffy, boring, and not Mori.
Honey was being rather insufferable every morning, afternoon, and evening as he begged me to try and admit my "feelings" to Mori, as if that was ever going to happen. Honey truly felt that Takashi- I mean Mori- felt the same way. But, I narrated to him, it's just some frivolous crush. Not "feelings." However, I could start to sense that everyone was get clued in on the whole thing, and that they were all trying to gently push me towards what Honey was saying. Ordinarily, I ignored them.
The twins approached me one day and asked me to type in a bio for myself on our new website, which featured topless photos of all the guys. They evilly looked me up and down, suggesting they do the same of me for a "business venture." I slapped one of them, and took the laptop from the other, turning on my heel to add useless information about myself.
"Name. Okay, easy. Orie Hoshiyo." I said aloud as I typed along. "Age, seventeen. Class? 3A. Blood type. What is it with these guys and blood types, anyway? AB. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Uh. I am from Florence, Italy, where I lived with my mom above our dojo where she taught and I learned Kendo. Here at Ouran I'm obviously a part of the Host Club, as well as the Kendo club." Smiling as I finished typing, I read over my work to make sure nothing was grammatically incorrect, and dropped the laptop off with the twins.
I turned back to see Tamaki yelling at the twins for the topless and photo shopped pictures of Haruhi, and laughed. Taking a step forward with my eyes still glued to the comedic acts that were the twins, I felt my body brush against someone rather clumsily.
"Oops, sorry." I said politely, fearing it was a costumer. I looked up to see the towering Mori smiling slightly down at me. "Oh. Hello Mori. How are you today?"
"Mm." He replied, nodding his head slowly as his eyes snapped from mine to the scene unfolding before us. Was that…the twins fighting? Hikaru and Kaoru yelled at each other forcefully, shouting about how the other was selfish, or something along those lines.
"We're finished!" They shouted, each storming off into a different direction. I sighed, rolling my eyes and leaning up against a table.
"This should be…interesting."
"You sound like Kyoya." Mori said, his deep, monotonous voice sounding rather…sad to me, maybe. My face softened as I tugged on Mori's sleeve. He turned down to me, almost lowering to my height habitually. I giggled, but went back to being serious rather quickly.
"Are you okay, Mori?"
He nodded, but of course, I wasn't satisfied.
"Mori, if something's bothering you, you know you can always tell me or Honey, too. I know he wouldn't like to see you upset about anything." I urged, but all to no avail. Mori simply patted my head and went to pick up Honey, the two walking out of the club after the twins stormed out.
Haruhi was suddenly next to me, her eyes going back and forth from the door and back to me. "Orie-Senpai, how do you know if Mori-Senpai's feeling sad?"
I shrugged and chuckled. "I dunno. I can just sense it, I guess. Perks of being around him all day, I suppose." I turned to her, seeing that she had a hand raised to her chin in her normal "I'm thinking about something very hard" stance. Raising an eyebrow, I waited for her to voice what was on her mind.
"I think it might help that you like him, ya know?"
"Wh-what?!" I practically screeched, but she was already gone, getting her bag and getting ready to leave the club. I stood with my mouth agape, and although I already knew that the rest of them had figured out why it was I in such a funk, I was still surprised at Haruhi's boldness with the touchy subject. Shaking my head, I followed suit in grabbing my bag and readying myself for departure of Ouran Academy.
On the way home, this time walking through the large city to my house, I let my thoughts wander aimlessly. Stepping around puddles and piles of dog feces left around on the sidewalks, I thought about what Haruhi said. Yes, I did like Takashi.
God, you're such a school girl, Hoshiyo. You blush at the thought of his actual first name.
But, I couldn't help myself. When he was at my house, aiding me in making tea, I had accidentally used his first name. He hadn't so much minded, but it was a sort of big deal for me. The only other person who ever used that name was Honey, and there was no way I had a relationship like that with Takashi Morinozuka. I wanted it to be like that, though. I wanted to be close to him. To know the ins and outs of Mori, just know everything about him. It was this odd sense of wanting to be around him at all times, just being able to breathe him in and out.
Okay, Orie, this is getting really obsessive.
I had to laugh in spite of myself. I mean, I was talking to myself! I really had no idea what was going to happen within this rest of this year. Who knows? Maybe I would never tell Mori about my careless and outrageously hormonal feelings about him, and then again, maybe I would. That sort of frightened me, however, not being able to predict what could be the outcome of this year. Usually my life was so cookie-cutter, so, so…predictable, but now my life was sporadic and hard to decipher. Thanks to those crazy, kooky boys with the Host Club, my life was so random. It actually made me happy, not having to feel so stressed out because I had a lot of lively people around me. And yet…here I feared the unknown.
God, I sound way too deep.
When I finally got home, I greeted Natsuko and company, made my way upstairs, and guiltily dreamt about Takashi. I imagined what it might be like to hold his incredibly large hand in my rather small, impish hands. What it might be like to kiss him, smile into it. Or maybe to be the reason he smiles to himself. Jeez, it sounded terribly girly, but it made me smile at the mere thought of it. I bet he would be so protective and sweet and caring. I wondered what his hair felt like when running a hand through it. I couldn't help but clasp my hands over my chest before letting out a low squeal and small giggle. That was it, I guess. I'm heels over head for him.
The next day at lunch, the Host Club stood by and watched as a pink haired Hikaru and a blue haired Kaoru threw food and other random items at each other across a lunch table; Haruhi sat in the center, her head lying on her folded hands, looking positively defeated. I sighed as Mori suddenly rushed forward, trying to grab Honey as he was being thrown around in the mix. Tamaki watched in horror, while Kyoya only sighed as he worked in his dumb little black book of impending doom.
As the bickering died down, or at least the throwing of objects, Honey offered the two a small cake to split, but began rambling on about how he'd like some, as well as the strawberry on top. I chuckled nervously and slowly walked over to Honey and tugged him away, muttering that he wasn't helping all that much. "I'll split the cake with you, but just leave those two alone for a while, okay?"
He looked upset for a couple moments, but once Mori sat down with us, we all enjoyed a third of the cake, Honey taking the strawberry for himself. After lunch, the club separated once more for classes, which were, as usual, boring and uninteresting in every way possible. I hadn't been focusing at all lately, instead taking my time to develop new, sweet fantasies about a certain tall, dark, and overly handsome host. My head resting on my hand, I wasn't paying attention when the instructor called my name out in annoyance.
"Hoshiyo, please enlighten us with whatever it is that's so interesting about the windowsill." He said loudly, gaining everyone's attention, to my embarrassment. Honey and Mori looked at me questioningly. I suppose it wasn't like me to get in trouble.
"Erm, sorry, sir. Zoned out for a moment." I replied, sitting up nice and straight and making a big deal about getting my head back into class. I rolled my eyes, accidentally, but not unwelcomingly, meeting Mori's gaze for a brief moment. My eyes dropped back down to my paper, and my blush had to be so vivid and clear that, of course, the instructor paused once more.
"Hoshiyo, boyfriends are for after class. Please pay attention; I'm not doing this for my health." He snapped, unceremoniously turning back to the blackboard to write out lecture notes. A small giggle passed through the room at my expense, and I buried my head into my arms, wishing there was a rock I could climb under available at the moment.
Later, the club members all sat around the grand mahogany table, lounging lazily (besides Honey, who, of course, was eating another cake). Tamaki seemed exhausted from the twin's constant arguing back and forth.
"If the twin's keep this up, we'll have to cut the Brotherly Love package out." Kyoya murmured as he wrote feverously in his book. "Our funds will drop significantly." He muttered as he glanced up at Haruhi. "But, don't worry, Haruhi, I don't blame you, although this is your entire fault. You provoked this from the twins." He said nonchalantly, as if it was the kindest thing he could do for her. Thinking on it now, it probably was.
"The twins have never fought, ya know." Said Honey as he munched on a piece of cake. "I've known them since kindergarten, although we didn't talk much, they never seemed to need anyone else's company."
"Really?" Haruhi asked, frowning slightly. It didn't surprise me that the twin's had their own little world they were shut up in. Who else would understand them? Identical twins are a nightmare.
"Yeah," Chimed Tamaki, who smiled fondly at a memory, perhaps. "I've only known them since middle school, but they were always alone. Since then, they've opened up."
"Hm." I offered, not genuinely interested in why the hell the twins were fighting. In all honesty, I might have thought it was a rouse. If there was one thing I noticed about each host boy, it was that each of them had a "thing", if you will.
For instance, Kyoya liked to make the outcome of events more interesting for himself, and likewise, the twin's enjoyed purposely twisting things around so they weren't perpetually bored. If my whole theory on them was correct, then they were probably just doing this because they wanted some attention, and I could probably pinpoint who it was they wanted it from. But, of course, anyone could. It was no secret that every host boy was somewhat fond of Haruhi. Maybe it was because she was a…hidden treasure. To be honest, it drove me to jealousy a bit. All the boys seemed to be so focused on her…they sometimes forgot that I was a girl, too.
But, that wasn't important, I guess. The twins were. Twin. Right. They were fighting. The two stormed into the room, their voices raised and droning on and on. I rolled my eyes and sighed, gaining wary glances from Mori as I hummed and hawed over the twin's staged fight. Kaoru laughed darkly as he pulled something from behind his back. It was a wooden cat voodoo doll, one, I recognized, of Nekozawa's. He was the president of the Black Magic club here at Ouran, and Tamaki was deathly afraid of his "powers." I sorely wondered how such a club even came into existence at such an institute. Kaoru began scribbling something on the back of the doll, laughing evilly as Hikaru scowled at him. Haruhi, however, marched over to them and began yelling at them mercilessly.
"This is a sibling squabble, not a fight to the death! You're both wrong, and acting like idiots proves it! Now stop this and make up, or I'm never inviting you to my house, ever!" She shouted and clenched her fists together, her face heating up to a nice red.
Tough luck. "So…you will invite us over if we make up?" The twins asked together, suddenly holding out a script to Haruhi. She sank to the floor, burning up in a humiliated fashion. The twins congratulated each other on their blinding success, and I groaned at their antics.
I felt as though normally, I would have been laughing right along with them, greatly amused that Haruhi fell for their tricks once more. Yet, as it were, I wasn't feeling up for much these past couple days. Sighing, I gathered my bag up and tiptoed slowly away from the commotion the twins had caused, just barely reaching the door.
"Orie." His deep voice rumbled, pulling me away from door and reeling back. He looked at me curiously, tilting his head adorably to the side.
"Yeah?"
"Where are you going?" He asked suddenly, pushing his hands into his pockets and only focusing his eyes on me. Not Honey, not the twins, but just me.
"I, uh, wanted to go home early. Yeah. I'm not feeling well." I lied, quickly brushing my fingers against my temple as if to gesture that I had a migraine. "I just want to go home."
He pursed his lips. "Let me walk you home." I simply nodded, and turned back to open the door. We just about reached the main entrance and exit to the school when I stopped suddenly, whirling around to face Mori. He wasn't looking at me; his eyes were searching the sunny environment outside.
"Mori, what about Honey?" His eyes came back down to meet mine, and he offered a small smile.
"Mitsukuni decided he would like to go home by himself today." Mori answered, sounding a bit…hurt, was it? Dammit, Honey, if this was your doing…
"Oh. Well, don't worry, Takashi, I'm sure he didn't mean anything by it." I consoled him, patting his arm gently as I squeaked in realization that I had used Mori's first name again. I tried to hide my blush, turning away from him, and unfortunately, missing his rather wide smile. "Anyway, you don't have to walk me home, if you don't want to, I'm sure you'd like to get back home soon, too," I began to ramble on, listing off reasons why he could ditch me.
Why are you encouraging him, Orie?!
Instead of laughing, or taking my advice and leaving, he plucked my messenger bag off my shoulder, putting it over his, instead. I stomped my foot rather childishly and yelled out at him for taking my things. He rolled his gorgeous onyx eyes and ruffled my hair a bit before beginning to walk. I tried to match his pace, but his incredibly long legs always kept him a few inches ahead of me. Without my bag to tug at nervously, I had no idea what do with my hands, and so I wrung my hands together anxiously.
Mori glanced down at them, and stopped walking suddenly. I stopped with him, my hands still moving together, until I giggled nervously and dropped them to my sides, understanding that it was probably annoying him. I sighed and looked down, ashamed. "I'm sorry, Mori, you probably think I'm some basket case." I said, shaking my head and laughing.
He peered at me strangely before engulfing one of my hands in his, holding it fragilely and sacredly, almost. My hand loosely and lightly sat in his, giving it something to do. With my other, I fingered the material of my dress and smiled up at Mori, who looked straight ahead, a faint blush creeping across his distinctive facial features.
Once we reached my house, he dropped my hand slowly to my side, and handed me my bag. I took it back, trying to be graceful about it, because that's how he made me feel. Light and graceful. It was amazing.
"Thanks, Mori."
But he just shook his head. "You can call me Takashi, you know." He replied lowly, craning down to look at me. I blushed and nodded my head, becoming very interested in the hideous brown loafers that were required at school suddenly.
"Right, Mo-Takashi. Thank you. For everything." I corrected myself, smiling down at the ground. When I glanced back up, he was walking away, going to his own home. I didn't know how to contain myself as I waltzed up the stairs to my room and grinned from ear to ear. I didn't do any homework; I just lay on my bed and focused on how hard my heart was still pounding.