Chapter 17 - "I will see you all tonight."
Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran Highschool Host Club, or the Fault in Our Stars. I do not know John Green, but if you haven't read his book yet, please do. It is wonderful.
The strong sun beat down heavily on the earth, caking the tall trees and emerald coloured shrubbery in its warm embrace. There were no clouds in the vast plain of sapphire, for only the sun was present. The occasional breeze fluttered past, dancing through the broad leaves of each branch, on every tree.
A few months had whirled past, and it was now nearing the end of June. A time where the weather becomes unbearable over night. A time when the third years graduate. In the few months that had gone by, not much has happened at Ouran Academy. Beside the fact that Haruhi and Mori were a now a couple, ongoing a steady relationship, was little compared to the chaotic events that happened each day. The relationship between the two hosts was hidden for perhaps a week after their first date, but then blurted out by Honey. The three friends of Haruhi - Natsumi, Aya and Izumi took it very well, so did the twins and Kyoya. But Tamaki, he was a whole different story. He did not harbour feelings for Haruhi, as many expected, but he felt as if he was her father and wanted to protect her. A few days after, Tamaki reluctantly gave in. Afterall, if Haruhi was happy, he was happy.
"Haruhi." The sound of feet thudded against the baked ground, a few particles of dust rising into the air as three people hurried over, one of them leisurely walking towards a girl, sitting in the cool shade of one particular tree. Three people, the three girls, towered above the sitting girl, their lemon yellow uniforms fluttering in the slight breeze.
Haruhi shut the book she was reading,firmly tucking the novel into the nook of her arm as she was pulled up to her feet, with the help of the two girls closet to her. Dusting herself down, she wearily glanced at the three who all had beaming grins etched on their faces. "Hi, guys."
"Come on." Aya stated, linking her arm with Haruhi's free arm. "We have to go!"
Natsumi snatched the book Haruhi tucked into her elbow, her mismatched eyes quickly reading over the title and blurb of the blue and black book. "'The Fault in Our Stars'." Natsumi read, swiping her bangs behind her ears. "I quite enjoyed that novel. How about you, Izumi?"
The eldest simply hummed, folding her hands and placing them in front of her lap as she walked behind the group of three. "How come you haven't got your glasses on today, Natsumi?" Aya asked, looking over Haruhi's shoulder.
"Father and Ryuuji forced me to wear contacts today."
"How's Ryuuji doing?" Haruhi asked, walking down the aisle of trees she knew all to well. She glanced up at the extensive plain of blue, her eyes following after the few birds that lazily swooped. "I haven't seen him in a few weeks."
"He's doing well. Although, he won't stop going on and on about this one girl in his class. It's driving me insane."
"Like how you caused us to suffer insanity a month back when you kept going on about Tamaki?" Haruhi responded, cracking a smile as she quickly winked at her pouting friend.
"Enough about me." Natsumi sighed, thumbing over the upturned corner of Haruhi's book. "How are you feeling, Haruhi?"
"Me? I'm fine."
"Are you sure?" The two Kimura sisters questioned together.
"Yes. I am sure, that I am completely fine."
Eyeing the looks that her three friends were giving each other, it finally dawned upon her. "You guys think I'm upset that Takashi's leaving today, aren't you?"
"It's to be expected, Haruhi. You guys have been together for since the end of March." Izumi said slowly, staring at her friend's and sister's back as they walked towards the school building.
"To be precise it was the 30th." Haruhi smiled happily, remembering that day all too well, but after awhile her smile faltered. "But, yes. I'm quite sad that he'll be gone but we'll manage."
The group of friends walked towards the school building in silence, each looking at different parts of the school as they walked. As they ambled towards the main doors, Hikaru, Tamaki and Mitsukini were waiting on them.
Izumi spotted Mitsukini and sighed, although a small smile was tugging at the corners of her mouth. "I'll see you guys later. We'll all go out tonight, yes? When I get up on stage, please don't do anything rash, Aya. I know what you're like." With a final wave, she hurriedly walked away with Mitsukini, who was leading her towards the room that third year were located in.
"Natsumi!" Tamaki chimed, grabbing onto his friend's wrist. "We're getting seated now. Hopefully you'll be seated next to Kyoya and me!" He hurried off down the hallway, a flushing Natsumi flailing her free arm behind her as she was dragged towards the mass of second years at the end of the hallway, being ushered into the grand auditorium.
"Just you and me then, Haruhi."
"I can't go out."
"Yes, you can."
"No, I can't…"
"Why? Everyone's waiting."
"Not like this. Please, don't force me to go out there."
"What's wrong? You can tell me, Izu-chan!"
"I look like a mess…"
With a hand on his hip, while the other clutched his beloved rabbit, Mitsukini pursed his lips and steadily blinked upwards towards Izumi. Izumi, however, took no notice of this but instead was pacing in the corner of a relatively averaged sized side room which connected to the front part of the auditorium, leading up to the stage. Mitsukini hurried to uncover a safe spot to place his dear Usa, so once he found a good enough spot, he drawled, "Izu-chan, you look stunning."
"You must be thinking of Aya. Never once in my life have I looked, as you put it, 'stunning'." The blonde retorted as she paced the length of the room she stood in. Mitsukini slowly followed after her, sighing into his hand every so often. It wasn't until Takashi ambled over that Izumi finally lost it.
"Everything's going to be fine." Izumi mumbled repeatedly as her uniform swished from side to side, fluttering in protest with each sharp turn she took. Forming a sort of mantra helped the distressed blonde calm her nerves, but it wouldn't last.
"Poor Izu-chan…" Mitsukini sighed, his eyes following the blonde's movements. She had stopped pacing for now and was now chatting to a few girls in their class, who looked like they were thanking the blonde as she was blushing. Izumi was never one for praise, and even the slightest compliment would set her cheeks ablaze.
"What happened?" The black-haired teen inquired, leaning against the wall as he observed the girl.
"She's worried because she thinks she looks like a mess. She doesn't want to go out."
"Ah."
"I don't think she's had enough sleep."
"Hm."
Silence settled around the two cousins, but it was mutual as either did not know what to add to their conversation. The silence only lasted for roughly a minute, and it was broken by Mitsukini. "Takashi, what time is it?"
"Half eleven." The tall teen responded, switching his gaze from the short blonde pacing the other side of the room to the shorter blonde beside him.
"It's soon…"Honey sighed. "Haru-chan told me that Izu-chan and Aya-chan came in really early today to do all the girls make-up. To make them look natural. I don't get the point though. Why use make-up to look natural when you don't have to wear any, as you are already natural?"
"Maybe explains why."
"Why she's acting like this?"
"Mm."
"Izu-chan, Izu-chan!" Honey fervently called, waving his arms about to capture the blonde's attention. As soon as her name fell out of his mouth, she immediately turned to face him.
She ambled over, dodging and side-stepping the masses of students strewn in the side room. "Yes, Honey?"
"Did you do the girls make-up?"
"Ah, yes… along with the help of Aya, of course."
"You did amazing! Everyone looks so pretty."
"Oh, um… are you sure? But thank you…" Izumi fumbled. Her cheeks were burning a fiery red, and the shells of her ears were tinted a rosy pink. She couldn't keep eye contact with her two classmates, not after one just complimented her work.
"You too."
"Pardon?" Izumi squeaked, blinking up towards the taller teen. She blinked again, unsure of what her friend had said. Did he say what she thought he did?
"You look nice."
"I appreciate what you're saying but first I honestly don't look nice and secondly you shouldn't be saying this to someone who's not your girlfriend."
Even though Haruhi was sitting extremely far away from her second year friends, she swore she could faintly hear the constantly babbling of the blonde King. And the sarcastic remarks of the Shadow King. And Haruhi could practically imagine the fumes radiating off her brunette friend as she constantly reminded the bickering two to quiet down, otherwise she would make them. As Haruhi was in Class A, her whole class sat at the front the grand auditorium, but behind the parents of the third years but still, she had a perfect view of the stage. Behind her was the total class of B, C following suit and so forth. As Haruhi was a 'guy', she had to sit with the fellow guys of her class but she was indeed fortunate enough to sit near Aya and the twins, with Aya flanking her left and Hikaru her right.
Chitchatting was fun but to some degree, somewhat tiring. It wasn't that Haruhi didn't like talking to her friends, but on this particular day she just didn't feel up to it. Some of the factors as to why included that it was graduation day today, and previously she just finished reading a chapter of this book that her dad had bought her when he was out, called The Fault in Our Stars. As much as Haruhi loved reading, this book just tugged, more like yanked, at her heart strings with each word, sentence and paragraph.
Aya, who had previously been eyeing the empty seats on the right hand side of the spacious stage for the third years to sit, turned in her seat and stared at the brunette beside her. Haruhi blanked and rotated her head, staring into the curious brown orbs hidden behind her friend's thick glasses.
"Everything alright, Haruhi?"
"Yeah." Haruhi sighed, "I'm… alright."
"What's wrong with you?" Hikaru asked, concerned by the sad expression portrayed on his friend's face. "Upset that your boyfriend is leaving us today?"
Instead of blushing like she normally would, she simply stared blankly ahead. "No seriously, what's wrong with you?" He asked again, puzzled by the behaviour of his friend.
"Life."
"What about life?" Aya questioned, lifting a brow to prompt her friend to give her a more furthered answer.
"Life is… short. You should spend each day to the fullest. We don't have long on this world, and we need to make the best of it. We need to do things that make us happy, that make us feel whole and complete. That make us feel … good about ourselves. But I also learnt that life is also unfair. Sometimes it seems that we gain less than we lose. But, life is life and you live on each day."
After Haruhi's little speech, Aya and Hikaru leaned forwards in their seats and stared blankly at each other, then at Haruhi, then back to each other. "That was…deep, Haruhi." Hikaru stated.
"Blame him for it."
"Who? Mori-senpai?"
"I get who you're on about. You read his book, didn't you." Kaoru lent forward in his seat, pushed his brother back to gently pet Haruhi's shoulder as to comfort the girl.
"Whose book?"
"John Green." Haruhi and Kaoru responded together, before quickly glancing at each other and cracking a small smile.
"That reminds me… I recommend this other book by him." Kaoru hummed, thoughtfully tapping his chin as he tried to remember the name of the book he was currently reading.
"Hikaru," Aya whispered, receiving a raised eyebrow from the twin. Another interesting fact about Aya was that like Haruhi, she had the knack for telling twins apart much like her sister Izumi. Natsumi could also tell which twin was which, but a slower rate than Haruhi could. "swaps seats with Haruhi."
"What? Why?"
"I'm pretty sure you don't want to be wedged into between these two until the ceremony begins."
"Gosh Izu-chan! Stop fussing."
"But I can't help it."
"You weren't even up first. It's alphabetical."
"I know, but I'll be up soon."
"And I'll be up before you."
"Why do we have to be in class A?"
"Izu-chan! You look absolutely fine."
"Nope. Nope. Nope!"
Haninozuka Mitsukini, Hiroshima Mei and Ito Yamoto.
"Sorry Izu-chan, Takashi. See you on the other side!"
"Honey! Don't go. Don't leave me alone."
"You're funny, Izu-chan. I'm just going to walk out and up the stage, receive whatever I am going to be given and take a seat. I'll see you later!"
"It's alright."
"Thanks, Mori."
"I forgot to ask… Are you free tonight? I think everyone's celebrating our graduation."
"Mm."
Kimura Izumi, Morinozuka Takashi and Nakajima Chiyo.
"Off you go, Kimura-san."
"Nakajimaaaaa~ Don't push me…"
The ceremony was simple and sweet, but rather long. Haruhi didn't mind though, in fact she smiled every time she glanced at Takashi who sat on the stage with a serious expression. And she grinned when she caught him glancing at her. That alone set the butterflies free in her stomach.
She did not know the time, for all that was consuming her mind was the thought of meeting her friends and greeting them with a smile, and a well done. A well done, because they survived three years in Ouran, two with Tamaki and one with the twins, which by itself earned a great pat in the back. Ten minutes alone with the twins or Tamaki caused Haruhi to seethe with annoyance, and she did not understand how Takashi or Mitsukini had managed to do so. But she would find out, as she still had another year with the blonde idiot and two for the auburn haired morons.
"Well," Hikaru began and Kaoru added, "it's officially over."
"School's over, and they've left." Aya frowned, pushing herself to her feet. She raised her arms behind her head, and angled her spine in such a way that a content sigh escaped her lips. "Now what?"
"They have to head home first, to celebrate with the family. Then tonight, we have a little celebr-" What she was about to say next was interrupted as a strong pair of arms wrapped around her small frame, crushing her into his chest. He lifted her from her seat and gently yet firmly swung her round in little circles around the emptying auditorium, ignoring the pelts of Haruhi's fists against his chest. "Tamaki, no. Set me down."
"But, Haruhi! I didn't see you in ages and I was getting worried." Tamaki whined, yet his spins still continued.
"René Tamaki Richard de Grantaine Souh, you put Haruhi down this instant!" Natsumi barked, setting a firm hand on the blonde's shoulders, stopping him in the process. Haruhi, with her head still spinning, silently thanked her friend for stopping Tamaki's hug.
"But Natsumi…" Tamaki whined yet again, his whines quickly turned that into a whine of pain once Natsumi had latched onto his ear, firmly tugging it.
"This is no way to treat a lady, you hear me? And you call yourself a prince!" Natsumi harrumphed, one hand on hip while the other steadily tightened and loosened its grip on Tamaki's ear. "This is no way to properly hold a lady. You are man-handling her! You will never get a girlfriend if you keep acting like this."
Tamaki clawed at his friend's hand, and after several failed attempts, he clasped her hand and tugged it off his ear. Her hand, still being held by Tamaki's, fell to her side and her cheeks became tainted a violent red. Haruhi slithered between them, grabbing their intertwined hands and lifted it higher so she could thoroughly inspect what lay before her.
"Hm…"
"W-what are you doing Haruhi?"
"Uh huh…"
"Let go of my hand, you blonde moron!"
A firm hand was placed on Haruhi's shoulder, and Haruhi instantly knew whose hand it was, whose hands created little crackles on her skin with each fleeting touch. She let go of her friend's intertwined hands and cracked a small smile as she observed the two reluctantly untangle their fingers. She knew that they both held feelings for one another but they were either too scared, too shy or oblivious to tell one another. She spun on her heel and beamed up at the teen before her, who cracked a small smile of his own and settled his hand atop of her head, where he gladly and affectionately ruffled her dark locks.
"I have to go now." He glanced down at the girl; noticed the sorrow in her eyes once he had spoken. A little ounce of guilt tugged at his heart, but they had promised to see each other later tonight.
"I will see you all tonight."
This chapter has been edited, and reposted.