~ Chapter Fifteen ~
~ Being the Great Gatsby ~
If you had never been to Kyoto it is certainly a place to look into – what with the old temples, the marketplace, the more modern section of the city, the shopping district…nothing screamed Ouran and that was probably what I liked most about it.
Also whatever the Host Club was doing was keeping them busy, I haven't had a thought nor have I been reminded of them for the last several hours.
Unfortunately there wasn't much walking around, especially since Mom and Dad had to head to their business meeting. Granted I didn't have to tag along, but it was a good idea to meet up with business partners and make connections. I definitely wanted them, even if it meant sitting in a boring meeting room with a lot of boring people.
Ok, my parents are not that boring.
"Which do you think matches him?" My mother asked and by "him" she was not referring to Dad.
"I don't think Gibbous will care to have other fish in the tank with him Mom," I said, not exactly wishing certain death to any of the pretty koi in the tank before us. Gibbous was rather small in comparison, but I would hate to have a bloodbath between a beta and a koi in my apartment. Plus we were not allowed to have big tanks in them anyway.
"Oh dear! Perhaps your right!" she muttered to herself, her eyebrows furrowed, I resisted rolling my eyes. She had plenty of koi in her pond at home.
"We have to get going if we don't want to be late," claimed Dad as he peered down at his watch, I huffed silently. I was in no rush to go to the meeting, thankfully the consequences for choosing Ouran over Okinawa made me excited.
"Let's go then, Mooom?" With a huff like mine, Mom came after us and we left the colorful, bustling shopping district for the smooth, contemporary office building near the center of an extremely busy and more modern version of Kyoto. In fact, we had to squeeze into a parking spot and hop on a train to head into the center of the city. Due to my train rides to and from Ouran, my mindset nearly reverted back to school-mode, but the presence of my parents and the outside scenery snapped me back to reality.
"Do you know exactly who all will be there?" I asked, wondering if any familiarity would arise with my parents' answer.
"Most of them you won't know…um…" my dad looked to my mom with a questionable look.
"It's a business convention meeting, you might recognize most of them by name but not my face like Kaiba. I do know that someone representing the Ootori clan will be there…"
I wasn't sure what had gone on between Ootori Senior and my mother back in the day, but my mom gave no sign of the name having significance as she spoke of it. At the time, I wasn't sure if I should be angry or not. That the head of the Ootori had treated her so horribly due to class difference that he ceased to exist to her anymore or maybe the matter was just puppy love and easily dealt with. I was pretty close with my parents, but without more information I had no idea if any damage (further than a little heartache) had been done.
"Ah, finally," a few steps later and we all breathed a sigh of relief as we stumbled off the train. Now I understood why my parents moved us into a more rural area, the city was far too cramped.
Ten minutes later a large, pristine-white building greeted us in all it's towering "full-of-rich-people" glory. Glass made-up most of the building and many solar panels were built into the top, probably another Ootori experiment. My dad and I readjusted our backpacks (of which we had been carrying around since it carried our formal wear). Mom was ready and all very excited about entering the complex, but Dad and I were rather apprehensive.
It really wasn't hard to figure out why.
Names like Ootori and Kaiba meant spinal shivers every time they were mentioned alongside the terms "business" and "meetings". Even though I hardly remembered the party I "apparently" first met Kyouya at, I faintly recall Ootori Senior being very cold. Like a Disney villain, except without a soft and/or dopey side.
With a deep breath I followed Mom and Dad inside. Approaching the doors they automatically slid open, revealing a smooth and pristine foyer before us. Dad and I didn't see the restrooms right away, which proved to be quite a problem when a couple of professionally-clad men walked onto the foyer at the same time from a room from somewhere else in the building. They gave us an indifferent stare, took a quick (almost non-existent) scrutinizing glance over us as they continued their brisk walk from one end of the room to the other. They hadn't so much as uttered a greeting.
I frowned and the butterflies in my stomach seemed to have doubled in size. Mom didn't look nervous though and Dad was fidgeting from one foot to the other.
"Dearest, where are the restrooms?" he asked, my mother tsked.
"They have dressing rooms here, let me show you." It didn't really surprise me that she knew the building well, she could very well have the blueprints somewhere at home – she was rather thorough about things, if not obsessively anal.
Mom's heels clicked as we walked across the floor, the tiles so clean they reflected my image back at me, but they also felt cold even though the temperature was just right. She led us through the door the men from earlier came from and continued to lead us down a quiet hallway, but I heard a bark of laughter from somewhere further down. I couldn't see my mom's face as I was behind her, but the tension in my dad's shoulders seemed to lessen a little at the joyful sound.
We came to a pair of doors that marked 'Men' and 'Women', this is where Mom left us.
"I can't be caught waiting for you, they'll expect you to be prepared already-" Mom shot Dad and I a disapproving look, but it softened sweetly, "-when you're done turn left and follow the hallway. You'll happen across the elevator then take it to the eighteenth level, tell them you had to go to the restroom 'k?"
If the looks from the unknown men were anything to go by, it was that appearances meant everything from here on in. As anxious as I was I couldn't help, but be a little excited. We were going to be playing a game kind of like pretend. My heritage was somewhat stronger on my father's side, as he came from a family with some money, but my mother had worked from scratch. There were few reasons I was in the A class at school, my job at Ouran and what little standing my father had and the money my mother earned since her business soared.
It was inspiring I had to admit, I had to keep the gold lining around the Honiwa name.
"All right, see you in a bit." I said, but before I went into the dressing room I saw my mom's eyes harden before she turned and left us with a view of her back.
Inside the women's dressing room I breathed a sigh of relief – I was alone. Dropping the backpack on one of the counter tops, I looked into the mirror that covered the entire wall around me. Stools were situated evenly and spaced wide enough to allow undressing and dressing between them along the countertop.
Unzipping the backpack I began by unbuttoning my collared shirt, the white cami showing through as I got to the button below my breasts. My thoughts were in a whirl and I was desperately trying to make sense of them. It was like I was preparing for a student council speech in front of the entire population of Ouran, it was that nerve-wracking!
Sliding out of the shirt my gaze then slid to the dress I pulled out of my backpack, it was wrapped in plastic to keep from getting dirty and wrinkly. My mother's doing I'm sure, Dad just barely had enough organizational and planning skills to keep his office at home clean – thankfully my mom made up for that.
After sliding into the short, but clean-cut blue dress, I smoothed out the creases that gathered along my sides. Like any other girl, I gazed into the mirror, as if hoping it would reassure me that it looked wonderful.
"Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?" I giggled and smiled at my reflection as I untangled my hair from the plait I had it in originally. I did this to ensure it would have a wave to it for the conference.
"Looks like they were right," whispering to myself, taking a mental note I would never admit it to the twins their conditioner choices were just what my hair needed. It certainly did shine and it looked healthier, but I couldn't help feeling suspicious that Hikaru and Koaru offered shampoo brand names I could afford. Maybe they were being nice (which is strange to think about) or maybe it was shampoo they normally used. Sure they were a few more sheets of yen, but I shouldn't deprive the health of my hair due to lack of financial support.
Maybe spoiling myself here and there wouldn't be so bad... I couldn't regret the money spent with my dark tresses tumbling about my shoulders with a bounce I haven't seen in them since I hit puberty.
With unlady-like 'squeeing' I pulled on some light tights and stepped into a pair of low heels. I glanced into the mirror again a couple of inches taller. The draped, origami-pleated accent in the dress made me feel fancy and the length of the skirt was just above my knees. Without sleeves my arms felt naked, but my shoulders felt covered with the straps and my hair grazing them.
A dash of eye shadow, mascara, and lip gloss Iater I met my dad outside.
"My, don't you look grown up." My dad sounded like he wanted to laugh and smile at the same time, I playfully punched him in the arm.
"My, don't you look older than before."
"Hey, watch it kiddo." Dad was so much easier to joke with than Mom, we were fairly close.
Intelligently leaving our (obviously out of place) backpacks with an attendant to store away in the back at the front desk, we made our way down the hallway. Dad grew tenser and his back straighter with every passerby. Men and women of older generations in well-tailored and customized suits and skirts gave us looks we often didn't catch. The meeting wouldn't start for another hour, but it felt we were walking into the lion's den and the lions were sizing us up.
Probably trying to figure out if we're cut out for the main course or the appetizers, it was hard to not let the negative thoughts trespass onto my face as I smiled pleasantly at them all.
Yet somehow, we made it to the elevator.
Jam-packed with many other people.
I was mildly surprised to find children on it with us, right in front of me. I exchanged a confused look with Dad, he tried to shrug, but couldn't due to the (reluctant) proximity of the next person.
It was a boy and a girl, roughly the same age of one another. The only reason I could tell it wasn't two girls (as the boy had unusually long black hair) was because the boy was in a suit. The girl had a determined expression on her face, but she couldn't hide the excitement in her eyes as she kept firing questions at the boy.
"It's just a conference meeting, they're really boring. Brother hates coming to these," said the boy, confirming my suspicion the kid was, in fact, male.
"I can't see why," the blonde girl replied with a frown.
"You haven't gone in yet, thankfully we don't have to sit through the entire thing." Claimed the boy, my face flushed. Only the big money tycoons were sitting out the entire conference, the "young heirs and heiresses or attendants" were escorted out about a quarter of the way through sometime after the roll call.
Sixteen and treated like a five-year-old, not that I was complaining about getting out of the business meeting, but it would be humiliating to have to up and leave with these two while the famous game tycoon – Kaiba Seto – who is just pushing eighteen, is taken seriously and left to deal with the "adults".
Several floors and many awkward seconds of sulking/waiting later, the door opened and we all stepped out. The eighteenth floor was just as marvelous as the foyer and full of people.
"Good afternoon sir," said a greeter as we passed by.
Without saying anything and remaining approachable at all times, Dad and I scoped out the room – looking for any trace of Mom.
"There she is," Dad said, but as he began walking away someone absently walked out in front of me, successfully blocking my path.
"Oof! Oh, sor-my apologies!" I managed to choke out, but not without looking up to find a pair of curious eyes peering down at me. There was some mockery hidden in them, but they were amused as well.
"No worries, I was in your way, not the other way around." He said, but I had to admit, I was slightly distracted by his familiar good looks.
"Let me introduce myself, I am Ootori Akito." I raised a brow at him, attempting to bring myself to smirk smartly.
"And knowing another Ootori myself I have multiple reasons to believe you didn't bump into me on accident," I said in response, Akito's smirk rivaled my own. Although Kyouya had a definite sleek feature to his appearance, Akito had slightly longer hair and it was much browner than Kyouya's. They also bore different eye colors, Kyouya's was a stormy grey, but Akito's was a cool, dark umber.
The fact Akito was several inches taller than Kyouya meant I was eye to eye with his chest.
He certainly knew style, what with his flawless suit and silken green tie, bells in my head were ringing Slytherin.
I inwardly giggled at the reference.
"And you would be correct Honiwa-san, but may I call you Yu-chan!"
My eyes widened, I suddenly felt his personality switch and it was like he was channeling Tamaki and the twins all at once. He had my hand in his and had already kissed it before I so much as batted an eyelash.
"Um…h-how flattering, but Tsuyu would work just fine," I managed to get out, the twins were in the back of my mind chanting "Yu-chan! Yu-chan!"
Akito looked slightly crest-fallen, but brightened instantly and that's when I saw it, a crack in his cheery façade – his eyes were glinting something strange and although I felt it wasn't anything particularly malicious, it still made me nervous. Like he was planning something.
"Tsuyu-chan it is then, I hope you enjoy the day today as much as everyone else." He claimed, motioning me to follow as we resumed our walk to the conference room. I couldn't spot my father anywhere as I scoped our surroundings.
"Thankfully I won't have to sit out the entire meeting." I said, my eyes landed on the back of the game tycoon, Kaiba, there was no mistaking that rigid stance, even in person he seemed to be the most cheerless kind of guy. The two children from the elevator were with him, the girl was suppressing her curiosity it seemed as she stood there quietly.
"Oh, neither will I," claimed Akito and with a look from me he continued, "our father only wants some information privy to his two younger sons. Kyouya didn't see the point in attending and left on some trip with his friends from school. It's Yuuichi that has to suffer the most ha ha,"
"Oh that's right, where is your father and brother? I haven't seen them yet," I let my eyes scan the room further. I found my mother first, but Akito must have found his relatives as I did.
"There they are," he nodded in their direction, but he didn't have to. Ootori Senior and his eldest son, Yuuichi, were together, but while Yuuichi was preoccupied speaking with someone to his father's right, I was more perturbed to find the head of the Ootori clan speaking with none other than my mother.
"Hm, isn't that your mother? Honiwa-san correct?" he acted as if he never knew in the first place, but that knowing look in his glinting eyes said otherwise and I wasn't sure how to reply, but with a simple "yes."