Chapter Nineteen
~ A Serious Accusation ~
I got the mail the next morning and without thinking about it, put it into my school bag as I raced out the door. Rushing onto the train only a few minutes later and seconds before the doors closed, I felt a wave of relief as I slid onto one of the available seats nearby.
Some of the passengers were giving me strange looks, nothing unusual since the rumors of my being of yankee descent began. With a bit of a bump the metro began to move, pick up speed, then sail down the tracks. The steady hum of silence relaxed the thumping of my heart as I sunk into the seat.
Today was going to be a good day, I told myself over and over again, it just felt like one of those days I needed some convincing. I would attend class, eat lunch, go to class again, go to the Host Club, complete my custodial duties, do homework on the train and take a breather when I got back to my apartment.
My fingers traced the flap of my school bag and idly, I pulled out the mail. It wasn't a rent notice or anything (which is something I shouldn't get anyways as Ouran administration takes care of that), but it was addressed to me from the apartment complex.
Immediately a number of things went through my mind and many I could thankfully toss out. Was Ouran kicking me out? Was I walking around too loud for my neighbors living directly below me? Alas, I was thinking too much as usual and decided to just leave it for later. If it was something dreadful I didn't want it to effect me till much later, who needed that kind of stress on a good day?
When the train rolled to a stop and I clambered off I nearly ran right into a standstill crowd of people. All of them were about my age if not a little older.
"What's going on?" I asked the nearest person, he turned and gave me an excited smile.
"Kazuki Expo just put up their poster!" he claimed and a bubble of excitement instantly bubbled up inside me as well.
"When is it?"
"This summer, June sixteenth and seventeenth," he said and I thanked him before hurrying off the ramp.
For the last couple of years I've been thinking of attending Kazuki Expo as a vendor, not just a visitor. I've been spending my free time not only designing the Host Club website, but also on prints of my favorite video games. Unfortunately due to my inflexible schedule I didn't have time to play any, but a couple that I still had back at home in the Todaizumi Estate are still pretty popular.
Kazuki Expo also featured anime panels. One of the more popular genres was zombies since last year there had been some strange events with people suddenly becoming violent, a doctor attacking a nurse, the weather was grim and shady, eventually the violence died down, but it was really weird.
But alas, Japan embraced it as inspiration for zombies.
Oh great, I thought, looking at my phone and realizing I was going to be late if I didn't hurry, I gotta run!
Picking up my pace, I left the train station and made my way to Ouran. The buildings of the urban town began to melt away into cascades of well-placed flora. This was Ouran property now and it was still a good mile from the actual school structure.
Paved concrete gave way to smooth red brick, I tried to look more casual as I was walking but I still had to move briskly. I could NOT be late, not on the first day back from the weekend!
I was fairly close to the school now, I could clearly see it's façade and noticed there was already a few limos sitting in front of it. Other students were just now arriving too and thankfully, I was not among the only walkers on the front lawn. Ouran Academy encourages morning strolls and although I was among the last to be outside, it wasn't abnormal to see someone "supposedly rich" walking around beyond the school.
Smiling politely at one of the limo drivers of whom was keen on allowing me to walk in front of him before driving off, I had nearly missed the first step when I realized that driver looked familiar.
That was Tamaki's driver.
Stopping now I took a look around for the blonde, he was nowhere to be found.
He's already in homeroom, I thought as I scurried up the stairs as the limos revved up and poured out of the school's drop-off lane.
Phew, five minutes to spare, peering at the school clock lining the wall, I dropped my bag against the bottom lockers before switching out my street shoes for my school pair.
Sailor Student form! I giggled as I pretended to finish a Sailor Moon transformation after putting the shoes on. Shutting the locker I then picked up my schoolbag and hurried up towards homeroom.
One floor up I spotted Tamaki outside of homeroom, Kyouya was out too but standing some few feet away. It was the school headmaster speaking with Tamaki and he looked cross.
Kyouya turned his head and his eyes met mine, wordlessly I asked him if everything was all right. He smirked and mouthed "later." I wasn't sure if he was just amused about Tamaki being in trouble about something or darkly amused since he was outside the room with him. Maybe it had to do with the Host Club, but as far as I knew that was nothing for the headmaster to be upset with Tamaki about, not since the happiness scores from the physicals had been boosted in the female populace partially due to the Host Club activities.
I nodded then stepped into homeroom where curiosity got the better of me. I forgot to call out my name during roll call as I sat there pondering what could be the problem.
Could the activities of the Host Club be upsetting a customer or had upset a customer? As far as I could tell all the customers were likeable (except for Ayanokouji) and mature outside of class, but enjoyed to be allowed to openly swoon in the Third Music Room.
Thankfully Physics class wasn't that far away, if this rested on my mind any longer I would assume Tamaki had made someone excessively uncomfortable!
"Tamaki had made one of his newer customers uncomfortable," Kyouya explained as we toyed with different equations at our lab station.
"Really?" I could believe that without much imagination (Haruhi was proof this could happen), but although Tamaki can come off as overbearing sometimes he's unusually perceptive of the customer's needs and knows how to make a heart throb. He's a different person to his group of friends, his energy levels for some reason skyrocket, but he can harness and channel it into a classy composure when necessary.
"What did he do?" I asked when Kyouya didn't say anything immediately, he gave me a quick glance which made me feel hot in the face.
Don't sound needy! I screamed at myself, but Kyouya didn't seem to notice my inner turmoil.
"It's odd really, he said the complaint was from one Tsuboro." Kyouya explained almost casually, I was only somewhat aware of how comfortable I had grown in his company the more we were partners in class.
I searched my memory for the face to match the name Tsuboro, none came to mind at all although it seemed very familiar.
"What did she have to complain about?"
"About Tamaki, apparently he had been assaulting Tsuboro after and in between school hours." I looked at Kyouya with wide eyes.
"Tamaki and-and assault do not go together!" I hissed in disbelief, "the school isn't taking that seriously are they? Tamaki could get into a lot of trouble!"
I would know! Ouran may seem frivolous and in many ways is, but there were some very strict guidelines and standard rules that must always be followed and one such rule was harassment (of any kind) and could result in expulsion (an unknown concept to the C and higher classes.)
"It was taken seriously enough that the headmaster had to send the complaint to the superintendent and board." Kyouya replied, I must have paled significantly because he added:
"Those kind of complaints are handled delicately, if this takes a serious turn Tamaki will be thoroughly investigated, those he regularly keeps company with interrogated, Ouran security cameras probed, the list goes on." I nodded slowly as I unwillingly processed the information.
"Well, Tamaki wouldn't be doing that so if they do probe the cameras he'll be fine…but then…why were you out in the hallway with him this morning? Moral support?" he glanced at me darkly.
"The same complaint was made against me as well," Kyouya claimed, my eyebrows vanished into my hairline.
"You're kidding?" Kyouya's lips curled slightly at the use of the "common tongue" phrases, my face burned again, but I ignored that and the feeling of butterflies in my stomach.
"It's obviously not true – I mean! These girls – they'll…ugh…this is serious! This isn't some common public school nor can it be some joke done on a whim! This is an offense and surely the school knows that! You two are from high-standing, old bloodlines! That should give you-"
"Are you suggesting we use our parents' influence to rescue us?" Kyouya asked, more amused than anything, but I could hear the dark, sullen underlay in his words. This was serious, so serious that Kyouya was either being wicked in bringing up my own beliefs and how I was talking against them or trying to lighten the situation by joking about my hypocrisy or attempting to do both.
"Don't put words in my mouth and yes, but I suppose you two wouldn't really have to try. Ootoris ooze enough intimidation without lifting a finger to make people scatter, your father certainly gave me that feeling." I said with a huff as we finished our assignment, my fingers grazed his when I lowered a beaker. My mouth felt dry.
"Do you feel the same way when I'm in the room?" a humored chuckle asked beside me, I refused to give him any indication my stomach was practically a nest of migrating monarchs, so I sat down and began writing down my observations of the concoction we just made.
"Something I said make you uncomfortable?" what ultimately made me turn was the genuine concern in Kyouya's tone, so I blinked back at him owlishly. He didn't pull an overtly worried expression as Tamaki would have, but he did have his fingers pushed up against his glasses acting almost like a barrier between us. His eyes were looking elsewhere, uncharacteristically toward the floor – somewhere I figured someone of his status would not deem worthy of his attention.
"Just a little, but not in a bad way." There are times when everyone on this planet wished they could take back words or sew their mouth shut for a time to keep themselves from saying something embarrassing, this moment was one of them. Yet it was hard to regret when Kyouya gave me a smug look with a rare softness gracing the edges of his lips and eyelashes.
"But this is serious Kyouya, this has to be a prank, I've seen enough of them pulled on poor Haruhi-wait! Wait wait wait wait!"
I remember that name now!
"Tsuboro! Who complained about you?" I asked, Kyouya leaned into his palm, regarding me with a fixated expression clearly saying he was focused entirely on me – I would be lying if I said I wasn't completely unnerved by it, the butterflies were fluttering wildly.
"It was an anonymous complaint," he replied, obviously waiting to see where I was going with this. The teacher glanced our way and noticed we weren't working, we briefly took a break and started scratching answers onto the assigned papers. Our closest lab neighbors regarded us moodily, Kyouya was the best at Physics and with my increasing grade I was quickly closing in on fifth in the class, I was rapidly becoming an object of sweet envy.
"Tsuboro is one of Ayanokouji's friends, I use that term loosely, but from my experience Tsuboro is as sweet as she is toxic." I replied, very happy with my metaphor.
"Why would you say the term loosely?"
"Ever since Ayanokouji was banned from the club, Tsuboro instantly grabbed her slots (you should know). Ayanokouji and Tsuboro were once close I guess, but Tsuboro knew how much Ayanokouji liked Tamaki. The two became bitter and jealous and probably partially led to Ayanokouji becoming so possessive over Tamaki." Kyouya's glasses flashed.
"So you believe the two have reconciled, decided Ayanokouji should not have been banned and seek revenge on Tamaki and myself?" Kyouya asked, I hummed to myself for a moment.
"Any ideas on who the anonymous complainer is?" I asked, he shrugged.
"I will have to tap into Ouran's security files," I sweat-dropped, this really shouldn't surprise me, "I am sure I can uncover the mysterious anon."
"Maybe that's not a good idea, you already have a complaint thrown at you sent to the superintendent and the board, we don't want to throw them another bone." The look on Kyouya's face from my commoner slang made my heart skip a beat and this time, there was no hiding the red burning across the flesh on my face.
I'm on a roller coaster today!
"I mean we don't need your obsessive hacking standing against you as well."
"Obsessive?"
"Look, you should be really worried, this could be some very elaborate prank by Ayanokouji-"
I rattled on, but slowly I trailed off when the teacher called out for us to hand in our paperwork and clean up our work station. What Kyouya told me about he and Tamaki getting harassment complaints gnawed at my gut.
Today will be a GOOD day!
Kyouya and I parted ways and I didn't see anyone else from the Host Club until Statistics with Tamaki.
My heart nearly broke.
Tamaki greeted like he normally would, a "hello-o-o my dear princess!" Then he closed the distance and hugged me, it wasn't some typical embrace.
It felt so sad, I couldn't believe Tamaki was capable of feeling such emotions on the opposite of the spectrum.
"Kyouya told me what happened, it'll be fine," because today will be a GOOD day, I'll make it a good day. Tamaki leaned away, I felt his limbs fall from me as if they were in slow motion.
"I'm sure it will be!" Tamaki grinned cheerfully before we sat down, I made sure to sit right behind him.
Somewhere in the line of books I've read in the last sixteen years of my life, I read you could tell a lot from a man from his back. As an aspiring design artist, being oriented to detail went beyond colored squares and typography. Shoulders, hunches, the neck, the arms, I didn't even need to see the front of Tamaki to know the roll of emotions being laid bare for all to see, for those who cared to look beyond face value.
There was no way I could amount to the friendship shared between the Host Club members, Haruhi was the newest member, but she was already so ingrained in their inner circle…I was almost jealous. But I would like to think my trait for over-thinking helped me read into the people I care a lot about and hope I wasn't coming up with some silly idea.
I hardly paid attention to class, when my name was called I kept myself from stuttering like an idiot, but I had no idea where we were. When Tamaki quietly whispered the answer it was crystal clear to me – there was more at stake than I originally thought and I had to return the favor.
Kyouya claimed the harassment complaints went to the superintendent – Tamaki's father.
They went to the board as well and were about Kyouya too. As much as Kyouya was a friend of mine as well as Tamaki, Kyouya wasn't in as much danger. He was not his father's medical prodigy performing surgeries nor was he inheriting his father's great, grand legacy, but he came from a unified couple.
He came from a rich Japanese man and a rich Japanese woman. Kyouya had a different set of pressure on him from his family standing, Tamaki had a completely different kind of pressure – society standards.
It was hard to miss that blonde hair, known to be inherited from his French mother and the fact his parents weren't married…that his mother wasn't even on the same continent, of similar status, or even the same race!
Tamaki was not supposed to be.
I faintly recall Mom talking about the Suohs, something about their line being ruined, that the current head of the Suoh family went as far as arranging a marriage for her son (Tamaki's father) after the out-of-wedlock birth of Tamaki.
This was bad.
This was supposed to be a good day.
The very idea of Suoh Tamaki assaulting anyone could thoroughly devastate the Suoh reputation, if it ever got out to the Ouran public…
It hit me very quickly that this wasn't something to be spoken about openly, Kyouya and I had been careful, but who knows what those closest to our table heard earlier?
Another thought hit me, a scary one.
The "assault victims" making their fake accusations public.
"Honiwa-san, are you all right?" the teacher asked, I blinked and looked up to find everyone looking at me, including a very concerned Tamaki.
I had been holding my head and stretching my face in the process.
"I'm fine! Just a minor headache is all!" I urged the teacher to continue her lesson, I was careful to school my features since she kept glancing at me as did Tamaki.
Thinking of the "victims", what is there purpose? Did Ayanokouji have anything to do with this?
When Statistics class ended I was in front of Tamaki, he fell slightly behind, still smiling, but his posture sank minutely.
"Tamaki, I might have to skip out on the Club today, that headache is kind of bothering me still." I said, Tamaki frowned.
"Skip? I've never heard of such a word! I've been looking forward to this all day I must insist you join us!" Tamaki pulled such a great act, but then again, he never really acted anything did he?
"But my headache…" my mouth shut quickly when Tamaki gave me an unusually solemn look.
"Do you think I hurt those young ladies?" my heart felt like it had been dropped into a deep, cold pit at the very idea. Tamaki was being serious and might believe what was said about him was true, it was my behavior that allowed him to think that too, which made me feel all the more worse.
"No Tamaki, I don't believe you are capable of harming others in any way." I emphasized each word with as much moral strength I could conjure, Tamaki needed to smile again, my heart reached out for him.
"Ah, that's great then! I'm glad you believe that Tsuyu-hime!" Tamaki smiled brightly, I let out a breath of relief.
"But, Tamaki," I grabbed a hold of the crook of his arm, in which he adjusted in such a way that it appeared he had offered it to me instead of me grabbing it, "we can't speak of it around others, ok?"
"What about the Host Club? Kyouya and I had planned on telling Haruhi, Hikaru, Koaru, Mori, and Hunny-senpai later today."
"Well, yes, I meant not to anyone else, except your friends." I replied casually.
Tamaki's smile softened, cradling every word I had just said.
"I wonder who is the knight in shining armor between the two of us?" Tamaki laughed airily, I raised an eyebrow at him.
"Pardon?"
"Kyouya told me how you tried to protect Haruhi before she joined the Host Club, you must have felt so helpless." He said, it struck a chord in me I hadn't felt in a while.
"Yeah, I kind of did." I recalled the small pranks pulled on the hardy Haruhi, who took everything in stride and even though she seemed ultimately ignorant of who the pranksters were, she just kept going through the events of the day like any other. I liked to think I prevented some of the major pranks like knocking off chalk erasers from the tops of doors and putting down wet floor signs where soapy water had been dumped. Of course, I might have been looking out for myself as well, it couldn't be said Ouran had lousy janitors after all.
Haruhi was such a strong character, ignorant at times and sometimes probably purposefully, but she was determined to not let minor things keep her attention.
Characteristics of the lawyer she strives to become.
"I bet you tried hard though and if Haruhi doesn't know it allow me to be appreciative in her place." Tamaki smiled at me, it was such a sincere smile I felt my heart race and my face glow.
"Haruhi owes you a lot, but she owes the Club too so hopefully you already know this, but if you ever need any help make sure to ask us."
"Don't be silly, I already have Kyouya giving me tutoring sessions and you invited me to Koen Gardens."
"I'm not talking about those kind of things, we're friends Tsuyu-hime."
"That's sweet Tamaki, but friends don't make me pay for things that you guys broke," I replied with a small smile, the time the twins set off the floor polisher and the events that followed can be viewed as pretty humorous right about now.
"Oh, did Kyouya not inform you of the payment fulfillment?" Tamaki appeared surprised now but it was nothing compared to my own, I stopped walking which made him stop.
"Payment…fulfillment?" Tamaki smiled.
"I guess not, the incident was covered by the school insurance. Kyouya claimed the window had been broken by a "frivolous pair of students" whose parents had been informed of their behavior." There was no doubt he was talking about the Hitachiins, I swallowed.
"Although Kyouya did pay for the damaged cleaning products, that was paid off in your first two weeks with the club."
"But I've been paying this whole time!" I was careful to keep myself from shrieking, anger flared inside me where there had been sadness prior.
"Sort of, Kyouya's been returning your money through a special bank account, he tried to explain it to me, but I must admit it was a little too complicated. Something about mounting interest…he wanted to surprise you I think."
I gave Tamaki a blank look.
"I've only been paying for two weeks?"
"That's what he told me."
"Where's the rest of the money?"
"He set something up with your parents, you technically still have it."
"What about all those cakes for Hunny?"
"With the rest of it."
"So I haven't really been paying for Kyouya's time with me or anyone else?"
"Nope!"
"Why didn't he tell me?"
"He wanted to surprise you."
"…"
"Tsuyu-hime?"
"I'm going to kill him." Tamaki's eyes almost bugged out of their sockets as I disconnected our arms and started marching toward the Third Music Room.
"Please! Hold on dear long-lost sister! Tsuyu-hime!" Under different circumstances I would have been happy knowing Tamaki was acting like his normal self again, but I was too busy imagining Kyouya's face when I would start yelling at him.
"I will kill him slowly…with the floor polisher!" I snarled as Tamaki trailed after me.
"At least let him explain himself Tsuyu-hime!"
"Have you all known how much I've stressed myself out over money? You all have no idea! The idea of being on my own! To pay for so much that I didn't need nor deserve! I'm almost in tears right now!" I tried to keep my voice at normal volume as we came closer to the room, I saw some of the first steady stream of clients and schooled my features as we neared.
At the door were some girls cooing, probably over Kyouya, which made me even angrier.
"Forget the floor polisher, I'll do him in with a feather-duster." I snarled.
"Such horrible words Tsuyu-hime!" Tamaki wailed.
Going through the bubbly clients with forced politeness (the crowd parting naturally for Tamaki although I was in the lead) I made it to the front where my ire had doubled.
Then deflated.
Tamaki, myself, and the clients were greeted by the rest of the Host Club.
Each holding a fluffy kitten.
I held tight to the remnants of anger that I had, recalled what Tamaki had told me, that Kyouya had been manipulating me. Yet faced with him and full knowing his manipulative streak, his normally smug and arrogant expression was gone and in it's place an almost docile one.
It never occurred to me Kyouya liked animals, especially soft, round ones with whiskers and paws.
"Hey Yu-chan! You ok?" Koaru asked, I didn't realize I knew it was Koaru right away and reminded myself I was almost on the brink of tears.
"That's really not fair," I muttered to myself so that only Tamaki could hear, the talking of the clients around us made it hard to hear otherwise.
"He meant no real harm Tsuyu-hime," replied Tamaki, but I knew Kyouya would be ignorant to my internal problems, he never dealt with that kind of financial stress. None but myself and Haruhi would fully understand.
I had to accept that or strive to change that mindset.
"Look what Mori found outside his dojo Yu-chan!" cheered Hunny as he bounded up to us, behind him Kyouya's white kitten climbed up his blazer and pawed his glasses.
"How cute!" cooed the girl next to me, I reached out to stroke Hunny's caramel-colored kitten, it "mewed" and sniffed my fingers.
"Do we get one?" Tamaki asked.
"Only six," replied Mori, his sat comfortably on his head.
"Here Tamaki, you can hold mine." Haruhi offered the little brown ball of fluff in her arms, it had a white tip on the end of its tail.
"Who do they belong to?" I asked as the clients started coming in, Kyouya walked up to me.
"Us, Haruhi can't keep animals in her apartment so she will have to ask one of us to keep Todo." Kyouya answered, he watched me carefully as if he sensed a disturbance in the force.
"I'm a little angry with you," I said softly, I kept my eyes trained on his.
"If it is about the money then I imagine you are a lot more than just angry." He said.
"Ok, betrayed, manipulated," I looked at him again, "I won't lie, I do feel relieved I have that money back somewhere, but it's holding hands with 'manipulated' right now."
"I'm certain it is and believe me when I say this," Kyouya's slim fingers wrapped delicately around the white kitten perched against his chest in a way that made my face tinge slightly pink, he pried it from his blazer and made to offer it to me.
"I am sorry." Kyouya raised the kitten to me.
"I'm feeling manipulated again," I sent him a smoldering glare over the kitten as the paws reached to bat my hair.
"The kittens were coincidental," Kyouya said, "I am sorry."
It dawned on me what was occurring was a phenomenon, Kyouya was sincerely apologizing.
"I can't keep a kitten either," I said as I reached out to take it, realizing Kyouya needed both hands free to start checking in clients.
"I know, she is mine, but you can name her if you like." Kyouya replied as his pen clicked.
I heard an "awww" behind me and turned to see Momoka and Reiko waiting patiently in line. Momoka was blushing insanely while Reiko looked on with a carefully blank expression. I waved to them before turning back to Kyouya.
"You should name her," I said as I looked into the kitten's brilliant green eyes, they seemed to mirror my own, "if I named it and the kitten being yours it would seem like we were a couple or something."
I held the kitten tighter when Kyouya glanced at me with an unwavering smile.
"What do you want to name her?" he asked with a degree of smugness returning, I glared at him.
"Shadow, short for Shadow King," I replied, Kyouya chuckled.
"But she's white,"
"I can see that, her name is Shadow."
Momoka was next in line and was about to greet me properly when Kyouya laughing caught her off-guard. She looked at me and all I could do was smile smugly. Momoka glanced at Reiko, who smiled in response.
Tamaki was holding the kitten Haruhi handed to him and kept saying "Todo-chan! Todo-chan! Of course I can keep him at my house Haruhi!"
With a sigh I tickled Shadow under her chin, deciding to push aside everything for the time being.
After all, despite everything that was happening, today was a good day.
A/N:
Hey everybody! First of all I should say how sorry I am for taking so long to update! My sincerest apologies! It's been hectic and I appreciate all of you readers and your insane patience!
Secondly, you might have noticed this story is taking a darker turn (if you hadn't noticed with Tsuyu's conversations with Akito) things will be getting a little more serious. But as I had with this chapter there will some happy moments and things to move along relationships and so on and yes, Kyouya was actively flirting in this chapter *sqquuuueeeee*
One of the reasons this chapter took so long was because of the serious content, me having a hard time writing Tamaki in character as this was a serious situation and writing out Tsuyu, who just found out most of the money she had been paying to the club had been arranged into a mutual fund by Kyouya and her parents, hopefully this leads you into thinking she has a hard time thinking financially (as most artists and people tend to) and Kyouya was helping her out, but don't think this secretive behavior will go forgotten. ~v^
Akito will be making an appearance soon, but the kittens were going to come about eventually guys! They're super cute and highly functional. Not only did they manage to dissuade some of Tsuyu's anger, but they doubled as a metaphor to the developing relationships that I ship! :)
My question to you guys to this chapter is: Did you catch the crossover reference?
Anyway, let me answer some questions (and hopefully this chapter will begin a whole new set)!
1. Is there a going to a rectangle between the mains?Ooooh boy, I can't answer this yet.
2. Will there be a twist?Of course.
3. Are there going to be new characters that are good or bad?Hmmm, not many new ones, I think I've introduced all of them actually.
4. I really like this story and am so curious to find out what Akito is up to... also whats with Kyoya acting like someone put a stick up his butt?Lol poor Kyouya, all the stuff I'm about to do to these characters!
Until next time!