In the early hours of Friday morning Jun discovered that she had made a fatal miscalculation in regards to her plan. From what Ootori had informed her yesterday afternoon, it had sounded simple enough. She would be required to engage in all Host club activities, to act as a partial observer to the hosts and to also conduct several (supervised) interviews later on with the members (She was also hoping to get a few from the guests as well). Once she had gotten up the nerve to talk to any of them that is; besides her two classmates of course. However the current problem Jun was facing was with her apparent target audience for this publication.
The female population of Ouran Academy.
How word had managed to travel so fast, she did not know. But the latest Host Club gossip was that second year Mishima Jun, was getting special treatment from the beloved boys. She gets to spend additional time with the club, she doesn't have to struggle to arrange appointments with any of the hosts and she even gets to find out all sorts of personal information from each of them! Honestly how some of these girls were able to function was beyond her.
Jealousy it seemed was a rather powerful emotion.
Jun sat as usual in the back of the room for her English class, however instead of hanging off Jinzai sensei's every word; which was her usual behaviour for this class. She was staring fixedly on a small ink spot on her textbook, pale faced, hands folded tightly together on her lap, knuckles white and trembling. A lot of eyes were on her, she could not only feel them burning holes into her head but had earlier she chanced a few peeks to the front, only to see several heads turned back to glare openly at her.
She swallowed quietly, not daring to chance another look to the front. Her hands started kneading themselves into her dress as a horrible knot formed in the bottom of her stomach. This was so juvenile! Could they stop staring at her for one minute, would that really be so hard? She sucked in a deep breath, squeezing her eyes shut she began to mentally chant to herself 'One hour forty five minutes and fifty three seconds, One hour forty five minutes and forty nine seconds', 'One hour forty five min-' Her time tracking thoughts were interrupted by a sudden loud bang.
Jun, along with several other students jumped; a few letting out gasps of fright. Jinzai sensei stood over his mahogany desk, arm outstretched with an open palm having just dropped a book. He retracted his arm slowly, in no apparent rush however Jun could see a vein pulsing on his temple, beside his closed eyes and he also seemed to be muttering under his breath, if she didn't know any better Jun would assume he was counting to ten. A few moments of silence passed before the man sucked in a breath "if you ladies are quite done fawning over Miss Mishimia" His eyes snapped open to send Jun a distasteful look, Her face turned bright red as her eyes widened 'oh dear lord no' "perhaps you could find it in you to pay attention to the lesson" his tone was dripping with false sincerity, clearly mocking them.
The class was split with several students letting out snickers and giggles of amusement, however the girls that were staring at Jun looked absolutely disgusted and a few looked as though they would have loved nothing more than to say a few choice words to their sensei. Jun wanted nothing more than for the floor to open and to swallow her whole at that very moment, to vanish completely form existence.
'One hour forty three minutes'.
At the end of the lesson; before Jun had the chance to pack away her books, Suoh san came bounding to the back of the class to talk to her. "Good afternoon dear Jun" he bowed, extending a hand which held a pink rose, Jun felt her face flush horribly and had to turn away to safe herself from any further embarrassment. 'Just where did he pull that out of?' . She stiffened, as she felt several pairs of eyes on her; obviously assessing how she would treat this gracious offering. Very reluctantly she slowly brought her hand up to take the offering "T..thank you" she mumbled quietly under her breath, bringing the flower to rest on her lap as she was still unable to look up at him.
The blond king's smile broadened as Ootori came up behind him, obviously waiting for the boy to leave for lunch "I was wondering, dear princess how your literary masterpiece is coming along?" he asked in a curious tone, this caused the glasses wearing girl to blink in confusion, finally angling her head to look at him "lit...literary masterpiece?" she echoed with a slight frown etched onto her face.
"You know" he made a wide armed gesture "Your classical classic, your scholarly monument!" a hand placed over his chest the blond host gave her a stare that was apparently supposed to 'inspire' her. Jun could only stare placidly at him, shaking her head ever so slightly, unsure of what he was referring to.
Fortunately for the pair of them Ootori was ever so patiently waiting for his friend and more than eager to move the conversation along "Tamaki is referring to your upcoming publication of an outsiders insight to the host club" although he was talking to Jun he was staring, rather pointedly, at Tamaki before he took on a more irritated tone "an assignment which you only received yesterday and has had less than twenty four hours to work on". A pregnant pause followed with Tamaki letting out a slight "oh... so it's... not completed yet?" turning to look at Jun, who in turn bit her lip to surpass a small smile. Sometimes it seemed that Suoh san lived in a world of his own.
Jun cleared her throat quietly "no.. it's not, not finished yet" she clarified looking between Suoh and Ootori, as if visually asking if that was all they wanted from her. For his part Suoh looked slightly put out, but seemed to recover remarkably quickly "well, great works of art to take time to complete and this literary composition shall be no exception" Jun smiled somewhat awkwardly at Suoh san's animated display, though she could feel the sincerity behind it.
"If you are quite finished with this beneficial conversation Tamaki" Ootori spoke, fixing his glasses as he did so "we are late in meeting the rest of the club for lunch, by this point Hikaru, Karou and Haruhi will have already started eating" Jun blinked up at her dark haired classmate in a puzzled manner, not seeing how this was supposed to motivate his... exhuberant friend. She then glanced over to Suoh, but he seemed to have a glazed look; as if thinking of something. She glanced quickly between the pair, deciding that perhaps there was some sort of inside joke between them.
However Suoh san quickly broke out of whatever trance he seemed to be under; looking thoroughly terrified "THOSE DEVIL TWINS ARE NOT TRUSTED TO BE ALONE WITH HARUHI!" he bellowed at Ootori san, who didn't even flinch! Jun, on the other hand, jumped letting out a slight squeak of surprise. Suoh took off in a sprint, hurrying; she suspected to wherever Fujioka and the Hittachin twins where, leaving Ootori and herself behind him.
Ootori for his part didn't seem to be surprised by his friend's sudden outburst, instead he shook his head slightly and adjusted his glasses 'good' Jun thought to herself, turning back to gather up her books 'this... strange conversation is over and I will hopefully be out of the spotlight once everyone goes to the cafeteria and forgets about this whole ordeal... hopefully' "By the way Jun" Ootori spoke, shutting his brief case with a click, "you are welcome to join us for lunch, it would give you an opportunity to become more acquainted with the rest of the members outside of the clubroom".
Jun felt as though the room had gotten several degrees hotter, she forced out a miniscule smile that, honestly, she wasn't sure he noticed "T... thank you Ootori san" she mumbled. A clear picture was in her head, a picture of herself and the host club sat in the middle of the luxurious dining hall, a spotlight shining down on them and every single girl staring, plotting murderous schemes against her.
She went several shades paler at that image.
"But, that is, I... um I... already have plans..." she stuttered, staring down at her shoes and therefore missing the slight quirk of his eyebrow as if he wasn't convinced of what she was telling him. "I see... well it is an open invitation, one that isn't so frequently given out" he adjusted his glasses before starting towards the door, leaving Jun feeling more than a little bit awkward "should you change your mind, feel free to join us".
-
Jun sat quite alone in her usual 'spot'. Being afraid of such large groups of people and being stared at meant that eating in the cafeteria was simply not an option. She had taken to bringing in lunches from home, her chef didn't mind, in fact he encouraged it. (He was quite paranoid about eating any food that he himself had not prepared; apparently he had several enemies that once tried to poison him.) She sat on the edge of one of the academy's many fountains, her bag beside her and her packed lunch on her lap. She stared at the box for a moment, not yet opening it for she was still unsettled by the events in the classroom.
The sheer looks on some of those girls faces were reminiscent of an axe murderer or a violent cannibalistic serial killer!... (she had been meaning to re watch Silence of the Lambs again). A soft sigh pressed out of her as she removed her glasses to rub her eyes, it wouldn't do any good to dwell on them and after all, it wasn't as if they were aware of the full situation.
It was simply writing a report on the Host Club, nothing more.
Putting her glasses on again Jun opened her lunch box and smiled in pleasant surprise, tortilla wraps. It was always a ploy of Carls' to try and expose her to as many foreign dishes as possible, she didn't mind in the slightest; anything he made was always a delicacy. She was about to tuck in when a sudden sound caught her attention "Over here Sakura sama!" Jun glanced up to see a group of around 5 girls heading straight towards her, she swallowed heavily, feeling her stomach drop. Oh lord, they didn't look at all pleased, though she didn't see any of them wielding an axe... a small comfort.
The girls strode towards her, the leader made herself apparent by taking up the front; Jun blinked twice upon seeing her, she had long jet black hair, half of which was plaited and decorated with small ribbons, she was tall, intimidating with her stature. Jun recalled her as one of the girls she had asked yesterday for directions to the host club!... however she seemed to be in a much less gushing mood today, on the contrary she was quite intimidating.
"So..." she sneered, her lip curling in obvious distaste "you're the little yankee who's trying to blackmail our beloved boys into becoming her love slaves!" She had an insane spark in her eyes that looked maddening, Jun could only blink, her eyes wide and terrified at the very idea "W-what!?" she shrieked, her face turning 50 shades of red, what an utterly appalling idea! Not to mention ridiculous! Where did she get that idea from? It occurred to her that there were 4 other glares being aimed at her by the other girls, and they where inching closer.
"Don't try and deny it! I've heard from very reliable resources that you wormed your way into getting private sessions with the host club!" she pointed an accusing finger inches from Juns face "b-but no it, it's for a project! I.. I have t-to write a repor-" "A likely cover up! An excuse to try and dig up any valuable information you can blackmail them with!" The surrounding girls nodded, some crossing their arms in a bid to make their leader; Sakura, all the more intimidating.
Jun was shaking her head in terrified disbelief "..y... you're insane" she mumbled "all of you! Thi- This is ridicul-" She was cut off by an enraged shriek and a hand striking her chest, pushing her back into the fountain.
She toppled, letting out a cry of surprised as she fell backwards with a loud splash, her head hitting the concrete at the bottom of the water, her mouth was open, water gushing inside, her head spinning as she panicked, unable to breath. She choked, hurrying to sit upright, coughing as the water left her. She felt sick, she could hear the high pitched snickers and cruel twittering giggles at her expense. She was gasping, shaking, she felt as though she was going to vomit. Tears were running down her face, the whole thing had barely lasted ten seconds but it seemed much, much longer.
"Let that be a lesson to you freak, stay away from the hos-" "HEY!" Sakura stopped mid sentence as the rest of the group went rigid, they turned to see who had saw them and let out shrieks of fright, scattering as a figure ran towards them. Jun couldn't see, her glasses had washed off her face and everything was currently a blur. A figure paused in front of the fountain, facing the direction where the girls had run off to "YEAH YOU'D BETTER RUN!" he hollered after them, muttering to himself he turned to face Jun, who had one hand clutching the back of her head, it was bleeding. The other fishing for her glasses.
"here, lemmie help you" the voice said to her, Jun sniffled finding her glasses and nodded "thanks" she mumbled, putting them on just as a pair of arms, hooked themselves under her own and hoisted her up and out of the water, Jun swallowed, blushing at the abrupt action before turning to see who her saviour was, Her eyes almost doubled in size as she found herself staring into the frowning, angry and possibly murderous expression of Ritsu Kasanoda!
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Author's note
I had so many problems writing this chapter, it took so long and I apologize whole heartedly for the long wait. A mixture of life, stress and personal problems held this one up a LOT But on the upside we can now move past it, the next chapters will show much more about Jun's home life, her home staff, her father and much more of the host club!