The next day at school, Haruhi was a little too quiet that even her clients noticed it. They rightly deduced that she wasn't in a good mood, so they tried to be soft-spoken around her. Kaoru also noticed it and wondered if Tamaki's date with her hadn't gone well. There hadn't been any incidents in class that could've made her feel bad. Unless something had happened at home...no, that wasn't possible. Ranka was the most loving parent anyone could ever get. It was impossible for him to upset Haruhi like this, unless he had gotten her another dress to wear. But Haruhi wouldn't get upset over something as insignificant as that for this long!

He shook his head. He was overthinking again. He glanced at Hikaru, who was supposed to take her out today. He figured he should let his twin know, since that was where the matter lay the most. Hikaru being the insensitive/ignorant idiot that he was, probably didn't even notice it till now. And he probably wouldn't notice it even on his date and it would end up with her running off like she did in Karuizawa. That gave him an idea…

Kaoru put a finger under his twin's chin and said coyly, "Hikaru, come with me to get some more cakes for all of us, won't you?"

Hikaru responded with, "Why can't you get it yourself, Kaoru?"

Kaoru turned his face away sadly. "I just wanted to get some alone time with you, brother dear. But it seems to me that you're not interested in stealing a kiss."

While their clients collapsed under shrieks and nosebleeds, the two crept away, having used similar distractions several times before to signal to one another that there was something urgent to be discussed.

"What is it?" Hikaru asked, a concerned look in his eyes.

"It's Haruhi," the other twin explained. "Have you noticed she's been quiet?"

"Not really," Hikaru said blankly and Kaoru sighed. He had expected just this.

"Well, she has been a little off," he replied. "I'm not even going to ask if you know what this means, because you probably won't. It means that you have to put in some effort for today's date with her to ensure that she doesn't get more upset. Remember Karuizawa? That was a disaster and milord had to tell you what to do. Milord! That dense guy was able to figure out what Haruhi was going through at that point of time. I'm sure even you can think of ways to deal with her, but you need to pay attention to her."

Hikaru just blinked. He hadn't expected all of this to suddenly come tumbling out when his brother pretended to seduce him in front of the girls. He squared his shoulders.

"Kaoru, thanks for the heads up, but you needn't worry about me. I think I can deal with this on my own," he replied icily as he walked off, leaving Kaoru to wonder what he had done wrong.

Hikaru had no clue, NO CLUE, where to take Haruhi for a date. It seemed impossible to figure out what that Tanuki liked, apart from food of course. And he had gotten to know that most of the previous dates had been centered around food. He didn't want to do the same things the others had done, and he knew even Kaoru and Honey would choose food-related dates. They all wanted to let Haruhi feel special, but he felt she should know him as well. Not just the other way round.

He wished he was speaking to Kaoru, but his weird wise-guy attitude ticked him off so much, for some reason. He certainly didn't want to get his advice after the way he said he'd deal with the date himself. But it was the day of the date already and he still hadn't planned anything.

He ambled around the large Hitachiin mansion aimlessly and picked up a magazine his mother had been reading and had left on the the coffee table in their drawing room. He plopped down on a chair and began flipping through it. Suddenly, he came to a page about all the old-school arcades in Tokyo and it hit him. He jumped up, casting the magazine aside and while shouting orders to his driver on the phone, ran to his room to get ready.

Meanwhile, Kaoru, hidden behind the couch, texted to the others, "He's read the article".

"What do you think, Haruhi? I hunted down the best and the oldest arcade Tokyo had to offer," Hikaru proclaimed proudly. Of course he didn't mention the magazine article.

"It's a really cool idea, Hikaru," Haruhi replied. "Although, it's been quite a long time since I played these games. I hope you'll be able to help me out sometimes." She looked up at him and smiled.

Hikaru melted inside. She's so cute! I'm going to make sure she's going to have the best date ever.

Unbeknownst to either of them, the rest of the Host Club members were already at the avenue, channeling their inner Team Rocket with terrible disguises (Kyoya had refused to partake in their activities). They were spread around the arcade, pretending to be playing the games, while actually focusing on the couple who had just entered. Kaoru had decided that his brother was not going to get the date right this time around either, and had wanted the Host Club to help him stop anything disastrous from unfolding. Hikaru was giving her a tour of the different machines, while other patrons looked at them curiously, as Hikaru spun implausible stories about some of the games.

"Did you know that this game was actually invented back in the 1900s?" Hikaru asked and Mori, the history buff, snorted with laughter nearby. Hikaru whipped around to see who was threatening to expose his front. Mori was too quick for the Hitachiin and had already slipped away before he was caught. Thinking that he was imagining things, Hikaru went back to Haruhi.

"Sorry, I thought I heard something. Now where was I?" he asked.

"Um, sorry to interrupt Hikaru, but I thought that we came here to play these games, not have a history class on them," Haruhi replied bluntly. Hikaru turned bright red and this time, he was certain he heard giggling.

"I heard it for sure this time!" he yelled, but only innocent gamers looked back at him. He felt that a couple of faces looked oddly familiar, but before he could put a finger on it, he heard a coin fall into a slot. He turned around and saw Haruhi getting settled on the nearest game machine. She had apparently decided to take things into her own hands. Hikaru felt guilty that the date was going so bad that the girl had decided to entertain herself, so he decided to watch her play. After that round, he told her, he would join her in a multiplayer round and see how she fared against him.

The two had fun. Haruhi forgot all about the three previous dates and the dilemma she was facing. She realized she should've expected this from the rambunctious Hikaru. It was so liberating to be with him because all that she could think about was his jokes, his fun personality and laughter. She was glowing and relaxed and everyone watching her could see it.

The Host Club members in disguise stared open-mouthed as they watched their usually uptight female host let loose. She had transformed into a different person altogether. Mori smiled when he heard her laughter while Honey pretended not to notice. Tamaki and Kaoru were shocked that Hikaru was the one who unlocked her fun side. While Tamaki cried about how beautiful she looked, Kaoru noticed he didn't use the word daughter and he himself felt Haruhi looked more attractive than ever. Hikaru couldn't keep his eyes off her.

Suddenly, he let go of his controller and turned to face Haruhi.

"Hikaru, you're losing! Get back to your controller!" she yelled delightedly as she raced her car to the finish line. Hikaru didn't bother to listen to her and just watched as her face lit up as she won the race.

"You unnecessarily sacrificed yourself," she joked, as she turned around to face him.

With a dopey grin on his face, he simply replied, "It was worth everything in the world to watch your happy face."

Haruhi blushed as she heard this and swung around on her seat to look at the boy. His grin cast a dazed look over her as well. Dopamine, she thought. She was so entranced by the magic of that old arcade, Hikaru's addictive personality and the mischievous smile, that she didn't noticed his hands clasping over hers. Mori and Tamaki reacted simultaneously from behind their stations. Mori's eyes widened before he disciplined himself to stay neutral. Tamaki was twitching and Kaoru had to glare at him to keep him calm.

"Haruhi?"

"Hmmm?"

"I really like you."

Honey's hand gripped down on Mori's arm tightly as the former tried to fight back a gasp. Tamaki and Kaoru made no effort to hide their surprise though, as they stood up quickly. Tamaki's head was spinning. Hikaru liked her too? And considering how she enjoyed his company and she allowed him to speak it out freely, could it be that…?

Kaoru didn't expect Hikaru to blurt it out like that. His knuckles whitened as he clenched his fists. His brother...how could he? They had agreed, hadn't they? And Hikaru had to go and...ugh, he couldn't think about it.

"I want to see if I like you the same way too, Hikaru. But I like you, I know that for sure."

The other Host Club members fell silent.

A/N: Again, apologies for the hiatus. Remember the funk I told you about? It got worse. I'm not going to write about what I went through, because that's a lot of depressing stuff I don't want you guys reading after a fluffy Ouran fanfic :p But it's safe to say that I watched some Naruto (after a LONG time) and I felt a little more positive about my situation. So just like Naruto didn't just sit around waiting for Sasuke, and instead, he went out and tried to get him back, I'm also going to do stuff while I wait for my own Sasuke, haha.

In the meanwhile, I had a dream where I was Haruhi and I was in Ouran (best dream EVER! XD) and I was struck by how caring Kyoya was. Now it may have something to do with the fact that the megane in my life is the opposite of Kyoya and so, I was projecting his characteristics onto Kyoya (or at least, my dream did), but it made me love Kyoya so much more! I never really liked him because he is the way he is. But after seeing that dream, I want Haruhi to end up with him, at least in my fanfic :p Too bad I've already chosen her guy for her :p

Who do you think she'll choose?