Hi people, thank you for reading chapter 23! Please review if you have time!

Anyways, I don't own Ouran ;)

Chapter 23 – Ouran High School Chess-Host Club

The scene that lay before me was horrifying. Not that I'd expected anything less of Naoko, of course.

My beloved library had been transformed into a room that closely mirrored that of the Host Club. The books and desks had disappeared somewhere and new lounges and tables had been placed in their memory. In one corner, there was even a chef serving up the commonest instant coffee that money could buy. The only thing which distinguished this former haven of nerds and books was the marble chess tables positioned whimsically around the room. Makeover or no makeover, this was still the Ouran High School Chess Club.

The four members had arranged themselves into an odd formation which looked very hard to untangle. As expected, Naoko took the centre place in the knot, with the three junior members twisted around him. After a painful second of stunned silence on my part, they finally seemed to realize that they had not stumbled across a potential customer, but their very own (failed) double agent.

"Ah, Takaki! It's you!" one of the junior members called happily. "How do we look?"

I was about to answer when Naoko interrupted.

"Ojima!" he scolded. "Get a hold of yourself! She may be one of our own, but she is a perfect practice partner before the new members begin to arrive. Watch me."

Sliding himself out of the formation with difficulty, he staggered up to me and kissed my hand gently. I stared, dumb folded, whilst resisting the growing urge to gag. Unfortunately, it was getting harder and harder to keep a straight face.

"Welcome, my lady," Naoko greeted, bowing politely, "Would you like a game?"

Smiling widely, he gestured to a plush, ornate armchair in front of a chessboard that I'm sure was not there the day before.

"Um, okay?" I replied, somewhat stunned by the transformation.

"We hope that you enjoy your time here today with us, my lady," he gushed, attempting to lead me by hand to the board.

I sat down and stretched my fingers. The first match of the 'new and improved' chess club was about to begin.

"So, how am I doing, my lady?" he asked, carefully moving the first pawn of the game across two spaces.

I paused, thinking. He was saying exactly what I'd described about the hosting, but the way he said it was so monotonic that it was as if he was attending a major business meeting rather than entertaining girls. Still, I didn't want to get on his bad side…

"It's great," I complimented falsely, edging my own black pawn into the game as if it was the most exciting thing in the world.

He looked pleased – well, as pleased as an emotionless chess mastermind could look.

"Excellent, the plan is working," he replied smugly as our game continued. "At this rate, the prestige and honour of our club here will double over the next two days."

I stared out of the window, gazing up to the south campus where I knew the Host Club resided, and felt a strange sense of longing. Why was it that I felt out of place in the club which had been my home since my first day of High School? At least the Host Club had always been happy to have me rather than only be greedy for my skills and uses to them.

"Checkmate," he said simply after a few minutes of play.

I shrugged gently and begun to pack up. For once the prospect of losing to Naoko didn't seem as terrible as usual. There were too many things on my mind to care right now, starting with the Chess Club president himself.

Time passed quickly when I was no longer a customer of the Host Club. After two weeks since I'd been kicked out, life had nearly returned to the way it had been before this entire mess began. There were three main differences: firstly, I knew that my parents were never coming home from their travels. Secondly, the library had become a copy of the school's most popular student club, including its five members. Thirdly… I now felt a stabbing pain in my chest whenever I thought of the Host Club, especially Kaoru. I lost count of how many times I had wished over the past fortnight for things to have not changed at all.

"Check, Ojima-Sempai," I said disinterestedly as we sat in the library one afternoon. "It's your turn."

"What?" he gasped mournfully, pounding the chess table in despair. "How am I ever going to become a famous chess player if I can't even beat a first year?"

"Hey stop it," I said hurriedly, grabbing his arm before he managed to knock the head off his own king. "It's just check, you know. I haven't won yet."

He blinked.

"Oh, yeah," he mumbled, clearly embarrassed.

"She's right, Ojima," Naoko said stately as he walked past. "You must become more assertive if you wish to be successful in business."

Ojima and I exchanged confused glances. Since when was I lecturing him about career options?

"Um – "I began nervously.

"Ah, yes, Takaki," Naoko continued sternly, focusing his concentration on me. "Please report to my desk after Club activities has ceased. It's very important."

"What is it, President?" I asked politely.

He shook his head, looking surprisingly stressed for such a stoic person.

"Just make sure that you make an appearance."

As soon as the clock hit five pm and activities ended for the day, Naoko whisked me away to his desk.

"So what have I done?" I asked impatiently, already daydreaming of reading the new romance novel that I'd picked up at the book store over the weekend.

He cleared his throat and shuffled his signature paperwork around on his otherwise spotless desk.

"Come on," I said encouragingly, trying to speed up his usual routine.

"It has been two weeks since you reported to me saying that your mission was complete, has it not?" he asked.

"Yeah," I replied, frowning. "What about it?"

"According to my calculations, the membership of this club should have increased by at least fifty percent," he drawled. "So please enlighten me, Takaki. Why have we not seen one new person enter? Perhaps your position should be reconsidered…"

I shifted uncomfortably. How was I going to say this?

"They… um, kicked me out, President," I admitted awkwardly. "Everyone… found out… your plan. They aren't going to come."

Naoko clenched his fist tightly, but retained his temper. However, the aura surrounding him was so menacing that I could practically hear my vice presidency going down the drain.

"Was it your intention to sabotage my future, Takaki?" he asked calmly.

His future? Since when had a high school chess club had anything to do with his future?

"No, President," I denied.

He didn't look convinced. This situation was so uncomfortable that I could feel small beads of sweat forming on my forehead. I needed to get out, fast.

"Hey, um, let's – " I began nervously.

"You may or may not be aware of the fact that my father gave me a proposition a few weeks before I assigned you this delicate task?" he asked rhetorically, smoothing a stray strand of black hair from his eyes.

"No, President," I repeated desperately.

I didn't like the direction that this confession was taking at all.

"If I succeed in making this club here a substantial business project, he will allow me to use all of his business staff at my personal disposal to create my own company which will rival even the Suohs," he explained. "Through my tireless amounts of research and discovery, this was by far the best technique for success. I could increase my customers, and diminish some of the power which the Suoh, Ootori, Hitachiin, Haninozuka and Morinozuka families have over our current industry. I'll admit that I don't particularly care for the methods which the Host Club uses, but they are nevertheless effecti – "

Naoko was never able to finish his long winded description of the one hundred and one ways that he was a complete dictator. Without thinking, I had punched him swiftly in the stomach, cutting him off midsentence.

I couldn't believe what I had done. But this hadn't ended yet.

"How can you say that?" I began quietly. "Tamaki-sempai had complete trust in me, and you. What the host club does may be stupid, yet it still has a lot more customers than you'll ever dream of. Its members may be the heirs of five extremely powerful families in all of Japan, but at least they don't run their club on some twisted moral of success!"

I was shouting now. There was no way that I would have said any of this to Naoko Hayashi six months ago. But then, I was a different person now.

"Well, what are you going to use as an excuse this time?" I asked, unable to keep the anger out of my voice.

To my surprise, Naoko ignored me completely and began to write a small note down in his notebook.

"Hmm… just as I thought," he mumbled knowingly to himself. "It was a mistake on my part to employ a girl with your history as my spy… with your parents the way they are. This arrangement will need some rethinking…"

I slammed my palms down on the oak table, causing him to jump.

"Don't talk about my parents like that," I pleaded quietly, a single tear dripping onto the front of my school dress. "I have nothing in common with them."

I slid to the floor, tears slowly joining that lonely first. Why did it feel like everyone I knew was turning against me?

In my breaking down, I had forgotten about Naoko. I looked up to the desk anxiously – and froze. At last I had broken his visage. For the first time since I'd entered this school, he looked angry.

I stumbled over my own feet in my attempts to stand up. This was bad.

Naoko cleared his throat, regaining his usual stoic disposition. Stacking his papers away, he stroked his small black notebook and pen.

"Well, this has been a rather interesting turn of events, hasn't it Takaki?"

Whoa… long… XD

Yet again, my completely novice chess knowledge has been put to the test in this chapter…