Chapter 4: The Sun, the sea, the Mystery, and the Host Club

When Mai walked into the music room a few months later, the room was covered with bathing suits on racks. The boys were trying to find the perfect swimsuit for Haruhi to wear.

"Mai, come over here! We need to choose a bathing suit for you!"

Mai hesitantly walked over.

"Hmm… what do you guys think about this one?" asked the twins to the other hosts.

They held up a little bikini with a crazy, tribal design on it.

"This design will make it seem like you have a bigger bust (no offense Miss A cup). Plus, tribal designs are in style now! We should know!" Hikaru and Karou told Mai why they chose that bathing suit.

"It's cute!" added Honey-sempai.

"Ok then! For Haruhi it's this one," the twins said as they held up a pink ruffled bikini "and for Mai it's this one!" They held up the one they just chose for her.

Haruhi walked away.

"I have no say in it anyways" she mumbled. "Damn these rich people."

She seemed to say that all the time.

The Host Club decided to use Nekazowa's family private beach because Nekazowa-sempai had offered. Once they got there, they couldn't help pointing out all the cat statues.

"Kyouya really is sneaky."

"It's not fair!"

"I thought this was a day off!"

Everyone was complaining. Kyouya had tricked them and brought Host Club guests along. Tamaki was so mad because he couldn't see his "daughters" (which he now started calling Mai and Haruhi) in a bikini because then the school would find out that Haruhi and Mai were girls.

"Pervert," was all the twins had to day to that, which started another fight between Hikaru and Karou and Tamaki.

Mai went and sat down on a towel lying on the sand. All the girls who had requested her sat down next her.

"Oh Mao, aren't you going to change into your swimsuit? You would look amazing shirtless!"

Mai still had her Ouran uniform on.

"Maybe later."

"Oh, ok," they all pouted.

"You look great in those bikinis," Mai tried to cheer them up.

"Oh, you like them!" all of them cheered up instantly and kept talking.

Later, Kyouya had a truck deliver shells so Honey-sempai could dig them up. Haruhi was so happy! She would get to have an amazing meal tonight. All the boys except Kyouya played a game. Whoever could find out what Haruhi was scared of first would win pictures of Haruhi that Kyouya just happened to have. The twins brought her up to a supposedly cursed cave. They added some traps and things that made the other girls who came along jump, but Haruhi just thought it was boring. Honey-sempai and Haruhi got in the back of the trailer that delivered the shells. His plan was to see if Haruhi was scared of dark, tiny places, but it backfired when he started crying and Haruhi was perfectly fine. Takashi held a sword real close to her to see if she was scared of sharp objects, but she just laughed and made a joke about it. Mai was watching all of these tests. She was afraid of things, and she was curious to find out what Haruhi was scared of.

The sun was going down and the twins abandoned the game of volleyball that they were playing with the girls that came to the beach with them. They walked over to Tamaki, who was catching snakes and putting them in a bowl.

"I'm taking a walk along the beach with Haruhi. She's so beautiful at sunset and she's wearing a WHITE DRESS. I love that WHITE DRESS. Ahhhh…" Tamaki was talking to himself.

The twins looked at each other.

"He's daydreaming again. Hey boss! Snap out of it!"

"Huh? Oh, hey."

"What are you doing to scare Haruhi?"

"Oh, I'll win for sure. All the girls scream whenever they see a snake, so, I'll put a bunch of these in a bowl and she'll scream!"

"Nice, but that's probably not going to happen to Haruhi."

The twins turned around walked away.

"AH! THESE SNAKES ARE POISONOUS!" Tamaki shouted as he ran past them crying.

He threw them into the sand.

"That was scary!" He was still crying.

"AH! HELP!" Girls started screaming.

"What was that?"

"It's coming from that cliff up there!"

Some guests were hanging out of there because the wind felt nice and they got a good view of the sun setting. Haruhi went up there to check on them when she realized Mai was up there too, sitting on a rock.

"Oh hi, Mao," she had said.

"Hey."

Two guys had walked up and started harassing everybody.

"Hey! This is a private beach! What are you doing here?"

All the girls had started screaming, which was what Hikaru, Karou, and Tamaki heard. Haruhi stood up to the guys.

"Just what do think you're doing, harassing my friends?" she demanded.

"And just what do you think you're doing, standing up to us like that, you puny thing?" They joked as they pushed her off the cliff and into the water.

"HARUHI!"

Tamaki jumped into the ocean to save her.

"That was my friend. Why did you do that?" Mai asked quietly, but they still heard her.

They picked her up and dangled her over the edge.

"Now you can be with your friend!" They let go of Mai as they spoke, and she fell down and hit the water.

Mai was so scared. She didn't know what to do. She moved around like crazy and started hyperventilating, which immediately stopped because she was underwater and sinking fast. She ran out of air and kept sinking. After that, all she saw was black. But a second before she passed out completely, she felt something or someone strong grab her.

When she opened her eyes, she was lying on the sand right by the water. She looked around. Everything was blurry. She blinked a few times, and everything came into focus. All the Host Club members were staring at her.

"Are you ok?" someone asked.

She was lying on her back. She leaned over and opened her mouth to answer, when a whole bunch of water came out. Then, Mai started coughing like crazy and she couldn't stop to breathe. She just kept on coughing, with more and more water coming out. When she was finally done, her face turned red. She was embarrassed again.

"Can you stand?"

"Yeah."

She tried to get up, but she fell down. She tried again and she stood up. She was a little wobbly at first, but she regained her balance.

"Mai, Haruhi, you shouldn't have stood up to those guys back there. You don't have self defense like Honey-sempai or Mori-sempai. You need to protect yourselves. You could have died if we weren't here to help you. Mori-sempai and I got you before that happened, but what if we weren't here? You had us all so worried."

"I'm sorry," Mai apologized quietly. "I didn't mean to cause so much trouble."

"What? You want me to apologize because I was trying to save people?" Haruhi was furious. "That's not happening."

"Fine. Then I won't look at you until you apologize." Tamaki said as he walked away.

He looked back. Haruhi sighed. He looked back again. Haruhi sighed again. Then he kept walking.

"You really did have us worried, Haru-chun. You did too, Mai-chun."

At supper, Haruhi wore a dress. Mai was the only one still in the school uniform, which was soaked.

"Hey Mai, aren't you going to change?" they had asked.

"Um… I'll stay in this, thanks."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

When Haruhi had walked in, they all were amazed, but Tamaki tried to hide it. She was wearing a dress, but she said her dad packed her clothes and that was all she had. When they sat down to eat, Nekazowa-sempai came to check if everything was going ok. When he left, Haruhi started stuffing food in her mouth, and everyone watched. Mai was really hungry too, but she took her time eating properly. Tamaki got up to leave, and Kyouya left with him. Haruhi said she felt sick and left to find a bathroom, and everyone slowly left after that. Nekazowa-sempai came and showed everyone their rooms. Mai would share with Haruhi.

Mai walked in the room and sat down on the bed closest to the windows. She thought about what she had said that evening to the guys before they pushed her in the water, and realized that she had called Haruhi her friend. Since was so pumped up with adrenaline, she probably didn't realize what she said. But, either way, she wasn't ready to be friends with anyone from Ouran Academy yet.

Soon, it began raining, and thunder and lightning started up. Knock, knock. Someone was knocking on the girls' door. The door opened.

"Haru-chun? Mai-chun?" Honey-sempai's voice asked.

"You guys here?" Honey-sempai asked.

"Takashi, it was really scary this evening, huh?"

"Yeah." It was obvious that the lovely voice was Takashi Morinozuka's.

"It's a good thing you saved Mai-chun, huh Takashi? She almost drowned!"

"Yeah."

"Haru-chun was sinking slower than her, but she could have drowned, too. It's a good thing Tama-chun saved her before it was too late, huh?

"Yeah."

"Do you smell something?"

"Yeah."

Takashi bent down and looked under the beds. He looked under the bed near the door first. When he found nothing, he looked under the other bed.

"What do you see, Takashi?"

Honey-sempai bent down and looked under the bed, too.

Mori-sempai didn't answer. A flash of lighting had given him the light he needed to see. He was too busy looking at Mai, who was hiding under the bed, trying her best not to show emotions, even though she was terrified.

"Mai-chun, are you scared?"

"N-n-n-no. Not really."

"Then why are you hiding under a bed?" Honey-sempai sounded confused.

"I don't know."

She crawled out and stood up awkwardly. Only Mori-sempai seemed to notice how badly Mai was shaking.

"Come on, Takashi, Mai-chun! Kyouya wanted to see us in his room!"

When things had finally settled down, everyone left Kyouya's and went to their own rooms. Haruhi changed into her pajamas.

"Aren't you going to change?" she asked, looking at Mai, who still had her uniform on.

"I didn't bring anything with me to change into."

"Oh." Haruhi sounded a little confused, but she kept talking. "Want to borrow a pair of mine? I brought two pairs."

"No, it's ok. Thank you though."

They both got under the covers.

"Haruhi?" Mai asked.

"Yes?"

"Um… I've been told I make a lot of noise in my sleep. Maybe I should sleep somewhere else."

"No, it's ok," said Haruhi, thinking "a lot of noise" to Mai wasn't much.

All night, Mai wouldn't stop moving in her sleep. She tossed and turned all night. She also talked in frantic voices, whimpered, and screamed real loud. Haruhi was scared for her. Once, she even woke Mai up.

"Hey, are you ok?"

"Yes. Sorry. Was I too loud?"

"No, it's fine."

Haruhi put up with it. She had to put up with a lot of other worse things, like her dad, or Tamaki, or the red-haired twins. Haruhi was surprised though. She'd never seen Mai so emotional before, and it was in her sleep. It just added to the whole big mystery in a dramatic high school life.