Chapter 22

It was time for our class to discuss what we would all be doing as a class together. We could be given notices and information to help with any events. The class rep stated "All right, next item on the agenda. I move to discuss what the class plans will be for next week."

Haruhi looked at me "Next week?"

I shrugged as Hikaru shouted "Yeah! Halloween!"

Kurakano then explained to us "Oh Haruhi and Maria, you've only been students at Ouran Acdemy since high school, right? So, you don't know. After we finish taking our exams for the fall, we're allowed a few days off until the end of October, and we get to throw costume parties on campus to celebrate."

The class rep, who had been listening to our conversation added "And also, to promote camaraderie, each class is allowed to use an entire day for a special class event of their choosing."

I asked "Event?"

Kaoru smiled "Right! They're pretty fun actually."

Hikaru added "Yeah, we socialize, or watch some old movies, stuff like that."

Just then the familiar voice of Renge shouted "Boring! Boring! Boring! Halloween! The day that sounds the death knell of summer and ushers in the icy breath of winter! Halloween! Once a day when ghouls walk the earth and disguised as ghouls we try to ward them all off. Halloween! A day for wearing costumes! And playing pranks on trick or treaters with a reckless abandon!"

Hikaru sweat dropped "Some people don't wait for Halloween to dress up."

Kaoru also sweat dropped "Some people cosplay year round."

Haruhi nodded "I know that's right. So, what's with the uniform?"

Renge, who was standing on the desk, bent down to us "Just between us. This is the female uniform in Uki Doki Memorial 2 which isn't scheduled for release until next spring! What do you think? I know important people on the inside if you catch my drift."

The class rep waved his hand to try and catch Renge's attention "Ms. Hoshakuji, we're having homeroom now. Could you get down off the desk, please?"

Renge ignored him and stated "Tea parties and cosplay? The Host Club does that practically non stop! What our Halloween requires is something special, special, special!"

The class rep once again spoke "Um, we're supposed to decide this as a class."

But once again Renge ignored him and continued "So, I propose holding a Halloween Test of Courage tournament! The bravest student wins!"

Hikaru raised his eyebrow and began "A test of courage..."

Kaoru, also with his eyebrow raised, finished "Tournament, you say?"

Renge nodded "Here's what we'll do. We'll ask the superintendent to give us access to the school after hours when it's dark. Then, we'll all dress up in our freakiest costumes and proceed to have the time of our lives scaring the absolute crap out of each other!"

The twins laughed "Yeah. We're in."

Hikaru then smirked evilly "I really like the part about..."

"It being dark." Kaoru finished with an equally twisted smirk.

Many people in the class loved the idea "That sounds awesome."

"Oh, so spooky at night."

The class rep, who seemed rather distressed about the idea, said "Well now, why don't we think this through everyone? We can't all go individually. We should be in teams of at least 4 or 5."

Kurakano smiled "Yeah, teams would be scarier."

Hikaru smiled again "And anybody who leaves..."

"Gets featured on the front page of the school newspaper as the 'Captain of All Cowards'." Kaoru finished.

Everyone cheered, apart from me and Haruhi. The class rep then coughed and straightened his glasses "All right then, are there any objections to the majority vote? Are there any at all? Is anyone opposed to the idea? Come on, anyone? Oh, very well then, the motion passes unanimously. The Class 1-A event for this year will be a special Halloween Test of Courage tournament."

Is it just me or was he looking at me and Haruhi?

After class was over the twins, Haruhi and I were making our way to the club; the twins were holding our arms and dragging us there to tell everyone the news. When we got inside the entire room was dark and lit by a few candle lights. Everyone of the Host Club members were dressed up as vampires...even Kyoya. As soon as I saw him I blushed at the mere sight of him, I didn't know what it was but there was something about that outfit that made him look more sexy than usual.

The twins both waved to everyone "Hello!"

Tamaki, who was holding a blushing customer looked at us "Why are you guys late? Hurry up and change."

Hikaru smiled "Sorry, boss, but from now until Halloween..."

Kaoru continued "Count us out."

"Okay?" They both finished.

Tamaki screamed "What?!"

Hunny asked "Count you out?"

The twins stated "We're on the preparation committee for a special event. Class 1-A is sponsoring it."

Kyoya sighed a little "Duty calls, then."

The twins waved and began dragging us away "Good luck without us here for a week!"

Hunny waved to us "You have fun!"

But, of course, Tamaki shouted "Hold on! Why is Haruhi going?"

Hikaru turned back to Tamaki with a teasing smile on his face "Oh boss, she is in our class, you know."

Kaoru, who had the same expression, continued "Oh, the special event is an after dark test of courage tournament."

Tamaki cried "After dark?!" Oh dear...the theatre of Tamaki's mind is at work again...

Tamaki then ran up to Haruhi and shook her shoulders "Haruhi, you're not going to take part in this, are you? For decency's sake, tell me you won't!"

Haruhi chuckled "Calm down, senpai. It's just some harmless fun."

Tamaki cried "Harmless...She thinks it's harmless! Why me?! You won't go! You can't! Daddy doesn't like it!" Jee thanks Tamaki, I feel so loved...

Just then Hikaru grabbed Haruhi and said "Okay, time to go now."

Kaoru grabbed me and they both waved "Boss, adieu!"

We could hear Tamaki shouting after us "Wait! I can be a valuable asset to the planning community. Let me come too!"

I rolled my eyes, he was so in love with Haruhi is was painful to watch. When we got back to class the twins, Haruhi, Renge, Kurakana and myself were talking about our Halloween night.

Kurakana asked "So what kind of budget limit should we put on costumes? Once everyone starts shopping, they'll go all out."

Hikaru suggested "Why don't we follow the commoner's rule of keeping it under 300 yen?"

Kaoru finished "That should make things interesting."

Renge added "It would be a good idea to have a doctor handy, just in case anyone faints, has a heart attack, just jumps out of a window, or something."

Haruhi whispered to me "They all seem pretty excited about this..."

Suddenly we both looked at the door and saw the class rep waving us to come over to him. We both walked out and he explained to us that he had a fear of the dark. We knelt down to him and Haruhi repeated "You have nyctophobia? So, you're afraid of the dark?"

The class rep nodded "Yes, and you can add to that horror-movie-phobia, scary-ghost-story-phobia, being-startled-by-a-loud-noise-in-the-other-room phobia, and accidentally-seeing-trailers-for-horror-movies phobia. And what's with those things? Why do they keep showing them without warning us about it first? It just doesn't make sense to me. Whatever happened to civil rights for the fraidy-cats out there? Cowards are people, too. And what about the other classes? With their tea parties? It's just so unfair!"

He got very close to us and Haruhi said "Class rep, calm down."

The class rep squished back "Oh my, I'm sorry."

Haruhi asked him "If you were opposed to the idea from the start, why didn't you just bring it up in the meeting?"

Once again the class rep got closer to us "I tried to, but I don't wanna look like I'm throwing my weight around out there. So, I was counting on your help to save me!"

I spoke up "Please clam down."

He squished back again "I'm sorry."

I asked him, a bit confused, "How exactly were we supposed to save you?"

He stated, with his face hidden in his knees, "I was desperately giving you signs to oppose the motion while it was up for vote, but you just didn't seem interested!"

My eyes widened in realisation, so that's why he kept on looking at us...woops.

The class rep cried "If just one person objects, then it goes up for discussion."

Haruhi and I said "Uh... sorry, I had no idea."

Then the class rep got close to us again "Please Fujioka and Maria, you have to let me be on your team! If I'm with you, then maybe your piece of mind will help me and I can remain more calm!"

Both Haruhi and I said "Class Rep!"

But instead of moving away, he added "And one more thing. You can't tell the Hitachiin Brothers."

Then, speak of the devils, Hikaru and Kaoru smirked "Huh? Is someone a fraidy-cat?"

For the first few seconds nothing happened, but then..."WAAAAAHH!" The class rep jumped up to the window trying to escape.

But then we heard Kurakano say "Oh, there you are. We're about to choose groups. So do you have any idea who you'd like to have on your team?"

The twins grabbed the three of us and said "Yeah! The five of us will be one!"

Kurakano smiled "Great! Then you guys are Team B. All right?"

The twins stood on either side of the class rep and smirked "Sounds like fun, right, Class Rep?"

The class rep screamed "This is a nightmare!"

I sighed and rubbed my temples "It's all over now..."

For the next week the poor class rep was being tormented by the twins, being scared and teased was not the best for him. On the day of the contest the twins asked Haruhi and I "Looking forward to tonight?"

Haruhi nodded "Yeah, I kinda am."

I shrugged "Yeah, I guess so. Halloween never really scares me though."

The class rep came up to me and asked, panicked "How can you be so calm and say you aren't scared?!"

I sighed "Class rep calm down!"

He jumped back "Sorry."

I smiled "I've seen a lot of scary things in my time, like films and haunted houses and stuff like that. But they don't scare me, I just laugh. My mum is the same, she doesn't get scared by horror movies either."

The class rep cried "I wish I was as brave as you."

I frowned, knowing that there wasn't really anything I could do. Then, it was time for the Test of Courage tournament. It was dark outside and inside the school, with only the moonlight as our source of light. We were sitting by the stairs, waiting for the others and the class rep was shaking like mad.

Hikaru smiled evilly "Hey, Kaoru, tell us the story about the evil clock tower witch!"

Kaoru also smiled evilly "One Halloween many years ago, a girl dressed in a witch costume fell to her death from the tower."

The twins then both looked at the class rep "And now whoever sees her ghost on Halloween night... will be cursed forever!"

The class rep screamed "No! Please stop it, you guys!"

I stood up and placed my hands on my hips, irritated, and said to the twins "Will you knock it off? The point is to scare someone not on your team. Why don't you save that dumb shtick for somebody else?"

The twins shrugged "But no one's come yet. We're tired of waiting around."

I grabbed the class reps soul and pushed it back down "Hey, not so fast!"

Haurhi smiled to the class rep "Look Class Rep. Cool, huh? I borrowed this book from the library. 'Surefire methods for coping with anxiety.'"

The class rep looked at Haruhi a little bit happy "Fujioka."

Haruhi opened the book and began "Now let's have a look, shall we? The three cardinal rules for dealing with anxiety are as follows. First, pretend everything is okay. Second, whistle a cheerful little tune. Thirdly, repeat to yourself, 'I'm brave.'"

The class rep screamed again "Are you kidding me?! None of those things actually work! Call me the Captain of All Cowards! You can scream it from the roof top! Just get me out of here!"

The class rep lost his soul again as Kaoru asked "Really? Even if it means Kurakano will think you're a big chicken?"

His soul quickly came back down and he blushed a little. Haruhi smiled "Whoa, wait a minute. What's going on with you and Kurakano?"

The class rep blushed even harder and quickly spoke "No! It's not like that! We're just friends! I've known her since we were little! None of this has anything to do with it."

The twins smiled "Fine, fine, we understand."

Hikaru teased "Funny how you had told us you didn't want to throw your weight around."

"When the reason you agreed to any of this is because you didn't want to look like a fraidy-cat." Kaoru finished.

The class rep shook his head "That's not it. That's not the reason why I couldn't oppose it. I... It's just...Kurakano... well, she had her heart set out on this tournament. I didn't want to let her down. So I couldn't say no."

The twins gasped "You mean!"

Hikaru panicked "Oh crap! He's totally pure!"

Kaoru yelled "He's got a heart of gold, Hikaru!"

They both waved their arms in defeat "Our powers are nothing against his wholesomeness!"

Yes! They twins have met their match! All hail the class rep!

Hikaru sighed "So, does this mean we have to help him now?"

Suddenly a dark shadow past the window and Haruhi asked "Did you see that? That creepy shadow just now, outside the window?"

The class rep yelled "Oh, come on! Not you too, Fujioka! Knock it off, would you?!"

Just then a thud could be heard from the stairs, we all looked and a skull was falling down the stairs. Everyone screamed, apart from me, as the skull landed in front of us.

Kaoru said, a little bit scared, "No way! It's a sneak attack from those A Team acts."

Hikaru frowned "Hey! It's not your turn, guys! Follow the rules!"

He kicked the skull back up the stairs where I thought I heard a whisper.

But Kaoru cheered over it "Yeah! You show'em."

Then the voice spoke a bit louder "My skull...my skull..."

A figure, with long black hair stood at the top of the stairs, covering its face with hair. The class rep shuddered "Could it be... the Clock Tower Witch?!"

The person then shouted, revealing it's zombie like face "Why did you kick my skull?!"

Everyone screamed and ran away; Hikaru and Haruhi in one direction, Kaoru and the class rep in the other. Leaving me on my own. The figure just stood there, staring at me and I couldn't contain my laughter anymore. "HAHAHAAHAHAHA! Oh dear this is so funny! I will admit you almost had me fooled there for a moment Tamaki."

Tamaki gasped "How did you know it was me?"

He took of the mask and the wig as I chuckled "Well your blonde hair was sticking out of the wig. Anyway I'm guessing you and the others are up to something?"

Tamaki jumped down the stairs and nodded "I'm getting revenge on those shady twins for stealing my Haruhi!"

I rolled my eyes "Well I can't really imagine you coming up with this idea...anyway where are the others?"

Tamaki took me to Hunny and Mori who were dressed up as well. Mori was Frankenstein and Hunny was...a pumpkin. I smiled at Mori "Nice makeup Mori."

Mori nodded "Thanks."

Hunny hugged my leg "Hey Mari-chan! Aren't I scary? I'm the Wolfman!"

I sighed "Umm...I don't remember the Wolfman looking like a pumpkin..."

Then an all too familiar laugh sounded behind me "Well, it looks like you aren't scared of anything are you?"

I turned to the voice and smirked "I knew you would be behind this Nekozawa. Let me guess, you wanted to scare everyone in our class just for some laughs and you got the Host Club to help?"

He nodded "My fright strategy was perfection itself." He then turned to someone and asked "Kyoya, you're not joining in on the fun?"

I turned around to see Kyoya leaning against the wall, with a torch and reading a book. He calmly stated "I am not."

I walked over to Kyoya and smirked "Is Halloween too childish for the mighty Kyoya?"

Kyoya turned to me and smirked "I could say the same for you, it would seem that nothing scares you...apart from spiders of course."

I blushed a little, he remembered my phobia from when we went to the beach.

I coughed and looked at his book "So what are you reading?"

Kyoya smiled "Well I thought I would read The Shining...very fitting for an occasion such as this."

I gasped "I love that book! I've read it at least 4 times. Do you think I could read it with you?"

Kyoya nodded and sat down on the floor. I sat down next to him and tried to read the book, but from the angle I was at it was hard to read the words. Kyoya seemed to notice my struggle and suggested "Why don't you sit between my legs? Then you can see the book."

I nodded "If you don't mind."

I sat in between his open legs and rested my head in the crook of his neck. I could now read the words with ease but...it was so hard to focus. I could smell Kyoya's aftershave on his neck, it lingered and attracted me to him more. I could feel his pulse, which was beating as fast as mine. We said nothing as we turned to pages, but it seemed obvious that neither of us were paying any attention to it.

I then felt eyes staring at me, I looked up and Kyoya was looking at me intently. I blushed and asked "I-is there something wrong?"

He shook his head and brought his face closer to mine, our noses were just about to touch. I could feel his hot breath on me. Oh my God is he going to kiss me?!

He reached his fingers into my hair and ran them through. I then moved back and showed me some fluff on his finger "This was in your hair."

I blinked a little and shook me head "Uh, thank you." He went back to his book and I rested my head in his neck, feeling very tired and before I knew it I had fallen asleep.

The next morning I woke up to my alarm on my clock. I pressed the button and lazily got out of bed and got dressed. It wasn't until I had settle my mother down and started making breakfast that I realised Wait a second...how did I get home?

I walked into the living room and gave mum her breakfast and started feeding her, but she took the chopsticks and smiled "I'll do it dear, go eat your breakfast."

I sat down on the chair opposite her and started eating my toast. But I asked mum quickly "Hey mum, how did I get home last night?"

She smiled at me "Why isn't it obvious? Kyoya brought you home. He even carried you to bed...oh don't worry he got one of his maids to get you changed into your pajamas."

I dropped my toast onto the plate, hanging my head in embarrassment "Oh God no! I hope I didn't snore!"

Mum laughed "It was quite romantic you know...hey are you two going out now?"

I gasped "Mum! Were not going out!"

She smiled "But I can sense that it will happen soon, you're already in the first stages. You're in a flirtation-ship."

I tilted my head "A flirtation-ship what's that?"

She chuckled "That's the first stage of starting a relationship, you are both flirting with each other but nothing has been made official yet."

I shook my head "There's no way...he's just being nice to me that's all."

Mum shook her head "Oh no, I've seen you both when you talk to each other at the door. It's pretty obvious that he likes you Maria...why not ask him out already he would make a great son-in-law."

"Mother!"

When I arrived at school Haruhi, the twins, class rep and Kurakano were looking at the school newspaper. The entire class, apart from me, were all caught screaming at Benzenef's shadow.

I chuckled "Well you finally made it onto the front page guys, well done."

Haruhi turned to me and asked "Hang on, after we ran off where did you go?"

I smiled "I figured it out that Nekozawa and the others were behind this so I just stayed out of the way and did some reading. Not long after I went home."

Of course I didn't tell them about Kyoya but it was still the truth. Haruhi looked at the newspaper again and sighed "They sure got us."

Hikaru frowned "Nekozawa is such a jerk."

Kaoru shook his head "How did we not know that was Belzenef?"

Just then we heard Kurakano say to the class rep "I heard. You're really a fraidy-cat, aren't you, Kazukiyo, but you still agreed to the tournament, just to be nice?"

The class rep blushed a little "Uh, yeah, sure, that's it."

Kurakano smiled "I think that's so unbelievably sweet of you!"

The class rep blushed even harder and Kaoru smiled "Would you look at that? I guess the spell on the carriage can't last forever, after all."

Before I could ask what he meant I suddenly remembered some book I forgot in my locker. "Oh crap I left some books in my locker! I'll see you guys in class!"

I ran back into the school, getting ready for another day to pass by.

A/N: Hehehehehe I'm such a tease :P You thought they were gonna kiss didn't you? Mwahahahahahaha! Be patient my readers, the time will come. Anyway I hope you liked it and please review! I like getting reviews it makes me happy.