Chapter Nine: Newspaper Club and Rain
Coming to you from Ouran Academy on a clear spring day...
"Really? It's already spring again? There's no way I've been here a year!" Kiiro reasoned, finding this situation very peculiar.
"I told you you'd be surprised at how often spring rolls around in this series." Kyouya tapped his pen to her forehead.
That place full of cherry blossoms was a Heian Aristocratic Garden.
"Welcome." the club in full Heian regalia greeted dreamily.
Tamaki was entrancing his clientele with a 'Forbidden Meeting in the Cherry Trees' play. The Hitachiin Brothers were putting extra effort into their Twincest Act. Kyouya was enchanting his guests with the Yarimizu stream he had had placed in the garden...and selling reservations to a tea party. Hani was being as adorable as ever, with Mori at his side being as silent as ever. And, Haruhi...
Well, Haruhi was staring off into space.
'Eh, that's semi-normal for her.' Kiiro thought as she brainstormed ideas for special club presentations to put into action after summer vacation.
"Haruhi get down!" Tamaki yelped. He sprinted to Haruhi as a soccer ball flew toward her, he grabbed her, spinning out of the way. "Hikaru! You moron! You almost extinguished the flame of Haruhi's life!" he screeched as he helped Haruhi up.
"If Tono had caught it properly, this wouldn't have happened!" Hikaru accused.
"Dude, you can't even play football properly!" Kaoru added. "You're just wasting your nickname, the Hikaru Genji of Ouran!"
"Say what?" Tamaki knitted his brow, suddenly he was in a soccer uniform, "Then eat this you bastards! Starlight Kick!" he kicked the ball at lightning speed...
'Laws of physics be damned!' Kiiro went wide eyed.
"What the hell?!"
...out above the treeline.
The Twins waved to it as it winked out of sight.
"Uh?" Tamaki looked humiliated.
Kerash!
The Twins erupted into laughter.
"I'm sorry!" Tamaki bowed. "I don't know what else to say to express how truly sorry I am!"
The club sat in the room reserved for the Newspaper Club. The ball Tamaki had kicked had gone straight through their window and smacked into the head of their president, Akira Komitsuzawa.
"No, no, it's alright," Akira assured. "It's only a slight mistake, completely shattering the window and hitting me right on the head."
'He doesn't make it sound like a slight mistake...' Kiiro raised an eyebrow.
"But your timing is quite fortuitous. In fact, I was just going to request cooperation from the Host Club for us to cover you for a story." he chuckled faintly.
"Eh? So there was a Newspaper Club?" Haruhi asked as she was sweeping up the shards of glass from the window.
"Well, it's just a piece of trash called, "Ouran Sports"." the Twins explained. "It's only a tabloid gossip rag that exaggerates and prints school romances or internal conflicts in classes that have competing families. It's so full of made-up stories that no one reads it anymore."
'They speak so harshly of other boys.'
"Obviously, in our quest to get any attention at any cost..." Akira looked forlorn. "...we had forgotten the meaning of truth. However, since we're now facing closure, we remembered our true calling."
"Please help us!" his two subordinates, Chikage Ukyo and Tomochika Sato, pleaded. "This cover story will feature the true, charming side of you entitled, "Contact! Host Club 24 Hours!"
'That's how you strike a chord.'
Tamaki face lit up with surprise, "Oh, is this the one where I chase after violent criminals or something? Or do you want to capture me working tirelessly to prevent crime?"
'Uh? Well, they would have struck a chord if he wasn't an idiot...' Kiiro smirked.
"Huh?... No, it's really not related to "Police Department 24 Hours" at all..."
"We accept." King smiled.
"We refuse." Kyouya pushed Tamaki out of the way.
"Kyouya, you have no idea how emotionally moving that show is!"
"They're not talking about the show..." Kiiro tried to bring Tamaki down from whatever planet he was on.
"Furthermore, this person was injured because of me!" he argued, flailing against Kyouya.
"I apologize, but the release of any of our personal information is limited to our clientele." Kyouya pushed back at Tamaki.
"We'll pay for any hospital treatment." the Twins shrugged. "And besides, we don't see any merit in cooperating with a bunch of people who print whatever stories they want. We absolutely loathe people who are burdens to others."
Kiiro held her sarcastic comment about the pot and the kettle.
"You're right..." Akira's head fell to his desk.
'Ah, I see what's going on here...'
"President!"
"We can't wash away our past transgressions, can we?" he asked woefully. "Although it's heartbreaking, we might just be better off if we shut down cleanly..."
"That's not true!" Tamaki shouted, moved. "A person can start over at any time! Alright, leave it to me! The entire Host Club will fully assist in the Newspaper Club's revival..."
"We're not cooperating!" Hikaru and Kaoru shouted back.
"What?"
"If we follow every fool thing your bleeding heart comes up with, it'll be endless!" the pair explained. "Honestly, it's annoying, we're leaving now!"
"Let's go, Tamaki. We'll have some self-reflection in the club room." Kyouya offered.
"Don't you guys have an ounce of sympathy?!" he yelled, genuinely mad. "They said shut down! Their whole family will be ripped apart!"
"Nope, I don't know what you mean." the Twins answered with a shrug.
"This is a direct order from your president! Refusing is unacceptable!"
'Oh, he plays 'that card'.'
"We refuse." End of story.
Tamaki fell over as everyone exited.
Back in Music Room Three, Tamaki sulked in his corner with little corn chips on his fingers.
"He's really mad, he didn't even change his clothes."
"The "Really close by, but trying your best not to meet anyone else's eye" is a very childish fighting style."
"It's because Tamaki gets lonely very easily~..."
"In any event, can someone tell him that he doesn't always have to eat those chips that way? Looks like he thinks the world will end or something if he doesn't put them on his fingertips or something..." Haruhi said with a sweatdrop.
"I think it's part of his act..."
"Is it so impossible to cooperate with the Newspaper Club?" Haruhi asked.
"Wait, Haruhi why are you taking the president's side all of a sudden?" the Twins couldn't disguise their shock.
"Well, that's not it, but... if we leave him like that I get this weird feeling that he's gonna start peeking this way with his puppydog eyes and then we'll all be left with no choice but to follow him..."
"Haruhi... you're really gaining experience."
"Even you guys, normally you two would get all excited about something like this..."
"Oh, really we cant just be bothered..." the twins cleared.
"And you Hani-senpai...?"
"You know I need to eat my cake~!"
True to Haruhi's prediction, Tamaki peeked over at the group.
'Oh no...' Kiiro stopped.
He turned, then peeked again.
'...' Kiiro looked over at Kyouya.
Kyouya sighed, "We have to set some conditions in exchange. The topic for the cover story will be decided by our side. Basically, interviews are forbidden. And revealing our client services may be compromising to the clientele, so that's out too. Is everyone okay with that?"
"Well, since Kyouya-senpai proposed it, alright."
"Okay~!"
Tamaki looked like a child who had just been told that Christmas was now being held everyday, "Alright! Then let's hold a meeting right now to decide on the topic! First up, Hitachiin Brothers! Ideas!" he stood triumphant.
"Yeah, yeah."
"REEEEEDLIIIIIIGHT, Greenlight!" Tamaki looked back.
Kiiro froze. Kyouya still stood far back. The twins stopped in funny poses.
"Reeeeeedliiiiiiight, Greenlight!" Tamaki turned.
The twins and Hani all froze in difficult poses. Kiiro tried not to chuckle.
"Hikaru, Kaoru, you just moved a little!"
"No we didn't!"
"Hey, Kyouya, if you move a little you might have a chance at winning." Kiiro teased.
"You'll see." he smiled at her, remaining perfectly still.
The Host Club was allowing the Newspaper Club to watch as they played their miscellaneous games in the Academy's courtyard.
"This is a traditional commoner's game passed down through the generations." Tamaki told them. "And, aside from this game, there are lots of other commoner's games that you can play. Without spending a dime and with no more equipment than our bodies."
"What does that have to do with our article?"
"Intimacy!" he answered.
'Random funny words.'
"To completely erase the newspaper's negative image and capture your readers, a sense of intimacy must be established! All this is going according to my calculations!" he pointed a finger to them. ""Host Club's Handsome Princes- and Art Director- immersed in commoner's games!""
'At least I was included.' Kiiro wilted.
"Beauty that is sufficient to be splashed on the front page of your special extra edition to go along with the spring scenery! Plus, it's a dream-like project that some commoners would absolutely love!"
Tamaki looked back at Haruhi.
"Why is he looking at me?"
Akira Komitsuzawa walked over to Haruhi, "You're Haruhi Fujioka... right? How did you end up in this club?"
"Because of my carelessness, I had no choice."
"Is that so? Then did you know about the rumor going around that this club was created to show off the influence of Suoh?"
'What?'
"Cut!" the twins yelled, breaking off Akira's interview with Haruhi.
Kiiro saw Kyouya run by her. She went to turn but he had already made his way to Tamaki.
"Cheater!" she called.
"Hey you're not supposed to cut there!"
"Alright next is the color game! Gold!" Tamaki called. Everyone, except Haruhi, tapped their hands to King's head.
"Different color next time." Kiiro smiled.
"Different game this time." Tamaki corrected.
"Hide-and-Seek?" she offered.
"Perfect! Hani-senpai's the 'seeker'!" he declared.
Kiiro ran out into the courtyard's hedge maze. She turned to see if anyone was following her and ran right into someone, she almost fell backward, but was caught, "Ee-!" a hand snaked over her mouth.
"Do you want to get us caught?" Kyouya asked. "Klutz."
He held her upright with one arm, he steadied her letting go of her mouth.
In response, Kiiro whispered, "Black." and poked his head.
He raised an eyebrow, "White." he pulled on the collar of her dress.
"Kyouya, I'm not so sure about this Newspaper Club, I think they're up to something." she declared her suspicions.
He chuckled, "I've got it handled, Kiiro." he took hold of her hand. "Now, be quiet, we're going somewhere else."
She nodded, allowing him to walk ahead of her so her blush wouldn't give him the wrong idea.
'He's holding my hand...' she thought oddly.
He led her down the numerous hallways until they came to the Newspaper Clubroom. He let her into the room, where the Twins were already waiting.
"...In any event," they could hear Akira down the hallway. "...for tomorrow's front page we need to entrap that basta-" he stopped as he entered the room.
"Ho-hum."
"We knew it."
"Well, it was pretty transparent from the beginning."
"The only one who wasn't suspicious was the president, probably." the Twins said darkly. "That guy is usually so dumb about things that directly affect him." they huffed.
"You bastards!" the opposing club stepped back.
"I'm warning you now, you won't escape unscathed if you even try hurting the president. And, aside from our Hitachiin family, you'll turn all the families from the Host Club into your enemies, you ready for that?"
"I knew it!" Akira shouted. " Using your parents powers! Did Suoh instruct you as such?!" he was outraged.
"No! Tama-chan would never do something like that!" Hani cleared up the matter as everyone else, bar Tamaki and Haruhi, gathered in the room. "You know, we like Tama-chan very much! So we couldn't forgive anyone who would want to hurt him!"
"Exactly, Hani-senpai, just the thought makes me upset." Kiiro grinned, feeling rather dark.
"Well, although he's a bit stupid." the Twins added.
"And, thanks to his personality traits, I receive significant help in increasing my information network." Kyouya began, pulling a disc from his jacket. "So, anyways, now, whatever should we do with this diskette that contains what we recorded of all your scheming from the last few days?"
The Newspaper Club went white.
The game of Hide-and-Seek later ended with Tamaki and Haruhi the last-and technically the first- ones to be found.
"Where's the Newspaper Club?" Tamaki questioned, looking around.
"They said they had some urgent business to attend to so they had to discontinue their reporting." the Twins covered.
"What?"
"They said they'll only print properly written articles from now on. Then, wouldn't they at least avoid getting shut down?"
"Ah...yeah."
"Kyouya-senpai, is the Suoh family really that great?" Haruhi asked, quietly.
"Well, they're one of the seven greatest elite families in Japan..." he shrugged. "Business-wise, they were traditionally based in the banking industry and had diversified widely. You might have heard of them? The Rio Grande Hotel and the Otto Theater."
"I saw them a lot on TV."
"And, as you know, school management..."
"Ah. Which school?"
Kyouya stopped dead, "Why...Ouran Academy of course."
Haruhi froze, her eyes widened.
"Shouldn't you at least know the Chairman of the school you're attending?" he raised an eyebrow. "Come to think of it, Haruhi, weren't you accepted into this school because of Tamaki's family? You should thank him."
Kiiro chuckled at Haruhi's shocked look, "What's wrong, Haruhi?" she poked her cheek.
As they walked out of Ouran Kiiro smiled, "By the way, Kyouya, that was a very shadowy move you pulled back there." she thought of how he bugged the Newspaper Clubroom. "It was really cool, though."
"You thought it was cool?" he smirked. "Ah, well, I am the cool type." he ran a hand through his hair.
"And there's the ego." she crossed her arms. "Just when I thought you were cool."
He turned to her, grinning, "You're not getting a crush on me, are you?"
Her face reddened, "What are you talking about?" crossing her arms in defiance.
He chuckled, "Nothing at all, Kiiro. Nothing at all..."
"It's June already?" Kiiro mused aloud as she listened to the rain on the windows and read the results for her midterm exams, "N-no way?" she froze. "F-fourth?"
Now, Kiiro may be smart, but she's never been a number one student. That being said, being ranked fourth wasn't what had shocked her. It was who was second that got to her.
'Kyouya's number one, I expected that but second is Tamaki?!' she slumped. 'Tamaki is smarter than me?!'
"If it makes you feel any better, he's mostly just book smart." Kyouya said from his spot next to her, reading her mind like always.
"It doesn't make me feel any better..." she stated despondently. "Thank you, though..."
He chuckled from behind his book.
"What?! Haruhi, you didn't make first place?!"
Kiiro straightened up, looking to where the rest of the club stood still.
"Nope..."
"Then I express my condolences." Kyouya, second-year, first place, offered half-heartedly.
"Haruhi, don't give up~!" Hani, third-year, first place, encouraged.
"..." Mori, third-year, second place.
"I'm quite sorry, Haruhi." Kiiro, second-year, fourth place, sympathized.
"Hey?! What's wrong with being third place? You being sarcastic or something?" Hikaru, first-year, fifth place, asked annoyed.
"It's not like good grades mean a person isn't an idiot." Kaoru, first-year, fourth place, explained, also annoyed.
"Case in point, that guy over there!" the pair pointed to Tamaki, who was rummaging through a suit case labeled "King's Personal Items".
"My mechanical pencil is gone!" Tamaki, second-year, second place, screamed, seriously.
"Maybe it went on a trip~?" Hani replied, not seriously.
"Why do you care about being first?" the Twins turned back to Haruhi.
"It's not like you'd be expelled from school..."
"But she will be expelled." Kyouya stated simply. "She must get the top score in her year to keep her scholarship. She'll have to take the make up test to improve her grade. The worst case scenario is that she'll be expelled.
"What kind of scholarship conditions...?" Kiiro huffed in amazement.
"Haruhi! Don't fret! You'll clear the make-up, no problem!" Tamaki shoved his teddy bear at her. "I wanted to give you my mechanical pencil as a good luck charm, but I can't find it! Take this instead!"
"I don't need a good luck charm with a blank stare like that." she turned him down.
"Meanie! That's so mean, Haruhi! You're still peeved that I didn't tell you I was the Chairman's son! You think I kept it from you deliberately! But, it was your fault!"
"Look, I may curse myself for my stupidity, but, to be honest... It doesn't matter much to me."
"What do you mean it doesn't matter?"
"I know why I failed to get First Place. I'll be more careful during the make-up. So... I'm sorry, but I have to take three days off from club until make-up."
"Choose your teacher!" The twins, Tamaki, Hani said, Mori implied it, as they all donned fake glasses.
"I think they're mocking us." Kyouya joked.
"It kind of makes me want to take mine off." she chuckled, removing her rectangular glasses.
Kyouya exchanged his for hers, "Your prescription is slightly weaker than my own."
She put his on, "Slightly? Everything looks like it's giant."
He smirked and took his off of her face, but instead of giving her glasses back to her, he just put them on the table on the opposite side of her. She stood up and walked over to the other side of the couch. Just before she got there, he took them in his hand and held them away from her. She raised her eyebrow at him. He just raised his book to his face. She reached for her glasses. He switched hands.
"Kyouya." she whined. "Please?"
He looked up at her. Then went back to his book. She tried for them again. He switched hands again.
"Pretty please?"
He smirked.
She lowered the book in his hand, "With a cherry on top?" she batted her eyelashes.
He sighed, and placed hers on her face.
"Thank you."
She smiled at him, and for a moment she couldn't look away, he was looking at her, too, she never realized how nice his eyes were. She had never known anyone else with gray eyes. His smirk subsided, and he tilted his head slightly closer to her.
"Hurry up and choose your tutor!" the Hosts pestered Haruhi.
Whatever spell that hung over them broke in that moment. Kiiro jumped back, embarrassed.
Kyouya huffed, "I'll arrange somebody for her!" he said to the rowdy crowd.
'What...was that?' Kiiro wondered. 'For a moment...'
Day One
The somebody that Kyouya had arranged as Haruhi's tutor was Ayame Jonochi, the vice-president of class 2A. She was a straight forward girl, the type to rely heavily on fact and reason. She simply found no need for things like creativity and poetry. And, from what Kiiro could tell, she didn't like Tamaki at all. Every time he tried to help, whenever he fetched tea or offered to help Haruhi with a problem, Ayame would coldly brush him off. Which only seemed to put him in a deeper depression, seeing as how he had already lost both his favorite mechanical pencil and his teddy bear earlier in the week.
"Some say that rain cleans the air. Some love the rainy season, seeing it as natural poetry for Japan." Ayame said with a dismissing flick of her stick straight hair. "I am aware of that, but, I still don't like it. By the same token, the son of our respectable chairman may be intelligent and popular among girls, he may appear charming to a majority of human beings, yet, there's something about him that I can't help but feel repulsed by." she declared with a huff.
'So...she hates him?'
Tamaki sunk into his corner as Haruhi laughed nervously from the other end of the table, while the rest of the club marveled at how she was able to get all of that out in one breath.
Day Two
"Mr. Suoh. You were in charge of class yesterday, weren't you?" Ayame asked after class holding up a file. "It looks like you failed to make a proper entry."
"Sorry about that. I'll correct it."
"No, it's fine I've already taken care of it. I'm pointing it out only because I don't want you to repeat the error. Also, be sure to use a ruler, your writing tends to be crooked. This constant rain is already enough of a bother. I don't need something as hideous as this on top of it." she scolded him cold-heartedly.
"Right... Sorry..." Tamaki replied.
"Tamaki-sama! Don't be discouraged! You did a fabulous job with class duty yesterday, Tamaki-sama!" the girls in their class chirped. "To hear you start the class was a dream come true!"
"Many thanks, if it so pleases, everyday I will those words in your ear..." Tamaki said, slipping into Host-mode.
"Please, don't do that." Ayame continued. "You will wind up distracting the person in charge. Besides, who wants more noise?"
"Hey, Kyouya. Is she in a bad mood because of the rain? Or does she hate me? Which is it?"
"Most likely both. Just go back to your seat." Kyouya didn't bother looking up from his book.
"Not yet. You must help me with this flier! I need two-hundred of these before the bell rings today." Tamaki held up a flier with a crayon picture of his missing teddy bear on it.
"Oh, what a splendid design!" Kyouya faked. "If you draw them all yourself, I bet it will attract more attention!"
'Nice lie.'
"Of course leave it to me. Be it one-hundred or two... Two-hundred sounds like a lot. Ah! Kiiro? Help?"
She glared at the flier, not wanting to get drawn into this mess, "You know, I think Kyouya's right!" she clapped her hands. "Anything drawn by the Host King is bound to draw attention."
"Oh! Of course!"
In the end, he never thought to photocopy it.
'How the hell is he second?'
Day Three
On the third day of Haruhi's tutoring, the Twins found a curly lock in Ayame's hair. Her face reddened and she yelled at Tamaki, saying it was all his fault that she had to straighten her hair everyday, telling him to stop twisting her feelings around, before she ran out of the room.
"What was that about?" Kiiro raised an eyebrow.
"I bet she actually likes Tama-chan a lot~!" Hani guessed as the club looked out at the rain.
"I think I know where Tamaki's bear went." Kyouya mused.
"I have an idea for a June event!" Tamaki announced.
"An iris festival! How splendid!"
The club was gathered in an indoor garden full of lovely irises in full bloom.
"Yes, I thought that we should celebrate a beautiful flower that blooms during the rainy season." Tamaki cooed. "Here, please join us Miss Ayame."
After a lovely gathering, in which Tamaki apologized to Ayame for originally thinking her hair was naturally straight, Ayame never straightened her hair again.
But...
"Later I did some research." Ayame glared at Tamaki. "I found no scientific explanation for rain to be needed for the beauty of any flower. So don't boast the ability to please women with your words. Do you not think it immature to speak from no basis beyond your own personal opinion? Let's work on sorting out appropriate words for you to use from now on. After all, you can't expect to keep your followers with words as unpersuasive as yours. If you want to call yourself king you have to use language and take action to be proud."
...she was still icy.
In the end Haruhi passed the make up test and all was well.