Chapter Eleven: Kirimi and the Festival (Part One)
The season was surprisingly not Spring now, but Fall. Which was already proving itself to be tiresome.
Kiiro sat quietly in her unseen corner, wondering exactly why Tamaki had requested a day where they all dressed in "policeman attire", Tamaki dressed in white with gold fringe, Haruhi and Hani in standard, light blue, the Twins in matching dark blue and Kyouya and Mori wore black uniforms. 'He really needs to lay off the late night crime shows...' Currently, there were no guests to woo with their "man in uniform" act.
Suddenly, their door was opened, "Oh? What an unusual...guest." Tamaki cooed. "Welcome my dear, lost kitten."
Kiiro turned her attention to the tiny guest. A toddler, wearing the Ouran Preschool uniform, with her light blonde hair in two, long pigtails and large blue eyes. She gaped at the policemen before her.
"She's so cute..." Kiiro fawned. "But, what is she doing here?"
"It's a reverse harem!" the little girl cheered.
"What...?"
The boys laughed it off, "Oh dear, there must still be some pool water in my ears." Tamaki tapped the side of his ears.
"Don't be silly, Inspector General. She's not Renge, a little girl like her could never utter an adult word like "harem"." the Twins shared his disbelief.
"Debauchery!" the girl cheered again. "There's debauchery here!" she jumped up and down.
"What the?"
"Megane!" she pointed to Kyouya.
"Lolita!" Hani.
"Stoic!" Mori.
"Nerd!" Haruhi.
"Incest!" the Twins.
She pointed to Tamaki, and stopped, her eyes widened and her smile began to droop, "Brother?" she asked. "Big brother!" her smile returned as she leapt into Tamaki's arms.
The club's confusion was collective, "No way! You never told us you had a sister in preschool, Tono!" the Twins yelled.
"I'm definitely an only child!" he cried, holding the girl at an arm's length.
"You do look alike~!" Hani observed.
"Ah, I think it's just the hair, Hani-senpai..." Kiiro analyzed.
"Do both "Megane" and "Brother" belong in the same category?" Kyouya pondered, ignoring the problem at hand.
"It's not too bad is it? I got "Nerd"." Haruhi slouched.
"What's your name, little girl?" King asked.
She grinned, eyes closed, "Kirimi. I'm three!" she held up three fingers.
"Kirimi...I think you're somehow mistaken." he told her. "You see, I don't have any little sisters..."
Her expression fell, "You mean you're not my big brother?" her eyes filled with tears.
Unable to watch her cry, Tamaki caved, "I am as of today!" he hugged her close, spinning around with her in his arms, they did sort of look like family.
Haruhi shook her head, "I know you feel sorry for her, but don't speak so rashly to a child, senpai..."
"Right, she's not a puppy..." Kiiro agreed.
"What should we do, Kyouya-senpai?"
"Her real brother might be in this school."
Hani bounced on his heels, "She confused Tama-chan with someone else~?"
The Twins were deep in thought, "There's no one in this school that looks like Tono..."
"No one has his foreign flair...", they concluded.
"Kirimi..." an eery voice called out, a chill descended over the room, Kiiro whipped around to see Nekozawa shuffling into the room, "Kirimi..." he chanted.
Both King and Kirimi screamed in terror.
The rest of the club, not phased, understood what was happening, "Come to think of it, he is blond under that dark wig."
"Yeah~! And he does look like Kirimi~!"
"But..."
Kiiro watched as, when Nekozawa got closer to Kirimi, she fidgeted and tried to escape.
"Kiri-"
"Weeeaaagghh!" she cried, hysterical.
"It looks as though she really hates him."
"It's your outfit, take it off!" the Twins insisted, pulling the cloak from the senior's body.
"GYAAAHHH! Murderers!" Umehito screeched and pulled away as they attempted to expose him to the light.
"Let's make the room darker, then!" the Twins began to close the curtains.
Kirimi began to wail again.
"She's still afraid of the dark?" they huffed, exasperated, it was apparent that there was no pleasing these two.
"Too much light means death for Master Umehito." a woman's voice stated.
"And our little princess hates the dark." a baritone explained.
"The opposite natures are at the root of their tragic story... That's why their called the "Romeo and Juliet" of the Nekozawa family."
In the doorway stood two servants of the Nekozawa family, Kuretake a maid who looked an awful lot like a witch, and Kadomatsu, a valet who resembled Frankenstein's monster quite closely.
'Even their servants are scary...' Kiiro puzzled. 'I think Kirimi might be the only normal one of this bunch...'
"But, Romeo and Juliet weren't siblings and their situation was quite different..." Haruhi explained flatly.
"I know," Kuretake beamed. "But when I thought up the phrase it was so catchy that I had to use it."
"Incidentally," Kadomatsu bowed. "We are charged with escorting Miss Kirimi home."
"The Nekozawa Family ancestors are of the Russian Tokarev Dynasty." Kuretake began to say.
"Tokarev?" Kiiro wondered aloud. "Do you mean Romanov?"
"There is a legend that once every several hundred years," she went on. "...someone like Master Umehito- one who is charmed by darkness- is born, or that legend might not be true."
"Is it or isn't it?"
"What a freakish explanation..."
"Due to his physical condition, master cannot approach his sister without his costume." Kadomatsu told them.
"Every time she screams..."
"However, Miss Kirimi has dreamed of meeting her big brother, whom she only knows by his princely portrait at the manor. Ever since she learned her brother attended this school, she comes over now and again in search of him. The thing is, every night I've been assuaging her fears with princely tales." Kuretake, held her hands to her cheeks. "Eventually I ran out of fairy tales and began to read her shoujo manga, especially those which feature princely characters. And, I'm afraid she's become totally addicted!" she grinned like a cat.
"Doesn't Sashimi know you're her brother?" Haruhi asked of a downtrodden Umehito.
"Her name's Creamy." the Twins corrected incorrectly.
"No, it's Kirimi..." Nekozawa moved Beelzeneff as he spoke.
"No matter how often I tell her," Kuretake slumped, "...she refuses to believe me."
"That's so sad for Nekozawa..." Hani's eyes watered.
"That's why..." Umehito piped up. "I pray every night that she might learn to love...the darkness!" he knelt at an altar, voice shifting to extreme spookiness with each word.
"What the?" Kiiro sweatdropped.
"Nah, you got it backwards." Hikaru patronized.
"You should adapt to the light." Kaoru criticized.
"Miss Kirimi, let's go home." her servants suggested.
"No!" she cried. "I want to stay with brother!" she clung to Tamaki. "I like being with brother!"
Nekozawa looked heartbroken.
"Poor guy..."
"P-please..." Umehito began to cry. "Please treat Kirimi well for me!" he fled the room in despair.
"Come to think of it..." Kyouya spoke up. "Nekozawa-senpai always did take an interest in Tamaki for some reason. Maybe he idolizes you because you are his sister's ideal image of a brother." he told Tamaki.
King sprung to action, unable to resist assisting someone in need, "Mori-senpai, please secure Nekozawa-senpai!" he ordered, hand making a check mark figure beside his face in his trademarked pose.
"There he goes, into "helping hand mode"." Kiiro shrugged with a smile.
Mori charged after Umehito.
"Hikaru, Kaoru! Darken the room as much as possible! Hani-senpai! Get the indirect lighting and some candles! Kyouya! Cancel all customer engagements! Haruhi, Kiiro! ...look after Kirimi." he decided, placing the little girl in Kiiro's hands.
"Brother?" she questioned.
"I'm sorry, Kirimi, I'm not your brother." he explained sadly, and when she started to tear up in response he quickly added, "I'm-I mean-! We're not your brothers, we're the police!" he announced, and the club posed dynamically.
Kirimi looked on in awe.
Mori entered the room with a distressed looking Nekozawa.
"Our mission is to rescue students in distress! It's a huge problem if mutually affectionate siblings can't be near each other! Nekozawa-senpai, you'll be acclimated to the light, one step at a time!" he declared pointing to his fearful senior with determination written all over his face. "And, simultaneously, under my tutelage, you will cultivate yourself to become Kirimi's favorite princely character!"
""Sosuke..." said Kazumi. "Kazumi..." said Sosuke. They looked each to each other with joy in their eyes..." Kiiro read aloud to the restless toddler in her lap. "See?" she turned the manga to Kirimi so she could look at the picture. "Their lips met in a passionate kiss. The End." she narrated.
Kirimi began to giggle, "Read more! Read more!" she bounced impatiently.
"That's seven volumes already..." Kiiro sighed, but, looking at Kirimi's expectant expression, she asked, "Okay? What should we read next? My Flower? Sweet Rose? Pretty Love?" she read off the titles.
Haruhi huffed, "I can't take anymore..." she stood. "I'm going to get someone else to do this job..." she marched toward the hallway.
For the past couple of hours, Kiiro and Haruhi had been reading shoujo manga to Kirimi, tirelessly trying to appease her, and it was a bit sickening.
"Read "Pretty Love"!" Kirimi pleaded.
"Alright, Pretty Love it is..." she cracked open the volume.
A bit later she heard footsteps over her reading, it appeared that Haruhi had gotten someone else to switch places with her. Kiiro looked up, "Kyouya?" she raised an eyebrow, not who she was expecting to see.
"Megane!" Kirimi announced.
"I decided not to leave you here alone..." he stated.
"How gracious of you." she chuckled.
He took a seat next to her, looking over her shoulder at the manga.
""Himawari-chan, for-"" Kiiro continued.
"Wait!" Kirimi cried.
"What is it?" Kiiro tilted her head to the girl in her lap.
"Will Mr. Megane read the boy words?" she asked sweetly.
Kiiro held back a fit of giggles as she imagined Kyouya reading shoujo manga, "N-no, sweetie, Mr. Megane probably wouldn-"
""Himawari-chan, for a while now..."" Kyouya began, in his Host voice of course. ""...for a while now, I've liked you.""
Kiiro was stunned for a moment, she didn't know whether to laugh or to be terrified that the Shadow King was reading shoujo manga.
"Your turn, Kiiro." he smirked.
"R-right." she turned her attention back to the manga. ""W-what do you mean, Watanuki-kun?" she asked, blush forming on her cheeks."
""Ever since we were little kids, I thought you were special." he told her. "There's just something about you that I really like. I don't really know he to explain it...""
""Wata-?""
""You're soft spoken and shy...you keep to yourself...but you can be really sweet...""
""Watanuki-kun..."
""And, you've always been there for me, you've always understood me...""
""Watanuki...""
""That's why... I love you, Himawari-chan and I hope-""
""Watanuki-kun, I love you, too."" Kiiro read, so embarrassed that her face began to change color.
"They lean forward, lips meeting in a kiss." he narrated, sounding not at all ashamed like Kiiro was.
"The End." Kiiro looked down to Kirimi, a grin spread across her face.
"More! More!" she hopped.
"Al-"
"Mistress Kirimi!" Kuretake called, entering the room with Kadomatsu in tow. "It's time to head home, Mistress Kirimi."
Kiiro stood, handing the toddler to her maid.
"Thank you for watching her." Kadomatsu bowed.
"It's no trouble." Kiiro smiled.
"But I want to hear more stories!" Kirimi protested. "I want Megane and Meganeko to read more stories!" she fidgeted.
"I'll read more to you when you come back tomorrow, okay, Kirimi?" Kiiro grinned, wondering why she had only just now recieved the nickname, 'Meganeko'.
Kirimi grinned back, "Okay!" she giggled.
When the Nekozawas left, Kyouya turned to Kiiro, "Not a word." he warned her.
"I understand." Kiiro said nervously, not wanting to even imagine what kind of penalties would follow telling anyone about what had happened. "To be honest I didn't think you would even be capable of reading that trash..."
"As a Host it is my duty to keep our guests happy." he said haughtily. "...And besides, it entertains me when your face gets red."
She stammered, "H-hey! That wasn't because I was embarrassed!" she argued. "I just- It was- Fall weather! Now that it's Fall, it's getting colder and all..." she explained.
"Sure, sure." he waved her off. "Whatever you say, Kiiro."
"Where's my big brother?" Kirimi asked of Kiiro the next day, after three volumes of romance manga.
"He's helping a friend."
"Can I go see him?"
"Not yet."
Kirimi crawled out of Kiiro's grip anyway and ran into the room where Haruhi had just left for.
"Kirimi wait it's...!" she chased after the energetic toddler.
'Dark.' she thought, looking into the dark room where the Hosts and Nekozawa "trained".
Kiiro stopped at the black threshold as Kirimi cried for Tamaki.
"S-sorry, sh-she was too fast for me..." Kiiro caught her breath, careful to stay in the lit hallway.
Tamaki picked Kirimi up, "Look it's not scary at all, right?"
"What's the matter, Kiiro-senpai?" Hikaru asked.
"Afraid of the dark?" Kaoru finished.
Their eyes gleamed devilishly in the blackness.
Kyouya upped the lighting, motioning for her.
"No." Kiiro walked in.
"Oh joy, I've finally made all of these beautiful, young men my love slaves." Haruhi read flatly, looking displeased with the toddler's taste in manga. She sighed as Kirimi bounced up and down on Kiiro's lap happily, "Read more, nerd!"
"What's taking them so long?" Haruhi ignored the excited child. "They're usually done for the day by now..."
"You mean big brother?" Kirimi remembered what was going on in the other room and shot off in that direction before Kiiro could grab hold of her.
"Kirimi! Stop that!" Kiiro ran after her, Haruhi tailing behind.
But as they were approaching the door, they heard Kirimi's all-too-familiar shrieking as she ran past them, sprinting in the opposite direction.
"Wait!" Kiiro had to stop and catch her breath, "I really need to work on my cardio..." she huffed.
"Kirimi!" Umehito called after her, his face betraying his despair as his little sister ran off, he held a flashlight beneath his face. An impressive feat for him, but a very scary look. No doubt that that was why Kirimi had high-tailed it.
"Nekozawa-senpai!" Tamaki called as the senior wavered and fainted. Thudding to the ground.
"Should I?" Kiiro gestured from the door toward the hallway Kirimi had ran down.
Kyouya shook his head, "She should be fine."
Tamaki glared at Nekozawa as he sat back up, "The person that girl really wants to be with is you!" he crossed his arms. "If you care about your sister, don't give up even if it kills you!"
"Ah, Tono, she ran out into the courtyard." the Twins watched Kirimi from the window. "Is that a cat? As you'd expect from a cat-loving family, that stray cat is totally taken with her."
Nekozawa reanimated, he jumped to the window, "It's not like that! Yes, the Nekozawa family has worshiped cat idols for generations but, Kirimi is afraid of animals! And cats, they're the creatures that scare her most of all!" he took off, running down the hallway past Kiiro.
"Nekozawa-senpai, your robe!" the club followed.
"Kirimi! Kirimi!" Nekozawa called, without his cloak or wig on, he stood in the sun.
"Big brother!" the girl turned to him, and on seeing the prince from the portrait at home, her eyes lit up.
He knelt before her, holding her close.
'Dramatic reunion.'
"Nekozawa~! You did it~! He's okay even in the daylight~!"
"Don't be scared. Don't be scared." he told her, gesturing with Beelzeneff. "This is Beelzeneff, with his power he will curse all bad cats..." he slumped and fell backwards.
"Well, at least he tried..."
After this incident in the sun, Nekozawa stuck to the shadows just like he did before, but, somehow, he seemed happier. As though he and Kirimi were able to see each other more.
Kiiro's stomach flipped as she realized what her cards meant, especially versus Kyouya's winning hand. She worried about her chances of surviving the next two weeks.
"Rich man!" the Twins laughed.
"Noble man~!" Hani cheered.
"Every man." Mori stated.
"Poor man..." Tamaki and Kiiro hung their heads.
"Destitute!" Haruhi squeaked, looking stricken.
'Gah! How could I have lost to those two?' she glanced to the laughing red-heads. 'And, worse, to him?' she looked to Kyouya, who grinned at her, having won the title "stinking rich" in the game.
"Come on, Haruhi, when we agree to play by common folks' rules you could at least try to win..." Hikaru criticized.
"Yeah, what's the point in advertising our social standing?" Kaoru shrugged.
"I've never been that into cards." she sighed. "So, I've never even played this before."
"Haru-chan, does that mean...?" Hani and Mori pushed the Twins aside.
"Haruhi! Here is my deck of cards! No one is watching!" King offered, producing a deck of cards decorated with crowns.
"I can easily afford that! Don't mock me, (censored)." she grumbled.
Tamaki proceeded to cry in his corner.
"Hey!" Kyouya clapped his hands, "You rabble, quiet down!" he ordered, putting on a "stinking rich" grin. "So, for the next two weeks, Haruhi is to be my slave?" he asked, glasses glinting.
Haruhi cringed, "Two weeks?! That's too long! Nobody told me about that!" she protested. "I have to help with the school festival!"
"Kyouya, she's right!" Tamaki straightened up, holding his arms out in front of Haruhi. "Before you go picking on Haruhi you must get past me!" he challenged.
"Shut up. Poor men are my slaves, too."
Kiiro slumped.
"Incidentally, what is Class 1A doing for the school festival?"
"Agence de Detectives Prives!" the Twins announced. "We'll have mysteries for our customers to solve! There will be perpetrators for them to apprehend! Dispossessed possessions to descry and fancy prizes!"
"We'll provide a range of costumes!" Kaoru flashed the designs. "Our customers will experience the life of a real detective!"
"That sounds like fun~!"
"Yeah, that's why I'm busy right now." Haruhi sighed. "I'm thinking up the cases and suspects."
"Ah, what perfect timing." Kyouya held up a joker card. "Haruhi and Tamaki, you will aid me in finding the true culprit, agreed?"
"What are you talking about, Kyouya-senpai?"
"We'll discuss that later on."
Kiiro hoped he would forget her.
"Not likely." he read her mind. "You have a different job yo do."
In some ways Ouran was no different from ordinary public schools in Japan, once a year they too had a cultural festival. Where students prepared a variety of events and shows to entertain their visiting family and friends. The only real difference was...how much money they spent. Of course, this was all so the students could impress their parents, showing off their leadership and business skills was the central focus.
"Of course we're joining the race for the Central Salon." Kyouya informed Haruhi, who didn't see the point in the Host Club competing against other, more traditional or sporty, clubs to win the focal point in the school.
"Last year the winner was decided by a chess tournament~! We lost to the Student Council during the finals~!"
"It's not like I care who wins," Haruhi shrugged, "but that is a surprise."
"The son of a very important Hitachiin business associate was on the Student Council." Kyouya explained nonchalantly. "Still, just for publicity purposes, we stayed in the race until the finals."
"We'll win this year, right?"
"Yes, but we have a bit of a problem." he emptied his school bag, full of envelopes, into Haruhi's hands.
"A problem?"
"Look, it's not a big deal, but...every day for a week...we've been receiving somewhat hostile letters..." he explained as the club read the letters. Some had newspaper clippings glued to them to make a sort of ransom-looking note, others were totally blank.
"Withdraw from the race for the salon or else...?" Kiiro read one of the ones with newspaper clippings. "Uh, that may be a big deal..." she said before Kyouya placed a finger to her lips.
"These letters are clearly hate mail! We talked about finding a culprit but..."
"Kyouya! Why did you neglect the matter until now?!" Tamaki screeched.
"It could have been a prank of some sort." he shrugged. "So, I ignored it. After the official announcement today though, we received this..." he pulled out another letter.
"Prepare to die?!" Kiiro's eyes widened. "Definitely a big deal!" Kyouya shushed her.
Tamaki cursed.
"The perpetrator appears to be someone who loses his temper easily."
"You're the one who made him angry!" Tamaki accused. "How could you-?!"
Death glare.
"I already said... I'm sorry."
Kiiro gulped, 'When did he apologize?'
"As I said," he held up an envelope, bouncing back from his evil mode. "We'll have to track down the culprit. By the way, we'll never drop out of the race. We'll promptly find the originator of the letter and crush him." he declared.
The rest of the club was silent, probably glad that they weren't the one incurring the wrath of the Shadow King.
"We'll teach him what it means to cross us." he smiled. "The fool and his descendants will remember it forever."
Kiiro shivered, she could almost feel the lightning in his words.
He switched off his seriousness and pointed to the three who would be his slaves for the next fortnight, "Haruhi, if you can't find him, your debt will be doubled. And, Tamaki, you will be my slave forever. So you two can get to work." he ordered. "And Kiiro?"
"Y-yes?" she squeaked.
"Come with me."
She suppressed a groan and followed him to one of the rooms that branched off from Music Room Three. He closed the door behind them. Blocking off the noise made by Tamaki as he began to get to the bottom of the threatening letters.
"So..." she sat down on the desktop in the office-like room. "What are we doing?"
"Well, we could always..." he closed in on her, placing both hands on either side of her, incredibly close. "You are my slave after all."
"K-Kyouya?" she blushed, unable to escape. She didn't seem to be able to speak, either. Unable to say 'no'. She could feel her pace quicken.
He raised an eyebrow, a smirk forming, then he sighed and laughed, "It's always fun to trick you." he said before straightening up, taking a step back.
She glared at him, "Glad to be of service..."
"Anyways..." he sat down in the chair before her. "I know who sent those letters. And, there's no real threat."
"So, you're toying with them?" she shook her head.
"You know me too well."
"Why? What's the gain?"
"You'll see, as for know, we have planning to do." he smiled.