Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Incident at the Shrine and a New Student

It was the fourth of January, the day that the Host Club had planned their Hatsumode. Kiiro had been so excited to be able to visit a shrine for the first of the year, she had even woken up early for it- though early for her meant she would still be late. Her kimono was plum and decorated with orange, lilac and pink cherry blossoms, which she had paired with a plain lilac obi- of course she had to ask her maid to tie it for her this time.

When she had met her friends at the gate of the Asakura shrine, excluding Tamaki, who was surprisingly also late, she was rather disappointed Haruhi had forgone a kimono for jeans and a heavy coat. Mei, however, wore a flashy one covered with multicolored circles against a black background. And all of the boys except for the Twins wore plain kimono in various dark colors.

"Ne, Mei-chan, I'm so glad I'm not the only girl dressed up." Kiiro flocked to the girl. "I didn't want to stand out..."

In the few days that followed the party at the Hitachiin residence, Kiiro and Mei began to bond via text over a shared love of making clothes and admiration for Yuzuha Hitachiin's latest designs.

Mei shrugged, "Well, I had tried to get this one into a really cute goldfish-patterned one, but she flat out refused." she patted Haruhi on the back rather harshly.

"Well, you got here before that idiot did." she heard Kyouya say.

"I woke up early for this you know." she grinned.

"A few hours ago early or thirty minutes ago early?" he returned her smile.

Before she had time to greet anyone else, the Twins called out, "Tono, you're late!"

"Tama-chan you're here~! Happy New Year~!" Hani laughed from atop Mori's shoulders.

King ran up to them, Kiiro was more surprised to see that he, of all people, had also passed up the chance to wear a kimono.

"Ah, happy New Year to you..." Haruhi looked up at Tamaki.

"Happy New Year!" his face grew red.

They continued to have their awkward conversation until Hikaru interrupted them, "Yes, yes, yes! You're blocking people from getting past so have this conversation whilst walking!" he nagged.

"So Hani-senpai and Mori-senpai have been taking care of relatives since New Year's Day?" Kyouya caught up.

"Yup~! We've been having competitions with our younger cousins~! It was fun, right, Takashi~?"

"Yeah."

"Ehhh? Why aren't you wearing a kimono, Haruhi?" the Twins wondered.

"Ah, well, it's really difficult to move in..." she sighed. "I figured that out when I wore that yukata to the festival a while back..."

"By the way, Mei, is that bag from the Sports Festival perhaps?" Kaoru asked.

"Ha! It's a nice remake isn't it?"

'I'm kind of surprised that the only one who hasn't talked is Tamaki.' Kiiro thought as she noticed the blond's position at the back of the pack.

Kyouya slowed down to talk to King, "Tamaki? You know the procedures when visiting a temple, don't you? You'd better not make any mistakes!" he warned.

"O-okay!" Tamaki stuttered. "I can't clap with my hands here, right? Oh! By the way, why is it okay to come here or to a jinja on New Years?" he smiled.

"Who knows... It's a mystery..." Kyouya lied.

"I see! Then I simply must investigate the matter!" he pulled out a memo book with a gold crown on it.

"Why is it okay to come here or to a jinja on New Years?" Kiiro asked Kyouya as they approached the shrine. He just sighed in response.

While Haruhi and Mei were turned away Hikaru asked: "Tono? Wanna play a game for old times sake? It's the: Who can make Haruhi happiest at the shops here in the Temple of Asasuka game!"

"Uh... I'd rather not..." King objected.

"What's this? No confidence of winning?" Hikaru tried again. "But, you're daddy and all..."

"But, it was you who said we aren't a family, Hikaru..." Tamaki returned.

"Oh! You're right!" Hikaru smiled. "So how about fake-daddy?"

"Oh yeah? By the way..." Hikaru continued provoking Tamaki. "...if we're not family, and you're not father, then, what kind of love is it?"

But, Tamaki just looked confused.

"Hey~! That sounds fun~! Can we join the game, too~?" Hani cheered.

"Yeah, since it's been such a long time!" Kaoru added.

"Well, if the game is going ahead... we should lay down some rules..." stated Kyouya. "How about this: the budget is of the common folk: 1,000 yen." he flashed the bill. "The time limit is one hour. When you're done, meet back here. The winner's prize is: the right to decide on the first design of the year for the Host Club and... a bento swap with Haruhi!"

All of the participants, Tamaki, the Twins, Hani and Mori, looked determined to win.

"You're always adding fuel to the fire." Kiiro chuckled.

"It's more entertaining that way." Kyouya commented as they followed the participants, excluding Tamaki, who went off by himself, out of the shrine.

"Hey! Where are you guys going? Don't just walk away from us!" Mei yelled, she was then abducted by the Twins to act as their adviser, leaving Haruhi all alone.

"Hey, Mei-chan... Does Haruhi like agemanjuu...?" Kaoru asked.

"Umm... well, she doesn't dislike it..." Mei tried. "Even though yesterday when she said she didn't have any appetite, she still managed to devour two manjuu..."

"Enough said." Kaoru sighed. "I think I'll get something else..."

"Umm... about that lack of appetite thing..." Hikaru spoke up.

"Hmm... well, I think it could have been about you..." Mei stopped him. "But anyway, I think it's best to leave her be. A maiden in love has a lot to think about. She'll learn to cope sooner or later...But, when I say 'in love' I don't mean with Hikaru! Just to let you know!"

'Ouch... that was a little harsh...'

"I'm sorry you were rejected, though. Here, eat a manjuu to cheer yourself up."

"It doesn't matter..." Hikaru looked as if he had been stabbed. "So... Haruhi told you she rejected me...?"

"Well... I would be able to tell just by looking at her but..." Mei replied. "I actually got the information from Hani-senpai!" she pointed to the senior.

"We passed it on using a network~!" Hani smiled.

"By a network?"

"Well, it was more like a telephone game." Kyouya confessed.

"Oh so by the telephone game then?" Hikaru yelled. "What's this so-called taking a person's broken heart seriously? ...Kaoru?" he growled at his brother.

"Whaaa-at? You know how it is..." Kaoru avoided eye contact. "When someone declares that they confessed, so grandly like that... It'd be unfair if people didn't know the outcome... It's not like I'm getting mad at me, and you didn't even talk to me about it!"

'The network: Kaoru called me and I called Kyouya and Kyouya called Mori-senpai and Mori-senpai called Hani-senpai and Hani-senpai called Mei-chan.' Kiiro smiled.

"Okay, fine..." Hikaru sighed. "It's not like I'm giving up anyway... The real fight begins when Tono realizes his feelings!"

"You're so bighearted~!" Hani encouraged. "So that's why you were provoking him earlier~!"

"Hikaru is great!" Kaoru cheered.

"Yeah..."

"You could say this heart is as big as the universe!" Hikaru continued. "Y'know! I wouldn't mind if my middle name was 'real man' from now on!"

"Aren't you getting a little carried away?" Kiiro mumbled.

"So, Hikaru Real Man Hitachiin~!" Hani began. "Will you run a rickshaw for me~?"

"Um, this isn't a matter of physical strength..."

"Hikaru Real Man, can you buy this for me?" Mei asked.

"Buy it yourself!"

After following the contestants for a while, Kiiro became distracted by a bin of paper fortunes.

"Omikuji!" she cheered, "I've always wanted to have one." she deposited five yen in the box beside the bin. She hesitated, not wanting to draw a bad fortune, until she finally ended up closing her eyes and picking randomly.

"Do you really believe in this sort of thing?" Kyouya asked, but he also withdrew one. "Read yours first."

Kiiro nodded, scanning the paper quickly, Kyouya reading it over her shoulder, "Direction - Blessing. Wish - Small Blessing. Lost Articles - Small Curse. Travel - Half Curse. Business - Curse. Studies - Half Blessing. Disputes - Half Curse. Love - Blessing. Moving - Great Blessing. Illness - Small Curse. Engagement - Great Blessing."

"It's not too bad I guess." she cocked her head. "I have great blessings in moving and engagement?"

Kyouya chuckled, "I suppose so..."

"So, what does yours say?"

He unfurled the paper, for a moment Kiiro thought she was reading it wrong.

"Hold on, how did you end up with great blessings for everything?!"

He shrugged, "Luck." his grin widened.

"Luck of the Devil..." Kiiro murmured.

She turned when she heard the sound of someone running toward them, Tamaki had returned, making a beeline for them as fast as he could. He skidded to a stop, almost running right past them. His hands went to his knees as he tried to catch his breath.

The group collectively cocked their heads, waiting for what "outrageous" thing warranted this commotion.

"G-guys!" he puffed. "H-Haruhi's been kidnapped!"

The reaction from most of the group was immediate shock and fear.

"Huh?!"

"Haruhi's been kidnapped?!"

Kyouya only raised an eyebrow, clearly he had heard this one before.

Tamaki was in a horrible state of distress, "That's right!"

"What the hell happened?" Hikaru yelled, grabbing King by his collar.

"I don't know, either!" Tamaki retorted.

"Who was the culprit? Did you see her get kidnapped?!" Kaoru shrieked.

"No, but, she hasn't picked up her phone! That's the evidence!"

Kiiro sighed, a bit relieved, folding her arms, "Ah, Tamaki, what if she didn't hear her phone? Or was too busy to answer?"

"No! The ootoro ring I gave her was dropped on the ground." he held up the small sushi ring.

Everyone had the same hateful expression.

"How annoying. Aren't people meant to live, not suffer so much trouble?" Hikaru threatened to stomp on Tamaki. "Are you really an idiot when it comes down to it?"

"Stupid! I'm hardworking!" Tamaki yelled from beneath the threatening foot. "She's been kidnapped! There's no doubt about it! What should I do?"

"Tamaki, please calm down, it's just your head making crazed ideas... Don't you think you're jumping to conclusions?" Kyouya said, tiredly.

"Yes, maybe the ring just fell out of her pocket or something..." Kiiro agreed.

"Compared to this as to why 3 o'clock is a more strict time~..." Hani said, shoveling food into his mouth.

"Calm down, Tamaki..." Mori said simply.

"And besides, who said that this was 'something Haruhi liked'?" Hikaru examined the ring.

"Wah! That's mean!" Kaoru looked shocked.

"Tamaki you're hard to believe..." Mei stated.

"If you think about it normally, isn't it possible that she just threw it away on her way to the bathroom?" Hikaru asked.

"Uh..." Tamaki stopped. "Fine then! I'll search for her by myself!" he yelled. Hikaru, Kaoru! Lend me your phones! I'll use GPS to find her location!"

"If Haruhi is not answering her phone, then there really is no point!" the Twins criticized him.

"Fujioka-san has just been taken away by a car!" an older, bespectacled woman yelled.

"Kousaka-san!" Tamaki ran up to her.

"I've written down the number plate of the car!" she said. "I have also already called the police! They should be here soon!"

Kiiro would have felt amazed that Tamaki was right, but she was awash with anxiety far too quickly.

"Oh...Haruhi...really?" Kaoru stuttered.

"Tamaki, who is this?" Kyouya remained calm.

"My company's lawyer!" Tamaki answered quickly. "Kousaka-san, which way did the car go?"

"They've gone on Route 30." she replied. "I wanted to not wait for the police and go straight after them, but I couldn't chase them. But...although I only caught a glimpse of them, I saw one of them. That one, looked like a worker from a company that did business with the Suoh's hospitality and theater sector."

Without saying another word, Tamaki ran off.

"Tono!" most of the group was in pursuit.

"Please wait! We'll leave this to the police!" Kousaka yelled.

"Kousaka-san..." Kyouya began. "Even though you're the Suoh family lawyer, why are you here?"

"I came to bring in the New Year, Ootori-san." she stated simply.

"By yourself?"

"Yeah, I didn't think that everyone would be here..."

"Really...?"

"K-Kyouya, what are we waiting for? We have to go!" Kiiro urged him by his sleeve.

By this time almost everyone had thought up the same plan. As of right now, Hani, Mori and Hikaru were in the taxi that Tamaki had hailed. Hikaru had given his family name to the phone company to allow him to track Haruhi's cell phone and Hani and Mori were going along to punish the bad guys. Kyouya had called his car and Kaoru and Mei were to go with him and his bodyguards to follow Tamaki's taxi. Kiiro wanted to go along but, she decided to stay behind, call her car and wait for the police to show up so she could lead them to Haruhi and her captors, so she was on speaker phone with Kaoru. She could hear Mei as she waited in her car: "Wait! Can't this thing go any faster! To the man wearing black glasses and looks like he's in the Mafia! You're driving this car so slowly! What's the point in driving leisurely?" she yelled.

"Mei-chan, you're being unreasonable... We're just following Hikaru at the moment..." Kaoru tried.

"Huh? Unreasonable? We've gone from a happy outing to suddenly having one of our members being kidnapped! Who wouldn't be unreasonable?"

Kiiro tried this time, "Mei-chan... Please stop worrying... It'll be alright..."

"How can I stop worrying?" she yelled into the phone. Kiiro clenched her teeth to stop her ears from ringing. "Besides, we can't use the money that Ranka-papa made as ransom! Geez! It's once again, because she's connected with Tamaki, Haruhi has-!"

She heard the voice of Aijima, one of Kyouya's bodyguards, "Miss, please be quiet."

It worked, Mei was silent Kaoru said, "Mei-chan... I'm sorry... I'll definitely save Haruhi..."

"It's nothing..." Mei sighed. "You don't need to apologize..."

The police had arrived and Kousaka told them to follow Kiiro's car, Kiiro gave directions to her driver to where Kyouya's car was currently.

Kyouya said to Mei, "More importantly, if Haruhi really has been kidnapped... Everyone that rushes to help her, it's their business... It doesn't matter what their ransom is, Tamaki will deal with it... However, if it's something we don't agree to, the Ootori family won't allow it. That's why I brought Aijima as a bodyguard."

Kiiro chuckled as her car caught up with Kyouya's.

"I also never thought about getting involved with Haruhi." Kyouya continued. "I thought that chasing her would have been dangerous... That's what I thought. So, this was all of our fault..."

"Kyouya-senpai, what have you found?" Kaoru asked him.

"10 kilometers ahead there is a laundromat that canceled it's business with the Suoh family last month. It's close to the location where Haruhi is, so there's no doubt about it..."

"A laundromat? Did you hear that, Kiiro-senpai?"

"Got it."

Kyouya continued, "Yeah... It seems they made contracts with the Suoh's last generation... Although they were small, they were popular because they did good jobs. There was a time when they still did a lot of business with the Suohs' theater and hospitality sector. But, after the Suoh company was handed over to the current president, they started making bigger and harder jobs. The laundromat had no choice but to follow the tides. And, last year, they finally closed."

"Ne, to endanger someone because they lost their jobs?" Kiiro sighed. "I understand they're in a rough spot, but this is deplorable..."

"I agree." Kyouya hummed. "But they'll get what's coming to them of course."

She could hear the smile in his voice, she was happy to recall that she had never crossed an Ootori.

Kaoru clicked off his phone.

Kiiro's car arrived shortly after Kyouya's car had. She quickly got out after the car stopped, and ran through the hole in the wall of the laundromat which apparently Hani had made.

"Is Haruhi-?" she stopped by Kyouya.

"She's fine." he assured her.

She sighed as she saw Tamaki hugging Haruhi.

"That's great...! Haruhi's okay!" Kaoru had tears in his eyes.

Hikaru ran up and flung Tamaki away from Haruhi, "Haruhi, are you okay? You're not hurt anywhere?"

"Y-yeah I'm fine." she replied.

Tamaki looked over at the oldest of the three men that the seniors, and Mei, were watching, "I'm not going to forgive you for this. But... because this was because you lost your jobs, I'll talk to my father about it. I think he'll come up with a solution. But promise me, from now on whatever happens, discuss it with the company. Don't bring other people into it."

The man sighed, "I promise, Suoh-kun." he pointed to the two behind him. "But, there's no need for lawyer's work. When the shop changes heads, I have decided to start from scratch. Like these idiots."

"I'm very sorry for interrupting this touching moment." Kousaka entered. "I know most of the story. Fujioka-san, would you like to take these men to court?"

"There's no need!" Haruhi assured her.

"This was about a serious crime, right?"

"Let's just do what Haruhi says." Tamaki seconded.

"Okay, I'll clear this up with the police." she turned to the older man. "Then, Hayashi-san, if it's okay with you, would you let me introduce you to a lawyer I know? They'll be able to assist you in resetting up your business."

Hani laughed, "It's great that Haru-chan is okay~!"

"You're not hurt anywhere? Do you feel any pain?" Mei made sure.

"Oh, no... ah!" Haruhi looked at her hand. "Kyouya-senpai, could you take me back to Akasuka?"

"Sure, I'll call the car and they'll be right over."

"What's wrong~? Did you forget something~?"

"Sort of, I dropped something."

"I-Is this it?" Tamaki held out the ootoro ring to her.

"Ah! That's great! Thank you!" she put it on.

Kiiro sighed from her spot at the fringe of the group, "Ne, and you say I'm a bleeding heart..." she glanced over with a tired smile at Kyouya. "I can't imagine letting a kidnapper off scott-free."

"Their mercy skirts the boundary of idiocy." he crossed his arms, but when he faced her a smile rested on his lips, "Well, a lot has happened during winter break."

"Mm-hmm." Kiiro chuckled. "You were right, though, everything turned out alright." she referenced what he had said at the ski resort.

"I'm always right." he said smugly, "Though, you've been surprising me recently..."

She tilted her head, "How so?"

"This time with Haruhi, and before with Hikaru, I hadn't expected you to be so resolute in these sorts of situations."

"That's kind of a silly assumption." she grinned. "Of course I would be resolute in finding them. I understand King's feelings a lot... All of these idiots, I've decided I'd do anything to protect them." she raised an eyebrow at him. "Don't pretend you're not the same way."

He nodded, "Perhaps Tamaki's wrong about who's the Mommy and Daddy of the group." he kissed her on the forehead before he could sneak away to his car. He smirked and said, "I'll see you on monday."

"Y-yeah..." Kiiro's face heated up and she turned around to see if anyone had seen that. Luckily, no one had.

"Kir-chan, why is your face all red~?" Hani asked.

"Um... maybe I'm just getting a slight fever." she said quickly. She sighed, said her goodbyes and called her car, though not before the Twins could say something about her red face and Kyouya's departure.

"Can you believe it's the final trimester already, Kiiro-senpai?" Kimi asked from her spot beside her senior.

"I can't believe it's only been half a year since I transferred here." she smiled.

Today they were outside for the first Host Club event of the year, today's event was outside, horseback riding.

"Welcome!" the Hosts greeted in unison in their riding outfits.

"Kyouya-sama! We're so happy to have a club activity after so long~!" One of the girls smiled.

"Thank you for joining us even though it's so cold! Today's project was made possible thanks to the cooperation of the Horse Riding Club!"

"Do all of you have experience in horse riding?"

"All of us... except one... But, the most experienced of us, as you can expect, are those two..." Kyouya gestured to where Mori was jumping a chestnut horse over a fence.

"Hiyo~!" Hani called out. "Pony go~!" The little white pony that Hani rode went along swiftly.

All of the girls clapped, impressed.

Kiiro tried sketching out Haruhi feeding a horse a carrot.

'Is this her first time around a horse?'

"Hey, Haruhi, this weekend let's go to the Horse Riding Club together!" the Twins proposed.

"We will teach you to manage a horse!"

Haruhi thought about it, "Eh? Um... I'll pass. It's cold."

The Twins looked surprised, "Eh? Is the active Haruhi on winter break?"

"No, I'm still working on it... But, if I put in too much spirit, I'd end up going round and round without accomplishing anything. And, if I think too much, I'll become uncertain." she smiled.

"Also, in January, I'm not quite free. From now on, without pushing my limits, I'll dare to try all kinds of new experiences."

"And this is different from the previous laziness?" the Twins deadpanned.

"Yes, completely different." she took on a determined expression. "Because I thought about it a lot! Then, when something is difficult, it's difficult!"

"What happened to Haruhi?" the Twins whined as she walked away.

"She's been like this since the kidnapping...'

"But, well, what about Tama-chan~?" everyone watched Tamaki leading a horse. "What could've happened to Tama-chan~?"

"Well, our guests seem to love it."

The girls all crowded around each other and chatted about how mature Tamaki looked.

"Also, didn't you say he seemed to have realized his feelings for Haruhi, Hikaru?" Kyouya asked.

"Ah..." Hikaru sighed. "It looked like that. When Haruhi was in danger, it seemed that he was on his way to realizing that she was an important person to him."

"It's true... Since the kidnapping accident, Tama-chan has been acting weird~..."

"Come to think of it, today's project was suggested by Tono, right?"

"Yes, he suddenly said, 'I want to see horses.'"

Mori looked as if he had abruptly realized something, "Just the other day, he asked me if I knew a park that had tigers."

Kiiro thought about it, 'I see, it's a pun. Because the Japanese name for tiger is tora and the name for horse is uma. The Japanese word for truama is torauma. That's so punny.' her eyebrow raised.

"KYAAAA! Someone? The horse suddenly-!" they turned to a girl, one of the horses had gotten loose and was spooked by a crow, its hooves were about to collide with her.

"It's danger-!"

Tamaki jumped in front of the girl and the horse's hooves connected with his shoulder.

"Tono!"

"Tamaki!" Kiiro rounded the fence.

The reaction was immediate, everyone ran to him.

He collapsed holding his shoulder.

They were relieved when Tamaki met up with them in the waiting room of the hospital. His left arm was completely motionless at his side.

"Everyone? Were you waiting for me?"

"Tono!"

"Tama-chan~!"

"It's just a bruise." he laughed.

"Kyaaa. Does it hurt?" Hani had big tears in his eyes.

"As expected. I won't be able to move my left arm for some time."

Haruhi still looked distressed.

"Haruhi, you're the one who brought my clothes from the club room, right? Thank you!"

"Ah... It's nothing..." she said quickly.

"Excuse me." the girl that had almost been hit by the horse stepped up, her long, deep brown hair covered her face. "I'm really sorry. It's my fault you got hurt..."

"It's not your fault... I didn't realize that the fence was open..." Tamaki laughed. "Eh? Have I met you somewhere?"

Kyouya sighed, "You... It's because you were lost in your thoughts all day... She is Miss Kanoya, a transfer student. She joined our class today."

Kiiro nodded to prove it.

"Yes..." Tamaki looked embarrassed.

"I come from Kobe." She smiled. "I'm Kanoya Megumi. Pleased to meet you all."

'She looks familiar... kind of like...' Kiiro couldn't put her finger on it. The deep brown hair and the big brown eyes, they reminded her of...