\Chapter Twenty-Five/
Today was the cultural clubs' exposition, so we didn't have any of our classes today. I had thought about going around and seeing all the different clubs from the different schools, but that idea hadn't ever really had a chance. I only realized that I would have to go to the host club during this time when Mitsukuni had grabbed hold of my arm, when I was about to leave the classroom, and dragged me to the Third music room, with Takashi behind us. Upon entering the room the twins were quick to ask,
"Hey Kitty-senpai?"
"Where's Kin?" I let out a soft giggle before replying,
"Oh since she goes to public school she actually has classes today. Though I think she's planning on come after school still." I thought about mentioning the fact that she still wanted revenge, but I thought better then to say that out loud.
"Sucks for her." I giggled yet again, before realizing that Haruhi wasn't here. But the twins were.
"Uh where's Haruhi at?" Tamaki sent an annoyed look at the twins while they shrugged slightly saying,
"We were out of instant coffee."
"So she went to go get more." I sighed, thinking a moment before I replied to them.
"Was that really the best idea? You should have had me go instead, rather then an actual host." They both gave me a blank stare saying,
"We forgot about you." I could feel my eyes watering up slightly, both from annoyance and slight sadness. I was about to yell, or my version of yell, at the twins when Mitsukuni suddenly said,
"Oh Kitty look at the dress you get to wear!" My eyes shifted over to the gown; apparently we had a medieval theme today. It was a pretty pinkish purple, though it was obviously just a Halloween costume.
Shortly after I had gotten to the third music room we had all changed into our costumes, and gotten ready for any girls to come.
"Welcome!" Unlike the hosts, I didn't greet the two girls that came in. I knew right away from their uniforms, which was a long burgundy school skirt, a sailor top, and white long socks with white heels, that they were Lobelia girls, so they probably didn't mean to come in here.
"Well, well, girls from another school, are you? I wonder if we haven't startled our first-time guests here a little bit. I'm glad you've come, my princesses. Ah, even if the world were to be destroyed, I would want to be the knight to protect you from this day forward, even at the expense of my own life." I nearly laughed out loud when Tamaki kneeled on the ground in front of the two girls.
"My, at the expense of his own life, he says? That's quite an arrogant sentiment, is it not? I wonder if he thinks that's what makes a woman happy." The girl that spoke was the taller of the two and had long caramel colored hair, and light almost grey eyes.
"What can you do, Sister Suzuran? Men are lower forms, who prize their own honor above all else." I giggled lightly. The way she said that made it sound like women never had their pride, or honor, get the better of them. "They take their own futility in being unable to protect even one of their kind and change it into something to suit themselves. Isn't that condescending?"
"My, Hinagiku, you're such a clever girl." Tamaki then stood up and said,
"That's pretty harsh, huh? Well then, what would you like me to tell you?"
"Good question. In my case, it would be 'I would never leave my lover alone.'" I raised one of my eyebrows at the new girl. She seemed to come out of no where, and she had Haruhi with her, her arm around Haruhi's shoulder, which in itself was rather odd. "We shall fight together…" I watched with slight interest as the person twirled Haruhi around. "…and we shall perish together if we are not allowed to live." Once more the person twirled Haruhi around, before getting down on her knees, holding Haruhi's hand. "Even if my life ends, I swear to never leave your side for eternity." I blinked, a little bit shocked, as the person then kissed Haruhi's hand. Hm… I wonder if they realize Haruhi is a girl or not? Either way this type of behavior wasn't too weird for Lobelia girls, well for some of them at least. I looked over at the host, only to almost burst out laughing at the bewildered looks on their faces. It really wasn't that big a deal, aside from the words, it was just a kiss on the hand.
"Benibara-sama, you're late." As soon as the shorter girl spoke the name, I remembered who they were. Haku had brought me to see one of her school plays once, because Kin refused to go, and had introduced me to these three, who were main characters in the play. I released a slow sigh, before sitting down on the couch and hoping not to be noticed. Then the other two girls, Suzuran and Hinagiku, walked toward Haruhi and Benibara, making their back face the hosts and I.
"What are we going to do with you? And where did you find this adorable lady?" Suzuran asked Benibara as she stopped walking. Benibara quickly stood up saying,
"Ah, just out there. I could tell immediately, even if she was wearing man's clothes." From what little I could see, it looked like Benibara twirled Haruhi again, and lowered her to a level where their eyes could meet. "Behold, her lucid maiden eyes!" I could hear Haruhi just stutter out,
"Um… er…" Though I felt bad for Haruhi, I was very glad that it wasn't me in her position. My gladness only increased as the girls randomly pulled Haruhi's pant leg and shirtsleeve up, and rubbed her skin saying,
"Wow, her skin is incredibly pretty."
"It sure is. Shining natural material, as if polished." I jumped a little, ending up closer to Mitsukuni, from shock as Tamaki started running towards the girls shouting,
"Hold it! Don't go touching my Haruhi without asking first!" Though I understood why Tamaki was upset, I didn't like the fact that he said 'my Haruhi', it's not like she belongs to him. I giggled lightly as Benibara shot out her fist, and punched Tamaki away. I may not like him being injured, but it was an amusing moment in time to see Tamaki, in knights' armor, flying across the room.
"Hands off, you boor!" I giggled yet again as all the hosts gathered around Tamaki, offering things, like ice cream or his teddy bear, to make him feel better as he shouted out,
"S-she hit me! That was violent!"
"Tama-chan, buck up!"
"They're even more feeble than we'd heard. A fledging, cobbled-together mishmash of frivolous fools." I glanced at Benibara as she spoke up, slightly annoyed by her statement. It may have been true, and if the hosts weren't my friends, then I probably would have agreed, but she could have at least tried to be a little nicer.
"From your uniforms, I see you're students from Lobelia Girls' Academy." Of course Kyouya would be the one to know the other schools uniforms, he did seem to know almost everything, well except for commoner stuff.
"Indeed we are." The three girls then flung their school uniforms into the air. Now this would make a normal person freak out, but I had been to enough Lobelia gatherings in the last year to know that they would have something ridiculous set up. I was proven right as Benibara stood up singing in a low tone, now wearing a weird purple coat, white pants, and a matching purple hat, "Lobelia!" Suzuran was now wearing a mainly white dress, with blue around her shoulders and stomach,
"Lobelia!" Lastly was Hinagiku, who was now wearing a pink dress, which slightly reminded me of a princess costume.
"Lobelia!
"St. Lobelia Girls' Academy, high school junior, Amakusa Benio," As Benibara spoke; she had a white lily in her mouth, and tipped her hat up slightly.
"Lobelia!"
"High school junior, Maihara Chizuru." She had a fan near her face and also had a white lily in her hand.
"Lobelia!"
"First year, Tsuwabuki Hinako." She did a little gesture with her hands, also holding a white lily.
"Lobelia!"
"We are the White Lily Society of St. Lobelia Girls' Academy, also known as…" I raised an eyebrow at her effort to make it sound suspenseful. "The Zuka Club!" I giggled as I saw the Zuka club's costumes, and for the first time I realized the similarities between the two clubs. I jumped, shocked, as the twins started to laugh, and Tamaki fainted. I quickly stood up, rushing over to him.
"Oh geez, are you okay Tamaki? Wait he fainted… he can't answer me." I sighed as everyone ignored me, and unfortunately Tamaki as well. I decided to just ignore the conversation that they were having, obviously about Lobelia. Something I didn't really care to know more about, I knew more then enough from Haku. I struggled to lift Tamaki up enough, it wasn't that I wasn't strong enough, it was more the fact that Tamaki is so much taller then I am. I made my way over to the couch, flopping Tamaki down on it, before I went back to the changing rooms and changed out of the dress and into my annoying yellow uniform. As I came back out I heard Benibara say,
"I don't care if your president is a half or not, but to use flashy looks to create a fictitious love and fool the pure heart of maidens is complete discrimination against females. To call this a club activity and use it for your own greed and profit is totally inexcusable! I swear that I will abolish the Ouran Host Club at once!"
"Hail Zuka Club!" All three of the Lobelia girls shouted at once. Like normal, Kyouya was the one to speak up, in his calm cool tone, saying,
"I see. I understand your intention, but could we continue this another time?" Benibara gave him a slightly annoyed, sharp look saying,
"Are you saying you will not face us?" Kyouya gestured to Tamaki, who was still passed out on the couch where I'd left him.
"No…but our president is still in culture shock,"
"Umm, Tama-chan is sleepy man right now," Mitsukuni tried to explain to them, which really didn't work seeing as Benibara shouted out,
"Get him up!" Haruhi then tried to play peace maker, by bringing out some tea saying,
"Umm, I made coffee; would you like some?" I smiled brightly saying,
"Oh I'll go get the cake!" I then ran back to one of the tables, grabbed some cakes, and rushed back over to them holding it out, like Haruhi.
"Thank you. How kind of you two."
"You're real pearls in this trash heap."
"Coffee made by a maiden possesses such a fragrant aroma."
"This is just instant. Though Kitty-senpai made the cake." They turned to me, recognition flashing through their faces.
"Ah it's Katherine-senpai! It's a pleasure to see you again."
"Have you thought about our last offer?"
"Why don't the five of us have a tea party?" Tamaki then suddenly got up, running in our direction shouting,
"You girls are wrong! Where is the fruitfulness in a girl being in love with another girl? Why else would God have created Adam and Eve!" Then, somehow which I am not sure how, Tamaki managed to burn his finger in the coffee, before screaming, "Hot! Hot! Hot! Hot! Hot!" Haruhi then went over and bandaged his finger for him saying,
"Geez, please be more careful."
"Thank you. Do you always carry first-aid tape around with you?"
"Nah. The supermarket was giving them away when I bought the instant coffee. The store always has giveaways."
"Giveaways?"
"This doesn't even seem to be worth discussing." I sighed lightly as Benibara grabbed Haruhi's wrist and pulled her into her chest. "Now that we know the situation, we cannot allow this maiden to remain in this club. We must prepare the paper for a transfer to Lobelia at once, and welcome her into the Zuka Club!"
"J-just a minute, please! There seems to be some misunderstanding here. You've labeled Tamaki-senpai a halfer, for one."
"Tama-chan is a halfer. A French and Japanese half-chan!" I sighed, nearly glaring at Mitsukuni, he really wasn't helping at the moment.
"Ah. But still, I'm not so sure about calling the Host Club fledging, and picking on them on other pretexts, as well."
"No, we are pretty new. We were only founded two years ago."
"His highness created it when he reached high school, after all." Geez didn't these idiots know when to shut up. They just kept making the hole deeper and deeper.
"Well, be that as it may, if anything, saying that their club activities are only held to satisfy their own appetites is going too far. It's not as though they're charging their guests anything." I sighed, yet again, waiting for someone else to blow this theory away.
"I wouldn't call it a charge, but we do have a point system. We offer priority service, depending on the price of items won in the net auctions on the club's homepage." And to think, that I thought Kyouya was the smart one. "Ah, you see here, Haruhi? Your used mechanical pencil just sold for a winning bid of 30,000 yen. Good for you."
"That's the one I thought I'd lost! This is the first I'm hearing about any of this, you know! I never heard we were taking money for this!"
"You thought we were providing this service as volunteers? Well, if you subtract the expenses we have for throwing events, costumes, and refreshments for our guests, we do make a slight profit."
"That's no reason for you to sell my belongings! You thieves!" Haruhi shouted, obviously annoyed with the hosts.
"We're not thieves! It was on the ground!" Naturally, it would be the twins since they're in her class. Tamaki then started to cry a little, and shouted out,
"I'm sorry, Haruhi! It's not like we were hiding this! Here, I'll give you my mechanical pencil. Look, it's the one with a bear." Haruhi looked very annoyed as she stated,
"I don't want that kind of thing,"
"Then, I'll tell you all about my birth, along with the magnificent memories of my seventeen years!" My eyes widened some, that would be the most boring thing ever, no way would I sit here and listen to that ramble.
"Actually, that's the most irrelevant information that was new to me today." I was quick to nod my head in agreement. Tamaki was obviously shocked since he stuttered out,
"Ir-rele-vant?" Tamaki then went in sat in his corner, where he always went when he was upset.
"Poor girl..." Suzuran began, "You're in shock because of all the lies, right?"
"Hey, leave those people and come join us," Hinako then said.
"Well, wait, Hinagiku. The fair maiden is disturbed right now. We shall ask her again tomorrow. We look forward to a good response from you, And Katherine-senpai, remember our offer." Benibara then placed her hand on Haruhi's shoulder, before she said her goodbyes. "Well then, adieu!" With that said they all left the room, twirling around and laughing. I sighed as Haruhi, who had been facing the door, suddenly turned to look at the hosts and I. The host all then got a little scared, while I completely understood. If I had been looking for something of mine only to find out it was sold… I could feel my eyes widen, maybe the host club was behind the mysterious disappearance of my yo-yo! I quickly made my way over to the laptop, scrolling threw the sales, and items up for bid. I could feel my own angry sky rocketing as I saw my yoyo on the list.
"I, too, shall excuse myself for today." I turned to glare at the host as Haruhi slammed the door shut. In a very calm, yet dark and threatening voice I said,
"You sold my yoyo?" Tamaki whirled around, looking scared at me. "That was something my dad gave me! You know what? I'm so out of here!" With that I made my way over to the doors, yanking them open, and forcefully slamming them shut. I could feel a tear make it's way down my face as I angrily stalked away.