Hikaru sighed, "Hey, Kaoru... can you sleep?"

Kaoru shook his head, "No... I can't..."

Hikaru looked at his twin brother, "I feel... sad..."

"Me too... why is that?"

Hikaru frowned, "I don't know, but I don't like it"

"We'll figure it out later... let's just try to sleep for now"

Haruhi looked to Fuuka and Rise, "You're absolutely sure it's them?"

Fuuka nodded and Rise agreed, "Positive. There's one shadow in each of them"

Haruhi sighed, "How are we supposed to handle this?"

Kanji scoffed, "Tsk. I say we take care of this and then knock 'em out. Make 'em think it was just a dream"

Naoto sighed, "I doubt that will work. They're wealthy enough to afford their own doctors that will examine them and find any markings of foul play"

Mitsuru agreed, "We won't be able to do this without their corroboration. It looks like we'll just have to add them to the team"

"Be careful", everyone turned to see Minato, standing by the door, "These two are closely linked. If you try to take on one without the other, there's a chance that they could be damaged"

Yu looked him over, "Not to state the obvious, but just appearing and disappearing out of the blue isn't very helpful"

"I can only be in places for so long. My abilities are very limited, so I can only tell you what I know and be off. I've been watching the twins for some time now, and it seems their hearts are connected very closely. The shadows will try to drive them apart and separate them. Sorry, time's up", he vanished once again.

Yosuke groaned, "Great, so we need to get them together while they're trying to get away from each other"

Naoto rubbed her chin, "We'll also need to find the reason that they're shadows will effect them. If we can't fix that, we can't even strike"

Akihiko looked to Haruhi, "How much do you know about the twins?"

"A lot, but I'm still new to this..."

Chie sat next to Haruhi, "Just tell us about them"

Yukiko sat on her other side, "Yeah, let us do the shadow work, just tell us what you know"

There was an odd silence in the Host club room as everyone stared at Kaoru, who stood with bags in his eyes as he stared out the window. Haruhi decided to break the silence by asking the questions that everyone was too nervous to ask, "Hey, Kaoru, are you okay? And where's Hikaru?"

Kaoru looked to Haruhi, "I'm fine, I'm just tired. Hikaru wasn't feeling well, so he didn't come to school today"

Tamaki looked to Kyoya, "Kyoya... Hikaru is sick and Kaoru isn't staying home to take care of him!"

Kyoya shrugged, "It is odd, but if he isn't sick, Kaoru should be in school"

"... But that's like making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich without jelly!"

"We aren't open today, so I don't see the problem"

"What if they're hatching a twisted plot to make Haruhi visit them with the intentions of kidnapping her and taking her to a southern island?!"

"I highly doubt that, but with the twins, I wouldn't rule it out entirely. Tatsumi!"

Kanji walked over, "There something I can help you with?"

"You seem to have a talent for disrupting the twins plans and getting their attention, would you please go ask Kaoru if anything is wrong?"

"Uh, sure", Kanji walked up next to Kaoru's chair, "Hey, you okay? You've been dead quiet since you got here"

Kaoru looked up at Kanji, "I don't want to talk is all..."

"Alright, but if there's anything I can do for you, let me know"

"Why would I trust you? You have every reason to want to get back at me"

"Get back at you? For what?"

"Messing with your stuff, making fun of you..."

"Why would that make me want to get back at you? Isn't that what friends do?"

"You seemed pretty mad at the time"

"Yeah, well, I'm a hot head. No bullshit, if you need something, don't hesitate to ask me, I'll be there to help you out"

Kaoru looked at him, "You're being serious... you're not just hitting on me"

"Why would I want to hit on you?!"

Kaoru smiled for a second, then looked up at him, "Thanks, Kanji... actually, there's something I want to talk about... could you come back here after school?"

"Sure thing man, I'll be here"

Kaoru looked down, "... Thank you..."

Kanji gave him a thumbs up, "No problem, man!"

Kanji walked back over to Kyoya, who raised his eyebrow, "Any idea what's wrong?"

Kanji's smile broke as he hung his head, "No... but it sounds like he's just got something on his mind"

"Very well. Thank you, Tatsumi"

Yu had been listening the entire time to Kyoya's conversation, making sure he wasn't seen by anyone else, "This could be very good or very bad..."

Rise looked at the giant mansion, "This place is huge!"

Haruhi sighed as she sweated, "You should see Tamaki's house. It is strange, though... the only time I've ever seen the twins apart was when they were fighting, and even then, it was only for a moment before they got back together"

Yukiko held her finger up, "Maybe it's contagious? If that was the case, they would have to seperate"

"No, they'd rather have it together than one be sick without the other. I'm not sure what's going on"

Yosuke put his hands on his hips, "What if the shadows are already trying to drive each other apart? If they're twins, maybe they want to be seen as individuals for once"

"I don't know. Let's just go check on him"

Once they got inside, they were greeted by twin maids that stood in front of the door to the twin's room, "Sorry, but master Hikaru isn't feeling very well, he should just rest"

Hikaru shouted through the doorway, "Who is it?!"

Haruhi shouted back, "It's me and a couple friends from school"

"Open the door"

Haruhi walked in to see that Hikaru was hiding underneath the covers, "Hey, how you doing?"

"How do you think?"

"Sheesh, I just came to check on you, no need to be a jerk"

He shifted underneath the covers, "... I'm sorry... thank you for visiting me..."

"No problem, so, Kaoru came to school today"

"Yeah... I told him he should go..."

"He wasn't sick?"

"... I don't know, if he was, he didn't say anything..."

"You think Kaoru might be sick?"

"... I don't know..."

"... Hey, you feel better, okay? Everybody is worried sick about you"

"... I will... could you tell everybody I said hi?"

Haruhi smiled, "Sure thing"

She left without another word, as her friends followed her in suit. Yosuke spoke up first, "Okay, I may not know him all that well, but compared to yesterday, he's totally different"

Yukiko nodded, "Yeah, he was quick to get irritated and then apologized just as quickly"

Rise rubbed her chin, "Definately something suspicious"

Haruhi shook her head, "No, Hikaru's acting just like himself. You guys just don't know it because you've never seen him without Kaoru. What you just saw was Hikaru, aside from the fact he's sick. But Kaoru today... normally he's so calm and level-headed, but today he was so lost in his thoughts, his guard was completely down. It wasn't like him at all"

Kanji walked into the room, he had entered by himself, but there was backup outside down the hall in case things went wrong, "Hey... Kaoru? You in here?"

Kaoru signaled from his chair by waving his hand, "Here..."

Kanji walked over and sat down, "So, what did you want to talk about?"

"... You won't tell anyone about this?"

Kanji held his hand up, "Swear, I won't tell anybody"

"... I... think I'm going insane..."

"... By insane, you mean...?"

"I keep thinking... of things that I... don't normally think of..."

"Like what?"

"... Not what... who"

"You got a special lady on the brain?"

"Kinda... sort of..."

"So, you want to tell me who she is?"

"... I-It doesn't matter. Every time I think about her... I start thinking about my brother... and how badly it would mess him up..."

"Have you talked to him about it?"

"No... but he already told me he loves her... I start trying to work it out, and then my brain... it jumps... to horrible thoughts... I see Hikaru... dead... and... I'm standing over him... there's blood on my hands..."

Kanji could see the fear in Kaoru's eyes, how shaken he was. Kanji put his hand on Kaoru's shoulder, "Hey, look at me. You love your brother, don't you?"

Kaoru shook his head, "Yeah"

"Then what are you talking about? Your brain is just where you keep memories and thoughts that come to you out of the blue. Trust me, I've had several that made me overthink stuff I thought I knew!"

"So... this is all in my head? I'm not going crazy?"

"What? No way! I'll tell you what... you me to prove to you I'm not just joking around?"

Kaoru just nodded, out of a need for assurance.

Kanji smiled, "You can't tell anybody... okay?"

"Okay"

"Last year... don't laugh, alright? I thought... that I... was gay"

Kaoru couldn't help but stifle a laugh, "Really?"

"Hey! Leave me the hell alone! I'm really trying to be honest here!"

"Sorry, sorry, go on"

"I was... alone. I didn't really talk to anyone, just kinda did my own thing and scared off anyone that I thought would get close to me. Then I met someone... someone who wasn't afraid of me. They talked to me, cared about what I had to say, even told me they thought I was interesting. For a guy who just pretends to be tough all the time... nothing feels better than thinking someone cares about the you that's hiding under the surface"

"And this person happened to be a guy?"

"Yeah, or, so I thought. Anyway, I was so confused. My heart and my brain just kept fighting over what to do until I just... wrecked. It was so bad... I thought my life was going to end. People were starting rumors... I denied them... even people who genuinely cared, I chased them off 'cause I was afraid of them rejecting me for being myself. But when all the crap got thrown out, and it came down to it... everything was so simple. I was me... I felt how I felt... and I was just afraid of that. Now, I'm myself wherever I want to be, and I don't care if people don't like me. Because the people that do care about me... care about the real me"

"So... are you gay?"

Kanji laughed, "Ha ha ha! Dude, if you weren't being real with me right now, I'd kick your ass! But, no, I'm not gay, and I am one hundred percent sure of that"

"Not even a little?"

"Don't make me hurt you"

"... What should I do?"

"... Tell your brother the truth. Tell him how you feel, how you aren't thinking straight because it's eating you up inside. He might get mad at first, but hey, if you're willing to tell him that, he should know that it was because you loved him enough to tell him the truth. That takes guts"

"... You know what... you aren't a bad guy, Kanji"

"Damn straight... but if you tell anyone about anything we said here, I will kill you"

"You gonna knit me to death?"

"Hell yeah! I'll make a huge stuffed animal, stuff you in it, and then drop it off a cliff!"

The two of them laughed for a little while, then Kaoru looked to Kanji, "Hey, Kanji?"

"What's up?"

"Thanks for coming here. I've never... talked to anyone like this before... except Hikaru"

"Yeah, well, I don't really talk 'bout stuff like this either. Guess it takes two idiots to change a lightbulb, huh?"

"You kind of remind me of Hikaru, Kanji... you both are honest with yourselves... even if you come across a little rude"

"Hey, love me for me or don't bother, right?"

"Right"

Yu looked to Kanji, as he walked into the hotel, "So how'd your meeting with Kaoru go?"

Kanji held his thumb up, "We're golden, he's alright now"

Chie looked at Kanji, "You solved all our problems with a talk?"

"Hey, what the hell is that supposed to mean?!"

Yosuke shrugged his shoulders, "You just don't do well with words sometimes, Kanji"

"Say that to my face!"

Mitsuru touched Kanji's shoulder, "That's what they're talking about, Tatsumi. But I'll verify that you did a good job in your meeting"

Kanji sweated, "You were listening in?!"

"Don't worry, it was just me. Nobody else heard about your... secret"

Kanji's face revealed the fact he was very upset that Misturu had said that, it then turned the color of a cherry when Naoto looked at him, "What secret?"

Kanji dashed out of the room without saying another word. Haruhi looked to Misturu, "What's wrong with Kaoru?"

Misturu sighed, "It appears he and his brother are conflicted over the same girl. Kaoru hasn't told Hikaru yet, but it appears that he will soon. Kaoru was being influenced subconsciously by his shadow, but it appears that Tatsumi was able to shake him free of it's hold"

Akihiko smiled, "I knew he had it in him"

Teddy stopped eating food for a second, "If you ask me, it was bear-y unexpected!"

Haruhi raised her eyebrow, "So what now?"

Mitsuru rubbed her chin, "All we can do is observe them and try to see if anything else strange happens. Odds are that we'll still have to eliminate their shadows"

Tamaki tapped Kyoya on the shoulder, "Um... Kyoya... is it just me, or is the tension in here worse than it was yesterday?"

The club hadn't opened yet, but it was still strangely quiet for the third music room of Ouran Academy. Now both twins were in school, but they hadn't said a word at all. Not even to each other. Then, to break the dramatic silence, they both stood up and pointed at each other with fiery eyes, "I say we duel for it!"

Honey was confused, "What's going on?"

Mori looked on from behind Honey, "We should stay out of it, this could get ugly"

Less than a few minutes later, both Hikaru and Kaoru were holding fencing swords and wearing the suits to fight with them. Hikaru squinted, "You sure you don't want to give up now?"

Kaoru looked at Kanji, then back at Hikaru, "I don't want to do this... but I will if you don't surrender"

"Then we're in the same boat..."

Haruhi looked on with sweat beading on her forehead, "This is so stupid..."

Kanji was sweating too, "Yeah... but if they can't see it, they'll just have to duke it out and see how stupid they really are"

Yosuke was in shock, "Where'd they get that stuff so quick?!"

Naoto looked at them both, "If the object of their attention is what they're fighting over, this might actually be a good time to target and defeat their shadows"

Haruhi looked to Naoto with a nervous smile, "What happened to keeping them out of it?"

That was right when the two brothers went at it, "Go!"

Hikaru started strong and swift, in a relentless flurry of strikes, "You won't win!"

Kaoru continued to deflect the strikes, "Not if you lose!"

Once the two of them struck each other at the same time, they both stood in silence. Then threw their helmets off, "... Street rules!"

Hikaru picked up a chair and swung it at Kaoru, who blocked it with a table he'd flipped over, "Gotta try harder than that!"

Hikaru responded by busting through the table with a hammer, "This hard enough for you?!"

Kaoru started throwing stuff at random, chairs, silverware, anything he could throw, "No fair!"

Hikaru ran and dodged the assault, "Says the guy throwing forks!"

The fight escalated until the point where both of them were dead tired and panting. Kaoru looked at his brother, "... *pant, pant*... You... ready to... give up?"

Hikaru shook his head, "Not... *pant*... a... *pant*... chance..."

The two of them started to become surrounded by a dark flame, then they charged each other, picking up small knives that had fallen during their scuffle. They were at each other's throats, "Why don't you just die and get this over with?!"

Tamaki turned white as a sheet, "Agh! They're using knives!"

The room became dark as Haruhi pulled out her trigger, "Just in time, Cheri!", her persona flew across the room and grabbed the twins, knocking the knives from their hands and throwing their shadows to the opposite walls.

When they both sat up, their shadows did the same thing. The twins looked to each other, then back to their shadows. Hikaru's shadow lunged at Kaoru, while Kaoru's lunged at Hikaru, both of them being strangled as the distorted voice screeched, "Just die already!"

The two shadows were flung back by a flash of lightning Kanji pulled the twins to their feet, "Hey, morons, those are your shadows, they're your feelings gone haywire. Go talk to 'em, before they kill you both"

The twins were a little shaken, but Kanji shoved them all the same. The twin's shadows pointed at their respective opposites, "You have to go, right now! I don't care if I have to do it with my bare hands!"

The twins smiled at each other, then turned to their shadows, "Well then, why don't you just kill him?", they pointed to their respective shadows, "After all, how can you tell which is which?"

The shadows became angry, "This isn't a game! He's in my way and I won't stop until I put him in his grave!"

"C'mon, it doesn't have to be this way, we can talk it out-"

"No! I love her, and if he has to feel the exact same way, then he's going to have to go! She's mine! You should know, I am you!"

The twins were startled, "What? I would never hurt him! He's my brother!"

"Too damn bad! It's either him or me! There can only be one! And I'm sick of playing second-fiddle! I am the original! The one and only! AND HE'LL DIE IF THAT'S WHAT IT TAKES!"

The twins were both shaking with shock, "N-No... that's not true..."

"Like hell it is! I hate his damn guts and I want to spill them all over the floor!"

"N-No... you're not me... you aren't me!"

The shadows smiled, "Not anymore... now I'm so much more..."

Kanji picked them both up by the collars, "You might want to stand back for this"

The shadows became gigantic statues, one with a raging fire at it's back, the other with a flurry of ice coming out, "I am a shadow, the true self!"

Kanji tossed the two of them into the air and pulled out his trigger, "Persona!"

His gargantua of a persona caught them as they fell. Once they were placed back down on solid ground, they both looked at Kanji, "What the hell is going on?!"

Kanji crossed his arms, "To put it short? Those things are a part of you"

"That can't be me!"

Kanji punched both of their head, "Don't say that! That just pisses 'em off! Listen, I know... it sucks to admit that they exist, but they do, alright? And if you two don't man up and grow a pair, they're gonna kill you, got it?!"

"...", they stared at him with a confused look.

He scratched the back of his head, "Damn... okay, Kaoru, I know you went and told Hikaru everything I said yesterday. I ain't stupid, so don't try to lie. Both of you know that everything I said isn't the kind of shit you make up. It's all true. And I'm damn sure you both know that you've been thinking about killing each other"

"..."

"So both you idiots love Haruhi? Fine! Get up and go deal with it like a man! You want her to love you, talk to the girl! If she loves you both, then why the hell would it matter?! You're two different people. You're a lot alike, but you are different, so she'll like each of you for different reasons. So quite standing around like retards! Go get her!"

They looked to each other, then nodded, "Let's do this!"

The twin shadows had fallen, struggling to catch their breaths, having been beaten back down into their smaller forms. "Not... yet..."

The twins pointed at their shadows with confidence, "Hey, you! Yeah, you're a part of me, so what?! I still love my brother all the same!"

The shadows looked at their human counterparts, "It's good to be recognized, isn't it?", with that, they changed into twin sages, one carrying a staff with red feathers and the other a staff with blue fur, both of them wildly covered in the same tattoos and ear piercings.

The twins marveled at them, "Whoa... what are those...?!"

Kanji patted them on the back, "Those are your personas. They're just about as crazy as you two are. If you call on them, they'll fight for you"

They looked to each other with an evil smile, "Are you thinking what I am, brother?"

Akihiko patted them on the shoulder much harder than Kanji did, "Just remember, nobody other than us can know about it, or we'll have to kill you, got it?"

The brother's trembled beneath Ceaser's sword, "Y-Yes, sir!"

Yu smiled and held out two trigger to them, "Here, these are what you use to summon your persona. Just aim at your head and fire"

They took them in their hands, "... How are we supposed to know these aren't real guns?"

Haruhi came up from behind them and took the triggers, "Here, you two are hopeless"

She tossed one to Kanji, who shot his forehead, "Persona!", his mighty musclehead arrived quickly.

Haruhi held her to her temple, "Persona!", the beautiful maiden gave them a quick bow before vanishing, then Haruhi tossed Hikaru the gun, "Good enough?"

Kanji tossed his to Kaoru, "Nothin' to it"

The twins went off simultaniously, "Haruhi... HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN DOING THIS?!"

Haruhi counted using her fingers, "Well... counting the first day... four days"

The twins shouted louder, "AND YOU DIDN'T TELL US?!"

Haruhi shoved them back down, "Shut up, I couldn't tell you, and you guys can't tell anyone else"

The twins sat down, "I'm so shocked, my legs won't stand"

Junpei helped them stand, "Naw, that's just the exaustion of being split from your shadow. You'll be fine, just get some rest"

Yukari looked at her clock, "Mitsuru, we only have a few more minutes left in the Dark Hour"

Mitsuru nodded, "Alright, we'll continue this later"

Everyone scattered to where they were supposed to be as the light restored itself to the room. Naoto arranged the twins to make it look as if they'd struck each other on the head, "Oh, looks like they tied. Here, me and Yosuke will take them to the infirmary"

Kyoya squinted as they walked away, but he said nothing. He only thought to himself, "Something is amiss here... how intresting..."

Mitsuru felt the vein in her head start to bulge, "I thought we were clear on the rules... NO ONE IS TO FIND OUT WE EXIST!"

The twins tried to play innocent like puppies that had just been kicked, "We just wanted to test them out..."

"BY FLYING HERE IN BROAD DAYLIGHT?! YOU'RE BOTH LUCKY I DON'T EXECUTE YOU!"

The twins grabbed their necks, "E-Execute?!"

Fuuka patted Mitsuru's shoulder, "Don't worry, me and Rise were able to camoflauge the entire thing. Nobody saw anything"

Rise was a little less gentle with her words, "You two idiots! Do you have any idea how hard it is to camoflauge something moving that fast! I can't even feel my head right now, it's numb due to overuse!"

The twins didn't get the message, "Probably the first time for an idol- OW!"

Haruhi sighed as they were duly punished by the three girls, then she looked to Kanji, who was predictably knitting, "Hey, you talked to them when they were shaken up from their shadows, right?"

He looked up, "Yeah, why?"

"What did you say to them? They don't listen to anyone, not even when it's a matter of just brushing their teeth. How did you manage to get them to listen when they were so distracted?"

Kanji smiled, "That's for me and them to know"

Haruhi was confused, but she was quickly distracted by Hikaru and Kaoru, who were clawing at the floor, trying to get away, "Haruhi! Please help us!"

Haruhi looked at them with a little pity, "Listen to what they say"

As they were dragged back in, they tried desperately to get away, "NOOOOOO!"

Everyone else was just talking normally, except for Aigis and Yu, who were staring out the window, as if looking for something. Yosuke noticed first, "Hey, everything okay out there, partner?"

Narukami shook his head, "Something's off"

The entire room turned on it's side as everyone stared at Yu with worry. Yukiko spoke her mind, "B-But Yu-senpai, you NEVER say something's wrong!"

Chie went next, "Even when Teddie's head came off the first time!"

Teddie went next, "Or when those shadows attack us for the first time!"

Naoto was holding her pistol tight, "This must be quite the predicament..."

Aigis spoke calmly, "I feel it, too. It is not directly effecting my sensors, but I am sure that I have a feeling in my... insides"

"What an odd phenomenon", everyone turned to see Elizabeth, who was smiling over the cover of her book, "That you would both feel it, just as I do"

Laybris looked at her, "Feel what?"

"A new player has arrived in this game... one who can turn it on it's side with ease. Fate has once again dealt us... a wild card. The fool... has selected another human"