Chapter 4

The Panic of Two

There was no easy way to explain to Haruhi that he broke his promise. She agreed to let him go into the city with Kasonada if he promised to be on his best behavior, to not steal anything or be rude to anybody. Kaoru slowly walked back to the apartment, the Serial ID Card and pouch of coins burning a hole in his pocket, making his heart and stomach drop to the cobblestone ground.

He made it back far earlier than Haruhi or Kasonada expected, and he took his time taking off all of his layers and hanging them on the cleaning rack that stopped working years ago.

"Kaoru? I expected you to stare at those clock parts for a few more hours." Kasonada remarked amusedly from where he sat on the couch. Haruhi was sitting next to him, staring into a mirror and testing the new powder.

"I-um, I have to tell you guys something." Kaoru told them, sitting down stiffly in the chair across from them. They looked up at him expectantly and he looked at the old and worn carpet beneath his feet. "I…um…stole something while I was there."

"Kaoru Fujioka! You promised me you wouldn't steal anything while you were there! What did you take?" Haruhi yelled, putting the powder and mirror away. Kaoru retrieved the stolen items from his pants pockets and set them on the table. "You stole both an ID Card and money from somebody." Disappointment drowned her voice, making Kaoru wish the carpet would just swallow him whole.

"I-I didn't see who it was. The man was just so rude to me about the necklace I was going to but you and it made me so upset that I got carried away. I'm sorry." Kaoru looked at her and almost cried at how upset and disappointed he made her feel. Haruhi sighed and opened the wallet sleeve that covered and protected the card.

"Kaoru go to your room and tinker around or something." She said as she stared at the card. Kaoru nodded and scurried off to her room, closing the door behind him.

"Don't you think you were a little hard on him? He looked like he was going to cry." Kasonada asked, not looking up from his book. Haruhi shook her head and collected the discarder sleeve and bag of coins.

"I have some stuff to do." She went to her room with the items and shut the door, leaving Kasonada to his reading in the main room.

Sneaking into the Ouran Building was much harder than sneaking out, but it wasn't impossible. It took Hikaru an hour and a half of climbing up ladders and picking the locks of the outside and staircase door. Hikaru stood in the escape staircase that he left from so he had somewhere to hide his stuff. He took off the layers that weren't worn among other Shiners and folded them up before carefully putting them into the sealable bags he brought with him.

Once he had all of the extra layers off he checked his inner pockets to make sure he had everything. He accounted for everything he needed, except for the two things that nobody in the city was stupid enough to be without. Their Serial ID Card and their money.

He worriedly checked all of his pockets and his bag to no avail. They were gone. He quickly packed everything up and left the stairwell slowly, going the long way upstairs to avoid encountering any other Shiners. When he got to the Suhoh floors of the Ouran Building he was glad to see that Honey and Mori were nowhere to be found and that Tamaki and Kyoya were… preoccupied in their room.

He ducked into his bedroom before either of the couples showed themselves and started pacing and muttering. "I need to tell somebody…but I can't, I'll get into so much trouble… But I have to, they will find out eventually. It was probably stolen by that stupid commoner that bumped into me." Hikaru glared at nothing until he remembered the Shocker he only talked to for a few moments. "She was a commoner, and a Shocker; she can help. Maybe she'll be online again and I can ask I she can do a search for me.

"It's a really big city though, and she might not even care." Hikaru stopped pacing and sighed, "Call her, and if she isn't in the room, fine. I won't tell her. If she is, I'll tell her what happened."

He went to his screen and sat down, getting himself ready for it. He turned the screen on and searched through the pictures of online members until he found her. They connected the link and there was a brief awkward silence.

"I have a problem, and you are the only Shocker I have seen outside of the Ouran Building." Hikaru blurted out after staring at her nervously.

"I figured. Shockers in general are not sought out like this. What is the problem?" Haruhi asked, fixing the scarf around her neck.

"I was…outside. Please don't report me." Hikaru asked her, trying not to seem as desperate and panicked as he felt on the inside.

"I'm not going to report you, even if that was possible. These chat rooms are the only kinds of communication from Ouran Building to the outside city. Tell me what happened." Haruhi got out a notebook and stylus to take notes on his story.

"I was outside and went to something called the 'Center' because everyone else was going. I wandered around since I didn't want to buy anything and possibly get caught. Eventually, I saw a guy looking at a jewelry stand and the shopkeeper was laying to him about the quality of the necklace.

"I walked up to them and told him she was lying in a way that was not as nice as it could have been. Afterwards, I went back to Ouran Building and realized it was stolen. 'It' being my Serial ID Card and money." Hikaru finished, looking down at his desk.

"What is your full name?" She asked, still taking notes.

"Hikaru Suhoh. ID number 4863TA." He answered.

"Huh. That's almost the exact same number as my adopted brother. Just one digit off. Anyway, it is very nice to meet you. My name is Haruhi Fujioka. I will…" She was cut off by a knock at the door behind her. "I'm busy" She called out to whoever was there. The door cracked and Hikaru saw a flash of orange hair, very similar to his own.

"Haruhi, I just wanted to apologize again for breaking my promise." The guy said, only showing a glimpse of his face.

"Kaoru, it's okay. Just go back to your room, please." Haruhi told him calmly, turning around to look at him. The door closed again and she turned back to the screen. "Sorry about the interruption."

"So that is Kaoru?" Hikaru remembered how the only other time they spoke she mistook him for that Kaoru. Haruhi nodded and shifted around the few papers in front of her.

"Here is how this will work, Hikaru. I'll get your Serial ID Card and your money back to you in two days. There is a café near the Building. It's called HiKao. Meet me there and I'll return your stuff." She told him, running a hand through her hair.

"How will you get it? That's not a lot of time." He worried, biting his lip.

"I work fast. Now if you'll excuse me, I have stuff to do." She replied before closing the connection.

"I hope this works."

Words do not describe how sorry I am. I shouldn't be setting update goals when I have so many things done. I've been incredibly drained lately, emotionally (my brother came home from college for a week), physically (I've been sick), and creatively (3 major projects due in the past week).

Song of the chapter- "Take Over, the Break's Over" by Fallout Boy