PRESENT:

"To sum it up, the overall amount of casualties is about ¥30,000,000, including the grand piano and the flower vase that you broke."

"W-What d-did you s-say?"

"You have to pay us ¥30,000,000 for the damage that you caused."

Misaka shook her head in disbelief.

"¥30,000,000...¥30,000,000...¥30,000,000...¥30,000,000..." she thought over and over again, until she found herself saying this in a weird, creepy manner. It seems like she's chanting these words repeatedly, her mind starting to feel confused and shocked at the same time.

FLASHBACK:

The girls screamed as they saw Misaki standing up in a discomfited manner; her long hair was covering her face as she tried regaining her balance gradually. When the small lady lifted up her head, the girls screamed louder. Now that everybody's seeing her literally white face, they stepped back and moved away from the female.

Misaki let out a scowl and sighed.

"A-Aw, t-that hurts." she mumbled, until she accidentally bumped her head onto one of the tables. She never noticed a small pitcher of honey on it. The pitcher instantly fell onto her temple, the honey poured out and flowed through her ebony hair .

The girls gasped.

The three mean girls looked at Misaki from a distance and let out their evil smiles, flashing out a "Thumbs Up!" sign from each other. Unfortunately, no one knows that these girls want to make Misaki's life miserable...for unexplained reasons.

Then, she noticed a hand reaching out to her. She gazed at those big, brown eyes, staring at her with concern. Though her hair's almost covering her face, she could see that beauty shining before her.

"What the?" she thought.

Misaki got stunned as she recognized a youthful face looking at her. Her brown eyes seemed to be sparkling, and she has a slender built like Misaki's. Yet, she wondered if this one's really a guy, because this person looked girlish to become a male.

But then, she thought that she had seen an angel with a charming face, the one who came down from Heaven to save her from this tragedy. That idea made her melt.

With a lump in her throat, Misaki tried to speak. But no word came out from her mouth.

The brown-eyed person looked at her with a worried face, saying, "What the? A-Are you alright?"

Misaki cannot answer the question because of shyness. Then, she heard the person asking her again. This time, those brown eyes were staring at her closely.

"Y-You look familiar. Have we met before?"

Misaki was about to say something when the girls suddenly panicked. They saw six young males approaching into the scene. They began squealing and running towards the approaching guys, holding their arms and hands tightly as if they want to cling and hug them, because obviously they got scared at Misaki.

Misaki glanced back. Suddenly her mouth went open when she saw those undeniably handsome guys, running towards the brown-eyed individual worriedly.

"HARUHI!" the guys exclaimed altogether.

Afterwards, the guys stared at Misaki. They looked at her from head to toe.

Then...silence came again.

The lights went off...instantly.

An eerie and malevolent aura filled the whole music room as the seven guys looked at the white lady, standing before them scarily.

Her dreadful appearance scared these seven guys big-time...most especially the girls who were now shouting relentlessly.

Three of them hurriedly looked for a place to hide. It happened to be under the long red sofa at the center of the room. They were shaking terribly while mumbling words which everybody couldn't hear, except themselves.

The other two just stayed where they are.

A guy with short, black hair (which was styled in a smart/casual look) approached the brown-eyed person. His gray (almost black) eyes behind those slim, rimless glasses looked at the said person calmly and spoke in a solemn, firm voice.

"Haruhi."

"Sempai, I know that this sounds unbelievable, but I believe that this girl and I belonged to the same class though she haven't formally introduced herself yet."

Everybody went totally horrified at what they had heard. Even Misaki could not believe it, either!

Kyouya went silent. After a while, he sighed, facing Haruhi.

"I believe this is it for today, Haruhi." he said.

"Kyouya-sempai..." the brown-eyed person said softly.

Kyouya faced the girls solemnly and bowed down as a sign of apology.

"It's our deepest regret that we have to close early today, princesses. We have to settle an important matter as of this moment, and we would like to ask for your understanding and consideration." he said to the girls and flashed out his infamous "host smile"...a cool but captivating smile, which made the girls squeal with delight.

Haruhi, on the other hand, sighed and began escorting the girls out of the music room.

Misaki let out a heavy sigh and then heard strange voices whispering to her. She looked at the large sofa and got aghast to see those three guys, still cowering in fear. The two other males went towards Haruhi and shut the door.

Once the door has been closed and everybody's out...except for the seven guys, including Misaki, Kyouya took a seat and faced Misaki. To be frank, Kyouya's eyes seemed to be calm, but his glasses say the opposite (which definitely looked kind of strange for Misaki).

"Have a seat." Kyouya said to Misaki.

Haruhi pulled out a chair and offered it to Misaki. The black-haired female thanked Haruhi and sat down silently.

"Tamaki, you can come out now. Tell the others that there's nothing to be afraid of." Kyouya told the three guys under the sofa.

One by one, three heads popped out, terror plastered onto their faces. They sighed heavily and sat down on the sofa.

Kyouya smiled at them, saying, "Gentlemen, this is a very important matter to be discussed. Allow me to say this: I want everybody to cooperate and come up with decisions that will resolve this incident. Are we clear, gentlemen?"

"HAI!" everybody agreed in chorus.

Misaki watched these seven guys as they looked back at her with silence. Their faces still looked terrified, but not as awful as it looked moments ago. She thought that these males try to hide their fear towards her.

She could hear nothing, except the soft taps from Kyouya, who was busy typing onto his laptop.

Misaki bowed her head slowly and breathed, she closed her eyes.

The reality is clear...she is sitting in front of these gentlemen...face-to-face.

BACK TO THE PRESENT...

Seconds, then minutes went by.

Everything seemed to be awkwardly serious.

Her mind never ceased thinking about it. In fact, she felt like she wanted to wither away and drop dead, just like a leaf withering and falling down to the ground during autumn. She felt helpless and desperate; she slowly moved her head, looking around the room from her seat, noticing the chaos that she did in the music room. Though it was an accident, Misaki knew that she cannot blame the accident which caused this mess. After all, everybody witnessed it. It merely shows how clumsy and slow she is.

Worse, her debt…her deadly debt that she must pay…Misaki wondered if she has to rob and bank and get all the large money vaults inside there. Maybe she has to buy everything that she has in her home.

"NO! I WILL NOT DO THAT! M-MY HAVEN…MY HAVEN…" she thought fearfully, until she came up with a thought.

Pay the money with your body…

She began thinking of images which she never imagined before: night bars, pole dancing, beers and male costumers sitting with attractive sexy females on the table…and she found herself, dressed up as a…

"WAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Misaki shouted hysterically, waving her arms in the air like a mad man and shook her head terribly.

When she stopped screaming, the seven guys looked at her suspiciously.

Stillness came over.

Misaki sighed and looked at the seven guys nervously. Her eyes can't seem to endure looking at them straightly; thankfully, her hair's covering her face, so they don't know how embarrassed she looked while staring at them.

An adorable face popped out in front of Misaki, flashing out a curious expression while staring at the female carefully. He then held Misaki's head gently and chuckled. Misaki was surprised to see that cute smile upon the short male's face, his expressive brown eyes shining with happiness.

"You are not a ghost! You're a girl! See? I told you, Takashi! Ghosts aren't real!" the short blonde male stared at the tall-looking guy beside him; this man's possessing short dark hair and eyes, a calm expression plastered onto his face.

The guy spoke to the short blonde with a deep voice, saying, "I know it. Ghosts don't exist."

"I wonder what she looks like without this hair covering her face..." the cute little male said and tried moving away Misaki's hair from her face.

Misaki moved her face away, astounded by what the blonde little male attempted to do.

The tall guy instantly grabbed the cute bonde and carried him like a child onto his back.

The blonde pouted. "Takashi, let me down! I wanna see her face!"

"I think that's not a good idea, Honey." the dark-haired, stern guy said towards the short male.

"Don't you think we should let her clean up first before moving on with this matter?" the brown-eyed guy with a somewhat feminine aura told everybody.

The others agreed unanimously.

Misaki's body froze.

No...this is a matter of life and death! This is insanity. No...I don't' want to stuck here with these...these...MISAKI TAINAKA! CALM DOWN! COME BACK TO YOUR SENSES! You have to be strong, right? Don't allow these...these beautiful creatures to lay their hands on you! NEVER LET DOWN YOUR GUARD! Yes, yes! Don't let them see your face! Be strong! Find a way, Misaki! Y-You can do this! YOU CAN DO THIS! I CAN DO THIS!

Misaki thought of something...

She knows that this will be tricky and difficult, but she doesn't have a choice.

If she wants to run away from these guys, she must do it now.

She sighed and looked to her left and right.

In a flash, Misaki jumped out of her chair and ran for the door. However, she was caught by strong hands, pulling her back from her seat.

"RUNNING AWAY, EH?" two voices told her naughtily.

Misaki was shocked to see two people, smirking at her devilishly. She noticed that the two guys looked exactly alike...they have the same golden brown eyes, the similar short, auburn and somewhat messy hair (well, she noticed a slight difference between the twins' hairstyles anyway!)...even their devious grins reminded her of that mischievous Cheshire cat from "Alice in Wonderland"...she blinked her eyes, realizing that the twins were both holding her arms firmly.

"Gyah! Twins!" Misaki thought instantly as she struggled to escape from the twins' tight grasp.

The twins spoke, one at a time:

"You almost scared us to death, Yurei-chan!" the male twin with a deep voice said to Misaki. This twin has his auburn hair parted to the left, looking like it has been parted to the right side of the person facing him.

"We cannot let you go just like this..." the other male twin said, his voice is higher and a little pitchier than his twin's. His hair is parted to the right, as opposite to his twin.

"So, don't try to escape from us...BECAUSE WE WON'T ALLOW YOU TO DO IT ANYWAY!" the twins said together in a playful manner, winking at Misaki.

NO! NO! NO!

Misaki tried to get away from these twins with all her might. However, the more that she tried doing it, the more pain it had caused her. Misaki thought of giving these two a slamming kick in the ass when she found the perfect timing...but at this rate, she's at a disadvantage. Her mind tells her not to fight back, or this will be the end of her stay at Ouran Academy.

In the end, the twins pulled a defeated Misaki back to her chair, holding her shoulders tightly.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk! You're too stubborn and brave...for a girl." one of the twins spoke, looking at Misaki with a hint of amusement upon his face.

The other twin suddenly held Misaki's hair and looked at it closely. He suddenly smelled it, sniffing at it quietly; Misaki gasped.

"W-What the heck are you doing?" Misaki blurted.

"Honey..." the male twin said, now his eyes looking at Misaki. The guy blinked his eyes as he wiped his nose which was slightly covered with the sugary thing with a tissue.

Misaki scowled in secret and turned her head away.

"Good work, Hitachiin Brothers!", a guy who has light blonde hair and blue-violet eyes spoke abruptly, catching everybody's attention because of his beaming voice.

The twins saluted the purple-eyed blonde. "THANKS, BOSS!"

Haruhi went face-palmed and faced the twins with an annoyed face.

"Hikaru, Kaoru..." she called.

"YES, HARUHI?" the twins said and faced Haruhi with sparkling eyes.

Before one of them could speak, Haruhi gave them straight punches on their heads. The twins whined in pain.

"HEY, THAT HURTS!" they said, teary-eyed.

"That's for harassing a girl, you idiots!" Haruhi explained and went back to her seat.

The twins let out a cry. "B-But, she scared us first? Remember?"

Haruhi went quiet and thought deeply.

Something struck into her mind.

FLASHBACK:

The Host Club, with their horrified faces, started staring at an unknown individual, sulking on one corner of the room just beside the main door.

Then there was dead silence.

The clock tower struck. It's already 6:00 P.M.

The lights went on as the power came back to normal. The Host Club were still stiff, standing on the ground with mixed emotions and unexplainable expressions upon their faces.

The unidentified person slowly turned around with a staggered, terrified face. The way her face looked like that time made the situation worse. She started to mumble, as if she was chanting.

The ambiance inside the music room got spooky and darker as before.

The person tried to stand up, but the way she did that was horrifyingly awkward. She looked like the famous lady ghost from that horror movie. Her face looked white, her dark eyes staring at the Host Club frightfully, and her body shaking.

The seven members of the Host Club went aghast when they took a good look at the person.

Afterwards, lightning struck.

They screamed.

The person screamed too and ran out of the room in an instant, thus, leaving the Host Club in their worse scared looks.

BACK TO THE PRESENT...

Haruhi sighed.

"Now, I remember. It was her whom we saw last time." she said softly.

Misaki could not understand what's going on. Her head's starting to feel dizzy as she heard them talking with one another, their confused faces visibly shown. There's still a hint of fear in their eyes as they glanced at her.

Now that everybody realized that they haven't really seen a ghost, everybody decided to ask questions to the black-haired lady.

"You are a new student, aren't you?" Kyouya asked Misaki.

Misaki never said a word, but she nodded.

The twins folded their arms snugly.

"And you are our new classmate, right?"

Misaki nodded again.

"Alright, Ms. Misaki Tainaka. I suppose that you have to give us an explanation right now." Kyouya added, smiling.

Misaki Tainaka...so that's her name, everybody thought.

Misaki gasped.

"I-I...uhmmm, I-I don't know where to start...r-really..." she mumbled.

"You have to tell us how you got here that afternoon. Seriously, you scared the hell out of us that time. We've been here for three days because all of us can't move on with that incident." the twins said to her.

"Don't tell me that you're in the Black Magic Club, do you?" the blonde with the purple eyes said shakily.

The others gasped with their eyes widely opened.

Misaki shook her head. "N-No, I haven't decided on which club should I join yet."

They blinked their eyes, until an odd smile crept upon their faces, especially Tamaki's.

Haruhi sighed and faced Tamaki furiously. "OK, so what are you guys thinking about now?"

Tamaki let out a boisterous laugh which startled Misaki.

"I think that we should settle this matter once and for all!" he said aloud, making his "King" pose in front of everybody.

Tamaki's statement made Misaki nervous inside.

What's going to happen now? Oh, no...

"Tamaki-sempai, is there any other way to solve this matter? She cannot pay her debt that easy. The amount is almost triple than mine." Haruhi, who was sitting beside Misaki, told the blonde fellow.

Kyouya grinned at Haruhi.

"I guess there's no other way, Haruhi. It looks like Tamaki has made up his mind already." he said.

Afterwards, he spoke towards Haruhi, grinning.

"Do you still remember what I told you that day, Fujioka-kun? When in Rome, do as the Romans do. If you don't have the money, pay with your own body!" Tamaki said aloud, flashing out his "King-like" pose towards everybody.

Tamaki smiled and pointed his finger at Misaki. The female got shocked by Tamaki's sudden and somewhat weird action.

"And THAT is what she must do to clear out her debt to the Host Club!"

The last statement alarmed Misaki.

"W-WHAT?" she gasped in disbelief.

The twins smirked at her, saying, "You got nowhere to go, Yūrei-chan!"

"Stop harassing her." Haruhi interrupted as she warned the male twins.

Kyouya smiled and faced Misaki.

"Misaki Tainaka."

Misaki looked back, feeling confused.

"W-What is it?" she asked.

THE NEXT DAY...

Misaki was walking along the hallway. Her face looked more terrible and paler; her cheeks were suffering from a major blood loss because of its almost white skin color. Her long hair was now covering half of her face. Her right eye was seen staring at the horizon blankly.

Her thoughts were running inside her mind. Recalling everything that had happened at the music room yesterday brought her stress. She even felt that pain on her forehead because she thought of it too much, that she hasn't got the chance to get some sleep.

At this point, she has to do the impossible thing...the worse thing that she will ever do in her whole life. No matter what, she already decided it.

I have to do it...I MUST do it...

FLASHBACK:

"From now on, you are the Host Club's dog!" Tamaki said loudly.

Misaki's face got horrified as the blonde spat out these words. She felt that her whole world just crumbled in a blink of an eye. She felt that weight which had fell down onto her shoulders now that she has to become the club's underdog.

Tamaki nodded and laughed while the others looked at him annoyingly.

Haruhi approached Misaki and held her shoulder.

"Don't worry, Misaki. Though these guys are a bunch of good-looking morons, they are all nice." she said, flashing out her charming smile.

Misaki blushed a bit and shook her head. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Well, it's because I became their dog when I first stumbled into this room and met the Host Club. Also, like you, I have a debt to clear out." Haruhi replied, looking at the guys smilingly.

Misaki didn't speak; she sighed.

"I-I'm sorry for what happened." she mumbled.

Haruhi was a little shocked when she heard these words from the other lady. She chuckled and gave Misaki a friendly push on her back.

"It's alright, Misaki." she said.