08.16.11

MEI'S STORY

Okay.

I'm guessing you all saw that last post. Obviously, I didn't put it up. Mei here decided it would be funny to hijack my blog and freak out all my readers just because I left my account open. She has a rather sick sense of humor.

How did she get here so fast, you ask?

Turns out my Dad, in one of his frequent lapses in attention, managed to invert the date and time she would be coming. Instead of the 16th at 5, it was really the 15th at 6. This is why I'll be taking down all the phone messages from now on.

It's also why Mei now has full knowledge of everything that went on last year, and that the six guys we briefly went to school with were, in fact, not really my cousins and not really human.

Fantastic.

I had to fill her in on the rest of the story too, because I know she would've prodded me all day and night if I didn't, and I'm beyond not in the mood to deal with that. So now she's sitting here with me, watching me type all this out and making little comments every few seconds and generally annoying the crap out of me.
And now she's pouting like a baby. Serves her right.

I guess I am being unfair. Mad as I am with both Mei for snooping and myself for not putting my laptop away before leaving the house for three hours, there is a silver lining to this cloud. You know how I mentioned at the end of MY last post that I wasn't around for whatever occurred to cause the giant mess I was in for?

Take a wild guess who was.

Adgs

SssME! It was me! I was0gfdf

Sdag re 8

Sorry, that was Mei. She's a little over excited, but she won't do it again.

So yes, Mei was there when it happened and she told me the whole story this morning. I'll admit, it does put a lot of things into perspective, and I'm not just talking about events to come. For now, we'll just stick to what happened in gym class that day, in Mei here's own, questionably reliable, words.

She's pouting again. Let's get this over with.

The first thing you need to understand is that the main perpetrators of this… event were Tamaki and Kyoya. All the others had some involvement, but those two were at the heart of it. Now, Mei is actually in my grade, not theirs. Because she skipped gym a lot the previous year, she had to take remedial classes in order to get a passing grade, and she had them at the same time, and one the same field, as Tamaki and Kyoya's class. So that's how she was able to witness what happened.
This is also, as I've long suspected and have now had confirmed, how she was able to help cause it.

And if she keeps whining and trying to type over my shoulder like she's been doing, I'll be throwing her out…

That's what I thought.

Anyway, Mei participates in remedial gym about as much as she does in regular gym. Don't ask me how she keeps passing.

That day, she'd just finished convincing the teacher that the sprain she sustained a month and a half before was still stinging her, and that there was no way she could make the run around the field. She was told to take a seat on the bleachers and stay there until the bell rang. I'm sure she was very pleased with herself as she skipped on over. So pleased, that she was more than ready to try flirting with the blonde guy also sitting there with his glasses wearing friend, even though he wasn't in her grade and she'd never seen him before.

I think you know where I'm going with this.

Mei sauntered up to them. She sat down just far enough to maintain some degree of personal space and smiling prettily.

"Hey there," she said.

"Hello, I'm Tamaki."

"Mei Yasumura," Mei said, batting her eyelashes at him. "I don't think I've seen you around. You must be new. How about we hang out sometime and I can show you around town?"

Tamaki's smile faded. "Are you trying to flirt with me?"

Before Mei could answer, Tamaki was running long fingers around the edge of her chin. She blushed deeply.

"Because you are a lovely young lady, but I'm afraid I'm already taken."

The illusion of charm cracked like a china glass and Mei couldn't have been more embarrassed. She pulled away as fast as she could and put a good ten inches distance between them while Kyoya chuckled in the background.

"I see," Mei said. "You could've just told me straight out… without all the touching and crap."

"My deepest apologies if I made you uncomfortable," Tamaki said.

Mei's eyes snapped to him, her humiliation growing at an exponential rate now that he'd heard something she very much hadn't wanted him to.

"W-whatever, it's nothing," she said. And since Mei is one of those people who tries to cover up negative emotions with bad attempts at humor, she then turned back around with a grin. "Let me guess, it's you and your friend over there, right?"

Kyoya looked up from his book, expressionless.

"As we are now, Tamaki and I are not romantic with each other," he said.

Mei blinked

"Oookay then. Fantastic."

So Mei fidgeted a little, feeling awkward while Tamaki and Kyoya were, of course, as cool headed as ever. Their gym class was also doing testing that day, but of the sit ups and push ups variety. They had already taken their turns. They went first, in fact. Something about the gym teacher wanting to see how well his newest students could do on their first day in his class. I don't know, maybe he thought he was the only man in the country capable of running a proper gym class, and any teacher they've had in the past can't possibly have pushed them hard enough. I never found out how that all went, though I assume Kyoya and Tamaki shattered a couple of school records between the two of them. Any damage must have been on the mild side, seeing as we never got any news vans at the apartment, nor did the teacher beg them to join any teams. Oh, how peaceful life was now that we'd all reached an understanding. I have to tell you, I'm still reeling from that whole reality show debacle.

Apparentely, that was Mei's favorite part of the story, because she's near hysterical right now.

Anyway, she eventually got over her failed attempted at flirting and decided that, if nothing else, she might as well make some new friends. Hesitant as I am to admit this while she's reading over my shoulder, I've always really liked that about Mei. It goes without saying I'm not the most social person in the world. I never really wanted to be. Mei is the exact opposite. She loves to talk, she loves to hear herself talk, and she loves having people to talk to. It gets annoying at times, but I know I'll never be bored when she's around.

Mei just gave me a hug. And a promise to pay me back for that annoying comment someday.

"So," Mei said conversationally. "Are you two related or something? Because you don't really look it. If you don't mind me saying."

She added that part in last second, after realizing how rude that sounded. Neither Kyoya or Tamaki seemed to mind, however.

"We're brothers," Kyoya said. "We're staying with our cousin Haruhi for the forseeable future, if that answers your question."

"Uh-huh," Mei said, not nearly convinced at all. "You both must be adopted or something then- did you say Haruhi?"

Tamaki nodded, smiling big like hearing my name was the highlight of his day. And it probably was. "Why, yes."

"Haruhi... Fujioka?"

"Yes."

Mei needed a moment to wrap her mind around that one, so she was kind of just gawking stupidly while Tamaki and Kyoya were probably wondering if something was wrong with her. Or, at least, Tamaki would. From the sound of it, it seems like Kyoya wasn't paying much attention.

"Your cousin is Haruhi..." Mei repeated.

Tamaki again said: "Yes."

At this point, Kyoya finally decided to look up from whatever he was doing and officially join the conversation.

"I take it this surprises you, Miss Yasumura?"

"Well, I'm just trying to process that Haruhi suddenly has family I've never heard of," Mei said, leaning back in a daze from the rush of new information (her words). "I mean, you'd think after knowing each other since we were kids and having Dads who are like best friends, something like this would've come up."

Mei got up to stretch her legs, seemingly forgetting that she was supposed to still be suffering a horrible, debilitating sprained ankle. Don't ask me how she never got caught.

"I guess it's partly my fault," she went on. "I've been pretty busy helping my Dad clean up at his pension. I didn't even have time to call Haruhi up, and now I find out she's got a pair of mysterious cousins staying with her."

"We're not all that mysterious," Kyoya said while adjusting his glasses.

"Also, we're not a pair," said Tamaki. "There are six of us."

Mei stopped. Slowly, she turned wide eyes to Tamaki, her lips all but disappearing until her mind could form words again (also her words).

"Six of you?" she asked. "Like... you guys plus four?"

"Two plus four does indeed equal six," said the always helpful Kyoya.

"And... you're all guys?"

"Yes."

"Haruhi has six guys staying at her place."

"Yes."

"All at one time."

"Yes."

"All six of you."

"If you're finding any of this challenging, please let us know upfront."

Mei sent a glare Kyoya's way.

"I'm just don't see how this is possible," Mei said. "Unless Haruhi has also moved without telling me, how in God's name is she fitting six of you guys it her little two bedroom place? No, don't answer that."

Tamaki, who had his mouth open, ready to give her the full play by play on our sleeping arrangments and possibly how we came to have them, could only frown. Mei gave an exaggerated moan and flopped back on the bench, sliding down halfway.

"Just tell me how Haruhi gets to have a bunch of guys living with her when I can't even get a date. I mean, I know you guys are all related, but I already know that at least a third of you are totally hot, and Haruhi's the only girl in the free world who doesn't recognize hotness when it smacks her in the face or comes to sleep in her house. Not. Fair."

She blew out a puff of air, lifting a section of her heavily dyed blonde hair out of her face. It landed smack in the middle of her forehead.

"If it's a date you're looking for, we can give you a number to call," Kyoya said.

Mei glared at him a second time. "I'm not that desperate, thanks."

She sat back up with her head resting on her hands. In general, she probably looked way too relaxed the whole time this was going on. Like I said, she's lucky no one ever questioned her. The class went on from here. Mei watched her classmates running along the track red faced and drenched in sweat, and Tamaki and Kyoya's class trying and mostly failing to do more than twenty push-ups. The gym teacher was yelling himself hoarse. Once this got boring, Mei decided to try chatting again.

"How do you guys stay sane, living all cramped like that?" she asked.

"Oh, it's not so bad," Tamaki answered, leaning forward. "Any time we have a problem, we always talk it out and find a solution. We've had no trouble at all."

Haha yeah...

"Yeah, but the sibling rivalry must be at, like, nuclear levels by now."

Tamaki and Kyoya just looked at her.

"Sibling rivalry?" Tamaki asked.

And that's how our next adventure got started, courtesy of Mei.

Going into more detail, Tamaki's innoucuous little comment had really gotten Mei going. I'm not saying it's his faulttt

OH but you have NO PROBLEM saying it's all MY fault HUH?.,-

That was Mei again. Just forget it.

So basically, Mei was now off on a tangent.

"Oh come on, you can't tell me you guys don't fight. I mean, my three cousins are in their twenties and moved out ages ago, and they can still really get into it. Not like when they were living together, of course. THAT was pure chaos. You don't want to know what the birthday parties were like."

Tamaki scoffed, though good naturedly. "My dear, it can't have been that bad."

Though the 'Dear' part got an eyebrow raise, Mei mostly ignored it.

"Yeah, you're right. I'm understating it. I think it's because they lived in this ridiculously cramped apartment and had to share the same room. There was shouting and swearing and roughing each other up. They would borrow each other's stuff without asking and then ruin them somehow, they would hog the TV and take food from the fridge that was meant for one of the others. Then this one time, when they were in High School, they all got a crush on the same girl and they would fight so hard over which one she liked best that the neighbors could hear it. The cops even got called a couple of times."

At this point, Tamaki and Kyoya were listening with rapt attention, and neither appeared too happy with what she was saying. Tamaki more openly so, going really pale and even a little scared. Kyoya was frowning, but according to Mei, his eyes were saying a lot. Normally, I wouldn't really get that, but it's Kyoya.

Anyway, he was the one to speak first.

"That all sounds... rather unpleasant."

"Oh, it gets better," Mei said, barely containing a grin. "That girl they were fighting like rabid dogs over? Turns out she was a lesbian the whole time. Had a steady girlfriend, too. Their faces when they found out- God, I wish I'd had my camera.

While she was laughing to herself, Tamaki and Kyoya were in the process of deciphering all this. I'm not going to pretend I know what goes on inside a robot's head. Much as I have come to know that they were more than just metal parts, it's doesn't change the fact that they all had literal super computers for brains. The most I'm getting is that it began unlocking some more of that hidden programming of theirs. Programming of the more... primal kind, let's say.

"But I don't understand," Tamaki said. "Why would they fight over her? Couldn't they all just love her?"

That earned a very weird look from Mei, and I know what that's like. I saw it for the first time when we were ten and she found out that I read for fun and not just for school.

Mei thought about that for a second. "Well uh- no, no they couldn't. I mean, for starters, she wasn't into guys, so that alone is the final nail in the coffin. But even if she had liked guys, I doubt she would have gotten with all of them. People fall in love and not always with people they want to be in love with, but it happens and sometimes the other person doesn't feel the same way. Sometimes more than one girl will like a guy or more than one guy will like a girl, and eventually, they're going to have to make a choice."

She didn't get anymore arguments. Neither of the guys were even looking at her anymore. Kyoya was staring off into space, while Tamaki, openly and kind of nervously, was staring at Kyoya. Mei excused herself to get some water, and class ended while she was coming back, so the conversation didn't pick back up. She did hear them while she was taking a drink, though. They were kind of far away, but apparently Mei just has some really sharp hearing.

"Kyoya," Tamaki said. "What do you think she meant by that?"

Kyoya sighed. "I thought she was very clear, Tamaki. When a woman has several man vying for her attentions, she will often come to return the affections of only one of them, and the rest will be left with nothing."

Tamaki may have flinched away at this point, because it was at least a minute before he spoke again.

"But... that can't count for everyone! Take Haruhi for example! She's very different from other young women her age, surely she would never have such a problem."

"Well, I don't know about that," Kyoya answered gravely. "She's different, it's true, but not in the way you are implying. She's a very logical minded person, not at all one for flights of fancy. If she were ever to pursue a relationship with anyone... then, I'd have to say that there would be only one for her."

That's were all the teachers blew their whistles and called for everyone to go and change. Neither me nor Mei saw them again after that, except when Mei was leaving the girl's locker room. She saw Tamaki run by- without Kyoya- looking rather flustered and chagrined. A couple of girls were eyeing him, but now he seemed to look right passed them. Apparentely, they were very disappointed.

This is were Mei's part of the story ends, at least for now. More went on the next day that I wasn't aware of, but first I need to tell you about that night at home, when I started to notice that something was up.

Or actually, I just remembered something else that happened that day. It's not related to this part of the story, but it's going to be really important later on, so keep this one in mind.

It happened while I was standing outside the school building, waiting for the guys to come out and meet me. They had to stay behind a little late to talk to the Principal. Nothing was wrong, it was just standard procedure for new students so that they knew where everything was and where to go if they had a problem.

I was out in front of the gates, going over the syllabus for World History in my head so I'd know what books I should get out of the library over the weekend. I like to be prepared in case of extra credit work. Plus, the subject is actually really interesting, no matter how much Mei rolls her eyes and gags.

About ten minutes went by, and they hadn't come out yet. I was getting a little tired of waiting, and I started pacing. I guess I wasn't looking were I was going, because for whatever reason, someone had left an old banana peel right there on the sidewalk. I should probably mention that there was a garbage can literally three feet away. So I slipped on it, and I went flying. There was no one around to see me or hear my scream of surprise, so I was about to crack my head on the pavement and possibly break something.

That's when I felt a pair of arms around my waist. They plucked me out of the air and pulled me into a distinctly female body. My 'Savior' looked down on me. She was incredibly tall for a woman, almost Tamaki's height. In fact, the way she held me and smiled at me reminded me a lot of him too. She had short brown hair like mine, though in a slightly different, more masculine style. She gave a low chuckle as she put me down, and ran one long finger along my chin. I didn't really like that.

"You should be more careful," she said in a husky voice. "I wouldn't want to see such a cute face get damaged."

She left after that. Nothing else, just that one, vaguely suggestive comment and she was gone. Once I came back to my senses, I turned to call her back. I don't know if it was to thank her, or ask who on earth she was supposed to be, or both. It didn't matter, she was already gone. I didn't even think it had been more than a few second since she'd walked away, but, there you go. I was pretty confused and a little rattled at the time, so I tried to push it from my thoughts. The guys got there a few seconds later, and Hunny started going on about how his classmates had a little pet rabbit that they cared for in the courtyard, and that proved to be a pretty solid distraction.

So there you have it. Keep that little incident in mind for later on, we'll be going back to the main story now.

After I finished my homework for the night, it was almost dinner time. I settled for a quick bento dish, I wasn't really that hungry. While I was preparing that, everyone else was in the living room. Kyoya was on my laptop again. He'd been nice enough to relinquish for a half an hour earlier so I could look at a few websites for my Language class. Other than that, he'd been completely silent all day. It wasn't uncommon for him to go long periods without speaking, but he was no Mori. I knew right away that something wasn't right.

I thought, for a while, that they might be angry with me again. I couldn't think of why because nothing had really happened to just since the jailbreak incident. I was quickly proved wrong when everyone else acted completely normal around me. Everyone, that is, except for Tamaki. That was sign number two. He was much more open about his discomfort as well. He stayed off to the corner with one of my books while the others watched TV. At one point, they even put on an old historical drama, and Tamaki absolutely loved those things. He didn't even look at the screen. Whenever one of the others spoke to me, Tamaki would watch us, unblinking, until I walk away and do something else. We all sensed it, that's why he was mostly left alone except by Hunny. He kept trying to make Tamaki go and get his Kuma-chan so he could be properly introduced to Usa-chan. I don't think he ever got anywere with that.

Around bedtime, I finally had enough. After I said goodnight to everyone, Tamaki started after Hikaru and Kaoru to my dad's room. Kyoya was still on my laptop (out of all of them, he slept the least) and Hunny and Mori were already in my room. There was nothing and no one to interfere.

"Tamaki," I said. I looked him right in the eye. "Is everything all right?"

I figured there was no sense beating around the bush. The last time this happened, Tamaki had needed a little prompting before he told me what was bothering him. This time... it went a little differently.

"Everything is fine, Haruhi. There is no problem at all."

He ran a hand over my head as to say goodnight and went into my Dad's room, sliding the door shut behind him. I stood there alone for a while, feeling even more unnerved now than before. I couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was about to happen. It was another reminder of how very human they all were, especially Tamaki. They could even lie to my face.

posted by Haruhi at 9:38 pm 0 comments