A/N: Hey y'all! Thanks for continuing to read! I really appreciate the support. ^^
Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran High School Host Club or the following song.
"And the shadow of the day will embrace the world in grey, and the sun will set for you." - Shadow of the Day, Linkin' Park
I make it through the first month and a half of school without a nuclear breakdown. I feel proud of myself; grades are good and all. I should get a reward.
The job at the club is going well; better than I expected, really. I just sit there and play and no one bothers me. Just how I like it. I take a look around every so often and I have to try not to gag; these stupid girls are practically swooning over them. It's like if Tamaki or any of the others step in dog crap there'd be a line of fangirls a million miles long to like it off their royal toes. Give me a break.
It's not just the girls that are giving me trouble. I get tripped in the hallways occasionally and sometimes my books ''accidentally'' get ripped out of my hands and thrown on the floor. I don't know what their problem is; I know the girls are only jealous, but why are some guys doing it as well? I don't know. I try not to dwell on it; it has to go away eventually.
Tamaki sometimes plays duets with me; He's not that bad; pretty good, actually. But he continues to gush over how awesomely creative I am. He can talk for hours. All I have to do is nod and "uh-huh" a couple of times. The girls ooh and ah over him and then they give me a death glare like we're dating or something.
Hunni-senpai has fallen in love with me. Everytime I walk into the room he yells my name and gives me a hug. It's really cute, actually, and I don't mind. He's like the little brother I've never had and my new best friend. Sometimes while I play he asks me to play a song, one of his favorites, and I do and he hums happily along. He always gives me a slice of cake and jabbers on about school and kendo and his teachers and something funny Mori did the other day. I should record his voice and listen to it when he's not around.
Haruhi and I have become friends too; we share the same interests and talk a lot about how much of an idiot Tamaki is. She's the first friend I've had in a long time.
I can't help but wonder about Kyoya, though. Can't those girls tell that his smile is fake, or that he probably doesn't even care about them? oh, I forgot; they're stupid, so they must not know. I don't even know why I'm wondering this - sure, he's smart, popular, always writing in that notebook of doom - but I don't know why I care so much. I shouldn't, really.
The club is over for the day; I'm packing up my sheet music and head over to the couch and pull out my homework. No point in going home, so why not do it here? It's nice and quiet now that the fangirls have left; my ears still ring with their squeals, though.
I pull out the English homework - Romeo and Juliet questions - and a pencil. I begin to write the answers in peace until a voice above me says: "hey." I look up and see Kyoya. Weird; I thought he already left.
"Hi..." I say. He smiles and I give a small smile back.
"Homework?" he asks, sitting down on the couch across from me. I nod. "English?" he asks again, looking at the paper. I nod again and before I know it I'm talking.
"Romeo and Juliet..." I say, with disgust in my voice. He chuckles.
"Don't like Shakespeare?" He asks. I shake my head.
"I love Shakespeare, but I hate this play." I erase a couple of answers and rewrite them. "I mean, what are they trying to teach us by making us read it? Don't marry your sworn enemy and then kill yourself?"
He laughs. I look up in slight surprise. I had never heard him laugh before. It was...musical, I suppose. Rich and full of a brief moment of happiness. I smile softly.
He stops laughing after a few moments and says: "I've been thinking that same exact thing for the longest time." he grins. "it really is kind of stupid." I nod in agreement.
"So how've you been?" he asks in his 'I'm-a-host-of-Ouran-High-School voice'.
"I'm good," I say, lying through my teeth.
He buys it. "That's good," he replies, a small smile bending his lips. I nod.
He asks a few more questions: how's school going, how long have you been playing piano, etc. What surprises me is that I answer them somewhat truthfully. I don't know why; I know he's not really interested. Probably for business purposes. Maybe new stuff to write in his Death Note notebook.
After a few more minutes the homework is done and I begin packing up. I tell him it was nice talking to him, but I really should be heading home. He says he understands and that it was nice talking too. I stand up and a small photograph falls out of my lap. Damn. I forgot I took that out. I reach for it, but he gets it first. He picks it up and takes a look at it.
"This your sister?" he asks.
"Yeah," I say, trying to swallow my oncoming tears. "That's Natsuko." He studies it a bit more, then says:
"She's quite pretty." I'm not surprised when he says this. Natsuko got the beauty when she was born and I got the plainness. I nod and take back the photo, putting it in my pocket.
"I have a question. How come I couldn't find anything about her on Ouran's records?" he asks.
My fingers freeze and my heart skips a beat. I can feel vines growing out of the ground and weave them into a tight spiral around me until they reach the ceiling and I can barely see him through the thorns. They block out most of his words. I avoid his questioning gaze and look at the floor.
"She's dead..." I hear my lips say. "She died this past summer..." I can't look back up at him because I don't want him to see the tears perched on the ends of the lashes, waiting for the cue to fall.
"Emiko-" he begins.
"I have to go." I say, and I pick up my bag and run, run, run until my feet hit the front step and I open the door and run up to my room, not even bothering to turn on the lights. I go to my closet without putting down my bag and bury my face in old clothes that haven't fit for years and scream and cry until there are no sounds left under my skin.