"Well, it seems the only one left is Mori-senpai," Tamaki said with a smile for the stoic senior. Said senior was wearing his normal bland expression, but Haruhi had learned to read behind the mask, and she saw the slight hesitance hidden deep within his eyes. She wondered if he would really relate an embarrassing story – he seemed to be back to his usual silent self this morning. As such, it wasn't really surprising to watch him turn to his cousin, eyebrows raised. Honey just shrugged and nodded, their wordless communication both efficient and impressive. She had a moment of thought where she contemplated what it must be like, to share that kind of closeness with someone. To know that words weren't necessary. Her musings were cut short when the small blond began to speak.
"So, you all know that Takashi gets...talkative and flirty when he's sleepy, right?" Everyone nodded except Haruhi. She, on the other hand, finally understood what was behind the tall one's storytelling the previous night...he must not have gotten much sleep after their dinner escapade. She almost felt bad for that, but then she remembered their shared look on the blankets and the feel of his large, warm hand in hers, and knew that she didn't have to feel guilty. As she came to that realization, Honey smiled winningly at them and began to talk.
"This all happened back when we were still in our first year of high school. Takashi was training for a regional karate tournament. About a week before the tournament, Sato-chan ended up with acute appendicitis. Takashi spent all of his time either at school, at the dojo, or in the hospital at his brother's bedside. At the end of the week, after the tournament was over, he split his time between schoolwork and Sato-chan, who was home from the hospital but still had to take it easy for a while. He wasn't getting very much sleep, but any time any of us asked him he said he was doing okay." Honey paused to shoot an exasperated smirk in his cousin's direction. Haruhi was amused to see Mori blink in acknowledgment, an almost apologetic glow in the depths of his eyes. Honey continued.
"The beginning of the week went by and everything was fine. But on Thursday things got weird. I was leaving my last class of the morning to meet Takashi so we could go to lunch. He was usually either waiting by our lockers for me, or on rare days when I was slow getting out of class he'd make it to my classroom as I was leaving. This Thursday, though, I couldn't find him anywhere. I spent most of lunchtime looking for him. I searched all of the usual places – the library, the stables, the quiet little nooks where we would sometimes just sit and enjoy the quiet. But I didn't find him in any of those places. Finally, when I was about to head back to our usual lunch area to eat, figuring he would show up on his own time, I overheard some girls giggling and sighing.
"I had been walking around so much I didn't realize I had ended up in the fine arts wing. I wondered what had the girls so excited, so I wandered a bit closer. There were four or five senior girls standing on the outside of a doorway, pointing and grinning and I could have sworn one of them said Takashi's name. Of course I had to investigate.
"It turned out that the room they were standing at was the smaller theatre. Since neither Takashi nor I had taken any performing arts classes, I had never been in the room. I excused myself and walked past the girls into the room. The lighting was dim, with a spotlight on the center of the stage. And then I saw Takashi."
"Mori-senpai was on stage?" Haruhi asked, her question aimed at Honey while her eyes rested on the kendo master, gauging his reaction to this entire situation.
"Yep!" Honey said cheerfully. "Takashi was sitting at the edge of the stage. There were about a dozen girls crowded around him, a few of them even leaning on him, all wearing sappy expressions. He was sitting there playing the harp. The girls were ecstatic." Haruhi wasn't even remotely shocked at the bevy of fangirls Honey described. She was too surprised to find out that Mori played the harp. Wondering idly what other skills he might have that she didn't know about, she returned her attention to the story.
"So he was playing the harp and had a gaggle of fawning girls around him? That doesn't sound embarrassing at all," Hikaru pouted, seeming disappointed.
"Oh, that wasn't the embarrassing part," Honey said blithely.
"Then what was?" asked Tamaki. Honey's response was quite calm, despite the mischief in his eyes.
"The embarrassing part would be that he was dressed in full cosplay attire as the title character from Alice in Wonderland."
Everyone stared. Hikaru and Kaoru were the first to unfreeze, guffawing as the leaned against each other for support. Haruhi laughed as well, once she'd gotten over the shock of imagining the 6'3" silent brunette in a blue dress, white apron, blond wig, and Mary Janes – as well as assuring herself that Mori wasn't unduly upset by the retelling of this story. Kyoya cracked a grin but said nothing. No one would have expected him to anyway. Of them all, though, the strangest reaction came from Tamaki. He was gazing at Mori with a confused, slightly speculative expression.
"Alice? Really?" the blond asked in a thoughtful voice. "For some reason I'd have an easier time picturing you as the dormouse."
Haruhi's attention snapped to the blond King, and she gaped at him wordlessly, but he was too deep in thought to notice her scrutiny. She would have asked him where he had goten such an idea, but at that point her attention was drawn back to the small senior as he'd begun to speak again.
"Apparently Takashi had been on his way to meet me when one of the girls in his class asked for his help. She was in the drama club, and they had a very large set piece that they had to move for the performance that evening, but it was too heavy for them to manage on their own. So she asked if he could give them a hand."
"What does that have to do with Mori-senpai's Alice cosplay?" Kaoru wanted to know. After a brief glance shared between Mori and Honey, they both shrugged. The talkative blond shook his head.
"I never found out. And after the fact, Takashi could never remember how they talked him into it – after all, he had been almost constantly awake for four or five days straight by that point.
"Anyway, it would have been funny enough if all he had done was dress up and play an instrument, but as I stood there inside the door one of the girls coaxed him to his feet and convinced him to dance with her and her friends. They had no music going or anything – they were just dancing to tunes in their heads. It looked like they were showing him some sort of choreographed steps, and after a few walkthroughs with him, they all turned to sit on the stage and watch him as he did it all by himself. I don't know what kind of dance it was, really. There was a lot of bouncing and leaping and spinning. It was really cute!"
Haruhi stole another glance at Mori, but to her shock this time he was looking right back at her. His expression was a combination of sheepish and worried, and with a sudden and rare flash of insight she realized he was concerned with how her opinion of him might have changed with the tale Honey was telling. She had the urge to get up and give him a hug, but now was not the time for that, not with everyone else sitting around. Instead she smiled at him, letting him know silently that nothing she had heard would make her think any less of him. His lips twitched in an almost smile. And his cousin was still talking.
"He didn't notice me heading towards him, but once I hopped up on the stage he stopped in his tracks. Then he looked down at me with this horrified expression and said 'Mitsukuni? Oh no. I missed lunch, didn't I?'" Honey giggled. "All I could do was nod. I was trying so hard not to laugh. It was such a strange moment. He shook his head, asked me to wait for him, and disappeared backstage. It was about ten minutes later that he came back out, but he was wearing his uniform again. He took a moment to thank the girls for an 'absolutely lovely time and a wonderful dance', and they all sighed and giggled some more. I think they may have eventually gotten up the courage to try and hug him but just then the bell rang, so instead of sticking around any longer we just went straight to class."
"And that's it?" Hikaru asked. Honey thought for a minute.
"Well, yeah. I mean, the next day a lot of the girls were trying to follow him around and talk to him or get his attention. But I made sure he got a lot of sleep the night before, so they gave up pretty quickly. I found out later one of them had taken a picture – I don't know what happened to it. Do you, Takashi?" he said curiously. The tall boy shook his head. "Hmm. Oh well. Maybe we'll be able to find it someday. I think it would be cute to put it up on our website!" Haruhi knew she wasn't imagining the look of alarm that flashed in Mori's eyes ever-so-quickly, but then Honey laughed and she understood that he was teasing the brunette. She wasn't the only one to chuckle.
"Anyway, Takashi considers that his most embarrassing moment, though he doesn't remember it all."
"I remember enough," the subject said in his deep, even tone.
"I can see why you would think that, Mori-senpai," Haruhi murmured, directing a tiny smile at Mori in understanding. After a moment of quiet, she spoke up again. "Well, I guess that's everyone then!" she exclaimed cheerfully.
"Except you," said Kyoya in a low voice. She refused, absolutely refused, to visibly give into the shiver it caused, forcing herself instead to meet his gaze with a nonchalant air.
"Yes, but I was exempt," she pointed out. His glasses glinted and his smile was dangerous.
"True. But someday you won't be." Promise and threat in that velvet tone, and damned if she didn't feel her cheeks heating slightly. To cover, she cleared her throat and spoke.
"Okay, Kaoru," she announced with a grin. "It's your turn to ask us a question."
Author's note: Wow. Somehow I missed the fact that the last chapter was chapter 50. That seems like a landmark. I never would have imagined it going this far - and to realize that, when I consider the storyline in my head, it's still really just starting...well, it's both daunting and amazing. :)
I know this chapter is a little shorter, but I wanted to give our quiet host a place all to himself. Plus, the next chapter will likely be much longer and as I still haven't figured out how to break it anywhere without it messing up the whole flow of the story, this was the best idea.
That being said, I wanted to also send out a birthday shout-out to Anilegna. Happy birthday! I hope it was awesome! And you have no idea how humbling and flattering it is to know that you created an account for the sole purpose of following this story. All of the warm feels. :-D