Taken aback by his anger, I flinched. Kao-niichan put a hand on his brother's shoulder.
"Hikaru! Try to calm down." he said. "What's going on?" the question was pointed at me. I gulped. The confidence I had a couple of moment ago was as good as gone. Foolhardiness I had thought that as long as I talked to them everything would be solved.
Sadly enough, never anything happened like I wished it would happen. But there was no going back now, they had the right to know.
"I… am Haruhi Fujioka, daughter of the King and Queen of Japan and heiress to the throne." I said as if introducing myself for the first time to them. "I'm your childhood friend."
Dumbfounded Kao-niichan opened and closed his mouth, imitating a fish, while Hika-niichan's rage seemed to waver a bit. "Childhood friend you say." He groaned, clenching his fists tighter. "Quite a good friend are you, leaving your friends behind without notice."
"Hikaru, Haruhi, I mean, Haru…"he called me by my old nickname they often used to call me by. "She must have had her reasons."
"Don't call her that!" Hika-niichan yelled. "She's not our Haru!"
"Hika-niichan…" I called him. Surprised, with wide open eyes he stared at me.
"Hikaru." Kao-niichan said. Hika-niichan turned his back to me so I couldn't see his face. He brought his hand to his head.
"… Give me a moment." He said. Kao-niichan and I waited patiently for him to speak again.
"Why did you tell Mori-senpai and Kyoya-senpai but not us?" he finally asked.
"They found out before I could tell them."
"What about Tamaki-senpai and Honey-senpai?"
"They don't know anything."
"You didn't plan on telling us?" he continued his interrogation
"I did… After the exams."
Hika-niichan nodded slowly and looked at his brother. When he spoke, he spoke for both of them.
"We… need some time to think this over." He said.
"It might take a long time, Haruhi." Kao-niichan added, changing to my full name again. "Will you wait for us?"
I nodded, afraid that my voice would give away the disappointment I felt. "I… will be leaving first then" I said an turned around. "Make sure to attend the club activities tomorrow." I told them. "Everyone is worried about you."
I left the rooftop and descended the stairs, wiping the tears from the corners of my eyes. The pain of sadness and agony settled deeper in my heart. I felt my shoulders starting to shake as I tried my hardest not to start crying in the hallway. It had never been my intention to hurt any of my Niichans but it seemed like that's the only thing I end up doing the whole time. To be honest I had hoped for a better reaction form the twin but I guess it was naïf thinking.
They both had a short temper but I hadn't seen Hika-niichan as angry as this before. Not even that time with my former classmate could compare to the rage I had seen in his eyes today. I sighed, something I happened to do a lot these days.
The only people left who didn't know my secret were Tama-niichan and Mitsu-niichan. Would they also react like this, will they also despise me? Maybe it was futile to wait any longer than the exams.
Since Aunt Aneko was planning on revealing my identity any way, is could at least tell them before she did else they would only feel more betrayed. Or should I wait until Kao-niichan and Hika-niichan had processed the discovery? With that in mind I returned to the clubroom.
Everyone looked up when I came in again. …
Normally I didn't feel guilty about hiding my gender but I guess the brothers reaction burdened me more than I thought. I continued my duty till the club closed.
Hika-niichan and Kao-niichan also came in to apologize to Tama-niichan for skipping club activities and promised to attend again. The whole time they avoided meeting my eyes.
Mitsu-niichan smiled. "I'm glad they made up again." I nodded and agreed to his comment. Kyo-niichan and Taka-niichan exchanged some glances with each other. They probably feared that Hika-niichan would burst out in anger like last time they had seen each other. Taka-niichan looked at me with the question in his eyes; whether they had found out or not. I nodded.
Mine and the twin behavior probably gave away it didn't end very well and Taka-niichan smiled assuring to me. We finished cleaning up. Tama-niichan stretched.
"Let's go home!" he said cheerful.
We left the club room, talking about light subjects and time form time Kao-niichan and Hika-niichan made a little joke. The whole happening looked like a scene from ten years ago before we became separated. Up until now, I had avoided thinking about everything I had missed after escaping but I couldn't avoid it any longer.
This feeling I had when I was with them, it made me feel like I was home. Smiling I enjoyed the short period of happiness since it seemed Kao-niichan had forgiven me, at least a little. Though the moment was shorter than I could have predicted. I saw some movement form the corner of my eye.
"Haruhi!" both Taka-niichan and Mitsu-niichan yelled my name in panic, the next moment the widow was shattered. Pieces of glass shattered on the floor, catching and breaking the light in several rainbows.
I'm sorry, it's a bit short. I promised a double update but I'm too short on time so I'll post the next chapter tomorrow. I've decided on making a sequel and the big lines of the storyline are more or less worked out , I only lack inspiration for the beginning and the title. At the end of this part of the story I'll probably ask for help with finding a title but not before, because the following chapters are quite... plottwisting ^^