"What do you mean you cancelled the meeting tomorrow, there are potential clients out there I need to talk to!"

Pumpkin's father was loud on the phone in his study, and she could hear every word from her spot in the kitchen. She tried to ignore his loudness, but the subject wasn't something she could push from her mind. The company was going under, and there was little he could do about it. Which meant profits were down, and their living condition would soon follow. Her father was too proud to ask for money, and if he found out about her situation, he'd blow his shit.

"Dad! Dinner's ready!" Pumpkin sat at the table, fiddling with her chopsticks.

"Daddy's really busy right now, just save it for me, okay?"

"You've lost too much weight, you need to eat!"

"Later!" The door to his study slid shut with a loud thunk.

Sighing softly, she rolled her hands into fists and hit the carpeted floor at her sides. At that moment her phone buzzed in her pocket. "Oh." Pulling it out, she saw a foreign number, but decided to answer any way. "H-hello?"

"Pumpkin? Sweetie, is that you?"

"Mom!?" She jumped up excitedly, speech switching to German. "Hold on a sec!" She ran upstairs to her room quickly, not wanting her father to overhear her conversation. "Hey mom. How are you?"

After a few moments of pleasantries, her mother's tone grew serious. "Sweetheart. I know things are tough for you. Do you need anything? Do you want me to forward you some money?"

"What?! No! Mom, really, it's alright."

"I can up your allowance!"

"Allowance? What allowance?"

"Didn't.. Iwao give you the information for your account?" The way she said his name made Pumpkin's nerves go on edge. But she didn't want her father to go through any more hardship, or get in trouble. Still, she'd have to approach him about this subject. Why would he not tell her about this?

"Oh! That account! Of course, sorry, with everything going on with my studies and club activities, I kind of forgot about it is all."

"Well, just let me know what you need, I can get it to you as soon as I can!"

"Thanks, mom."

"Oh, did you say club activities? What do you do?"

"I... well.. it's kind of difficult to explain."

After an hour of trying to tell her about the Host Club without making it sound terrible, she finally hung up and wandered back downstairs. The food was out on the table still, cold, and her father's door still shut.

"Dad?" She asked, voice low as she slid the door partly open.

He'd fallen asleep in his chair, computer still on and displaying several windows on the screen. She would have just left it, but what her mother told her made her uneasy. Tiptoeing quietly in, she ignored his snores as she glanced over the different windows. Stock market lists, the company website, a list of employees, money figures.. all typical things. Until she saw a notice on one of the windows pop up. It was for a bank account. Very carefully, she moved the mouse over and clicked on that window. Sure enough, it had her name on it, and a list of transactions appeared. A total balance showed 45,000 Yen. But scrolling the purchases and received money, apparently her father was making a lot of unwise purchases with company shares, not all of which were even his companies. He was using HER name, and HER money to gamble! Gripping her fists tightly, she almost hit him in his chair. But there had to be a better way, a wiser way of approaching this. She could unplug his computer and beat it to a metal heap. But he wouldn't learn. His stubbornness wouldn't make a difference. Tapping her chin, she thought for a moment before making a decision. A smile slowly grew on her face as she realized what she had to do. Take control of the company from within and throw him off his current seat- figuratively.

"Eh- eh.." Shoulders slumping, she slowly walked out of the room as one face appeared in her mind. "Ohtori-san." He was the one who knew most about this, and could help her. But what could she possibly offer him that he couldn't, or wouldn't, refuse in exchange? Part of the company? Why would he care about noodles anyway? Unless.. Unless she dangled her mother's business in there, too. She couldn't do that to her mother, though. No one else knew as much about running a business as he did, and she didn't have time to go to business school before her father's mini 'empire' crashed.

All of this still weighed on her mind as she went to school the next day. All through the day, she did her best to ignore Kyouya and keep to her studies. During math, the teacher asked another surprise question, but Pumpkin couldn't concentrate enough to answer it, even though it was obvious he wanted her to answer.

Afterward, on her way to the club room, someone bumped into her harshly, knocking her back a few feet.

"Hey watch it- butch!" It was that Yakuza boy from before, with a few of his friends.

Dusting herself off, Pumpkin frowned at them as she put her bag over her shoulder. "Why don't you watch it yourself." She muttered. "I'd ask you to get out of my way, but I don't think that's what you had in mind."

"Hah! Listen to this butch-girl! Thinking you know everything!"

"Are you sure she's the one that took you down, boss? She looks pretty limpy."

"Shut up! She had a hidden attack! But really, you should watch it, girl." The 'leader' of them leaned in to her, grabbing for her arm.

"Leave it alone, bully."

"Do you really want to get into it with us, butch?"

"Yea, we can take you and your whole family out in a night."

"And if you did that, you'd have to go to prison for a very long time. If you knew who my family was, you'd probably cower in fear. Do your research before you go threatening people. Don't they teach you that in your Yakuza family-gan-" She almost said 'gang-bangs' but thought twice of it. She needed to not poke at bad things with sticks. "-gangs?"

"Why you..!" The leader reacted first, grabbing her hands and pinning her to the wall. "You'll pay for what you've done!"

"What did I do? And your breath stinks."

"Grrr. Bitch!" He slapped her with his other hand, and in response she brought up her foot hard between his legs.

"You taught me that one!" She called out as she backed away from his grasp, but she was quickly pulled up by the other two.

"Hold still, you purple-haired freak!"

"Bun-buuuun.. KICK!" A high pitched voiced echoed in the hall as suddenly a ball of pink, blue, and blonde went flying by, throwing the leader off balance and across the long hall, cracking the wall he hit at the other end. Meanwhile, a pair of strong arms wrapped themselves around the lackey's necks and they fell to the floor.

"What the-" Pumpkin was picked up and it seemed the ground grew smaller as she was pulled upward.

"You leave our friend alone, you big meanies!" Hani called, standing in front of Pumpkin. "The next time you mess with one of us, you'll have to deal with us!" He grinned as they ran off. "Wait.. that didn't sound right. Mess with us.. Deal with us?" He tapped his chin. "I need to work on my catch phrases, haha! Hey, Pumpkin, are you okay?" He looked up toward her.

"Ah!" Her head turned and saw Mori was holding her up. "GAH!" She grabbed on to him, looking at the floor wearily. "Put me down, put me down, it's scary up here!"

"It's not bad! See?" Hani jumped up and sat on Mori's shoulder.

"Mh- Mits-kuni- h-heavy..!"

"What's that, Takeshi?"

"Please put me dooown.." Pumpkin clung to Mori despite his weakening knees. "Wait, I'm not that heavy! Gosh!" Wiggling out of his arms she jumped down and dusted herself off. "And for your information, I was doing just fine on my own!" Huffing, she crossed her arms and turned her head defiantly.

"If that's so, why are your knees shaking, Pu-chan?"

"Eh?" So it seemed they were.

"That- That's because I don't like heights, and suddenly being picked up by this King Kong over here, it scared me, that's all."

The image of Mori in a gorilla suit appeared, Hani held in his hand.

"Hey you guys, running a little late, aren't we?" Haruhi appeared, a little out of breath from running.

"Oh!" Pumpkin looked at the clock tower outside. Already she was three minutes late. "Dammit, he's going to charge me more to my debt!" Turning on her heel, she bolted down the hall, leaving the others behind. Once inside the music room, she held her back to the wall and slide across it as she moved silently toward the private bathroom.

"Ah, Segano-san." Kyouya's voice had her stopped in her tracks. "Four minutes late. Another four thousand yen added."

"Why are you doing this to me!?"

"It isn't my fault you're getting yourself into trouble and arriving late."

"How did you find out about /that/?"

"Judging by the scuff marks on your shoes, the rip in your hose, the creases in your skirts, the pushed up sleeves and the mark on your face, it was a bit of a battle. Good thing we have makeup to cover that unsightly mark." He looked to Tamaki who snapped his fingers.

"Hikaru, Kaoru!"

"Boss!" The twins appeared and dragged her to the back.

"Hey- WAIT- What are you-"

Suddenly, she looked like a proper woman, hair brushed down, bangs pinned back, face expertly painted and natural looking, with her clothes spick-and-span. "Ta-daa~!" The twin boys presented her in her chair, and she turned her face to look at the group before her. Mori, Hani, and Haruhi had finally showed up to her relief.

"Now there is a woman!" Tamaki nodded, pleased with himself.

"You didn't even do anything, you big-headed babboon." Haruhi muttered loud enough for him to hear, which sent him to his corner, pouting to himself.

"You do look really grown-up now, Pu-chan!" Hani smiled at her, which caused her to smile back.

"Thanks, Hani-senpai." Standing, she gently patted his head. "Out of all these weirdos, I'm glad you're around. Would it.. be alright if I could sit with you two today?"

"Mh." Mori nodded.

"Sure!"

"Hey Kyouya-senpai. Is that alright?" Hikaru whispered.

"Since she'd be sharing her customers with Mori-senpai and Hani-senpai?" Kaoru continued.

"As long as she doesn't break anything, I see no reason not to." He responded in a calm, perhaps louder-than-usual-tone.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean!? Are you calling me clumsy?" Pumpkin called out.

"Cluuumsy-chaaan~" The twins laughed at her.

"I am not!" She flailed her arms, only to hit her bag out of a chair and on to the floor.

"See? You're a total ditz!" Kaoru called out.

"Clu-msy, clu-msy!" The twins chanted.

"Shaddaaap!" She called out as she sat at Hani's and Mori's table.

Just then, the doors opened and in came the first customers of the day.

It was awhile before Pumpkin remembered something. "Oh! Mori-senpai, Hani-senpai!"

They both looked at her, as well as the girls at their table.

"I forgot to say thank you, for earlier. You really saved my hide back there, though with a personality like my dad's, it's hard to admit when I need help. So thanks. And.. sorry you had to go through all that trouble on my behalf."

Both young men looked at each other before turning to her and smiling, though Hani more so than Mori. But it was a conversation piece, and the women at their table were all too excited to listen to the story of how 'Hani and Mori saved the gay girl', though how it got titled that, Pumpkin never knew.

"Hey, hey. Kyouya. Isn't she.. taking over Haruhi's 'Natural' routine?" Tamaki couldn't help but watch what was happening.

"No. She's a tomboy, and comes off as being gay. Haruhi on the other hand is just a natural, not-one-to-care personality. You should really learn the difference, as you are the leader of this club."

"Are you.. belittling me?" Tamaki blinked at him.

It caught Kyouya by surprise. He read through his words so quickly this time? "Hah. You take things too seriously sometimes, despite your demeanor, Tamaki. Relax." He crossed his arms as he watched the club activities unfold before them.