"Wow Sagano-senpai, you're so cool today!"

"You look like a proper young lady!"

The women at her table made Pumpkin ill-at-ease, but she managed through it. "P-proper? Really?" A sweat drop fell behind her head.

"Yeah, you look so much older with your hair down and without all that thick heavy makeup. Did you wear stuff like that back in Germany?"

"Actually.. yea, I did. My mom let me dress however I wanted, and Bill Kaulitz was really popular for awhile."

"Woah, who's that?"

"I heard of him, he's a singer, right? Did you know him?"

"What? No, nothing like that! I just think- er, I thought he was cool, so wanted to be like that. But I see now that following in another person's footsteps blindly is really silly and childish." Now things were just spewing randomly out of her mouth! She really looked up to and still loved her idols! But being complimented on maturity was just so inviting and welcoming for a change~.

"Oh Sagano-senpai, you're so coool!" The girls chimed, and Pumpkin felt her ego stroked. She couldn't help but smile smugly. "And you're so mature!" Her grin widened as she felt in bliss at all the compliments.

"On another note." Tamaki spoke now. "Doesn't your family deal in commoner noodles?"

"Uh, some of it. Why?" She wondered what he was getting at.

"It would be really awesome if you could bring some in tomorrow!"

"Yea, yea!" The twins called out. "A commoner day, we'll dress up and everything!"

"Haruhi!" Tamaki called out to her. "You'll be in charge of it, and provide the commoner's coffee! We'll need tips and costume ideas!"

"You have /got/ to be kidding me!" The tray Haruhi was holding slammed down on on the service tray. "Do you not think before you speak? That was really insulting!" A cork had been released from Haruhi, and her temper blew. "If you knew any better, you'd keep your mouth shut on matters that you know nothing about!"

"Mommy!" Tamaki hid behind Kyouya. "Haruhi's being really scary!"

"Calm down, calm down." Hikaru and Kaoru approached her. "To make up for it, we'll have rich people's day at the next event!"

"YOU TWO ARE WORSE!"

"Haruhi. Is it possible you don't want the responsibility because exams are coming up, and you fear you won't have time to do both?" Kyouya responded cool-headedly.

"Ah.." Haruhi's eyes were shaded by her bangs. "I.. Yea. I'm sorry for blowing up like that. I would help, but I can't waste any time and need to study for these tests. And on top of that, it really doesn't interest me to get into something like "Commoner's Day" here.

"I'll help." Pumpkin spoke up. "I spent a couple of months before I started school here learning about a lot of commoner things!" In reality, she had just acquainted herself with the nearby shops after she'd gotten lost in her neighborhood. "On weekends they have sales on older food in shops to get rid of them quickly! Same thing for seasonal clothing. I know! How about we have a spending limit of like.. ten thousand yen for the whole thing! We'll get cheap balloons and streamers to decorate the place!"

"Yea, and we can get clothes on sale from the local clothing stores!" The twins pitched in. As they spoke and discussed things, the time ended for the customers and they slowly left.

Haruhi felt her cheeks go red in embarrassment at her previous outburst. "Hey, Tamaki.." She approached him after the clients had left. She kept her gaze down. "I'm really sorry." Her hand reached out for his sleeve. "I shouldn't have.. shouldn't have-"

"Oh, Haruhi my dear, all is forgiven by daddy!" Tamaki laughed as he hugged her tightly.

"Prease ret me go, yer suffercating meeee!" She gritted through tight teeth.

"Ahaha, I'm sorry, you okay?"

"Mhmm." She still sounded irritated. "Oh! We could have a hotpot!"

"A hot.. pot?"

"Yes, you take a variety of vegetables and meat and boil them together in a pot. It should be enough to feed a few people, but if we also make rice balls, it should be enough for us."

"And then the noodles, of course!"

"Oh, do we have a microwave?" Pumpkin appeared, glancing around the room. "Although hot water should do just fine. It just needs to get hot enough to soften the noodles."

It was that comment that got Haruhi wondering about Pumpkin, but she kept her thoughts to herself.

"We'll have one by morning." Kyouya snapped his phone shut.

'You're getting into this, too?!' Haruhi felt dread lines behind her head.

Leaving school, Pumpkin noticed Haruhi taking a different route than usual. "Haruhi-kakyu... sei? (underclassman)Is that correct, did I say that right?"

"Haha, yes, you said it fine. There's also kouhai (underclassman) But you can just call me Haruhi. I don't mind."

"Well, I wanted to ask if you could.. help me.. I need to study for exams too, but like you, with club activities coming up, I don't have a lot of time. I figured if we study together, we can get things done faster, you know?"

"That makes sense. I was actually on my way to grab some things for tomorrow's whole 'Commoner Day'." She said it with disapproval.

"Oh come on, we don't often get to experience things from a commoner's- well. From a different standing than our own. We only really get to experience things like that in movies and shows, not first hand. So it's exciting for them."

"Not for you as well?"

"Well.. since my father's slowly been losing money, we've had to downsize our house. We don't even have a driver any moooore!"

"Oh, poor you." The sarcasm leaked out of Haruhi's ears.

"Right? The least the school could do is provide a limo service. Gosh! Actually, I live just a few blocks from here. Why don't you come by, and I can make you some tea?"

"You live so close to school?"

"Mhmm. Then I can go with you to the market! I need to stock up on some things anyway."

"Sure.. I suppose."

But when they got there...

'This place is still huge!' Haruhi shrieked in her mind. There was a gate out front, but the house was still a good ten meters away. The garden in front was in a poor state, though. The second story loomed overhead, it reminded her of a haunted house in a way.

"Yea, it's still pretty small compared to our old house. We had stables and everything." Pumpkin whined as she let Haruhi inside. "Dad won't hire a maid either, so sorry if things aren't clean."

The smell was what got to Haruhi first. It wasn't strong, but it definitely lingered in the air. Musty clothes? Moldy trash? She removed her shoes and put on the slippers provided by Pumpkin.

"In here is the living room, though we don't use it really. In there is the dining room, we got a low table instead of a western style table. It still hurts my back to sit on the floor, but I'm getting used to it!"

There were dirty dishes all over the place! Half turned boxes littered the floor and the kitchen's counters were covered in open, empty cups of noodles. "When.. when was.. the last time.. you did dishes?"

"Huh?" Question marks appeared around Pumpkin. "What do you mean? The dishes always disappeared when I lived in our last house, I never.. 'did' them. Oh goodness, Haruhi, you pervert~" Her hand went over her face cheekily as she waved her other hand at her.

"Pumpkin! This is a serious question!"

"Huh? What?" Pumpkin looked scared.

"When was the last time your clothes were washed?"

"Uhm.. clothes are washed?" Her head tilted to the side. "Like with soap in a tub?"

Haruhi felt her body turn white. This girl acted like a normal person, but she was still just as spoiled as everyone else!

"Here, let me get you some noodles." Pumpkin turned on the hot water in the kitchen and let it run over the noodles in the cup. "Then if you let it sit a few minutes, ta-daa~ instant noodles!" She looked so.. satisfied with her accomplishment.

This was what Haruhi suspected back at the club! "Do you have a kettle?"

"A what?"

Haruhi fell into the OTL position. 'What exactly did she learn in the few months before attending Ouran?' Just then, her cell phone rang. It was her father. "Hello?" She stood back up. "I'm at a friend's house, dad. What do you mean which one? The one you haven't met, thankfully! I don't need you bothering her, too!" She hung up quickly as small anger marks vanished. "Sorry about that."

"No problem, my dad can be problematic, too sometimes. He should be out tonight, so he shouldn't be a bother. Come on, we can sit in the dining room."

"Oh..kay.." But with everything being as messy as it was, it made her so irritably uncomfortable. She wanted so desperately to clean it up!

"I'll be right back, I'm going to change. Would you like something to put on as well? I have a new dress I think you might really like! It's not too complicated or anything, and I got a really good deal on it~"

"S-sure?" She wondered how 'new' it was.

Several minutes Pumpkin returned wearing a sleeveless cotton dress that was half black, half purple. "Here it is- Hey, what are you doing?"

"Ah!" While she was gone, Haruhi had taken it upon herself to start collecting and cleaning up a bit. "S-sorry, I didn't mean to start cleaning, but- I couldn't help it!"

"Oh! I'm so sorry you had to do that!" Pumpkin handed her the package and started scooping up dishes. "You go put that on, I'll continue!" She seemed a bit flustered.

Haruhi wondered how long it'd been since Pumpkin had to do something like that on her own. Sighing softly, she wandered into the bathroom, and felt her head start to spin. This was the source of all that moldy musty stench. Old wet towels were piled in a corner and the floor had signs of mold growing. She changed as quickly as she could before leaving the bathroom in a hurry. They needed help, and fast! Health hazards were everywhere! "Hey, Pumpkin, you really need-" Looking up, she saw the front door was open and there stood the entire Host Club. They seemed to be in just as much of a shock that she did when she'd walked in. Could they smell it, too?

"Hey everyone! Come on in, sorry about this mess.. hopefully it won't be too terrible." Pumpkin smiled before turning to Haruhi. "Oh, it's a bit big, but it fits really well on you! Instead of half purple, it's half white~ Oh, here's a tag." She detached the tag and dropped it to the floor. "Hey, you guys haven't said a word since you got here, what's up with that?"

Muttering emanated from the group of young men that stood there. "Is this really her house?" "Maybe it's a haunted house!" "Or a portal to the underworld?" Among other things.

"Guys? You can come in. I promise I won't bite." She sweat-dropped.

'That's not what we're afraid of!' They all thought at once.

Tamaki reacted first. "Kyouya! Call the best maid service you can! Hikaru, Kaoru, confiscate the laundry and get rid of it! Mori, Hani-"

"What are you doing?" Pumpkin shrieked. "You can't just barge into someone's house and do that!"

'And she still has her pride..' Haruhi sighed to herself. "But, you said yourself you don't have a maid. Is that really a bad thing to have friends who look out for you like this?"

"Ohtori-san will just stack it on to my debt!"

"This time, I'll take care of it." Tamaki nodded. "But next time you won't be so lucky!"

"Wait, really?" Pumpkin's face looked hopeful. "Wow, thank you!"

'As usual, she's just like a rich person, only concerned about money!' Haruhi's dread lines returned.

It was several hours before the cleaning was complete, and the garden out front was pristine. Under Kyouya and Haruhi's orders, Pumpkin took notes of what the cleaners did, and bowed to each person in thanks before the last person left. The maid service even made food!

They sat around the low table, enjoying their food, before Pumpkin finally spoke up. "Even though you guys said not to worry about it, really, I am in your debt for this. Thank you so much!" She bowed her head low and stayed like that for a moment. A gentle hand on her head made her look up, finally. It was Mori, who sat directly next to her.

"Yeah."

A grateful smile spread on her face before she pushed herself at him, wrapping her arms around his waist. "Thank you!" She didn't see the red that appeared on his face. "And thank you, for being my friends."

How many times had these guys come through for her? Individually? As a group? She'd happily work through her monetary debt, but she'd still owe them for all the moments that had nothing to do with being rich.

A/N: Hey guys, me again~ I'd really like to know what you think so far! I've been in a writing rut lately, so it's nice to get back into the swing of things~! = u=