In the end, Pumpkin and Haruhi didn't study that day. But Pumpkin felt accomplished anyway. The bathroom smelled clean, and she wanted to be in there for once. Her bedroom was organized and tidy, and her clothes were washed and neatly put away. By her insistance, her father's study remained untouched. The kitchen sparkled.

Settling in finally after everyone had gone, she sipped her tea and rifled through the mail whenever her father returned. She waited for him to notice, but his conversation on the phone seemed way more important to him. He locked himself away in his study again, barely acknowleding her presence. Was this what he was reducing himself down to? He'd lost so much weight. At first she was angry at him, but soon felt overwhelmed with pity. He was losing his livelihood.

-x-

The next day she sat through her classes and did her best to pay attention, taking notes as she could. As much as she loved showing off, she needed to concentrate on her ultimate goal. The teachers reminded the students about the upcoming tests, and Pumpkin felt her heart drop. Would she be ready for it? She needed to ask Haruhi for a proper tutoring lesson. It was a long day.

"Pu-chan!" Hani and Mori met her in the hall as usual after class.

"Hey!" She smiled, trying to push her negative thoughts aside.

"Are you ready for Commoner's Day? Tama-chan hasn't stopped talking about it!"

"Yea, I brought a pull-trolley in this morning with all the extra instant noodles we had in our pantry."

Hani hung on to Mori as they walked together. "Is it true you eat them at lunch time, too?"

"Uh.. yea.. I don't really care for the food served here!" She lied.

"Or maybe it's because you have difficulty with your situation? It's okay, Pu-chan. I'll bring you extra cake tomorrow so you won't be too hungry!"

"Isn't tomorrow the weekend?"

"Oh yea! Hey Takashi, what should we do tomorrow?"

Their voices drowned out though as she noticed Kyouya outside, standing at the far end of the koi pond in front of the hedge maze. A young woman stood in front of him, and they seemed to be having a normal conversation, until she pulled out a small piece of paper with both hands and bowed to him, holding it out. He didn't move a muscle except for his mouth. The girl's reaction was to stand, pulling the paper back to herself before running past him, shoving herself against his shoulder in an almost violent way, disappearing from Pumpkin's view. Kyouya moved as he was shoved, then slowly looked up to the window that Pumpkin looked out of. He was expressionless, though she felt a shiver down her spine.

"Hey, Purple-chaaaan!" A familiar voice called out.

"What?" She turned to see one of the twins approach her.

"Enjoying the scenery?"

Her eyes glanced back out the window, but Kyouya was gone. "I.. yea." She didn't want to admit she was spying. "Hey, where's- your brother?" She couldn't decipher who this one was.

"Bathroom. Hey, Pumpkin-senpai?"

"Huh?" She looked up at him.

"Do you like Hikaru?" He seemed serious.

Now she was confused. Was he using his name in the third person? It seemed the people here did that often. Or was he referring to his brother? "Isn't the answer obvious?" She decided to go for the third option. "I think you're both insufferable!" She laughed and playfully punched him in the arm and ran off to catch up with Mori and Hani.

"Five minutes late today, Sagano-san." Kyouya was waiting for her when she entered the Music Room.

"What the- how did you get here so fast?!" He even had on 'commoner' clothes!

"I'm not sure what you mean. But today we'll be doing something.. different."

"That's right!" Tamaki appeared, wearing ripped jeans and a faded t-shirt with a sad looking puppy printed on the front. "Today we'll be accepting male customers, for the first time in our Host Club history!"

"Are you sure that's a good idea, Tamaki-senpai?" Haruhi asked, already changed into a baggy shorts and hoodie combo. "After all, the boys might be a problem for the girls who come here."

"It won't be a problem." Kyouya responded. "Mori-senpai and Hani-senpai can easily take out anyone who causes a problem." Pumpkin noted the black button-up dress shirt and khakis he had on. Sure he /looked/ dressed down, but the quality still seemed rich! She almost wanted to call him out for cheating.

"Take out as in knock them unconscious, or..?"

"Remove them from the room, of course.

"Pu-chan, Pu-chan! Look, I found a shirt with strawberries on it!" Hani excitedly ran up to her.

"Hani-senpai.. I'm.. pretty sure that's for a g-"

Mori's looming figure from behind Hani who's head shook made her change her mind on what she was saying.

"Pretty sure what?" Hani asked, excited.

"Pretty sure.. it looks good on you?" She sweatdropped.

"Yay, thanks!" He happily skipped off.

"Why not tell him?" She asked Mori.

"He was very happy to find it. If you tell him it's a girl's shirt, it might hurt his feelings." He followed Hani.

"Heeey, Purple-chan." The twins appeared again, this time in their jeans and mirror-matching shirts. "Time for you to get changed, too." They tossed a bag at her.

"Fine, fine." She emerged a few moments later in a long skirt and sleeveless top.

"Hey, how come Haruhi didn't get to wear a dress, Tono, wouldn't you be the first to push her to be in a skirt and not her hodge-podge male clothes?!" The twins shouted at Tamaki, who's face went a little red.

"It would be unsuitable, especially if you two got involved!" He shouted back.

Kyouya butted in. "On top of that, if the male students started coming on to Haruhi, wouldn't that be a problem as well? Since we are accepting them into the club today as customers."

"And you're okay if they come on to me?" Pumpkin called out.

"It's already been established that you're female, Sagano-san. So there won't be an issue there."

"So... cold.." She shivered at his words. "Oh, Haruhi-cha... -kun?"

It made Haruhi laugh. "What is it, Pumpkin-senpai?"

"Do you mind helping me with studying later? I really need help, and would appreciate if you could tutor me."

"What could I help with?"

She was embarassed to admit. "M.." Leaning in, she whispered to Haruhi.

"That's it, why's that embarassing?"

Pumpkin continued whispering, "When I started here, the first day I one-upped Tamaki-kun, and Ohtori-san wouldn't stop staring at me, and now I'm afraid his estimation of me is higher than it actually is!"

"Pfff! S-sorry! Ahahaha.." 'Rich people and their pride'. "But, isn't it a little strange, an upper classman asking a lower classman for help? Your classes teaches stuff I haven't covered yet.. Why not ask Kyouya-senpai, or Mori-senpai?"

"I really.. don't want to bother them though."

'Then why bother me?' Haruhi felt a little agitated at that statement. "I insist, after all, Kyouya-senpai is in your classes. He'll know exactly what you need help with."

Pouting didn't help her situation, and Pumpkin was left with either asking her upperclassmen, or grovelling at Kyouya's feet, and hope he wouldn't tack on more debt for his time.

Just then, the door opened and in came the customers, male and female alike.

Thankfully, everything went off without a hitch, except-

"Is this the Host Club?" A slightly fmailiar and irritated voice echoed though the room. Everyone looked up to see the Yakuza boy and his two comrades from before. "What a cheap set up." He was referring to the balloons and decorations.

"You!" Pumpkin stood up quickly, hands gripped at her sides. "What do you three want?"

"Ah- we-"

"Yes, what do you three want?" Tamaki asked in a less violent way than Pumpkin.

"We'd like-" The first one started, but the three of them ended up speaking at the same time. "We'd like to have Fujioka be our host!"

Tamaki tilted his head at them.

"Ohh, you're the three from the other day, who attacked Pu-chan in the hall, right?" Hani asked.

"Yea and before that this one assaulted-" Pumpkin felt her elbow pushed by Haruhi.

"Sure thing! Please, take a seat!"

"Wait, what?" Pumpkin looked at Haruhi, who responded with a face that meant, 'its okay'.

It got Pumpkin thinking. Did any of the other club members know about that incident where Haruhi's gender was found out by those guys? Although that might have been a 'PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD HELP ME' look. "Uhm, Haruhi.. -kun, is it really okay?"

"Of course. After all, they are new people to ask me to serve them, so it will help with lowering my de- uhm.. repaying back what I owe." She made it sound much nicer.

"BUT THEY ARE YAKUZA!" Pumpkin practically shouted at the top of her lungs.

"What?!" Tamaki threw up his arm. "Like Bossanova-kun?!"

The lead guy shouted back, "Of course we aren't! What kind of rumors do you people spread any way?!"

Kyouya responded. "In any case, because of the recent complaints received about you three, I'm afraid we'll have to send you away-"

"No, it was a misunderstanding!" One called out.

"It won't happen again!"

"We only have your best interests in mind!"

"Please forgive us!" They all bowed. "We only wish to be served by Fujioka!"

"Absolutely not!" Tamaki exclaimed, and rather loudly. "What about Purple-chan over there, go ask for her to serve you, after all, she is a girl!"

"NO WAY!" She hid behind Mori, peering around his arm. "Those guys are too reckless!"

"Hey!" Haruhi shouted. "It's my decision to serve them, and I already said I would! So calm down!"

"Mmh.." Pumpkin held Mori's sleeve a little tighter. Even she didn't feel comfortable with the idea.

"Besides," Haruhi spoke again, "everyone's here to keep an eye on them. So if anything happens, I can rely on you guys to keep these Yakuza in line. Right?" She smiled sweetly, but the three boys felt the threat.

"Hey wait a minute!" The leader said. "We're not Yakuza at all!"

"I thought your name was Yakuza." Pumpkin responded from her place behind Mori.

"What?! Why would anyone's sirname be Yakuza?! It's Yuzai! Irishida Yuzai. This is Jin Momashi, and that's Hiro Tetsuya. Please, take good care of us!"

Hikaru and Kaoru stood behind them, holding baseball bats. "Remember, one weird move out of any of you- and we'll take you out!" They bounced the bats on their hands.

"O-of course!" They nodded.

"Irishida Yuzai.." Kyouya tapped his lower lip with his pen.

Mori noticed Pumpkin had left his side, and looked around for her in his immediate area with Hani's help.

"What is it?" Pumpkin had appeared at Kyouya's side, ignoring Mori and Hani.

"It seems he is on the other end of the spectrum, from a similar upbringing as you, Sagano-san." He slapped his black book shut with a loud snap. "In other words, not really someone worth my time."

"AH-!" She felt her heart jump into her throat. He was so blunt! There was no way he was going to help with her studies now! Feeling her shoulders slump heavily, she heard her table call for her. Immediately she ran over, heavily apologizing for her delay. What a stressful day. How would she ever get anywhere if this was how her life was?

-x-

It was well after club activities were over before Pumpkin had the courage to talk to Kyouya again. The twins had left, as well as Mori and Hani, while Tamaki had fallen asleep on a couch. She busied herself with slowly helping Haruhi clean up, trying to ask Haruhi when a good time to ask him would be, but she insisted Pumpkin would have to find that out for herself.

"Is there a reason you're still here, Sagano-san?" Kyouya asked, tapping away on his laptop, not looking away as she approached.

"Yea, I have studying to do." Perhaps a straight forward approach would be better. Opening her bag, she emptied her books and papers out that she needed before sitting across from him.

"Could you be quieter?"

"Sorry." Writing out practice questions for math was the worst. And solving them proved to be more difficult than anticipated. Slumping over on her books, she muttered out, "They teach things differently here than back in Germanyyy, it's not faaair."

"Then learn how things are done here." His typing stopped. "What are your measurements, Sagano-san?"

"What!" She sat up quickly and covered her chest with her hands, face red. "What kind of question is that?!"

He looked up at her with a serious tone. "I'm starting on a picture series for the calendar for next year. Your pictures are the only ones I'm missing, and I need to know your measurements for the swimwear I'll be ordering. The twins aren't here to ask, or I wouldn't bother you with such trivial questions."

"So I'm trivial! First I 'wasn't worth your time' and now I'm trivial? How just like you, if you don't gain any profit or merit from it, you don't care anything for it! You probably won't have sex with anyone unless they paid you!"

That last statement came out of nowhere.

"Is that.. what you think?" He asked, his tone unchanged.

"Well. Yes, actually!" She was flustered, and not about to back down.

"Hm." He leaned his chin on his hand as he looked at her. "That is an interesting assumption. And here I was considering helping with your studying for the tests coming up. But if you are going to insult me in a manner like that.. well, I suppose there would be no gain for me at all in it."

"What- wait, you were seriously going to help me? I hadn't even asked!"

"Coming to such trivial conclusions all on your own.. your poor brain has already gone through so much thinking today, are you sure you wish to put it through more?"

"Don't patronize me!"

"Such a big word-"

"Please stop it!" She stood quickly. "I- I'm sorry, for what I said, I didn't mean to insinuate that you're a type of prostitute or anything, it just- I just said it, without thinking. I'm very sorry." She couldn't look him in the face. "Please don't give up on me yet. I really do need help with this."

He sat silent a moment. "The other day you were so confident in your answer in class, showing off your math skills. What happened?"

'The Host Club happened!' "As I said, things here are different than back in Germany, I'm not used to it. If you're worried about wasting your time, just know this, Ohtori!" She tilted her head up and looked him in the eye, feeling confident in this response. "You'll have competition in the business world soon enough!"

His brows raised. "With your father's failing conglomerate?" He sounded amused.

"Hah! When I take it over, you'll have me to chase after!"

A smirk appeared on the young man's face. "We'll see about that."

A/N: My longest chapter in this story yet! I hope you enjoyed it, and would appreciate feedback! I have some ideas coming up, but I'm curious to hear from you. Thank you!