Chapter 4: The Unsuspecting Transfer

"You don't have to go to Kogei High School anymore. You're coming to Ouran instead!"

"Wh-What do you mean?!"

"We're going to be classmates! Isn't that great?" Renge clutched Ella's hands and began spinning the two of them in circles, giggling uncontrollably. "Well, not quite classmates, since you'll be a second-year, but—"

"We talked about this, Renge. My grades aren't good enough…!"

But the lady manager wasn't listening. "We'll have so much time together! And just think of all the projects we can get started on!"

"Are you listening to me? I can't afford this, and I—"

"And you can be a part of the host club with me and help brainstorm ideas!"

"I can't come to Ouran!"

The declaration rang through the room, and Renge stopped spinning. Ella tugged her hands free and stiffened her shoulders, looking angrily at Renge for the first time in her life. She could feel all eyes suddenly on her, jolted by the outburst. But for once? Ella didn't care. This needed to be said.

"Ella…?"

"No, Renge. I'm tired of the way you ignore everything you don't want to hear. I'm tired of dealing with your… y-your possessive enthusiasm!" she scolded, throwing her hands into the air in resignation. "You decide you want something, and you steamroll everyone else's input until you get it! I know you mean well, but this has got to stop."

Renge was shocked by this sudden outburst. Rarely had anyone spoken to her like this, and having it come from one of her best friends made it hurt even more. "But you…" she mumbled. "Don't you want to come to Ouran with me…?"

"I don't know!" Ella shouted, trying desperately to refrain from ripping the perky pink bow out of Renge's hair. "I don't know because we haven't talked about you doing any of this!"

She grasped her own hair in frustration, on the verge of pulling it out. But when she looked up and saw Renge's distraught face, it was enough to bring her back down to earth. Miraculously, it seemed Renge didn't know what to say for once. Realizing what she had just caused, Ella suddenly felt a pang of guilt jabbing at her gut. She took a deep, calming breath and let her hands fall back to her sides. "Look… it's been a long day," she uttered. "I need to go, alright? I'll see you at home. We can talk about this later."

"But there's a car waiting out front—"

"Then I'll just—!" Ella paused, taking one more breath. "I'll just walk, okay?"

Of course, that wasn't exactly possible. Renge's estate wasn't quite within walking distance of the school, but Ella needed the space. It had been a strange afternoon—first, she found out about a love confession she never wrote; then she fell out a window and had her life flash before her eyes; and then she found out she was transferring schools against her will. And all of this was happening in a country that was new and unfamiliar to the foreigner. It was all an awful lot to take in, and Ella just felt like she needed to walk it off. So with that in mind, she turned her back on music room #3 and left, anxious to find her way out of the building.

She shoved open the main doors of the high school building and scurried out of there, thankful for the fresh air. Haphazardly pulling out her map, it was twisted and turned as she tried to find her location. "I've gotta be near this thing… somewhere…" Ella uttered through gritted teeth. She felt the building frustration bubbling up inside her as she continued spiraling into a frenzy. Gripping the map even tighter, she nearly tore it in half, her glare continuing to burn through it in an attempt to read it. But it was no use—she was just too frustrated at this point. "Geez, and now I can't even read a stinkin' map!" Ella cried, crumpling the map into a ball, throwing it at the ground, and collapsing in defeat onto a nearby bench.

She buried her face in her hands, silently cursing herself for her explosive behavior. "Pardon me," a familiar voice said, "but I think you dropped this."

Ella lifted her head to see Haruhi standing before her. His school bag was tossed casually over one shoulder, and in his other hand was the crumpled map. He held it out to her as some kind of offering and wore a sweet smile of reassurance on his face.

"Oh… Thanks." Ella hesitated, gingerly accepting the crumpled paper. She wasn't really sure what to say to him—mostly because she wasn't sure why he was there. She barely knew him—or any of the hosts—so it certainly wasn't like they owed her anything. They couldn't have come here to help… But still, Haruhi continued to just stand there, as if he was waiting for something else from her.

"I…" Ella started to say something, but stopped. What even was there to say? "I…" After shouting such mean things at Renge… She didn't belong here, and she needed to leave. She needed to get off this campus and never look back. Since showing up here, all she'd done was make a fool of herself in various ways, and she stuck out like a sore thumb. Frankly, at the moment, Ella just wanted to disappear.

She let her face fall into her hands again as she felt like melting into a puddle. "I've just never been so embarrassed in my whole life…!" she groaned, her voice muffled by her hands.

As if the confession was finally the invitation Haruhi had been waiting for, he took a seat next to Ella on the bench. He didn't do anything yet, as he could tell there a rant coming on from Ella.

And sure enough, he was right. "I mean, not that this isn't anything new, but she's just so presumptuous! You know what she did earlier today?" Ella rambled. "She wrote Mori-san a love confession and said it was from me!"

Ah, Haruhi thought, well, that explains the ambiguous 'weird thing' Renge did earlier…

"All because she thought he was my type? It was just so ridiculous…" Ella breathed, but only for a second. "A-And then, to leave me alone with the host club, when she knows I get all weird in those kinds of situations? She's lucky that accidentally falling out a window was the only stupid thing I did!"

Haruhi just nodded along, letting Ella blow off the steam she needed.

And the thoughts kept flying. "And don't even get me started on the whole transfer thing! I couldn't tell you how many times she begged me to apply to this school, but my answer was always the same. Sure, it'd be great to be in the same place, but it just wasn't possible! I honestly don't know how I could've made that any clearer to her!" Ella huffed, crossing her arms. She stared off into space as her energy was slowly leaving her, deflating like a balloon. "Coming here would have been like a dream come true… B-But I was just happy to go where I could, you know? So I got all settled with the idea of attending Kogai this semester, and now she throws this wrench into the mix…?"

With an exhausted sigh, Ella collapsed back against the bench, her arms tumbling to her sides. The following silence lingered for a while as the tension in the air seemed to settle. The rant was done for now, and Ella felt like a weight had been lifted from her chest. But in all honesty, she'd nearly forgotten that Haruhi was sitting next to her.

Of course, when she did remember, she immediately straightened up. "Oh my gosh, I-I'm sorry. That was so rude of me…!"

But Haruhi only laughed. "No need to apologize. I know exactly how you feel," he said, turning to stare off into the distance. He looked like he was deep in thought. "These people—they can be suffocating at times, it's true. But the things that make them suffocating are the same things that make them… strangely fantastic, aren't they?"

Ella gave Haruhi a confused look. "I… I don't understand."

"Well… how do I put this…" He scratched the back of his neck in thought, searching for the perfect example. "In my first few weeks as a host, there was a girl who came in everyday that seemed to switch hosts quite regularly. When the club realized this was her attempt to capture the attention of her disconnected fiancé, everyone stepped up to mend the broken relationship. Even amongst the planning of a huge school event, the host club made it a priority to help these two to find happiness again." Haruhi leaned back and stretched, taking in the fresh air as a crisp breeze suddenly blew by. "Despite the fact that the problem had nothing to do with them, they knew they had the capacity to do something about it—so they did. And I think that's… oddly fantastic."

Ella had to admit it—Haruhi was right. After all, there was a reason she and Renge had stayed friends for so long, even despite the distance. And in all her current frustration with the otaku girl, one story in particular came to mind.

"You know, there was this one time… Renge came back to the states to go to another convention with me, and we thought we would dress up as Princesses Peach and Daisy together. Fun, right?" Ella cracked a smile as she recalled the fond memory. "She was bringing these, like, incredibly lavish dresses over from France, but when she got here, mine didn't fit. It was too small." Ella smirked, shaking her head as she thought about how unbelievable the resulting outcome was. "And you know what she did?"

"What?"

"Well… to be entirely honest, I don't really know what she did. But she kicked and screamed—metaphorically, I mean—until, somehow, another dress was made in France and shipped overnight to my house. And sure enough, we ended up going to the convention in our matching costumes. Just as we planned." Ella looked sideways at Haruhi, who didn't appear surprised by this in the least. "Even though I insisted it was okay—that I could just reuse one of my old costumes—Renge knew how excited I'd been to wear that silly dress. And she went to the ends of the Earth and back for me to make sure it happened."

Haruhi smiled, as it was obvious that Ella seemed to be coming around. "It sounds like Renge's really been looking out for you, huh."

"Yeah… And I know this whole transfer thing is just more of the same…"

"Hm?"

"I mean, this school is so prestigious and so beautiful, it'd be totally crazy if I came here… It's just that, well, Renge's so overbearing sometimes that most of her shenanigans often come across as selfish, you know? It's easy to forget that's not who she is." Ella scooted back, propping her heels up on the edge of the bench and hugging her knees to her chest. "So when she filed my transfer paperwork without telling me—and, by the way, I still don't know how she got away with that—I just got so frustrated that I… I exploded…"

"When really, she knows how much you'd love to spend your semester here, and she's just doing everything in her power to make you happy," Haruhi finished, feeling entirely able to relate.

"Exactly. I mean, sure, she's a little misguided sometimes, but… but that's no reason for me to yell at her!" Ella groaned, dropping her face into her knees. After having hashed all this out with Haruhi, she felt so ashamed for the way she acted towards Renge that she couldn't even bear herself.

Haruhi immediately straightened up at this, patting Ella's back. "W-Well, no need to be too hard on yourself…" he chuckled awkwardly. "It's not like you were totally out of line. She was being a bit over the top."

"But everyone saw it!" Ella wailed dramatically, almost comically. "She probably hates me now!"

Haruhi waved his hands hurriedly. "Er, no… I'm sure that's not the case…" This was snowballing quickly. He paused in thought, recognizing how hysterical Ella currently was. Watching her blow this so far out of proportion made him realize that Ella and Renge were perhaps more similar than he had originally anticipated. They appeared to have totally opposite personalities at first glance, which generally caused people to wonder how they were even friends in the first place; however, Haruhi was now seeing another side of Ella, and suddenly, the unlikely friendship made much more sense.

Ella messily ruffled her own hair, overwhelmed with regret. "I can never show my face to her! Never again!"

"Listen," Haruhi said calmly, getting up from the bench and placing a sympathetic hand on Ella's shoulder. "You just need to talk to her and tell her what you're feeling. There's nothing wrong with what you did, and if she's as good a friend as it seems, she'll understand."

Ella looked up into Haruhi's big brown eyes for a brief moment before averting her gaze and staring guiltily into the ground. "Yeah… I guess you're right…"

Haruhi smiled at that. "You know, if you ever need a break from all this craziness, you're welcome at my place anytime. I'm sure experiencing a new country by yourself is scary enough as it is, but to add to that living on Renge's estate? You must not even have time to breathe."

"Really?" Ella's eyes sparkled at the offer. How on earth had she managed to make a friend through all that rambling? "That sounds wonderful, Haruhi. Thank you!"

Haruhi nodded, slinging his bag back over his shoulder and brushing off his pants. "Well, I've gotta get going if I expect to make it to the supermarket in time, but—" he waved as he started walking off down the path, "—I hope I'll see you at school tomorrow!"

Ella smiled as she watched Haruhi go, her eyes lighting up as she waved goodbye as well. She took a few moments to gather herself, letting the sporadic breeze wash over her. The path had been strange, but it seemed Ella had made a friend in Haruhi today. So perhaps, despite all the embarrassment along the way, today had all been worth it?

She stood up and smoothed the wrinkles from her pants, just as the breeze brought something tumbling up beside her. She glanced down to see a black, scuffed-up, silk top hat roll up and bump her in the ankle. Immediately recognizing it as the one that had dropped from her head when she'd fallen out that window, she picked it up and dusted it off. It wasn't in the greatest condition anymore, but she still wanted to return it.

Ready to get home and fix things up with Renge, Ella placed the hat on her head for safekeeping, unfolded the crumpled map from earlier and took a deep breath, starting down the path. Along the way, she took out her cellphone and made a call back to the estate, requesting that a car be sent to pick her up. She was perfectly happy to say her goodbyes to Ouran for now… But would she be coming back?

Before she knew it, Ella was being whisked home, and she soon found herself standing at the massive front door of the main mansion.

"Well… here goes!" Puffing up her chest with confidence, Ella strode into the mansion and took the one path she knew well. Strolling up the expansive staircase, she followed the way down familiar hallways until she found herself at Renge's room. The door was closed, the lights were out, and almost no sound came from the room… But the faint clicking of buttons from within was all Ella needed to hear to know that Renge was indeed inside.

She knocked twice, very carefully. When there was no response, she tried again, this time adding a mousy, "Renge…?" But still, there was nothing. Just the continuous clicking of buttons.

Ella sighed, warily opening the door herself. When she poked her head in, she saw the avid otaku hunched over a game controller and seated in front of a large television screen, focused quite intensely on the game at hand. Her facial expression was totally deadpanned. It was almost as if her spirit had temporarily left her body, and she could only sit there and wait for it to return.

But when Ella cleared her throat, Renge suddenly perked up. Her spirit returned to her in a flash when she realized who was trying to get her attention, and she immediately sprung into action. "Ella! You're back!" She leaped at her friend for a giant hug. "I was so worried about you!"

"Heh, yeah…" Ella trailed off, returning the show of affection with a gentle hug of her own. "Listen, I'm really sorry for how I acted earlier. With everything going on, I was feeling really anxious, and I just… Well, I overreacted."

"No, I'm the one who should apologize," Renge interjected, pulling out of the hug. She stepped back and frowned uncomfortably, twiddling her thumbs and averting eye contact. "I let myself get carried away with my excitement. If… If you don't want to go to Ouran with me, I understand…"

"But I do!" Ella insisted. "I'd love to. It's just that—even if all the planets aligned at this very moment, you know I still wouldn't be able to get in."

Renge's face brightened up at this. "So you'll come then?!"

"…What?"

"To Ouran!" Renge clasped her hands together in excitement. "I talked admissions into it, and I've already taken care of all the payments. Tuition, uniforms, textbooks… All accounted for!"

"…Wh-What?!"

Renge placed her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on. You may not be able to pay up, but it's not like I can't. And with a little good luck and a lot of persuasion, there's nothing you can't get an admissions department to agree to!"

She laughed, but Ella just stood there in shock. "Renge, you can't!" She gasped for air as if the news had landed her a punch right in the gut and knocked the wind out of her. "I-I mean, I'm absolutely flattered, really—but I can't accept a gift like that!"

"Oh, boooo. I want it to happen just as much as you do. Besides…" Renge paused to whip out that familiar yellow uniform once again. "…Just think how cute you'll look in this uniform!"

Ella could protest all she wanted, but she knew Renge wasn't going to take no for an answer. Her eyes lit up, and she wore a huge smile from ear to ear. She could barely contain her excitement—she was actually going to attend Ouran Academy! "I-I don't know what to say…!"

"Then don't say anything," Renge said, crossing her arms and smiling smugly. Her mission had been accomplished, and she was proud as all get out. "But I've had this controller set up for you since I got home, and it's dying to get some use. Whaddaya say?"

Ella was absolutely beaming. "Superhero Adventure Mission 3?"

"The one and only!"

Ella squealed, her excitement finally bursting forth as she rushed at the extra controller. For having such a rough start to the afternoon, things had turned out all right after all. She'd made a new friendship and mended an old one, and she was ending the day with an acceptance to the esteemed Ouran Academy—that, and a play-through of Superhero Adventure Mission 3. One of her all-time favorites.

That night, Ella barely got any shut-eye. She was far too excited for the adventure that awaited her the next day!

A/N. Tried to stir some drama in there to keep things moving. ^^ At this point, the host club characters will all be a lot more involved in the story, so stick around for an update reaaaal soon. Thanks so much for reading, and don't forget to leave a lil' review! Critiques always appreciated. :D

(Also, wow I just realized there was a way to reply to reviews. /)_o I am a fool. Do people normally reply to those things? Anywho, I might get around to actually replying to some… ^^" So if you were expecting a response and never got one, I'm terribly awfully sorry about that. n)