So, the Blonde was named Tamaki? As in, Tamaki Suoh? Things just get more interesting. But Kyoya made a very bad move in bringing up the painting. I was honestly hoping they were REAL rich kids and didn't give a damn if something like that painting was ruined. But as I faced Kim and gave her a nod to tell them, she cleared her throat shyly and stood appropriately like a charming lady.
"The painting is 'Lilies in the Summer' by Janet Horikazu, a woman from America. Judging by the golden frame, its design, the type of oils used for the painting, and the background color and hue, I can tell it's only a replica. But even so, 'Lilies in the Summer' is a very famous painting and its replicas are very, very valuable." She says. Her ringlet curls bouncing as she moved her head side to side, she was beginning to feel nervous and out of place. But as soon as Kyoya began applauding she looked up and stared at him.
Kyoya regarded Kim with appraising eyes. "That is correct, Raven-san," he said, still sly. What sort of trick does he have up his sleeve? And he even made Kim begin to flush in the cheeks!
"So, Matsumoto-san," he continued turning back to me, "how do you intend to pay for such a valuable replica of this famous painting?"
Blonde (Tamaki), Small Blonde, Orange-twins, and the brown-haired boy stared at me as my expression went from cautious to utterly dumbfounded. "P-Pay for it!?" I finally got out. "That's like asking me to give you all the money in the world! Do you know how much that thing costs?!" I snapped.
"I do," he replied, glasses glinting. "That's why I don't feel the need to pay for it myself—after all, you were the one who kicked Tamaki into it and causing him to tear it."
I began arguing over this factor with him for the next several minutes before hearing Kim whimper and seeing why that was so. The twins began ganging up on her and her face was becoming ever so flustered with them around her.
"Hey, hey," intervened an orange-twin.
"How much does that cost anyways?" his brother asked.
"Why don't you tell them, Raven-san?" Kyoya suggested, looking with amusement in his eyes. She shook her head as she was too twitter-pated with the twins around her and Kyoya looked to me to give the answer. "Then Matsumoto-san, shall you say it?" He says calmly.
I bit back a nasty remark and started muttering, which caused Kyoya to teasingly bend over with a hand behind his ear and say, "Sorry, what was that you said?"
"T-Twelve million dollars..." I seethed.
"Woah!" the twins exclaimed. "Really?!" Not even knowing the price of a painting they had in their own room, I eagerly wanted to slap my forehead but resisted and contented with biting my nail.
"Now isn't that a mighty fine you put yourselves into," Kyoya said.
I felt my face go red and glared right at the still-smiling Kyoya. "So?" I snapped. "You know we entered on free scholarship. You should've figured out that we don't HAVE that kind of money. Do you really expect us to pay this off?!" From the corner of my eye, I saw the brown-haired boy look at me in pity—as if he could really relate to our situation. That was when I realized who exactly the brown-haired boy was—or rather, the brown-haired girl.
"Haruhi Fujioka," I said suddenly. The brown-haired girl looked up, surprised. "I know you're a girl." I smiled sweetly, and obviously it wasn't the best thing to mention what gender Haruhi was. The whole club, minus Haruhi and Kyoya, took in a shocked breath and stared, wide eyed, at me. "What?" I asked bluntly. "You think I can't tell?"
"Nooo!" shouted Tamaki. "Not Haruhiii!" He leapt up, casting the painting aside, and rushed over to stand between Haruhi and me. "Don't you tell anyone!" he yelled, pointing right at me. "Don't take poor Haruhi away from her poor daddy!" he cried.
I stood there in shock of what he said and pointed at him while looking to Kim in disbelief. "Is he mental?" Kim walked over and was in doubt he was ever sane and I laughed to that and felt that was a good remark.
"Don't be so mean to Tama-chan!" exclaimed a squeaky, annoying voice. Small Blonde was rushing to protect Tamaki—how sweet. Of course, Small Blonde's got his big companion right behind him. Suddenly, I heard a loud 'THUMP, CLICK!' as the doors to the room closed and locked tight. I whirled around to find two orange-haired mischievous boys grinning while leaning against the wooden door like they're cool.
"It looks like you and Raven-san are going to have to stick with us for a while," came Kyoya's smooth voice. I turned to face him full in the face.
"So? Care to explain?" I asked dryly.
Kyoya chuckled.
"Well, first, you've figured out our Club's very special secret. No one outside of this Club knows that Haruhi is a girl—and we'd like to keep it that way." Kyoya started circling me like a vulture circles his prey. "And second, you've had a direct influence in ruining a very valuable painting worth $12,000,000. It's only fair you pay back what you owe, right? And since you and Raven-san clearly can't afford paying up front, we'll need to make a deal, Matsumoto-san."
"Will you just get to the point?" I had a bad feeling where this was headed…but I hope it's not what I think it to be.
"You'll...need to work for the Host Club." Opening his black notebook again and scribbling something down, my mouth dropped.
"I have to what?!"
"Work," Orange-twins said, "for us!"
"Why for you?" I was speechless. Work? For THEM? "Why can't I just get a job at a store? Or a café even?"
Kyoya, as sly as ever, said, "But isn't it more convenient to work right in your school? Besides, we're the ones you owe a debt to—so as you work, we'll calculate how much of the debt you pay off. The work is easier and less stressful than your average job." What a tempting deal. From all mine and Kim's previous jobs, we can tell you—it can get really stressful if you gotta go to work and school.
"Will I be working with you?" I asked, eyebrows raised and hoping that wouldn't be the situation here, he snapped his notebook shut and pushed his glassed up.
"Yes," Kyoya answered.
"Then no thanks." I crossed my arms and did not want to work with someone that I clearly have issues with. His wits to my own would arouse a challenge each and every day and that would be more stress than I already have. "I'd rather work 24/7 in the world's busiest restaurant than work here." Unfortunately, I was so focused on Kyoya that I didn't notice the two boys creeping up behind me until I was grabbed by the arms by the Orange-twins themselves. I was so surprised, they were able to drag me to a door inside of the room and throw me in. I landed on the ground—hard, and Kim just walked right in after me. Seems to me she broke out of her shy state and was becoming more familiar with the boys that she was calm about all this.
"Change into uniform," I heard Kyoya say outside the room. "And we'll get you started."
"What?!" I shouted furiously. I scrambled up and sprinted toward the door, but before I could get through, the Orange-twins waved at me pleasantly, closed the door, and locked it tight. I didn't stop and tackled the door. It didn't break down. "HEY!" I raged. "OPEN THE DOOR!"
"Are you two changed yet?" one of the twins asked playfully. I clenched my fist and punched the door; hearing the wood groan by my attack I knew I wasn't going to win.
"GAWD!" I screamed, banging my fist on the door again. "FINE!" Stomping away from the door I marched to the center of the room and gawked. Kim and I were awestruck. The room we were put in was actually a closet, and this closet was ENORMOUS! There were at least three racks STUFFED with all types of clothing. Kimonos, tuxedos, board shorts, gowns, dresses, and even some cosplaying outfits... It was jam-packed in here! Choose an outfit?! Now, I wasn't the type of girl to worry how she looked or what she wore. But I did have an artistic side to me- hence, the Art Scholarship-so I couldn't help but appreciate the massive amount of quality cloths. Some of these kimonos were exceptionally beautiful and I was awing the chance to wear them.
I gritted my teeth though as I knew the decision was already made for us. I guess I might as well pick an outfit and just bear through this stupid job to pay off this debt. I'lldo it for the painting I hurt, I thought defiantly. Notto help the Host Club.
I picked a simple tuxedo I saw in the corner that had the two-tailed jacket and a white collared shirt that was flattering to the neck. Putting it on with the slimming black slacks it came with, the gold cuffs that clipped onto the sleeve were a nice touch to the apparel and I buttoned the jacket nicely over the vest. Smoothing out the wrinkles and slipping on a pair of white gloves, I looked to Kim and bowed to her while taking hold of her hand.
"Do I look pleasing to the eye," I asked charmingly. She stifled a laugh as she fixed my hair to look more suave to the look I was going for and gave me approval. "You're up next Kim," I say.
She looked around for something to wear that suited her taste and she pulled down one of the kimono's. She eyed it for a moment and looked to me to help her put it on.
"You've always been one to love the traditional styles," I say.
"Can't help it, they be so comfortable." She smiled.
I fitted her into the kimono and tied the Obi round her waist. As I styled her hair up and put some pins and two hair pieces I found into her locks, her curls were accentuating her face and she looked as if straight out of the feudal era. But with her beret still on her head to hide her ears I had to situate the look to match the style in some way until I was satisfied.
"Looks great," I complimented. I raised my hand to offer an escort and she couldn't hide her smile to how fun this was turning out to be. "Shall we be off then, my lady?" I grinned.
"Yes, we shall." Both of us chuckling to how amusing this was, we heard footsteps approaching the door.
Tap, tap, tap; Knock, knock.
"We're done," I said through the door. "Open."
The noise paused, but soon the door was unlocked and swung open. Both Orange-twins gaped as we stepped out. Of course I was still irritated for them shoving me into the room like they did I was planning on showing them up while I was in character. I ignored them and walked to where Kyoya and Tamaki stood with as much dignity as I could muster, Kim walked with confidence and eerie calm as usual. Tamaki's mouth was slightly open and his eyes were widened in surprise. Kyoya still looked like a monopolizing bastard.
"Now what," I asked sourly. "Do we start dancing? Or do you want us to do back-flips?" I jested. The other boys were still gaping at our choice of wardrobe, but as I stood firm to face Kyoya, he smiled knowingly and crossed his arms.
"You two have taken quite a few jobs in the past," he spoke as if he knew everything. "So you both must know how to be a proper host I presume," asking though knowing, I cocked my head to the side.
"And if we don't?" Just wondering on this, he answered.
"Then we'll need to keep you both here until you know how."
Kim sighed knowing full well I was going to remark his comment. I didn't even hesitate. "We don't need your help. When do we start?"
"We open in about ten minutes." He says.
"Perfect—then we'll start today. Any background information we should know?" Messing with my cuffs, he simply explained.
"What can I say?" said Kyoya easily. "We're a Host Club consisting completely of the school's most charismatic males." I glanced at Haruhi for just a second. "The students of this school come here for a high class experience of service and relaxation while socializing with the members of this club."
"So basically, you serve tea and cookies while fooling around with women?" I said bluntly.
"Well, I guess you could put it that bluntly."
I smiled with a little enthusiasm and had an idea that would make them regret me working here. But before all that I needed a proper introduction with them all if I am to stay in this place.
"Why don't you tell us your names?" I said, sounding mockingly happy. "I'm Kasumi Matsumoto." Not trying to show my intentions of my plan, they all followed suit to the introduction.