About an hour after the examination, the pity party began.

"I'll take your bag." said Hikaru

"Kim do you need help carrying your books?" asked Kaoru.

"No, I don't, please stop asking, we are fine." Kim begged, trying not to slap them away from us.

"Don't touch my bag please Hikaru." Switching shoulders for my bag, I didn't look his way.

"Aw, come on, Kasumi-chan," begged Hikaru.

"At least let me carry something." said Kaoru.

"It's fine. There almost healed," we said shortly. We rounded the corner, walking to the Host Club. The guys have been bothering us ALL FUCKING DAY. They keep offering to carry our books, in one case, Takashi just TOOK them, but I wasn't going to argue or retaliate with him. And once, Tamaki told a teacher Kim would be tardy because she was 'injured.' They're only making us feel worse. We're causing so much trouble, and it's not like we are going to use our injuries to make our lives easier. We've been taught to suck it up and deal with it ourselves. I sighed, thinking too much, as the three of us walked through the door. Everyone else was already there.

"Hello," we greeted, putting our bags down OURSELVES, while I was shooting looks at Tamaki's offer to help. "What're we doing today?"

Tamaki backed away from me, looking hesitant. "We were planning to just...uhh...plan for tomorrow's theme!" He looked proud of himself. "Yes, that's it!"

I felt my emotions go flat. "So we're just gonna sit around and talk," I confirmed, not liking where any of this was going. My eyes narrowed as Honey kept looking at me as if I was going to drop dead any moment.

"Uh...yes!"

"Why?" Tamaki flinched. I stared him down.

"Because," Kyoya said, stepping in slyly, "without planning, tomorrow's event will not be able to go through. It's only common sense we plan things out before we try them out." Knowing what the true intention was, I went along with this pathetic charade and clapped my hands. Kim just looked at me with pure confusion.

"Then why aren't we planning already?!" I said, sitting down at the table. "We only have a half-an-hour before the Host Club opens for the after school schedule!" I busied myself by looking in my bag for a pencil, noticing that almost everyone breathed in a sigh of relief. They were definitely making this up as they went along. I kept up the act of being so dumb as not to notice their obvious relief, all the way until the Host Club was closing down and it was time for everyone to leave school grounds. Everyone except me... That's right, Kim went home too, she was starting to get too much of a headache of studying to keep people at bay that she wanted to go home and de-smart herself a bit. I still haven't put on new bandages since this morning, and our nurse required us to change them three times every day. Before school, during school and before we go to sleep. But it wasn't until now that I really felt the pain in my back, and I knew that I needed to change those bandages. So I brought out math homework and worked on my last few problems, insisting that everyone leave for home.
"You guys have your own schedules to keep," I said. "And rich kids should always be on time." Haruhi already left, saying that her dad needed her home, an hour ago.

"B-But, Kasu-chan!" pouted Honey. He hugged his Usa-chan tight, as if expecting me to consider him so wildly cute that I'll go down on my knees and follow every word he says, like every single costumer we've had. "We can't leave you alone in here!"

I realized that they were still pestering me about my burn. "I only have a couple more math problems to go," I said, tapping my paper. "I won't take long, and the bus stop isn't too far. I'll be fine." I got a couple worried looks from the twins, Tamaki, and Honey. But I waved them off and soon, they obliged. I waited until everyone, yes, including Kyoya who knows so much about the school—and its inhabitants—that you'd think he LIVED here, was long gone. When it finally seemed like the school was empty, I packed my books and headed straight for the bathroom…

...to find that it was LOCKED

So I tried out the boy's bathroom. That was locked, too. I went all over the school, searching for an unlocked bathroom or classroom. Everything was locked. It was getting pretty late and I was stuck here in school with a burn that was so painful it was almost too much to bear.

Finally, I tried the Host Club's door. I should've just changed in there.

It was locked…

I was so irritated that I almost broke the door down. But in the end, I took a deep breath and leaned on the wall, sliding slowly to the ground while leaning on my siiiiiiiiiiiide, people, my siiiiiiiiiiiide.
"Who the hell goes around locking all of these goddamn doors?!" I blurted out. An idea so ingenious slowly came to mind as the stinging pain in my back slowly turned my nerves over and over in a grill. If the whole school was empty, then why not just change my bandages right here, in the hallway? I looked down the hallways, left and right. No one was here except for me.

I shrugged. Might as well

I sat cross-legged, facing the wall just in case. I took out my bandages and a pair of scissors and set them on the ground next to me. This whole thing would be done as fast and as accurate as possible.
I closed my eyes, and counted down from three. "3...2...1," Like lightning, I stripped off my shirt and grabbed the bandages. I wrapped the soft tape around my stomach, then up as far as possible to the tip of my spinal cord (a certain *ahem* bra was in the way, and there was no way I'd be taking THAT off). As soon as I was done, I snipped off the last part of bandage with my scissors, tied it semi-tight, and shoved my shirt back on. It all happened so fast that I was concerned if the bandages would stay. I stood up to check if I bandaged myself correctly. Then immediately burst out in hysterical laughter as ALL the bandages fall down, past my shirt, to the ground. It was too funny! I was laughing at my stupidity so hard that my legs ended up giving way and I sat on the floor—hard. I took a deep breath to calm myself, and smiled happily. The floor felt cool, so I kinda rolled down onto the floor, forgetting my burn for a second. Then remembering it as soon as my back touched the floor; I winced and scrambled back up. It was so painful that I was scrunching myself into a little ball, holding the sides of my neck. I started to giggle again.

"Need some help?" My laughter dropped, in partner with my smile.

"What are you doing here, Kyoya?" completely still, maybe I could pass off as a strange ornate vase in the hallway.

But I could virtually see him shrug. "I forgot something in the Club room." Which caught my attention, because Kyoya never forgets...EVER; so suspiciously, I looked up at him—to find that he had an odd smile playing at the sides of his mouth.

"Do you have the key?"

"Of course I have the key."

"Good, I need to use the room."

"To bandage your burn?" I felt a sudden kindness to Kyoya. He's the first person to acknowledge my burn. Not in a pity way, but just to acknowledge that I needed help.

"Yeah," I said. He pulled out a key from his pocket and unlocked the door as I shoved everything in my bag. We went through the doors together. I didn't need to ask him if he saw me act like an idiot outside, trying to bandage my burn. I knew he saw me, I just knew. I watched as Kyoya walked over to the table and grab his PENCIL.

Dumbfounded, "...you came back here to get your pencil?" I asked doubtfully.

"Yes," he answered. "Why?" Playfully tapping it on his chin, he seemed amused by this. I just shook my head, wanting him to get out of here so I could put my bandages on. If I had left school right away, I would've been walking home from the bus stop—where I could change my bandages wherever the hell I wanted to. But too late now…didn't plan on this outcome. However, when I thought Kyoya had gathered up enough pencils and was about to leave, he put his bag on the table and pulled out a chair.

"Sit there," he said, gesturing vaguely to the chair as he started to search his bag. I looked surprised at him, a little wary. But in the end, I sat on the chair straddle style. He mentioned he could help, so I slid my shirt off and covered my chest with the back of the chair and repeated the mantra "only helping with the burn" inside my mind.
I was facing away from Kyoya, looking at the windows, so I almost jumped when I felt something cold and gooey on my back.

"Kyoya!" I shouted. "What the he—"

"This is my hospital's best burn medicine," he said, interrupting my outburst. "Hold still, it'll only take a moment." His hand was like an ice-pack, sliding all over my skin. His other hand held up my bra strap so that the medicine didn't stick to it. I felt a shiver as I grasped my situation.

Alone, with Kyoya; no one at the school…. I followed every movement of his hand as he moved it around my back. Whatever he was applying was working; the pain was slowly fading away, and soon, Kyoya's hand was all I could feel. We were silent. I realized with a blow to my self-esteem that he saw through my act and knew there was a reason to why I stayed back late. I inwardly pouted, knowing that he was waiting for the right moment to catch me alone and help me with my burn. It was so much better that someone else was spreading the gunk evenly on my back though, but why did Kyoya have to notice my ploy?

"Okay," he said, taking his hand-which was getting warmer by the second-off my back but still holding my bra strap up. "I'll need to bandage you properly, but this will have to come off for the time being," he instructed. I held my breath and shook my head vigorously to what he wanted of me, but he sighed and asked me again. I thought about it for a moment and knew that if he were to do it he would feel my breasts', and that was something I really did not want to happen."Where are your bandages?" he asked. I fidgeted with my bra strap and unclipped it while slowly taking it off and placing it in front of my chair nervously. I held my shirt in front of me and knew now he would have something on me with this if I step out of line. "Kasumi," he called out to me in wonder why I have not spoken and I pointed to my bag.

"...in the big pocket," I muttered. If I were someone else-a Host Club fanatic, for example-I'd be on the ground and fainted. But I was me, and that meant that this whole thing with Kyoya meant nothing but the fact that he wanted to help me—nothing more. He came back with the bandages and unraveled it while standing behind me.

"I'll be quick," he says.
My chest was now open and away from the chair and I lifted my arms while feeling his swift hands work. I could feel the quickness in his hands as they worked solidly. When he wrapped the bandage over my stomach, his arms moved in front of me, as if he were embracing me. And every time he did that, I felt the warmth of his body closer to mine. He breathed, and I could feel it on my neck. I had only realized that my heart was pounding when he finished tying the bandages and had moved away. My heart calmed down instantly, but the feeling was lingering all over me.

"How long does the medicine last?" I asked, putting on my shirt and refusing to look at him.

"Actually, it's a one-time use," he said. I looked up, giving him an expression that told him to explain. "Your burn will heal once the medicine sinks in." He smirked, as if to say, 'But I'm sure it's been rubbed in enough.'

"Thanks," I mumbled, suddenly wishing I was out of this situation.

"You're welcome," he murmured. The sky was streaking red, and I knew it was definitely time to go home. I grabbed my bag and walked out the door. Kyoya locked the Host Club and held out the key for me to take.

"What's this for?" I asked, taking the key. It looked new, like someone had just made a copy of the original.

"You are now responsible for locking and unlocking the door," he said, already walking away. He looked a knowing smile on his face behind his shoulder. "Starting tomorrow, you will be the first to arrive and the last to leave the Host Club."
I knew him doing something like this would cost me something. I just knew it.

He disappeared in the hallway and left me dumbfounded, staring at the golden key. "What was that about?" I shrugged, taking this key on as a new challenge, and clipped the key to the inside of my bag. Then, with my burn feeling better than ever and the touch of Kyoya's cool hand still on my skin, I heaved my bag and set on home. Still a little perplexed on my thoughts of Kyoya, I had to think that it was only a onetime thing.