Chapter 4 - Cat's Cradle
Kunio Suoh, Class 3-A. Son of Tamaki Suoh, President of Ouran Academy, and Haruhi Fujioka Suoh, top female lawyer in all of Tokyo. The Dreamy Prince: His emotions are the depths of an ocean that is clear to only him and a mystery to others. He always speaks of the woman of his dreams, perhaps it is you…
"Oh, Princess Kiyomi, the first time I saw your beautiful pink lips, I had a sense of familiarity. Your lips are so plump and beautiful. I've only ever dreamed of touching them, but every time my hand outstretches, the lips withdraw from me. Don't tease me, Princess. Are you the one I'm looking for? The one whom my soul pines for? If it's you, I will only love you, and you forever."
Kunio leans forward and has his hand outstretched to the armrest behind Kiyomi Fujii to hold himself up. His left hand is raised up to Kiyomi's lips, ready to touch, but he holds himself back, extremely fearful that this is just another of his dreams. His eyes are half-lidded with dreamy longing. Kiyomi is bright red while the other two girls on the other side of the table are squealing and gushing at his romantic gestures and descriptions.
Miyu Ootori. Class 1-B. Daughter of Kyoya Ootori, patriarch of the Ootori family, and Chiyo Hamasaki Ootori, renowned psychologist and one of the stockholders of the Ootori Group. The Passionate Artist: Her musical talent is unmatched by any other and she has a fierce passion for art. A true woman of noble character. This woman may be reserved, but if you are lucky enough to enter her world, you will find a richness you've never expected.
Miyu closed her eyes as she glided her bow over the cello strings with deep reflection. Men and women just sit in front of her stage and close their eyes for the calming music and ambiance she brings into the music room. These men and women were from the music club, who finished their club activities early to come and hear her performance. At her last stroke, her delicate fingers were hesitant to remove the bow from the strings.
"How about another song, Miyu? You play so beautifully. I can listen to you all day, all night." Shouhei suggested as the rest of her audience broke into applause at the end. Her head was bowed humbly but her eyes flickered upward with noble pride.
"One can have too much of a good thing. Perhaps tomorrow. I will be playing Satie's Gymnopedie No.1. Will I see you then?" Miyu smiled gently with a tilt of her head. Shouhei's eyes became half-lidded in appreciation of her gentle beauty and promised her with a nod.
As her audience disbanded to visit the other hosts, she got up and turned around, her face turning stonewalled once more as she put away her cello and walked over to her table, ready to count the money she collected for her music performance.
Emi Hitachiin. Class 2-A. Daughter of Kaoru Hitachiin, one of the co-owners of Hitachiin Fashions, and Atsuko Harada Hitachiin, a viciously successful business woman. The Beauty: The prettiest girl in the whole academy. She knows anyone and everyone and the most approachable of all the host club members. She's constantly the mediator between the two men that keeps watch over her…
Hiniku Hitachiin. Class 3-A. Son of Hikaru Hitachiin, one of the co-owners of Hitachiin Fashions, and Ayami Ogawa Hitachiin, the famous architect that has touched on every one of our parent's building projects. The Brother: The teasing but protective brother we all wished we had. He has the highest EQ of the whole host club and his strength is his stability and reliability. He watches over everyone well as if it is his personal mission to watch their growth, to have him take you under his wing is your privilege.
Katashi Morinozuka. Class 3-B. Son of Takashi Morinozuka, patriarch of the Morinozuka family, and Haylee Tsao, the only Chinese woman to break into the engineering industry in all of Japan. The Beast: He's rough around the edges with a fierce gaze, but only knows how to stay calm with his one and only addicting sedative, The Beauty. If anyone is most understated, it is the Beast. If you are ever able to recognize the gentle creature within, he is the most precious man you've ever come across.
"Come on, Emi! Play with me, I'm bored!" Hiniku clenched his arm around his cousin's neck and pulled her close, drawing her back to his chest with a playful grin at all the rest of her group of girlfriends drinking instant coffee.
"Hiniku! Let go! I'm with my girls right now." Emi laughed lightly as she tried to pry off her cousin's arm from around her. He only took his other arm and wrapped it around her waist, pulling her even closer. The girls sitting around just watched at the veins of his arms as he tightened his grip. They weren't sure whether they wanted those arms on them, or to just continue staring at his arms all day, imagining if the Hitachiin family would continue their familial love legacy.
"You all wouldn't mind if I joined you, would you?" Hiniku took away his arm that wrapped around Emi's waist to pat the head of the neighboring girl on his other side and moved his head close to touch foreheads with her. Steam practically rolled off of her face as her cheeks reddened.
"Hiniku, let Emi go." A deep voice grumbled and Hiniku's collar was pulled from the back. Hiniku gasped in surprise at Katashi's strength.
"Who are you to tell me to let go of my cousin, huh? Who are you?" Hiniku challenged the younger but taller man. Emi quickly straightened up and came around to the back of the couch where both men were. Emi raised a hand at both their chests, ready to push them back away from each other.
"Katashi, you misunderstand. Everything is okay. Okay?" Emi smiled gently at Katashi. Katashi's eyes immediately toned down the ferocious gaze from Hiniku.
Emi looked at Hiniku, "Hiniku, thank you for watching out for me." Hiniku looked down and Emi and tilted his head. He patted Emi on the head, "I'll always look out for my beautiful and delicate cousin." His hand drifted from the top of her head down to her jaw where his finger lingered.
Katashi's eyes narrowed at his finger and pulled Emi to his chest, "It doesn't matter who I am, it matters who she is. And she's mine." Hiniku rolled his eyes.
All of Emi's girlfriends squealed at this triangle of love and protection, where else will they ever get to witness things like this in real life?!
Mihoshi and Hotaru Haninozuka. Class 1-D. Daughters of Mitsukuni Haninozuka, patriarch of the Haninozuka family, and Reiko Kanazuki Haninozuka, the renowned artist who is also a curator of the National Art Center Tokyo. It's legend that Mitsukuni is the sun, Reiko is the moon; together, their daughters are the inseparable balance of yin and yang. Hotaru is the Yin, Mihoshi is the Yang. Together, invincible; apart, destructive.
"Hello." The twins spoke in unison. Although they were twins, it was absolutely easy to tell them apart. Mihoshi's eyes spoke of wonder, innocence, and activity, drawing energy from everything she saw. Hotaru's eyes spoke of reserve, mystery, and silence, drawing energy from within. If not their eyes, then their hair or the way they dressed. Mihoshi had platinum blond hair and Hotaru's was as black as the night.
"If you want me, you must want my sister too." Hotaru came to the side of one of the male guests from the Black Magic club.
"You cannot only have darkness, my sister brings the light to my life, and that is how we can succeed in life." Hotaru explained herself further as Mihoshi was giggly on the other side of the male guest. His face shown extreme excitement at the thought of both these beautiful girls being his.
"Be careful, Yuuto Yamauchi. My sister has been studying on blood sacrifice. I've been trying to draw her back. You might also be drawn to the darkness, but I plead you to look closely at the warmth of the sun once more." Mihoshi said cheerfully. Hotaru and Mihoshi clasped their hands together and brought themselves cheek-to-cheek as their looked at Yuuto.
"Mihoshi, what lovely starlight you are, but I cannot live forever in the light. Hotaru, I can only see you in the darkness. As long as I have you, I'll be okay." Yuuto outstretched his arm to touch Hotaru, attempting to seduce Hotaru but both girls stopped him and quickly turned away.
"He's not the one." Hotaru commented as Mihoshi hummed in agreement. They walked away from the desperate Yuuto who wished to even have their breath grace presence on his skin again.
"I say the turning point today was really at Emi, Hiniku, and Katashi's corner. Your trio's dynamics drew the biggest crowd. Next is my musical performance. I say, if we were to gain a bigger audience, Mihoshi, Hotaru, and Kunio, you must all widen the range of your recipients of a single antic." Miyu said with objective as she looked at today's traffic graph of guests entering the host club and which time did they come in.
It's after club activities now. Hotaru and Mihoshi are sitting side-by-side, with the group and at the same time reclusive to themselves. They are quietly playing cat's cradle while listening to the others. Hiniku sat next to Hotaru with his arm outstretched to the back of the couch on her side, switching his attention back and forth between everyone. Katashi is showing Emi a new defense move , it was safe to say Katashi had the most serene but responsible look as he taught Emi. Kunio sat next to Miyu and nodded away at her charts, and all though she had labeled everything thoroughly, it took him a couple seconds to recognize the objective of each graph.
"You're so smart, Miyu! This club will return to it's former glory in no time!"
"I don't want it in it's former glory." Miyu said as her reading glasses reflected the screen and she typed away, "It must be better."
"How ambitious of you, Miyu. Trying to outdo your father again, huh?" Hiniku laughed. It was no secret to the group and to Miyu's family that she was just as ambitious as her father, but one thing Kyoya always told her was that she was not as brutal as he was. Her lengths were always one measure shorter than his. He gave that credit to Chiyo. As much as Miyu was grateful for her mother to teach her gentleness, she secretly felt like she lacked something in her executions.
"Will making this host club better than the host club at your father's time make you satisfied, Miyu?" Mihoshi asked. Miyu stopped typing for a second and looked over at Mihoshi, still focused on the cats cradle in her sister's hand.
"Will one cat's cradle game suffice for you and your sister?" Miyu asked.
"No. I'm bored already." Hotaru released the string in her hands but Mihoshi stopped her. Mihoshi looked up to Hotaru and they stared at each other before Hotaru straightened her hands again to retain the shape for her sister to take.
"Well cat's cradle is a never ending game, Miyu. Playing one game will suffice, the question is, when do you stop?" Emi said as she finally picked up her hip and threw Katashi down, earning a proud grin from him.
Miyu thought away as she continued typing her journal of the club activities today.
"Miyu, I think that as you continue forward with this, it's important to pay attention to your surroundings. There's more than just your cat's cradle game. See what else there is out there for you." Kunio looked at Miyu's shoulder and rubbed it with care. Miyu paid no mind to it as she refocused on her graphs once more.
She cross-referenced each guests' interests and if they were a part of any other club to match any patterns to the hosts they typically looked forward to. Her's and the twin's audience drew from members of other clubs, namely the Music and Black Magic. The other four had a broader pool of audience as far as their client's background. Kunio mostly targeted women but they came from all classes, all backgrounds; The Triangle trio were still the most broad, men and women would come and fawn over both genders and the dynamics. Men looked dreamily at Emi and looked up to Hiniku and Katashi; women were vice versa. Miyu's crowd mostly came from the Music club and music enthusiasts, both genders. The Yin/Yang drew in mostly men. Hotaru drew most of her clients from the Black Magic club while Mihoshi's clients had a little more variety; everyone loved a little bit of dark and light.
She smiled at the next chart which was clientele, and revenue and expense. It's only been two months since school started and they've prepped themselves prior to the start of school as well; their clientele has raised steadily and with good retention rates.
"What's your next move, Miyu?" Emi came over and slid her arm around Miyu's shoulders.
Miyu looked up to her friend, "What do you mean?"
The rest of the host club slowly gathered with knowing smiled of their friend. She was absolutely an opportunist, a visionary. They knew they could count on her to make the Host Club thrive.
"You study those charts more than your class materials. You've been obsessed with this Host Club project, what's on your mind?" Emi asked with a knowing smile. Miyu smiled with appreciation for the clarity Emi can see.
"I know my class material and I already finished my homework in our mandatory study hall. I'm just making sure my father's legacy is not tarnished, that's all." Miyu shrugged.
"What's the next step? We've already locked in on our membership and roles." Mihoshi chimed with expectancy. Miyu took out a huge chart from behind her and extended her pointer.
"With our rising rate of clients, our revenue is steadily rising as well. We've only replaced our tea sets to the newest ones and have done one back to school theme so far. I think we've saved enough with promising evidence of steady rates."
"Saved enough for what?" Hiniku asked.
"We're going to move to Music Room 1."