The Scare

Chapter 3: What Horror Congregates With

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Point of View: Mansion Group

"A WHAT?!"

Kaoru turned to give Tamaki a scolding look. Still mad at him for what happened the previous day, and not really trying to hide it.

Why bother, anyway?

"A lockdown, Suoh. Hika has limited battery and doesn't have a charger, use your ears so nobody needs to repeat themselves."

Tamaki huffed at Kaoru's tone, but wasn't able to comment on it.

Honey spoke up first. Sounding the most calm, surprisingly. Perhaps in this situation he saw no need to conceal his more logical and intimidating side. "None of you are hurt, right?"

Hikari replied quickly. "No, we're okay aside from some injuries we got while running. I'm lucky I didn't get frostbite."

Kyoya leaned over. "Who else is with you?"

Hikari sounded uncomfortable replying to Kyoya. "Uh, three clients, four students unassociated with the club, oh! Kasugasaki and Suzushima are here, Ayanokoji is here, Renge, and Haruhi."

Tamaki almost fainted from relief.

"Ask her why she didn't answer!"

Nobody could help firing a look at Tamaki that screamed: "Is that seriously what you're concerned about?" Or: "How did you not figure out why already?"

"Because her class got attacked first and she had to leave her phone when our teacher tried to have them escape. A lot of people did the same."

Tamaki threw his arms up in annoyance. What was with the attitude from everybody?

"You saw the news, though, right?"

"Yeah. We're trying to figure out where to go from here. For now it's to try and wait until we get found."

Kaoru ended the conversation there. Everyone in agreement on Hikari trying to conserve as much of her battery as she could. "Okay. Let us know if anything serious happens."

"Will do. Hope you all are okay."

The call dropped after that. Kaoru moving back to the couch where he and Mori were originally sitting and putting his phone away.

Mori said nothing, but—to the surprise of the other hosts present—seemed to react warmly to Kaoru leaning against him.

Kaoru's face had become pasty, in appearance. But aside from that, he looked entirely numb to the situation. Which everyone knew was likely for different than how he was truly feeling.

Mori knew that Kaoru, when he became overwhelmed with multiple strong emotions, tended to freeze, perhaps in an attempt to weed a few out so he could work through the rest.

This situation was such an extreme escalation that Mori could only assume this would last at least the rest of the day, and perhaps bleed into the next morning.

His twin sister and best friend—who he saw as a younger sister—were in the most high risk area of a violent outbreak. So everyone understood why he would be slow to respond to any attempts at a conversation.

This didn't stop one person from acting on their own irritation.

Tamaki folded his arms. "Let me guess, he's mad about the skit, too?"

Kaoru gave him a look. Clearly disturbed by the question and especially the tone.

Tamaki's two close friends and numerous other people he knew were stuck in a building where it was likely they wouldn't be rescued any time soon.

He should have been more concerned.

Nervous, at the bear minimum.

Instead, he was thinking about the attitude he was being given.

Kyoya isn't the only one being vindictive, is he...?

The thought had been teasing him since the conversation the previous night.

The last time he saw and spoke to his sister.

Honey narrowed his eyes and answered with what he, Kaoru, and Mori were thinking. "Well, yes. But I think everyone's also frustrated with the situation they're in. Not that I blame them."

Tamaki put his hands up defensively.

Probably because Honey was too dangerous to anger when his childish demeanor had already been long abandoned. "Oh, I know. It must be hell for them being stuck in that room not knowing what's going on. I don't blame him for that at all, either. But, am I missing something? Is it that I need to apologize to Haruhi? Because I would have if she had bothered to join the conversation."

Kaoru blinked. Staring at Tamaki for a moment. Expression blank, but eyes conveying everything. The message only infuriating Tamaki further.

"What? Why are you so surprised to hear that?! Of course I'll apologize if I've gone too far and hurt my friend!"

Mori frowned. "Oh? But you never apologized for assuming the worst from Haruhi for two months with no proof?"

"There was proof!"

Kaoru made his confusion so obvious on his face that under normal circumstances, everyone would have laughed at how silly he looked.

These were not normal circumstances.

"What proof? That she was sick? News flash, Tamaki, people, women included, get sick! Food poisoning, stomach bug, allergies, stress—there's no one reason as to why women get sick! It's why doctors need multiple symptoms to give a reliable diagnosis! Haruhi was trying to tell you that, but you didn't listen to her! You didn't listen to Hika when they tried telling you that they went to the nurse and said she had to go home! You had no proof!"

Everyone stilled in shock from Kaoru's sudden outburst. Even he tried to quiet his deep breaths of air. As he nearly stopped breathing with his rant.

Tamaki felt stupid. Had he really prolonged a miscommunication by cutting Hikaru and Haruhi off? Had he really subjected his friend to such harsh treatment for two months over nothing?

No, wait...

"She made herself look suspicious, Kaoru. Like she suddenly couldn't get a hold of a diagnosis?"

Mori cut in. "I'm sure you are aware that those take days to formulate, Tamaki. Kaoru is right, doctors must look over multiple symptoms to draw the connections for a proper diagnosis. Deciding which symptoms are normal, which aren't, if there are multiple health conditions or only one. If there are any hereditary anomalies that can be ignored. On top of having several other patients that they do the same for on a daily basis. They take time."

"Well, go to a convenience store? We know that they can do tests there. They aren't the most reliable, I'm aware of that. But it at least gives us something to work with! And come to think of it, why did she get so defensive in the first place? It's not like her current attitude is doing her any favors."

Honey replied quickly. "Well, she did experience a break-up recently."

Kyoya was caught glaring at his laptop. Tamaki hummed.

"Sorry for bringing it up. Especially after what you told me."

Kyoya shook his head, snapping his laptop shut. "No. It's fine. I'm actually glad that Honey brought it up."

Kaoru couldn't help his side eye. Daring Kyoya to say something stupid. "Oh? Why?"

"Because I wanted to say Honey is right. In fact, she's been having a harder time than you think."

Now, everyone was interested.

"First of all, Tamaki, what I told you about really did happen once. And I initiated it, not Haruhi."

Tamaki gaped. "What?"

"Another thing, when I broke up with her, Haruhi told me that the only reason she agreed to go out with me was because it meant giving her a little more privacy. And because she was afraid of what we would do or say if she said no."

Then, he ruined it. "Be mad at that part instead of blaming her for something I suggested.

The room was still for a moment. Nobody knowing what to say.

Until Tamaki snapped back.

"What? Why would she think we would get mad at her?"

Honey finally shouted. "Why would she not?! What happened last year? What's happening now? How have you been treating her recently? Think carefully. Are you really surprised?"

"Yes? We were mad at her for what happened, but she knows it was because we care about her. She knows that we love her unconditionally! And it's been nearly a year! It's nearly forgotten about."

"The point is that she doesn't know. She does think that you're care for her is conditional. Why else would she become so desperate for privacy? Hell, just yesterday you didn't even need Haruhi to tell you that she was going to be filming herself studying. Because you don't trust her enough to have any time alone!"

Tamaki looked at Kyoya expectantly.

"What? That was part of the agreement when I talked to you and Ranka, wasn't it? Of course I wanted it to be real and I'm upset it wasn't, but you and Ranka were only supportive because I was responsible and could keep an eye on her."

Those details made Kaoru ill.

Ill enough to finally snap out of his shock and yell.

Kyoya in fact knew that Haruhi only said yes because both Ranka and Tamaki gave their blessing and pressured her into a yes.

He knew that she wasn't happy in the relationship.

Still, he had assumed that she would eventually grow to love him back.

And, when a certain moment made it clear that wasn't going to happen...

It was disgustingly in-character of Kyoya to lash out and remain vindictive months after he dumped her.

Kaoru shouted before Mori could stop him, having curled his arms around him to do just that with no regard for what it might invite.

"Maybe you would've had a chance if you meant well by her in the first place instead of making her fear you! You even admitted that she was scared to say no because of your shit! You knew she didn't wanna be with you! If you cared about her you wouldn't have forced her to date you! Hell, what else did you force her to do, Kyoya?! Was that moment even—?!"

By the time Kaoru was cut off by Mori, he was completely pale. And appeared to feel sick.

The rest of the room was quiet after that.