When Zakia's text came in Tuesday night, I was a bit dumbfounded. She'd pretty much ignored me in class and at the club, which made a certain degree of sense, since class was supposed to be learning time and she and Furukia were still learning how to be hosts at the club, but she'd also left my message on read since Friday.

Wednesday morning, Zakia was cool rather than frosty towards me. She answered my notes, albeit curtly, and invited Hikaru and I to eat with her and Furukia at lunch. My brother and I had started remembering to bring the lunches the staff made so that Tamaki wouldn't yell at us for accepting anything from Haruhi and Zakia wouldn't be angry for giving up her food to us again.

After class, as we walked upstairs for club hours, she mellowed her pace so we remained side by side. Hoping I was on the right track to proving myself to her, I got the door to Music Room Three for her.

"Thank you," she murmured politely as she stepped in.

I let Furukia and my brother by before following, but we all stopped short just inside the door.

The room looked like a tornado swept through. Mori and Honey were righting furniture, Haruhi had just started picking up shards of dishes, and both president and vice president seemed to be absent.

"What happened here?" Furukia asked, bewildered.

Hikaru strode to the kitchen to get more table settings to replace the broken pieces.

"Kyoya asked to meet with Tamaki-senpai privately over lunch. I assumed they came here, but if they had, I can't imagine them leaving it in this state. Neither of them were here when we arrived," Haruhi explained.

Zakia put a hand out to stop Haruhi from handling the broken china, taking over the task herself. Haruhi started righting tablecloths and vases instead.

"Is there anywhere else they may have gone?" Furukia continued when no one else spoke up.

"Not that I can think of."

"Why would anyone attack the host club like this?" Hikaru asked as he set tables.

"Can we be certain the vice-pres and president didn't cause this? We've seen the vice-pres's temper before," I reminded.

"You don't really think Kyoya is capable of something like this?" Furukia wondered. "I definitely can't imagine Tamaki ruining this place. He's a little dopey, and he seems pretty attached to the club."

I kept mopping up coffee and tea. What could have set the vice-pres off at the boss, his best friend?

"Kyo-chan just texted me! He said that club activities would have to be canceled until further notice..." Honey-senpai announced.

"Senpai told me he's at the hospital and won't be back to school for a couple of weeks," Haruhi offered.

"Did they actually get in a fight, or is this all a misunderstanding?" I questioned.

"They fought," Zakia answered. She sounded sure.

"How do you know?" Haruhi asked.

"I can see it. The pattern of the knocked over furniture, the broken dishes. I can't say who started it or who sustained each injury, but I can see the fight. It started there, at that table," Zakia pointed at the least damaged area of the club.

The vase had been tipped over, and one of the chairs had fallen back, but it seemed fine otherwise.

"One of them was yelling, and the other got mad enough to stand up so fast their chair fell. As the argument heated up, one of them pushed the other into the edge of the table, knocking the vase. The one pushed into the table pushed back hard, knocking the other through those chairs," she continued, gesturing to chairs at a larger table that were on their sides, while the table itself seemed undisturbed.

"It just kept escalating from there, ranging all over the room, causing varying degrees of damage."

"She's right," Mori nodded. "I see it, too."

"You mentioned injuries. What sort of injuries? Are they both okay?" Haruhi panicked.

"One of them cut themselves on this shard," Zakia held up a relatively small piece of what used to be a saucer. "One of them had that teapot broken over them," she added, glancing at a table where the only thing wrong was the missing teapot, pieces of which had scattered much further than one would expect. "One of them gouged themselves on that table corner," she continued, running her hand along the edge near the corner she indicated. It was probably about the height of their hips. "The worst of it would probably be whichever of them got jabbed by that, though," she finished, showing us a clearly bloodied teacup handle.

"How do you know it was a jab and not a cut?" Hikaru queried.

"There's a small pool of blood there, and this towel is soaked through," she explained.

"We can work on more of this tomorrow. I can't stand not knowing if senpai is okay. I have to go see him." Haruhi ran from the club, already making a call.

"I'll stay a while longer. You too, Takashi?" Honey asked Mori.

"Sure," he nodded.

"Furukia and I are already in trouble at home, so if we aren't hosting for a while, it's probably best we go," Zakia excused.

"We'll stay a bit longer and clean up too. See you guys tomorrow," Hikaru volunteered us before I could suggest the four of us get dinner or study or anything to try to get closer with Zakia.

"Be careful," Zakia reminded as I bent to take over where she left off with the broken dishes.

"Thanks," I murmured, surprised by her gentle tone.

Once the girls had gone, I couldn't help but ask Hikaru, "Why did you say we'd stay? We could've asked them to dinner or to study together or something."

"Aren't you already going to the movies with Zakia Friday?"

"Yes, but I don't want to lose her to the vice-pres, especially if he's getting more violent. I only have so much time before he steps in, whatever that means. She was being more friendly today."

"I'm not sure if that was friendly so much as less hostile. Regardless, was constantly asking her out all the time working for you their first couple of days?"

"No."

"So why do you think that would change this week? You asked her Friday, left it, and she agreed in her own time. That shows patience and maturity on your part."

"I hadn't thought about it like that. Speaking of the Shadow King, what do you think he and the boss were fighting about?" I wondered.

"Maybe the boss had another wild idea he wouldn't back down from, but it was just too crazy this time?"

"No way. The Shadow King always manages to make the boss's visions reality."

"I heard the relationship between their families has been tense lately. With how much the vice-pres covets his father's company, maybe they had a fight over that?"

"The president doesn't care about his family's dealings."

"I don't know what else it could be," Hikaru huffed, attacking the messy carpets with supplies before any stains could set. He focused on the blood spot first.

"I think Zakia missed something in her fight analysis," I mentioned, noticing another small blood spot nearby.

Hikaru came and dabbed at it with a towel, seeming surprised. "I don't think this is from the pres and vice-pres. This is still wet, where the other was sticky. Did one of the girls hurt themselves?"

"Zakia..." I murmured, concerned.

R u gonna b ok?

I stared at the text, my thumb hovering over the button to send it. Would she appreciate that I was distressed on her behalf?

It didn't matter if it made her mad. I had to make sure she got her injury looked at. I hit the send button.

What do you mean?

I hadn't expected such a swift reply.

U hurt urself cleaning up the dishes didnt u?

Im having it looked at in a min.

B more careful in future

Okay

"What did she say?" Hikaru asked with a funny look.

"She's having it looked at soon."

My twin's expression still seemed off, but he went back to cleaning without comment. He was so hard for me to read these last few days.