Moeha invited Kei to another Fujiwara family gathering. This time, Kei didn't refuse the offer after Miyuki himself insisted she come. Perhaps he was covering the fact they won't have any dinner for the night so he wanted her to eat as much in the party. And have fun—typical Miyuki. The spring tea parties the Fujiwaras held were for rich people. Kei was no stranger to breathing around their presence in Shuchiin but seeing them in a context outside of academics feels alien. They allowed themselves to laugh and talk freely with the other kids while Kei wondered how much renting a pavilion this size would be. More expensive than her tuition fee, she guessed.

She projected a blank face of disinterest and boredom, something the rich could relate to. Moeha said she has a resting bitch face. Kei didn't mean to look intimidating. Being in such an event already intimidates her. Her only ticket to the party was Moeha. Kei wore her best clothes, but her best is nothing compared to the other girls' spring dresses. They don't have to worry about rent and other money problems, unlike her. Stop thinking like that, Kei. Don't be judgmental. Your friends are here. She sighed to herself.

"Here you go, Kei." Moeha had just come from a meeting with her friends. She brought with her a soda which she offered to Kei. A soda seemed to be the least expensive thing in the party. After minutes of fasting, she could finally drink something cool. "Thank you," Kei smiled and drank out of the cane of soda. Moeha took a seat beside her. "Do you know the Haninozukas and the Mitskunis are here?"

"Who are they?" It might be boys again. Her friend talked about nothing but boys. At times, the conversation peaked her interest but she pretended to listen because Moeha is her friend. "They're from Ouran Highschool Host Club!" Moeha squealed. If her mother haven't already enrolled Kei into Shuchiin, she would've enrolled her into Ouran Academy instead. Ouran Academy now has a new club called the Ouran Host Club. According to Moeha, the club hosts the rich and filthy women of Ouran Academy who have way too much time in their hands. She wished everyone didn't have to worry about academics like they do. Kei might not have enough money to pay a host to entertain her but the prospect sounds fun.

Moeha brought with her a crumpled magazine that she hid under her shirt. On the front cover was a red-headed boy holding a rose on his teeth. The title above the picture said it was 'The Official Fanbook of the Ouran Host Club'. Kei's cheeks warmed. What school allowed a bunch of highschoolers to fund this? She found herself barely breathing as Moeha flipped through the glossy magazine pages filled with photos of boys.

Kei gulped her soda in one go. Moeha then slip the magazine within the bushes behind the bench they were sitting on. Her friend placed a finger on her mischievous smile. The Fujiwaras despite their easygoing personality, don't allow their daughters to read shoujo manga or even read romance novels. The Ouran Host Club magazine was one of the secrets Moeha kept to the grave. "Hey let's look for them!" Moeha grabbed Kei's arm. "So the Host Club is here?"

"Takashi and Mitskuni are there. Do you remember them? The cool and silent type paired with the Lolita type?" She remembered Moeha talking about them. She didn't care for Honey but meeting Takashi in person wouldn't be that bad. Or maybe she doesn't get the hype of host clubs.

Her friend winked. "You bet!" Kei had a feeling Moeha might've convinced her parents to invite the Morinozukas and the Haninozukas. While the pair swam through the light crowds, looking for the elusive Host Club members, there was a certain Haninozuka who wasn't so happy.

Yasuchika Haninozuka stood helplessly as he watched his brother, Mitskuni Haninozuka indulged himself in two three tiered cakes. Somehow when he was the only witness to his brother's madness, the imagery was worse. Girls peered around Mitskuni. Behind Mitskuni, Takashi stood guard, unfazed by the eyes staring at them. His brother and Takashi degenerated themselves to joining a stupid host club. Yasuchika shivered at how they fallen.

Coming to the Fujiwara's spring party wasn't his descision. Their father forced his children to go despite the training they could've missed on. All these parties done was waste his time. He might as well sleep on the grass out of boredom and no one would mind. From the distance he spots a familiar face with another girl he never saw before.

Bonk. A kendou stick hit his head. "What did you do that for?" Yasuchika cried. Satoshi chuckled, as if he didn't just hit a Haninozuka. "You're frowning again. You should have more fun like Takashi and Honey." Only Satoshi would still blindly look up to his brother. To be fair, Takashi wasn't an alien freak like Honey. Yasuchika fixed his glasses to avoid the sight of Honey splourging himself in cake.

The pink-haired girl waved to Satoshi. Satoshi waved back. "Hey Moeha!" Satoshi said. Yasuchika knew the girl's name, Moeha Fujiwara. She unfortunately has a sister who shared his nickname, Chika. Moeha brought with her the other girl. Her steely blue eyes stared into his soul. Her hair was weakly fastened by a ribbon headband. The dress she brought with her was a fake version of the Hikaru designer brand. Despite all that, Yasuchika could not help but stare back.

"Satoshi!" Moeha exclaimed. A small smirk reached her face as she turned to Yasuchika. "Hello Chika," she said his name like a devil's snare. She reached for the frame of his glasses. "Woah, I didn't know you wear glasses now," she muttered. Chika backed off from the invasion of privacy. All the anger he might've used to scold Moeha ran dry because of a certain brother of his. Satoshi hits his head again. "Don't be rude," Satoshi hissed. He felt his cheeks warm in embarrassment.

The girl's stare turned to a cat's curious glance. Moeha held her shoulder. "Don't worry Kei, the Morinozukas and the Haninozukas are always like this."

"Always like this?" the girl, Kei repeated. Moeha nodded. "Now Chika, Satoshi this is Kei. Kei, this is Chika and Satoshi." Kei made a small bow. Yasuchika only nodded as acknowledgement. Kei must be the commoner girl he heard Moeha made friends with. She must also be from Shuchiin Academy. He also heard a rumor that Shuchiin Academy had a commoner as the student council president, a feat even he himself as a Haninozuka considered as great.

"Nice to meet you," Kei said softly. Her voice contradicted her appearance. He expected a girl like her to have a more abrasive attitude. She seemed so soft-spoken. Yasuchika almost felt sorry for Kei who had to deal with Moeha. Light pink tinted her cheeks.

Why was she so nervous? Satoshi and Moeha talked about mundane subjects such as their families and the weather. Occasionally, Kei joined in to clarify some details otherwise, she found herself fading into the background. The conversation evolved until she and Chika were left alone to listen to their friends.

She glanced at Chika every once in a while. He carried himself in a self-important way like Miyuki. She could tell the glasses were fake from the way he sometimes squint behind them. Coke sounds nice in a warm day. Moeha said they'll be meeting the host club members, not reminisce with old friends. Something zipped her mouth shut. Kei watched a gaggle of girls watch a young boy eating cake. Chika somehow looked straight into a bush as if determined not to even glance at the cute kid. Must be his younger brother…

She was staring again. She should stop looking at him. Why is she so quiet? Why is she so nervous she couldn't even make small talk with him? He's not cute. He wears fake glasses and has a lived in servant who hits him for a living. This was the Kaguya situation all over again.

After minutes of unbearable silence (the squealing girls don't count), Yasuchika left Satoshi alone with Moeha and Kei. Part of Kei felt sad but overall relieved. She could breath again. "Ah Kei!" Moeha finally noticed she existed. She ran to Kei's side. "Can you watch Chika for Satoshi please?" she asked. Kei shrugged. "Okay." He is just as old as her. He doesn't need that amount of supervision. Chika didn't walk too far. She followed his figure. There was nothing for her to do anyway.

"Operation Friendship is to go!" Satoshi and Moeha whispered to themselves.

Yasuchika went to the abandon part of the garden. It wasn't exactly abandoned, people don't like coming to the gloomier part of the garden. There was nothing scarier than catching his brother eat cake in the middle of the night. He was here to practice. Even if he was wearing informal attire, Yasuchika didn't care. He needed to let out some steam.

As if his brother was in the premises, Yasuchika prepared his form. He imagined the bush was his brother, ready to fight him. When Yasuchika went in for a first kick, he felt his other foot snag onto something on the ground. He was slipping! Damnit, he should've been more attentive and now he might get an injury!

Instead of his back meeting the ground, it met something soft. Someone was carrying him but he couldn't see because of his glasses. Satoshi? The glasses dropped. He met the eyes of his rescuer, blue and soft, eventually they were glued to her face. A heavenly glow surrounds her face. His heart beats like a runner in a field. Kei. Moeha's friend. Kei. His mouth ready to unleash insults became speechless.

"Are you ok?" Her voice was soft, gentle. It was the first time she spoke to him. The more time he spent in her arms, the more his body chilled. What should he say? Thank you? He is a Haninozuka training to become a fighter and he was saved by a commoner of all people. His pride wouldn't allow it. "Get away from me," he rasped.

Yasuchika forced himself to stand with what remaining strength he had. He noticed he almost held her hands in the process. It was as if his body was back from a warm bath. He stretched his arms and legs. "See? I'm fine," he said in the most blank tone he could muster. "Thank goodness," Kei said. Yasuchika could feel his entire face go red. The pair was back to their awkward silences. Kei might've thought he was rude like Satoshi said but who cares what a girl thinks? Not him.

Her face was as blank as a canvas, complete and utter composure. He looked like an idiot compared to her. "Have anything else to say?" he bit back. God, he should stop ogling at her. Haninosukas restrain themselves, especially when it comes to feelings of attraction. He heard her mumble to herself.

"I couldn't hear that." For a brief second, he saw a deep frown on her face. It looked cute. "I said you're welcome!" She stormed off and ran. His face went a deeper shade of red out of embarrassment and other confusing feelings.

I embarrassed myself. I should've never followed him or Moeha. Kei ran to Moeha. "So how's Yasuchika?" Moeha asked expectantly. "You're blushing, something happened there…" she teased. "Really?" Satoshi joined in.

Kei grabbed Moeha's arm. "It was nothing! Let's find the Host Club instead!"


Kei was glad to be back in the apartment. The incident glued itself to her mind like a core memory. She was grateful they attend different schools so she wouldn't be seeing him often. "How was the party Kei?" Miyuki asked. She frowned. "Mori and Honey told us you were really having a great time," Haruhi said. How did she know the host club?

After that incident, Kei didn't intend to meet the host club members. She forced Moeha and herself out of the party. The flushing was still fresh on her cheeks as she recalled the memory.

"Who are they?" Kei poked the green bell peppers.

"They're my friends from the Host Club."

Kei's jaw almost dropped. "You don't seem like the type to go to a Host Club…" she said.

"I have debt to pay so I have no choice but to join their stupid host club."

She pushed the rest of the bell peppers to the side. Her stomach started to feel woozy all of the sudden. "That's good to know."

Miyuki called from the kitchen. "Hey! Finish your bell peppers." Kei rolled her eyes and left the table anyway. She opened the sliding door to her and Haruhi's room. "And please remember to-"

"Get off my back!" She went in and slammed the sliding door shut.

Miyuki sighed as he took a seat beside Haruhi. The leftover food sits on Kei's plate. "Teenagers, am I right?" he chuckled, ignoring that he and Haruhi are technically teenagers. Somehow, he feels like a parent of a rebellious teenage girl even if he was just the older brother. Darn his old man.

Haruhi shot him a pensive look. "Do you think something upsets Kei in the party?" she asked. "She just seems so jumpy today."

"I suppose so, but she is always like this. We tend to let her cool off by herself." He sighed. "And she didn't finish her bell peppers…"

After washing the dishes, Haruhi knocked the door to Kei's room. It was her room too but Kei didn't seem to be in the mood to remember that. "Go away, Miyuki," Kei said.

"No, it is Haruhi."

Kei said nothing but opened the door for Haruhi anyway. Their room was small, only big for enough for one. Nothing changed in the room's appearance when Kei moved in except for the plastic boxes filled with Kei's things and some posters of boy bands she placed on the wall. Kei hid beside the wall. She wore earbuds and fiddled with her phone. The dull white of the phone lit Kei's face before Haruhi switched on the main lights.

Haruhi sat across her. "So did you enjoy the garden party?"

"Yeah," Kei mumbled.

"You seem more agitated than usual. Did something wrong happen in the party?"

Kei removed her earphones. "Nothing. I didn't know you were part of the host club." Miyuki was right about one thing: She did cool off, yet she didn't give the full answer. "It might be someone…" she heard Kei mumble to herself.

"Excuse me?"

"No one. Leave me alone."

"But how would we help you if you're not saying anything? I can't help but worry whenever the host club is around. Did my friends do anything? What is it? I'll tell Kyoya right away." Haruhi found her voice raising. She didn't expect this to inspire this sort of energy she didn't know she had in her. Hopefully it had nothing to do with Hani and Mori. They're good people but she couldn't help but expect the worse.

"Fine it might be about someone." Blush tinted her cheeks. "Every time he is around. I couldn't help but get nervous around him. I don't know. I accidentally helped him. He didn't like it."

An awkward smile reached Haruhi's face. "I don't know how to solve that."

Despite hanging out with boys all the time, Haruhi wasn't familiar with dating or crushes. She is part of a Host Club but she still feels clueless about these things.

"But I bet the Host Club could help?" Haruhi asked. They handled a love drama between an engaged couple. A schoolgirl crush wouldn't be anything new to them.

"Don't tell them under any circumstances. That includes Miyuki, too."

"Why not?"

"Just don't mention any of this to Miyuki or the Host Club, especially the Haninozukas and the Morinozukas."

"I guess I can agree to that, but remember, whenever you need me, I'm here," Haruhi said. Kei smiled softly. Her heart sparked. The conversation brought her back to the times when her mother comforted her in the storm. Would she have conversations like this if her mother was alive? Would she have acted like Kei?