This is a rewrite of "Haruhi's Identical Twin Sister" which I wrote back in 2013 when I was still in middle school. There were a lot of things that, at the moment, I thought made sense and would be wonderful to write, but now as an adult who's thrown off the rose-tinted shades, I can honestly say it sucked and I can't fathom why people still favorite and follow to this day. I kind of have a lot to live up to because 14 year old me had a lot of time on her hands, which is something I lack, and updated about once a week (35 chapters in only 8.5 months!), but I promise this version will try to prioritize quality over quantity. Obviously, things are going to be switched up a bit, but the main plot will stay the same (I think) although it's progression will definitely be slower, and there will be a lot of changes to my horribly mary-sue (do people still even call them that?) OC and the way she interacts with others. There was a lot of influence with things such as style, fashion, and references that were due to the year it was written, so for my sanity it'll be rewritten taking place in the present. I'll keep the old story up because the thought of deleting it makes me uncomfortable, and it'll be there as a reminder that even some of the most cringey things can be polished and improved, no matter how long it's been. So, to everyone who's reading this, whether you're new here or have been around since the first version, I hope you enjoy!

- - -

I bit my lip as my sister waited for my response; I could hear her soft breathing on the other end of the line as she allowed me to think, not interrupting me even once.

"I... I don't know Haru..." I finally sighed and she seemed to copy me.

"Just think about it okay? It'll do you some good, and auntie will probably just ignore me the entire time anyway." I nodded even though she couldn't see me. "Dad really misses you," she continued softly. "It'll be good for you two to spend more time together." There was a hopefulness in her voice that made me cave in. I never could deny her anything.

"How would this even work?" I laid back on my messy bed, staring up at my tall ceiling.

"Well, obviously I can't miss that much school, so you'd have to go for me. But you're smart, so I'm trusting that you'll be able to blend in, at least academically." I could practically see her shrugging.

"Same goes for me, but what about your host club or classmates? They're bound to notice something's wrong; I won't be able to fool them for long." My frown deepened the longer I thought about this, Haruhi's scholarship was at risk if I messed up. It's not like we were the kind of twins that had perfect synchronization, a side effect of not growing up together I suppose. Sure, we kept in touch, but it's way different than seeing someone every day.

"It'll be fine, they don't pay too much attention to detail so I'm sure you'll be able to make it work. Don't worry about me, I've gotten used to being around rich people, so your school doesn't scare me."

"How long are we going to keep this up for? A week or two maybe?" It felt safe, it was a short enough time that any weird behavior could be played off as an illness or something.

"If we're going to do this, we have to take advantage of the time we can, so how about until summer vacation?" My eyes practically bugged out of my sockets.

"Haruhi!" I sat up quickly. "That's almost three months away! There's no way we'd be able to pull it off!"

"Yeah I know, wishful thinking I guess." She sighed and such a tired sound from her made me sad. "Let's say a month. That'll be enough time for you and dad to properly spend time together. The hosts are going to figure it out after a while, despite how distracted they can be, but they won't sell you out. The only one you really have to worry about is Kyoya-senpai, he'll probably try to twist this to his advantage." I rubbed my eyes tiredly.

"Fine, talk to dad and I'll tell auntie, I'll give you the details later."

"Alright." She took a deep breath. "I really miss you, you know." My chest warmed at her words. Haruhi wasn't used to being expressive, so I learned to treasure the few times she was.

"I miss you too." My response was soft and careful so as not to embarrass her. "I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Yeah, alright then. Bye."

"Bye." We hung up at the same time and I lightly tossed my phone to the side, already thinking of arguments and ways to convince my aunt.

- - -

The next day, I made my trip to school in thoughtful silence. Auntie was more than happy to have Haruhi over; the hard part was convincing her that she was coming over because I'd be leaving. Just when I thought she would be telling me no, she shrugged and agreed.

"As long as at least one of you is with me, I don't care what you do."

That was the big mystery wasn't it: why did my aunt insist on always having at least one of us with her? It's not like she was doting or even friendly, most of the time I didn't even see her since she was busy running her company. She was nowhere near being an active parent, or even a reliable guardian, yet everyone knows my situation as some charitable sob-story. To others, Miko Katayama was known as a woman with no children who kindly adopted one of her late sister's daughters.

"It's cruel to separate them, but I want to give my nieces a better life. Their father is a stubborn person and can't see that I'm trying to fulfill my duty as their aunt."

It was really frustrating but there was nothing I could do about it. The large gates of Yokkaichi Private Academy came into view, and I was glad that I wasn't tardy for once.

"Fujioka!" Speaking of frustrating. "You are out of uniform yet again!" I sighed as my class president stood at the gates, almost as if he was waiting for me.

"Good morning to you too." He stopped me from walking by him with a firm but almost gentle grip on my arm.

"You can't keep doing this, you'll eventually get in trouble." He frowned, pulling a spare ribbon from his blazer pocket.

"I don't think it really matters." I shrugged indifferently, taking the silky, red ribbon into my hands nonetheless.

"Of course it matters! We must uphold with pride the image of our school!" Tying the ribbon into a sloppy bow around my neck, I was able to sidestep him.

"Oh Minamoto-kun," I sighed almost sympathetically, he flinched slightly with such a casual use of his name. "All the school cares about is those lovely tuition cheques they receive from our families every month; I doubt the issue of whether or not I wear a bow keeps them from sleeping at night."

"That's not the point!" He eventually called, running a few steps to catch up with me.

"Please spare me." I sighed annoyed, walking down the halls to our classroom, 1A proudly stood above the door. If I'm being honest, I'd rather be in 1B or even maybe 1C, they get almost as much prestige with only a fraction of the effort.

Yokkaichi Academy, not unlike Ouran, is a school for rich kids that basically buy their education instead of earning it. Those who put more effort into their appearance, making connections, and -on the rare occasion- their studies, were piled into the "A" portion of every year. Personally, I can't stand half the stuck ups here, but if there was one thing auntie took seriously it was who I surrounded myself with; I was able to get away with having my other friends so long as I rubbed elbows with these mooks.

The day went by as any other did with me lazily taking notes, but soon enough lunch time rolled around and I was able to leave the airconditioned classroom for a well-deserved break. I stood in line behind a couple of older students, holding my food card tightly in my hand, contemplating what I should eat today. We paid for our meals with food cards, or the option of a credit card but I didn't have one of those, which took funds from our families' bank accounts every month so we could eat in the canteen. But hey, those five-star chefs had to get paid somehow, right? I picked a simple B set that included vegetable curry, rice, and a side salad, with bubble tea and raspberry sherbet additionally on the side. Walking past the chattering cliques, I made my way to a table hidden away on the second floor.

"Proper uniform today?" One of my friends raised an eyebrow as he saw the sloppy bow around my neck, which obviously wasn't mine.

"Oh ha ha," I laughed sarcastically. "I'm starting to think our class president has it out for me, can you believe he was waiting at the front gates this morning?" I slid into the plush chair that was left unoccupied for me and smiled at my friends.

"Maybe he has a crush on you?" Another friend said half-jokingly, a sweet sigh in her voice as she contemplated the idea.

"Definitely not." I rolled my eyes, stabbing my bubble tea with the thick straw.

My friend group consisted of three people:

My best friend, Kiku Wakatoshi - we went to the same middle school and bonded over the fact that we weren't considered rich because of our immediate family, but rather because of our aunts. He's a really easy-going guy that basically has free reign over what he wants to do with his life considering his aunt has her own children to mold. Her parenting technique consisted of tossing him a platinum credit card and telling him not to cause her any trouble. Kiku's parents died when he was in elementary school, leaving him a large sum of money in a couple of different bank accounts, both offshore and in the country, along with a few small businesses that manage themselves, to inherit once he becomes of age. He's only slightly taller than me with dark brown hair, sun kissed skin, and the most gorgeous eyes you've ever seen; seriously, it looks like someone plucked the color off a violet and threw it at his face. Some of his favorite things include playing handheld videogames, environmental science, and painting - particularly when he's high as a kite. He claims it helps inspire him, I think it's his own way of coping with the disaster he has to come home to.

Rei Saito - a bubbly girl that sat next to us on the first day's lunch break. She had quite a bit to say about the quality of the cafeteria food considering her family owns multiple five-star restaurants, many of them outside the country, and said that what we were eating would be considered dog food in her home. True to her word, when she opened her lunch box, it seemed to glow for a moment before showing the perfectly made food inside - the half Italian girl seemed almost nervous as we stared at her, before we grinned and introduced ourselves. Rei is just a bit shorter than me with much longer light brown hair, her eyes are a rich dark brown and crinkle cutely when she smiles; to be perfectly honest, the reason why I gave her a chance was because I thought it was hilarious the way she spoke so fast and in a slight accent, but I'm glad I did, because once we got to know her we realized she had many interests outside of cooking, like mountain climbing, gardening, and deep sea diving. I couldn't help but sweatdrop when she confided in me one day that all her favorite activities were some of the best ways to obtain the freshest ingredients for her meals.

Joichi Nakamura - a second year that was already sitting by himself at a table not too far away from us when the school year started. He's seemed to have the same idea of not wanting to be bothered by the rest of the student population, so naturally we started sitting with him. At first it seemed to bother him a lot, but after the first few days he looked resigned to his fate and introduced himself. Turns out he's actually just really shy and doesn't like talking to people, so he usually doesn't say much even when we do try to include him in the conversation. Joichi, which we've teasingly nicknamed Joji, much to his chagrin, towers over us in a lithe, lanky frame, with a pretty hair color almost the color of bricks and surprisingly expressive hazel eyes. We're not sure what his family does, but I'm sure he'll tell us on his own soon enough

We usually spent our time together during lunch and after school since we're all in different classes. I looked at my friends for a moment, smiling softly. Ah, I'm really going to miss them.

"What's wrong Yuki?" Joji suddenly asked. His voice, though soft, carried to the rest of the table and I couldn't help but nervously bite my lip under their scrutiny.

"Ah, well you see, uh," I swallowed thickly, putting down my spoon. "I'm going to be leaving, for about a month or so and I wanted to ask a favor of you." Their eyes widened.

"What! Why are you leaving? When?" Rei sadly furrowed her eyebrows.

"Are you going over to your dad's?" Kiku tilted his head and I nodded.

"Yeah, my sister thought it'd be nice for me to spend some time with him and get away from my aunt for a little while, so I'll be staying there while my sister comes here. But here's the thing, she goes to Ouran on a scholarship and if she missed that much school, she'd for sure get kicked out, so I'll be attending school for her while she comes here for me." They all stared at me blankly.

"Seems like something out of a movie." Rei giggled to herself.

"And, um," I ignored her. "I wanted to ask you guys if you'd keep her company. If left on her own, she'll probably just keep to herself the entire month and I don't want her to be lonely, no matter how much she'd insist she's fine, you know?"

"Aw, Yuki! That's super sweet of you." Rei sighed softly.

"When are you leaving?" Kiku looked down at his food, pushing around the expensive black truffle pasta.

"As soon as possible, probably tomorrow so I can get settled in over the weekend." He nodded and what he was about to say got interrupted by the bell. "How about we hang out tonight? I'll finish packing my stuff and we'll head over to the woods behind Rei's house?" That seemed to bring their smiles out of them.

"Sounds fun." Kiku grinned.

"If I must." Joji sighed tiredly.

"I'll prepare a picnic for us!" Rei excitedly packed her lunch away.

"I'll text you guys when I'm on my way." I grinned and we parted ways to finish our school day before we'd have to go home.