Sweet and Sour [An OHSHC Fanfic]

Chapter Five

Thirty minutes flew by faster than I would have liked.

After our greetings, Elias and I had pulled up chairs and politely sat down as Kyoya excused himself. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that he was surrounded by his gaggle of girls almost instantly. My lips twitched up at the sight, seeing as he didn’t strike me as the sort to like all of that sort of attention. Or perhaps he did, impressing the girls could always create useful connections.

Dismissing the thought, I returned my attention to the hosts in front of me. Content to simply listen to their conversation at first, I very quickly realized that disentangling the strange mixture of people would be interesting. First of all, there was the girl who I hadn’t known. Her name, it turned out, was Chie. She was the one who set up the appointment, but, from what I could gather, she was in a relationship with a boy in a club that both Nao and Mori attended. None of them seemed to find anything strange about that.

Nao and Mori on the other hand seemed to be a bit easier to understand, if not a bit stranger. They, I continued to believe, were dating, but didn’t really say much to each other at all. Nao would reply to something when the conversation was turned to her, but otherwise she seemed content to let the others talk, much like I was. Mori on the other hand hadn’t said a single word. For a couple, they were rather… unaffectionate? The only indication that there was something there was when she finished the slice of cake I’d barely noticed she’d had, Mori quietly slid another over to her, causing Nao’s face to flush a faint pink.

Honey on the other hand seemed content to cheerfully talk to all of them. Apparently he was a third year, making him a year older than me, but he talked as if he was a lot younger. At the same time, he had the air of someone who knew exactly what was going on around him, despite the innocent edge to all of his actions. It was strange, if not slightly intriguing.

“Cande-chan!”

I blinked, realizing that while I’d been studying him, the person in question had turned his attention to me with a bright smile.

“Hm?”

“Do you like sweets?” he questioned. “You can have some if you want.”

A faint, amused smile crossed my face as I shook my head.

“Sorry, I’m not really that fond of them.”

His eyes grew wide, tears actually seeming to appear in them as he clutched his bunny tightly against his chest.

“You aren’t?”

Apparently able to faintly keep up with the conversation when it was going this slowly, Elias decided to lean forward, a mischievous smile on his face.

“Cande loves sweets,” he announced in his simple Japanese. “But she’s a heath…”

He paused, furrowing his brow as he searched for the word. Honey’s eyes, still wide and tear filled, switched to me questioningly.

“Nut!” Elias cut in as I opened my mouth, his voice louder than necessary. Amused snickers flickered through the group as my face flushed red.

“You idiot!” I snapped in Spanish. “Don’t just go shouting things like that!”

He shrugged uncaringly, apparently too used to being scolded by me for the comment to do much good. Meanwhile, Honey’s wide, tearful eyes had filled with understanding. With an almost gleeful expression on his face, he hoped to his feet and stuck his hand that wasn’t clutched around his rabbit out in my direction.

“I understand! Here, Cande-chan, come with me!” he instructed.

I hesitated for a moment, then with my curiousity winning me over, I ordered Elias to stay behind as I shifted out of my chair and to my feet. Taking Honey’s hand, I allowed him to lead me across the room to where one of the tables had been taken over by a dessert stand, somewhat near to where Kyoya seemed to greet most of the guests.