Absquatulate

CHAPTER TWO

//Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran High School Host Club.//

CHAPTER TWO
THE MESSAGE

Asami is not entirely sure what she expected from her newfound family. Maybe she expected them to be shy around her for a while considering they have gone so many years without knowing each other. Maybe they would avoid her for a bit and watch her cautiously from the shadows. Maybe they would ask her maid and the house servants about her habits yet none of that has happened. Since the moment she has stepped back into their lives, Tamaki has been nonstop talking to her. He wanted to know every little thing about her like her favorite color (which is periwinkle), her favorite food (chirashi), her favorite dessert (red bean cake), her favorite show (Attack on Titan), her favorite movie (Spirited Away), and the most recent question was what her favorite subject in school is (which is biology). The one thing he has yet to ask her about is how her life was with Emica. She appreciates him not treading on that subject with her because she feels like she would offend him in some sort of way because despite everything, Emica still holds the mother position in her heart. It is hard to wrap her head around the fact that Emica is in fact her kidnapper. She desperately wants to know why Emica did it. There has to be a reason for her actions, right? Maybe then Asami could better understand why Emica did it. Yuzuru, her father — that is so weird to say — has been more of what she expected. He hovers around her whenever she is walking around the mansion, makes sure they eat every meal together in the large dining room, and asks questions about her future goals. This is how her newfound family discovered that Asami wishes to create a business that makes and sells vital medicine to help people. When she said this, she saw how quiet both of the men got. Tamaki even had slight tears in his eyes as he told her how admirable her goal is and Yuzuru offered her his help. It has been a little over two weeks now and Asami has not stepped foot outside the mansion. Yuzuru says it is for the better because the paparazzi and news all found out about her story and have been surrounding the mansion to get photos of her or try to interview her. She wishes that people could butt out of her life. Why is it any of their business that she got kidnapped and found? That is her story to tell, not theirs. It is sickening just how far paparazzi and journalists will go to get a story.

Asami sighs as she finishes writing her assignments for her history class. She misses attending class at her school and seeing her best friends. She even misses arguing with Mrs. Tanaka and Mr. Suzuki. She briefly wonders if her town has learned the truth behind Emica and her. Everyone is probably whispering about her and about how they always knew there was something wrong with her family. That is what small towns do when drama happens, they pretend they knew about it the entire time and that everyone else must be dumb. She secretly misses Shirakawa. Sure, everyone knew each other, but everyone took care of each other too. Her neighbors brought over soup whenever Emica got sick. Everyone would donate and pitch in whenever a family was suffering. Birthday parties were always a blast because everyone would force their children to go. She leans her head against her hand and stares out the window, eyeing the crowds of people staring at the mansion as if they were trying to get the slightest glimpse of her. People are shoving each other over as they record the mansion with their phones. She even spots a person try to hop the fence, but he got tackled by security pretty quickly. As soon as this behavior fades away, she would be permitted out of the mansion. A knock on the door breaks her out of her thoughts. "Come in!" She calls out. The door opens to reveal Hana standing there. She curtsies towards Asami before making her way over to the desk.

"Miss Souh, your father is requesting your presence in the dining room for lunch." Hana seems a bit nervous as she glances at Asami's pajamas. "I do have to warn you, Miss Souh, your grandmother is here. You should probably get dressed in something more suitable for a lady of your stature." Hana heads to the closet and opens it, she rampages through it. Asami honestly has not looked through it too much because all the clothes are too fancy for her. She usually lounges around in her silky pajamas all day. She furrows her eyebrows, trying to imagine how her grandmother would be. When she asked Tamaki about her, he got very skittish and told her to be extremely careful around the old woman. Apparently, their grandmother is a traditional woman and does everything in her power to ensure that their family's reputation is pristine. Hana pulls out a nice dusty blue dress that has a sweetheart neckline, cuffed sleeves, and looks that it would go to Asami's knees. Hana also pulls out a pair of white tights and lays the items on Asami's bed. "And you should wear these," Hanna pulls out a pair of fancy looking inside slippers. Asami stares at the items, her mind racing on all the possibilities of how this interaction could end up. Is Tamaki right? Will she be a tyrant? "She will be expecting you to arrive in the next few minutes. Please hurry." Hana leaves to give her privacy. Asami gently lets her fingers run across the fabric of the dress before she takes her pajamas off and changes. She heads to her bathroom and squirts some perfume her last minutes in case Shizue has something to say about her smell. She heads out of her room, nodding towards Hana who quickly escorts her to the dining room hall. "Miss Souh, please do not speak unless a question is directed towards you. Do not look Mrs. Souh in the eye and treat her with respect." Asami grows more cocnerned at Hana's words. Just how horrible is her grandmother? She wanted a grandmother growing up. She wanted someone to bake her cookies and coddle her whenever her mother would be too harsh about something. She wanted someone that would make her soup when she was sick and knit her cute clothing. She enters the dining hall and immediately notices the tension within the room. Tamaki is staring blankly down at plate in front of him, sitting in a chair far away from the head table chair where an old woman with dark grey hair and brown eyes sits. Yuzuru sits at the seat next to her.