The next day, Reiko walked into the club room early. No one else had arrived yet, but she decided to start setting things up for when they opened for guests. Walking to the back of the room where a small snack station was, Reiko turned on the electric kettle and began to brew the first round of tea. While the water was still being heated, she quickly began setting up the tables: she spread the folded tablecloths over the tabletops and placed a vase of fresh flowers at the center of each one. The silver-haired teen hummed quietly to herself as she worked. She'd become familiar with service-oriented tasks because of her dad. Isuka had worked at a small restaurant for years, and Reiko had spent most of her middle school summers cleaning tables and taking orders as an unpaid waiter to help him. Now tasks like these were second-nature.
By the time Kyoya walked in to begin setting up, Reiko had already finished most of their pre-opening tasks and was brewing herself a cup of tea.
She immediately noticed the raven-haired male standing in the room and nodded at him in greeting. "Would you like a cup of tea?" she asked, gesturing to the kettle that was almost done heating up.
Looking around the room, the teen was surprised at how much she'd been able to accomplish. He'd only left the club room 20 minutes after she had. How was it possible that she'd finished what took seven members a half hour to accomplish? "Did you set up by yourself?" he asked.
Reiko nodded. "I arrived earlier than I'd planned and decided to start working."
Kyoya hummed in response and took a seat at his usual table. He pulled out his laptop and opened the spreadsheet of the week's timetable, showing the appointments all the hosts had for that week.
Despite having forgotten to tell her whether he wanted tea or not, Reiko arrived a moment later carrying a silver tray with a pot of tea and two teacups. She wordlessly poured him a cup before fixing her own and taking the seat beside him. As it was only her first day, Kyoya had decided not to take on any appointments and dedicate himself to training Reiko on all her responsibilities as the club's secretary.
Kyoya shifted the laptop so that it was between the both of them and showed her the spreadsheet. He quickly explained that all appointments last 15 minutes unless the guest was part of the exclusive member's list, in which the appointment could be 20 minutes. If it were a group appointment, then it would last 25-30 minutes, depending on whether they were exclusive members. Guests would usually make appointments in person by stopping at the club room and scheduling for later during the week. Reiko would be taking over the organization of the appointments and managing the distribution of promotional items the club decided on each month.
"Is there a meeting where you decide what promotional items will be produced?" she asked as she looked at the day's schedule.
"Yes, we hold a meeting on the first Monday of each month after the guests leave to discuss the month's events."
"I see."
"You and I will also manage the club's expenses at the end of each month. That, however, is a private meeting between you and I. All other responsibilities are divided between the rest of the members."
"Okay, thank you for explaining everything to me."
Kyoya nodded. "of course, please do not hesitate to ask me if you have any questions."
Reiko nodded in thanks, and the pair fell into a comfortable silence for a few short minutes until the doors burst open with the arrival of Tamaki, Haruhi, and the twins.
"Good afternoon!" the blonde sang as he pranced to where Kyoya and Reiko were.
"Hello," the silver-haired teen greeted quietly as she looked through the month's promotions. "How does Kyoya even have time to take pictures of the hosts?" she asked, looking at the photobook's descriptions.
"Hey Rei-senpai, already working, huh?" Hikaru asked as he walked over to her.
"Kyoya and I were going over a few things before we opened the doors. I'm just looking through the promotional items now."
"Oh yeah, I saw those on the website the other day," Kaoru mentioned as he took a seat on one of the couches. "We're doing photobooks, right?"
Reiko nodded.
"Now's not the time for fun and games everyone! We have to get the club room ready for our guests to arrive!" Tamaki announced.
The twins looked at each other.
"But there's nothing to do," Hikaru pointed out.
"Yeah, everything's already done," Kaoru said.
The blonde looked around and realized that the boys were right. The club room had already been prepared- the tables were set, the tea was ready, and each table was stocked with a display of sandwiches and cakes. "That's wonderful! That means we can open the club earlier today!" he exclaimed.
"Kyoya, does the club take walk-ins?"
The male adjusted his glasses. "Well, we've never been in a position to accept walk-in appointments before, so the answer would be no, though it's not an official club rule."
"Are we closing early today then?" she asked.
"I suppose so; if we have no intention of adding on appointments, then once the last of our guests leave, there's no harm in closing the club early."
"Hey you guys!" Honey exclaimed as he and Mori entered the room.
"Sorry we're late; Takashi had a kendo meeting," he told them.
"You're just in time for up to open the club," Reiko informed them.
"Don't we still have a few minutes?"
"Yes, but because Reiko finished all the preparation tasks before we got here, we can open the club earlier," Kaoru explained.
"Rei-chan did all of that by herself?" he asked. He smiled at the second year and patted her head affectionately. "Good job!"
After everyone shifted to their stations, the twins opened the club room for the crowd of girls waiting outside, and rose petals fell from the roof. Afterward, Tamaki gave a small welcome speech to everyone, and the hosts broke away to their respective tables. Taking a quick glance at the names on the lists, Reiko began guiding the ladies to their scheduled hosts and led those who had arrived earlier to the waiting area on the other side of the room, where she served them tea and snacks.
Kyoya quickly realized that Reiko wouldn't need his guidance very much that day as she was already handling her responsibilities flawlessly. When it was time for the hosts to switch appointments, she would discretely signal them to end their conversation while she escorted the next lady. If someone needed something she would make her way over and tend to the issue right away. She seemed to glide around the room, refilling teapots, bringing sandwiches or slices of cake, or clearing dirty dishes from the tables. None of the guests really noticed her presence as she did most things unprompted and completed her tasks quietly. The raven-haired male found her surprisingly entertaining; she hadn't sat down once since the doors had opened. Now, she was guiding another guest to her appointment. As she walked back she grabbed an abandoned tea tray and began to bring it back to the counter.
Just as she walked past a table, one of the girls abruptly stood up, nearly knocking the tray out of Reiko's hands. Thankfully the silver-haired teen reacted quickly enough to maneuver out of the way to prevent them from colliding.
Kyoya let out a small sigh of relief, knowing that it would've been a problem if one of the guests had tea spilled on them. Standing up, he made his way over to offer his assistance. Even if she was handling everything well, surely having to carry such a heavy tray would be difficult for her.
With the guest gone, Reiko transferred the weight of the tray to one hand and grabbed the dirty plates on the table to add them to the pile. Before she could continue on her way, however, the weight of the tray was suddenly removed from her arm.
"Allow me," Kyoya's smooth voice spoke.
Reiko offered him a smile in thanks and grabbed a couple of empty juice glasses before following him toward the counter.
"You've been doing quite well today," he told her as they walked.
"I'm just doing what is expected of me."
"Still... few would expect their heiress of the country's largest investments firm to have an aptitude for waiting tables."
Reiko chuckled quietly. "I suppose not."
"Do you have experience in this industry?" he asked.
The teen smirked, her grey eyes glittering with playfulness at another one of Kyoya's subtle attempts at subliminal questioning. "I suppose so."
"Is it your mission to be as cryptic as possible?" he sighed though he wasn't particularly annoyed.
"Is it yours to be as intrusive as possible?" she asked.
Kyoya's lips curved upwards with the most minuscule smile. "Only when I see fit."