* tiny crossover bit. I couldn't resist. I don't own any characters from My Love Story!
"I'm sure you didn't expect us to actually sleep in tents, did you?" Kyoya asked.
Hanabi laughed, "not at all, actually." They were peering up at a very large wooden cabin.
"Sorry, Hana-chan. It's probably not how your used to," Honey said, feeling a bit guilty. He's part of the reason they're all here.
"Don't be sorry, Honey. I expected this much," Hanabi smiled. "Just the fact that you would all do this for me, makes me really happy ya know? We'll have tons of fun together!"
"Okay!"
The Host Club rented out a cabin in the camping grounds. There were others here as well, but this one was definitely the biggest. She couldn't see the other cabins from here, giving the feel that they were truly here alone.
The cabin overlooked a steep degrade that led down to the ocean and she could see a few people relaxing in the sands.
"Hey boss," she heard the twins say. They were looking over a map of the area, showing the different cabin numbers, the grilling area, and the bathhouse. "They have onsen here."
"What?! You mean that thing where you strip down into nothing but a small towel and bathe with complete strangers?!"
Hanabi popped up, "you don't even need the towel. Have you never been to a bathhouse before, Tamaki?"
"The boss grew up in France," Hikaru explained.
"And we all have our own large baths at home," Kaoru added.
Hanabi's eyes sparkled, "that's amazing! I love baths, so I plan on using it. But I'm pretty sure there's a private shower in the cabin as well, so don't feel pressured." She then followed Kyoya inside.
"No! Men! We will gain every bit of this camping experience, including, the public bath!" Tamaki shouted with determination, but then sort of fizzled in embarrassment.
"You don't have to force yourself, senpai," Haruhi tried. "A lot of people don't like onsen."
"Do you?" The twins asked. Tamaki listened intently, he wanted to know if his other precious daughter will be exposed to people during this trip.
Haruhi shrugged, "not really. But if I don't go with her, she ends up playing in the water."
Honey laughed, "Hana-chan is really funny!"
"Hani-senpai, you guys are pretty close to Hanabi, right?" The twins asked. "Do you know what she's scared of?"
"Right! We never did figure out her fear on the last beach trip!" Tamaki realized.
Haruhi popped up with her bags, "is that what you guys were doing? We'll, I'm sure you'll find out soon enough."
Right on cue, a scream was heard from inside the house. Moments later, the front door was thrown open and Hanabi tackled Haruhi to the ground, sending them both flying a few feet.
Haruhi struggled to remove her sister, who had started constricting her arms like a snake.
Hanabi trembled, and the others braced for whatever it was that could frighten the danger-loving 2nd year.
"Hanabi! Get off of me!! How can I help you if you don't let go?! Mori-senpai! Help me!" Haruhi cried with the last of her breath.
Takashi immediately went over to help his struggling kohai. He was expecting to use crowbar like tactics to remove the sister, but he was surprised when she immediately curled around him instead.
Haruhi disappeared into the cabin mumbling about stupid sisters and glitches in their brains.
"What did you see in there?!" Tamaki asked.
"Do we need to get a new cabin?" Honey asked.
"Ahh! Haruhi went in to where the danger is!" Tamaki realized.
"What is that, Hana-chan?" The Lolita asked. Hanabi was mumbling something into Mori's side. Her nails were digging into his skin almost painfully as she trembled. "I can't hear you!"
"C-c-c-co..."
"Co?"
"C-c-COCKROACH!!!"
... "what?"
The cabin door opened again to reveal Haruhi with cupped hands. Upon opening them, a large roach flew out and into the trees.
"Okay, it's gone." Haruhi went back in to wash her hands.
Hanabi let out a sigh of relief and collapsed onto her knees.
... "what?" They asked again.
"It's not a glitch! It's a survival instinct! Haven't you ever had one attack your face before?! They're out to kill!"
"But it's fine in the trees?" Hikaru asked again.
"They don't attack when they're out there."
"But you raise them?" Kaoru checked again.
"Not those. The ones without wings."
"But Hana-chan loves bugs?" Honey asked.
"Everything but those face attacking demons."
"But you wrestled an alligator?" Tamaki asked. "That attacks more than faces?!"
Hanabi just stared blankly, unsure of where he was going with this.
"It's a glitch." The twins decided.
Hanabi blew air out through her lips exasperatedly.
"There could still be more, you know?" Kyoya pointed out.
"So long as I don't see it. They only attack if they know they're spotted," she said confidently.
"...right..."
Haruhi was already over this camping trip.
"Has anyone seen Hanabi?" Tamaki asked.
"She's not here? She promised to stay nearby until everyone is ready," Haruhi sighed. Since they got here in the afternoon, they decided to just take it easy at the beach for the rest of the day.
"Takashi, what do you think is happening out there?" Honey asked the taller male. Everyone crowded around the window.
There was a small group of people standing at the base of a large tree, shouting upwards. "Do you think there's something up there?" Tamaki asked.
"Do you see Hanabi?" Haruhi asked. If her sister was out there, she'd either be with the group or...
"She's in the tree!"
The Hosts ran out of the house in a panic, but they realized the group on the ground was cheering, not shouting.
"Go! Go! Go!"
"Go Takeo!"
"She's actually keeping up with him?!"
The group peered up at the tree to see Hanabi racing up the tree against a gorilla.
"They almost made it!"
"I can't see anymore! Who won?!"
"Why is there a gorilla here?!" Kaoru shouted.
"That's not a gorilla!" A sweet little voice shouted. "It's Takeo-kun," she smiled.
"What is going on?!" Tamaki shouted.
It was finally quiet, as everyone tried to figure that out. They looked up to finally see the pair on their way down the tree.
Until... "oh crap!!!!" Hanabi screamed as the branch she stepped on snapped under her weight.
Mori immediately acted to catch her, but he was literally blown away by the gorilla jumping the rest of the way down, and then catching her before she could hit the ground.
Stunned silence befell the crowd.
Previously ~
Hanabi tried once more to throw the rope over the branches, huffing in frustration when she missed again. She had tied her bag onto the end of it to hopefully make it weighted enough to fly the distance, but she just barely missed every time.
"What are you doing?"
Hanabi jumped back, not expecting to hear a soft female voice right next to her.
"Oh! Sorry!" A female around her height apologized. She was probably a high schooler too. "I'm Yamato Rinko, I didn't mean to scare you!"
Hanabi laughed, "no worries! I was so focused I didn't even hear you walk up!" She looked behind her to see a group, all about high school age. They were all dressed to go down to the beach. She waved in greeting before answering her original question. "I wanted to look around the area, so I'm trying to get to the top of this tree."
Yamato stared in shock, before she started giggling uncontrollably. "Takeo-kun! It's just like that time we got lost during our picnic!"
The largest male she had possibly ever seen in her life smiled so warmly at the girl. "You're right!"
"Oh, this is my boyfriend, Gouda Takeo!" Yamato blushed.
"Nice to meet you! I'm Fujioka Hanabi. Ne, think one of you can help me throw this rope over?"
"Takeo-kun?" Yamato asked.
"Yeah, I got it." But he didn't even need to throw it. Takeo simply reached over and secured it around the base. He turned with the biggest thumbs up she had ever seen.
Hanabi laughed, "that works! Thank you, Gouda-san!" She easily climbed up the rope and reached the first branch.
"Oh! You're pretty good at that!" Takeo shouted.
She was unbothered by his naturally loud voice. She hung upside down by her legs and smirked at the much larger male. "Think you can do better? Wanna race?"
~
"And that's the gist of it," Hanabi finished. Her sister was still hanging onto her soul by a thread. She turned to Takeo, "I can't believe you jumped that far!! Are your legs okay?!"
He gave her a thumbs up.
"This guy isn't a normal human." A soft male voice spoke. "Pay it no mind."
"Oh? Okay," she smiled. She liked how he said it with absolutely no malice. "You guys must be great friends."
"We are! This is Suna! My best friend!" Takeo shouted.
"Sunakawa Makoto," he reintroduced. "Fujioka-san...right?"
"Yup! You guys going down to the beach? We'll probably see you there, maybe we can all hang out!"
"That sounds like so much fun!" Yamato agreed. They all said their goodbyes and started their way down the steps, giving Hanabi compliments on her climbing skills as they passed.
"Alright! To the bea- ack!!!" Haruhi cut her off by whacking her in the head. Hanabi could do nothing but apologize at the merciless scolding. "Still, I was kinda surprised when I opened my eyes and didn't see Takashi carrying me," she admitted. "I feel a little bad to have bothered someone else. Maybe I should apologize..."
Mori, who had just gotten over his shock from being beaten to the punch, stared in surprise.
"Oh?? And why wouldn't you feel bad if it was Mori-senpai?" The twins surrounded her.
She furrowed her brows in confusion, "I guess that sounded a little bad, huh?" She glanced at Takashi, a little surprised to see him staring right at her. "I wonder..." she answered. She looked back at everyone else, "can we go to the beach now?"
Hikaru, Kaoru, and Tamaki were hanging behind the group as they walked down the stairs. Honey and Hanabi excitedly took the lead, and Mori followed behind them diligently. Haruhi and Kyoya were descending at their own pace, in the middle of the group.
"So, boss, it's obvious what we have to accomplish on this trip, right?" Hikaru asked.
Kaoru watched as Hanabi grabbed onto Takashi's arm to get his attention, not that she needed to go that far. "It's obvious something has changed, they just need a little push!"
"Right, men! We need a plan! Operation - Confession!"
"In that case, I have a suggestion."
"Kyoya!"
"Haruhi! Let's go!!!!" The bikini clad older sister shouted. She was wearing her same navy blue discounted two piece, and Haruhi wore a pink frilly one piece.
"Wait! Stop bouncing around, people are staring! Did you put on sunscreen?"
Hanabi stopped, "I forgot."
"I know, that's why I brought it. Here," she gave it to her.
"Lifesaver!!!" Hanabi sung. She applied it liberally and stopped when she just had to do her back. "Haruhi, can you-"
"Haruhi!!!" The twins suddenly appeared. "Come check out this rock!"
"Eh? I don't wanna see a rock!" But she was carried away anyways.
Hanabi blinked at her shrinking form, and then back down at her sunscreen. "Hana-chan! I can help you!"
She smiled down at Honey, "tha-"
"Hani-senpai! There's an ice cream stall over here!" Tamaki dragged him away.
She stared at Takashi, who was the only one left besides Kyoya. Until Kyoya simply walked away. "Hmm?" She hummed in confusion.
... "do you need help?" Takashi finally asked.
"No, no, I got it! I was about to tell Honey, 'that's okay'. I can reach just fine, I just like to bother Haruhi," she giggled.
He turned away as she began reaching and stretching to do her own back.
"Plan A, failure." Hikaru reported.
"What was that?" Haruhi asked after poking at the rock.
"Nothing!" Kaoru answered.
Haruhi stared suspiciously until Hanabi walked over. "Ne-chan, you need to rub it in better," she scolded, and then proceeded to do it for her.
There weren't many groups down at the beach, but Hanabi did spot the group from earlier. It wasn't hard to spot the hulking mass that is Takeo. She waved at the group and went over to greet them. The boys especially fawned over her, thinking that she was like a female version of their superhuman friend.
She thanked and apologized to Takeo properly for saving her, making Sunakawa smile. Takeo doesn't usually receive thanks because he's too intimidating, so it's nice to see him being appreciated.
Hanabi said her goodbyes and made it back to the others. "Let's go swimming!"