"I'm back." I closed the umbrella and handed it to the door maid. She smiled, bowed, and left with the umbrella.
"How was your walk, Rika-sama?" Azumi asked.
"It was alright, Azumi. I think I met our neighbors." I said. "The ones that live in the traditional Japanese home."
"Ah, the Haninozuka family," Azumi said knowingly.
"Yes." I replied, nodding.
"Rika!"
Oh dear. It was sis. I smiled. "Yes, nee-san? Is there something I can help you with?"
"Where's my makeup set?" she demanded angrily. She had long black hair, usually kept down, and she was tall. Much taller than me which is so unfair. She was dressed in a simple frilly pink skirt and a brown hoodie. My sister had no fashion sense. She tried to wear cute and pretty things but somehow they just turned out... wrong.
"I don't know where they are, nee-san. Did you ask a maid?" I replied in a very calm and dignified manner. At least, that's my point of view. I headed towards the marble staircase.
"W-Well, no. Not really. I thought you'd know," she said, following closely behind me. She's so not ladylike at all. I scoffed very quietly so Kimiko wouldn't hear.
"Ask Azumi." I said, entering my room and closing the door in her face.
"Rika, that is really rude!" She shouted childishly before stomping away. I chuckled. Kimiko is so ridiculous. I can hardly believe she's already twenty.
In my room, I went to my bookshelf. I used to have a ton of video games to play and a ton of manga to read. After middle school, yup. They got chucked out along with all my sweatpants, jeans, t-shirts, shorts, and everything my parents considered "unladylike." All my manga! All of it! Every single volume! I was so appalled. To this day, I still hold that grudge against them. It's one thing to throw out clothes, but manga? No. No way in hell does that just happen. And my video games!
My parents stocked up my bookshelf with "educational" and "proper books for a young lady like yourself." I've gone through numerous books about history, science, and arts. It's the reason why I don't ever have to study for those subjects. Math is a breeze for me too. And English? I got that down in middle school thanks to Akane.
So class has always been easy for me. At that stupid boarding school, I read every single book at their library. Unless it was so boring that I just couldn't continue.
This time, I picked out a book on knitting. I'd been trying to learn how to knit recently but to no avail. I settled down on my huge bed to read.
"Rika!" My door flew open to reveal Kimiko.
"What now?" I asked. She huffed at me angrily. She was probably hoping to find me doing something "bad" so she could tattle on me. Like what did she expect? For me to be secretly reading manga or playing video games? Or beating up some punching bag? My parents took away all my martial arts equipment and my treadmill after middle school. Seriously. I lost everything after that. Ah, they're such jerks.
"How do I look?" She asked calmly, straightening her hoodie. Nothing had effing changed about her appearance! Why was she asking me?
"You look fine, besides, aren't you just going out with some friends?" I waved her away easily, returning my attention back to the book. Wow, that's cool. You can knit stuffed animals! Did you know that?
"N-Not just some friends! Masahiko-kun will be there too!" She replied hotly. Ah, her sweet beloved crush. "It's fine. You look like that everyday anyway."
"Rika!" She shrieked. "Ugh, fine. I don't even know why I bother asking you."
She stormed out of my room without closing the door. How rude. I sighed and buried myself back into the book. How boring. Maybe Ouran will be a bit more exciting.
I gasped, a sudden beam of light reaching me. What if Ouran has bullies? Oh my God that'd be the perfect opportunity! I must befriend some wimpy people who get easily picked on! Then, when they're getting bullied, I can beat up the bullies. It'd be the perfect excuse for some fighting.
Ah, but that's really horrible huh?
Ugh. Whatever. There probably won't be any bullies. What a shame.
It's pink. Are you effing kidding me? Why the hell is the school pink? It looks like some princess's dream castle. Oh wait. Should I really be that surprised? I mean, I should have expected this after seeing the stupid, poofy yellow dress. What was even more disturbing was that I was actually wearing the disgusting thing.
Ah, can't blow my cover over some idiotic dress. At least it was made of nice material. It was really restricting though and even covered my feet from view. They had to tailor the dress so I wouldn't trip over it.
"A new student!"
"Aw, she's so cute!"
"She's really short."
"That's a big bow."
"Cute."
Great, now these shallow idiots were gossiping about me. I smiled at them pleasantly, letting my "friendly" aura wash over them.
"She seems nice."
"I want to be her friend." Ah, boy was I good at this. "Ri-chan!"
Eh?
Honey waved excitedly while riding atop Mori. I froze in my tracks. Uh. Oh no! Now I'll attract more unwanted attention! And more attention means more chances that I'll mess up! Noooooooo. Wait. Honey's saying something.
"-do you have?"
"Uh, sorry?" I said, tilting my head with a confused and apologetic smile.
"What classes do you have?" he asked again patiently.
"Oh. Here. Do you want to see my schedule?" I handed him the paper. He nodded, taking it from me.
"Oh, Ri-chan! We share four classes together!" Honey said happily. "With Takashi too!" He patted Mori's head fondly. Mori nodded, as Honey gave my schedule back.
"That's great!" I replied, genuinely happy.
"Come on! First class is this way! Takashi!" Honey pointed to the direction I'd just came from. Mori nodded and quickly lifted me up.
Eh?
He set me down on his left shoulder, next to Honey. "A-Ah, Mori-san. What are you doing?" I asked as Mori started walking. I grabbed Honey's arm. "T-This is really dangerous. And aren't I too heavy?"
Mori shook his head. "Honey," I wailed, clinging to his arm. My balance wasn't poor, but riding on someone's shoulders with absolutely nothing keeping me there was really dangerous.
Honey grinned. "Don't worry, you won't fall."
We arrived at the classroom after a while. The entire time I was panicking. Sure, I was pretty short and small so it wasn't too awkward, but still... Besides, riding on a guy's shoulder absolutely went against proper behavior!
"We're here!" Honey shouted, jumping off Mori's shoulder. Oh yeah? Well, I can do that too! Ok. Nope. Guess that's not happening when it comes to Mori huh? He lifted me up and gently placed me on the floor.
"I could have..." I stopped myself. No, telling them that I could have jumped off a dude who's like six feet something probably wouldn't benefit my image. I smiled instead. "Thank you, Mori-san. Except next time, I think I'll choose to walk myself."
"Aw," Honey said with a frown. "But riding on Mori is really fun! Don't you think so, Ri-chan?" He gave me his innocent, flowery smile.
Yeah... no. "It's really dangerous, Honey-san." I replied, as we entered the classroom. Honey pouted then walked off to his seat with Mori right behind him. Did I just make him angry? Noooo, Honey don't be mad at me!
"Ah, you're the new student right?" Sensei asked with a warm smile. I nodded and gave her a sweet smile in return. "Aw, you're so cute."
What. Ah whatever.
The bell rang as students settled down into their seats. "Everyone," the teacher called out, clapping her hands together briefly to attract attention. "You have a new classmate. Go ahead, introduce yourself."
"Hello everyone," I said with my warmest smile possible. "I'm Hayashi Rika. The kanji for it is forest and valued fragrance. It's nice to meet you all, and I hope we all get along. Please take care of me." I bowed then smiled at everyone. I could see the kind smiles returned and happiness in everyone's eyes. Yup, I had them all under my control. Mwahahahaha- Ah, wait. I mean, they obviously all liked me was what I meant.
"Wah, so cute!"
"She's so tiny!"
"Did you see that she came in with Honey?"
"Oh, they'd be so cute together!"
Uh. Whaaaaat? Honey and me? No way! Honey's like ten levels above me! Not just in martial arts but in cuteness and I'm sure in academics too!
"Any questions?" Sensei asked.
"Hayashi-san," one guy asked. "Do you have a boyfriend?"
Wow. This guy is bold.
"Don't ask her that!" The girl sitting next to him hissed, slapping at his raised hand. "That's so rude, Shu- kun."
"Eh, but I'm just curious." I smiled. "No, I don't."
"Students," Sensei said rather annoyed. "Ask some more sensible questions, will you?" The class was back to murmuring.
"No boyfriend? But she's so cute!" "Shuji-kun was so bold."
"Do you think he has a crush on her?" "No way, already?"
I stared at Honey with my pleading eyes. Please just let this end already! I just wanted to be put in whatever seat and start learning boring things! He saw and just grinned, giving me a thumbs up. What? What does that mean? I'm doing a good job? Or is he just encouraging/supporting me? So unhelpful. Honey! I expected more from you!
"If there are no more questions, then Hayashi-san will go and sit down." Sensei said, talking over the students' chatter.
"Ah, Sensei, I have a question!" One girl said, raising her hand. Sensei nodded.
"Hayashi-san, is your family the one that owns the Hayashi Sweets?"
"Yes," I replied. "Also Oshiro Press and the Oshiro bookstore line."
"Eh?" The students said collectively. Yeah, yeah. So my family was a big one. What do you expect huh? More murmuring. My God! These guys are as bad as the boarding school. I sighed mentally.
"Go ahead and sit next to Honey, Hayashi-san." Sensei said. Why was the seat right next to Honey's the only one open? What is this, a manga? Well at least that seat isn't right next to the window. But I feel like a lot of people would want to sit next to Honey, seeing as how cute he is. Is he not as popular here as I'd expected? I glanced at Sensei with an inquiring look. She smiled. "Girls always fight over who gets to sit there. Since you seem welcomed, they won't mind too much (for a while anyways) that you're sitting next to him." She giggled. What? This school is weird. Nevermind the ugly yellow dresses and that's it painted pink, the teachers are like this too?
Honey sat in the very last row. Sweet, out of the teacher's view, for the most part. I sat down next to Honey and smiled at him. He grinned at me in that super adorable way of his. OMG he's so cute!
Then class began. So boring. I knew like 98% of the stuff she taught, so I dozed while she lectured. So booooooooring.
"Ri-chan, wake up!"
"Mmm?" I shook my head as my gaze refocused on Honey, standing next to my desk. "Wh-What? Class is over already?"
"Yeah, come on!" He grabbed my hand, dragging me out of my seat. "Hayashi-san!"
I turned, facing a huge group of boys and girls. Holy crap! What? Why are there so many of them? OMG I can't handle this many people all at once! Help meeeeeeee!
"Hello everyone," I said with a quick bow and smile. Honey still had my hand. He turned with a frown. "Ri-chan, aren't we going to our next class now?"
"Eh, oh yeah!" Thank goodness there's Honey. I love you, Honey. Thank you so much for saving me! "Um, I'd love to see you guys, but I have to go." I smiled and waved at them as Honey dragged me away. "Bye!"
"Bye Hayashi-san!" They shouted/squealed.
"Phew, thanks Honey-san!" I said, as we walked to the next class. Mori followed as usual in that calm and quiet way. He was actually a really reassuring presence.
"You seem popular, Ri-chan." Honey replied with a grin. I nodded and smiled.
"But should you really be sleeping in class already?"
"Eh, oh. Yeah," I chuckled. Genuinely too! "I can't help it though. It's really boring and easy." Honey glanced at me thoughtfully. And he was still holding my hand!
He grinned. "Maybe you should take some harder classes."
"Yes. That would be a good idea." I smiled back. Then I actually considered his suggestion. It wouldn't be that difficult to change my classes. I'd just transferred after all. "But then I'd actually have to do work. I'd actually have to study, so...
No thanks!" I grinned. Genuinely! I don't grin much. My smiles are usually fake, but when I grin, it's real. I don't like flashing my teeth to just anyone after all.
"Ohh," Honey said slowly.
"What?" I asked, returning back to my fake smile.
He smiled at me mischievously. Geez, maybe Honey was even better than me at smiling! "Ri-chan's real smile is cuter after all."
Eh?
What was that cheesy manga-like line? What in the world? "We're here!" He said, letting go of my hand and whistling as he walked to his desk. What?
Man, I feel like an idiot.
Introductions and class gossiping. Here we go again!
"Come eat lunch with us, Ri-chan!" Honey said, as we headed towards the cafeteria. I nodded. It was actually fun being around Honey. I didn't have to act too much because it was easy to be with him. He didn't annoy me or say stupid things. And Mori. Well, he doesn't say anything or do much except tag along, so there's not much I can complain about him in the first place.
"You've already met everyone right, Ri-chan? Oh except Haru-chan." Honey said cheerily. Wait, I've already met everyone? Except Haru-chan? Who's that? A girl? Wait, wait. Stop. How do I already know everyone? It can't be... No. Please let it not be-
"Rika-hime~!" Tamaki the idiot was in front of me again. Nooooooooo.
"Honey-san," I sputtered, grabbing his sleeve. "Why do your friends have to be... this bunch?! Why?"
"Good afternoon, Rika-san."
"Kyoya!" I said in relief. "Thank goodness you're here too."
"Ah, it's Rika-chan." Twin one said, grinning and closing in on me.
"Rika-chan is here." Twin two said, mirroring Twin one. Boy are they good at stating the obvious.
"Hello. Twins. I can't tell you apart. Sorry." I said, sitting down next to Honey and... wait, is this a girl?
"Ri-chan, this is Haru-chan!" Honey said, gesturing at the girly looking... guy.
Uh. What. What. What?!
"Hello," Haru-chan said with a gentle (genuine!) smile. "Fujioka Haruhi. And you are?"
"Hayashi Rika, it's nice to meet you." I replied. I stared at her. Big brown eyes.
Wow. She's cute. Wait, I mean, he's cute. No way that's a girl... Unless!
My mind fell into the otaku world.
A girl crossdressing as a guy? But why would he/she do that? Gasp, I know! She had no choice but to! But how come? Or, a lesbian girl who really loves girls! What to do but to dress up as a guy to win the hearts of girls right?
No. Probably just a really girly looking guy. This world isn't a manga world. I sighed, opening up my bento box. "Itadakimasu." Then I started eating. Ah, Cook's food is the best!
"Cake! Cake! Strawberry cake!" What?
Honey was eating an entire cake. For lunch. Is he crazy? And Mori's letting him? No one else finds this strange at all? Oh wait, that must mean it's normal.
"Haru-chan," I said. She- I mean he! Turned to me with those big brown innocent eyes. OMG s- he's almost as cute as Honey! "Does Honey-san always eat cake for lunch?"
"Yeah," he replied with a nod.
"R-Really?" I can't believe. Wait, yes I can. Honey's devouring the cake right in front of my eyes. Oh my God the people here are berserk!
"Hayashi-san!" Eh?
"We have some questions for you!" It was a couple of girls and a few guys looking uncomfortable. Oh. Probably cause I'm surrounded by hot guys. Wait. Did I just call all these dumbos hot? Yes, I did. Oh. Gee. Lord.
"Of course!" I replied in my very fake, soft voice. "How may I help you?" "What do you use to make your skin look so soft and pale?"
Huh? Really? They came to ask me that? Wow, these people have no creativity at all. I smiled at them. "I just use this soap thing that my parents bought me. I think it's organic but I'm not sure. If you'd like, I can go home and see and tell you later."
"Sure!"
But my skin being pale was a completely different story. I was naturally pale, which is really annoying. Cause I look almost sickly pale in the winter time. Ah, at least at the boarding school, even during winter, there was a fair amount of sunshine to tan my skin.
"Anything else I can do for you?" I asked sweetly.
The guys came forward, scratching the back of their heads awkwardly. Aw, they're shy. That's so cute. Unless they came here to ask pervy questions. Then that wouldn't be cute.
"You don't have a boyfriend right?" The first guy asked, avoiding my gaze. What, is this the question of the day?
"No, I don't." I replied kindly. "Anything else?"
"Uh um!" The second guy said with determination. "Will you go out with me then?" Ok, what the hell is wrong with these people? Do I look like a tramp just asking for a boyfriend or something?
Suddenly, it got really quiet at our lunch table.
"What did you just ask Rika-hime?" Tamaki asked in a low voice. Wow. Is this guy an idiot? How many times do I have to tell him not to call me a princess?!
"Eh, uh." The second guy backed away.
"I'm sorry," I replied, placing my hand over Tamaki's to keep him from doing something stupid. "But I really don't know you." I smiled. "I'd love to get to know you better though. So, for now, do you want to just be friends?"
"Uh. Yeah, sure!" The guy squeaked out then he ran away. Pathetic. I'd be damned to go out with a guy like him. He can't even stand his ground in front of a dumb second year.
"Tama-chan," I said, beckoning with my finger. He looked up at me and leaned across the table towards me. Then I pinched his cheek again. Still smiling, I said,
"How many times, Tama-chan, do I have to tell you not to call me a princess!"
"Aieeeeee!" He burst into tears and ran away with the twins laughing.
"She's good!" Twin one shouted, while tears poured out of his eyes from laughing. Twin two just rolled around on the floor, dying in laughter. Geez, they're all so immature.
"Rika-san," Kyoya said. "Please refrain from harming Tamaki's face."
"And why is that, Kyoya?"
"Wait!" Twin two suddenly shouted, interrupting our conversation. "How do you guys know each other?"
Kyoya and I exchanged glances. I figured Kyoya would be better at explaining it. He sighed. "The Hayashi family has a police force and are good friends with the Ootori family. We've known each other since we were children."
"And," I said spiritedly. "Once, my parents even considered having me engaged to Kyoya!" The twins froze. Kyoya froze. I grinned, for real this time. Then I started giggling. "Oh my God, your faces are hilarious!"
The twins were still frozen. Kyoya un-froze though. He cleared his throat as if he were feeling uncomfortable. "That was a joke, yes?"
"No," I replied with a real smile. Then I laughed, quietly. Very quietly, because my real laugh was the real me. And I couldn't just expose the real me so quickly and so easily. "No, seriously, Kyoya. They really did consider it. Don't worry though. I talked them out of it." I kept laughing and even started banging the table quietly. Oh God, his face is hilarious. He's like frozen in shock. Ah, this is the best moment I've had all day!
Honey poked my side, and I turned, still giggling. He grinned. "Ri-chan's real laugh is cuter too, ne?"
This time I froze. What is he saying? Why does he say such things? I blushed. "H-Honey-san!" I squeaked. "What are you saying?"
"So all along," Twin one said. Oh, so they've finally regained their composure.
"You've been faking it." Twin two.
I stared at them. Wait, what? Did I miss a few sentences? "I'm sorry, but I don't really understand."
"Rika-chan!" Tamaki suddenly interrupted, jumping in between where Haruhi and I were sitting. "I've decided that I won't ever call you princess again."
"That sure did take you long." Oh crap. Did that really just come out of my mouth? Noooo, I'm gradually losing my mask. And of all people, to these people! The twins stared at me then grinned in that we-have-a- great-and-evil-plan way. Kyoya was still silent, probably still in shock but trying to hide it. Honey was eating his cake but watching us all with big curious super cute eyes!
Phew, nobody really noticed. Well maybe they did but didn't really care. Oh whatever. I sighed quietly and went back to eating as the twins began plotting some evil thing.
"Haruhi~!" Tamaki said, crushing the said boy in a hug. "Now you have a good girl friend! The two of you can go shopping! And-And do girly things together! Isn't that great?"
"Senpai!" Haruhi yelled, shoving Tamaki away. "Don't just go and hug people whenever you want to! Especially not when they're eating!" Aw, he's so cute. But wait. Why would I do girly things with a guy? I stared at Haruhi suspiciously.
"Um, Haruhi-chan," I said sweetly.
"Yes, senpai?"
"Are you a girl?" I asked with that same sweet voice.
"Yes."
Wow! So honest! So truthful! So innocent! Wait. She's a girl? This girly looking boy is a girl? OMG, my crossdresser theory was correct!
And suddenly Kyoya un-froze.
"Kyoya, why is a girl crossdressing as a guy?" I asked him. If anyone knew the answer, it'd be him.
"Meet us after school at Music Room Three." He replied. "For now, please do not tell anyone this information."
"Okay!"
But why Music Room Three? What would be waiting for me there?