3rd POV:
"Eh? Where'd Rika-senpai go?" Haruhi asked, as they stood at the check out line. The twins were admiring the little trinkets, gum, and candy being sold at the line. She hadn't bought much, just a few things she needed.
"Hm?" Tamaki said with a smile. Then it faded away at the realization. "Oh my God! Where did Rika-chan go?"
"What?" The twins said, looking up. "Isn't she..."
The four glanced around, concerned.
"Does anyone have her phone number?" Haruhi asked, as she stepped up to the line calmly.
"No..." The trio said sadly.
"What should we do?" Tamaki cried out. "What if Daddy's little girl got kidnapped?" What usually would have been brushed off as Tamaki's extravagant imagination could not this time. The four froze. If it was Rika, it certainly could happen...
Haruhi paid then began walking back into the store with the worried trio following behind her. They searched the store, splitting up effectively. When they found no sign of the short, black-haired girl, they left the store.
"We need a plan! At once!" Tamaki declared.
"Yes, Tono!" The twins said in reply, saluting and prepared.
"First, we must gather up the rest of the club." Tamaki said, speaking in a furious whisper for some reason. Haruhi could still hear them though. "I'll call Kyoya. You two call both Honey-senpai and Mori-senpai, in case they're separated. Haruhi~ We need a place to meet up!"
"How about here?" Haruhi asked, stopping at a squarish plaza with scattered couches and coffee tables for the mall shoppers. "If Rika didn't get kidnapped, she probably didn't wander far."
"Excellent idea! As expected from Haruhi!" Tamaki shouted, attacking the said girl with a hug. "Senpai, weren't you going to call Kyoya-senpai?" She asked.
"Right."
The trio busied themselves with their phones.
"Kyoya-senpai probably has Rika-senpai's phone number." Haruhi added. The three nodded in agreement. No doubt he would.
The other three Host Club members were fast to meet up with the rest. The moment Kyoya heard that Rika was gone, he quickly wrapped up his work and left. Honey, who had been with Mori, immediately dropped what he was doing and raced away, leaving Mori behind to finish things up.
Honey reached his hand into his pocket as he ran down the halls. He wasn't sure whether he should be upset with Tamaki and the twins. Or with himself. If Rika was hurt, wouldn't it have been because he hadn't gone along with her? A sour feeling twisted his gut. Surely she still had Usa-chan with her, right? If she did, then they could easily find her.
He pulled out the small device, turning it on as he rounded a corner.
He found the Host Club at the selected place. Everyone was already there, except Mori, who would catch up later.
"Honey-senpai," Haruhi called, waving her arm. Honey kept running. He wanted to find Rika as soon as possible.
"What happened?" He asked, stopping in front of them.
Kyoya sighed. "Rika's missing, but we don't know for sure what's happened."
"She could have been kidnapped!" Tamaki sobbed out.
"She probably just got bored of waiting for us and went to check out some other stores." Haruhi reasoned.
"Does anyone have her cell phone number?" Honey asked.
Kyoya sighed again. "No. I would be able to look it up, if someone had allowed me to bring my laptop."
"It's not in your black notebook, Kyo-chan?" Honey asked sweetly. He really wished Kyoya had it, even if it did irk him a bit.
Kyoya shook his head.
"She's gone!" Tamaki wailed.
"Calm down, senpai. Let's just search the mall." Haruhi said.
"Why don't we try one of those broadcast thingys?" The twins suggested.
"Hey that might work!" Honey said. Everyone seemed to brighten up at the idea.
A few minutes later~
Rika thought she heard a vague mall broadcast. But she was too absorbed in her manga. She was a deep, intense reader that could easily tune out all outside noises. So the mall broadcast, which hadn't been too clear in the bookstore in the first place, was simply ignored.
"Why isn't she coming?" Tamaki said, clinging to Haruhi. "Where did she go?"
"It seems it's time to notify the police and the Black Onion Squad." Kyoya said, pushing up his glasses darkly.
Mori nodded, having finally joined up with the Host Club.
"Wait, guys, calm down." Haruhi said, while shoving Tamaki away. She really didn't think that Rika got kidnapped. Something inside her told her otherwise.
"She should still be in the mall." Honey said, staring at the small pink, bunny-shaped device in his hand. "Either that or she's dropped Usa-chan."
"What?" Tamaki asked, poking his head over to look at the device.
"There's a small GPS in Usa-chan." Honey explained cheerily, though inside he really just wanted to dash over to where the blinking dot was. "In case I ever lose her, I can find her with this!"
"Let's get going then!" Tamaki said.
"Where do you think she went?" The twins mused as they followed Honey.
"Hmm... maybe a cake store?" Honey guessed. "Or a sweets store."
"Oh?" The twins said, exchanging glances.
"Where do you think she went?" Haruhi asked the twins.
"Maybe she went back to the toy store," Tamaki suggested. But Honey and Haruhi could both see that they were not going towards the toy store.
"Possible. She really didn't want to leave the toy store earlier." The twins said.
"What do you two think?" Honey asked turning to Kyoya and Haruhi. They both had a different place in mind.
"The bookstore," Haruhi said. Kyoya nodded in agreement. Although the others' thoughts had been reasonable, it seemed far more likely that Rika would go the bookstore. She did love manga (though only Kyoya knew this) and books after all.
And they arrived at a bookstore.
"Haru-chan, you're amazing! You guessed correctly!" Honey said, though it hadn't escaped his notice that Kyoya had thought the same. And Honey was still hoping that he wouldn't just find Usa-chan.
Then they heard a girl's scream.
"Th-That wouldn't be..." Tamaki didn't need to finish his sentence. The Host Club shot into the store, searching for the source of the sound.
Rika's POV:
Light, curly brown hair. Green rimmed glasses, just the way I'd last seen him. And those bright sea-green eyes.
He was wearing his navy blue t-shirt with neon green aliens on them over a white, long-sleeved shirt and dark gray sweatpants. It really looked like nothing had changed about him. Except he was taller and looked more mature.
I dropped the Zoro box onto its shelf. I could hear my heart pounding away.
Slowly, slowly, I stood up.
He gave me that unsure, cheeky smile of his. Was it really him? Here? I glanced around, eyes searching for any familiar faces. It hadn't seemed like anyone had followed me here to the mall in the first place. Finally, deeming the coast clear, I turned back to the boy still standing in front of me patiently.
"Mi-Mickey?" I managed to choke out.
"Yup! It's me," He said with a nervous chuckle. I just kept gaping at him. Really?
Mickey? Here? "You can stop staring at me like I'm an alien, Red."
I let out a delighted, and surprisingly loud, shriek. Then I tackled Mickey in a hug.
"Oh my God! Mickey! It's been so long! It really is you!" I said, laughing into his chest. He was so much taller than me now. Last time I'd seen him, he was barely half an inch taller than me.
He laughed with me, arms wrapping around. "It's good to see you too, Captain."
"Aw, shut up. I told you that name doesn't work." I said, sticking my tongue out at him.
"Oh, dude, is this Akane's bow?" His hands fingered my red bow.
I nodded. "Duh. Do you think I'd let my parents throw this away?"
He grinned. "What else do you still have?"
"Hm..." I stared up at him, trying to drink up his image. This was an amazing surprise, and there was no way I wouldn't take advantage of it. "Well I have Goofy's red notebook."
"And?" He prodded expectantly.
"The pen you and Minnie gave me...?" I said with a tilt of my head.
"Sweet!" He said, pumping his fists in delight.
"Except I don't know how it works. It's a great pen though! I've signed everything with that pen! How's Minnie by the way? How are you two doing? And the gang?"
"Minnie and I are fine!" He said, a bit too loudly. Ooh, okay, something went wrong. "What happened? Did you say something rude again?"
"Oh come on, Red. I'm older now, don't you think I know what's rude to say?"
He stared at me, and I just shook my head.
"Boys never know what to say to girls." I replied simply with a shrug.
He laughed, grinning and shaking off my comment easily. "Man. It's great to see you again!"
"Yeah!" I agreed as Mickey pulled me into another hug.
Dang, he was so much taller than me. Argh! And his shoulders were much broader. He seemed stronger, tougher. Overall, more boyish. Nothing like the wimpy, bullied nerd I'd first met years ago.
"You! Unhand my daughter this instance!"
"Oh crap!" Mickey yelped, jerking away from me with his hands on my shoulders. He looked terrified. "Your dad's here?"
I started laughing. "No way! That's probably just Tamaki!" And the Host Club.
And yup. I was right.
The Host Club screeched to a halt behind me. I smiled at them. "Guys, chill. This is my friend-"
"Release my daughter immediately!" Tamaki yelled, pointing at Mickey with a glare.
"Tamaki, please shut up." I said curtly. "You're ruining one of the most happiest moments of my life right now."
"Who's this, Rika-senpai?" Haruhi asked.
"Ri-chan!" Honey wrapped his arms around my shoulder. What was he doing?
Wait... Is this what they call... a back hug? I felt myself blushed. Oh dear.
"Hey, Rika-senpai, what did you buy?" The twins were now poking through my purchased clothing. Haruhi was now looking through the stack of books on the floor that I'd been planning on buying.
"Yasuda Mikiya," Kyoya said calmly. WTF? Oh wait, he probably read through my files and all my friends'. Figured. "Currently attending Akawari High-"
"That's great!" I said, wiggling in Honey's arms to stop Kyoya. I really didn't want him to blab out my middle school shenanigans. "Now how about you all just stop?!"
"Ootori Kyoya," Mickey said in turn. I saw the tell-tale sign of his glasses shimmering. My eyes widened.
"Holy crap!" I jumped straight out of Honey's grip. "Dude, you and Goofy upgraded it?" Mickey grinned at me.
"Of course! What did you expect?" Then he turned to each of the Host Club member and listed their names one by one.
"A-Another Kyoya?" Tamaki said, looking horrified.
"They don't really seem like your friends though," Mickey said.
"Well-" I turned back to the chaotic Host Club.
"What do you want with Ri-chan?" Honey asked, pulling me behind him.
"Honey-" I said, trying to get past his arm barrier.
"Hm... I guess this should have been expected." Mickey said with an amused grin. "Gee, Red, no matter where you go, you just wrap the guys up around your finger huh? I'll have to tell Goofy."
"Don't tell Goofy anything!" I yelled, heatedly.
Mickey raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Why not? Come on! He's been so gloomy ever since you left! I'm sure a good dose of jealousy wo-"
"Stop it Mickey," I growled.
"Who's Goofy?" Honey asked, turning to me so suddenly that our faces were inches apart. He looked worried for some reason. His eyebrows were furrowed together in a very un-Honey-esque way.
"Another old friend of mine. No worries, Honey." I replied. "I haven't seen him in years!" Honey pouted. Gosh, he's too cute to resist!
"Oi, you, Haninozuka," Mickey said, grabbing Honey's arm and turning him around to face Mickey. "Stop taking advantage of my captain's weak spot."
"It's not my weak spot!" I yelled.
"Weak spot?" Honey turned back to me. "Ri-chan, you have a weak spot?" He made an adorable, questioning face.
I cringed away. "Of course I do. Now stop making cute faces!" Honey laughed, hugging me. "So who is this guy?"
"My middle school friend," I said, wiggling again in Honey's hold. "Kyoya already introduced him. Yasuda Mikiya."
"No, Red. I think he's more concerned about who I am to you." Mickey said, placing an arm on top of my head.
"Yeah, yeah, you're finally much taller than me. Point has been taken, Mickey." I said, rolling my eyes at him. "So how good is your English right now?" I switched quickly to English.
"Pretty good. I'm still friends with the whole gang and of course Akane hasn't changed much at all." Mickey replied with a grin.
"What language is that?" a twin asked.
"English," Haruhi replied sounding surprised.
"So remember that fake story of me spending middle school abroad? Yeah, want to play along with it?" I asked Mickey, disregarding the curious stares of the Host Club.
"Sure." Then Mickey abruptly pulled Honey off of me. "Hey, you can relax because I have a girlfriend, and I'm not interested in Rika the way you are."
"Wha-" I said, eyes widening. "Mickey! What does that mean?"
"Sheesh, still stupidly dense when it comes to these things, aren't you?" Mickey said, tousling my hair with a hand.
"Who's dense? You better fix things with Minnie, or I'll march there myself to fix it!" I replied, waving a finger in his face.
He seemed to consider it, smiling up at the ceiling. "Actually, I'm sure everyone would love for you to come back and join us."
"That's not what I meant," I said, burying my face into Honey's shoulder. I'd forgotten just how tiring it was dealing with the gang. They really weren't much more different from the Host Club. Except that I didn't quite fit in the Host Club. They'd established themselves around Tamaki after all. Kind of like how the gang had been established around and by me.
"Uh, Rika-senpai," Haruhi said. "Want to explain?"
"Oh." I popped my head back out, dismissing the light flush on Honey's cheeks.
"Well this is Mikiya. We went to middle school together, and we're good friends. Then I went to the stupid boarding school and never saw him again."
"Didn't you go study abroad for middle school though?" Honey asked in a very innocent manner.
"Yeah." I said.
"Which school?" Honey continued.
"Um, Sprucewell." It was on my file that I'd attended Sprucewell.
My parents had had me enrolled and made it look like I actually had spent those years there. But if you had the brains and stuff, you could find Akamatsu Rika's file at Akawari Junior High.
"Is that where you learned English?" Haruhi asked. "You sounded like you were fluent in it."
"Eh? No, no. Not fluent. My reading and writing is really poor actually." I said. Ha ha, actually I suck at reading and writing. Akane only taught us how to speak it.
"Th-"
"Rika," Kyoya said, silencing the others immediately. "When will you tell everyone?" Wow. Really? He's like basically telling everyone I'm lying.
I sighed. "It depends. Let's leave this place first though."
I gathered up the books and my shopping bags. But well, Mickey took the books out of my hands then picked up the Zoro.
"Well..." I said.
"Oh come on, I'll pay for it if you're being so stingy." He said.
Honey reclaimed Usa-chan, who'd been sitting in my shopping bags. "Hey, Haruhi. Do you want any books?" I called to the girl, who'd been holding two books in her hands for a while.
"Eh? No, it's fine. I'll pay myself." She said, shaking her head quickly.
"No worries. I'm not actually paying." I waved my credit cardin front of her as we headed towards the escalators.
"Forbidden to read and buy manga, but able to buy whatever you want?" Mickey asked, looking perplexed.
I snorted. "Yeah right, there's a bothersome process to go through whenever I want to use this. Really not worth it."
When we arrived at the line, I called Azumi. Wow. It was nearly two hours since I'd last called her. Time certainly flies when you're reading manga! And talking to old friends too, I guess.
"Everyone, shh." I said, holding a finger to my mouth. "Especially you, Mick."
When Azumi picked up, which wasn't even before the first ring, I said: "Azumi, hey, I'm at the book store. I have some books I'd like to buy. And no worries, they're all educationalbooks and some novels, because I've already read the ones back home... Yes... Of course... Alright, thank you Azumi."
Then with a bright smile, even though she couldn't see it, I hung up. "Dang, killer as usual." Mickey said quietly.
I grinned. "Of course. So tell me how everyone's doing. While we wait."
"Well," Mickey took a deep breath. He'd never been much of a muscle guy, so I took some of the books back from him. There were quite a few. "Akane's doing alright. She took your leave just as badly as Goofy did. For a few days, she was completely silent and ignored everyone and everything. It was even worse than before she met you. And nobody tried to call a club meeting or anything because nobody really knew what to do. But then one ga- I mean, club - came to challenge us so we had no choice. We beat them pretty easily and then finally held a meeting. Well obviously if we were going to continue, Akane would be the next leader, right? So she became the Pres but we never started any challenges. They came to us. We beat them. They left us alone."
"Huh. Interesting." I'd never heard what had happened after I'd left.
"Eventually, Akane decided that she wanted to finish up your plan. So she sent out a notice to all the, um, clubs and told them that she was going to establish peace."
I smiled. That was so Akane.
"Of course the other clubs didn't like it. Well, some did, but not all of them. She made up this fancy shmancy contract for all the clubs to sign. She said that our club was the top club, since we'd beaten every one of them before. And they all had to sign, saying that they would stop fighting and do productive stuff instead. She got them to sign, though we had to personally visit some of them and, you know, persuade them into doing it."
"So everyone's chill back there?"
"Yeah. Pretty chill. We're just a plain club now in high school." "What do you guys do then?"
"We hang out. Do homework together. Goofy stopped making stuff after you left. Minnie stopped climbing every building she came across."
"Aw, really? That was so cool though."
Mickey glanced at me with a small smile. "Seriously, Red, you have no idea how much of an influence you are in our lives."
I felt my heart melt a little. I really missed those noisy rascals back there. I smiled back, sure that there was a hint of sadness in it. "Thank you, Mickey. You guys are a big part of my life too."
"Were," He corrected. I raised my eyebrows, prompting him to continue. He nudged his head to gesture at the Host Club, being rowdy, quiet, and cheerful as usual, behind us. "These guys are now part of your life."
"Sure they are. But you guys will always have a bigger part in my heart." I smiled. Then cranked up its brightness. "Or are you suggesting, Mickey, that you know more about myself than I do? Cause you see, Mick, I really love you guys and miss you guys."
"Same," He said, glancing away. "Same."
I could feel a lump in my throat. I'd have to part with Mickey eventually. He couldn't hang around. I missed them. I missed them a lot. Akane's cold indifference and her shy kindness. Goofy's hyperness, his crazy ideas and inventions that just somehow work, and his short temper. Minnie and her sweet cooking, her gentleness, and her amazing acting. And Mickey. Now Mickey was here. But where were the others? My heart ached for them all.
I rubbed at my eyes, trying to force the tears back.
"Mi-Mickey," I mumbled. The flood was coming but I didn't want to break down in front of the Host Club.
"I-I know," He replied. His voice was scratchy, the way it always was right before he cried. He patted my head gently. "I-I-"
"Next," Called the register lady. I kept my head bowed as I pushed the books onto the counter and presented the card to her.
Mickey and I both each took a bag of books and we left solemnly, with the Host Club trailing after. We stopped by some couches in the middle of the plaza square.
"I have to go," Mickey said.
"What were you doing here in the first place?" I asked, finally remembering what I'd been intending to ask.
"Checking out the universities here." He grinned. "I heard Ouran University is very good. Maybe I can get a scholarship."
I smiled. "Please don't. I'm not going."
"You aren't?" His eyes widened. I'd forgotten how bright those eyes were.
"No." I shook my head. "I'm thinking of studying abroad. Or getting some sort of job abroad. I don't really like it here."
"Even with little cutesy boy over there?" Mickey gestured vaguely at Honey.
"Cutesy boy? What does he have to do with this?" I glanced at Honey who stared back calmly. He could probably hear us.
Mickey sighed and rolled his eyes. "Never mind. I'll be going then."
"Wait, don't you have a phone?" I asked, quickly retrieving my own flippy cell phone. "Let's exchange emails and phone numbers."
"Won't your parents-"
"Screw them." I muttered, heading to my email section. "They got me a new email account and phone. But don't worry, I've already secured my phone and email. They can't track it... I think."
"Let me see it." He held out his hand. I gave him the phone and he quickly began tapping at it. He even flipped it over and opened the case to examine where the battery was stored. I'd already checked that area for any tracker. After a while, he pulled out his own. "Okay. I got your email and number."
"You'll give it to Akane right? And Minnie?" I took back my phone.
"Not the Goofball, huh? Yeah. Alright. Oh, and I checked. It's secured." He smiled then ruffled my hair. "Good job."
"Hah, I learned from the best."
We hugged and then I watched as he walked away. Man, it sucked. Why couldn't he have stayed longer?
3rd POV:
"Hey, Akane. You were right. She was here... Yeah, I got her phone number and email... Don't worry... Yeah... I know... I'll tell you all about it when I get back...
'Kay, see ya."
**EDIT NOTE** *All dialogue that's italicized like this means that those words are being spoken in English, see above example. Also, when Mickey calls Rika "Red" that's in English, so it's different from the Japanese word Red.*