On day two of the Fair, Masae showed up early. And— as she was hoping— Tamaki and Éclair did too.
She heard the sounds of the piano as soon as she stepped into the parlor. Music Room Three wasn't all that far away from the parlor, and the sound carried through the empty halls. Masae would know Tamaki's playing blind. Her heart thudded at the sound of it.
She walked down the hall as if in a daze, the train of her Rococo costume trailing out behind her. When she found the door to the club room closed, she didn't think twice about pushing it open.
Only to stop in the doorway.
Tamaki had stopped playing. And sitting on the couch closest to the piano was Éclair. She stood up when she saw Masae, looking at her through a pair of gold Opera glasses. Her lips twisted into a sneer.
"Masae." Tamaki smiled, oblivious to the feelings of his woman. "I haven't seen you since yesterday. I forgot to ask— how's Kyoya?"
He was totally innocent— oblivious, as always— but that didn't stop the irritation turning about in Masae's gut. "Tamaki, can I talk to you?" Masae scowled at Éclair. "Alone."
Tamaki laughed airily. "Why, what do you mean, Masae? What's so important that you can't say it in front of Éclair?"
"Yes, just pretend that I'm not here," said Éclair. She grabbed Tamaki's hand and held it in both of hers, smiling pointedly at Masae.
Masae sighed. But, fine, if Tamaki wanted Éclair to hear what she had to say, then Éclair would hear it. "I think you're making a mistake."
Tamaki laughed apprehensively. "What are you talking about?"
"You know exactly what I'm talking about!" Knowing Tamaki, that wasn't a guarantee. But Masae was much too agitated to care. "This– this engagement of yours." She spat the word out like it was something disgusting on her tongue. "If you mean it, you're being incredibly rash. And if you don't– which I'm sure you don't– you're just being spineless. And either way you're being selfish. What about the Host Club?"
Tamaki swallowed sharply– she had struck a nerve. "What about the Host Club?" He asked quietly.
"You're trying to leave us!" Masae's loud voice bounced off the club room walls, making Tamaki flinch. "I thought we were your family."
Tamaki opened his mouth to respond, but Éclair beat him to it. "Your club was a nice substitute, but I'm going to give him the real thing."
Masae set her jaw. The Host Club wasn't some starter handbag that Tamaki could trade up for when he had the means. They were a real family.
For the first time, she really looked at Éclair. She was a beautiful girl: red-haired and delicate, wearing a dark brown dress. Masae had met some of her relatives, and she looked like them. A Tonnerre through and through.
Though, if Éclair was aware of the position of power she was in over Masae, she had yet to exploit it. She would go as far to guess that Éclair had no idea about what had happened with her father; there had been no major news coverage of it yet, since circumstances were still mostly speculative. She didn't know if Éclair even knew her name.
The girl was effective, but altogether not very tactful. Her actions to this point seemed sloppy and heavy-handed.
Still, she was trying to take away the best thing Masae had had in a long time. And she was being very rude about it.
Masae's eyes narrowed just before she turned around to storm out. "You give gold digging a bad name, do you know that Miss Tonnerre? You'll never make him happy."
🌹🌹🌹
"I wonder what happened to Tama-chan!" Honey mused. The Hosts had found a moment of silence, hiding away from the rest of the exhibition in the hallway outside the parlor.
"I'm getting worried something's up with him," Hikaru admitted. "After what he said yesterday..."
"I saw him and Éclair this morning," said Masae. Reliving the events of the morning made her lip curl in disgust. "He wasn't acting like himself. I may have called him spineless... and rash... and selfish. He's probably not going to come in today, if I had to guess."
Honey tilted his head sadly. Behind him, Mori looked at her disapprovingly. "That's not very nice, Masa-chan."
"I know." Masae looked at her hands.
Opening the parlor door, Kyoya appeared in the hallway. "Alright, gentlemen. No more idle chatter. Our guests are waiting for us," he said lightly, clapping his hands together in a 'hurry up' gesture.
"Senpai, it's like you don't even care," Kaoru lamented.
Masae sighed, brushing off her skirt. "It's our job to take care of our guests to the best of our abilities. Remember, they're looking to the Hosts to entertain them, it's what you all agreed to when you joined the Host Club. Come Hell or high water."
"She's right," said Kyoya. He held open the doors for the others to go through. "Get to it."
As the Hosts filtered back into the room, Kaoru stopped Masae with a hand on her elbow. He smiled at her.
"You know, Masae," he began, tone lilting. "You try so hard to keep to yourself, sometimes I forget that you started this club with Kyoya-senpai and the Boss. You're kind of like its heart, in a way."
Masae snorted. A fat lot of good that did her. "Hardly. I'm just good at math; Tamaki and Kyoya are the ones with a vision. I've always taken more convincing." She smiled a little at the early memories of the club, though they quickly turned bitter. Stupid Tamaki.
"Sure." Kaoru rolled his eyes. "What I'm trying to say, senpai, is that you're a good friend. And no matter what happens with the Host Club, I'm glad I met you."
Masae smiled, her heart fluttering. "Well... thank you. You're a good friend as well."
He smiled at her— all light and joy— and Masae tried her best to smile back, though she knew it looked twisted and uncomfortable. It had never come as easy to her as it did to him.
Masae let the attempt rest. "Get back to work."
Kaoru laughed all the way back to his brother.
Kyoya's eyebrows were raised in morbid interest as he approached Masae. "What was that about?" He asked.
"It doesn't matter," said Masae quickly. She didn't like being laughed at, or having to explain why she was being laughed at. And besides, it wasn't Kyoya's business. "Do you have something to say, or is this a social visit?"
Kyoya chuckled a little— infuriatingly— before producing a folded piece of paper. He handed it to Masae wordlessly.
She unfolded it and squinted at the neat handwriting presented to her. It didn't make a whole lot of sense but... "Somebody paid off Haruhi's debt?"
"Yes. Lady Tonnerre passed this to me on my way in. I thought you might want to have a look at it."
"Éclair!" Masae couldn't help the pitch that her voice took on; was that awful woman determined to ruin the Host Club in its entirety? She crushed the note between her hands. "I'm glad you told me."
Kyoya looked between the crumpled note and Masae's face with apprehension. "Are you going to confront her about it?"
"Hardly!" She wasn't about to talk to Éclair again if she could help it. Their encounter that morning had been more than enough. "But... has Haruhi been informed yet?"
"I thought you might want to handle it."
"Yes... that's— thank you." Masae gave Kyoya a strained smile— the best she could do at the moment.
She looked around the room until she found Haruhi. The Host was sitting alone at a table, ensconced in the calm before the storm. She looked very nice in her white suit. Masae took a deep breath and nodded to Kyoya before she began to approach her, uncrumpling the note as she did.
Haruhi smiled when she caught sight of Masae, her big brown eyes glittering like the Sun. "Senpai!" She greeted, not an ounce of pretense to her.
Masae's heart thudded and dropped in her chest at the same time. "Hello, Haruhi," she said, knowing how stilted it sounded. She winced. "Do you mind if I sit?"
Haruhi gestured to the chair across from her and Masae sat. She fidgeted with Éclair's note for as long as she could manage before working up the nerve to slide it across to Haruhi.
"What is this?" Haruhi asked. She picked up the slip of paper and smoothed it out as she read it. "I'm sorry, senpai, but I don't really understand this kind of thing. Could you explain it to me?"
"Lady Éclair has bought you out of the Host Club!" Masae snapped, feeling a twinge of irritation. She wasn't annoyed that Haruhi couldn't understand the note— she hadn't been raised to read that sort of jargon— but she was still irritated. She didn't entirely know why.
"Oh..." Haruhi took another look at the note, eyebrows furrowed.
"Yes."
Haruhi looked up from the note and focused on Masae. There was a depth of indecision in her eyes. "So... I have a choice to make."
"Yes. You're no longer tied to the Host Club out of obligation, so if you wish to leave, you can." Was that a lump in her throat? Whatever feelings Masae was having, she made an effort to shove them down. "Just know that you are truly a rare kind of person, and wherever you end up you will always have the full support of the Host Club. And on a personal note, working by your side has been the greatest honor of my time at Ouran. Excuse me."
As she stood, hurriedly, Masae's knee bumped against the table. The noise drew attention from the surrounding tables, and it hurt, but Masae didn't particularly care as she scurried away from the table. She didn't look at Haruhi again.
She didn't particularly know where she was going— just away. As she got closer to the door, she noticed another unwelcome guest.
Masae wasn't exactly surprised to see Ootori back in the parlor, since the storm seemed to be rolling over them full-throttle. But she was irritated. She cast a glance back at Kyoya, who was oblivious to his father's presence for the time being, before heading in Ootori's direction.
"The Host Club doesn't feel comfortable with your presence here," Masae said in lieu of a greeting. She gave Ootori her best no–nonsense face. "I'm sorry, but you'll have to leave."
Ootori looked over her head, rather than at her. "I'll only be a minute."
That was not an answer Masae was willing to accept. She stayed, staring at Ootori, until it seemed to make him uncomfortable.
"I'm sorry," he said. "Is there anything else you wanted to say?"
There was a time when Masae would have been scared into silence by such a question. She wasn't anymore. "Just that you're a spineless bastard for sleeping on the talents of your most brilliant son. I know you think that flirting and tea parties are below your infallible family name, and I'm sorry that your mind is so small."
He didn't slap her. She almost expected him to. Ootori simply rolled his eyes as he strode past her. As he went, Masae heard him mutter to himself, "A bunch of charlatans."
🌹🌹🌹
At long last, the festival came to an end. The only thing left to do was the parade; bittersweet, because when it was over they wouldn't be a real club anymore. At least, not with Tamaki as their leader. No one had spoken officially on what would happen when Tamaki left, but they all knew it wouldn't be the same without him.
"Well?" Kaoru asked, hovering behind Kyoya. They had all gotten in costume for the parade, except for Tamaki, who was nowhere to be found. Kyoya was blowing up his cellphone.
Kyoya's face twisted in irritation. Before he spoke, Masae knew that Tamaki hadn't picked up his phone. "No luck. He's not there."
"I really can't believe senpai didn't show. I thought he was gonna make it despite what Éclair said," Haruhi said. She looked very pretty in a pale pink dress.
"We'll just have to do it without him," said Masae with a sigh. She couldn't help but feel responsible for Tamaki's absence: maybe, if she hadn't fought with him earlier, he would have been willing to say goodbye.
As if he knew where her mind was going, Kyoya gave her a sideways look. He didn't say anything to her, redialing the phone instead.
"Hello, Shima, this is Kyoya." His voice was calm, betraying nothing.
The rest of the conversation was lost to Masae, who turned away from Kyoya. No one said anything, but they all knew it was dire if they were resorting to calling Tamaki's grandmother, who had denounced him publicly. For all they knew, the engagement was her idea.
Kyoya talked to Tamaki's grandmother in hushed tones for a while before he went silent altogether. Masae, realizing the change, turned back around. She took in his wide, dark eyes and the uncertain gape of his mouth.
"What's wrong?" Masae asked, approaching him hesitantly.
"How could he be so stupid?" Kyoya asked quietly. In a tone meant for the rest of the Hosts he explained, "Evidently, Tamaki is planning to return to France."
His words sent the Host Club into uproar.
"Tama-chan is going to leave us?" Honey asked tearfully.
"You're kidding me!" Hikaru cried, voice thick and cracking with emotion. "He can't just let it end so suddenly!"
Kyoya's mouth opened once, twice, before he clamped it shut. Turning around so his back faced the rest of the club, he thrust the phone into Masae's hands.
"Shima?" Masae stumbled, but found her footing. It occurred to her to comfort Kyoya, but she supposed that handling Shima was the best she could do for him at the moment. "My name is Masae Aoki; I'm Kyoya's friend. He's... preoccupied at the moment." She cast another worried look at his tense back.
Shima made an understanding noise. "Your father is Torio Aoki? The embezzler?"
"Yes ma'am. I'm not an embezzler, though."
"Well, not yet." Shima made that same noise again. Masae thought, maybe, that she was making a joke. "I was just thinking: if the master's mother really is as remarkable as the master says she is, then I can hardly imagine her being happy with the way the master is choosing to leave Ouran Academy."
Masae found that she didn't particularly care about what Tamaki's mother thought, no matter how enamored with her he was. "If she gave Tamaki up, then she must not be a remarkable woman at all. Rather stupid, I think."
"Be that as it may..."
Shima's voice faded into oblivion as Masae caught sight of a red convertible pulled up to the front of Ouran. In it sat Tamaki and Éclair.
Masae tapped Kyoya's shoulder so fervently that it got the rest of the Hosts' attention.
"Tama-chan!" Honey cried joyously.
"But the Ouran Fair isn't even over yet!" Said Hikaru.
Kyoya stood tall. "Come on! My family's car must still be in the parking garage!"
The group's run to the parking garage had Masae panting and her feet aching in their heels. It was a pure relief when the Ootori car came into view.
Kyoya took the lead. "Hello," he greeted the driver, slightly and gratifyingly out of breath. "Can you drive us?"
The driver rolled down his window. Before it was fully down, Masae could sense his hesitation. "Master Ootori," he began in a trembling voice. "It's— I—"
Before he could stumble through the rest of his explanation, a police officer emerged from the shadows. Then another, and another, until they were completely surrounded. It was the Ootori private police force, Masae realized with a touch of dread.
Kyoya's voice was hard when he next spoke. "You want to tell me your orders? Let me guess: You're to protect Lady Tonnerre."
As the officers began to close in, the Twins pulled Masae behind themselves.
"I'm truly sorry for this," said one of the officers. "But as you know, as members of the private Ootori police, we answer to your father."
With a strangled noise, Kyoya lashed out at his family's vehicle. He left a fist-shaped dent in the fender; it must have hurt, but he didn't let on.
The officer continued talking. "I'm sorry sir, but we've been ordered not to let any of you leave. Even if we have to stop you by force!"
There was a moment of silence, a moment of peace, in between his statement and the arrival of the carriage. Then the carriage came soaring out of the sky and crashed in the midst of them. Mori and Honey looked very satisfied with themselves from their place at the helm— Masae hadn't even noticed when they left.
"Nobody messes with my friends!" Honey declared, jumping down from the carriage.
Mori was quick to follow. He gestured for Hikaru and Kaoru to get in, and Hikaru stepped up to the reins.
He held out his hand to Masae, who took it without hesitation. It was warm and large in hers as he helped her into the carriage. Mori's mouth was right next to her ear as he mumbled, "Be safe."
She felt like she should be saying that to him, considering he was about to go hand–to–hand with a bunch of trained professionals. But she had seen Honey and Mori fight Alligators with their bare hands, and she had full faith in them. She smiled at Mori as she said, "You too. Good luck."
He nodded and turned away from her. But she somehow knew he had taken the words to heart. Funny, a few months ago she would have never gotten the message.
Kyoya sighed like it was all very exhausting as he lifted Haruhi into the carriage. Masae helped her up as well, and they settled in next to each other.
Kyoya gave her a labored look. "Go get our idiot, won't you?"
"I'll give him a run for his money," Masae promised with a smile. "Don't worry. I'll take care of it all."
"Good. Now go!"
With a snap of the reins and a thundering of hoofbeats, they were off. The police squad scrambled to get out of the way, since Hikaru had made it more than obvious he was willing to trample them, and they found their way out of the parking garage easily.
Ouran and its surrounding woods passed in a steady blur. Hikaru was driving recklessly, Masae knew that. But she also knew that she had made a promise to get Tamaki back— both to herself and to the others— so she didn't reprimand him as they ran over ditches and clipped corners.
Kaoru, apparently, did care. "Hikaru, don't you think you should slow down? Somebody could get hurt!" He cried.
"We're not slowing down until we get the Boss back!" Hikaru replied, not slowing down.
"But Hikaru..."
"If it wasn't for the Boss, then the two of us would still just be lost souls. We were only able to make friends with everyone because Tamaki brought us together. To think that it could end so suddenly like this... Is something that I can't tolerate!" Hikaru snapped.
He must have closed his eyes, or let the reins go slack for a second. Or maybe it was just bad luck that caused the carriage to drive over a rough patch.
They all jolted in their seats. Hikaru worst of all; he lost his grip on the reins and went flying out of the carriage with a sickening crunch.
"Hikaru!" Kaoru cried. He managed to bring the carriage to a stop and ran out after his brother.
They knelt in the pumpkin patch together, exchanging words that Masae couldn't hear. She was worried for Hikaru. Under all of her other feelings, she was worried for Hikaru. But the other feelings were so much to bear and she was so angry!
She was crawling into the driver's seat and taking the reins before she really knew what she was doing. It was somebody else who snapped the reins and sent the carriage flying forward— it had to be!
"Senpai?" Haruhi asked.
But it wasn't anybody else! It was all Masae, and those angry feelings were bubbling and boiling within her as she sent them hurtling forward at a pace to rival Hikaru's.
"He's not going to get away with this!" Masae screamed in a voice that didn't sound very much like hers. She wasn't so shrill, and she never spoke with so much emotion. She wasn't the type of girl that screamed. "I won't let him get away with leaving us! Not after all that's happened this year!"
"Senpai, slow down! You're worse than Hikaru!" Haruhi cried. She was clutching onto the front of the carriage for dear life, but it barely mattered as Masae drove through the woods.
She didn't know how to drive a carriage. Masae could only guess at it as she spurred the horses to take them into the forest, blindly hoping that she wouldn't accidentally slam them into a tree.
She didn't slow down. "I was so lost when my parents left me, but I realized that I would be okay as long as I had the Hosts! But now he's trying to take that as well! I can't handle it, Haruhi! I can't take losing him too!"
"Senpai, there's the car!" Haruhi pointed at the edge of the woods. The red convertible was setting a brisk pace towards the bridge, but it was nothing she couldn't keep up with.
They exploded out of the woods. The car was within spitting distance now; Masae had gotten them right next to it as they went over the bridge.
Masae thought that seeing Tamaki might melt her heart a little, but it didn't. As she caught sight of his stupid face sitting right next to Éclair, her rage bubbled over.
"Tamaki, you hypocritical bastard!" She shouted.
He turned, bewildered, and let out a cry when he saw the two of them in the carriage together. "Masae! This is dangerous!" He yelled.
"Shut up!" She screamed back. "Just shut up! You rope me into your stupid club, tell me that you're going to teach me the wonders of love, just to give it all up for a false marriage? You bastard! This can't be worth it!"
"I mean it! Stop the carriage!" Tamaki sounded nearly on the verge of tears.
"Please come back to the Host Club, senpai!" Said Haruhi. "All of us will be completely lost without you there!"
"But they... they all said they were put out by the Host Club..."
"You really are an idiot!" Haruhi snapped. "After all this time, you really can't tell when we're joking and when we're being serious?"
"Everybody loves you, you idiot!" Masae shouted. She could feel tears coming on, and shut her eyes to stop them. She didn't want to cry; she just wanted to be angry.
But she had forgotten what she was doing. As she relinquished control of the carriage, it jostled the wall of the bridge. When Masae opened her eyes, Haruhi was in the midst of falling over the side.
Masae screamed. She reached out a moment too late, her fingers brushing the hem of Haruhi's dress but not catching anything. Haruhi was gone.
"Masae! Stay put!" Tamaki ordered. He stood up in the car and— before anyone could stop him— he went over the side as well.
She didn't hear them make contact with the water. She didn't hear anything, actually, over the sound of her heart beating in her ears and someone screaming— probably her. It was panic, pure panic, that sent her hurtling forward. It was a mystery how the reins stayed in her hands, and how the carriage stayed upright as Masae spurred the horses on relentlessly.
She pulled the carriage over at the end of the bridge. There was a rough path that led down to the bank of the river, and Masae had hopped out of the carriage to run down it when the convertible stopped next to her.
Éclair looked at her through her opera glasses, before lowering them. She looked... miserable. Scared, but mostly miserable.
"I'm sorry," She said. "I really did love him. But I'll leave you all alone now."
Masae turned away from her and ran down to the bank.
Tamaki was carrying Haruhi in his arms like a princess by the time Masae got down to the bank. The water was up to his waist, but Masae waded over to them anyways, impatience burning under her skin.
She crushed the pair of them in a hug, burying her head in Tamaki's shoulder. "Neither of you are ever allowed to do that again," she said breathlessly. "Do you understand?"
"Sorry, senpai," Haruhi said guiltily.
But Tamaki just laughed his charming laugh. "Masae, you're ruining your dress. And your hair is soaked."
She looked down. It was all true. But... "I don't care. You two are safe, and that's all that matters. My heart will never recover, though."
Tamaki laughed again. "Well, I'll just have to share mine, won't I?"
"You don't have to carry me anymore, senpai," Haruhi butted in. "My legs are just fine, you know."
"Yes he does," Masae said before Tamaki could. "Just to be safe."
"Ah, such a worrywart," Tamaki said. "It's so refreshing."
By the time the three of them reached the riverbank, the rest of the Hosts were standing at the top of the hill. Mori and Honey looked no worse for wear, but Hikaru's arm was in a sling. Regardless, he was smiling at the sight of the three of them together.
Honey ran down the hill first to crush the three of them in a hug. "Tama-chan! Haru-chan! Masa-chan! We were so worried when we saw the carriage on the side of the road!"
"We thought you had crashed," Kyoya added. He and the others followed Honey. "Clearly we weren't too far off. Did you have fun in the river?" He tugged at a soaking wet lock of Masae's hair.
Normally, Tamaki would be the first one to get excited about joking with Kyoya. But he averted his gaze from the group. "You all, I'm so sorry about trying to leave the Host Club. I was just—"
"Oh, save it," Kyoya said, rolling his eyes. He pulled Tamaki— and Haruhi, who was still in his arms— into a brusque hug. "It's all water under the bridge. We love you, you moron."
While Tamaki malfunctioned, Haruhi took the opportunity to step out of his grasp. "Water under the bridge, huh?" She asked, sounding a little too proud of herself. "We know a little something about that."
Masae groaned. "Alright, that was absolutely terrible. Can we please go back to the school? We have jobs, you know!"
"Anything for my favorite secretary!" Tamaki said, throwing an arm around her shoulders. He pulled her in close to his side as they all made their way back up the hill to the carriage. "We'll work extra hard! How does that sound?"
Masae glared at him— he was so irritating. But him and the Host Club— all of it, even the irritating parts— were things she wasn't prepared to take for granted again. She was going to enjoy every minute of it.
She loved them, after all.