Red rose petals floated out of the room and there was suddenly a blinding white light. We looked away for a second as we heard people greet us, "Welcome!" I groaned, realizing where we were.
It was the Ouran High School Host Club. I only knew that for two reasons. One was because all the girls wouldn't stop talking about it, so I'd pick up fragments of their conversations in the hall. The second was because, well, I knew two of the members, Tamaki Suoh and Kyoya Otori. They were in my class, 2A. Not that I spoke to them much.
The Host Club was where its members entertained bored, idiotic girls with flattery. I wasn't exactly fond of the idea, but if it meant no one was bothering me, than why should I have cared? All I needed to know was that it was somewhere in the school. I just didn't expect to ever need to know where it was to avoid it.
Haruhi's back was pressed against the door and she looked a bit scared. "This is a host club?" she asked.
"Oh, it's a boy," twins with auburn hair noticed. They looked a little younger than me, but not by much.
"Uh, that's not-" I tried to say.
"Hikaru, Kaoru, I believe this young man is in the same class as you, is he not?" Kyoya asked. He was the one with black hair and glasses.
Hikaru and Kaoru responded, "Yeah, but he's shy. He isn't very sociable, so we don't know much about him."
Kyoya smirked a little, "Well, that wasn't very polite." The twins shrugged like they didn't see what they did wrong. "Welcome to the Ouran Host Club, Mr. Honor Student." Haruhi hid behind me and tried to open the door.
Tamaki, the blonde one with violet eyes, asked, "What? You must be the Haruhi Fujioka. You're the other exceptional honor student we've heard about." My sister turned around at the sound of her name. He looked over at me. "And you'd be the other one. I didn't know you two were friends. Hello again, uh... I'm sorry, I seem to have forgotten your name." He scratched his head and gave me an apologetic smile.
Kyoya supplied, "She is Azami Fujioka, also in our class."
I smiled, "Thanks for remembering, Kyoya. Unlike, Tamaki. Again." I glared at him. He had done that to me since the beginning of the year.
Tamaki gasped, "Oh, so you're siblings!"
Haruhi asked him, "How did you know my name?" I had never seen her so sweaty and nervous. I felt bad, more so because they thought she was a boy.
"Why, you're infamous. Both of you. It's not every day that a commoner gains entrance to our academy, especially two at once. You must have had an audacious nerve to work hard enough to fight your ways into this school, Ms. and Mr. Fujioka," Kyoya revealed to us.
"Well, uh, thank you, I guess," she uttered, confused if it was a compliment or not. I wasn't sure, either...
Tamaki slapped a hand down on her shoulder, making her jump, "You're welcome! You two are heroes to other poor people. You've shown the world that even a poor person can excel at an elite private academy." Haruhi scooted away from him, but he didn't really care. He only followed her around. "It must be hard for you to be constantly looked down upon by others."
"I think you're taking this poor thing too far," she frowned and stopped moving.
"We're not even poor. We're middle-class," I interjected. I was really getting fed up with everyone calling us poor and commoners.
He ignored us, putting his arm around her shoulder again, "Spurned, neglected, but that doesn't matter now. Long live the poor! We welcome you, poor man and woman, to our world of beauty!" I wasn't sure if he was expecting us to thank him, but it kind of seemed like it. We weren't too impressed. I knew that Tamaki was a little full of himself, but I hadn't realized how eccentric he truly was.
Haruhi moved from his grip and began to walk out, grabbing my hand and pulling me along. "We're outta here," she grumbled. I didn't fight. I was happy to leave.
We were close to the door when someone grabbed her and pulled her back. I whipped around to see a little blonde boy. He looked like he should have been in the grade school by his short stature, but he was wearing a Ouran High School Academy uniform. "Hey! Come back here, Haru-chan! You two must be like superheroes or something. That's so cool!" the boy smiled.
"Far from it," I disagreed.
She added, "We're not heroes. We're honor students. And who are you calling Haru-chan?!" She shouted the last sentence, making the boy let go of her. I could tell she was getting frustrated by the whole thing.
I apologized, "I'm sorry, but we really need to leave, Tamaki." I walked over to Haruhi.
Tamaki said, "From the way Azami acts in class, I know she isn't very interested in the Host Club, so you couldn't be escorting her. I never would have imagined a famous scholar would be so openly gay." I began to laugh at his conclusion.
"Openly what?" she froze and peered at him, ignoring me.
I tried to explain again, "Haruhi isn't-"
He interrupted, "So, tell me what kind of guys you're into. Do you like the strong, silent type? The boy Lolita? How about the mischievous type? Or the cool type? What about you, Azami? You seem like a girl who enjoys a bit of mischief, in all honesty." The twins winked at me with smirks on their faces, locking their arms together so they were back-to-back.
I shook my head and threw my hands up, "No, no. Don't drag me into this!"
Hikaru and Kaoru frowned, "Fine. We didn't like you that much anyways." I pulled down the bottom lid of my right eye and stuck my tongue out at them. They did the same to me.
Kyoya chuckled, "Tamaki called it right."
I grumbled and crossed my arms, "Oh, shut up." He didn't say anything, but smirked. I wasn't childish, I swear. I was just hotheaded.
Tamaki pestered, "So, what will it be, Haruhi?" I turned my attention back to them.
"I, uh... I-It's not like that!" Haruhi stuttered, backing away from the group of teenagers. She looked a bit confused and flustered by the whole situation. "We were just looking for a quiet place to study!"
Tamaki got close to her and put a finger under her chin, saying, "Or maybe you're into a guy like me. What do you say?" I couldn't believe he was being so forward!
Haruhi took a leap back to get away from him, but knocked right into a pedestal. A gorgeous blue vase that had incredible detailing fell from it. "Haruhi!" I shrieked. She quickly bent over the wooden pedestal to grab it, but it was right out of her reach. It smashed into a thousand pieces on the floor. My mouth fell open as I rushed over to her.
"Awww," Hikaru and Kaoru moaned.
"We were going to feature that Renaissance vase in an upcoming school auction," the twin on the right complained.
"Oh, now you've done it, commoner. The bidding on that vase was supposed to start at eight million yen," the left twin told us.
"What? Eight million yen?" she gaped.
I flared, "Hey, we aren't commoners, so stop calling us that!"
He defended, "He's the one who broke the vase!"
I barked, "It's not entirely Haruhi's fault! Who leaves a priceless vase in the middle of a room with nothing to stop people from bumping into it, anyways?"
His brother remarked, "Most people realize they should stay away from it."
"How many thousands is that? How many thousands are in eight million?" she wondered, counting on her fingers.
I calculated, "There's eight thousand thousands in eight million, Haruhi." I looked emotionless, but that was how you knew I was really freaking out.
"I'm gonna have to pay you back," she told them, standing up. I put my hand on her arm.
"With what money? You two can't even afford school uniforms," the twins replied.
The left twin asked, "What's with that grubby outfit anyways?" I couldn't exactly argue about that. It was pretty horrendous. I had always cared about my appearance a bit more than Haruhi had. It wasn't because I thought looks were the most important thing, but I had always liked fashion and wanted to try to make a good impression.
Haruhi was wearing black pants and a grey buttoned shirt with a grey-purple sweater over it. None of it really fit and hid her figure well. It was basically eating her. I was pretty sure she had stolen it from our dad's closet. I could completely see why they would think she was a girl, but I would never say that. I didn't want to hurt her feelings, though her being her, she wouldn't have cared.
"Well, what do you think we should do, Tamaki?" Kyoya asked as he picked up a shard of the vase. I suddenly realized Tamaki was the leader of the group. You wouldn't ask someone who held no importance.
Tamaki sat down in a chair and crossed his legs. His whole attitude had suddenly changed. "There's a famous saying you may have heard, Fujioka. When in Rome, you should do as the Romans do," he told her. He pointed at her. "Since you have no money, you can pay with your body. That means starting today, you are the Host Club's dog."
My jaw hit the floor. That was the best they could do?! Haruhi turned a sickly white and froze. "Haruhi?" I asked, worried. We all gathered around her, trying to get her to respond. The boy poked her twice, and she fainted. I kneeled next to her and shouted, "Haruhi?!"
Kyoya clarified, "You do realize that in order to help get the debt paid off faster, you will also have to help the Host Club. You'll be helping me with accounting and things of that nature. You seem to be good at math, and I could use an extra hand."
I hadn't even done anything, yet I was dragged into the mess! I was filled with fury, but it was futile. I couldn't do a thing. In the end, Haruhi had broken the vase, and I was the older sister. I had to protect and help her. It was going to cut into my study time and things like that, but I couldn't leave her there by herself.
I sighed, "Fine. Whatever helps Haruhi, I'll do it." Tamaki and Kyoya nodded at me. The boy hugged me happily and his much taller friend didn't say anything while the twins raised an eyebrow at me.
That was how I got mixed up with the Host Club. It was just an accident that I wasn't really involved. Nothing could have prepared me for the rest of the year, though. In fact, if you had told me all of the things that happened would happen before, I would have told you that you were insane. Because, well, it turned out pretty insane.