The next day, Tamaki called for a quick meeting before Renge showed up and opened the Host Club. I didn't actually know what was going on since he hadn't told me earlier, but I figured it was about our new manager. We all sat around a table, and he began, "I thought about it a lot last night, and maybe having a lady manager isn't such a bad idea."
The twins asked, "Why do you say that?"
Tamaki explained, "Well, it's fairly obvious, isn't it? Renge just transferred into the same class as Haruhi, so if Haruhi has a girl friend around, it could bring out the female within her. Renge's girlish air of tenderness might be able to stimulate Haruhi's own sense of femininity."
Haruhi muttered, "Good grief."
I narrowed my eyes, "First of all, I'm still here, and I hope you remember I'm a girl. Second, I don't see why you feel the need to change her when she's obviously fine the way she is."
"Katashi, you don't know Haruhi very well, and the only time you really see each other is during this club. If she becomes more feminine, then she'll gain more friends and won't be so frank all the time. It's the best thing for her," he argued. I frowned, seeing there was no way to get through to him. I was glad that he cared about her so much, but he'd never see that he doesn't need to change her.
He continued, "Now is our chance to help Haruhi get in touch with her feminine side. This is an important project." He pointed at the twins sitting across from us. "She doesn't have any friends in class right now except for these shady twins. That's not good for her."
They raised an eyebrow at Tamaki and me, "Like you have room to talk." I shrugged in response.
The doors opened, and Renge poked her head in, "Hey, everyone! You'll be happy to know that your new manager, Renge, has baked all of you some cookies!" She held up purple tissue paper filled with chocolate chip cookies.
Tamaki rushed over to her and made sure to be extra dramatic, "Oh, isn't she lady-like? I'm so moved by your generosity!"
She glared, "I didn't bake these cookies for you, you phony prince." The statement completely broke his heart and made him go to his depressed corner. I shook my head at him and sighed. Renge rushed over to Kyoya and showed him the cookies, "I'm sorry, I burnt them a little bit. I did the best I could, and I already know what you're going to say." I caught the cookies when she dropped them as she blushed, "Oh, you're always so sweet to me, Kyoya!" I guessed she was having a conversation in her head since he hadn't said anything.
Honey took one of the cookies and started eating it, "She wasn't kidding. These cookies really are burnt."
Mori told him, "Don't eat that, Mitsukuni! It's bad for you." Rnege suddenly turned to them and hissed before chasing them around. Honey screamed in fear, and I would have tried to help, but she was intimidating me, too....
Haruhi also took a cookie and bit into it. "They're not that bad at all. They've got a good flavor to them."
I grabbed a cookie and inspected it, "Really? The bottoms of these look pretty dark. I don't know, maybe I'm just picky."
I placed it partially in my mouth and was about to bite into it when Hikaru turned my face to his. My eyes widened at the closeness. "May I try?" he asked softly. I made a noise of confusion, but then he slowly bit off part of the cookie, our lips almost touching.
Kaoru turned Haruhi's head to him and said, "Uh oh, Haruhi. You've got crumbs on your face." He licked the crumbs off her cheek.
Tamaki ran over and started shouting at them. I quickly ate the remaining cookie that was between my lips and blushed, "You're such a flirt! You didn't have to do that! Il n'y avait pas besoin!"
Kaoru grinned, "Of course, we didn't have to."
Hikaru smirked and stroked my cheek, "We just like playing with you."
"Vous êtes terrible! Je ne peux pas vous croire!" I gaped, telling them how terrible they were. Even though they had no clue what I said, they laughed at my reaction.
"You know, you could've just told me, and I would've wiped it off, and if you wanted to try one, they're plenty here," Haruhi was the voice of reason.
Tamaki grabbed her face and yelled, "That's not the way you're supposed to react, Haruhi! You have to be like Katashi by staying strong and rejecting them before casually brushing them to the side! Do you understand?"
She looked away from him and made a face, "This is sexual harassment, Tamaki." I gasped. Was she really that oblivious?
He shrieked, "Sexual harassment? If that counts as sexual harassment, then they're twice as guilty! Someone, call the police!"
"Cut it out, boss. We're sorry," Hikaru and Kaoru apologized, but I knew they weren't really sorry. I would have done anything to get Tamaki to stop shouting, too.
"Every single one of you, except for Kyoya, all of your characters are lukewarm!" Renge suddenly yelled at us. We all froze as she pointed a finger at us. "Each of you needs to have some sort of dark side! You understand? Girls are vulnerable to handsome young men who are troubled and pretty girls who understand what others are going through. If you keep carrying on like this, it's only a matter of time before the girls get tired of you and stop coming all together. Are you trying to ruin my precious Kyoya's business?" What had we done to make her so mad at us? The twins and I cowered behind Tamaki out of fear of what was going to happen.
"As your manager, it's my duty to change your character backgrounds. Let's start with you!" she pointed at Honey, who screamed. "If all you are is cute, inside and out, then you're no different than a baby. Therefore, from now on, you are the baby-faced thug." She shifted her focus to Mori and thus pointed at everyone as she explained their characters from then on. "And Mori, you're his childhood-friend, the flunky. The twins will be basketball players enslaved in their own world. Haruhi, you're an honor student who's constantly being bullied. And as for you, Tamaki, you're the school idol who's admired for your good looks, but you actually have an inferiority complex you're hiding from the world. The lonely prince!" She turned to her love and became sweet once more. "And Kyoya, you're perfect just the way you are now, so I want you to stay as kind and affectionate as ever, 'kay?"
Kyoya replied, "Thank you, I'm honored." I noticed that these were all the personalities of the main characters from the game from what she had told me about them. Was she really trying to make the game come to life? Things were really starting to get out of hand, and I wasn't too sure what to do about it.
Either way, I let out a breath, glad I was skipped. Realizing this, the twins called out, "What about Katashi?"
I growled, "You jerks!" They ran and hid behind Renge.
"I'm sorry, I almost forgot you," she apologized.
"No, no! Ça ne fait rien!" I rushed, telling her it was okay.
"You're a Hostess, so that means you need a character, too. I just don't know of many female characters," she frowned, trying to think for a moment. My eyes fell on my brother still ranting about how perfect the title of being a lonely prince was. I didn't believe that for a second. He was probably the least deep person I had ever met.
Renge followed my gaze and snapped her fingers. "That's it! You're Tamaki's twin sister who just came back to him after years of separation. You feel as though you don't belong, and no one will ever understand the difficulties you face. You're troubled about how Tamaki's changed, and he is completely overprotective of you!" I pursed my lips in uncertainty of how to respond.
"Sounds good to us," the twins smiled.
"Arrête!" I warned them.
They laughed and wrapped their arms around my shoulders, "Aw, she's so cute when she's mad."
"Vous êtes agaçant," I muttered. When they gave me a questioning look, I rolled my eyes, "I said that you're annoying."
"Come on, Frenchie. You've gotta learn how to take a joke," Hikaru chuckled.
"If it's your jokes, I don't think anyone can," I countered.
"I can teach you," he smirked, making it clear that he was flirting. I blushed once more and pushed them off me as they snickered.
"Good job, Katashi! Don't let those twins get the best of you!" Tamaki praised from the other side of the room. They stuck out their tongues at him.
"Perfect!" Renge squealed. Our attention turned to her. "I didn't even think about adding a romance inside the Host Club!"
My brother, Hikaru, Kaoru, and I started freaking out, "What do you mean?"
"Hikaru and Katashi, of course! Can't you just see it? The two banter to hide their feelings because Hikaru doesn't want to leave Kaoru, and Katashi doesn't want Tamaki to be upset. Not only will it crush the twincest to make the twins look more reachable, but having only had hints at being a lesbian before, the idea of Katashi being bisexual will give her a whole new ability to understand others. The drama is gonna attract tons of new girls!" she planned. Hikaru and I looked at each other, and we both mirrored the same terror.
"The lonely prince finally has someone to fight for!" Tamaki got on board.
Horrified, I asked, "Is anyone else hearing this, or have we all lost it?"
Watching Tamaki practice his poses for his new character, everyone agreed, "We've lost it." The twins and I rushed to pull Kyoya out of Renge's earshot.
"Come on, Kyoya," Hikaru said.
"You've gotta do something!" Kaoru whispered.
I hissed, "I don't think any of us can stand this!"
Kyoya motioned over to my brother, "Why? It seems like the boss is up for it." We groaned at the sight of him and Renge talking over how to make him seem lonelier. "Besides, weren't you the one opting to let Renge take charge, Katashi?"
"I'm eating my words! Listen, Renge isn't bad or anything, but she gets out of hand whenever she does something she really likes or cares about. I think this is one of those times that we need to tell her to stop," I explained.
He told us, "Let's just wait to see how things turn out. I bet it will be interesting. It always is."
Hikaru and I looked at each other with worried expressions. I don't think either of us wanted to find out what interesting meant.