The next day, I shielded my eyes from the rain coming down as I called, "Tamaki! Where are you?" I had been wandering through the rain for the past ten minutes looking for him, but I just couldn't find him no matter where I went. I was about to give up on my search. How was I supposed to find someone who didn't want to be found?
A spark of hope surged through me when I saw a familiar figure through the rain. "Hikaru!" I exclaimed, running to him.
"Oh, Katashi," Hikaru said, shocked to me out during that weather. He was wearing his basketball uniform, and he looked worried about something.
"Have you seen Tamaki? I can't find him anywhere. It's like he's hiding again," I frowned.
"I just saw him a few minutes ago when I was taking Kaoru to the infirmary," he informed me, pointing in the direction he just came in.
I paused, "Wait, Kaoru was hurt?"
Hikaru nodded, his frown deepening at the memory, "He hurt his knee during our basketball game."
"I'm so sorry, Hikaru," I apologized, putting my hand on his arm.
He smiled, "Thanks, but I'll be fine. What about you? Why are you looking for Tamaki?"
I shrugged, frustrated, "He keeps disappearing on me! I don't understand what's happened to him, and I'm getting worried. He's started to become more isolated, but he's still so protective of me.... I know I've been gone for a while, but how could he turn so dark? Why is he so alone when I'm here now?"
"I have no clue," he told me.
I rolled my eyes, pushing past him, "You're no aide. You probably don't even care." He grabbed my arm, pulling me back to look at him. "Let me go! I need to find him."
Hikaru asked, "What makes you think I don't care?" I was surprised by how much hurt was in his eyes.
I pointed out, "You don't exactly act like it. All you ever do is tease me."
He defended himself, "That's just how I act around you."
"Well, it's giving off the wrong impression. You can't possibly understand how much more stress it adds," I removed myself from his grip, expecting him to leave me be that time. I tried to walk away again, but he hugged me from behind, effectively keeping me in my place that time. He rested his head on my shoulder.
Hikaru revealed, "I don't know how else to act. I... I feel different around you. I know I like you, but I don't want to hurt Kaoru." His grip tightened on me slightly, like he was afraid I would evaporate in thin air. "I don't want to lose either of you."
"Do you really mean that?" I asked, turning my head to look at him. I settled one hand on his arms, and the other rested against my chest.
When our eyes met, he gave me a small smile, "Of course. What good would is it to lie?"
I sighed a bit, "My brother would be furious. I don't want to upset him by being with you." I paused for a second and grinned back at him. "But maybe we can find a way. I want to. I think it's worth it." A hopeful spark made its way into his eyes, and I barely realized we were both leaning our heads in until our lips were almost touching.
Suddenly, I was ripped away from him. "T-Tamaki!" I stumbled for my balance, and he steadied me by keeping his chest to my back. "I've been looking for you everywhere!"
"Stay away from him, Katashi," my twin told me in a low voice. His hair covered his eyes, but I expected them to be just as empty as they always were.
"What?" I gasped.
"He isn't good for you. Trust me."
"Why are you acting like this? Why did you have to change?" I demanded, struggling until he finally released me. "The Tamaki I used to know would never be this way!"
Hikaru started, "Tamaki-"
Tamaki snapped, "No! You already have someone! I just got Katashi back, and I can't lose her! She's the only one I have left to fight for!"
"That's enough! I refuse to choose between you! Find a way to work this out, or I won't be either of yours!" I yelled, tears starting to fall. I stormed away from them as they called my name.
"Cut! You three did great!" I heard Renge call out from her bullhorn. The hose making the rain stopped, and the cover above us giving the illusion that it was cloudy was removed. I gratefully accepted a towel from one of the crew members.
I walked over to the twins' director's chairs where I saw Kaoru already sitting in his as Hikaru put on his jacket. Kyoya wrote in his notebook behind them since he really didn't have anything to do with the movie, yet. I asked as Hikaru sat down, "So, is anyone else confused by how changing our characters turned into making a movie depicting them?"
The twins raised their hands, "We are!"
Haruhi came over, "And why is there an entire film crew here to shoot it?"
"Apparently, she flew them in from Hollywood. Don't you recognize the director?" Kyoya asked. I looked over at him, but I couldn't figure out who he was. "He directed the vampire movie Millennial Snow. It was the number one grossing box-office hit in America last year."
"This is way too much for a movie just about us. Maybe I should go talk to her about this," I offered, getting increasingly worried with every day that passed with Renge there.
"As you have said before, she's only doing this because she really cares. I doubt she can be persuaded so easily," he reminded me.
I glared, my eyebrow twitching in frustration, "If you want me to choke on my words, just say so."
He joked, "And why would I want that? You're still bringing in new customers." I rolled my eyes and scowled.
When Haruhi got called over by Renge, I picked up my script and started looking through it. I was pretty sure we were about to shoot the final scene or something important like that. "Hey, Katashi?"
"Yeah, Hikaru?" I replied, not looking up from my script.
"Did you used to take a drama class at your old school or something?" he asked.
I laughed at that, "Are you kidding? I'm terrible at acting."
"Then, how were you so believable there?"
I finally looked up at him and took a deep breath, trying to find a way to phrase my answer correctly. "Well, I had a little bit of help from these." I took out the eye drops the twins had given me a few days ago before pocketing them once more. In all honesty, my character change isn't too différent from the real me. Except liking each other, it's pretty accurate. Besides, I'm used to saying things I don't mean."
They were about to say something when I heard a huge clatter nearby. It sounded like it came from the direction of.... "Renge! Haruhi!" I yelled, bolting to where I heard the commotion. Tamaki and the twins followed after me.
We turned the corner of the building, and Tamaki asked, "What happened, Haruhi?" She was on the ground with equipment around her, and Renge was standing over her to see if she was okay. There were two really intimidating guys nearby, but they definitely didn't seem concerned about what had just happened. When Haruhi looked over at us, it seemed like she was crying.
I gasped when Tamaki slammed one of the men against the wall, "So, which one of your jerks started this?"
"Tamaki, stop it!" I hissed, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Yeah, wait, Suoh! It's not what you think! That girl started it. She was giving us a hard time," the other man said. I let go of my brother and looked over at Renge.
Haruhi vouched, shakily standing up, "He's telling the truth, Tamaki." He slowly let go of him and started walking towards her. "It wasn't their fault. They were provoked."
"Let's get out of here!" the men yelled. While running away, they knocked into me and pushed me on the ground.
"Hey!" I shouted. I hissed at the pain coming from my right hand as I sat up. "Ça pince!"
"Make sure Katashi's alright, Hikaru," Tamaki said, but Hikaru was already kneeling next to me.
"Are you okay?" He saw how I tried to hide my hand from him. He motioned to it, "Did you get hurt?"
"It's just a scratch," I dismissed. I cradled it to my chest.
He held out his hand, "Let me see it."
I denied, "I don't want to. It's rien."
"I need to see it."
"No!"
"Katashi, I'm serious."
"Listen, it's fine, so just-"
"Stop acting like you can take care of yourself, and let me help!" Hikaru demanded. I took a deep breath and slowly opened my hand, placing it palm up in his. I cringed at the gash running from between my pinkie and ring finger to between my thumb and pointer. The blood gushed from my wound, and I realized just how deep I had been cut. I glanced at the huge rock I had fallen on and sighed. "You're going to have to go to the infirmary."
I shook my head, "It can wait until I get home." I didn't want to make a big deal out of it, especially when Haruhi was the one who was probably hurt worse.
He decided, "No, I'm taking you right now." It looked like he just wasn't going to give it up. He helped me stand and took off his jacket, placing it on my hand. "Here. This should help stop the bleeding."
I pouted, "You don't have to do all this."
"Because I don't know you very well?" I shrugged in response, and I guess that was answer enough. "I know it must have been hard to move and everything, but that doesn't mean you don't belong here or anything stupid like that. Just because I make fun of you doesn't mean I don't care about what happens to you." He placed an arm around my shoulder. "Believe it or not, we can get through things together."
"Merci. That means a lot to me, Hikaru." We smiled at each other.
"You... you.... Please tell me you got that, cameramen!" Renge said. Our heads snapped to hers.
"Yes, boss!" they answered with a thumbs up.
"Other than Haruhi's contact falling out, those were ideal final scenes! All it needs now is a moving narration by my sweet Kyoya!" Hikaru and I looked at each other with other mouths open. We had been filmed? How could I have not noticed that? Je ne peux pas gagner aujourd'hui! I groaned in my head, irritated by how I just couldn't seem to win.
I jumped a bit when I heard the sound of glass breaking. Kyoya had hit one of the camera lenses with the rock I'd fallen on, smashing it to pieces. "What'd you do to my camera?" the cameraman yelled.
Renge asked innocently, "Why? Is something wrong?"
Kyoya told her, "I'm terribly sorry, but I cannot allow there to be any record of a club member engaging in violence. I think you've caused enough trouble around here, Renge. Please, stop being such a pest." While I wanted everything to be put to a stop, I didn't want it to happen like that! She was going to be heartbroken!
She repeated softly, "A pest?" Once it sunk in, she began crying, "But you're supposed to pat me on the head and tell me not to worry! You're supposed to be kind and affectionate, Kyoya! Why are you acting so differently now? Tell me why!"
Tamaki finally said, "Because that's not the real Kyoya." I heard her gasp before she turned to face us.
Her eyes landed on me, "K-Katashi...?" She looked to me for some sort of explanation. To tell her what Tamaki said was a lie, and the remorse I felt for not saying something surfaced when I saw how sad she was. I could have done something to prevent the whole ordeal from happening, and I just hadn't out of peur.
"I'm so sorry, Renge. I... I just didn't know how to tell you," I admitted. She fell to her knees, and I knew there was really nothing I could do to fix it. I had made my choice by staying quite earlier.
"Does it really matter?" Haruhi walked over and crouched in front of her. "Who cares if Kyoya is a little different than you expected him to be? Take a good look at the person inside and get to know him little by little. It's a lot more fun that way!" Renge stared at her for a few seconds, like she was trying to understand what she had said, before standing and running off, sobbing.
I tried to go after her, but Hikaru kept me in place, "Katashi, you know you can't help her right now. Besides, you're still hurt. Let's go to the nurse."
I felt like that was all partly my fault. She was my friend, and she knew me better than she did any of the others. I should have said something when I saw her plans begin to spiral. Still, I nodded, "Alright. Let's go."