Kiriko looked up from her lunch and saw girls glaring at her again. Her eye twitched as she saw her brother come up to her and the girl's glares suddenly intensified.
"You could have mentioned before I got here that you were popular with girls. I am getting so many hate stares right now," she grumbled to her brother as he reached the table.
He just smirked with that annoying smirk of his. "You also could have told me that you were getting back early."
She glared at him.
"AH- Kiriko-chan!" yelled Tamaki as he ran over to where she was sitting. "Ignore Kyoya, he's just being grumpy today. Come sit with the Host Club for lunch instead. I still need to introduce you to everyone!"
She felt the glares intensify once again as Tamaki dragged her away to where the Host Club was sitting.
"Tamaki, who's that?" a short blonde kid who she assumed to be Mitzukuni Haninozuka said.
"Host Club! Your attention, please! This is Kyoya's cute twin Kiriko! She will be sitting with us for lunch today and will help out with Host Club." Tamaki told the table.
She sighed as she slipped into the seat beside her brother. She seemed to be sighing a lot recently. Maybe it was the Souh kid. How Kyoya put up with him, she wasn't sure.
"Thank you for inviting me to have lunch with you. Please take care of me." She said bowing her head slightly.
The twins came up to me on either side and put their arms around my shoulders. Noticing my glare the twins adopted a blank face and put their arms up in defense saying together, "She's definitely your twin, Kyoya-senpai."
Kiriko sweatdropped and turned to face them with a smile. "You must me Hikaru and Karou Hitachiin. Sons of Yuzuha Hitachiin, the famous fashion designer. I met her while I was at Milan Fashion Week. She was so sweet and she gave me a few of the dresses that she had me model while I was there."
They huffed and went back to their seats muttering about how their mother never has them model her outfits anymore. I sighed and turned to the third years.
"And you must Mitzukini Haninozuka of the Haninozuka clan, claimed to be the best martial arts champion in Japan, and Takashi Morinozuka of the Morinozuka clan, current national Kendo Champion."
Honey bounces up and hugs Kirko's leg. "You can call us Honey and Mori, Kiriko-chan. I remember you! You used to compete in kyudo. You were really good too!"
Kiriko smiled at the compliment, "Thank you Honey-senpai. Though I stopped competing I still practice sometimes if you and Mori-senpai would like to come and join me."
He nodded excitedly.
"Lastly the honors student, Haruhi Fujioka, who arrived at this school on a scholarship earlier this year," Kiriko said turning to the cross-dressing girl still sitting down at the table eating her lunch. Her eye started twitching slightly as she faced her brother, "Is there a reason why I have to wear this monstrosity while she's allowed to wear that?"
His smile became strained, "Because as far as the majority of the school is concerned, Fujioka-san is a boy."
Letting out a minuscule huff, Kiriko sat at the table.
"So, you are all in the Host Club," she stated. "What exactly does the host club do?"
Kiriko, of course, knew the answer to this. She had thoroughly researched anyone who may be involved in her twin's life before she returned. However, they didn't need to know that she knew almost every detail about their pathetic lives. Tamaki being pulled away from his mother by the Souh matriarch. Haruhi's mother dying when she was only ten-years-old. The twins' having no form of parental love in their life due to their mother's constant absence. The long master-servant relationship between the Haninozuka's and Morinozuka's. Mitzukini's struggle with the pressure of his unyielding talent in martial arts. She had to know all their weaknesses. It's what is expected of an Ootori. Never get close to anyone without being able to destroy them first.
She smiled politely at Tamaki's exaggerated explanation of what the host club does. By the time he was finished the lunch break was over and everyone had to be getting back to their classes. Promising to come and see the Host Club before she left the school, she headed off to her class.
Kiriko sighed as her last class of the day came to an end. Most of the information they were covering were things she was already familiar with. Finishing whatever homework they had assigned in class quickly after they were informed of it, Kiriko was already well ahead of the work she had planned to finish today.
Grabbing her bag and making her way to Music Room #3, she thought about how much of a waste of time school was going to be. Visiting this club of her brother's was unlikely to be a good use of her time, but for appearance's sake, she still had to go and make connections.
She opened the door to the music room and flowers flew in her face.
"Welcome!" the Host Club greeted her in sync.
"You came!" Tamaki squealed after seeing it was her. "I wasn't sure if you would come or not. Mommy sometimes doesn't join me until I drag him here and since your his twin..." he rambled on with no particular aim before turning and asking Kiriko, "What is your type milady? Perhaps, it's me. Will you be joining my table for tea?" he grabbed her chin and smiled.
With a strained laugh, she pulled away from his grip. "I would love to have a cup of tea Tamaki-san, but I think I'd be more comfortable just observing the club for today. Maybe another time?"
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see her brother glaring at his friend. Walking over to where he was sitting typing on his computer she looked to see what he was working on.
"If you are planning on raising the prices for tea and cake you should offer a combo deal where the tea and cake combined is the same as it would have been with the old prices. Also, add a surcharge for every extra cup. Then you'll fully be covering the cost of what the club members use. Also, match the magazine's prices to that of Vogue's special edition while adding more pages. They'll be happy to pay the extra money thinking they'll be getting more pages where you will just be expanding pictures to cover more space and the cost of printing an extra 20 pages is 5 cents less if you go through the Harrington's company."
The Host Club, minus Kyoya, all turned to look at her.
"The Shadow Queen has arrived! All hail her intelligence," the Hitachiin twin's bowed at her feet.
With a blank face, Kyoya thought about the suggestions his twin had given him. On the one hand, they were correct. This could solve his issue with finding funding for Tamaki's tropical themed event. On the other hand, taking his sister's advice was the same as accepting defeat in his family.
"I'll look into it more thoroughly," he said. "I believe, however, I could get our current supplier to lower their prices though as their daughter has started coming to the host club and by offering her an early release of the magazine, I'm sure she would be able to convince her father to give us a discount."
She smiled thinking to herself, well played brother, well played.
Grabbing her laptop from her bag and sitting down at the table by her brother she looked over to the twins who were still singing her praises and asked, "So, how about that tea?"
"Kiri-chan, Kiri-chan! Do you want some cake too?" Honey asked her. "My favorite cake is strawberry."
"I'm actually quite partial to dark chocolate Honey-senpai," she said. "Do you have any?"
He nodded. "I'll go grab some but can you hold Usa-chan for me?" He asked holding up a stuffed bunny.
She nodded indulging his child-like tendencies taking the bunny from his hands. "I'll make sure Usa-chan doesn't get into any trouble while you're gone."
He smiled running off to where she assumed was the kitchen to go grab some cake.
Turning to face Haruhi, she asked, "How are you finding this school Haruhi? Is it quite a difference from your old school. You used to attend Kobaya Middle School before arriving here, right?"
Haruhi nodded looking slightly confused, "Yes, that's right. This school is amazing, the education here is great, but I cannot find anywhere quiet to study."
Kiriko looked over at Kyoya, "Did they get rid of the silent study rooms?"
Kyoya replied negatively, "They are where they always were."
Turning back to face Haruhi, she said, "Then I'll take you to the study rooms after lunch tomorrow. Sadly the libraries are a place to talk rather than study for most people here."
"Really? Thank you so much." Haruhi replied looking genuinely happy. "These idiots never told me about them. The whole reason I'm in this stupid club is because I knocked over their vase while trying to find somewhere silent to study."
Kiriko smiled with a glint in her eye. Now Haruhi is on my side, it'll be much easier to manipulate Tamaki, and with that, the rest of the group.
Tamaki suddenly appearing out of nowhere with a sparkle in his eyes envelopes Haruhi in a hug.
"My daughter finally is making female friends by herself. Daddy is so proud of you!" he squealed as she suffocated.
Kiriko giggled at the pained look on Haruhi's face as Tamaki twirled her around.
"Kiri-chan! I got your cake!" Honey said skipping back into the room with Mori following him holding the cake.
"That looks amazing Honey-senpai!" Kiriko replied enthusiastically while Mori put the cake in front of her. "Are you going to join me for cake and tea, Honey-senpai, Mori-senpai? Usa-chan told me that he wants some cake too."
"Really?" Honey's eyes lit up.
Kiriko nodded as Honey quickly grabbed more cake and seats for him, Mori, and Usa-chan.
The twins finally came back with the tea and bowed, "For you, our Queen."
Kiriko laughed and accepted the tea from her most loyal of servants.
After chatting for a while she received a text from Alice letting her know the car was waiting for her outside. Wishing the Host Club all the best, she grabbed her things and walked down to the car ready to go see her other siblings.
I wonder if they know I'm back, she thought to herself as she sat in the car, looking out the window, watching the buildings pass by.
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AN: First actual update in a while. I hope you like it!