"Aren't we lucky that we managed to get the advertised specials?" Fumika beamed, as she and Haruhi made their way back home.
"The supermarket really is the place to spend a Sunday morning," Haruhi agreed before checking grocery shopping off her mental to-do list, "Once we home, we've got cleaning and laundry to do..."
Haruhi broke her train of thought when she bumped into Fumika who had come to a sudden stop. "Huh? Fumika, why'd you stop?"
"Do you see that, in front of our apartment?" Fumika asked, pointing towards the crowd of people surrounding a car.
To answer her question, the door opened, and out stepped the Host Club.
"Eh?!" Haruhi shrieked, which somehow didn't draw the attention of others nearby, "What are they doing here?!"
"Wow, so this is Haruhi and Fumika's house?" they heard Kaoru asked.
"It's pretty big, isn't it? Bigger than I thought," Hikaru commented.
"It has lots of rooms," Honey stated.
"No, this is what's called aggregate commoner dwelling," Kyoya corrected, "Fumika and Haruhi's place is probably just one of the rooms among these."
"Kyoya! What's with all of these people?!" Tamaki demanded, "Especially those two doppelgangers!"
"Oh. I was sure that you didn't have the courage to come alone, so it would be better if we came en masse," Kyoya said, faking a thinking face, "I guess that was uncalled for. Okay, children, let's go home."
"No way! I don't want to go home!" the twins protested.
"I'm sorry. Forgive me. I don't want to be alone," Tamaki said.
"Listen up, men. Do not forget..." Tamaki said, going back into his kingly personality, "This is just a 'we happened to be passing by' sort of nonchalant visit, and is definitely not research on the Fujioka family's standard of living! The words 'shabby,' 'cramped,' and 'run-down' are absolutely forbidden!"
"Yes, sir!"
"Under no circumstances are you to say or do anything to make Haruhi, Fumika, or her father wish that we would leave," Tamaki continued. At this point, Haruhi was at her breaking point.
"Too late for that. Go away, right now!" Haruhi ordered, letting the Hosts know that she and Fumika were there.
"Haruhi! Fumika!" the Hosts shouted, before scanning Haruhi's and Fumika's clothes, "Plain and simple, looking good!"
"Shut up! Get the hell out of here!" Haruhi yelled.
"Eee! Haruhi is using incredibly dirty language!" Tamaki shrieked, before scolding the twins, "This is all your fault!"
"It wasn't me..." the twins protested.
"Excuse me, Haruhi-chan, is everything all right?" the landlady asked, concerned.
"Oh, Miss Landlady..."
"Driving up in foreign cars like this... Are these people the Yakuza or something?"
"No, uh..."
"Should I call the police?"
"Pleased to meet you, madam," Tamaki said, suddenly coming up to them, "My name is Suoh, and I'm one of Haruhi-san and Fumika-san's friends."
"Oh, my, my, my, my, what am I to do?" the landlady said, flustered.
"I'm terribly sorry for suddenly stopping by like this and causing a stir..." Fumika started droning out of that conversation when Kyoya walked over to her.
"I apologize for suddenly arriving at your house without alerting you beforehand," Kyoya said, wrapping an arm around Fumika's waist when she leaned against him.
"I'm fine with it. However, I do believe Haruhi thinks otherwise," Fumika said, unable to stop a smile from appearing as they followed Haruhi up the stairs.
"I'm warning you right now, you just get a little look, like three seconds," Haruhi told them, "Once you've seen it, you'll immediately-"
"Haru-chan, I brought a gift. It's cake," Honey said, holding up a cake box, It has both strawberry and chocolate, and some others, too."
"Well, I guess we can have tea," Haruhi sighed, giving into her gluttony.
Fumika smiled and unlocked the door.
Tamaki peered inside before sighing in relief, 'Whew, I guess it's a little better than my dream.'
"Shabby," Hikaru muttered, earning a face pulling from Tamaki.
"A wood-built, two story 2k. That's about right for a two-person, father-daughter commoner family. 3-person, if it's a father-sisters commoner family, and the sisters are fine with sharing a room," Kyoya stated.
"Yeah. At Haruhi and Fumika's size, they won't go hitting their heads on the low ceilings," Kaoru said.
"It's an absolutely darling little room!" Honey complimented.
"That's okay, you don't have to force yourself to compliment it," Haruhi grumbled.
"Huh? Fumi-chan, Haru-chan, we take off our shoes?" Honey asked, noticing that both Fumika and Haruhi took their shoes off.
"Yes, please."
"We have to take our shoes off before going in," Honey said to Mori, "This room is like a dojo, huh?"
"Yeah."
"Well, let us borrow some slippers," Hikaru demanded.
"Oh, I can see a tatami-floored room right there," Kaoru pointed out.
"In that case, we don't need slippers huh?"
"Okay, forgive the intrusion!" the Host Club chorused, stepping into the apartment.
"Pardon the intrusion."
"Excuse us."
"Forgive the intrusion."
"Whoa! Is this all?!"
"Ow." Fumika sweatdropped when she saw Mori bang his head on one of the lights.
"You wouldn't expect a light to be hanging down there, huh?"
"It looks like we haven't given commoners' housing enough credit," Tamaki said before curling up at the table, "All right, it's tight in here, so everyone try your best to sit gym-style. This is the way that commoners came up with to cut down on space."
"I'll put some tea on," Haruhi told them, trying not to explode.
"Oh, Haruhi, as far as tea goes, I have this black tea that our father bought as a souvenir from Africa," Hikaru said, handing the bag over to Fumika, "Here."
"You just casually carry that around?" Fumika muttered, walking over to Haruhi before saying to Hikaru, "Thanks!"
"It's best as a milk tea," Kaoru informed them, "Do you have any milk?"
"Mm-hmm, we do have some milk... I think..." Haruhi said, thinking.
"We do, but it's the last of it," Fumika said as she checked the refrigerator, "I told you we should've gotten more milk while we were at the supermarket. I'll have to go back later..."
Fumika started making the tea, while Haruhi started washing the cups for tea.
"H-Haruhi, F-Fumika, I'm sorry, you don't have to make that tea," Kaoru suddenly said, "Water will be fine for us."
"Heh? Really? But I've already made it..." Fumika said, holding up her kyusu teapot.
"Oh, well in that case, okay."
Fumika laughed, shaking her head at the twins' antics. She started washing the pot after she finished pouring the tea, while Haruhi carried the tray over to the eating table.
"I haven't the slightest idea why you need to turn this into a contest," Fumika heard Kyoya say when she walked into the room.
"Turn what into a contest?" Fumika asked as she walked over to Kyoya, who was looking through her books.
"The tea is ready. Sorry the cups don't all match," Haruhi announced.
"Haru-chan and Fumi-chan, you get the choose your cakes first," Honey told them, opening his cake box.
"Oh, are you sure?" Fumika asked, "Then I pick...the strawberry one!"
"Ah! Me too!" Haruhi agreed.
"Then, the three of us will have strawberry, and the others can have what they want," Honey said.
Before Haruhi and Fumika could eat, Mori started placing his strawberries onto their plates.
"You like strawberries?" Mori asked.
"Yes! Thank you!" the sister chorused, earning a smile from Mori and a complaining breakdown from Tamaki and the twins.
"Should we have taken actions?!"
"I wanted to give them to her!"
"We were taken in!"
Not wanting to be beaten, Kyoya took his fork and picked up a piece of his cake. "Fumika, say 'aah.'"
"Kyoya, wha-?" When Fumika turned her head to face Kyoya, she was met with a chocolate cake being placed into her mouth, "Mpfh!"
|| After they all finished eating cake... ||
"Ah, after eating that cake, I'm a getting a bit peckish," Honey sighed.
"Now that you mention it, it is long past lunchtime," Hikaru started.
"Is lunch ready?" Tamaki, the twins, and Honey asked.
"Could you please stop living so relentlessly fancy-free?" Haruhi asked.
"Besides, if it's long past lunchtime, then shouldn't you have ate lunch long before you came here?" Fumika grumbled, starting to get annoyed.
"Now, we're the ones who dropped in on you without warning, so we'll put up the money. Why not order some of your favorite sushi, or something?" Kyoya offered.
"No, that's okay," Haurhi declined, "Kyoya-senpai, I'm going to dread it later if it's on you."
"Not to worry. This comes out of sales of photos of you that auctioned," Kyoya assured her, taking out a credit card.
"Then, it really is on me..."
"Should I be worried for if you ever take me to dinner as a date?" Fumika whispered to Kyoya.
Kyoya smirked, "Of course not," Kyoya told her before leaning close to her ear, "Because you'll be paying me back with your body..."
"S-shut up!" Fumika said turning bright red, smacking Kyoya on the shoulder. Kyoya simply chuckled in response.
"Come on Fumika," Haruhi said,pulling Fumika off the floor.
"Eh? Where are we going?" Fumika asked.
"We're going to the sushi shop nearby. They do take out right?"
"Yeah," Fumika nodded, "Oh! They have some pretty high-quality stuff, too!" A few seconds later, Tamaki gave Haruhi a note.
"Even if the sushi pack says 'premium' on it, you can't call it 'high-quality.' Be very careful," Haruhi read out loud. She glowered, crumpling the note and tossing it into the trash.
"We know that much, at least," Haruhi glared.
"Aah! You dummy! Daddy even took care to act all casual so as not to embarrass you!" Tamaki shouted.
"I'd like to have something made by you and Fumi-chan, Haru-chan," Honey said, cutely.
"That's fine, but even starting now, it will take some time," Fumika warned Honey.
"We'll wait!"
"It might as well become dinner," Haruhi sighed, glancing at the clock on the wall.
"Well, we'll have to go to the supermarket again," Haruhi said, sighing in annoyance.
Fumika sighed as well, "I needed to go and get more milk anyway, so we might as well."
"Oh, I'm coming." "We want to come to the commoners' supermarket, too," the twins said.
"Me, too! Me, too!" Honey cheered.
"Well, this might be a good experience," Kyoya said.
"Yay! Commoners' supermarket, commoners' supermarket!" the twins cheered, running out of the apartment.
"Wait! You have to wait for everyone! Besides, you don't even know where the supermarket is!" Fumika shouted, after them before sighing, "Honestly. They're so much work."
Kyoya chuckled and led her out the door, "Don't I know it."
Fumika, Kyoya, Honey, and Mori caught up with the twins at the bottom of the stairs, leaving them to wait for Haruhi and Tamaki.
"Come on, what's taking them so long!" Hikaru complained, "Let's just leave without them."
"We can't," Fumika sighed, "Haruhi and I need to decide what we're going to make before getting the ingredients."
"Hey, who's that?" Honey asked, pointing at a figure walking towards them.
"Oh that's..." Fumika squinted, before they widening, recognizing the person, "Dad!"
Fumika ran forward to meet up with him, before freezing to a halt when he simply walked past her, no signs of acknowledgment anywhere.
"Welcome home," Fumika whispered, looking down at the ground, tears threatening to fall.
Sullen, she walked back to Kyoya, who quickly wrapped comforting arms around her. The twins were quick to join the hug, remembering they heartfelt conversation with Fumika and what said about her dad sometimes forgetting about her.
"Was that your dad, Fumi-chan?" Honey asked, timidly.
Fumika sniffled, nodding in response.
Honey's eyes widened and he pouted, "Well that was really mean of him."
Fumika lifted her head up from Kyoya's chest, "It's not his fault," Fumika told Honey, "It's just that having two kids can be too much for a single dad sometimes."
"Still..."
Fumika smiled and picked Honey up, "Hey, cheer up, Honey-senpai. How about we go and check up on Haruhi and Tamaki-senpai and see what's taking them so long."
"Okay!"
They all made their way back to the apartment room, and peered into the open door to see Fumika's dad stepping on Tamaki.
"Sir, you were taking so long that we..." Hikaru started say before they "noticed" Fumika's dad.
"Oh, so that guy that passed us downstairs is Fumika and Haruhi's papa, after all," Kaoru said, emphasizing on Fumika's name in hopes of Fumika's dad noticing.
"Hikaru! Kaoru! It's divine intervention!" Tamaki cried. Instead of helping him, however, the twins stepped onto Tamaki as well, walking on him.
"Ah, hello. We're Fumika-san and Haruhi-san's good friends, the Hitachiin Brothes."
"Papa-san, you're a tranny?"
"You're the first genuine tranny we've ever seen."
"Sir, did you finally put the moves on Haruhi?" they asked Tamaki, not caring that they were walking on him.
"Sorry, about that. This guy is a dyed-in-the-wool ladies' man."
"He's a pheromone machine, who's fooled around with more girls than he's got capillaries."
"Fooled around?" 'Papa-san' repeated.
"No! Who are you saying is fooling around?! I sincerely..." Tamaki started.
'Eh? Is he confessing his love?' the twins thought, surprised.
"...sincerely think of your girls as though they were my own daughters!" Tamaki finished.
|| After a little bit of explanation from Kyoya... ||
"I see. You're the Host Club I've been hearing about. You really are a fine set of boys," 'Papa-san' complimented, "I don't know which one of you I would take. Right, Haruhi? Oh, you can just call me Ranka-san. 'Ranka' is the professional name I use at the tranny bar where I work."
"Professional name? Like a stage name?" Honey asked.
"That's right, Mitsukuni-kun," Ranka confirmed.
"Huh? How do you know my name?"
Ranka smiled, "3rd-Years Haninozuka-kun and Morinozuka Takashi-kun... And you would be the 1st-Years, in the same class as Haruhi, Hitachiin Hikaru-kun and Kaoru-kun, right? Which one of you is which, I wonder... I'm always hearing stories about you."
"Huh? Haruhi talks about us?" Kaoru asked.
"Mm-mm, it's always from Kyoya-kun, on the phone," Ranka said.
"Ranka-san, you really are beautiful," Kyoya complimented.
"What?!"
"We're looking after his precious daughters. It's only natural that I'd say hello, and give periodic reports on them, right? Ordinarily, that should be your job, right?" Kyoya asked, directing the last question towards Tamaki.
"You really are a fine club president. Oh, Kyoya-kun, you're the vice-president, aren't you? So the president isn't good for much, huh?"
"Hold on there, Dad!" Haruhi interrupted, "I never heard that you were keeping contact with Kyoya-senpai!"
"Eh? But Haruhi, you never tell me about anything at school," Ranka whined.
"So the, without telling me, you..." Haruhi stopped to shout at Tamaki, "Senpai, would you please stop growing mushrooms in other people's closets?!"
"Haruhi, the thing about you is...you're even cute when you're angry!" Ranka shouted, hugging Haruhi, "And to think that you've grown up so much. Like having Kyoya-kun as a boyfriend. Oh Haruhi..."
"Wait what?"
"Dad, Kyoya-senpai not's my boyfriend!" Haurhi shouted, pulling away from the hug.
"Eh? If he's not your boyfriend, then who's-?"
"He's Fumika's."
"Fumika..." Ranka repeated, thinking for a while turning to look at Fumika with wide eyes, "Fumika!"
Fumika gave him a small smile, "Welcome home, Dad..."
"Ahhh! Fumika, I'm so sorry! I'm such a terrible father!" Ranka cried, hugging Fumika tightly.
"It's no big idea," Fumika tried to tell him, sweatdropping.
"Dad, let go of Fumika," Haruhi ordered, tugging Fumika out of Ranka's grip.
"Eh? Where are you going?"
"The supermarket," Haruhi answered, "We're going shopping, all by ourselves."
"I won't take long, so everyone, behave yourselves," Fumika ordered, sternly.
"Ah, Fumika, Haruhi! We want to go to the commoners' supermarket, too!" Hikaru cried out.
"That's okay, that's okay. Once Haruhi's spoken, she won't listen to you," Ranka said, "That girl made up her mind to go to Ouran, and did all the enrollment paperwork by herself."
"What about Fumi-chan?" Honey asked, noticing how Ranka only referred to Haruhi.
"She didn't even apply. We were pretty shocked when Fumika also got an acceptance letter. Apparently, she was also given the test by accident, and when they saw her scores, she was automatically accepted." Ranka sighed, recalling the memory. "I'd like to respect their spirits of independence, but sometimes, I wish they'd depend on me more."
|| The Fujioka Family, 8 years ago... ||
"Haruhi! Why didn't you tell me that is was Parents' Day at school today?" younger Ranka said, very annoyed.
"Oh, no! Dad you can't come to Parents' Day!" Haruhi ordered, shocking Ranka.
|| Later... ||
"Huh? Haruhi-chan is going through a rebellious phase?" one of Ranka's co-workers asked in disbelief, "I think you've got that wrong, don't you? She just couldn't invite you to Parents' Day because she's embarrassed that daddy is a tranny, right?"
"Let me remind you, I've always been bi!" Ranka growled, "But now that I've settled on loving no one besides Kotoko, I'm just trying to keep my reputation, so I can keep working in the shop."
|| Even later... ||
"Hey, Haurhi-chan! Fumika-chan! Your dad's gone and drunk himself stupid!"
"Haruhi-chan, I'm home!" Ranka shouted, pulling Haruhi into a tight hug.
"Whoa, you reek of liquor," Haruhi stated.
"Looks like he was pretty upset about not going to Parents' Day," Ranka's co-worker said, "Invite him next time, okay?"
"No," Haruhi rejected, "We'd rather let him have some time off at home than come to Parents' Day."
"He's exhausted, so he should stay home and sleep on his day off," Fumika said from besides Ranka and Haruhi, "Haruhi and I both want him to take care of himself."
"Ahh! Haruhi-chan, Fumika-chan! I love you both so much!" Ranka cried, pulling Fumika into the hug, "Wait... Fumika-chan, when did you get here?"
"I was here the entire time..."
"Wah?! I'm so sorry Fumika-chan!"
|| Flashback over... ||
"Fumika was always so quiet and shy, always sticking with her mother and Haruhi. She was never one to socialize, so no one really payed much attention to her. And after losing her mother, Fumika just seemed to close off. She barely talked, and when she did, it was only to Haruhi. It wasn't until recently she talks to me now. But now, I sometimes don't even remember her," Ranka said, smiling sadly.
"I'm grateful to you guys," Ranka said, "Ever since she's met you, Fumika's been more social, and I'm starting to remember her more! Of course there are times when I forget her, but it's still an improvement. Besides, they seem to be happy and enjoying themselves at school now, in their own ways. Right, Suoh Tamaki-kun?"
"Father!"
"I knew who you were at first glance," Ranka told him, "You're the idiot club president that often comes up in Haruhi and Fumika's stories. Come to think of it, you're the one who mistook Haruhi for a boy right up to the end, aren't you? You just don't get it, do you? You're awful."
"Now then, let's never mind that. Why don't we all have ourselves some fun?" Ranka suggested.
|| A few minutes later... ||
Haruhi sighed as she and Fumika made their way back to the supermarket.
"Did you know about Dad and Kyoya-senpai being in touch with each other?" Haruhi asked Fumika. Fumika just shook her head in reply.
A few feet behind them, the Host Club and Ranka were secretly following them.
"So we ended up going with them after all, huh?" the twins said.
"This is what you meant by 'fun?'" Kyoya asked.
"This is tailing-play, Kyoya-kun," Ranka answered, giving him a thumbs up, "Then again... I just wanted to go walking around with lots of fine boys in tow!"
"Sure enough, this one and that one are cut from the same cloth," the twins muttered.
|| At the supermarket... ||
Ranka and Tamaki watched as Haruhi compared leeks.
"Why do we need to go this far to secretly watch how they're doing, Father?" Tamaki asked Ranka.
"They lost their mother at an early age," Ranka explained, "and took all of the housework, to say nothing of the shopping, upon themselves. I couldn't help but develop a habit of following after them. Would you call that a father's love?"
|| With Fumika ||
"Hm... I wonder what I should get..." Fumika wondered out loud, placing some random ingredients into her basket.
"I suggest getting a lot of meat, seeing how Tamaki and the twins are a big fan of meat. Knowing Tamaki, he'll want stewpot with lots of meat but no chrysanthemums," Kyoya said from besides her.
Fumika jumped, not expecting Kyoya to be next to her. "Wah! Kyoya, you scared me. What are you doing here?"
"Your father decided that it would be fun to follow you and your sister while you're shopping," Kyoya snitched.
Fumika sighed in annoyance, "Of course he did. And I suppose my dad and Tamaki chose to watch Haruhi while the rest of the Host Club decided to wander around the store?"
"Of course," Kyoya replied with an 'innocent' smile, "Now, I have an important question."
"What is it?"
"What is 'time service?'"
Fumika bit back a laugh, "Well it's service, but with a time limit."
"So, 'time service' means there's a time limit, huh?" Kyoya repeated.
"Oh yeah, Haruhi, what are we making?" Fumika asked as they walked past the said girl and Tamaki.
"Stewpot with lots of meat, but no chrysanthemums," Haruhi answered.
"I believe an 'I told you so' is appropriate," Kyoya told her, smirking.
"Shut up, you," Fumika said, "Now, then, I must show you the greatest snack ever known to a commoner. It's called Pocky."
"It doesn't sound edible."
"It's chocolate covered sticks."
"Isn't there a game commoners' play with them?"
"W-Well, y-yes, but-"
"Then I must insist that we play it."
"N-No! Wait a minute... are you laughing?! You're making fun of me!"
"You're very adorable when you blush," Kyoya murmured, giving Fumika a quick kiss.
"Sh-shut up."