Hanabi stared blankly at the strange boy who had removed her from her nest and was apparently trying to steal her experimental bunny.
"Are you trying to steal her?" she asked sternly watching apathetically as he spluttered and waved his hands around in denial. However, despite his strong denial, he had yet to give her back her bunny or gave any indication of wanting to do so causing her to frown darkly at the panicking boy.
"Name," she interrupted his ramblings curtly. Honey froze mid-sentence to stare at her uncomprehendingly.
"Eh?"
She sighed in irritation. "Give me your name," she deadpanned impatiently.
At this point Honey was rather confused. Did this girl not know who he was? "Honey? Eto, my name is Haninozuka Mitsukuni," he replied stating his full name when his more common nickname garnered no reaction.
Hanabi hummed and stood from the couch and wandered back to her desk. Lifting a pile of papers and dislodging a small bundle of drying herbs, she revealed a standard school line phone. Casting the confused blond one more contemplating look, Hanabi rolled her violet eyes and lifted the receiver and dialed a long since memorized number.
The phone had barely begun to ring when the click of someone answering came.
"Nabi-chan! It's so rare for you to call!" a boisterous voice rang out. Something about the voice was strangely familiar to Honey, but he just couldn't put his finger on it. "What's wrong Nabi-chan? Do you need another order form?"
Hanabi sighed at the other's energy. "No, one of your students is here. He tried to take B16," she deadpanned completely ignoring the intruder's bawling denials.
It was silent on the other side for a minute before the person on the other side responded, tone a stark contrast to his previous one. "Give me a name Nabi-chan. I'll have them detained and questioned by the school security teams."
"Haninozuka Mitsukuni."
"Eh?? Haninozuka? Nabi-chan put me on speaker phone please," the man instructed. Hanabi hummed in agreement and glanced at the nervous third-year. Pressing a button, she set the receiver on the desk and gestured for Honey to come over.
"Haninozuka-san? This is Chairman Suoh, can you hear me?"
Honey blinked in surprise. It was Tamaki's father!
"Yes sir, I can hear you."
"Good, now can you please explain to me what you are doing in laboratory #2? And why Akanamiyaki-san believes you to be stealing from her?" the chairman asked steadily. Honey sighed and eyed the stoic girl standing across from him behind the desk and went on to explain his situation and the events that led them to this moment.
"...I just wanted to put her on the couch since I didn't want her to feel uncomfortable on the floor there. I really didn't mean to do anything wrong," Honey ended his explanation there.
"Why do you have B16?" Hanabi demanded eyes still narrowed in suspicion.
"B16? Oh, you mean this bunny?" Honey suddenly laughed sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Well, you see, when I was looking for you in the lab, I accidentally knocked her cage over and the latch broke. I didn't want her to get hurt by accident, so I figured I would hold on to her until I found you or Matsuoka-sensei came back." He bowed his head in apology, "Gomen ne Akanamiyaki-chan."
Hanabi sighed but held out her glove-clad hands. "Give her back." Honey did so without protest and placed the mini lop bunny in her hands. The young scientist cradled the bunny to her chest for a moment and checked her over for injuries before raising her up to look the bunny in the eyes.
"B16, stop fooling around and return to your sector. I expect the other lagomorphs to be behaving themselves properly when I come around later with provisions," she instructed sternly before releasing the bunny on to the floor without another word.
Honey watched in surprise as the bunny hopped off towards the room's entrance and back to the laboratory. He twisted back to see Hanabi talking quietly into the phone before hanging up. Shuffling a bit awkwardly under her stare, he beamed brightly at her reflexively. "Ne, ne Akanamiyaki-chan, are you sure it's okay to let the bunny run off like that?" he asked genuinely curious.
She raised an eyebrow mockingly. "Bunny? B16 is a genetically superior lagomorph that I bred. She has the intelligence of the average ten year old. She was playing you into carrying her around to skirt her duties," she scoffed before sighing. Brushing off her black slacks and straightening out her white dress shirt, Hanabi eyed Honey up and down.
"So you're the newest applicant? Matsuoka didn't inform me of anything of the sort when he came in during lunch."
Honey giggled, little pink flowers popping up above his head. "Matsuoka-sensei is a little silly sometimes," he smiled channeling his host persona.
"Fascinating," Hanabi muttered eyeing the little cartoon flowers popping up above him, completely ignoring his cute smile. "I've seen someone do something similar, but he created an entire background of roses. You produce smaller and less realistic flowers, and yet it seems by the same means..." she mumbled to herself as she carefully snatched one of the flowers above his head and into a petri dish.
The moment the flower came in contact with the petri dish, it lost its cartoon-ish qualities to reveal a normal sakura flower. "Hmm, yes you have the same ability as the other ones..." she mumbled. Honey sweatdropped at being completely ignored for the flowers he unconsciously released whenever he was channeling Honey.
"Eto, Akanamiyaki-chan?" he spoke up sweetly.
The brunette hummed absentmindedly as she was currently searching through one the bookshelves for a specific journal where she had previously recorded past information on the phenomenon. She needed to update the data to include this Haninozuka Mitsukuni.
"Do you need me to do anything?" he asked brightly hoping to catch her attention.
She shot him a look but turned back to her journal dismissively. "No. Sit. I will be with you in a moment."
Honey beamed back although she didn't see it and grabbed his snacks to begin munching on them. 'Maybe this will be easier than I thought,' he mused to himself. 'Akanamiyaki-chan seems like the overly independent type, so I probably won't be made to do much around here.'
For the next few minutes the only sounds in the room were the crinkling of wrappers, the scratching of pen on paper, the ticking of the clock, and the occasional rattle from the lab.
The silence was suddenly interrupted by a ringing from underneath the desk which prompted Hanabi to slip off her chair and into her nest to find her phone. Honey looked up in interest as he chewed methodically on a caramel bar and heard angry muttering coming from her general location causing him to raise his eyebrows in curiosity.
"What was it I set the alarm for again?" Hanabi mumbled to herself having located her phone and finally shutting off the alarm. Humming in contemplation, she stood up and grabbed her lab coat from amongst the blankets in her nest and strolled quickly out of the room while pulling the protective wear over her clothes.
Right before she left however, she poked her head back into the room to address Honey. "You, whatever your name was, wear appropriate attire when entering my labs. If you accidentally kill yourself, I'm not taking responsibility," she deadpanned before disappearing from his view.
Honey gaped at the rather rude exit and pouted to himself. He looked down at his clothes. What does she mean by "proper attire"? He was wearing the school uniform!
Puffing up his cheeks in indignation he went to go collect his bag. Obviously, he wasn't needed here today. As he turned to leave however, he spotted a piece of paper taped to the room's entrance and stopped to read it.
PROPER ATTIRE IN LABORATORY ENVIRONMENT:
–No unnecessarily exposed skin
–Lab coat or smock
–Goggles/glasses
–Gloves
–Closed toed shoes
–Hair must be pulled back
*Inability to abide by guidelines results in immediate expulsion from lab rooms*
**Spares may be found in the bathroom**
– Akanamiyaki Hanabi
"Oh," Honey giggled sheepishly and wandered over to the bathroom Matsuoka pointed out earlier in search of the required protective gear. Inside he found a full shower, toilet, sink, medicine cabinet, and protective wear closet.
Reaching inside he pulled out a smock, glasses, and heat resistant gloves. Thankfully she had everything in various sizes so it wasn't too difficult to find some that fit him, which he quickly put on after ditching his blazer and bag on the armchair. He spun around and giggled feeling very much like a scientist and exited the bathroom to enter the lab area.
When he entered, the very first thing he noticed was the scent of smoke in the air. "Akanamiyaki-chan?!" he called out worriedly before rushing out into the lab only to find his "employer" staring fascinated at the smoking Erlenmeyer flask he noticed earlier. Honey cautiously approached the table with wary eyes, hands itching to yank the younger girl away from the clearly volatile substance.
Hanabi hummed in interest as the now blood red solution continued to spew clouds of sickly yellow gas into the attached container, taking notes frantically into a small handheld notebook. "Fascinating...so the combination of sample As219 and the synthetic venom creates a noxious gas...enhancement of the paralysis effect...volatile reactions..." she mumbled to herself, hunched over her notebook before suddenly darting across the room completely ignoring the presence of the blond third year.
Honey could only watch as she zipped back and forth between various stations collecting this and that before stopping in a relatively clear area and tapping her foot twice on the black floor. "Activate protocol VIPER level 2," she commanded clearly. Chocolate orbs widened in shock when a robotic voice replied in the affirmative and a table seemed to melt away from the floor before the tiny genius child.
"Woah..." he breathed in awe. Casting one last unsure look at the angry looking flask, Honey walked up behind the younger girl. "Eto, Akanamiyaki-chan? What's th–?"
He cut himself off when he locked gazes with cold purple. "You. Stop being a nuisance. Can't you see that I'm busy?" she demanded before breezing past him and back to the bubbling chemicals.
The blond stood there in shock. 'Nuisance? Me?' he wondered in surprise and a decent amount of irritation. A frown tugged at the corners of his mouth as he turned around to monitor the path of the younger girl. 'Who does she think she is?' he huffed mentally but otherwise remained motionless.
Moments later, Hanabi came back to her prepared station with a stoppered flask of the vile yellow gas. She barely spared him a glance, more of a pointed glare really, before gently setting the container on the tabletop. Grabbing a metal pointer, she began to shove him away from the table to an area clearly marked Safe Zone with red tape. Honey eyed her confused but allowed her to push him along. "You, blondie, stay," she commanded before producing a gas mask from nowhere and shoving it on his face. "Try not to die," she drawled dryly before turning away from her "assistant" and back to her source of interest.
Left gaping at the back of her pristine white lab coat, Honey absentmindedly fixed his gas mask to properly cover his face while keeping an eye on the enigma that was Akanamiyaki Hanabi.
Two hours later found Honey asleep on the floor while Hanabi sat at her work station writing down her latest observations and absentmindedly calling for a cleaner bot to come collect the rat corpses for later inspection. "...Highly toxic...appears to target the victim's nerves...consider development of a liquidized form..." she mumbled aloud. Closing her notebook with a quiet thud, she dropped down from her stool and began walking back to her office when she caught sight of the sleeping blond.
Sighing in aggravation, she approached the downed boy and nudged him with her shoe. When he did not stir she frowned and bent down next to him and placed a small metal contraption above his pulse point. "...Not dead then," she concluded after a minute reading the steady heartbeat of the other. "Oi, blondie, wake up. Blondie," she called monotonously poking the other with a metal pointer.
Honey shifted in his sleep, smacking the offending object unconsciously and rolling over to fall back asleep. Having enough with his stubbornness, Hanabi grabbed a squirt bottle she usually used to discipline some of her subjects and proceeded to liberally spray the slumbering boy.
"Wake up." Squirt.
"Up." Squirt.
"Blondie, I said up." Squirt
"..." Squirt. Squirt. Squirt. Squ–
A lightly tanned hand snapped out and grabbed the nozzle of the bottle as a dark miasma formed around the irritated blond. "What the **** do you want," he demanded calmly, a dark gleam in his eyes. Hanabi stared blankly at the increasingly angry boy. Yanking back her bottle, she paused briefly before spraying the boy in the face point blank.
"Bad. No cursing within my labs," she deadpanned.
Sharp dark brown, nearly black eyes, glared up at her from behind blond bangs. A hand flashed out, grabbed the squirt bottle, and flung it across the lab space. But just as quickly as it had disappeared, another bottle appeared in her hands.
Squirt. Squirt. "Bad. No throwing. No damaging."
Mitsukuni growled lowly and lurched forward to grab the irritating girl by her collar only to be side stepped by said girl. Squirt.
"Bad. No attacking for stupid reasons." She continued to spray him each time he tried to lay a hand on her person all while dodging his sleepy attempts to grab her. Eventually, the blond regained enough of his conscious mind to merely growl irritatedly at the brunette and sit down on the cold black floors, soaked to the bone, with a vexed pout.
"Hmmm..." Hanabi hummed in thought after a minute. She strode towards the other boy with a blank expression. "...15 repetitions...perhaps a stronger deterrent is needed?" she mused out loud. She crouched down in front of the sulking boy. "Good. Treat." She held out a piece of candy and watched with veiled amusement as the other immediately perked up and accepted the candy with reluctance.
Honey sullenly popped his treat into his mouth. 'She's treating me like a dog!' he grumbled internally. 'I am not a dog! I am...oh, this is good! What is this?!' His thoughts performed a complete 180 turn as the taste of the candy finally registered. Smiling happily at the taste, tiny pink flowers once more popped into existence around him. "Ne, ne, Akanamiyaki-chan~ What kind of candy is this? Where can I buy some?" he asked cutely, flashing her his host smile.
"...Did you say something blondie?" Hanabi asked looking up from her dissection of another one of his flowers. The blond visibly wilted.
"No, never mind," he sighed pouting. "And my name is Haninozuka Mitsukuni, Akanamiyaki-chan!" he reminded her childishly.
"Hai, hai, whatever you say Haminiku Momozuki-san," she waved her hand nonchalantly already walking away from him and back to her office. "Come. We need to discuss things."
Honey opened his mouth as if to correct her once more but sighed in resignation. "You can do this," he whispered to himself, "It's only until I get my credits." Plastering a smile back on his face, he skipped into her office to find her working steadily through a large pile of paperwork. The size of the stack alone made him shudder.
"Sit."
He sat. For a while, the only sounds present were that of a pen on paper and the ticking of the clock. 'I'm getting a sense of deja vu...' he sweatdropped.
Finally Hanabi looked up from her papers with a contemplative frown on her face. "You, why are you here?"
"Eh?" Honey uttered in surprise. He giggled. "I already told you Akanamiyaki-chan~ Matsuoka-sensei told me you needed an assistant~"
Hanabi rolled her eyes. "Yes, but why did you agree."
The blond hesitated briefly. "Ah, that's because I really like science~" he beamed at the unimpressed girl hoping to cover his slight pause.
"Lie. If you want to work under me, you will state the truth," she frowned, leaning forward to rest her chin on bridged hands. The two stared each other down, neither willing to back down until the martial artist finally looked away.
He sighed, losing his bright smile. Honey twiddled his thumbs nervously before glancing back at the unmoving girl.
"Okay, I don't really like science, but I really do want to be your assistant! I need to become your assistant..." he trailed off weakly, rubbing the back of his neck as he directed his attention away from the calculating gaze of his kohai. The brunette raised a single eyebrow, prompting him to continue.
"I...I found out from Matsuoka-sensei that I don't have enough credits to graduate this year. I didn't know my in-class labs didn't count, so I don't have any of my required lab credits. It's too late to start an individual research project, and no one would take on a student this late in the year... You're my last hope Akanamiyaki-chan. I have to graduate this year!" he cried, looking beseechingly at the blank female.
"...So?" she replied evenly. Hanabi watched his brown eyes grow clouded with confusion and frustration and withheld a snort. "It is hardly any of my concern that you failed to complete your credits in time. Did you think I would be more lenient because of your circumstances?" she asked raising a mocking eyebrow.
Honey was torn. He was angry. Both at this arrogant second year and at himself for actually stooping low enough to try to beg the younger girl. He was shocked. No one had ever refused him before, treated him the same as everyone else. He was intrigued. Akanamiyaki Hanabi was unlike the others in Ouran. He was...he was disappointed. He wasn't sure why, but her callous disregard for him...
"If I find you lacking, you will be expelled from my labs. You have one week to prove your worth to me. Throughout that week, you will abide by my rules and learn." Hanabi pulled open a drawer and extracted a small booklet and a thin packet of papers. "My rules," she said holding up the booklet, "and your contract," she said holding up the packet.
"Contract?" Honey asked, eyeing the packet curiously.
"Contract. You will not speak a word of the inner workings of my lab to anyone. I will not be held responsible for any...accidents." The brunette slipped down from her chair and presented the papers to the silent loli-shota boy. "Sit, think, sign it or not, present your decision to me before you leave," she ordered the older boy before sweeping out of the room back into her lab once more.
Staring after her long after she had disappeared, Honey couldn't help but wonder what he had gotten himself into. He turned his attention to the contract in his hands and settled down to think over his decision. On one hand, he needed this position in order to graduate and keep his plans in line, but... Honey pouted as he thought back on his interactions with his possible employer. First he had to search for her for an hour, then got accused of thievery, got scolded for not being properly dressed, was called a nuisance, and then... Honey frowned. 'Stupid squirt bottle...'
"Do I really want to do this?" he asked himself. Honey groaned, rolling around the couch as he whined about all the bad things to happen so far. "Do I really need to graduate this year?" he pouted, only to shake his head to get rid of that ridiculous thought.
He stared at the contract sitting on the low table with a pensive pout. The contract itself was fairly straight forward. Don't tell anyone what goes in the lab, any damage done must be compensated for, abide by the rules to the best of his ability, etc., etc.
BOOM!
An explosion from the labs knocked him out of his thoughts and off his feet. Quickly regaining his footing, Honey didn't hesitate to bolt from the office towards the lab. 'Oh no, oh no, what happened?!' "Akanamiyaki-chan! Are yo–!"
Black smoke billowed out from a corner of the lab where a small fire was rapidly growing in size. The scent of burning plastic and motor oil permeated the air, but before Honey could even take a step towards the accident site he spotted the brunette scientist casually walking to the corner with a fire extinguisher. "Open central ventilation systems and skylight 1," she called out nonchalantly as she sprayed the fire.
Honey carefully crept closer to the entrance of the lab noticing out of the corner of his eye that the sections of the lab that contained living specimens were separated from the rest of the room by thick walls of bulletproof glass. "Medic," Hanabi called out immediately catching Honey's attention.
Her calm had made it difficult to notice before, but he could clearly spot at least two areas that were bleeding profusely, a sprained wrist, and a nasty burn on her shin underneath her worn and tattered appearance. He sucked in a sharp breath at the extent of the damage. "How is she not in pain?" he whispered incredulous. He had sported his fair share of injuries over the last 18 years of his life, but even he wasn't immune to pain. And that looked like it hurt. A lot.
A small fleet of about five robots zipped out from somewhere and immediately swarmed the now sitting girl. "Scan," she commanded.
"Scan complete. Would you like the full diagnosis or abbreviated?"
"Abbreviated. Commence treatment with report." The little robots suddenly produced various bandages and bottles filled with ointments, medications, and pills. Another robot produced a needle and thread.
"Mild lacerations were located across the abdominal and brachial areas. Second degree burns were located on the left calf, right and left forearms, and upper left thigh. Injury to the right wrist has been identified to be minor. Possibility of a concussion is at 67%."
Hanabi released a strained sound of acknowledgement as one of the robots began stitching up her wounds. "Estimated recovery time."
"38 days."
The brunette narrowed her eyes in irritation and pain. "Unacceptable, speed recovery rate. Estimate time to partial recovery?"
"...11 days."
She clicked her tongue in annoyance. "Make note, expand research in medical fields."
"Noted."
Brown eyes watched shocked at the cold, clinical way she was taking everything in stride. 'She needs to rest properly if she's going to recover from those injuries,' he frowned worried. Quietly entering the lab, Honey made his way to the reclined body of the injured girl. "Akanamiyaki-chan?" he called softly.
Violet eyes flickered towards him. "What?" she asked calmly as if she hadn't just gotten heavily injured.
Honey swallowed thickly. "Are-Are you okay?" he asked, tears gathering in his eyes. While he may exaggerate some aspects of his personality, he truly hated to see others (innocents) injured in such a way.
"I will live. No serious damage has been inflicted upon my person. This is, at most, an annoyance," she admitted bluntly. Not knowing what to say to that, Honey silently nodded his head and sat beside her without a word. She raised a brow at his actions but did not comment on it.
Minutes later, the robots finished their treatment and retreated back to whatever hole they had emerged from. Sitting up carefully, Hanabi carefully prodded at her stitches and checked the conditions of her burns before nodding in satisfaction. Having already checked for a concussion, the brunette stood up and walked back to the site of the incident, which had been cleaned by another fleet of robots.
She flopped down on to the ground with a quiet grumble before pulling the failed invention closer to her. Honey watched her with a furrowed brow. "...Akanamiyaki-chan, you should really be resting right now," he commented lightly.
The brunette girl didn't appear to hear him, focusing solely on the piece of complex machinery in front of her with a concentrated frown. "Akanamiyaki-chan?" he called out again. Again he was ignored.
Again and again he called out to her only to be ignored by the engrossed scientist. Finally fed up with his failed attempts and worried for the girl's continued health, Honey stomped over to the younger girl and pulled the mass of metal and wires out of her hands. Violet eyes immediately glared up at him in displeasure. "What do you think you're doing?" she demanded.
"Stopping you from killing yourself," he deadpanned with a serious expression on his child-like face.
"Tch," Hanabi clicked her tongue. "I am neither suicidal nor in dire need of medical aid. Your reasoning is flawed." She reached out to grab her invention back only for the other to lift it above his head in retaliation. Violet orbs narrowed. "Return it."
Honey grinned cheekily at her. "No."
Clenching her teeth, the brunette pulled herself up and tried to reach for the device, but Honey's extra two inches in height proved to be more challenging to overcome than she had first thought. "Return it."
The blond hummed cheerfully, enjoying the faint gleam of frustration in apathetic violet. "Alright," he smiled lowering the device towards Hanabi's expectant hands, only to pull back the last second. "If, you agree to rest until your injuries heal~"
"Unacceptable. That length of time can be better used devoted to innovation and further research," Hanabi responded immediately. "Unlike most, I have responsibilities in my field of work."
Honey nodded in understanding, "Okay Akanamiyaki-chan, I understand. You'll rest for three weeks then." He flashed her a bright, cutesy smile.
Hanabi stared up at the older boy blankly. "Very well." Honey beamed; he finally got to her. "You need not return the device to me. I can simply create another." The smiled died down.
"Eh~ So Akanamiyaki-chan is letting me have her invention? I'll be sure to show it to my friends then~" he smiled brightly with sharp undertones.
The child genius glanced at him with disinterest. "I did not gift that device to you. Should it leave these walls, I will simply alert that Chairman that you did indeed intend to steal from me and have stolen a prototype device meant for certain eyes only." She looked at him with mocking eyes. "Graduation will be the least of your problems, boy. You will be expelled."
Her part said, the brunette limped lightly past the other and towards the cages that contained the deceased bodies of the rats she had exposed to experiment 2XJ9. Might as well begin the autopsy now and develop a means to properly weaponize the gas.