The loud music plays through my head phones as I lay out in the gentle sun. I see a figure beside me and catch Hikaru. "Shouldn't you be helping your brother?" I ask him.
"Nah," Hikaru says, "I don't really care about the room... Where are you staying?"
"My summer home," I tell him, "its nice.... You should come check it out soon."
"Maybe," He says. I smirk and sit up leaning towards him. I cup his cheeks and connect my lips to his. He moves in sync with me until I hear people nearing us. I pull away and sit back in my chair.
"That change your mind?" I ask him.
"Definitely," He says.
"Hikaru come on!" Kaoru yells. Hikaru looks at me and sighs.
"I'll be back," He says.
"Fine," I tell him as he slides off. Although soon enough Kyoya replaces him. Both of us using the time to relax and unwind.
"You two are keeping your distance from all of this?" Haruhi asks as.
"Of course. Winning means I end up staying here alone, which frankly doesn't appeal to me," Kyoya says.
"And I just enjoy being near my collection of books," I tell her.
"So we'll just sit back and watch things unfold then head for the cottages," Kyoya says.
"The cottage? You mean, your family's?" Haruhi asks us. We nod.
"That's right. We all have one in the area," Kyoya says.
"Besides all of us here would be a bit much," I tell her.
"So, who's your favorite to win? There must be someone you have in mind," Kyoya says, "Do you care to bet?"
"Um, no thanks. I don't have a clue," Haruhi says.
"Really? It's easy enough to tell at a glance. Honey-Senpai's brand of cute doesn't quite fit Misuzu's notion of refreshing. So I'm afraid he is out. Tamaki comes a little closer to the ideal, provided he keeps his mouth shut. But we both know the likelihood of that. Ordinarily you'd figure Hikaru and Kaoru. Then again, seems we have a dark horse," Kyoya says.
"Yes but Mori is only doing this for Honey... so if Honey goes then he does too," I add.
"Which means," Hikaru says.
"Victory will be ours," Kaoru says.
"Well maybe not," Haruhi says, "I couldn't help but notice that the only room still available is a single bed. So if you did win, you couldn't both stay."
"No big deal. We can just bring another bed over from the cottage," Hikaru says.
"Yeah, we can even squeeze into the single," Kaoru says.
"How sweet. I guess you guys really are always together, huh?" Haruhi says.
"Always," Kaoru says.
"The two of us have been together since we were born. So we haven't ever needed anybody else," Hikaru says.
"We never bother making other friends until a few years ago. We thought the world was made up of idiots," Kaoru says.
"Oh really?" Haruhi asks.
"But then... Well, that was before we knew you and Y/n," Hikaru says, "We totally let you sleep with us."
"Ah thanks, I'll pass," Haruhi says.
"The contest isn't quite decided yet. There's still a number of ways to make this game more interesting," Kyoya says.
"Oh yeah? Thinking about helping the boss, are you?" Kaoru asks.
"We're not going to loose. It's no use," Hikaru says.
"Well if you do end up losing my cottage is down the road if you would like to stay?" I ask them. I see Hikaru's face tint red. I stand and place my hands gently on his shoulders as I lean to whisper in his ear. "You could always stay with me?" I pull away gently and walk back inside leaving the group.
******
"Sheet music Y/n! Do you have any with you?" Tamaki asks as he runs towards me with Kyoya behind him.
"What kind of nerd do you think I am?" I ask him. He looks at me and I sigh. "Here I keep a whole folder with me. Pick a song..."
"Thank you," He says as I give him the folder. He shuffles through the pieces and stops on the final one. He pulls it out and looks at me quickly.
"Make sure Hikaru and Kaoru don't get this room... Okay?" I ask him. He nods and hurries off to the piano. The soft melodies soon are bouncing off the walls of the building. I step outside and see Kaoru and Haruhi. A vase falling down between them.
"Kaoru!" I yell as I rush towards him. He had a small cut on his cheek.
"Kaoru! You're hurt. Let me see!" Hikaru says pulling his twin to him.
"I'm fine. It's only a little cut," Kaoru says. Hikaru takes a deep breath and his head hits his brothers shoulder. "Hikaru?"
"Don't scare me like that." Hikaru says.
"Hey, I'm sorry. Do you forgive me?" Kaoru asks.
"Bravo! Bravo! 100 points for refreshing brotherly love! A perfect score! And the victory goes to the Hitachiin brothers!" Misuzu says cheerfully.
"Congrats, you guys," Haruhi says.
"Yeah congrats," I sigh. I really wanted to spend some time with Hikaru.
"Oh, it was nothing really," They say.
"What the? Hang on a second. Was all of that staged?" Haruhi asks.
"Oh you got to be kidding me," I groan.
"Well now, who could say?" They say.
******
Bright and early we all joined the twins at the cottage. They were apparently already arguing. "Come on. I said I was sorry. What do you want me to do? I didn't mean to kick you out of bed. It was an accident," Hikaru says to his brother.
"Accident or not, my back is killing me," Kaoru groans. I stare deep into my book
"Get us some breakfast, please. I'll have two pieces of Beget toast with clarified butter and garnet seal syrup," Hikaru orders.
"I'll take poached eggs with bacon and a bowl of whole grained cereal. The kind with those little pieces of dried fruit in it," Kaoru orders.
"Hold on," Haruhi says, "We don't even have that stuff on the menu."
"Well guess who could of had my chef make it, but they had to cheat," I hiss at them.
"Are you serious?" Hikaru asks.
"Behave!"Tamaki says as he smacks the twins upside the head with the newspaper, "Just who in the world do you think you are? Acting like members of some privileged aristocracy on holiday!"
"We are aristocracy," Hikaru says.
"So are you, boss," Kaoru tells him
"You are missing the whole point of travel. 'When in Rome do as the Romans do.' That's what I say. Take a look at this," Tamaki says, "Karuizawa cuisine fit for a king. Cold pasteurized Jersey steaks, fresh juice, highland vegetables, smoked salmon cooked over cherrywood, the local pride, I might add. And last but not least, freshly baked breads with homemade jam. Bon appetit."
"Since when have you..." Hikaru starts.
"been such a connoisseur?" Kaoru finishes.
"Oh, since he started learning from Misuzu. He's been in the kitchen with him all morning long," Haruhi tells us.
"Mm-hmm, brilliant. While the two of you were sleeping the day away, I decided to start a refreshing host workshop. I even wrote a manual," Tamaki tells us. He hands us the manuals and I look over Hikaru's shoulder to look down the rules.
""You really need a life," Haruhi groans.
"I second that," I say.
"While you are acting as my apprentice, you may not treat me as your senpai. That is the first rule I have written," Tamaki says.
"Really?" Haruhi asks.
"He's desperate Haruhi of course," I say slightly mocking Tamaki/"
"Hey wait. Have you got rule number 5 yet? It says we have to be up by 6 a.m," Hikaru says. I snatch the manual to confirm. And it sure does.
"Its our vacation Tamaki I'm not getting up any earlier than 10 am and if you have a problem with that I will actually murder you," I hiss at him.
"Have Kyoya senpai and Honey senpai read through the manual yet?" Kaoru asks. Tamaki gasps in horror as he sobs slightly.
"Hey, look. We're sorry, boss."
"We didn't mean to stir up painful memories."
"Good morning, Arai Produce!" A guy yells
"Good morning to you! Working boy ay? A high schooler?"Misuzu asks.
"Yes, ma'am. I'm helping out my uncle shop for the Summer," The teen says.
"How refreshing! Haruhi, would you put these in the refrigerator for me?" Misuzu says.
"Okay."
"Haruhi Fujioka?"
"Hey, Arai?" Haruhi says. I smirk and look at Tamaki.
"Oh he's in trouble," I say.
"Big time," Hikaru says.
"Speaking of trouble I heard you ran into Aki?" Kaoru asks. I nod.
"Aki yeah I ran into him while walking to my cabin alone last night, he was polite and gentlemanly, said a girl as lovely as me shouldn't be walking alone," I retell the story to them, "then he asked me if I wanted to go on a date."