Chapter Six
"Ahem!" I could the hear the twins call for the attention of the other hosts from behind the door. They were about to introduce the 'new' me and judging from the quick glance I took of myself before we left the dressing room, I looked pretty new. My fingers instantly travelled to my hair that had been taken out of its ponytail and was black and silky. I ran my fingers through it and felt it's soft touch. I was amazed, my hair never looked or felt this good. My hands moved to my face and didn't feel the thick lenses of glasses hiding my choclate eyes. I tugged on my new uniform that the twins gave me and couldn't help but think that it was a little too short. Besides, am I even allowed to wear this uniform? It was starkly different from the typical female uniform, but matched the colors and design of the male uniform. But before I could think about it more something interupted my thoughts.
I heard a knock on the door, which was my cue to enter the music room. I made sure to breathe in deep before turning the handle and opening the door, which revealed a group of shcoked Hosts. There was a collective gasp at my transformation and a few 'oooo's' from Honey-senpai.
"So pretty!!" Honey-senpai admired. I blushed and smiled at their shocked faces. All the attention was making me feel embarrassed, but in a good way.
Once reality started to sink in the twins were the first to speak, "What do you think?"
"What do I think?" Tamaki-senpai began, "I think.... My daughter looks beautiful!" I blinked a few times in confusion when I heard this. Did he just call me his daughter? I scratched the top of my head, last time I checked my dad wasn't a blonde fool... "Just look at you!" he continued, unaware of my confusion, "You are absolutely adorable!" he gushed, causing me to roll my eyes at him. He came closer and examied me, "Are you wearing contacts?" I nodded at him, "Amazing! Your eyes are just like Haruhi's! So big and brown!" A smile of appreciation started to form on my lips, after all it's not everyday I get so heavily complimented by a handsome guy, let alone 6.
"What happened to your uniform?" Haruhi wondered. I looked down at the my pale blue, sleeveless dress that was the exact same color as the boy's blazers. It also had a gray collar that reached down to my breasts and a black tie with a vertical purple line that also matched with the boy's uniform tie.
I tugged on it again, feeling uncomfortable with how short it was. "Ummm... after Hikaru and Kaour gave me a makeover, they gave me this new uniform and told me to put it on." I told her. Haruhi looked at the the twins for an explanation.
"Well, when we were finished giving Manami a makeover," Hikaru started saying.
"We noticed how her uniform clashed with ours becasue she's the only hostess," Kaoru finsihed.
"So we made this new uniform so she'll match with us," they said as one.
"That's a wonderful idea!" Tamaki-senpai gushed, "She looks so cute!!"
Haruhi eyed the two suspiciously, "How did you two create a new uniform in 5 minutes?" Haruhi questioned.
The twins smiled mischievously, knowing they've been caught, "Okay fine. We've actually planned this whole thing out already." the two admitted.
"Am I even allowed to wear this though?!" I yelled through all the commotion.
They all turned their attention back to me, "Of course!" the twins assured, "Tono's dad is the chairman of Ouran. So we're sure he could pull a few strings so that is would be okay for you to wear."
Tamaki-senpai's head whipped his head so fast that I was afraid he might have gotten whiplash, "What?! How come I have to--" he started yelling, but was cut off by Kyoya-senpai.
"That's enough already," he demanded. He turned to face us with an evil glint in his eye that caused all of us jump back in fright, "It's time to open." Instantly everyone gathered around the chair that was in the center of the room, with Tamaki-senpai in the middle and Haruhi sitting in the chair. Meanwhile I just looked lost.
"Ummmm...." I hesitated, unsure of what to do.
"Well," Kyoya began, "Are you just going to stand there or come over?" Realizing that asking a question would be a bad time, I did what I was told and stood in front of Hikaru.
As if on cue the door burst open and the room filled with a crowd of girls.
"Welcome," they all spoke together. All the customers practically screamed their heads off and I had to resist the urge to roll my eyes. The twins stepped to the front and the girls looked confused. I assumed this was not part of their normal routine, so what are those two put to?
"We know this isn't our usal routine, but we'd like to start today out with a performance with done by our new member," they both said.
"Do you mean Haruhi?" some of the girls asked.
"Actually, we have another new member. For the first time in the Ouran Host Club history, please welcome the first hostess ever.... Manami Hiroko!"
They all waited and seemed to be looking for me, even thought I was right in front of them, "You mean the first year Manami?" one girl questioned. The twins nodded, which caused the girls to look even more confuse. Their eyes were darting all over the place, searching for me. Honestly it was a little disheartening to see them not recognize me, but if I saw the person I was before and the person I am now, I wouldn't even recognize me, "Where is she?" another girl wondered, "And why did you make her a hostess?" another spoke up.
"Manami Hiroko is that girl right there," the twins finally pointed me out to the group, "And let's just say that she owes us something big."
For the second time today there was a collective gasp, but this time among the girls, "No way!" one girl exclaimed, "That can't be her!" another girl accused.
"But it really is her!" the twins confirmed together.
"And we'd like to introduce her," Hikaru began.
"By having her preform a song on the piano." Kaoru finished. My eyes widen in suprise. They never said anything about this. I walked behind the two of them, grabbed their collar, and brought them to my height.
"You two never said anything about me performing!" I whispered yelled to avoid the girls from overhearing us.
"That's becasue we knew you'd object if we told you."
"Of course I would!"
"What's wrong Manami?" Hikaru asked.
"Stage fright?" Kaoru asked right after. I nodded my head furiously as I looked at my potential audience.
"LIAR!!!" they both yelled at the same time, "Kyoya-senpai already told us you won a few talent shows in America, so don't play the shy card with us!"
"Those were all school shows!" I countered but they merely shrugged as if the fact that my last real performance was at a school talent show when I was ten didn't matter, "You two are so unfair!"
"Well, if you're going to be in the Host Club," Hikaru started saying.
"You need to get use to it," Kaoru ended. Then the two of them grabbed my arms and dragged me to a piano that I didn't even know was in the music room.
"W- Wait! I don't know any Japanese songs!" I tried to lie.
"That's okay," they both reassured, "Just play any American song you know." I groaned in protest, but they continued to drag me to the piano and once we got there they planted me in the seat and left. I looked at all the eyes staring at me, waiting for me to start. A storm raged on in my stomach as nerved took over my entire body. I looked down to my hands and saw them trembling in fear.
"I- I-" I stuttered, but was suprised when I heard a voice next to me.
"Manami?" I tunred my head and came face to face with Tamaki-senpai.
"Senpai?"
"Are you okay?" I shook my head no, "Well let me be of assistance," he insisted and sat next to me. I raised my brows in surprise, but he leaned next to my ear and whispered his idea to me, "You know it?"
"I do!"
"Okay, ready?"
"Let's do it." I stood up from my chair and inhaled sharply, "Ummm... I'm going to preform a piano duet with Tamaki-senpai," I announced and quickly sat back down. I looked back at the crowd of girls who looked at senpai with awe. I glanced over at him and found myself in awe too. I didn't even think he knew how to tie his own shoe, let alone play the piano. He looked my way and I gave him a nervous smile to which he responded with by sending me one of his charming smiles. He positioned his hands on the keys and I did the same before my fingers started playing Pachelbel's Canon in D. Senpai soon joined in and before I knew it, we were both playing together in perfect harmony. My nerves melted away and I found myself enjoying playing for the first time in a long time.
A flashback of when I first played with my piano teacher popped up in my mind as I played with senpai. Playing with senpai brought back familiar feelings of warmth and comfort that I felt when playing with my piano teacher. I didn't feel restless anymore and my fingers glided across the keys with ease. If I could, I would have chosen to stay at the piano all day long and play with senpai, but the song was coming to an end and as I played the last notes I sneaked a peak at senpai and noticed that he was just as entranced as I was while playing. It was odd to see senpai in this state considering he was such an airhead most the time. But in this moment he actually looked cool, for once.
The both of us stood up from the seat and bowed to everyone, "Thank you," we both said together. Everyone smiled and clapped all together making me blush at all the attention. We walked back to the other hosts who were still in their little group.
"Thank you all for listening," Tamaki-senpai began saying, "Now let's proceed to our normal schedule." All the hosts and and girls went to different tables and sat down, while I just stood in the same spot like an idiot. I had no customers and no specific job to do. What else was I suppose to do?
"Hey Manami!" I heard two voices call my name. I looked over to the twins who were shouting my name and I walked over to them.
"What's up?" I asked.
"Come sit with us," they offered, patting a spot in the middle of them. I had a little flashback of what happened the last I sat in between and shivered a little.
"Uhh.... I'm fine, I'm just gonna go...over there..." I randomly pointed to Haruhi's table, "So....bye!" I shouted and ran over to Haruhi, "Hi Haruhi!" I quickly greeted and sat next to her.
"Hi Manami. Hikaru and Kaoru again?" she guessed. I nodded my head, "Don't worry you'll get use to it in time," she reassured, although I could hear the dread in her voice. I laughed at how negative she sounded.
"Would it be okay if I just stay here with you?" I asked. She opened her mouth to say something, but was interuppted by Kyoya-senpai. He seems to be doing that a lot lately.
"Manami!" he called.
"Yes?" I answered turning my head to face him. He took his index finger and did that come to me thing. I sighed out loud before I trudged over to Kyoya-senpai, "Is there anything you need senpai?"
"Actually not me. The twins requested for you to get them something." I looked over to the twins who were smiling evily at me.
"Just peachy." I muttered before walking over to them, "May I help you, your majesties?" I questioned sarcastically.
"Yes you can," they both agreed, "You can go over to the commoners market and buy us some commoner's coffee."
I gave them a weird look, "What the heck is commoners coffee?"
"You know, commoner's coffee," Hikaru repeated, as if that alone made enough sense.
"The one where you just add water to," Kaoru went on.
"Right... Commoners coffee..." I still wasn't sure what they were talking about, but decided I would find out once I was at the market. I began to walk away and was almost out the door when Tamaki-senpai stopped me.
"Manami! Where do you think your going?" he shouted.
"The market?" I answered, but it came out more like a question.
"By yourself? Who even gave you such a request," he demanded to know.
"Who else?" I sighed, pointing tot he twins.
"Hikaru! Kaoru!"
The twins appeared by his side in an instant. I was taken back by their speed and even placed my hand onto of my chest to make sure my heart didn't skip a beat, "Yes Tono?"
"Why would you two tell Manami to go to the market?"
"We wanted commomer's coffee," they both replied with a shrug, "What's the big deal with that?"
Senpai dragged out a loud sigh and brought his hand to his face in disappointment, "The big deal is that you're letting my daughter go out there all on her own! What kind of hosts are you two?!" he exaggerated. There he goes again calling me his daughter. It was odd considering he was only a year older than me, but it seemed to make him happy, so I decided to let him be. After all he did help me with my stage fright by playing the piano with me.
"Relax, dad," I pitched in sarcastically, "I've walked to the market plenty of times on my own."
Senpai's eyes shone so bright in that moment, I thought I might have needed sunglasses, "You called me dad!" he gasped, looking so happy.
"Senpai! Get a hold of yourself!" I shouted as I shook his shoulders. Somehow senpai broke free from my grip and was now hugging the life out of me.
"Yes! Yes! I'm your daddy!" he shouted making me snort from laughter. Of all the things he could have said...
"Okay!" I shouted to get his attention and hopefully stop him from swinging me around like a rage doll, "So does that mean you'll let me go to the market?"
"Fine, Daddy will let you go to the market." he agreed, finally letting me go.
"Thanks, daddy," I said sarcastically again, but of course he didn't hear the sarcasm in my voice.
"You are very welcome," he nodded before placing a finger up, "But there is one condition... Hikaru must go with you."
My attention snapped to the older twin who looked at me with a devilish look in his eye, "What?!" I yelled. I don't know how, but I just he must have planned this. Senpai gave me a stern look causing me to sigh overdramatically, "Okay..."
"Great!" senpau exclaimed, clapping his hands together, " Hikaru, you go to the commoner's market with Manami to buy commoners coffee, while Kaoru stays here and entertain your guests."
"Aww!!" Kaoru whined, "Hikaru is so lucky! He gets to go to the commoner's market!"
"Don't worry Kaoru," Hikaru smirked, taking Kaoru into his arms, "I can take you to a place better than a commoner's market.... Our room." Out of no where the twin's clients and a few extra girls popped up and started screraming like crazy. Even I had to suppress the blush rising to my cheeks. I didn't expect Hikaru to say something so provocative in public like this.
"Come on lover twin," I grumbled, dragging Hikaru out by his collar.
<><><>Later<><><>
Hikaru sighed for about the tenth time in the last five minutes we left school. I still didn't understand why, of all people Tamaka-senpai could have paired me up with, I had to go with him. I would rather have Kyoya-senpai go with me! He sighed again once again, making me really annoyed, "Why do you keep on sighing?" I grunted.
He scoffed before admitting, "I just wanted to see how many times I had to sigh before you got irritated." I clenched my teeth, so I wouldn't say anything back to him, but it was so hard to do with that smirk on his face. It wasn't the same seductive smirk he gave Kaoru, no this one was playful and mischievous, "Manami... Are you getting...mad?"
I glared at him for a second, finally catching on to his game, before taking a deep breathe in, "Me? Mad? No, I'm as cool as a cucumber. You know I don't get mad easily." I wasn't about to be a victim to one of his childish games.
"Oh really?" he pressed on, sounding interested.
"You know," I started, finally fed up with his attitude, "When you're on your own, you're really immature. That's the difference between you and Kaoru."
His eyebrows knitted together as he stared at me, "How do you even know what Kaoru's like on his own?"
I shrugged, "I might have had a few conversations with him in class whenever you went to the bathroom."
He merely sighed and crossed his arms over his chest like a pouting child, "Yeah, yeah, whatever. So are we there yet?"
"No," I answered sternly, "If you were just going to complain the whole way, why didn't you just tell Tamaki-senpai that you didn't want to go?"
"Because I respect Tono," he simply stated, moving his hands from its crossed position to behind his head. I found myself at a loss for words at his answer. Judging from the way he and Kaoru, and pretty much everyone else, treated Tamaki-senpai I assumed that they saw him as nothing but a narcissistic fool. However, hearing first hand from Hikaru that he respect senpai so much made me wonder what he did to earn Hikaru's respect, "He may be an idiot," he suddenly continued, "But he's an idiot with a good heart."
I couldn't help but smile at Hikaru's words. I could tell that senpai was a kind person, but hearing the way he talked about Tamaki-senpai made me think there was still a whole lot about him that was yet to be discovered.
Before I realized it, we made it to the market. Hikaru's eyes widen in awe as he gazed at the small market.
"Is he a Japanese model?" I suddenly overheard a girl ask to her friend. I peaked at my side and noticed two girls about to enter the store, but stopped a few feet away from us to admire Hikaru.
"I don't know, but if he is, why would he be hanging out with her?" her friend said to her. I rolled my eyes for the 100th time today and found myself starting to get a headache. I guess I've been rolling my eyes too much, but I couldn't help it! I'm surrounded by dumb(Tamaki-senpai), immature (twins), kiddy(Honey-senpai), broading(Mori-senpai), sarcastic(Haruhi), and evil(Kyoya-senpai) hosts for two hours!
"Should we try talking to him?" one suggested to the other. Before they could get the chance to decide, I nudged Hikaru forward.
"Let's go inside," I announced loud enough for the two girls to hear us. We entered the store and as soon as we did all eyes were on us. Well, all eyes were on Hikaru at least. I wondered if he usually got this much attention whenever we went out to public places. My guess was probably yes, but he was to oblivious to notice, "I should have made you wear sunglasses and a hat," I mumbled.
"What was that?" Hikaru inquired.
"Nothing," I sighed, waving it off as just his imagination.
The two of us walked down the coffee aisle and found various different instant coffees, "So which one?" I asked Hikaru.
He shrugged nonchalantly, "How am I suppose to know?" I sent him a look of disapproval before sighing out loud and looking at all of the choices of coffee, "What was that face for?"
Without even looking in his direction I responded with, "You're the one who asked for coffee, but you don't even know what to get?"
Even though I wasn't looking at him I could tell he just shrugged his shoulders, "It might be commoner's coffee, but I still have someone make it for me, so I don't know what they get."
Typical rich kid, I wanted to say but knew to bite my tongue, "Okay then....how about....this one?" I grabbed a packet that read 'Kopi Luwak'
"What the heck is kopi luwak?" he questioned, making a face.
I smirked to myself, knowing he'd freak out if I told him where it came from. Despite its weird origin it's the best instant coffee I've had, "It's this one coffee from Indonesia. Best around in my opinion. Well, it could taste different considering we're in Bunkyo, Tokyo. Oh well! We'll never know if we never try!" I spoke cheerfully and grabbed three packages. I turned back around to face Hikaru, but he wasn't there. Instead he was surrounded by a group of girls who were oogling over him becasue Hikaru was talking about how much he 'misses his twin brother Kaoru'. His words, not mine. I sighed out loud and rolled my eyes as I walked over to him, "Come on!" I shouted at Hikaru and grabbed his hand before dragging him through his new fan club.
I pulled him to a MALE cashier where I paid for all the stuff and left with me dragging Hikaru behind. On our walk back to Ouran I kept grunting things like 'stupid fangirls' 'stupid blonde dad' 'stupid twin' 'stupid coffee'.
"You can let me go now," Hikaru voiced outloud.
I stopped in my tracks and turned to him, "Huh?" I replied confused. What was he rambling about now?
He looked annoyed that I didn't understand him the first time and repeated, "I said you can let me go now."
"If I didn't understand you the first time, what makes you think I'll understand you a second time?" I sniped back at him.
"Your hand. It's still holding mine," he finally explained. I looked down at my hand to find that he was right. My hand was still intertwind with his. My eyes widen in embarasment and I immediatley released his hand.
"S- Sorry," I stuttered and looked away from him.
"Whatever," he sighed in his usual bored tone. If I wasn't so embarrassed I would have rolled my eyes at his apathetic behavior, but instead I continued to walk ahead of him until. We walked in silence for the rest of the way. Although I could sense he was only a few steps behind me, Hikaru didn't say a word or try and reignite conversation and it was like that until we finally reached Ouran. As we walked down the hall, towards the Music Room, Hikaru suddenly grabbed the bag of groceries from my hand.
I gave him a puzzling look, "What are you doing?" I questioned.
"Trying to make myself look like a gentlemen," he responded, "I can't let Tono know you carried them all the way here." When I realized he was only trying to put up a good front, my nostrils flared in anger and I wanted to pour that instant coffee down his throat.
"You son of a--"
"By the way," he interrupted, "I know this 'kopi luwak' is civet coffee." I raised a confused brow, urging him to explain. He merely rolled his eyes at me, "Oh the small world of a commoner... Civet coffee is another term for the coffee gathered from the feces of Asian palm civets... in other words it's their poop." I've been caught. The disappointment was clear on my face as he sent my a sly smile, "Nice try Manami, but I've had civet coffee before. Obviously not from these cheap packages, but fresh ones imported right from Indonesia."
It was my turn to roll my eyes at him. Of course of all the coffees I just had to pick the one that had a high class version to it. I grunted in frustration and turned on my heel, afraid if I looked at his smirk any longer I would try and slap it off. I bursted through the doors in a fit of anger and slumped down into the nearest chair.
"Are you okay Mana-chan?" Honey-senpai asked, suddenly at my side. I looked at him and gave him a small smile.
"I'm fine, just not use to that much exersice," I lied effortlessly.
"Oh, okay!" he said giving me a bigger smile.
My eyes scanned the room and I found Kaoru looking at Hikaru who just walked through the door with the plastic bag in his hand. "Hikaru!!" Kaoru's voice yelled in longing. I looked over to Hikaru who welcomed his younger brother with open arms.
"Kaoru!!" Hikaru shouted back. When the two finally reached each other they embraced in a hug, which made the girls all scream, "Kaoru, every second I was gone, I thought about you. I missed you so much," Hikaru told to Kaoru making the girls scream even louder.
Wow, those two really work fast.
"Manami!" a familiar voice call my name. I turned my attention to the King of the club and gave Tamaki-senpai a close eyed smile.
"Hello senpai."
"How was your trip to the market with Hikaru?" he asked.
"Ummm..." I paused for a moment, remembering how I kept holding his hand. I had to suppress the blush threatening to rise to my cheeks, "It was....different..." I finally answered, twirling my fingers around each other shyly.
"You are too cute!!" he gushed and took me into a hug before flinging me around like a rag doll, again. I sighed in annoyance because this was really starting to give me a headache. As I was being flung around by senpai I caught Hikaru's eye who was looking at us with a bemused smile.
'Help me!' I mouthed to him. He simply shrugged in reply and left to Haruhi's table so she could make the 'commoner's coffee' for everyone.
Son of a devil.
And in that moment I knew this was going to be the longest three years of my life.
~~~~~~~
A/N: Thanks for reading everyone! And so sorry again for the very very late update! I have very little time to write now that I'm in college, but I've made it my New Year's Resolution to finish his story, so I hope you will continue to support and encourage me throughout this writing journey! :)
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