Dedicated to my irl friend Gabby, because without her, I wouldn't have even heard of this site. Thank you so much for introducing me to the lovely world of Wattpad. ♡
— Chapter 02 —
A Wild Fangirl Appears
The hallways of Ouran Academy were enormous compared to the high school I would have attended if I hadn't been admitted. All of it sometimes felt like one huge maze that I'd never find my way through.
In the midst of wandering around, I happened to stumble upon music room three, where a group of guys held meetings for their club. They claimed to be the prestigious Ouran host club, but I had yet to find out what all of the hype was about. Who would've thought of such an idea?
I needed to return to the music room, however; on the previous day, I'd somehow managed to allow my clothing sketches fly out of my arms. They wanted to use my designs for a single event, and I figured I'd grant them permission. It was only one day, after all, and Haruhi happened to be in the club.
Mildly befuddled, I tried to remember how exactly I'd made my way to the club room.
"Sexual harassment?!" a familiar voice yelped. It didn't take long to realize it was Tamaki's. "What those shady twins were doing to you should be considered sexual harassment!"
This may have been a blessing in disguise, however; his vehemently theatrical voice helped to lead me straight to music room three.
"All of you!" another shouted. Taken aback, I'd come to the conclusion that this voice belonged to an energetic woman. "Every single one of you, with the exception of Kyouya, has a lukewarm personality! It's about time that all of you are given a different aura."
I peeked in, wondering what on earth was going on in that room. My stealth didn't last very long, however. There stood a female student with long, light brown hair, pointing her finger at the cluster of confused hosts.
Kyouya peered over the girl's shoulder. After staring at me for a little while, he motioned for me to come in.
I slowly crept into the room, catching sight of the colorful yukata I'd designed. I gazed in awe; it was astounding. My designs had really come to life.
The energetic woman turned slowly towards me, and her eyebrows became knitted together in suspicion. "Who is she?" she queried as I gingerly stepped forward.
"I'm, uh..." I began, struggling to speak further at the sight of her narrowed eyes.
"She's designer of the yukata we're dressed in," Kyouya explained. "Her name is Hiroshi Katou."
The girl eyed me from head to toe several more times, and she stared at Kyouya to observe his expression. Her eyes snapped towards me once again, and this time, she had a smile on her face. "Well, it seems that my darling Kyouya seems to be okay with you!" she began, shooting me an expression that signified approval. "Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Renge Houshakuji, a new student; I moved in from France just a few days ago. And I'm the new host club manager! Pleased to meet you."
"You too, Renge," I replied, amused.
Kyouya eyed her with an odd expression, clearly perplexed at her pet name for him, but she wasn't paying attention in the slightest. She'd suddenly shifted her attention to the other hosts.
"So anyways, we need to make a few alterations to your overall demeanors. You know what that means?"
The hosts only stared and blinked dumbfoundedly.
* * *
Over the course of a few hours, Renge managed to pull together an entire movie set, complete with directors, cameras; you name it. She wrote a rather dramatic script. Each host, apart from Kyouya, was in some sort of theatrical scene.
Hikaru and Kaoru, now in basketball uniforms, were located in the middle of a court. Cameras and light sources were aimed at them as they acted out their lines. They did a fairly good job of it, I must say.
Kaoru had dramatically fallen down, the extras came in with a stretcher. Hikaru rushed over to him and bent down. "Kaoru!" he exclaimed, teary-eyed.
"Hikaru, we need you; you have to get back in the game!" the coach pleaded in a panic.
"Shut up!" Hikaru shouted.
He turned towards Kaoru once again with the same pained expression.
"Hikaru," Kaoru whispered as he placed his hand gently on his twin's cheek. "You can't feel my pain. It's all right; there's nothing you can do."
A tear rolled down Hikaru's cheek as he clasped both of his hands over Kaoru's. "It hurts," he choked out. "I can't leave you like this, Kaoru! I can't!"
Renge pulled out a microphone to read her lines as a narrator then, reciting another little monologue about how beautiful such brotherly love could be.
The scene transitioned then. Tamaki stood in the middle of a field with a hose spouting water in the air to make it look like it was raining. The lighting effects helped as well, adding a dismal mood to the entirety of the scene.
Tamaki ran his fingers through his hair. He let out a sigh, closing his eyes. "Being the school idol really isn't all it's worked up to be," he recited. "Being looked up to for something so superficial. How pathetic."
The fact that Tamaki was able to transform drastically from this huge dork to a more dark character for a role came as a pretty big shocker; even Haruhi seemed to be surprised.
The next scene, of course, was as depressing as the other two. Hani was chasing Haruhi through the woods with Mori, which made her run into a dead end. "It really pisses me off when people don't know their pl-" Hani-senpai angrily began.
But he was cut off by his own emotions before he could finish, and he'd lost his malicious expression completely in a matter of seconds. His lips began to form into a pout and his eyes became wide as they pooled with tears. He trembled just slightly once he looked down at Haruhi.
"Waaaaahhhh!" he wailed, running towards her. It wasn't long before he plunged into her arms and began to sob loudly. "I'm so sorry, Haru-chan!" he exclaimed. "I'll never, ever be mean to you ever again!"
Renge's lips began to form into a pout of their own as she narrowed her eyes at Hani. "Cut! Cut!" she shouted angrily as the cameras were paused momentarily and the hoses were turned off. "This is by no means okay!" she shouted from her director chair. "You have to recite the line!"
"But I don't wanna be mean to Haru-chan!" Hani sniffled.
The rest of us watched intently as all of this take place. Now that I thought about it, it seemed that the hosts were a little more skilled in acting than the average high school student. Maybe living in such a prestigious environment all their lives had some sort of positieve impact on their skills.
"You guys are doing pretty well with all of this," I said, turning towards them.
Hikaru cracked a smile. "Really, now?" he asked.
"Yeah, I guess," I shrugged.
Kaoru patted my head. "We try," he replied.
There was a faint sound of glass breaking, and my head turned in the direction of where the noise seemed to have come from. It appeared that something had happened just around the corner, and I jogged over to see if there had been any injuries or if there was help needed.
It wasn't what I'd expected to see. Renge stood dumbfoundedly as Kyouya narrowed his eyes at her irritably. Standing right next to him was the camera crew, panicking and on the verge of hyperventilating.
Kyouya's hand was in the camera lens. It appeared he'd slammed a rock into it and severely damaged it.
"I believe you've already caused enough trouble here, Renge. Please do quit being a pest," he said with such poise that it must have caused Renge to have a heart attack. Just hearing him say something like that hurt my feelings.
Renge's eyes began to pool with tears as she let out a sob. "You're supposed to pat me on the head and tell me not to worry. You're supposed to be kind and affectionate, Kyouya!" she exclaimed as she looked at him with a pained expression. "Why? Why are you acting so differently?" she sniffled.
Tamaki stepped away from an anxious Haruhi and towards the conflicted pair. "Because that's not the real Kyouya," he explained.
Renge looked up at the blond as tears continued to stream from her eyes. Suddenly, she fell to her knees and put both of her hands to her face.
Haruhi and I peered at each other nervously, but after a few seconds, she decided to make her way over to Renge. She looked down at her with a worried expression on her face.
"Does it really matter, Renge?" she asked. She crouched down in front of her as Renge looked back up. "Who cares if Kyouya-senpai's a little different than you expected him to be? Get to know him little by little. It's more fun that way," she explained with a charismatic smile.
Just as Renge peered down slightly, Kyouya began to make his way past me. I would have let him be if I hadn't noticed something peculiar; it appeared that his hand had been badly cut. It must have been from the broken glass, and I felt a surge of panic once I caught sight of it. "Kyouya-senpai, you're..." I began nervously, walking over to him.
"I appreciate your concern, Hiroshi, but I'm quite all right," he replied shortly, continuing to walk a little further past me.
I placed my hand on his arm, and he hesitated briefly before slowly turning to face me. He eyed me with an odd expression that seemed to ask me if I needed help with something.
I peered down at his hand and let out a sigh. "Hey!" I called out, peering at the camera crew above us. "Any of you have a bandage of some sort?" I asked loudly.
One of them reached into his pocket and threw a ball of gauze in my direction before shifting his attention back to the others.
I picked it up off of the ground and reached to the side to hold Kyouya's wrist up in front of me. He tensed up, but to my surprise, he cooperated.
Although I avoided his gaze while wrapping the bandage around his hand, I was able to see that he'd been staring at me with slightly wide eyes the entire time I'd been doing so. What was he looking at me like that for? Surely this hasn't been the first time someone else had treated an injury of his.
"You know," I began after pinning the gauze in place, "In a lot of cases, girls are more sensitive and their feelings get hurt more easily than guys' feelings do."
"Your point being?"
"Saying those things to Renge probably wasn't the smartest idea."
"She was being quite bothersome, you have to admit," he replied. "I was only being frank."
"You could have worded things differently," I muttered, raising an eyebrow. "She may have been a little troublesome, but to call her a pest? You've gotta take peoples' feelings into consideration."
He stared at me with a slightly pensive expression for a few long seconds. "I suppose this is true," he replied, pushing his glasses further up the bridge of his nose. His expression had changed back into the usual friendly but formal one. "But you see, the only reason she's after me is because of some love-simulation game called a dating sim. I believe its name is UkiDoki Memorial."
"What does this have to do with a dating sim?"
"In her eyes, almost all of my features resemble those of the main love interest in the game. Based off of what Renge told us, I believe his name is Ichijo Miyabi."
I thought about the name Ichijo Miyabi, trying to remember his face from the advertisements I saw for UkiDoki Memorial. My eyes then snapped towards Kyouya's face, and I imagined what he and Ichijo would look like, side by side.
I laughed to the point where my stomach hurt; the resemblance was hilarious. I then fell to my knees, still laughing uncontrollably at that point with tears welling up in my eyes.
"Everything all right?" Kyouya asked.
I made every attempt to stop myself from laughing anymore, but I really couldn't help it.
Hikaru and Tamaki bent down in front of me and grabbed my shoulders, trying to shake it out of me as if my laughter would stop that way. I was well aware of the fact that it wouldn't work in the slightest.
Hani-senpai shot me a sympathetic look, and then his face lit up. So did the imaginary light bulb floating over his head. "Hiro-chan!"
He stuffed my face with the piece of strawberry shortcake that he happened to have in his hands, and because my mouth was full, my laughing gradually slowed.
"Thanks," I exhaled as my fit of laughter had ended.
"Any time, Hiro-chan!" he beamed, jumping into my arms. I chuckled and reach forward to hug him as well, thinking of him as a little kid that anyone would have difficulty resisting. But I remembered the fact that he was two grade levels above me, and the situation suddenly seemed a bit awkward.
"Sorry, guys," I said. I got up and turned to Kyouya. "I guess I can see where Renge's coming from."
It was then that the small cell phone in my pocket vibrated. I yawned and flipped it open. "Hello?"
"Are you on your way?"
I immediately recognized my mom's voice, remembering that I was a little late walking home.
"Ah, I'm sorry," I replied nervously, shuffling my feet. "I must have lost track of time."
The hosts were having loud, lively conversations with each other in the background.
"Are you with friends, dear?" she asked excitedly.
"Well..."
"I'm glad!" she exclaimed. "Tell me all about it when you get home."
I suppose this was reasonably understandable. The closest friend I'd kept was Haruhi, and my social life outside of that wasn't exactly something to brag about. Not that I minded, but the presence of such a strange club began to change something within me... I couldn't quite put my finger on it.
After hanging up, I turned towards the hosts again. "I've gotta run. It was really nice to see my designs come to life, though. Thanks, everyone," I smiled, bowing slightly.
"Well, we had fun wearing them," the twins replied in unison.
Each of the hosts stood smiling at me. I felt some sort of weird fuzzy sentiment in my heart before we all gave each other a final wave goodbye. Haruhi gave me a quick hug and a promise to spend some hang-out time with me soon, and with that, I headed towards the front of the school.
The sunset made the sky look as though it were painted a mixture of orange and pink. I made my way towards the opened gate. I was reminded of how gorgeous the school was.
Today certainly was a fun experience, and I wondered if the hosts might have asked me to do another design for them. Then, I hung my head, remembering that it was only a one-time thing. What were the chances?
No, the real question was, was I supposed to feel so gloomy about leaving things this way?
To my surprise, I was feeling saddened; I wanted to look forward to experiencing that feeling again. I got to see my designs on real people, and that meant the world to me.
I probably wouldn't have a reason to be seeing the hosts anymore, however, other than the fact that Haruhi was in the club, but I didn't want to be a nuisance to her or to the others.
"Excuse me," a voice called out in the distance.
It didn't take long to recognize the familiar figure making its way in my direction. Slightly wary, I squinted my eyes a little to clear my vision up, and my assumption was confirmed. It was Kyouya.
"Hm?" I muttered, walking towards the raven-haired boy so that we'd meet halfway.
He must have followed me from the back of the east wing, where Renge's entire set-up was.
I raised an eyebrow once he was standing roughly three feet away from me. "You could have stopped me when we were still on set; is something wrong?" I asked.
"Your design skills have proven to be beneficial to the club; the customers were ecstatic about your designs for our yukata," Kyouya began, pushing his glasses further up the bridge of his nose. "It's possible that your abilities could help to increase our profit."
My face was flushed. "I-is that so?" I stammered quietly.
After a light nod, Kyouya cleared his throat and continued. "For this reason, we'd like to make a proposal." He paused. "We'd appreciate it if you considered becoming our designer."
I froze in my spot for a few long seconds, and before I could respond, Kyouya let out a sigh. and pushed up his glasses once more. "However, you're free to decline if you wish-"
"No, I appreciate your offer," I replied hastily. "But like I said, wouldn't you guys prefer someone with more experience?"
"I believe I've explained to you that prestigious individuals aren't as frivolous as you may think. Besides, your designs are fairly good for an amateur such as yourself."
I was slightly offended by the tone he'd taken with such a term. "Amateur?"
After a few long seconds, he grinned just slightly in response. "An aspiring designer, then, Miss Katou," he replied smoothly.
My face began to flush at the tone of voice he'd used. What was this, a host's typical method of persuasion?
"With all due respect, it seems you're having trouble denying it," he said. "You've clearly taken interest."
I parted my lips just slightly to reply with a sarcastic remark, but I shut it immediately afterwards. In a sense, he was right.
As I envisioned what my designs looked like on the hosts earlier today, the corner of my mouth began to tug up into a smile, betraying my more serious expression. I certainly appreciated the opportunity. I was still doubtful as to how I'd be able to meet their expectations, however.
Letting out a sigh and puffing my cheeks out, I spoke up once more. "I'll do it," I replied quietly, not meeting his gaze.
Slowly, he took a step towards me and leaned over to peer into my face. "I'm sorry?" he asked with a slightly crooked grin.
He knew what I said; he just wanted to hear me say it with more audacity.
I looked up again and narrowed my eyes at his smug expression. "I'll be the host club's designer," I said in a louder tone of voice.
Straightening his posture slowly once more, he nodded. "Well then, in case you weren't aware, we meet in music room three each day right after school. You'll be sketching our clothing designs while we plan and discuss our weekly openings. That is, if you really are considering taking up the position."
I nodded and looked back up at him, still not being able to let things sink in. My heart was about to explode; I couldn't believe I was going to be able to continue to put my love for designing to good use. "Then I'll see you tomorrow," I said, bowing just slightly before turning in the other direction.
I began to walk off, but he placed a hand on my shoulder before I could go any further.
He pulled me back just a little before I turned slightly to look at him again.
"I don't believe I thanked you for tending to my injury, Hiroshi," he said. Ironically enough, he smiled innocently instead of grinning this time.
I looked back at the bandage I'd wrapped around his injured hand. "Well, you didn't think I'd feel comfortable letting someone walk around with a bloody hand, did you?" I laughed halfheartedly.
A few long seconds passed before Kyouya allowed an expression of amusement to cross his face. "I suppose not."
"Well, I'll be heading to the club room after school, then," I said.
With one last wave to each other, I began my walk home.