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[thundercloud611]

ooc: hey! i finally was able to snag my partner's laptop to write on, but i am rushing a bit so im sorry if things dont look super pretty. i decided to start things off with the first day of school already over with, and the host club already hosting. by this time, haruhi is already in the host club doing... host things i guess lol

Kyoya was tired as ever by the time it came the hour that the host club would open for the first time that school year. The entire school day had been classrooms going over their rules, letting students mingle, and not a single ounce of schoolwork being done. It was boring, which made him tired, which made him more irritable than normal when Tamaki started up his antics again. But then Haruhi, a new student, came in and made things interesting.

As the new host presented her 'commoner coffee' to their peers, Kyoya sat at his 'lobby' desk, which was inside the hosting room but in front of the doors so that people could check in and make appointments to see the boys. Tamaki and the twins were popular today, but they usually were especially at the start of the year. Kyoya continued typing on his laptop, trying to finish up the last minute finances and accounting stuff for the club that he didn't have time to do earlier in the day during what usually would've been working time. He actually got most of it done, at an alarming speed, but he just wanted to wrap up anything else that wasn't finished so that he could go home without any work to do.

As Tamaki's voice sang over the noises of Haruhi arguing with him, Kyoya remembered that she wasn't the only new member of the school this year. Surprisingly, there were actually a lot of new people starting this year. There were about 7 new students in total. A few boys who transferred from another high class school to here, a set of brother and sister who came from Europe, a girl who came from a pharmaceutical background, and a girl who was most likely here to escape extreme fame. He wondered if he would see them today. He normally would try to seek out these newcomers to advertise the club, but he had been so tired that he forgot about that until now. No matter, he could do it the next school day, as the first day of hosting every year tended to be somewhat insane anyways. Maybe it was for the better that they weren't coming today.

__________________________________________________________________

Akari found herself sitting on a bench in the hallway after her last class of the day, texting her friends from America and wishing she was anywhere but here. While it was nice to be somewhere new, she had a difficult time befriending anyone and was feeling discouraged altogether. Normally this was easy for her. But her and Ren showed up late, then she had to spend her entire lunch period getting her paperwork sorted out in the office, and the one study hall she had, she had to spend texting back and forth with her manager to finalize details for her newest album. The dark haired girl knew it wouldn't be like this forever, but it was still disappointing to find herself dreading the next school day due to not having a single person to look forward to talking to. It was seriously putting a damper on her day, and she knew her mom would be sad to hear how Akari was really feeling.

"Hey, you coming home?"

Akari looked up from her phone to see that her brother was standing before her in the school's blue uniform, a bag tossed over his shoulders and a sandwich in his hand. She shook her head and pulled out the only earbud in her ear.

"Not yet," she responded, not looking away to pause her music on her phone. "I want to explore the school a bit, so I don't keep getting lost. It was really embarrassing today not knowing where anything is." Her brother shook her head and extended his hand out. Akari took the sandwich out of his hand and took a bite, immediately regretting it. Her face turned into a scowl and fought every urge in her mouth to not spit out the disgusting juice coating her tongue. "You knew there were pickles on this, didn't you?" Her brother laughed, and she handed her brother the sandwich back.

"I can't go home without telling Dad that I know you ate today." He shrugged, and began walking to the other end of the hallway. "Well, that sounds boring, so I'm going home. See you later. Text me if you're stopping for food on your way home."

"Never." she responded, knowing all too well that her and her brother knew that she actually would reach out if she was going anywhere her brother would like.

Watching the silhouette of her brother fade as he took a left at the end of the hall, Akari let her shoulders relax and let out a sigh. Sure, she had some ground to cover learning where the hell anything was in this castle of a school, but she was secretly hoping that there would be more people still here that she could've mingled with. Where was everyone? Akari had heard students talking about activities going on after the last bell of school, but she didn't see many people in this hallway. Should she go wandering around?

 

[.Phantom.]

As Tamaki had promised when he reached out to the twins to recruit them for his Host Club, it was far from boring. The two brothers had stayed up late the night before coming up with a plethora of ideas on how to entertain the guests that would show up. It was Hikaru's idea to have a game called 'Which One is Hikaru', where they would encourage their guests to guess which twin was which. No one could ever win the game, so it was one they rather found amusing. Even if someone guessed correctly, they would claim it was the wrong twin, since a guess was far different than actually knowing which twin was which. Their mother couldn't even tell them apart, so they no longer tried to hold it against anyone.

Instead of being bitter about being identical, it was much more productive to turn it into a fun game that resulted in giggling girls who enjoyed their antics. Kaoru was pleased to see the smile on his twin's face, knowing Hikaru had always been the less social of the two. While they'd always been in their own little world, the younger of the twins was more aware than his emotional counterpart. He understood that it was ridiculous to insist people tell them apart when they never gave them anything to go off of. It had been his idea to part their hair separately so that the guests could tell them apart when they visited.

It was also a rather interesting day, considering they had a new 'errand boy' as Tamaki liked to put it. Their new classmate, the honor student, was quickly drug into the Host Club and their schemes thanks to knocking down the vase. Kaoru was already certain that things were going to be different in their high school careers in comparison to their lackluster middle school years where they ignored anyone and everyone that wasn't each other. Kaoru had also coached Hikaru to not snap at girls if they messed something up, since the last time a confession was made to him it didn't end well for the poor girl.

For the moment, though, the twins were utterly entranced by the commoner coffee that Haruhi was preparing. Their eyes were wide, standing next to each other in perfect sync, as they leaned in to watch dainty hands pour water, add the supposed coffee, and mix. The twins clapped at the simple preparation, both finding it rather amusing to see the girls in the club become unsure about the less than extravagant beverage.

---

After a ten minute long phone call with her mother to confirm that, yes, she was still feeling well and no she didn't change her mind about attending Lobelia Academy instead of Ouran, Reina was finally able to have a moment to herself. It was a rather mundane first day, if she excluded the way many of the teachers still catered to the young students due to their familial status, her own included. Now that she was left with her own thoughts, she considered the invitation she'd received earlier from some of her female classmates to go to an old music room that was apparently no longer used for music but instead for a Host Club.

Perhaps it was because she had attended only all-girl schools before, or maybe it was due to a budding feeling of guilt that she didn't wish to disappoint the still fragile friendships she was beginning to form, but she hardened her resolve to find this elusive music room. The hallways of Ouran were massive, with more turns and similar looking hallways than she could count, even after having gotten a private tour during the school break at her parents insistence. They hadn't wanted her to overexert herself trying to find her classes on the first day, worried she would get sick again.

The doctors were still wanting her to go in for regular check-ups just to be cautious, but she knew that her entire family would not soon forget those years ago when her days were spent befriending nurses and the other sick children in her ward. While those days hadn't been necessarily her healthiest, they were certainly not as horrendous as her parents seemed to think.

Turning yet another corner, the young girl spied a dark haired student on a bench and perked up. Something seemed vaguely familiar about her, but for the life of her Reina couldn't figure out what it was. "Excuse me," she spoke up as she got closer to the girl. "I do not mean to intrude, but you seem to appear rather..." Her voice trailed off, searching for a word that wouldn't potentially offend her lonely looking peer. If it was one thing she had quickly learned in a single day here at Ouran, it was that some of the young heiress's had rather fragile emotional states. Since she still wasn't sure about whose family was whose, she didn't dare speak out and potentially cause strife for her family. They worried about her enough as it was. "Well, for lack of a better word you seem downright lonesome."

ooc: I totally get it!

 

[thundercloud611]

Kyoya continued typing away at his laptop until he began to hear voices in the hallway. First, a boy and a girl talking, then two girls. He paused to listen in, and heard one of the voices clearly state that they were new students. Ah, so close to the host club, and they probably didn't even know where they were in the school. This would be a great opportunity to interrupt them to invite them in, but as he sat and considered his options, he figured it might be deemed rude to barge in. So he came up with something else instead.

He focused back on his screen and began typing away. Moments later, he heard his printer on the counter on the wall to his left began to make noise. He waited until a paper, painstakingly slowly, came out of the other side. The tall man quickly crossed the room to grab it, and a roll of scotch tape. On this paper was an ad for new students - while not calling out the new students, it did include them in the note that clearly stated that new customers would get their first 3 visits for free if they promised to come back 3 more times. Kyoya decided that he could take a peek outside to see what the girls looked like as he hung the sign next to their doors, and if they didn't come in today then he could try to track them down during regular school hours to talk to them.

He walked towards the hallway and turned a sharp right to the double doors that led into the host club, and began putting the sign up. Surprisingly, the girls were right there, no less than 10 feet away from where he stood as he took his time hanging the sign. Neither of the girls looked familiar to anyone he would've seen around the halls, so he wondered if they were both new. Just from peeking as he ran his fingers across the tape to ensure the sign stayed up, he couldn't tell based on looks alone which one was the famous one, but he knew it was the slightly shorter one thanks to his research. The taller one must either be the one with a twin brother, or she was the one whose father owned the pharmaceutical company. He was willing to bet it was the latter solely based on the fact that the girl was beautiful, and all the new men Kyoya had seen today didn't look nearly as good as her. So if she had a brother, he just looked normal in comparison.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Akari looked up and met the eyes of a dirty blonde haired girl who had been talking to her. She offered a smile and spoke as she put her earbud in her schoolbag next to her feet. "Oh, that's a nice way of putting it, but yeah. I'm new here, so I thought I'd stick around after class and check out some of the after school activities and stuff." She stood up, putting on her backpack, and offered her hand while maintaining her smile. "My name is Akari. It's my first year here at Ouran."

The girl was pretty. She looked to be about a foot taller than Akari herself, and while she seemed comfortable approaching a stranger, she didn't give off 'mean girl' vibes, so Akari figured it would be fine (for now) if she saw this conversation through to see where it went. After all, hadn't she just been disappointed by the lack of socializing she had at school today? Either this girl was actually nice and it could turn Akari's day around, or she wasn't and it would still be enough to go home with. While she knew that she had a tendency to see the best in people, she was really hoping this wasn't the case this time around.

Suddenly, Akari began to feel self conscious. Because what if this was going to be upsetting? Akari hadn't been approached her entire school day, so maybe this was a mean girl pretending to be nice. Did she stick out like a sore thumb? Akari took extra care in her appearance today, as she knew she wasn't really from money and it may be obvious. She opted for putting her hair up in a ponytail, only leaving out her bangs and pulling out some pieces and her baby hairs. She'd even asked her mom to iron her clothes so that they wouldn't be wrinkly like most of the stuff that she wore when she wasn't at school or in interviews. Or, was that it? Was this a girl who had done enough research about Akari and came here to bully her about her music?

 

[.Phantom.]

Kaoru was the first to noticed Kyoya drift away from the bluster of girls fawning over Tamaki, who had flirtingly asked the girls if they would drink the commoner coffee if it came from his mouth. Growing rather bored very quickly, he nudged his twin in the side to capture his attention. Once Hikaru's gaze met his own, the younger of the twins subtly tilted his head towards the club room doors where Kyoya was very obviously up to something. The twins shared a look, silently speaking with their eyes and nodding in agreement. They only briefly spared a look back to the crowd of girls surrounding Tamaki and their newest member of the host club before slinking away and popping up behind Kyoya, leaning closely into his back.

"Hey Kyoya-senpai," Kaoru began, trying to peer past the raven haired upperclassman to see what he was looking at.

"What are you doing?" Hikaru finished, also leaning around their club vice president to see if he could catch a glimpse of whatever had drug the boy away from the activities.

It was Kaoru who finally paused, taking in the two students not too far from where they were. They weren't anyone that he was familiar with, though he was certain he had seen the darker haired girl in at least one of his classes. Truthfully, it was hard to tell. Both of the twins had immediately taken to teasing the honor student relentlessly during class time, seeing as how the short haired student was very obviously trying to avoid everyone. It only made it that much more enticing to try and mess with Haruhi. "Oh, spying are we?" He teased, a lilt in his voice as he peeked back at the girls.

"Spying?" Hikaru piped up, having been reading the sign that Kyoya had posted before, but now taking a look around the hallway to see what they were looking at. His excitement dulled immediately upon seeing it was only two girls. What was so exciting about that? They had plenty of girls surrounding them already. "Oh." Hikaru's flat tone gave away his disappointment, causing Kaoru to chuckle.

---

It seemed as though her judgement of people was still decent. Since her previous school had been filled to the brim with girls who admired her and called her embarrassing nicknames, actively working to make new friends was like walking a tightrope. There had to be a balance between politeness and friendliness without coming across as snobbish. Reina blinked in confusion at the hand held out to her, but then offered her own smile as she accepted it and shook. "I'd say welcome to Ouran, Akari, but I'm afraid despite being a second year this is also my first day at this prestigious academy." The girl mused with a hum. "My name is Reina." While her training taught her it was only proper etiquette to introduce herself using her full name so that one may recognize her status through her family name, she concluded that if Akari did not wish to follow such societal norms then she would be fine to for-go them as well.

"I was just on my way to visit the famous host club. A few of the ladies I've met in class spoke highly of them. And truth be told," Reina leaned in and dropped her voice as if sharing a juicy secret with a dear friend instead of this random girl she had just met. "I've only ever been at all-girl schools, so I'm quite curious about this host club." She confessed her 'secret' before straightening up, tilting her head to assess the girl. From what she could tell, Akari was not like the rest of the girls she'd met thus far at Ouran. Perhaps she would be more like the kids she used to spend her days with in the hospital.

Still, there was something about her that seemed unnervingly familiar. Had she seen her before somewhere? If she had, she surely would have recognized her, right? "If you have no other plans, would you care to join me? I'll admit I'm a little nervous to walk into such a room alone, so it'd be a bit of a relief to have someone with me." That was true as well. Her classes were already a bit overwhelming. Schools with boys were far different than the all-girl schools she was used to, and though she'd had male friends in the hospital, that had been nearly eight years ago.

 

[thundercloud611]

ooc: i didnt want to confuse you with the format, but on this reply it might make sense to read akari's first!!


He knew that he shouldn't continue to be surprised by any of his co host members, but it still threw Kyoya off when the deviled twins were suddenly behind him as he hung his sign. He did his best to hold his bored expression despite his heart nearly jumping out of his chest. He was far too prideful with a reputation for being all knowing and never scared to let anyone in now on the fact that he was, contrary to popular belief, human.

"Those are some new students, I just wanted to make sure they knew the host club is here." he explained once he was back inside the room. He made his way to his desk and took a seat. He knew he'd probably have to get up shortly after anyways, but that was exactly why he wanted to sit down again. This club is too damn chaotic, he was always chasing someone around trying to make sure Tamaki didn't set the place on fire or that the twins didn't somehow destroy the building. "Oh, look at that.." he muttered under his breath as the girls walked into the room.

"Hello. Welcome to Ouran's Host Club. How can I help you ladies?" Kyoya's customer service voice was something he was rather proud of. Had he lived in America, he could've joked that his voice graduated from Harvard. His voice was clear as a bell, with the clarity of a diamond and smooth like silk. He had nothing but opportunity to perfect it, of course, but it was still something he had that never failed him. It was a voice that charmed a lot of women and confused his friends if he said something threatening in a similar tone of voice.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

"Oh, for real?" Akari had her head leaned in to hear what Reina was telling her after their handshake, and a wide smile grew across her naturally pale face. Simutaniously, she felt like a rock had been lifted from her shoulders. This stranger was basically marking herself as a safe space from her body language, her ease in letting Akari in, and inviting her. What a relief that the first person she met was a girl's girl! "I'd love to go with you! I've been hearing about it all day, but I'm not from here so I'm dying to know what a host club is. I'm pretty sure seeing one in action is going to give me more answers than the internet will."

Akari couldn't help but notice that while the girl did seem nice, she herself actually did seem to stick out a bit due to the dialect difference between her and her classmates. It was something she was aware of as soon as she began talking to the teachers and heard how students talked to each other, but it was something she wasn't sure she could fake. She thought it'd be worse to fake it and be caught doing a horrible job at it than just being herself and hoping that it doesn't get her exiled too much. But the movement of three boys in the corner of her eye caused her to turn to look at the wall next to them as they went inside. Was that a paper on the wall?

"What is- oh, hey, this is the room for the host club!" Her manicured finger pointed to the sign and tapped a few times. "Wow, the first 3 visits are free if we come back. I guess it's a sign, huh? After you!"

 

[.Phantom.]

"Ahh." Kaoru hummed, nodding his head. It was becoming clear to him that what Kyoya was doing linked to bringing in more girls to the club. While the vice president seemed awfully irritable with the antics of the club members, no one could belittle the hard work he put into keeping the club afloat. And, out of all of the other hosts, the twins felt he was the one who understood their desire for a little 'fun' every now and again. Though hos reasons were more tilted towards business and money making and the twins were simply bored, it was a symbiotic relationship.

"So you're bribing our guests." Hikaru snickered, leaning back. His attention was already leaving the incident, ready to get back to the guests that were currently sitting at the table. Now that the commoner coffee debacle was settled, everything was calming back into a normal routine. With a shared look to Kaoru, the twins bid farewell to Kyoya in sync and made their way back over to their table. Kaoru spared another glance over his shoulder at the door, just as the two walked in. His gaze lingered on the shorter, darker haired girl. She didn't have the same air about her that most of the girls who walked into the Host Club did. It was almost like she didn't quite fit in, which tugged at something in his chest, for he understood that feeling.

His attention didn't linger too long, as his twin was talking to him and dragging his attention back to the guests in front of them. A practiced smile formed on his lips, a hint of mischief twinkling in his gaze as he turned his head around to face the girls. "What do you think of the coffee? Does it suit your tastes, Hana?" He asked one of their regulars, Hana, a girl with short blond hair cut into a bob that reached her chin. While Hikaru hardly took the time to remember the names of their regulars, preferring to call them by pet names, Kaoru was more insightful. He noticed the girls whose eyes lit up when he used their name, since to them it meant they were special. Out of all their guests, he bothered to remember their name.

Her eyelashes fluttered, becoming flustered quickly under his intense gaze. A familiar finger under his chin turned his face to meet his twin's eyes that mirrored his own perfectly. "Why don't you try some yourself, Kaoru?" Hikaru asked, leaning in close. The proximity alone was normal for the two, and yet it sent the girls squealing anyways. Though they would never break character in the club room, at home they'd certainly go home and laugh at how easy the girls were to entertain with such small words and actions.

---

Judging by the relieved expression on Akari's face, her approach of the girl had been the right one. It eased some of the tension she had been holding to know she hadn't potentially offended one of her parents business partners daughter. Her smile grew at the acceptance of her offer. A part of her was worried about coming off too boldly with the girl and sending the wrong kind of message, so it was nice to have a potential new friend. She blinked in surprise at the information she was given. She wasn't from around here? Later she may ask, but for now she didn't want to pry and make it seem like she was interrogating her. "Wonderful!" Reina clasped her hands together in front of her.

Her gaze followed where the other girl pointed, scanning over the sign. Had that been there this whole time? Strange, but she hadn't really been staring down looking for clues while talking with Akari. "What luck!" Reina was only somewhat surprised to find they were so close to the host club. Had she not been on her way to the room already it may be a miraculous coincidence. "A brilliant marketing strategy," the dirty blonde murmured to herself as she stepped into the room.

It was a bluster of activity. Though she heard the welcoming voice that was likely meant to draw her in, she took a moment to make a judgement of the room. The environment seemed much more relaxed than that of her classes. The girls remained proper, but allowed themselves the freedom of flirtatious affairs with the hosts. Assessment complete, Reina glanced over to Akari to ensure it wasn't a culture shock to her. At least Reina knew what a host club was and had mentally prepared for such behavior. Was Akari more conservative about such things or liberal, she wondered? "Good afternoon," Reina spoke to the boy who greeted them. "We have heard many things about your famous club and grew curious."

 

[thundercloud611]

“Ah, well first off, welcome to our host club,” Kyoya started, pausing to take a sip of his glass of water sitting next to his laptop. “As you probably know, a host club is where you pay for conversation and an experience. Here at school, all us men are your hosts. My name is Kyoya Ootori, I’m the brains behind our club. Tamaki,” the boy paused to turn in his swivel chair to wave in the direction of the blonde man currently obsessing over the coffee presentation going on. “is our club president. Over there we have the twins, Honey, and Takashi, who are the rest of our hosts.”

Kyoya stood up and walked around his desk to stand in front of the girls. It was weird, one of them looked like they didn’t belong here, but the other one looked perfectly comfortable. What an odd pair. He wondered if they had just met.

“Would you two like to sit and have a cup of tea, perhaps some coffee? I myself am not currently with anyone, but if you ladies were interested in visiting with another host I’d be happy to add you to our schedule for the day.”

——————————————————-

As Kyoya pointed out each of the hosts, Akari couldn’t help but be a little startled by the duo of redheads being rather…. close. Was this part of the show? The man in front of her said something about an experience, was the brothers flirting with each other a part of it?

She saw one of the brothers peek a glance at her, and Akari felt her heart skip a beat in her chest as her brown eyes met his amber ones. She wasn’t normally one to be easily thrown off, but she wasn’t expecting someone so attractive to notice her right away when she came in. She had gotten a lot of stares today though, so she tried to push it out of her mind, shyly looking away with a smile and hoping that there wasn’t any malice behind the peek.

Akari missed the whole rest of what Kyoya said because of this, so she hoped that Reina was paying attention enough to answer for them. Maybe her staring wasn’t obvious. As much as the young girl was praying that it wasn’t, she couldn’t help but take a few more sneaks at the twins even as she trued to refocus on the conversation. It was just so bizarre.

 

[.Phantom.]

As the routine went, Kaoru turned his head to the side with fake tears pooling in his eyes. "Not in front of everyone, Hikaru! It's embarrassing!" He nearly whined out, while his twin merely teased him further for how bashful he was being. It went on for a minute longer before Kaoru excused himself from his twin's 'loving' embrace to pay more attention to the girls at their table. The scheduling of whose turn it was to sit with who was all dealt with by Kyoya, while the twins were simply doing as they knew best. Entertaining themselves as well as the guests.

"I notice we have eyes on us, Kaoru." Hikaru piped up as he poured a glass of tea for another regular that Kaoru remembered to prefer to be called Mia.

"Indeed, we do." Kaoru agreed, sparing a glance over to the two new girls who had arrived, in particular meeting the rich gaze of the dark haired girl he'd taken notice of earlier. "Shall we go say hello?" He suggested, a twinkle in his eyes.

"It would be rude not to," Hikaru responded with an equally mischievous glint.

The devilish twins excused themselves momentarily from their guests, making their way over to where Kyoya was sitting. "Welcome to the host club," Karou began, gaze lingering particularly on the shorter, more shy of the two. The shy ones were always fun to tease. Watching them grow flustered over the smallest attention shown to them only tempted the twins to test the limits. Well, within what Tamaki would allow them to. If it went too far, the blond would interfere and whisk away the girl from them while scolding them for their teasing.

"It'd be our pleasure to be your hosts," Hikaru stated, closing in on the dark haired girl after having noticed his twin's interest in her. He stood to her right, immediately moving to pluck up her hand.

"We promise to be gentle," Karou added, stepping to her left and kneeling before her to place a kiss to the back of her left hand.

---

It appeared that Reina was not the only one who noticed the glances sent in the direction of two hosts in particular. She herself was a little bewildered by the many exaggerated traits of each host, enough so that she wasn't entirely certain of staying for a chat. The girls who invited her were currently far too absorbed in their own conversations to pay her any mind, all at their own respective tables. She recognized Hana from one of her classes, and another girl she met briefly at the table of the singular blond host.

Before she was even able to respond to the invitation from Kyoya, the ginger haired twins made their way over and immediately targeted Akari. "It seems you have been chosen." She mused, refraining from giggling at how ridiculous the antics of the two boys were. It was hard to imagine the majority of the male population being so... forthright.

"What do you say? Shall you request to sit with the twins?" Reina glanced to the boy who was clearly in charge of keeping things organized. "Would that be possible if she desired to? I myself will take you up on your offer of tea if you do not mind, unless Akari here would prefer I stay with her?" The girl looked to the other with a silent question in her gaze. After all, she was the one who asked the girl to join her. It would be awfully rude to drag her into this strange atmosphere and then abandon her.

 

[thundercloud611]

Kyoya, seeing that the other girl was too thrown off to really give an answer, took that as an answer in itself and he focused his attention onto Reina. He nodded at her answer and replied, “Absolutely. We actually have enough room to squeeze you both in if you aren’t going together.” The tall ravenette reached out his hand and looked at Reina, as if asking for permission.

Of course part of hosting was entrancing the women, but seeing how flabbergasted the other girl was by the twins, Kyoya didn’t want to come off too strong right away to the customers incase them being straightforward scared them away. These were people who could potentially spend a lot of money at their club. It was just a kiss on the hand, but it was a kiss nonetheless.

“If you’d like, I can make us some tea or have our dog - I mean, our host in training - bring us some coffee.”

——————————————————-

Before Akari had a chance to even pretend to have heard what Kyoya was saying, the twins she had laid eyes on before were now suddenly each at her side. A fair shade of pink dusted over her cheeks, her mouth temporarily hanging agap before she quickly clamped it shut. Oh, so it’s one of those clubs. she thought to herself, the pink shamefully turning into a dark red at the revelation of what she had gotten herself into. The young girl didn’t even have time to worry about seeming rude before Reina called for her attention.

“Um, we can group up after and come together n-next time.” she all but sputtered out. Her eyes went to the twin that was on his knee, having just placed a peck on the back of her hand. Seeing the focus and dedication between him and his other half immediately made the teenager feel guilty. What if she had offended them somehow, or made them think they weren’t going a good job?

“I’m Akari. I’m sorry for being thrown off, I’ve never heard too much about host clubs, or even been to one.” she explained, with a twinge of embarrassment. It was bad enough that just one of the brothers alone still would’ve been enough to make her flustered, but there were TWO? And they both looked like models?

 

[.Phantom.]

It was fairly obvious to the twins that the petite girl they were focusing their attention on was completely thrown into a new world. If they were more like Tamaki, or even Honey and Mori, they may have taken it easier on her when it came to their flirtations. However, neither twin found that fun in the slightest. Their 'persona' in the host club meant for them to be 'devilish' so it was only fair to tease the blushing young lady. Kaoru made her to look at her through thick lashes from where he knelt on the floor.

"Ah it's your first time, eh?" Hikaru immediately piped up from at her side, leaning in close. "Allow us to escort you to our table." His gaze flickered down to make eye contact for a half second with his twin, a silent but brief conversation happening with nothing but their eyes. "You can call me Hikaru, or if you'd like, you can call me yours~" He teased, watching her closely. "My twin down there is Kaoru," he introduced for the boy who seemed to be rather distracted.

Kaoru was blown away by how cute this particular guest was. She wasn't extravagant in the way many of the other ladies were. Nothing about her screamed 'daddy's money' and she did not conduct herself with practiced poise like the girl she walked in with. His curiosity was officially piqued, which was causing him to be less quick to pick up on Hikaru's subtle cues. His own cheeks heated as his twin had to make his introduction for him, grinning sheepishly up at her from kneeling on the floor and choosing to use a tactic normally only Tamaki would use to get himself out of the situation. "Apologies, Akari," he began as he stood and looked down at her. She was so small. "I was so entranced by your beauty that it appears I forgot my manners."

Hikaru raised a brow at him from where he stood, looking over Akari's head. A question in eyes that Kaoru looked into so much he could accurately describe every shade of oranges, yellows and honey gold. The younger twin didn't take his eyes from Akari, instead motioning towards their table, where their current guests were watching with pink faces and wide eyes.

---

"How fortunate for us, then." Reina stated. Her eyes widened a fraction as her gaze landed on his outstretched hand. It would be impolite for her to refuse though it took her off guard. She lifted her right hand and placed it atop of the offered hand.

There was a part of her that felt guilty for bringing Akari along. Judging by the way she was quickly turning a rather alarming shade of red at the very forward displays of affection from the two brothers, she hadn't expected this. Though Reina hadn't quite expected this in particular, she had read enough to know that she would need to be prepared for such flirtations and thus was able to keep herself from losing her composure. "I shall meet back with you when it is time to go, then." The taller girl told Akari. It seemed the twins were eager to whisk her away.

She turned her gaze onto the boy she would be spending her time with, partially relieved that he seemed to be far more reserved with his hosting tactics. "Tea would be wonderful. If you have something with less caffeine, that would be ideal." Now that she was able to look at the young man more closely, he was rather attractive in the sort of way that hinted more to him behind the smile she recognized as one she, too, often wore. "I am Reina Yoshino, please feel free to call me what is most comfortable for you." She introduced herself with a smile. "May I have the name of who I am to be spending my time with this afternoon?" She inquired, head tilting to the side.

 

[thundercloud611]

Kyoya took her soft hand in his and planted a soft kiss on the back of it. Still holding her hand, he raised his head and leaned in a bit to hear the rest of what she was saying. A smile crossed his face once again. "I'm Kyoya Ootori. I can have Haruhi make you a glass of tea. Haruhi!" The tall boy turned his head to look across the room at the scrawny 'boy' who was currently arguing with Tamaki. "Can you bring over some tea flavors for Miss Reina to pick out?"

"Sure, give me a second and I'll be right over." she called out.

Kyoya turned his attention back to Reina, and began walking while still holding her hand. "Let's sit down, shall we?" A quick walk later and they were at Kyoya's spot, a small round table with cushioned chairs next to one of the grand windows in the music room. While Tamaki had initially put Kyoya's spot there as a joke to insult how Kyoya was too pale and needed some sunlight, he was actually admittedly thankful for a spot in the warmth of the sun. Often times it would wake him up and the glare of the sun reflecting on everything nearby would force him to stay awake, and it would leave the sea
ts comfortable too. Not that he would ever tell 'daddy' that, but he wasn't going to complain about it.

"So, it sounds like you and your friend may be new to Ouran. How are you settling in?" he asked, gently letting go of Reina's hand to sit down. Haruhi came by with the tea cart, boxes of various teas on display for the guests to pick out. There were three racks, the top holding tea cups, the second rack holding boxes with a sign that said 'regular tea' and the bottom row holding boxes with a sign that said 'low/caffeine free'.

As Haruhi made the motion for Reina to pick out of their selection, Kyoya took the opportunity to study her. As he noted before, she didn't look out of place like the Akari girl did - who, to Kyoya's inner delight, was completely flustered and absolutely enamored with Kaoru - but she did appear to be a little lost in the sense of not having really spoken to anyone. He had the feeling that this was going to be her way of relaxing after a long day of being turned around in a new place. Kyoya himself knew how that felt, so he could disguise his actual curiosity (and slight pity) as him doing his host duties. Reina really was beautiful, so Kyoya would be surprised if nobody had at least introduced themselves to her. He himself normally tried to make it a habit to talk to everyone at least once or twice a semester just for the sake of having good connections. Of course, not everyone had a business mind like Kyoya.

___________________________________________________________________________

Akari could only pull her eyes away from the one kneeling - Kaoru, as she just learned - after seeing a twinge of embarrassment coat his cheeks. She didn't have time to ponder why that would happen as the other twin was still talking. She barely caught their names but did her best to retain the information as quickly as she could, in fear of making herself look as flustered as she felt. This, however, didn't work, because when she tried to turn towards Hikaru, they were touching noses. The close proximity almost made her jump out of her own body, but instead she refrained from the initial instinct and simply turned back to look at Kaoru. A smile crossed her face, while definitely giving away most if not all her thoughts, it was still a real one.

"I-" Oh wow, was he hot.

Kaoru stood in front of her, and Akari felt her soul nearly leave her body. She had a thing for attractive men, sure, but he was tall too, and he was flirting with her? She knew it was what he was supposed to do, but man Akari was going to be in trouble. It was in this moment that she realized they also shared their class together. While she hadn't paid them any mind as she had spent all day trying to figure out where everything was, she was able to easily recall them joking with each other in the back of their classroom in between classes. All of this is to say, Akari already knew she wouldn't be able to get either one out of her head, but if she sat there and let Kaoru flirt with her, she was going to have a hard time focusing in school.

But what if it didn't matter once they found out Akari doesn't belong there anyways? She wasn't a self conscious person, per say, but she knew that she didn't fit in here. It was worlds different than what she was used to. A fun spring break was maybe having family visit, because her mother and father were too poor to travel. Of course it was different now that Akari was a star in America, but she didn't come from old money like nearly all the students and staff did at Ouran. Or what if they wouldn't take her seriously because of her career that put her in this school? Her heart sank almost as quickly as it raised. She knew she had to respond though, and though she was fully aware that her entire school would probably hate her when it came time to ask about her background, she wasn't going to miss an opportunity to enjoy every second of this.

"That's okay. You two threw me off as well." Not wanting to be rude, she took a slight step back to give Kaoru some space, and also gave herself a little bit of distance from Hikaru as well. She wasn't sure if she was supposed to flirt back, so Akari would need to buy enough time to figure out the social etiquette for a situation like this. At the very least, she could be chatty with them until then. She didn't look it, but she could be a jokester herself from time to time. "I'll, um, follow you guys." Which she wasn't sure how she was going to do, considering she was still holding Hikaru's hand, but at least she could think and maybe breathe not being so close to them.

 

[.Phantom.]

There were plenty of different types of girls who visited the host club. The twins kept a little list of categorizing their guests, which helped them know exactly the role they should play in order to best appeal to them. Some were far more composed than others, finding the flirting to be an ego boost coming from attractive boys coming from wealthy families. Others were insecure and needed the reassurance, even if somewhere in their subconscious they knew it was paid for and not real. Akari, it seemed, fell into the category of innocent. Those were Hikaru's favorite girls to tease, hence the way his eyes lit up with amusement the moment she turned her head away at their close proximity. Kaoru did try to be slightly more gentle with them, even if he enjoyed tag teaming them with his twin to watch their cheeks flush. Girl were easy to read.

Kaoru caught on almost immediately to the way she couldn't seem to form a sentence. So as any good host would do, he took that and ran with it. Blinking with an innocence that didn't fit his devilish character, the younger twin leaned forward to close the distance between them. "You look rather flushed," he glanced over to Hikaru and met his gaze. It was rather cute how she chose to ignore his flirty comment and responding as if it were a normal, every day conversation. Interesting!

"Come with us," the two said in sync. Hikaru let go of her hand to lead the way while Kaoru preferred to keep pace with Akari. The guests they currently had were due to have their time be up any moment now, so they would need to say a proper goodbye to the young ladies. Though they had a fun new guest, it would be wrong to completely ignore the ones they already had. And, Kaoru knew if they did then Tamaki would certainly scold them endlessly. He wasn't looking forward to such scolding on the first day back to classes, so he was going to do his best to remain a diligent host... for the time being. Should things grow dull or Hikaru brought up an idea he couldn't refuse, the ginger may find it more difficult to refrain from indulging in a playful prank or two, of which Tamaki was still unaware.

Much like the other tables, the twins had a rather large display of goodies. Some were Italian dishes that the twins preferred, only on the table due to the guests wishing to know and taste some of the things that they enjoyed. Deep fried crema fritta were among the dishes, as they tended to be more popular with the ladies than the spicy foods Kaoru was particularly fond of. "Have a seat," Kaoru motioned towards the couch, where their regulars were already sitting.

Hana was the first of the girls to greet Akari with an awkward, but polite, smile. "We are all nervous our first day. The twins are exceptionally gifted in helping ease the tension of first-time jitters."

"First times are always awkward for everyone, it's only normal." Kaoru agreed. Immediately, the words caught Hikaru's attention. The younger twin was swept up into the arms of his older twin, pulled closely into his chest right before the guests. He could hear Hana and another girl squeal with barely constrained excitement and horror. Their brotherly love act was considered a forbidden taboo and thus drew in the girls. It was something they knew they shouldn't see, as it was entirely improper in all forms, but they were still mesmerized regardless. Even now, as Hikaru spoke familiar words to tease Kaoru about how shy he had been for the first time, the girls couldn't take their eyes off of them. As usual, Kaoru turned his head to the side with faux embarrassment. "Hikaru~" The boy whined in complaint, "You're embarrassing me in front of the guests."

---

Ootori? Reina blinked at the name, wracking her brain for why it sounded so familiar. She repeated it in her head a few times before it clicked. They were a rather wealthy family that she was aware of due to her family doing business with them. All of her testing and check ups were done at their hospitals, due to them being the best in the industry from their doctors to their surgeons. She once met the older Ootori siblings, yet this was the first time meeting Kyoya. Her thoughts distracted her while she walked behind the boy towards the sitting area. The atmosphere of the room was just as poise as she had expected, though she couldn't help but spare a glance over to ensure Akari was still alright.

She took a seat, feeling a rush of relief at the comfort level of their furniture since she had been in heeled shoes she was still breaking in. His question was simple, easy. It took little thought to respond to the inquiry. "Indeed." Reina nodded once to confirm his guess. "Ouran is entirely foreign as I spent the majority of my youth in girl-only dormitories. It had been an adjustment." She explained to him as her eyes roamed the options of teas. There were many options, some looking far more enticing than others, but she settled on a pomegranate/raspberry tea with no caffeine. "This one would be lovely, if it is not too much trouble."

Usually, Reina was the one who sat an listened in on conversations. Only when she had been fangirling over fictional book characters back in her old schools had she held conversations, or if it was to ease the nerves of another girl. Speaking with a boy was something she hadn't done since childhood, and the ones she had been close with had not spoken so properly. This was a formal setting.

Returning her attention to Kyoya with her hands placed delicately on her lap, she was overtly aware of how poise her posture was, remaining the picture perfect daughter of her family. "It feels rather strange to be meeting you under such circumstances seeing as how closely our families work together. My parents are also involved in medical advancement in both technology and pharmaceuticals. Even so, it's a pleasure to officially make your acquaintance. I believe we may see each other more than anticipated due to the nature of our families business."

 

[thundercloud611]

Akari sat down on the couch, next to the girl Hana who started speaking to her. With a smile, she opened her mouth to reply but before she could, Hana and a few others let out squeal and shriek in joy as the twins embraced each other. Dumbfounded, Akari watched the display pan out between the brothers. She wasn't sure what she was expecting going to a host club, but it definitely wasn't...whatever this was.

Out of the corner of her eye, Akari saw a tall blonde lean over to hug his guest - she could only assume he was a host based on how the girls next to him were also screeching - and right as she made eye contact with him, one of his purple eyes closed and opened back up, seemingly having figured out that she was out of her realm here. Ah. Was flirting part of the host club thing? It made sense, Akari realized, as she looked around the room. The blonde guy had a table full of girls that were completely enthralled with every single one of his movements. The twins, while flirting with each other, were still making sure to give attention to any girls that came their way. There was a shorter blonde across the room with a tall boy with black hair, also entertaining girls. Even the guy who had greeted her and Reina chose to sit down and have a cup with a girl just because she showed up. It made total sense. It also terrified Akari, as she never really knew what to do during regular flirting, and now she was stuck in a room with a bunch of men who intended to do exactly that with her.

"Um, yeah, I'd definitely say I have the jitters," Akari shly admitted to the Hana girl after a moment of silence on her end. "I've never heard of a host club, so I just showed up without doing any quick checking to see what it was." The girl knew for sure that the second she got home, she was going to do a ton of Googling to figure out how she was supposed to act. She felt so rude for not knowing how to act. The good news was, just based off of a quick glance around the music room, it didn't look like she was expected to flirt back, but she couldn't tell for sure what anyone was saying, and she had a feeling that if she pulled out her phone to check, it would be even more rude. Plus, the twins appeared to have a whole 'double the trouble' thing going on, so she had no doubt that they would creep up on her and find out what she was doing. But should she ask? Or was that the exact same thing anyways?

"So, do you come here often?" Akari opted to ask instead, briefly standing up long enough to take off her bag and set it at her feet. Thankfully, she had the last seat of the booth on the edge, so she set it to the side of her outer foot before sitting back down. She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear as she awaited an answer.

____________________________________________________________

Haruhi walked away with the cart and Reina's selection as Reina continued talking. Kyoya soaked up every word, leaned forward towards the fair girl with interest. "Ah, I was wondering if you were going to bring that up," he agreed. "It is strange that this is the first time we have come in contact, and naturally it happens here of all places." Kyoya paused just long enough so that the girls across the room would stop squealing at the twins before he continued, "I'm sorry for not finding you earlier during the school day to properly introduce myself. The first day of hosting is always a little eccentric, so it occupied a lot of my freetime today."

Just as quietly and quickly as Haruhi had came over with the cart, she came back the exact same with a cup of the caffeine free tea Reina asked for, as well as returning with Kyoya's water. Kyoya took it with a quiet "thank you, Haruhi." and took a long sip of the cold beverage. Haruhi placed the tea cup down on the table for Reina and walked away. As she did so, Kyoya took a moment to study Reina. Her beauty stood out a lot to Kyoya, but what interested him even more is the way she seemed completely comfortable and the spitting image of what her parents probably wanted her to look like in the eye of the public. The host club member himself knew all too well what a familys' expectations could be like, and he quietly pondered the idea that maybe things weren't entirely as they seemed with the fair lady. This host club had to be something of a culture shock, let alone going to school with boys, if she had been in all girl schools her entire school career up until this point.

"Well, at least we have finally met each other should we run into each other on family business," he saud, setting his water down. "I may not have had time to speak to you personally until now, but I thought I recognized your name when I heard it earlier in the day so I did some digging. Our families have been working closely for a long time. Do you plan to stay in the business or do something different down the road?" At Ouran, while you'd think that all the students would follow in the footsteps of their family, that actually wasn't the case half the time. There were students who would be fortunate to be handed a business like that, but oftentimes they were passionate about something else entirely or were simply too good at something else that peaked their interest more. There was a common theme among his peers that they all felt pressured to do what their mother or father wanted them to do; this is why Kyoya was curious. Was it somewhat intrusive? Yes. But they had something in common, and it was going to be good to make a connection with this girl regardless of her answer.

 

[.Phantom.]

"Hana is one of our regulars." Hikaru answered for the girl, taking a seat on the other side of the blonde and slinging an arm casually over her shoulder. He leaned in to look at Akari, which only brought him right in front of Hana and into her personal bubble. The young lady grew increasingly red in the face, but the twin's amber gaze was glued to their new guest. "We see her nearly every afternoon, isn't that right, Kaoru?"

"It is." The other ginger agreed, taking his own seat next to Akari. Seeing as they knew their clientele well, they were aware that at least Hana preferred to be adored by the twins, whereas most of the others currently sitting at their table were more fond of watching the brothers flirt with each other rather than them directly. So, they silently agreed to switch up their attention between flirting with their brother and flirting with the two girls they now sat next to. Kaoru couldn't help but sneak a peek at Akari. So close up, he could see her face perfectly. The different colors that danced around in her eyes, the smallest twitch of her eye or her lips. "I do hope to see you just as often, miss Akari." Kaoru added, looking down at her.

"It's always more fun with more than one, right, Hana?" Finally, Hikaru turned his attention to the short haired girl whose soul appeared to leave her body. Her face was so red due to the close proximity of Hikaru's own face to hers. He smirked at her and leaned back with a shrug as if it happened all of the time. It was fairly common for some of the ladies to faint from being too overwhelmed by their flirtations. "Oops. It seems she's fallen asleep."

Kaoru snickered at the form of Hana. Poor thing couldn't handle too much direct flirting. He wondered if Akari would be able to keep her wits about her if they came on strong like they did with Hana. Or if she would prefer a different approach. Judging by her reactions so far, she was already one that was fun to tease with their closeness. Only time would tell if she would continue to get flustered or if she would grow more attached to watching the flirting. "We would be awfully lonely had you not shown up. Hana and the other ladies will be leaving shortly." Kaoru was still looking at Hana, but slowly drug his gaze back to Akari. He was close. Staying in someone's personal bubble was meant to keep them on edge and hyper aware of each and every movement. For young girls being flirted with by attractive boys, it meant they got flustered. And how would he really enjoy seeing her cheeks turn pink once more.

"Awee!" One of the girls whined as she remembered how close their time was to being up. Hikaru took that as his initiative to slip between Akari and the still out-of-it blonde and leaned in close to Kaoru, right in front of Akari. His fingers slipped under his twin's chin, tilting it up to look at him.

"You know I'd never leave you wanting, Kaoru." His voice was low, seductive.

"Hikaru!" Kaoru's eyes grew comically wide, turning his head away from the guests as if embarrassed. However, this put his face less than six inches away from Akari. The twin made eye contact with her, holding it a moment. There was no blush on his face, no fake tears. The edges of his lips twitched upward into a hint of a playful grin and he winked at Akari while the girls' voices squealed out from behind him. Without looking, he knew at least two of the girls were holding onto each other while they were overcome with emotions at the scene.

---

What Kyoya said confirmed some of her suspicions. There were people who did check on the status of those who arrived at the school. He knew full well who she was the moment he heard her name. She was certain of it. Which only meant she needed to be hyper aware of who she was speaking with, and her own actions and words. Each one would need to be picked carefully to avoid any potential conflicts. With her tea ready, she picked it up with practiced ease and lifted it to her lips, taking a small sip. The flavor danced on her tongue, and was just what she needed to help distract herself from the itching desire to see what was happening over where the other girls were making a fuss. Her curiosity was digging at her, but she refrained from appearing too eager or excited by such newness.

"I understand." Reina set down the tea cup without a sound. "I will hold no grudge against you for being busy. I wasn't aware of your attendance either, so I believe we are even in that sense." She smiled politely. Her smile faltered at his question about her plans for the future. It was barely a twitch of the edges of her lips, but it was there. Due to the nature of her childhood, Reina never gave the future much thought. For so long she simply wished to enjoy every day as though it may be her last, because for quite some time it very well could have been. Still, there was no need for her to disclose such a depressing story here. She wanted to get away from that constant reminder for a bit.

The young woman needed a moment to think of how best to put her lack of knowing her own future. Her teeth gently bit down on her tongue a moment, contemplative, before she finally settled on a decent answer. "My future is rather unstable at the moment. My elder brother Kei will be taking over the branch that deals with your family while my younger brother Ren will be sent to America after graduation to begin learning from our grandparents. As for myself," Reina paused as if to make it seem like some secret, but really she needed a moment to consider once again. "What my parents wish for me is to be healthy and happy, so there is no pressure to choose a path. I would like to enjoy each day to the fullest and experience life. Though I suppose it would not be farfetched to say I may end up in an arranged marriage."

If they continued to talk about her, she feared he may find out far more than she was comfortable disclosing. There was a look in those dark eyes peering at her from behind his oval shaped glasses that said he could read her like a book if she slipped up even a hair. "What about you, Kyoya? Becoming a host to flirt with young girls seems rather peculiar to me. Though, if it is for the networking aspect, I suppose it is quite clever from a business perspective."

 

[thundercloud611]

'Of course they would answer for her, and in front of me like this. I won't get a break with these two, will I?' Akari thought to herself as a light pink dusted her cheeks, then very quickly turned red as the flirting and proximity between herself and Kaoru closed. Listening to the conversation play out around her, Akari felt her voice stuck in her throat. She wasn't one to shy away from a good flirty back and forth banter, after all she had a few boyfriends before, and was no stranger to getting hit on. But even the boys she sought out herself never made her feel like this. She had never felt all the blood moving in her body, been able to so quickly memorize the features on someone's face, imagined a lifetime with someone in mere seconds. It felt surreal, and of course logic was telling the intelligent teenager that of course it felt surreal and beautiful, because this is what the twins do everyday. But it was still throwing her off. At this point in time, she was convinced that the only reason she could tell Kaoru and Hikaru apart was because of how clearly mesmerized she was with only one of the twins. Obviously, she would later remember that her own father is a twin, but her brain wasn't functioning like a normal person's. She had tunnel vision.

But what really sold her was that stupid grin on Kaoru’s face. The confidence in knowing that he knew what he was doing was working, knowing what he was doing to begin with, and not being affected by the reactions the girls, Akari herself included, gave him. This didn't snap her out of her trance, but it made her heart skip a beat and instead of this realization making her blush even more, it instead brought a similar smile to her face. So he was confident, tall, handsome, and playful.

Kaoru was going to be the death of her.

"You know what? You just might." Akari responded, after what felt like an eternity. Only when she realized how long it took for her to speak after Kaoru's wink did her face finally catch up with the rest of her body. She blinked, averting her eyes, well, nowhere because Kaoru was so damn close to her that she couldn't look anywhere else. She met his eyes again, swallowing nervously and the previously pink shade on her face quickly turning bright red. "I, um, it's my first day here. I don't have any friends yet, although the girl I came in with was really nice. And I have my brother, but he's my brother so I'm kind of stuck with him, and-"

Wait, why was Akari talking so much? Oh gosh, were the twins actually making her nervous? When was the last time she'd went on a ramble like that? Why couldn't she stop?

"-and I think we actually have a class together, which I don't really know what has to do with me coming back, but my point is is that I have nothing better to do, and I like learning about things I don't already know, and I definitely didn't know about this so maybe next time I'll just, uh, hug a wall or something. I'm usually good at stuff like this, I mean like I've dated before so it's not like I haven't been this close to a guy, but it's been a while and Kaoru you're really pretty, and-"

Why won't her mouth stop moving? At this point, Akari was just staring at the table behind Kaoru unable to stop talking, completely aware that she was blubbering nonstop without breathing, her cheeks very rapidly turning darker, darker, and darker shades of red.

_______________________________________________

Kyoya raised an eyebrow at Reina's response. She got the freedom to do whatever she wanted? There weren't many people in his life that he knew who had the fortune of doing that, so it made sense that Reina was unsure. Kyoya himself wasn't sure that he would know what to do in her shoes had he ever been granted something similar. He did, however, notice the slight change in her demeanor. He wasn't sure what it was about specifically, but he mentally tried to remember that it happened incase it came up some other time. Was it because she was embarrassed she wasn't sure what she would do? Was it because she didn't want to talk about her family? Reina did turn around the conversation rather quickly, but it could be part of her public persona to be that polite. After all, she did look like a princess and everything about her was so formal and proper. Kyoya was impressed by it.

"I plan to stick with the family business." he replied without a second thought. If it came across as if he'd said it a million times, it was most likely because he had. For Kyoya, he felt there was no other option. "Although hosting has little to do with my longterm career, it is nice to make connections and it gives me experience outside of my family. This club was Tamaki's idea, and while I wasn't very fond of it at first, it has grown on me. I suppose it's for entertainment and something to do more than anything, but it does help with meeting people and supporting a friend."

"You said America though, for your younger brother? What is there that your grandparents are teaching him? Traveling can be fun depending on what it is." Kyoya wondered if it was something similar to the rest of her family business, or if it was something else entirely. America would be a great starting place if they wanted to venture out of just Japan to collaborate with other healthcare workers and inventors.

In the background, Kyoya could hear the girls the twins and Tamaki were with squealing, but his focus remained on Reina. Due to those exact three host members, Kyoya was nothing less than an expert on being the eye in the hurricane and focusing on his tasks when the world around him was on fire. He had quite the good social skills like Reina, but it took a lot of patience that Kyoya previously didn't have to deal with what he does now. Especially on a daily basis. He still got fed up and annoyed every so often, but he had mastered the skill of not letting it show on his face and not letting it distract him. With this, he also learned how to figure a situation out without even looking at them. His being nosy helped him continue to be nosy, and it led to him being able to memorize and pick out voices with eerie accuracy. He could specifically hear Tamaki seducing a woman who had just burst out into tears, and the twins causing the only other newcomer to ramble. His eyes widened slightly in shock as the new girl, Akari, in her ramble chose to pick Kaoru specifically, but he then reminded himself that only Haruhi could depict the twins from one another. It was probably just a fluke. Tamaki's guest, however, was unable to stop crying as he continued on and on about how beautiful the guest was.

 

[.Phantom.]

In all of the time that he had been a host, Kaoru could confidently say he and his brother always flustered the girls. He couldn't recall a time when their newest toy didn't turn the bright red color of a cherry or stumbled over their words. Some days, it was even a challenge between the two on who could fluster the most girls, with extra points give if they aren't ones to usually get so tongue-tied. So the moment the dark haired girl smiled back at his own display of cheekiness, his amber gaze widened a fraction with surprise. His face was far too close to hers for it to be within her comfort zone, and while the girls in the background were squealing, they were having their own moment, one that caused his grin to widen. Oh, so she was going to be a very, very fun guest. He couldn't wait to tell Hikaru.

Their close proximity allowed him to have a better look at her face. Something about it struck him as familiar, in a fleeting sort of way. Given she was attending this school, he could only presume that she could be famous or their paths had crossed before, and only in this moment he was looking at her for the first time. She was cute. It would be a lie to say that most of their guests were not attractive in some way -- this was a school full of the rich and famous, and thus if anyone wasn't attractive in some fashion they simply paid to get the look they desired -- however she was a genuine sort of cute. The kind that reminded him of a puppy or kitten.

Kaoru's ability to remain cheeky faltered at her comeback. He was flabbergasted by her ability to return his smile to begin with, but the way she confirmed a possibility to see her again, a part of him was instantly looking forward to it. The next time that they would meet. Even as her gaze broke from his to look away, he was still watching her, unable to pull himself back. He couldn't hear whatever his brother was saying to the other guests. All of this attention was centered around this mysterious newcomer. Feeling so enchanted by her on the first day of meeting was what the guests were supposed to feel towards him. What kind of spell was this?

It was far past time that he should pull away from how close he was, leaning over her while Hikaru still had a hold on him, but he was lost listening to the nervous babble leaving her lips. His smirk softened from the confidence he felt in her being flustered to amusement. She was an interesting girl already, and he rather looked forward to the next time they would meet. "Am I making you nervous, princess?" Kaoru questioned, feigning innocence as though he wasn't acutely aware of how close they were and the way he was looking at her. The way he was flirting. Though it was his job to do so, he was having double the fun in this moment. Maybe it was her newness. That had to be it.

"There's no need to feel shy~" The boy added with a lilt in his voice, though he finally forced himself to pull away and sit back. Focusing for too long on one guest would result in upset customers and a lecture from Kyoya for sure. "We would be so happy to have you join us again."

---

Kyoya's response was within the realm of her expectations. She was unsure of which host was 'Tamaki' for certain, but if the flamboyant blond across the room was anything to go by, she would place her bets on him. He seemed the most enthusiastic about appealing to his guests. What a peculiar club this was. It was certainly worth her coming to check it out, however, since she knew her parents wouldn't allow her to spend her time trying out for any of the school's sports teams. She wondered if Kyoya had been far less welcoming to guests in the beginning if he wasn't fond of it, or if he held a fake smile the entire time.

While talking about herself didn't appeal to the girl due to being far too concerned about how it would reflect on her family name, she lit up with excitement at the prospect of being able to gush about her younger brother. "I did indeed!" She said joyfully. It was the first crack in her 'poised and polite' persona she always desperately clung to. "My grandparents in America run Young Technology Corps. My older brother is far more concerned with medical advancements," she began to explain, though she left out the part where he was so gung-ho on medicine due to her own sickness as a child, "which left the technology business for Ren. They got lucky, seeing as Ren is highly interested in technology and seeks to attend MIT in America. He will eventually take over the company there." There was a lot of pride in her voice as she spoke about her brothers.

As kids, they had fought a lot. Both of her brothers would pick on her endlessly, resulting in her crying and tattling on them. Still, she loved spending her time with them and had enjoyed those days. The two year she spent sick had changed their dynamic drastically and permanently. No longer did they bicker with her unless it was to chastise her about being careful with her health. She felt guilty for their concern. So now she wanted to do her best to not worry them any longer. They had spent so many years coddling her and fretting over her condition. Now it was time to show them she was healthy and ready to be on her own without them holding her hand through it all. It was time for everyone to start living their lives again.

"You said you host for entertainment?" She posed the question lightly, taking another sip of her tea. Having to refrain from asking questions she really wanted to know was... more difficult than she imagined. What was in that little black book she saw with him? Was he a reader of any fictional books or was he the straight-laced non-fiction only type? She crossed out gaming, slightly biased based on the short conversation she's held with him thus far. "Do you enjoy flustering girls, Kyoya?" Reina rose a single brow at the playfully asked question. "It seems to me that this club thrives on hopeful, blushing fangirls." She wondered what happened to the girls who were so innocent as to genuinely fall in love with their favorite host. Perhaps she should look into starting a support club for broken hearted girls?

 

[thundercloud611]

Feeling Kaoru tower over her, watch her so closely, and call her princess was making Akari's heart flutter and skin feel hot like ice burning her skin. They were so close that he could feel his breath on her lips, and it would be a montage that played in her head over and over again until the first time that they finally would kiss. It should be a crime, to look that good, know it, and have a voice that nice to listen to. Maybe Akari would write a song about it some day. Could any combination of words do Kaoru justice?

It wasn't until Kaoru leaned back in his seat that Akari felt like she both simultaneously felt relief from the distance (despite the fact that he was still sitting right next to her) and a twinge of regret for not giving him a reason to stay so close. What on Earth could have made him stay, she wasn't sure, and she was well aware of the fact that he treated everyone like that. So instead of dwelling on the desire for him to return, she took a minute to breathe. "Um, sure, but like I said, definitely against the wall.." she replied weakly with a nervous laugh. Why would anyone come here for fun? The rush was good, but was the price of going home and missing these men, missing the dream they offer worth it?

Akari turned to look over at Reina, and saw that very much unlike herself, the new acquaintance was doing rather well with Kyoya. She did not appear to be fazed, disturbed, or flustered. Damn. Did she have a good poker face or something? Was Kyoya just not that interesting? Or was Akari a blubbering idiot and embarrassing herself? She saw the black haired host member glance over at her, which made Akari blink and refocus her attention on Hikaru, hoping that he wouldn't make her nearly as flustered as Kaoru did.

For a blink of a second, Akari was thankful that this wasn't really a place that guys went to. Her brother, Ren, would tease her relentlessly about this situation for the rest of his life if he knew about it. In America, Akari was something of a flirt. She normally had boys wrapped around her fingers and was a good flirt. She had been flustered and thrown off by good men, sure, but this was the first time it felt different or real. This was the first time she wasn't sure if she could redeem herself or work her way up to not being this way with Kaoru. It was as if her years spent dating and writing about her relationships with boys went out the window. Her friends would probably get it, but Ren? He would bully her forever.

Well, if Kaoru made her so nervous, maybe she could sort of apologize by flirting with his brother? Akari still was unsure of the 'rules' of a host club, but seeing as they were allowed to flirt with them, surely she could flirt back, right? And if he made her just as nervous, then at least she tried. Akari was something of a people pleaser, never wanting to upset anyone, more than not having a hard time saying 'no' to people, and wanting to make sure everyone saw her in a good light. While anyone who knew her could attest to her good heart, she was more than aware that it was really the public who got to call the shots on her reputation. That's why as she grew to be more and more famous, she tried to not let money or fame change her heart.

____________________________________________________________________________

Kyoya was taken back by the question. Her tone of voice and phrasing made his heart skip a beat, but his exterior face remained neutral as he pretended to ponder what she asked.

"Hmm...well, I suppose so. I have to admit, it wasn't really something I intended on spending my time on, but it has certainly paid off." Kyoya turned to glance at Reina's friend, who was currently so close to one of the twins that they could kiss. "Take her, for example. It's her first day of school. Maybe she didn't have the confidence to go speak to anyone today. Perhaps she needed a confidence boost, be it that or some other reason. Maybe she needed an excuse to run into other people in her class that made her feel more comfortable than a educational setting. Our host club provided that for her." Kyoya nodded his head in the direction of a girl that Tamaki was in the middle of seducing. "Or her. I'm friends with her, so I know for certain that she recently became single due to her boyfriend cheating. What if she felt undesirable because of his infidelity? What if she needed a way to make him jealous to get his act back into line?"

Kyoya kept his eyes on Reina and shrugged. "Girls enjoying my company is a bonus, but this club wasn't my idea to begin with. However, we all gain something from being here so I won't sit here and pretend that I'm here by force." He paused. "But I can't speak for all of the hosts. I'm sure Tamaki and the twins do enjoy making girls squirm under them."

Kyoya took another sip of his water. He had made a mental note of Reina's joy in speaking about her brothers, and noticed a very slight fault in the persona she put on as she gushed about them. A real smile looked so much better on her than a fake one, and he selfishly wanted to see it come back. "MIT is impressive. I must say, with that kind of diversity I am not surprised that you don't feel any pressure to pick a specific career. I don't know what I would do if I didn't stay in the family business." There was something left in the air unspoken, but Kyoya chose to not finish what he was going to say and instead refocused the conversation back to her brothers. "So do you get along with them? Your family and brothers, I mean. You speak very highly of them."

Kyoya took a minute to reflect upon his own relationship with his two brothers and sister. Akito was his brother, who was uptight and smart. He was also in medical school, similarly to Reina's older brother, and the only sibling that he intentionally avoids. His oldest brother, Yuuichi, was the one who was going to be the next family patriarch. He worked at a hospital and Kyoya never really saw him outside of his brother's weekly visits to discuss business with their father. The sibling he was close with was his sister Fuyumi. While it used to rub him the wrong way that she and Tamaki were friends, he grew to be thankful for the fact that when the blonde was annoying him, he could send his sister in to give Kyoya a break. Despite the complication of being family, he loved his siblings despite the relationships being somewhat strained.

 

[.Phantom.]

Kaoru wasn't offered the chance to tease her further before Hikaru's attention turned from the remaining guests to their newest one. There was a look in his twin's eye that he, surprisingly, couldn't read. His eyes followed his twin and his every move as he leaned in close to Akari. "Ah~" Hikaru hummed with enlightenment, watching their dark haired guest with amusement. "So you like to be up against a wall, hmm?" It was clear that the older of the two twins was relishing in being given the opportunity to tease their guest further, while Kaoru had to bite his tongue and hold back a snicker.

Though Kaoru could be just as flirtatious as Hikaru, it was less his goal to entirely fluster and watch his guests squirm as it was to fluster them a little and see them get pink in the face. On the other hand, Hikaru always had enjoyed the rush of rendering his target unable to find words to speak. It suited their act they had well, since he often teased Kaoru in such a way in front of the guests in order to cause them to squeal with both horror and delight. What Kaoru thought was rather amusing about the entire situation was how some of the girls attempted to remain casual outside of the Host Club.

As if teasing her about the wall wasn't enough, Hikaru leaned forward to pluck at her hair as if there was something in it. The moment he did, Kaoru knew what his brother was up to. The corner of his lip twitched upwards. He hoped Akari would come back again and again, because she was very quickly becoming a fun toy. When Haruhi came in, the twins had silently agreed to make the new dog their toy. Now, it seemed as though they were in agreement. Haruhi would still face the pranks of the twins -- as did everyone, seeing as they believed in equality for all -- but Akari was different. Though she was flustered, she still attempted to have a conversation without squealing or turning into a mindless fangirl.

"I would be happy to oblige in your fantasy. Do you prefer a corner with a single arm or both arms caging you in?" There was no mistaking the playful tone of Hikaru's voice -- he was teasing her and very obviously enjoying it. Since his twin was paying attention to Akari, the younger of the two turned to look at their guests only to realize the only one left was Hana. On the other side of Hikaru, she was beginning to come back to her senses, fanning at her face and working on her breathing.

"You're awake, princess." Kaoru acknowledged her from across the couch the four of them were sitting on. Though she could be fun to toy with on occasion, Hana was fairly straightforward and easily flustered in a way that always had her fainting at least once during their visits. In the beginning they'd taken her to the nurse, per Kyoya, but now they simply kept an eye on her until she came to. As usual, the ginger haired boy poured her a glass of water and stood, coming around the other side, to offer it to her. "Do stay hydrated, princess. It'd be a shame for you to faint again."

From where he stood, he could sneak a peek at Hikaru and Akari. The angle blocked most of his view of Akari, but he could see his brother was still playing with her hair, his voice lowered as he more than likely was continuing to tease her with all of the ways he knew how to trap a girl against a wall. He should be focused on hosting, but the thought reminded him of when Hikaru first proposed pinning to walls for the girls, and how they'd spent most of the afternoon running around their home pinning each other to a wall in front of their maids to see which ones looked the best. Some of their maids got flustered, the newer ones, but the ones they'd had for years simply rolled their eyes. What a fond memory. He wondered if Akari would find it silly, or if she would get red in the face if he had her pinned against a wall, invading her space. Maybe he should try it next time if she really tried to stay to the wall.

---

As she listened to Kyoya's explanation of some positive aspects of their host club, she couldn't help but wonder if perhaps she was the one truly missing out. Though it had been years since she came back with clean scans, there had always been that small, lingering percentage that it would come back. With that in mind, she opted not to think too much about her future. Now that she was older, she was aware that a lot of her fear of suddenly getting diagnosed once more and not getting to live a normal life or have a family like other girls dreamt of was largely due to her family and their own fears. Even so, she felt as though she were playing catch-up.

"I see..." She murmured quietly, though she wasn't sure that she did. At her other schools, girls did have troubles due to the boys, but it was the girls who lifted their spirits and their confidence. Reina didn't understand how coming to see other boys could help a girl feel more desirable. Was it because they were rich and attractive? Money wasn't omnipotent and looks would fade away with age. Maybe when she was a child she would have understood, but money alone wasn't enough to get her through those two years of not knowing if her life would be shortened. And while Reina was aware of her own appearance being appealing to the public eye, she once looked at herself in the mirror, without a single hair on her head including her eyebrows, and find the courage to still love herself and find herself pretty.

Well, she supposed if she couldn't understand, that was for the better. Since it would mean that these girls would also not understand her, and that they wouldn't have gone through such hardships.

Bringing the conversation back to her family softened her features. She thought of her mother, working so hard during the day and spending every ounce of free time by her side in the hospital, hair disheveled and eyebags barely concealed by make-up. Of her father, whose eyes were rimmed with red though he always smiled to her and promised they'd do everything they could to ensure she was given the best care. Of Kei and Ren, who were also forced to go through therapy to come to terms with their sister's situation, though at the time Ren didn't really understand what was going on. "My family is very close," she said. "I am very grateful that I have such wonderful, loving parents and siblings. I would not be who I am today without their endless support and care."

Just talking about them caused a tightening in her chest. She swallowed back the lump growing in her throat while giving her host another mildly strained smile to hide the urge to burst into tears. She had caused her family so much suffering back then, and sometimes she had wished they cared less about her, so that if the worst had happened, they wouldn't be so sad with the end result. "You have guesses on each guest and their reason for attending the host club, correct?" Reina needed a different topic, unless she wanted to start crying in front of her family's business partner's son. "Pray tell, what reason do I have for coming here?"

 

[thundercloud611]

The hopes that Hikaru would be less intimidating suddenly seemed incredibly stupid, as once the twin started talking to her, she felt no relief at first. They looked the same at a first glance, and it threw Akari off for a moment. As the boy spoke lowly and toyed with her hair, Akari studied his eyes, not really paying much attention to his words nor caring to hide the focus she had on him. Something felt different between Kaoru and Hikaru. This something would be the 'aha' moment for how Akari would be able to tell them apart in the future (minus their personalities standing out to her), but if you asked her years down the road, she still would be unable to decipher what or how she knows the difference just from their eyes alone. While Hikaru and Kaoru both had a glint of mischief in their eyes at any given day, Kaoru's gaze was softer even when the twins were pranking people and messing around. Hikaru, while not violent, often looked a little more defensive and upfront. Regardless of who was touching her hair, it was still making her stomach do a somersault, especially as she heard Kaoru call Hana 'princess'. The way he said it with ease would stick with Akari for weeks,

"Oh, fantasies you say?" Akari teased without a thought, attempting a smile despite the pink very quickly returning to her cheeks. "That's completely different than me just watching on the sidelines. Your hands definitely wouldn't be on a wall, Hikaru." The teenaged songwriter, rather immediately, felt her stomach drop to the pits of her stomach. Her face fell from a smile to a look of surprise, horror and an insane amount of embarrassment. It was clear that she just responded on instinct. What on Earth just left her mouth? She was supposed to joke with them, not verbally assault them! These weren't her friends back in America, these were total strangers! And what if she came on too strong? What if it was offensive to flirt back with them? Why didn't she think about what she was going to say before she said it?

"Oh my gosh I'm so sorry I've never been to a host club I didn't mean to offend you I have no clue where that even came from-" the words came tumbling out of her mouth at a faster rate than they did last time, and the pale star vigorously shook her head and waved her hands frantically, her cheeks turning even redder. "I swear I'm not a creep I'm just really bad in new scenarios that's what I meant by watching from the wall-" At this point, her words were blending together and she was talking faster than she could think. Great, now she couldn't come back to the host club. Maybe she should switch classes so that she never had to see these poor brothers again. Why was she so awkward? Hikaru was supposed to be easy to talk to. He wasn't even making her nervous, it was the fact that she felt comfortable around him in comparison to his brother that the way she would've jokingly flirted with her friends at home came out.

If Akari wasn't in the process of becoming the twins' favorite pet and embarrassing herself past the point of self redemption, she would've taken a minute to just pause and hope that Hikaru knew it was a joke and there was no actual intent behind her words. Later she would discover that the whole situation was hilarious, but until then all she could do was inwardly cringe at herself and begin to plot her own public death so that she could get far, far away from Hikaru and Kaoru.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Kyoya couldn't get much of a read on this girl, despite how strong his intuition was. First, she seemed happy to talk about her family, but now she looked sad. How could one be so upset talking about how close their family was to each other? It must be a bittersweet story of sacrifice or something, he decided. The love seemed real, but he had a feeling he wasn't getting the whole story. And it wasn't his place to ask, so for now, he would just take whatever Reina would offer. If Kyoya changed his mind, surely he could do some digging on the fair girl.

"You?" he inquired, running a hand through his hair and briefly checking the watch on his wrist. It was almost time for the other hosts to switch guests. Tamaki and Haruhi were saying goodbye to a guest together, the twins only had two women left, and Honey and Mori were sitting eating together. It was a slow first day, probably the slowest the club has ever had. Kyoya was internally thankful. The lack of women didn't appear to be due to a lost of interest, as Kyoya had a lot of women renew their donation cards and whatnot. His biggest guess was that everyone was just tired after the first day of school. If Kyoya had the option to, he would've gone straight home to catch up on work and maybe nap. He wasn't much for getting up early, which added to his already tired feeling.

He took his time studying Reina, choosing his words carefully before speaking. "I don't like to assume things, but since you're asking me to...I'd have to go on a limb and say that you're looking for a way to kill time or for something thrilling to do." He paused. "Although, you did come in with another girl. You came from an all girl's school, so perhaps you were curious about the functionality of a host club."

That appeared to be Kyoya's final guess, as he glanced up again and noticed that a few of the other hosts were interested in something going on with the twins. Tamaki, Haruhi, Mori nd Honey looked surprised, and the girl that Reina came in with looked really flustered. He didn't care too much at the moment, as nobody looked hurt or in danger, but he made a mental note to ask about it later. The twins probably just gave her a culture shock or something.

With that thought process, Kyoya looked back to Reina and began to wonder, if she was also experiencing something similar. She was holding herself together, and unlike the other girls Kyoya usually met and spoke to, she was unreadable. This was very interesting and Kyoya was hoping that Reina would return a few more times before deciding if she would be a regular visitor or not. This was the first person he had met in a while who was on his level, per say. It was clear that she came from money like everyone else at Ouran, but Reina didn't seem stuck up with her professionalism. If she had been, she wouldn't have been speaking to whoever was with the twins. She was itching a scratch for competition Kyoya didn't know he had. He didn't know what exactly that itch was, but the longer he spoke to her the more he wanted to know about her. Something felt right, having her come in and sit with the 2nd year student.

 

[.Phantom.]

A less confident boy may have fumbled at the way the dark haired guest before them countered their flirtation with such confident ease. Even when the female guests flirted back with the twins, it was never in such a direct way as to save themselves from seeming too available or embarrassing themselves. So when she was so bold as to claim that his hands wouldn't be on the wall, a twinkle lit inside the more devilish of the twins' eye. "Ahh~" He rose a single brow in her direction, enjoying it all the more. Flustering guests was fun, but this was a new kind of game. And he really, really enjoyed new games. Especially ones that offered him a bit more of a challenge, like the one Akari was presenting to him right now. He wasn't even given a chance to tease her further about it, despite having the perfect come-back to her flirtation when she began rambling.

Hikaru blinked as she continued to blurt out a long winded explanation, likely out of sheer horror and embarrassment, despite him having found the flirting hilarious. Even this was kind of funny, though in a different way. She was so clearly lacking composition that many of the ladies did. A quick glance around the room would show that the guests at Tamaki's table were flustered, but not quite so much so as the girl waving her arms frantically to excuse herself, and the one singular girl sitting with Kyoya looked entirely more composed than most of his guests could. Oh, he should tease their 'dark prince' about that later. For now, though, he lifted a finger to place it over Akari's lips as a way to silence her blubbering. "Shhh~" The twin winked at her. "There's no need for apologies. I like a girl who knows what she wants. It's a refreshing kind of boldness."

If Akari had sat with anyone else other than the ginger haired twins who were infamous for their endless teasing and pranks, then perhaps he would have let her get away with that little comment seeing that she got so flustered about it. Maybe he would have laughed in a reassuring way like Tamaki, said that she flattered him and then continued on as if it never happened. Or if it was Honey he would have said she was cute all flustered and offer her some cake. Even Kyoya, as twisted as the club knew him to be, would reassure the guest for such a statement. Akari hadn't sat with anyone else. She sat with the twin. And it just so happened that the nicer of the two was currently preoccupied with Hana, even though Hikaru could feel his twin's eyes boring into his back curiously due to Hikaru blocking his view of their flustered guest.

"So tell me, Akari," Hikaru couldn't help the way his lips pulled upwards into a mischievous grin. "Where would you want my hands? Hmm?"


He couldn't see anything. The angle that Hikaru was hovering over the petite girl completely blocked his view, and with the way Hana was chatting away he was having a hard time listening in on their conversation. Usually he would just ask Hikaru about it later, but even though his twin seemed composed on the surface, whatever had just transpired caused the tips of his brother's ears to turn pink -- and that was odd. Kaoru was envious. He wanted to swap places with Hikaru in that moment so badly, but he diligently played his role as host to Hana until her time was up. All too eagerly he walked her back to Kyoya so that she could check out before bidding her a farewell with a cheeky comment and a quick peck to Hana's cheek before he strode far too quickly back towards the section designated for the twins during regular host days.

Kaoru wasn't jealous, per say, though one could argue that he was in fact jealous of his twin having such a fun girl to tease and play with. She was new, and her reactions were far different than that of every other guest they'd ever had. In time she certainly become boring as did all of their other previous toys, but for now she was new and invigorating. He didn't want Hikaru to have all of the fun! He was also slightly worried that his playful brother would go too far and tease her too much on her very first visit. He'd need to make sure to keep the boy in check as to not make her never come back again. Or worse, file some kind of complaint. Even if Kyoya could stop it from ever reaching the Headmaster's desk, it would result in quite a scolding by Kyoya for possibly ruining the reputation of the club and from Tamaki about harassing girls. The latter would be a much more dreadful lecture than the former, hands down.

---

A small twitch of her lips formed a brief, impressed smile. He certainly was an insightful young man. Far different than the types the girls at her old school described to her during their times of romance and heartbreak. Though she wasn't naïve enough to not be aware of the fact that this club profited off of the girls they spoke to, and thus he should certainly be able to read his guests accurately in order to find a way to appeal to them and encourage them to return a second time. "Quite accurate, to some degree." Reina praised before she lifted her cup of tea and sipped on it. As she drank, she took a quick glance around the room to ensure Akari was doing okay. The poor thing looked rather caught off guard. She contemplated excusing herself to go check on her new potential friend once again, but changed her mind. If Akari truly needed an out, certainly she would just leave, right?

Slowly her gaze landed back on the dark haired host. "It is school policy that I must enroll in some sort of club activity. Due to it's popularity, the Host Club would count if I became a regular, if I read on it correctly." Since he had amused her by guessing, Reina felt obligated to give the full answer. That, and a part of her wanted to see how he would react. He was certainly not as outright flirtatious as the other hosts, which she was grateful for. It was much easier to stay composed. "Unfortunately I am unable to participate in sports, therefore my options are limited. A new friend of mine told me about your host club and invited me. Coming from an all girl's school, naturally I was curious. The few interactions that I've had with boys over the years have merely been during important business dinner parties or those who were less than ideal boyfriends for the girls at school. I've heard nothing but praises about your club and its members all day. I came to see for myself what it was like." She stated.

"As for Akari," she spared the girl a glance once more before returning her attention to Kyoya, "I merely found her sitting in the hall. She looked like she could use a friend, though I fear it may not have been the best idea to sit separately given how flustered she seems. I'll have to make sure she's okay before we leave." She would also need to reassure Akari she hadn't invited her to cause her to become flustered and embarrassed. Given how composed she was in comparison to Akari, it may seem like she drug the poor thing along just to watch her make a fool of herself, which was not her intention in the slightest.

They were interrupted briefly by the arrival of one of the twins and a short blonde-haired girl that Reina recognized as Hana, the girl who'd invited her to the host club. For the first time it seemed as though the pale haired girl registered her presence, barely coming out of her daze at the flirty goodbye given to her by the ginger haired host. "Reina! I'm so glad you decided to come! Kyoya-senpai is a great choice, he's so polite!" She spoke with an abundance of energy in her eyes and the way she nearly bounced off of her feet. "It's time I head home now, so I was about to check out for the day. I'll be renewing everything tomorrow, Kyoya-senapi." She addressed the male before excusing herself. It was a rather quick hello and goodbye, though Reina found she wasn't surprised given how Hana had acted in class in a similar fashion when inviting her to begin with.

She smiled after the girl who nearly skipped the entire way to the doors. "She is rather adorable." Reina chuckled to herself before she turned in her seat. Thus far, the first visit to this club was rather interesting. Of course she wasn't sure if she was all that interested in paying to have boys flirt with her, but her time sitting with Kyoya the last few minutes had kept her involved in a fun conversation and it kept her from being home while her parents and brothers doted on her. Not to mention her family having connections with to Ootori family, which made this meeting all the more important for her to leave a good impression on him.

 

[thundercloud611]

Akari, the currently very flustered girl, hadn't caught in time (if at all) that Hikaru found her response funny. If she had, it would have saved her a lot of time and embarrassment, but that would be dealt with later. For now, she had to get through this interaction in, hopefully, one piece that wasn't going to be too mortified to come back to school the next day. "M-my hands?" she asked, swallowing nervously as she tried to keep her eyes locked onto Hikaru's. She knew she sounded like an idiot, the very least she could do was maintain eye contact. She wasn't a coward, she just wasn't that quick on her feet when she was thrown off. Granted, Kaoru completely threw her off, and him being a twin certainly didn't help, but she was determined to save this. Their first and only impression of her couldn't be that she was a blubbering fool.

"You know," she started slowly, trying to regain control of her voice, "it's more about where they aren't, than where they are." Slowly but surely Akari's voice started to not quiver, and though she didn't sound as sure of herself as she liked, it was far better than whatever the hell she had let happen about 30 seconds ago. "Besides, Ka-Hikaru," she corrected, though a slight blush crossed her cheeks. She knew she had been talking to Hikaru, but her mind was split between him and Kaoru, who was now walking up behind him. Her eyes quickly darted from Hikaru, to Kaoru, back to Hikaru. She continued, this time her voice a little sultry, "your brother is back, and I'd hate to be the other woman."

It was almost a question. Akari could finally hear something other than the blood pounding in her ears, and while her heart was still skipping beats at the close proximity, she was starting to finally recover from the embarrassment. She was still mortified by what she said, especially given the fact that she knows the twins would have to brush over it even if she really had made them uncomfortable, and she knew that she was digging herself a deeper hole should she get flustered once again. Akari knew that playing along and flirting back would be poking the bears in front of her, but now that she was starting to recover, it was a little fun. She had finally started to figure out what type they were. And she would be able to keep playing if they gave her room to breathe, for just a minute. As much as she was hoping Hikaru would step away, she was also hoping he would stay. It was bittersweet, this position the singer was in.

Akari had dated and played with boys like them before. As long as it wasn't serious, it was a great time. But she knew if she came back she was most likely going to have to sit with another host, because Kaoru even being in proximity of where she and Hikaru stood - well, more like Hikaru towered over her and Akari shrinked back into the wall as far as she could get - was raising her blood pressure again. The boys were pretty, it wasn't helping her situation at all. Why was she so drawn to Kaoru?

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Kyoya listened to Reina's explanation with interest, however at the mentioning of Akari, he looked over at the girl and immediately felt bad. The twins were a bold pick for her to go with, but of course it was easy to tell that she simply didn't know better. However, what really piqued his curiosity was the fact that Hikaru looked taken aback, and Kaoru was in a rush to get back to the girl. He gave a smile and nod to Hana, though his eyes never left Hikaru and Akari, and Kaoru now all but rushing to get back over to her.

"Ah, I think I may join you in that visit." Kyoya replied. "Hikaru and Kaoru can be a lot for newcomers. Perhaps I should've steered her towards Tamaki or had her sit with us." Right before he turned back to Reina, he noticed something that caught his eye. One, Akari seemed more interested in Kaoru, despite having just met both the twins. Two, did she just correct herself to name the right twin? Did she seriously already have the two sorted out?

He looked back to Reina. "You know, the host club is a little popular for that reason," he admitted, steering the conversation back to what they had been talking about. "We are well liked for a lot of reasons, but I mean to say that that is usually how girls end up here. You wouldn't be the first and I wouldn't blame you if you needed something to do. Hopefully we can make it worth your while so that it isn't as forced."

The boy paused. Normally, this would be the point that he introduced her to the other hosts, but selfishly he wasn't interested in that. They were having a good conversation, and he was enjoying the show between the twins and the new girl. It made him thankful that the club was slower than usual today. He would be fine with other hosts coming up to introduce themselves, but hopefully they wouldn't linger. He wanted Reina to come back to visit him.

Before he could decide, Haruhi came back over and placed a tray of various snacks on the table in front of himself and Reina. She gave a smile and looked to Reina. "We're a little slow today, so eat as much as you'd like."

"Thank you. Haruhi, this is Reina. Reina, this is our newest host. He actually just started today." Haruhi nodded her head in a greeting. Well, at least Haruhi was somewhat normal. This was barely an interruption. And depending on Reina's reaction, Kyoya could gauge where to go from there. As of right now, he couldn't tell what to do. Not that he would let it show though. "I'm sorry for not properly introducing the two of you earlier. Haruhi looked very busy."

The girl nodded. "Yeah, it's really cleared out now though. How are you enjoying the club?" she asked, turning to Reina.

 

[.Phantom.]

Oh. This girl was definitely not like the usual guests. Wherever she had cropped up from, the older of the twin brothers was not complaining in the slightest. He was very briefly taken aback by her ability to compose herself, however slowly it may appear to be. Within only a moment later, his cocky smirk faltered. She very nearly called him his twin, which he would expect from such a newcomer to the club. It wasn't as though he held any expectations for girls to know him from his twin right away. And even if now they parted their hair to make it easier on guests, it usually still took the girls at least a few weeks of visitation to the club room to figure it out. Had she used his name without nearly calling him Kaoru, he may have chalked it up to luck. But that wasn't the case. She very clearly corrected herself.

So surprised by this sudden unique moment, Hikaru found himself unable to respond. The boy merely stared at her with a mixture of surprise, awe, and amusement, jaw slack. It was only due to the arrival of Kaoru that he was able to compose himself. Kaoru was approaching them, and while he too showed the surprise of overhearing her correct her name mistake, he was able to pull himself together with more speed than the older twin. "Other woman? Did we not make it clear earlier, princess?" Kaoru was the first to speak up, moving beside his twin who scooted over to make room for his arrival, though the dumfounded look on his face took another second to be removed off his features.

With a smile that was befitting of a boy with the title of 'devilish twin', Kaoru tilted his head in what would otherwise seem an innocent way, propping himself on the nearby wall. "We don't mind sharing at all." He said the words he had said a million times before, but he couldn't help but still be wondering what exactly had transpired between his brother and Akari when he couldn't see her face. She had been so flustered and he missed out on it. Now she wasn't nearly as red in the face as he was certain that she had been before.

"He's right, you know." It seemed that the befuddled twin finally found his words again, speaking up to agree with Kaoru almost instantly. "Certainly four hands are better than only two, no?" He added.

"You two!" Their teasing was promptly interrupted by the self-proclaimed daddy of the host club, his face red with fury as he grabbed the twins by the back of their collars to pull them a few inches back from the girl they'd cornered. "How many times have I told you to not scare our guests? Especially the delicate ladies who are only visiting us for the very first time?" He was seething, while also attempting to remain composed enough as to not startle the guest himself. Both twins held up their hands defensively with a shrug, making eye contact with each other in a way that silently screamed they were unbothered by his anger. "I'd like to apologize on their behalf, miss." Tamaki said to the dark haired girl with a small bow. "They tend to get carried away sometimes, so please do not hesitate to let them know if they cross a line."

"C'mon boss, we were just having fun, right?" Hikaru whined, looking to Kaoru for back up.

Immediately, the younger twin nodded his agreement. "She's our last guest of the day, we had to make her feel extra special. Plus she's fun, and super cute." Kaoru added onto Hikaru's statement, though he wasn't looking at Tamaki. His gaze was on the girl whose gaze drew him in. He wanted to talk with her more, and he was finding that he was a little annoyed that Tamaki was butting in on their time with this new guest of theirs. "Instead of worrying about our beautiful lady, should you not be worrying about the princesses you abandoned over there?" He added in an attempt to draw away the attention of the blond.

---

"I can certainly see that." Reina agreed. The two brothers were very clearly comfortable in invading the space of the guests in order to fluster them and say things to get a rise from whoever their target may be. She would have to keep her guard up around them more than the others, she assumed. Thankfully, they didn't seem to pay her any mind. That was a relief. Unfortunately, Akari appeared to be their target. In that case, she almost wished they had swapped places, perhaps then the girl wouldn't be so flustered by all of the very targeted attention. She was rather relieved to see the tall blond boy stepping in to ease some of their attention.

Having only been at the club for a brief period of time, it was difficult to say whether or not she would be interested in becoming a regular. She would certainly need to make good on that first few visits deal that was posted on the door before she made a decision. That, and she would need to explain it to her younger brother so that he wouldn't be attempting to hunt her down after school if she decided to visit the Host Club more regularly. "We shall have to see then, won't we? I never believe first impressions are the best way to judge anyone or anything. They can often be deceiving, especially in high society."

Reina's head tilted to the side as the other host arrived. She smiled politely at the introduction. "An apology is not necessary in the slightest. The guests who are enthralled with the host club and its members are far more important than someone merely observing. It is a pleasure to meet you, Haruhi. I am finding that this club is quite different than I had expected, though not necessarily in a negative way." The confession was honest, though she kept things reserved in terms of not allowing any real opinion to show. A polite neutral stance was always safe in such settings.

"And you?" Reina inquired, watching Haruhi's expressions with the trained eye of a socialite. "Are you enjoying your first day as a host?" She spared a quick glance in Kyoya's direction and leaned in towards the short haired brunette, much like she had done earlier with Akari in the hallway. "Is this truly a place worth spending my time? You look like a candid young fellow, in comparison to this handsome young man whom, while I admire his way with words, would likely tell me anything I'd like to hear to appease my family."

She had said it quiet enough to seem like it was a secret, but loud enough that she fully expected Kyoya to hear the teasing words. Even though she jested, it was the truth. In the way he assessed people to read their intentions, she did the same. This club would offer them a chance to make connections, and even if it did not serve as the club's main purpose, she couldn't imagine someone from the Ootori family not taking advantage of the situation.

 

[thundercloud611]

Akari noticed that Hikaru seemed surprised, but the girl couldn't figure out why. Looking over and focusing on Kaoru, she noticed the same emotion on his face as well before he went back into what she can only call 'host mode', the smile and devious attitude returning. Huh. She'd have to remember that for later. Oh, who was she kidding. She was going to remember all of this even if she didn't want to. But what on Earth had both boys so gob smacked? Was she being too dirty?

Almost as quickly as she wondered that, she just as quickly realized that things could indeed get worse, and that no, she wasn't even dirty in the slightest compared to what the brothers' responses were. She felt her face flush with red at the mentioning of 'double the hands', and before she could stop herself, her eyes trailed down from Kaoru's eyes, down his body, and stopping at his hands. She swallowed, and began to stammer, and then - the boys were ripped apart by a tall blonde who instantly began tearing into the two.

Both panic and guilt made their way onto Akari's face as she watched the leader of the host club - 'Crap, what's his name?' - sternly tell off the twins for teasing her. Neither brother looked remorseful as the Disney Prince scolded them. As Kaoru responded, Akari did her best to ignore the way her heart skip beats at him calling her cute and beautiful. 'They probably compliment everyone, just ignore it.' she mentally told herself. Thankfully, Tamaki's name came back to her quickly and she did her best to save them from getting in more trouble. "Oh, Tamaki, actually it's alright. They threw me off but I don't think they meant harm, they're just doing their jobs. Thank you, but I'm fine. I've never been to a host club before, I panicked and egged them on."

She paused, and turned to look at the twins. "Sorry for getting you guys in trouble, and also for responding how I did. I have no idea where any of that came from." Akari admitted with a slightly embarrassed laugh, her hands reaching up to adjust her hair. Nerves always made her need to do something with her hands. "I tried to think on my feet, and it didn't go how I thought it would. I'll do my research before I come back." Hopefully she hadn't made either brother uncomfortable. Judging by their reactions to what she had said before, they weren't, but who knew.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Kyoya let a real smile bless his face at Reina's teasing and chuckled. "I'll pretend you didn't say that."

Haruhi seemed to ponder the question, with a finger tapping on her chin before she responded. "Well, it's certainly been... interesting." While it had sounded like Haruhi was maybe going to say something else, the quick look between Haruhi and Kyoya seemed to influence her answer. "I'll tell you what, I have a feeling there's not going to be a single boring day here. Just getting prepared to start hosting has been crazy. You won't experience a dull moment here."

Kyoya took a sip of his drink. That answer was good enough with him, and Haruhi was being as honest as she could be. Everything she said was true. The commotion going on between the twins, Tamaki, and Akari should be proof enough. Of course, that would probably be nothing in comparison to how the rest of the day could go, but Kyoya had no time traveling abilities to know for sure. "So, Reina. I'd have to agree with you on first impressions not always being reliable. I'd like to hope that means you'll at least give our host club another visit." Kyoya was a business minded person, and he wanted to ensure that she would come back. "I can't promise that the other hosts are as... predictable, as me, but Haruhi is right. You will certainly leave with a story to tell your family of."

The brunette nodded her head in agreement. "And if you want, we can make sure your friend doesn't get bullied by Hikaru and Kaoru too." she offered. The girl pretending to be a guy bent down and picked up a mint from the tray she set down, popping a mint in her mouth. "Hey, Kyoya? Since it's slow, I'm gonna get some cleaning done unless you need me to do anything else first."

Kyoya waved his hand and shook his head. "That's fine, thank you for bringing the snacks over. If you don't feel like cleaning you can just sit at your table and do homework or something, I don't really care." He sighed. Was the host club not interesting enough, or had everyone just booked at the same time? Yes, every host had guests earlier, but now it seemed so empty. Tamaki had a few girls left, the twins had Akari, and Kyoya himself had Reina. Was that really it for the day? Not that he cared too much, after all he was enjoying his time with Reina, but it was a little off putting.

Kyoya had to respect Reina's play of not giving too personal of an opinion about the club. It was a tactic Kyoya himself often used with acquaintances, for he didn't want to offend or insult anybody he didn't know. Naturally, he would share his often unpopular opinions with his friends at the host club, but that was different. Reina really was a proper lady. He wondered if she was always like this, and how long it would take to break that barrier if he ever had the opportunity to try. The longer they spoke, the more interesting she was, the more he found that they had in common. It did help that she was rather pretty.

 

[.Phantom.]

Kaoru wasn't given but merely a fraction of a second to register that their guest had looked over him, nor was he given a moment to have any time to think about it, much less attempt to tease her for the way her eyes had been inevitably drawn to his hands -- of course they were, given the topic of their playful discussion -- because he was jerked back from invading her personal space by none other than their angry club president. He could often get lost in a lecture session, but usually he was better at refraining from blowing up in such a manner when they still had guests. Today appeared to be an exception.

It was strange to see her not immediately become flustered by the attention of the club's most popular host. Tamaki Suoh was the busiest of all of the host club members, always becoming booked full for the day. Even with it being slow, the princely blond had the most customers out of them all. Kaoru's interest in her was caught even further, studying her with more intensity than before as she explained the situation to their upset leader. He wasn't even tuned into the conversation as the older boy reassured her once again to not let the twins intimidate her into covering for them. Hikaru protested with a noise, but his younger twin brother was fascinated by the young lady before them.

His eyes flickered to the way her hands moved to toy with her hair as she made her own apology to them for the misunderstanding between them and their club president. It barely registered to him that the blond had once again made his way back towards his guests, leaving the three alone once more. "Tamaki-senpai just gets like that sometimes," Kaoru responded with a shrug, hoping he could reassure her a little. If she felt too embarrassed thinking she caused some kind of scene, she may not come back. He didn't want this to be the only time he saw her.

"Yeah, the boss gets all worked up over nothing." Hikaru added on to his twin's comment, lacing his fingers together behind his head. His desire to tease and fluster Akari had dwindled, ruined by the interruption of one obnoxious second year.

"Just because most of the girls can't string together words to respond doesn't mean you're not allowed to. We are here to entertain our guests to suit their desires, as Kyoya-senpai often says, so if you're interested in witty, flirty banter, then we're more than happy to oblige." Once more, Kaoru felt that he was almost desperate in his attempt to 'casually' keep her from feeling as though she shouldn't return. If he made it abundantly clear that she had done nothing wrong, and he wasn't reading the way she was looking at him wrong, then he may have possibly snagged him and his brother a fun new toy. Though a voice in the back of his head was wondering more about her life, for her to not know what a host club was and to be good at flirting back.

Breaking up the rather monotonous routine of their hosting days would be one of the things the twins would enjoy immensely. Their days with the other hosts after the club hours were over could offer some amusement, but it still wasn't enough for them. No matter how enthralled they may temporarily seem to be with a certain person or subject, they were quick to grow bored of their subject and completely toss it aside. Usually, if it was a person, they were nothing short of relieved to no longer be the subject of the twins' attention, since that typically involved being constantly pranked or teased. He wondered how long Akari would keep their attention. Would they grow bored of her quickly, or would she be able to endure their mischievous personalities?

---

If she had merely been teasing Kyoya and not expecting an answer from Haruhi, Reina may have continued the gentle banter about the sweet-talk of a host. But she had posed a question to the brunet and did not want to seem like the type to ask a question without a care for the answer, so her attention remained on the short boy waiting for him to tell her his thoughts. She was quick to catch onto the choice of wording, as well as the slow response. It reminded her of her own way of addressing others. She also wasn't oblivious enough to not notice the look passed between the two, though she did pretend that she was more interested in admiring the design of her tea cup and not paying attention to that subtle moment of eye contact.

"I fully intend to continue visiting the host club." Reina stated confidently. "It would be arrogant to assume that I have learned all there is to know about host clubs based on a singular interaction. Though," the young woman paused momentarily to glance over towards the princely blond who was mere inches from one of his red-faced guests saying words she could not make out, "I can say with confidence that I do not believe any of your hosts will fluster me with such methods of flirtation, so I do hope that it will not wound their pride to not get the usual reactions."

Being able to remain composed despite such a thing might be seen as her attempting to be arrogant in itself, which wasn't her intention at all, either. Reina simply could not imagine herself becoming swept up in being showered with compliments no matter how attractive the boy was, knowing that it was an act. The lack of genuine emotion and desire from the flirting person fell flat to her. It was nothing like what she fantasized about when reading books. Even if they took her favorite character and acted just like him, it would not change a thing.

"That said," she continued as her gaze traveled over the raven haired boy's features, taking in the shape of his nose, the contours in his cheeks, "I do look forward to watching them attempt to do so. In fact, should any singular host manage to genuinely fluster me, I would consider making a sizeable donation as a reward." Was it a little bit of a subtle challenge? Absolutely. She had taken notice in the way he responded to her being more forward and bold with claims, thus figured this approach would be for the best to prevent the conversation from growing stagnant.

 

[thundercloud611]

"I'm just glad you guys didn't get in too trouble. I'm sorry he gave you guys a hard time." Akari apologized again, looking between the two boys. "I'm definitely coming back though. You guys are so funny, and there's no way I'm letting me being a mess be your guys' lasting impression of me." The girl turned her head to watch Tamaki entertain his other guests. After a moment, she looked back over at the twins, a smile on her face. "Trust me, I like a challenge. I'm so out of my realm here, but that was embarrassing. Next time you guys are open, I'm coming back. Besides, I think someone in my class said you guys have a game you like to have people play. I'm gonna win it."

Ah yes, the 'which twin is Hikaru' game. While she was in line buying her food at lunch, she overheard some girls in line ahead of her talking about the boys. Of course, at that moment in time she had no idea who Hikaru or Kaoru were, but the absurdity of the game had stood out to her. She had an advantage, but she also just wanted an excuse to see the boys again. Her dad was a twin, and Akari herself had a good memory. Being famous required her to be able to memorize names and details in order to not offend anyone (and sometimes, scripts for the few commercials she was in), so she was rather quick with remembering people. Often she feigned forgetfulness but even her guesses were usually right.

Momentarily, her eyes flickered back down to Kaoru's hands. In embarrassment that brought a rush of heat to her face, she quickly averted her eyes to Hikaru's and said, "So, is everyone as... good, as you guys are at hosting? I mean, I see Tamaki flirting with his guests, but it's different than how you two seem to be." Okay, maybe calling them good hosts would bring on more teasing, and in hindsight she knew she had it coming with that wording, but it came out of her mouth before she could think about it. In an attempt to not draw attention to it, she continued, "And the girl I came in with, Reina, is talking to Kyoya, who doesn't look like he's trying to knock her socks off. Actually, they both look like they're just talking."

Akari could feel herself squirming a little under Kaoru's gaze, and though she fought the urge to run and hide, she couldn't help but fiddle with the cuff on her school jacket. Hell, even when he wasn't flirting with her, she was still no better than any of their guests. She supposed she had it going for her that most of the other girls hadn't tried to rise to the challenge of flirting back. Kaoru had mentioned something about that, and it was the only thing she was holding onto right now. It was the rift in the sea of Kaoru's eyes that Akari was trying her hardest to not drown in.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Kyoya raised an eyebrow with a smirk on his face. "Oh?" he asked, feeling more than up to the challenge. If Reina wanted to play a game, he would oblige. Well, in his own way. The other host members would certainly be his guinea pigs, but he wanted Reina to come back and talk to him again. He told himself it was just for business reasons, as their relationship being good would benefit him greatly, but deep down he knew that's not all there was to it.

"You seem very well put together, but I'd be happy to see you return. And don't you worry, I don't think any of our members would be upset should you not get swept off your feet. We like a good competition."

"Oh wow, I just brought all this food out and we close in about ten minutes." Haruhi's voice interrupted. Internally, Kyoya chastised Haruhi for possibly rushing Reina, but he instead only glanced over at the clock. Wow, their conversation had really flown by. It explains why Tamaki had rushed over there so quickly, there was only a little bit longer before the club would close for the day.

"Reina, you are welcome to stay while we do our closing duties. If you plan on returning, I'd like to properly introduce you to everyone before you come back. I want you to feel comfortable enough to lose to any one of my friends." Naturally, the teasing and competitive nature shone in his voice, but his polite smile stayed all the same.

Haruhi left to begin wiping down empty tables, and Kyoya noticed out of the corner of his eye that Honey and Mori had went over to the laptop connected to the music over the speakers currently playing gentle piano music. He knew they were going to put on one of Tamaki's many playlists for the club. During hosting hours, classical music played over the speakers, but when they closed, the music was rather different. It ranged anywhere from American pop music to theatrical music. Unbeknownst to Kyoya, Akari was in every single playlist, and so he hadn't noticed at all when the music changed that it was a song Akari made.

Kyoya kept his gaze on Reina as he took another sip of his drink. This girl was interesting. He couldn't get a very clear read on her, but she was right about first impressions. He would need to see her a few more times before he made a final call on her. He already noticed that she did like to have fun, to some degree, her family was a good subject to talk on, but not in all cases, and she was connected to his family by business. She would be a good friend to keep around. Not to mention that she was pretty and made Kyoya feel things that he wasn't sure he'd ever felt before.