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Fandom ʜᴇ ᴡᴀꜱ ꜱᴜɴꜱʜɪɴᴇ ɪ ᴡᴀꜱ ᴍɪᴅɴɪɢʜᴛ ʀᴀɪɴ (ᴘʀɪᴠᴀᴛᴇ)

"Don't worry about it," Hikaru was the one to speak up while her attention was over on Tamaki and his guests.

"Yeah, we get lectured daily." Kaoru admitted with a small chuckle, thinking about the most recent event that had caused the blow up from their club president. Before the school year had even begun, Tamaki had insisted they all get together to discuss the host club and what they would be doing for the first day in regards to the auction. The twins had pulled a prank about the very vase that Haruhi ended up breaking, which only made the whole thing that much funnier.

It was a different kind of experience, a girl like Akari. Kaoru was immediately drawn to the oddity of her behavior which was so much different than the elite girls he had grown up around. Even their elementary and middle school years were filled with those from elite pedigrees, so for this girl to be so confident while simultaneously getting flustered to the point of being tongue-tied briefly it was a new experience. His lips were pulled into an amused smirk as he listened to her, head tilted to the side. Despite their clear enjoyment of watching her squirm she insisted she would be coming back? A single brow rose as she continued on, boldly claiming that she would win their game. "You sound so confident about that." He knew many girls who had faith in their abilities, but so far no one had won the game. Ever.

Not that it mattered, since even when the girls guessed correctly, the boys always claimed they were wrong. Since it was sheer luck that caused them to get it right to begin with. "I can't wait for you to play," he hummed. He was quick to pick up on things, so he noticed the way she looked at him only to turn to his twin instead. Hikaru was too busy answering her to watch as closely. That was the excuse he was using for the unusual fascination he had towards the short girl whose head barely came up to his shoulder. She was so small.

Hikaru's lips twitched with amusement at her observation, humming in a tone that verbalized the look in his eye. "Curious about the other hosts, are you?" He questioned. "Are we not enough for you, princess?" Had he remembered her name, he would have used it in place of the pet name. However, only Kaoru usually bothered to remember the names of their guests unless they came often enough. Some names he picked up on due to his brother's use of them. "Greedy little thing, aren't we?"

Kaoru gently shoved Hikaru over, since his twin was intent on flirting rather than answering questions. That was it, yes, not because he wanted to catch Akari's attention again. That'd be silly. "We each have our roles. Not all girls enjoy the same type of guy, so we offer a variety. Honey is cute and childlike, which appeals to girls who like cute things. Mori senpai is the strong silent type," as he explained, he pointed in their direction so that she could observe for herself each individual. "Tamaki is the club's prince, so he dons the gentlemanly prince type. Kyoya is the cool type."

"And then there's us." Hikaru looped an arm around Kaoru's shoulders, leaning in close to his twin.

"The mischievous type." Kaoru finished. "Though today we got a new member. Haruhi is still finding out what type he is." The fact that they were harboring a girl pretending to be a boy in their host club was another great source of amusement for the twins. Kaoru wondered how long the farce would last before it was discovered. Pushing those thoughts aside for the time being, he looked to their last client of the day and smiled at her. She was rather cute when her face was red as she stumbled over her words.

In the background, he heard the music change from the typical routine to the playlist that hinted the end of the host day. "Awe man," Hikaru pouted as it registered to him as well. "Looks like our time is up. You think we can get away with pretending we don't know what time it is?" The older twin asked Kaoru, who contemplated it briefly. If they looked super caught up in their conversation, or rather their teasing, with Akari then there was a chance. Kyoya didn't look particularly rushed to send his singular guest running either, which was rather odd. Even though he was usually careful to not offend guests, it would be typical for him to politely excuse himself and explain that they needed to finish for the day. He looked back to the new guest.

"You don't need to rush out of here if you do not wish to. It seems your friend is staying while we begin to clean up for the day, and it would be rude to send you away without her." Kaoru decided it was a reasonable excuse to give Kyoya if Akari did not wish to leave just yet. He was hoping she would stay, but if she chose to leave then he couldn't make her do what she did not want to do.



Seeing as she had already made up her mind to join the Host Club as a guest, she would need to find ways to keep herself entertained. She told herself that the constant social interaction was good for her. It was sometimes difficult to integrate into new schools, so being able to meet with other girls in her school would help. If today was slow, she couldn't imagine that she would have private conversations with any of the hosts like she was now very often, if ever. Today was likely just a rare slow day for the club. Naturally, the comment from the brunet drew her attention to the clock. So they would be done for the day soon? She would need to inform her driver to come pick her up, which meant she would be alone at the school for a while to wait for him to arrive.

"I would hate to impose while you are getting ready to retire for the day. Overstaying my welcome on my first visit would be rather impolite." Reina responded. "Though..." she added slowly as she thought something over before she finally decided on saying it, "if you would not mind additional assistance, I would be happy to lend a hand in cleaning up after I call my driver. It'll be nearly an hour before he gets here, so helping would make the time go by a little faster."

Reina knew logically, she would be best off to simply go find a nice tree to wait under. Though she kept a healthy diet and exercised regularly, if she exerted too much energy and grew tired even over small things, it would worry her family. They were all unreasonably overprotective of her, despite the doctor's constantly giving her the all-clear. Still, if she was still sitting around while everyone else was cleaning up around her it would feel massively awkward and uncomfortable. At the very least, being able to offer assistance felt like she was doing something.

If her offer was rejected, she could always see if the girl she came with would like to hang out for a bit before she left. Then she could spend some of the time waiting by doing something productive, like make a new friend. The first day of school was quite taxing, especially since she stayed longer than the average student to enjoy some time at the famous host club.
 
Was it already time to leave? The teen was sure that the time flew by when she was getting played with by Hikaru and Kaoru, but time had moved rather painfully slow for her. Time was funny like that. She was already sad to be leaving, but a little thankful. Did the host club closing meant that the twins would stop messing with her, or were they like that all the time? When Akari realized that it was the music that made the boys realize it was almost closing time, her eyes widened in surprise. Yes, the music had changed, that's not what she cared about. But she was all the way in Japan. Why was her album playing over the speakers?

It appeared she wasn't the only one to notice it. A girl at Tamaki's table, blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, seemed to have just connected whatever dots had previously perplexed the girl. A wide grin crossed the girls face, and Akari could only smile sheepishly in response. Normally, she would go over and offer to autograph something, or take a selfie, but all the could think was 'Oh my God. Did she see me make a total fool of myself?'. Thankfully, the fan appeared deep in conversation with Tamaki, but she knew that if the twins were talking about closing up for the day, that Tamaki wouldn't be able to hold her in place for much longer. Maybe once Akari's face went to a normal shade and she wasn't so mortified, she would approach the girl....perhaps ten years from now, seeing as that was probably going to be the earliest she would return to a regular state.

Akari gave a smile to the twins. "Actually, I can help you guys if you want. I don't live far from here so I'm walking home, and I know you said your boss gets bent out of shape over little things, but I still feel bad that you guys got in trouble." She focused her attention on Kaoru, and continued teasingly, "Besides, you have to show me that you can actually use your hands. Surely you two aren't just talk." Upon seeing Kyoya stand up at his table, the girl turned and smiled at Reina, offering a small wave. She hadn't forgotten about her new acquaintance entirely, but she did forget that she was also in the room the entire time. Akari wondered how her conversation with Kyoya went, hopefully she would spill the beans about it.

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"Well, seeing as the twins offered for your friend to stay while we close, we don't really need help besides moving a few tables." Kyoya glanced over at the twins and shot them a very brief but intended stare. It wasn't within the norm for them to be so attached to a guest. There were only a handful of women that caught their interest, but naturally by the end of the week those girls were forgotten about. This was a first, them offering a girl more time spent after host hours.

"For safety reasons, I don't like to leave without knowing that our ladies have made it off school grounds safely, so I will wait with you and Akari if you two are comfortable with it." Kyoya knew for a fact that he could have his own personal security at the school within minutes to stand and wait with the girls, but if he was going to let the twins off with nothing less than a stare, surely he could cash in his own selfish act to even the score between himself and the Hitachiin twins. Besides, him staying with Reina and Akari meant that the rest of the host would probably wait with them as well, so it would give the girls a unique chance to get to speak with everyone in a way that most women didn't get to. Not to mention that one of Tamaki's favorite artists was in the room with him and he had yet to figure it out yet, unlike one of the American students that were standing at his table, getting ready to leave.

Kyoya himself stood up off the couch, tucking his laptop under his arm and looking down at Reina from his glasses. "If you and Akari can move the three tables on the other side of the room to the wall and wait outside, I will accompany you two momentarily. I'm going to check in with my hosts before we lock up." He gave a cool smile to the beauty sitting before him. "Reina, I'm appreciative of you sitting down and talking to me. I understand how a host club could be jarring, coming from an all girl's school. So thank you."
 
Kyoya must have been in a really good mood for him to not scold them about inviting Akari to stay after hours at the club. Hikaru and Kaoru shared a look that housed an entire silent conversation between them that no one but them was privy to. It appeared that Akari wasn't the only new girl to capture the attention of one of the hosts. If it was true that the light haired girl sitting with Kyoya was the reason for his leinency, they wondered how much they could get away with if she assisted them. Later they would test the limits of that theory, but for now they were going to take the win of merely being given a look that spoke of his disproval.

"That means he's okay with it." Kaoru whispered to Akari with a grin that showed his excitement. If she truly lived so close, maybe he could see if Hikaru would be willing to walk her home, and then they could just get picked up from wherever her house was. Would that be too much? He thought about it, and realized that it would be far too much. On her first day if they showed favoritism to the girl, she may end up getting bullied by some of their more... touchy regulars. Pity. He was looking forward to teasing her more. For now he would have to wait until the next time she decided to grace the host club with her presence.

"We're getting to work, Kyoya-senpai. Promise." Hikaru waved a hand airily in the direction of their vice president and, using the arm around Kaoru's neck, began dragging his twin over towards the supply closet that had the cart they would put the remainder of the dishes used on. The hosts did 'clean up' for closing, but not like a normal facility would. They were still the children of rich parents, and thus there would be janitors to come by and clean up the real mess including the sweeping and mopping, the wiping down of windows and taking care of the dishes they'd made. However, Tamaki had insisted they at least do enough to be polite to those cleaning up after them.

Neither twin minded this too much. It gave them extra time to spend with their friends on a regular basis, and now that they had Haruhi, things were going to be even more fun. Today was special, since they'd have extra guests tagging along. "This should be fun." Hikaru said quietly to his twin, who nodded his head in agreement immediately.



"I do not mind in the slightest." Reina knew better than to turn down a gentlemanly offer, even if she was certain she was safe. She just barely slipped her phone from her school bag when Kyoya stood, capturing her attention immediately. Though she was confident in not being able to be flustered by any of the hosts, she was unnecessarily drawn in by the dark haired boy looking down at her. "Your concern for our wellbeing is appreciated. Thank you for your hospitality."

After a quick phone call to her driver -- who scolded her for not calling sooner -- she stood and made her way over to where Akari was now by herself once the twins finally left her side in order to get to work. If they were closer, she may have greeted her by teasing her about the way she got flustered so entirely by the devilish twins, but they had only just met despite her calling the girl a friend. "Thank you for coming with me. As I thought, had I arrived alone I may have turned around immediately and left with some excuse of being lost." She said instead.

The music playing in the background was vaguely familiar, but she couldn't recognize it right away. If she kept in touch more frequently with her friends in the hospital back in America she may have recognized the artist and song, but she found that sometimes it was difficult to speak with them, knowing that while she was years into having beat her illness, some of them were terminal and would never step foot from the hospital. Two of them had already passed in the last couple of years, and it sometimes still ate away at her if she let herself sit with the thoughts for too long.

"Shall we move these tables? I am not strong enough to move them alone, unfortunately." Reina hated how weak her body still was. While she was far healthier than she used to be, it had taken years for her body to recover to what could be considered 'normal' and now she was barely beginning to get the kind of strength she desired while not becoming too bulky and brutish.
 
Akari gave a smile to Reina, and crossed over to the other side of the table and lifted it. "Sure thing!" Thankfully, while the tables had just too much weight for Akari to be able to move them on her own, it was incredibly easy for two people (well, at least Akari anyways) to move. Within 5 or so minutes, almost all the tables had been moved. While the other hosts had continued to clean and organize the room, she thought it would be a good chance to ask Reina about how her visit with Kyoya went. But right when Akari forgot about the fan that had been sitting with Tamaki, she approached her.

"Hi, sorry to bother you. Are you the Akari Tamija?" The girl had snuck up behind the student as she helped Reina with one of the tables, so Akari jumped, startled. She turned to the blonde haired girl and laughed apologetically.

"Yes I am. Sorry, you totally scared me."

The girl, in her excitement, nearly cut off Akari's words as she butted in to continue talking. "That's okay! Can you sign the back of my polaroid? I've been a fan the entire time you've been famous, and I've gone to every single one of your shows. I can't believe we go to the same school!" The girl scrambled to pull out a photo of what appeared to be her and another student out of the back of her clear phone case, and all but shoved it in Akari's hands. Thankfully she was used to this and gently took the sharpie from the girl and delicately signed the back of the photo.

"Definitely! And I'm so glad to hear that, thank you for your support. What's your name?" she asked.

The fan, awestruck, blurted out, "Sora."

Akari glanced up at her, still busy with the items in her hands. "It's nice to meet you, Sora. I didn't know I had any reach across America."

"Oh trust me, you're famous here too. Once people figure out that you're here, you're going to need your full security again. Your last album changed my life, I've had it on repeat since the day it came out. Thank you," she paused, taking back everything she had tossed at Akari. "my mom is never going to believe me. This is the best day ever!"

Akari nodded along as Sora continued to gush about her music, the way it impacted her, how she was going to love going to school here, and, embarrassingly, for about two minutes straight Sora gushed about the twins and how they definitely seem like Akari's type based on her exes. It was clear that it was within Akari's comfort zone to talk to fans. A genuine smile was on her face, and she didn't seem even a fraction of uncomfortable or embarrassed, the way she had been with Koaru and Hikaru. Momentarily, she forgot where she was and engaged a bit with Sora as she spoke. While she normally would've loved to have a longer conversation, at the first gap in the run-on sentence that Sora had said, she butted in. "I would love to talk to you more, but I need to help my friend over here with these tables." Thankfully, the fan took the hint, and left shortly after.

A sheepish 'I've been caught' expression made its way onto Akari's face as she turned back to Reina, and lightly jogged over to help her with the last table. "I'm sorry about that. This is the last place I was expecting to get recognized." She paused. "So, how was your visit with Kyoya? Is this club what you thought it'd be?"

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Kyoya made his way over to the twins while the girls started moving the tables, and feigned helping clean a table. Did it really take three people to clean one table and the seats to it? No, but he needed to get close enough to speak to them without the girls hearing. Leaning in close to them as he picked up some dishes, he asked, "What was that earlier with Akari? I'm not going to get any complaints about the two of you playing favorites, am I?" Kyoya was fantastic at managing things and budgeting, as well as dealing with problems with guests, but it didn't mean he enjoyed dealing with the latter. It reflected bad on him when there were any bad situations in the club.

Thankfully, he had a hunch that the twins had indeed been careful enough. While he was talking to Reina, he was still paying attention to all of the guests, and nobody looked like they were feeling left out, but part of his job was to get on the hosts if they were too close to toeing the line. Kyoya took great delight in putting the fear of God in his friends. Not that it was what he was doing right then, but if it still sent a chill down the Hitachiin twins' spines, he wouldn't have a problem with that.

Leaning back up, he turned and put the dishes on the cart. He noticed Haruhi walking around and collecting the rest of the dishes from other tables, seemingly getting the hint that Kyoya was trying to privately speak to the boys. Or maybe she was just dense, or didn't care about what they were talking about. Honestly, Kyoya didn't know her too well, but any of those possibilities seemed likely. He was just thankful for whatever the case was.

At a normal volume, he informed the hosts, unaware of the fan and Akari talking, "Miss Reina will be waiting for her driver once we lock up, and I will be waiting with her. Nobody has to stay with us, but if anyone would like to, you are more than welcome to. Normal club hours will be tomorrow, but don't forget your costume makeup. Tomorrow is a themed day."

Kyoya grabbed a wet rag from the sanitation bucket and rung it out, the excess water dropping back into the bucket. He then started to wipe down the tables around him. They didn't really need cleaned, as a lot of them didn't even have crumbs, but Tamaki insisted on attempting to clean up after themselves.

Deep down, Kyoya was hoping that for once, the twins and Tamaki would want to mind their own business and that they would go home without Kyoya, but he knew that this probably wouldn't be the case. Tamaki had to be the center of attention at all times, and the twins wanted to be in everyone's business. Plus, all of them liked deviating from the normal, so this would most likely catch their interest enough to delay everyone going home. He had been hoping for more alone time with Reina, but hopefully he could get it another time. After all, she had promised to come back.

Kyoya leaned back in to the twins, and quietly asked with a raised eyebrow, "Was everything alright earlier? What was with you two and that girl?" he asked in a low voice, quiet enough for the girls to not hear. For some reason, one of Tamaki's guests was just now leaving, and it appeared that Akari was moving back to Reina to help move the last table. Ah, Reina. He almost didn't hear the twin's responses due to looking at her. He brought his dark eyes back down from her figure to the Hitachiin twins. Kyoya wasn't sure he had a type, but the girl he just met had been occupying his mind ever since he started talking to her. She was pretty, smart, and interesting. Not that none of the girls at Ouran weren't any of those things, but not many women hit all three marks.
 
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The question was to be expected, seeing as Kyoya was a strict manager when it came to the girls and the hosts, as well as the boundaries they had in place. Kaoru was going to quickly soothe his worries, not wanting Akari to be forbidden from visiting them because he had been unable to keep his attention off of her for very long. He wasn't given the chance to, because his twin seemed to have picked up on something himself, instead giving Kyoya a Cheshire cat grin. "We were simply welcoming her, senpai." Hikaru casually waved off his concern with a rag before he continued with the chair he was in the middle of cleaning. "If anyone should be worried about playing favorites, it's you." Kaoru's brow rose in question. He hadn't really paid much attention to other hosts and their guests. But Hikaru apparently had.

Before his brother could antagonize their vice president any longer, Kaour butt in. "You won't be getting any complaints. All of the guests there mostly prefer the brotherly love bit that we do aside from Hana, and she fainted again." He knew that he would need to be much more careful in the future not to show favoritism. The ginger leaned on his elbows, blinking up at him. "Besides, it's common knowledge that we choose toys every now and then. No one will think anything of it." Except he did. Kaoru found that the way her cheeks flushed with color was more attractive than he thought it should be. It was an entirely knew feeling stirring within him. Today was such a weird day.

Both twins made the silent decision to be more careful when Kyoya made his announcement. Almost immediately, their faces twisted into offense. "Hey!" Hikaru couldn't help his volume from being above the hushed tones they had been using. Kaoru shot him a glare briefly before their penetrating stares bore into Kyoya. "We are playing favorites, huh?" Oh yeah, the twins were definitely going to keep this in mind. Already their minds were turning. What sort of things could they get away with if Kyoya took interest in a guest? They both were suddenly very interested in getting to talk with the guest he sat with to find out more about what had caused Kyoya, of all hosts, to take an interest. Kaoru, though, was glancing over in their direction to watch Akari. She was in the middle of a conversation with a girl he knew visited Tamaki. Was she flustered by something?

If they hung out after host hours, would Kyoya get mad? They had some classes together didn't they? He could find an excuse to talk to her. Maybe get notes if he "forgot" to pay attention in class? As his thoughts swirled, he missed Kyoya's second question and his answer to their own. Hikaru, on the other hand, was grinning. "She is very fun to toy with, that's all. Sometimes she tried to flirty back boldly and immediately got shy about it." The older twin explained, lifting the chair to set it upside down on the table. Even as he spoke, Kaoru did not let his gaze leave where Akari was until an elbow found his ribs. With a noise of irritation leaving his lips as he turned to glare at his twin, he realized that he had entirely zoned out. Pink tinged the tops of his ears, and he was grateful Hikaru didn't tease him about it though he was given a look that said when they got home they'd be having a talk. "You're the one who wanted to recruit new guests. We hooked her. She saw it as a challenge." He added, though he wasn't overly concerned about reassuring Kyoya.



Reina wasn't quite sure how she should go about talking with Akari, though she figured a good starting point would be her session with the twins. Before she parted her lips to say a word, one of the other guests approached with obvious intentions of talking to Akari. Not wishing to intrude, the dirty blonde haired girl kept quiet during the entirety of their interaction. It also finally flicked where she had heard of Akari before. Or rather, where she had seen her. Some of her friends in America were obsessed with her music, and often sent her songs to check out. Most of the time she listened on occasion and had enjoyed the music, though she wasn't one of her die hard fans or anything.

She wasn't about to awkwardly hang around while they conversed, so she quietly excused herself and continued moving the tables she could with extreme caution. If she even looked a little more tired than usual when her driver and brother showed up, she was going to be hauled off to the hospital. Reina just managed to get the singular table moved all of the way to the corner when Akari rejoined her. An understanding smile graced her lips immediately, "There is no need for an apology. I am betting that you just made that girl's whole day." She herself knew that media and Somethings could help people get through tough times. For her, the novels she read and the content she consumed of fictional worlds had helped her.

Reina briefly considered her visit with Kyoya. "He was very courteous." She settled on with a small nod of her head. "I felt more like I was having a conversation in one of those silly k-dramas where the parents set up a blind date than being flirted with, not that I minded." Reina couldn't say it was what she expected, since she had kept her expectations as low as possible. "As I explained to Kyoya, I do not think first impressions should be taken as truth. A few more visits will certainly determine if I enjoy it or if it's not quite my ideal entertainment."

Not wishing to keep the spotlight on herself, and to keep a conversation, she smiled lightly. "What of your visit? Everyone was certainly very interested in what was happening at your table. Those twins seem to live up to their title of devilish." The teasing tone was gentle enough as to show that they weren't quite good friends yet, but enough so to show she was attempting to become friends through teasing her. It was the fine line she often walked while around others she barely knew.
 
"Oh, devils they are. I made a total fool of myself," she groaned quietly, her hands going up to her head and rubbing her temples with embarrassment. "I agree with what you said about first impressions, but hopefully they do too. I was in for a surprise, that's for sure." Akari let her hands move back to her sides and she returned the smile to Reina. Thankfully, this girl was nice. Akari was having a hard time reading her, because she seemed a little standoffish in the sense of being more proper than anyone Akari had been friends with before, but in brief conversation, the girl wasn't awfully stuck up like Akari had been worried about. Besides, her tone and mannerism of how she spoke to Akari proved that first impressions really weren't everything. They were getting along fine, and she actually was starting to hope she would run into the girl more often.

"So, you're coming back?" She asked, briefly looking over at Kyoya, who was talking to the twins. He didn't seem all that interesting at at a first glance (or any, Akari would later reflect on towards the end of the school year), but he was polite, much like Reina was. Maybe that's why they got along. Not that two nice people couldn't get along, but both of them screamed 'rich' and 'polished', so they had that in common. Maybe Akari herself would find Kyoya to be interesting enough for conversation eventually.

Right when she had been considering if she would dare step foot in the host club again, her eyes landed on Kaoru, who had already been starring at her. This surprised her a bit, not because he had been looking at her at all, but because it appeared that he had been doing it for longer than what was normally considered 'zoning out' or being an accident. She felt her heart skip a beat. But before she could offer him a small wave, he was getting elbowed by his brother and was pulled back into a conversation with Kyoya, one that was looking more animated the longer the three of them spoke. A smile tugged at the corner of her lips, and she tore her eyes off of him to focus back on Reina. "Maybe we could start coming together. We don't have to sit with the same hosts if you don't want to, but I'd feel better coming back if I at least knew one person in the room."

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Kyoya watched, first in mild annoyance then amusement, as Hikaru jumped to defend both himself and his brother as they spoke of Akari. While the ravenette heard everything Hikaru was saying, visually he was more focused on Kaoru, and the way he was starring at that girl. "We aren't playing favorites, although if we were as a collective it would be fine in this one instance. We don't want these girls who we just met to have something happen on their way home." He paused, to focus all his attention on Kaoru.

His brother may not notice or understand as much as Kyoya did, but he was certainly picking up on Kaoru's interest in Akari. While he may be telling himself that Akari was nothing more than a temporary toy, he could almost see the wheels turning in the calmer Hitachiin's head when he had been staring at her. Perhaps it would be something more, but Kyoya was going to meddle if he could. A temporary infatuation with a guest would be no good for business. Should it bloom into something more he would deal with it then, but if other guests were to find out they were being favored, and should Hikaru piece together anything more than his brother was acting strange, it could cause a lot of problems.

Kyoya, on the other hand, knew (thought) that his interest in Reina was nothing more than her being pretty and having some substance to her person. It was always refreshing to talk to someone new, and of course it benefitted him personally to keep her around. It was a great excuse to have someone there who already stated they would be returning to the host club. Selfishly, he was thankful for it, and in true Ootori style, nobody would suspect anything if he said exactly that when someone questioned him about Reina. It was perfect. It wasn't anything like whatever Kaoru was feeling, and even if it was, it was fine. Because Kyoya said so.

"Be careful." he finally said, looking up to the girls and seeing Akari and Reina in conversation now that the fan had left. He looked back down to the twins. "Even if she flirts back, keep in mind that she is a famous songwriter, so we don't want any bad press." Wait, had the twins even known that? Probably not. But as soon as the words left his mouth, he hadn't had time to dive any further as he heard a loud gasp. With a sigh, he looked up and saw Tamaki, star struck and frozen in place with a shocked expression on his features. Kyoya chose to ignore this. "Now, are you two staying with us while we wait for their rides?" he asked, paying no mind to Tamaki's pacing and rambling to nobody about how he might be Akari's biggest fan, and Haruhi, who was half attempting to console the club's boss for not having a clue.
 
"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say Kyoya." The two red-headed boys chimed in unison, both waving off whatever concerns that the raven haired boy had about their new toy. Kaoru could understand the reservations that he had, considering their whole host club operated by selling how single each of the boys were and how much they catered to their clientele and their desires, with certain boundaries in place. While they would joke about things such as kisses or, in the twins case, more, they would never actually act on it. This was an unspoken rule amongst the guests and the hosts. Both of the twins knew this well. Only Kaoru cared enough to be careful sometimes when he realized they were getting too out of hand, but Hikaru was always simply enjoying himself in the moment.

Despite their less than excited reaction to learning that Akari was famous, Kaoru wondered why such an idol would even bother to come to a host club. Surely she had boys lining up to flirt with her, without needing to pay for anything and it being genuine. Was it because of the other girl she came in with? Too many questions were beginning to swirl around in the boy's head, which meant it was time for him to find his focus on something other than Akari. Except that was... slightly difficult. At least it was until Tamaki began to go on one of his spiels. He laughed at Tamaki, it taking a moment for Kyoya's words to actually process in his thoughts. "Of course we are." He made the decision for himself and his twin, who nodded his head in agreement.

"What kind of hosts would we be if we didn't stay?" Hikaru added, though it was pretty obvious that it was an excuse. If they weren't so interested in their newfound toy, and if they weren't curious about the interest Kyoya clearly had in the new girl they hadn't even really spoken to, then they would have taken off without another word. But things were different. Even if he said things that sounded very much like what the boy would usually say, there was no way he could come up with a reasonable excuse for his constant glancing in her direction or bothering with such a thing. Plenty of girls had stayed late before. Sometimes, girls would linger and attempt to get more alone time with the hosts intentionally. When that happened, the club was always quick to politely but firmly convince the girls it was time to leave, and that was the end of it. So even if he said it was for their safety, the twins knew there was more. And they wanted to find out what it was.



A small wince showed on Reina's face in sympathy to what Akari had to endure while sitting with the twins who had essentially come in, swept her off her feet to their table and decided on their own that she was going to be hosted by them even if she agreed to it. From what little she had seen, the twins had certainly made it their goal to see how red they could get the girl's face. It was also clear that she didn't have the same formal training in suppressing her emotions in the same way that Reina did, so she likely wasn't from old money in the same way that her own family was. There was nothing wrong with it, but Reina silently decided she would share some tips with Akari if she would let her in order to help her navigate the types of people she would run into during her time at Ouran.

"I am. I would like to sit with each host at least once before I make my decision on whether or not the host club is a good fit for me." She responded easily, gaze scanning over the boys cleaning up after themselves. That couldn't have been something they decided on their own, could it? Most raised in their lifestyles were never expected to clean up behind themselves. Sitting with Kyoya was rather entertaining, seeing as he seemed quite as reserved as she was, but it also put her on edge. If she were to find a club to join and spend most of the time there, she wanted to at least feel comfortable enough to give herself some breathing room. Right now she felt nothing short of suffocated.

Reina's intrigued gaze flickered between one of the ginger haired twins and Akari, noticing that the two were already sharing glances. A faint smile formed on her lips, though her thoughts sent warning bells in her head. Flirting with a host and falling for one were two different things. "Since I already plan on returning, it'd be an honor for you to join me even if it's only for the walk to the door. I find it's still a little embarrassing to think that I'd want to come to a place to be flirted with meaninglessly." Even then, she wasn't sure if that was what she would be coming for. If she wanted senseless flattery, she could just go home where her family pampered her like the princess they thought she was and the queen her former school declared her to be. "My ride is going to be slow in arriving, though if you plan on leaving already I wouldn't want you to feel obligated to wait for me."
 
"Good, then it's settled." Kyoya agreed. He motioned for Honey and Mori to come put the cleaning supplies away. Seeing as Honey was better at creating messes than cleaning them, it was an unspoken rule that Mori would distract the blonde boy while they cleaned so that he wouldn't try to help and wouldn't feel left out while everyone else tidied up the room. As the boys wheeled everything back where it belonged, Kyoya raised his hand and waved the girls over.

"Tamaki, instead of wondering what to say to her, why not just ask her?" Despite not having much of a clue what the blonde haired idiot was rambling on about, Kyoya could only assume it still had to do with Reina's acquaintance due to the animated walking and talking nonstop he had been doing. The blonde haired boy blinked and ran over to the girls. Welp, Kyoya had intended to try to talk to the both of them, but no matter, there would be time once Tamaki got over...whatever he was currently going through.

The Ootori was more interested in studying Reina as the two spoke, who had the ghost of a smile on her face when she had noticed Kaoru and Akari sneaking peaks at one another. Ah, so she was observant too. That was good to know. Kyoya was going to have to be on top of his game around this girl, there would be no room for error. Was she a fan of Akari's? Maybe she hadn't even heard of the girl before? It was hard to say due to her demeanor, but Kyoya liked a challenge.

"Ah, so you've met the King," Kyoya chimed in after a moment, following Tamaki over to talk to Reina. "if you do plan on meeting everyone, you will find out for yourself, but he is always like this." Normally this would've started a spat, but thankfully Tamaki was doing Tamaki things and therefore not paying attention. "I might suggest Honey and Mori next, perhaps work your way up to the more.... loud, personalities."

Though he said this in a teasing manner, it was actually something of a warning. As much as he loved his friends, he knew how some girls were when they first went to the host club and went with either Tamaki or the Hitachiin brothers first. It could be overwhelming and intimidating if you wanted to try a different host but was unsure of if they were all the same. Something told Kyoya that Reina wouldn't break even with the twins' antics, but it still should be said. Besides, he needed an excuse to talk to her again.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Akari's face lit up at the mentioning of Reina sitting with all the hosts, and then again when she agreed to their somewhat alliance. Akari knew they had only had a few small interactions, but she was thankful to at least have one familiar face around the halls, and it be another girl. She had a reputation in America for being something of a man eater, and although anyone who knew her personally could tell you that she wasn't a serial dater, (or that she couldn't even get a date due to her inability to tell when men were flirting with her), it still hung heavy over her head. If fans were here in Japan, she wanted to be able to prove that she could have gal pals too. This worked out perfect, because she wanted to make friends anyways. "Oh, I'd love that! You know, there's that period between classes ending and the host club opening, maybe we could wait together while-"

She had raised her hand to gesture in the direction of the hallway bench Reina had found her on, but instead she felt a hand place over hers and felt a shadow looming over her. Puzzled, she turned and was startled to see Tamaki Suoh gazing down at her adoringly, his hands under and over hers, a smile on his face. Akari's, on the other hand, had an expression of unease and surprise; an odd combo, but her emotions were clear as day on her face. It couldn't be any more clear than a literal sign hanging over her said saying 'Please don't flirt with me, my face will be empty if it loses any more color'.

"I'm so sorry to interrupt, but my friend Kyoya said that you are the Akari Tamija, I had to come over here and tell you how big of a fan I am of your music." He uncovered the top of the girl's hand and leaned down to plant a kiss on it. He looked back up at the singer and smiled. "My mother and I used to watch your videos online before you were famous, and I've gone to all of your big concerts. You even took a selfie with me at one of them! You're the reason I love playing the piano, and I don't throw that word around lightly-"

Behind him, Haruhi muttered something about that being a joke. Meanwhile, Akari's face had gone through a rainbow of expressions - nervousness, unease, to then erupting into joy once she realized that Tamaki wasn't there to tease her further, and he was a real fan. She momentarily forgot about Kaoru, her cheeks now pink in joy instead of shame, a massive grin on her face, and a sparkle in her eyes.

"Wow, really? No way, that's awesome! What a coincidence that we're both here, huh? You have to show me the picture!" Digging around in her pocket as Tamaki quickly pulled out his and began scrolling through his gallery, Akari asked excitedly, "Do you think you can text it to me?"
 
Watching Tamaki come undone and make an absolute fool out of himself was always something that the twins enjoyed watching unfold. Kaoru rested his elbow on his twins shoulder, leaning against his fellow ginger as his eyes tracked the blond running up to greet Akari. She was cute with such an expression etched onto her face as the overbearing 'prince' of the host club turned into the golden retriever puppy that he was known to be. If he had to put dog breeds to each host, their leader would definitely be a golden retriever. Kyoya, needless to say, was a black cat -- there was no way that cunning would suit a dog.

At his side, Hikaru snorted at the way Tamaki so quickly fell into his typical host role while introducing himself. "Hey Kaoru," he whispered to his twin. The younger boy glanced over to meet his brother's gaze. "Wanna take bets on how soon he asks her to visit him next time?" It was a common, and expected, practice for their new guests to hop around from host to host in the beginning until they settle down and pick a favorite. Sometimes, in rare occurrences, girls will have the host hopping disease and just hop from host to host regardless. If Akari decided to choose a host early, she could miss out on another host. The thought of her choosing Tamaki as her favorite caused Kaoru to frown. Quick to notice, Hikaru nudged his twin. "Uh-oh," Hikaru said in the same tone the two used when telling girls they got the game wrong. "Are you already getting possessive of our new toy?" He teased with a knowing grin.

Annoyed at Hikaru's words for no apparent reason, at least not one he was willing to think too hard on, Kaoru shoved against him and walked off without answering. It wasn't like him not to talk things out, but when Hikaru wanted to tease him, it was best to just ignore it. Especially if they were still in the host club. Instead, he happened to catch the tail end of Kyoya suggesting a host for the dirty blond girl to visit and he grinned. He knew exactly what he needed to help cheer him up.

Getting under the skin of Kyoya Ootori was a rare pleasure indeed. Usually he held himself so professionally even when he was being stern with the twins. They'd only ever seen him truly, genuinely, angry and terrifying if he was woken up early in the morning. It was well known that he wasn't a morning person in the slightest. So Kaoru sauntered over to the two with a large grin on his face. "If you're already looking to switch hosts, my brother and I are always looking to add to our harem." He joked with a grin. The way she responded would tell him immediately if he would be able to host to her or not. Girls who got offended would never be comfortable in the gaggle of girls the twins were surrounded by.



Reina wasn't given much time to hear the rest of what Akari was planning on saying, nor was she able to warn the girl about the sudden appearance of the princely blond she had spied out of the corner of her eye earlier while visiting with Kyoya. She stepped back to give the two some privacy to talk, though wasn't left alone for long due to the arrival of Kyoya. "This boy is the king of your club?" Reina questioned, giving him a once over. The hint of a smile quirked the corner of her lip, wanting to make a joke about her old nickname at her former school, but she didn't want to come off as arrogant in front of these people she did not know well. "He looks like he is a fair king, though you already know my thoughts on first impressions." She said instead, turning her attention to Kyoya.

Once more, she didn't have much a chance to respond to Kyoya, given the sudden interruption of one of the two boys Akari had been with earlier. She wasn't sure she would be able to tell anyone which twin was which, though given enough time and ability to study them, perhaps she would be able to make educated guesses eventually. A single brow rose in surprise by the comment, though she smiled in amusement. "I don't really believe that I am harem material, though I may give it a try once or twice out of sheer curiosity. We only live once, correct? Why not experiment around a little?" She could see the surprise on the Hitachiin boy's face at her response and felt a pang of pride.

"Who I visit my next trip will solely depend on how I feel that day. I may dare dive into the pits of hell with you devilish twins, or perhaps I'd like to be ceaselessly flattered on my beauty by the blond over there. Having a king dote on me would certainly be lovely, I think." The slight joking tone she had was faint enough that someone would need to really notice that she was being a little sarcastic to pick up on it. After having sat with him, she was certain Kyoya would notice. The same couldn't be said for the red-head.
 
As Tamaki scrolled ferociously through his phone to find the dated photo of the two of them together, Akari leaned a little into his shoulder to see the screen. There were a ton of photos there, but he very quickly found the picture. And yes, indeed, it was an old one. The writer knew exactly when and where this photo was taken. In the picture stood a 13 year old Akari hovered over the barricade of a stage that she had been performing to no less than twenty thousand people. In the picture, Tamaki was taking a selfie, a wide smile on his face, and Akari winked at the camera with a peace sign next to the left side of her head. It was her first big tour she had ever done, and it was all the way in France, when she did a special appearance for two nights. As to why Tamaki was there, she had no idea, but it was still insane that they had photographic evidence of a previous encounter. "You see? This is us!" Tamaki exclaimed excitedly.

"Wow, that's so cool!" Akari passionately agreed. "Can you send it to me?"

Tamaki handed his phone to Akari, who went straight to work on adding herself as a contact to his phone, and sending herself the photo. Meanwhile, Tamaki moved to stand in front of her and continued talking. She listened along to him rambling about "I can't believe I'm in the presence of a star~!" and "You writing about love inspired me to dote on women the way they deserve!". It, truthfully, was a lot even from a fan. But Akari made no effort to hide the joy in her face as she chattered along with the blonde, just as into the conversation as he was. It appeared that he was a true fan, and knew more than just her popular work. The two spoke at top speeds, enthusiastically, and as Akari handed Tamaki back his phone, he shot her a wink. "Well, if you ever come back to our glorious host club, please visit me at some point! I'd love to sit next to you at our piano and hear you play something, or just talk more. A beautiful woman like yourself deserves to engage in warm conversation and be pampered!"

Akari nodded her head in agreement. Well, her visit with the Hitachiin twins didn't go well, but this Tamaki guy sure was pretty interesting. Akari found herself genuinely flattered, and by the passion in the boy's eyes and voice as he spoke, it didn't seem like he was just talking about her music because he felt like he had to. After all, he had approached her. Besides, the host club was closed. She knew to not take it for what it seemed, but it still made her heart soar knowing that there might actually be fans out there who were this excited about her work. Akari didn't come from money, she had to earn it through her songwriting and music. She supported her entire family with her job. Aside from that, it was also what she loved doing and she was addicted to the highs of being a well liked person in the industry.

In the momentarily silence between the two, both Tamaki and Akari heard Kyoya speak and they turned to look at the group in conversation. Akari's eyes briefly looked over the twins, then focused back on Tamaki. "You know, if they really were bothering you, you can tell me." He said quietly, mistaking her glances of one as unease instead of what it really was. Akari shook her head and waved her hands.

"No, they really weren't. I've lived in America most of my - okay, yeah, you get it." Akari cut herself off upon seeing Tamaki's face light up and raise a finger, to imply that he was going to butt in saying he knew all of this already due to him being a fan. "They just threw me off. Plus, I think I have them in my class, so it doesn't bode well for making new friends."

"They are rotten, but deep down they aren't bad," Tamaki sighed, almost like he regretted saying it as soon as it came out. "Besides, we don't really have to keep up our 'host club' image outside of club hours. While we are pretty similar to our hosting personalities, we don't really flirt with anyone outside of here. But Hikaru and Kaoru do like to mess with people anyways, so maybe be careful."

Akari groaned, and Tamaki laughed, reaching a hand out and squeezing her arm. "Don't worry. If they cross a line, I'll have Kyoya take care of it."

______________________________________________________________

Kyoya watched, amused, as Reina and Kaoru spoke. The other boy in the conversation probably couldn't pick up on Reina's joking, but Kyoya certainly could. Especially given her actual reaction to Tamaki's behavior, it was clear that maybe he wasn't really her type. For some reason, the assurance made him feel good. He wasn't sure why he would care, so he ignored it and moved on the best he could. He didn't need to deal with whatever that was; he had a host club to run, good grades to maintain, and he still had to figure out what he was doing with his life. If Kaoru thought he could get under Kyoya's skin, he would be right. But in this instance, he wasn't thanks to his confidence that Reina wouldn't be interested in either Hitachiin twin. Even so, he felt a bit of relief with her response. Those two boys were too immature to be taken seriously anyways. They had their moments, but they were rare and hardly seen by anyone outside of the host club members.

"Ah, well, it sounds like you may have to get in line behind Akari." Kyoya nodded his head in the direction of the two talking across the room. "If it is any consolation, that line moves fast. Should you arrive in a mood to not have a headache, I'd have to suggest Mori or Honey Senpai." For Kyoya, his sarcasm was a little easier to figure out based on the choice of words, however his voice glossed over his sentence as if he hadn't said anything offensive at all.

Noticing that everyone was done cleaning and that everything was put away, Kyoya followed Mori and Honey out into the hallway, motioning for everyone to follow him. Once everyone was out in the hallway, Kyoya shut the doors and began walking down the hallway to the gardens outside. It was rather nice outside, and he'd had enough time spent in the school building for the day. There wasn't a single cloud in the sky, there was a gentle breeze, and the garden had seating in the shade should the remaining members decide to not want to bake in the sun.

Kyoya glanced back at everyone, a little surprised by everyone staying behind. He shouldn't have been, but it's always still so surprising how pack minded the entire host club was. Of course Tamaki and the Hitachiin twins were the biggest trouble makers, so naturally they stuck together despite contantly butting heads. Haruhi was just there, going wherever anyone else went, and the same could technically be said of Mori and Honey. This left Kyoya as one of the only rational ones, or as he called it, the babysitter. Hm, Kyoya supposed it did make sense that Tamaki called him 'mommy'.

"Haruhi is also an option, though he may not be as good as the other guests because he is new. He is still in host training but we will let guests sit with him still. He may not be crazy enough for you."
 
The lack of response given by Kyoya was downright boring. He wasn't going to keep pressing to rile up their vice president, though he definitely thought about it for half a second. What he really wanted was to interrupt the conversation happening between Tamaki and Akari. He wanted to know more about this sudden mention of her being famous. What kind of music was she into? He hadn't really paid too close attention to the playlist playing, so he had missed the majority of the song. The only thing that the ginger haired twin registered was that she was a good singer. He needed far more than that. How many tours had she gone on? Where had she traveled to? When was her next concert and why was she now attending Ouran of all places? All of the questions that rolled through his mind were left unsaid while he stood next to the dirty blonde haired girl and Kyoya.

He was grateful for the entire club being shuffled out of the music room, because it gave him a chance to regroup with Hikaru, who took one look at his face and understood what exactly it was that Kaoru was thinking. They were often asked about how they could read each other's mind and if they just practiced a lot, but it wasn't like that and he couldn't really explain it. Hikaru and himself were just close enough that they knew what even the most micro of expressions could mean. That was it. Nothing special. Now, he was grateful for the silent communication as they both sauntered up behind Akari, one on each side of the girl as they had been earlier. It wasn't quite as over-the-top and space-invading as before, but it was just as sudden and intrusive in other ways.

"You didn't tell us you were an idol," Hikaru was the first to start the questioning, seeming to take pity on Kaoru's soul. He was just as eager -- if not more -- to know about her career as a musician, but he was also keeping in mind the subtle warning from Kyoya about not having to worry if they were picking favorites. At least it was a big enough deal that it was only natural to be curious. Suddenly a world famous singer shows up to their school and is keeping a low profile? Anyone who realized who she was would be curious, like Tamaki and the other fan who had approached her. So the twins being eager to know more was certainly well within their usual range of curiosity and meddling. Who knew, what if they wanted to photoshop her some new merch? Or come up with some fun logo ideas or slogans?

"What genre of music do you perform?" Kaoru asked, the words coming out almost a little too rushed, as though he could barely contain himself from getting the question out. He was rather close to Akari. As close as he could be while maintaining a decent distance to avoid suspicion of any lingering female students that may still be around. Or those silly boys from the newspaper club that constantly attempting to bother them.




It was a little amusing how much Kyoya was subtly attempting to steer her away from visiting with the twins or the outgoing blond. Her curiosity to know why he was so certain they'd not be a comfortable match made her all the more intrigued by the possibility, though she did her best not to let it show. While she felt surprisingly comfortable around the members of the Host Club, her years of keeping herself composed didn't falter. Kyoya's mention of Haruhi had her eyes wandering to the short brunet. "I think he would be a wonderful host. I am certain I will eventually like to sit with him." She answered, stepping out confidently into the luscious gardens she had seen once before on her private tour of the campus before the school year had begun.

Everything about Ouran was similar to the many private schools she had attended in previous years. The major difference between the schools were the atmosphere. With boys on campus, there was an entire energy shift of all of the girls that attended. It was quite interesting to take it, though she was smart enough not to comment on it to her feminine classmates. They may take offense to her choice of wording no matter how nicely she put it. "I must say your school has a lovely garden." Reina commented in an attempt to avoid talking in circles regarding who she may or may not end up sitting next to during her next visit to their club.

"I spent far too much of my childhood indoors, so it's always refreshing being out and about among nature." To be more precise, her childhood was spent being monitored by doctors and suffocating hospital walls. And once those days were gone, her parents were so paranoid about it coming back that they limited what she was able to do and unable to do. She may as well have been locked up in a prison for as much as she'd been allowed to do in the following couple of years once she was given the all-clear. Even now, though they were much more lenient on allowing her to do things, she wasn't allowed to participate in any sports activities that may wear her out or stress her body too much. Something as boring as croque was acceptable for her to play, but she wasn't allowed to try something that actually looked fun, like tennis or basketball.
 
Akari followed everyone out of the hallway, and before she knew it, Hikaru and Kaoru were on each side of her. Tamaki was nowhere to be seen, not that Akari cared too much. He most likely was still with the group somewhere, and besides, Kaoru wanted to talk to her again. Hopefully she wouldn't be a stuttering idiot this time. "I write country and pop," she replied, a little shyly, looking between the two boys. "I experiment a lot with my sound, but if I had to pick just two genres, I'd say most of my music would fall under those two categories."

She was used to all kinds of people. It was more common for people to approach her having heard at least one or two of her songs, or just to be fans, but every so often she would meet someone who hadn't heard of her, and it was bittersweet. She really valued her privacy and missed the days that she could go to a store without needing to care if she was being followed or what she looked like, but Akari really enjoyed her fans too. So it was always a mix of emotions when she would introduce someone to her music, and then they become another fan. Thankfully she was starting to realize who her real friends would be and who was using her for clout, but she had assumed that nobody in Japan would listen to American music. Boy, was she wrong. "A lot of my songs are written with me sitting in front of a piano or playing the guitar, so the production of my songs don't really define me. Every single one of my songs stemmed from one instrument, so everything after that is just based off of what sounds better musically." she explained.

"Oh, you are just so humble~!" The voice of Tamaki cut in, just as Akari was about to continue talking. Mysteriously, he appeared next to Hikaru and began speaking. "She's well known for her craft in America, although her reach has been spreading out the more albums she releases. She toured North and South America, did a few shows in Canada, and even went to Europe on her last tour!" As Tamaki continued talking, Akari felt the heat rise to her cheeks. Normally she would just casually talk about her music and then let the other person decide if they wanted to listen. If anything, she was going to try to talk the Hitachiin twins out of listening. She didn't need them to have that fuel against her next time she came in. "Personally, I wish you'd go back to being in those cheesy romance movies. I know you only did a handful of them, but you did really well. If you can still act like that, you'd make a great girl Host should you ever decide to join a host club! I'm sure there'd be a lot of boys who would fight each other trying to get you to write a song about them."

Akari couldn't have shoved the words out of her throat any faster if she had the ability to time travel. Her face was now beet red with Tamaki's praise, and she quickly tried to cut him off by asking the twins, "So, why are you guys in the host club? What made you guys pick this instead of a sport or something?"

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Ah. Yes, I do like our gardens as well. It's a shame you missed out on enjoying nature, I hope you're able to replenish those experiences in the future." Kyoya replied as they strolled through the garden. Along the path there were a few benches spread out, and a gazebo further out. If Reina wanted to sit to wait for her ride, he would sit with her, otherwise he was fine walking around to kill time. While he wasn't one for hiking or anything, Kyoya did enjoy doing his work outside on days where it was nicer out. Oftentimes he would bring his laptop and homework outside at his home and work outside for as long as he could. And naturally being friends with Tamaki Suoh meant that he was required to go outside all the damn time. Tamaki was a great friend, but he also was incredibly needy.

"So, was it your choice or your parents to allow you to go to a school with boys and girls?" he asked, in an attempt to make conversation. Ouran didn't seem too crazy of a leap, after all it was still a private school and a very impressive one to get into on paper. But if Reina had been in an all girls school for a while, that may not be an easy transition. It might benefit the Ootori name if he helped her a bit with making connections and feeling more comfortable. Something told him that she would be just fine, however he felt compelled to try anyways.

Kyoya glanced over at the group to see what was going on. Not surprisingly, Tamaki and the twins were flocking to Akari. Behind them, Haruhi was engaging in discussion with Mori and Honey. Judging by the looks the three of them were giving to Akari and Reina, they were most likely the topic of conversation. The host club was an odd group, and he was sure that the club was the only reason any of them were given the chance to be friends. Kyoya had always wondered what would become of their relationship after some of the members started graduating. Ideally, they would remain friends, but he knew that life would probably get in the way and that everyone would eventually drift apart from one another. Kyoya would never give Tamaki and the others the benefit of knowing exactly how much they mean to him, but he really loved each and every one of them. Heck, Tamaki was even close with Fuyumi. At the very least, Tamaki would be around for the long haul. But what about the others?

Kyoya took off his glasses as they walked and cleaned it a bit with his blazer before putting it back on. It was a weak distraction from the temporary dread he felt at the idea of the group disbanding. He didn't ever have many friends to begin with, and now he was so close with the boys (and would grow to be close with Haruhi as well). It just might crush him if they never kept in touch.
 
Without the obligation to maintain the devilish twin act, Kaoru was free to listen intently to what Akari was saying without the pressure of adding a flirty comment to everything she said. He didn't know much about the country music genre, but he had heard the more popular songs of American Pop that had found themselves overseas. As well as a few that his mother particular enjoyed during the brief visits home while she worked on her designs. There were also apparently some of her songs that he was aware of vaguely due to them being on Tamaki's playlist for after-club activities such as cleaning or planning among other things. "That's really cool!" His enthusiasm was genuine, not the faux compliments they'd often give to guests when they talked about boring things to keep their feelings protected. It wasn't every day that they got to speak to someone so well traveled and famous.

His gaze traveled from watching her to show his interest in what she was talking about, to glancing around to keep an eye out for any lingering students who may try to interrupt. Kaoru needn't have worried, for the only one that was interrupting was the loud blond who was a self-proclaimed huge fan. Irritation bubbled within the ginger haired boy, wanting nothing more than to shove their club president away so that he would stop interrupting their conversation with his opinions and thoughts. He couldn't even be amazed at how talented Akari truly was, because he was too busy holding back the desire to strangle Tamaki. "Tamaki, it's rude to interrupt a lady when she's speaking." Kaoru scolded the blond, knowing that one of the only ways to get him to stop being so over-the-top was to attack his manners. A teeny, tiny, miniscule part of the teen felt bad for aiming so low. The other was eager to hear more about the dark haired girl he was walking next to.

"Tamaki wouldn't leave us alone until we agreed to join. And we eventually gave in." Hikaru answered for Akari, keeping the long story rather short and sweet. Though their airheaded blond leader was clueless to the annoyance he was being -- particularly to Kaoru -- the older twin was quick to pick up on his brother's frustrations and was there to lend a hand.

"It's just as Hikaru said," Kaoru affirmed what was already explained with a nod. "A few more details to it, but nothing that important since we joined in the end."


For a young girl to be trapped inside for so long, it may have driven her stir crazy more if she hadn't developed an enjoyment of video games and reading. Other than her disdain for hospitals, Reina didn't think she missed out on everything good in life, just a few vital things that made the difference between her and others slightly noticeable. She'd never played Red Rover outside in the grass with other students her age. Nor had she been able to participate in a sport, ever, unless it was through a screen where she used controls to win the game. Perhaps to those who craved the outdoors it would be a total nightmare, but she had made some lifelong friends in the hospital during her years stuck inside. Still, she did appreciate the beauty of nature, and always enjoyed being out in it. A reminder of the good things in the world.

"It was my insistence." Her words were light, a smile on her face as she recalled the way her parents expressions had gone still when she'd demanded she attend Ouran like her brother rather than Lobelia as they'd wished. She had only spent a single year at the all girls academy and she could never find it in herself to focus on anything other than feeling like she was missing out on yet another experience in life. "I understood their reasons for wanting me to become a well-mannered young lady and to avoid distractions that may occur by mingling with boys. However, I convinced them by reminding them once I graduate, I'll be surrounded by the male population and if I don't get experience now, I'll make a total fool of myself as an adult rather than learning to navigate such interactions now." Or, that was a partial reason. The other was that she blatantly refused to attend school any longer if she couldn't. A tantrum, if you will.

The garden was filled with beauty. A rose was blooming a few feet away, so tempting that she paused in her walking to smell it, admiring the vibrant red of it's petals before she continued on. "Are there any other things you enjoy aside from managing the host club? Surely you must have some hobbies?" She questioned.
 
Akari's smile stayed in place as Kaoru acknowledged what she had said. She was beaming, internally feeling a bit of relief that the boys weren't going to continue how they had been acting earlier. It was a lot easier to talk to them when they weren't flirting with her. Sure, they still made her a little nervous with how nice they were to look at, but that was far easier to manage. She was thankful for the hosting to be done for the day.

Akari, oblivious to Tamaki now sulking away and whining to somebody else about how he was accidentally rude to his idol, listened to Hikaru and Kaoru as they answered her question. Well, partially. She actually had more questions with that answer, but if they didn't want to share, she wouldn't be one to pry. She just met them, it would be rude. It did surprise her to know that they hadn't wanted to join though, as they were pretty good at flustering the girls. In hindsight, Akari could vaguely recall someone fainting at the table when she had been with the Hitachiin twins.

"He seems pretty....convincing." She offered, as politely as she could. "I can see why you might have a hard time telling him no. It looks like you guys enjoy it, though, I can't believe that he actually had a hard time getting you two to agree." Well, she wasn't sure if enjoyment was the right word. Rather, they were good at it, but it did seem to come a little too easy to both of them to fluster girls. Something about Hikaru and Kaoru gave Akari the impression that they weren't complete angels. Akari herself wasn't one. While she was known publicly and privately to be a rather kind and generous person, she wasn't above pranks or messing with people either. She had actually been quite the troublemaker before becoming famous and having to get her act together.

______________________________________________________________________________________

Kyoya nodded his head in agreement to what Reina had said. "Ah, I suppose that makes sense. That's a clever way to get them to cooperate." He watched as Reina paused to smell a rose. As she did, Kyoya took a glance back and noticed something happening between Tamaki and Kaoru. Ah, what the hell. Why dd he care? He was surely going to hear about it later, although it was a little odd for Kaoru to be the one to send the boss sulking to Haruhi. Normally, Hikaru was the one who was a little - or very - aggressive when he wanted Suoh to leave the two of them alone.

"Hobbies?" He asked, pausing to consider. Being a Ootori who had to think quick on his feet, he already had an answer up his sleeve that he could productive to the question, but seeing as Reina was more likeminded, he felt it safe to be a little more vulnerable with her than he would be with most of the other guests he'd seen in the host club. "Hmm. Well, I suppose that you mean what I do for fun. In which case I would say reading or hanging out with the other hosts. But if you simply mean how I spend my time, it would be either hosting here or doing what I can to lend a hand in my father's business."

On the spot, Kyoya felt offput by how he didn't have much of an answer for Reina. Now that he was second guessing himself, what did he do for fun? A lot of it was spent doing things for the host club and for his family. He didn't have a lot of time just for himself. At least he liked Tamaki and the others, but it was alarming to only just then become aware of how much time was spent serving others. One could argue that the host club and working with his family did benefit him, but it wasn't 'down' time, really, so did it count?
 
Kaoru thought back to the days of middle school, when the two weren't interested in people at all. It was such a world of a difference to how they acted now, so he could see how she would find it difficult to imagine them as not wanting to join. "We've changed a lot since middle school." He offered as a way of explaining, though he knew that still didn't offer a ton of insight to how they had behaved.

Back then he didn't see how unhealthy their way of life was. At the time, the only thing the twins cared about was their own little world. Even then he had been slightly less cold to the others, but not by much. It only showed in his own views, feeling bad after that one girl tried playing with them years ago. Hikaru had changed more than he had, in his eyes. Once upon a time he would get angry if girls couldn't tell him apart, but the 'Which One is Hikaru' game was his idea, one that Kaoru welcomed with open arms.

He was certain that his twin didn't realize how badly he wanted to be told apart from Kaoru, and he could understand the sentiment. There were times when he, too, wished someone would be able to look at him and know who he was without feeling conflicted or making a lucky guess. But as he'd said before, if they may no effort to distinguish themselves, how could they expect others to know?

"Yeah, Kaoru here has become quite the philosophical one." Hikaru chimed in, looping an arm around his neck as Kaoru cringed away, making a face at him. The older ginger laughed at his brother's reaction, taking no offense by it in the slightest.



"Indeed. Though it wasn't entirely true. I was entirely too curious about what a more normal school would be like. This one is... not quite normal but they'd faint if I tried to attend public school." She knew it was not due to them looking down on the poor, but because of the germs that spread. Public schools were not nearly as clean as Ouran Academy was, and they didn't have a whole staff of doctors on hand. And many of the ones at Ouran also worked for the Ootori's, so they had her on file.

His answer was rather bland, but she expected no less of someone who worked hard to please his family and gain their favor. Her brothers and herself never had to worry about such a thing, so she could never pretend to understand the struggle he may feel. "It seems you pour the entirety of your heart and soul into what matters most to you. It is admirable." She complimented. It was an honest thought, but also meant to offer some comfort seeing as he looked, very minorly, startled by his own answer.

"Books are a wonderful hobby," she continued on, stepping forward down the garden path. "They can offer knowledge in both an educational sense through learning new things or even an emotional one by bringing you into the world of fiction. Are you a nonfictional reader? You seem like the type to be picky about fictional works, though I'd be happy to be wrong."
 
ooc: i had a response written out but then my computer crashed and deleted EVERYTHING. i had like 7+ paragraphs for each character rip

Akari could tell that perhaps Hikaru and Kaoru didn't feel like doing a deep dive of their history, and so she let it go, despite her curiosity not dying down. She herself was no stranger to not wanting to talk about certain topics, so why would she make someone else do the same thing? She had always hated when she would do interviews and the host would only ever ask her about her ex boyfriends or other inappropriate questions. It made her really upset when her music was just chalked up to 'writing about boys' because of the idea that she wouldn't be a song writer without also being someone who dates around. These boys had more depth than just being hosts in a host club, so she could respect them not wanting to only talk about that. It did, however, make it hard for Akari to make small talk. Which she was normally good at, and if Kaoru was any less easy on the eyes, this would be, quite literally, a walk in the park.

"So, I can imagine you guys do a lot of stuff together and probably have a lot of the same interests," she started, staring between the two boys, "is there anything you guys disagree on or have completely different interests in?" She asked. Surely family and bonding would be a safe topic, right? She could talk about just one member in her family for hours, but of course that was a given due to the fact that Akari was big on family. She was rather close with hers, and had a sort of naïve idea that that was the case with everyone. She knew that toxic and abusive family members were a thing, but was a little ignorant to how common that and absentees were.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

If Reina had offered the compliment as a beacon of comfort, it worked just a little bit. He realized, this was true. He cared more about the host club than he would like to admit, and it did help him take good care of it. Of course he would have done that anyways due to his friends liking the club and that how the club did reflected on Kyoya especially, but he found that he actually quite liked being in charge of how it was ran and making sure everything was in good order.

"I read both," he answered with a smile in response to what she had said about him being picky. "although you're right, I am a little picky. I do like a lot of nonfiction works, but I have a soft spot for fictional crime and horror stories. I like trying to see if I can solve them before the characters." While he had said it was a soft spot, it was actually his go to special fun fact about himself when people asked for one. It was only natural that he brought this up. "Most of the time I do, but I like the twists and turns as well."

If the two of them had a closer connection, she would find that he was more passionate about it than he initially let on. Most likely, if there was a popular book that had any sort of mystery that needed solved, not only had Kyoya most likely read it, he probably had a rough draft somewhere on his laptop or pages in his notebook filled with details on how he would've made the book better and the process of solving the crime more interesting. His older sister often liked to joke that with Kyoya's attention to detail, he could've worked on the police force... or have been a serial killer. He was scary enough when someone pissed him off, and he was weirdly accurate about what it took to clean a scene or erase evidence of any wrongdoing. Hell, he had plenty of practice with how often Tamaki was getting himself and the rest of the club in trouble.

The tall ravenette continued walking and paused to scoot a bigger rock out of the way of the walking path then continued down. "What about you? Do you read at all? What is a girl so pretty as yourself interested in? Surely it can't be host clubs, seeing as today was your first time in one."
 
Karou blinked at the question asked by this girl who was growing increasingly more interesting as the minutes rolled by. The first few answers that popped into the forefront of his mind were simply conditioned responses due to being a host. None of what immediately came to mind would actually answer her question, because each thought was some sort of diversion or round-about way of answering her question with his own questions. Even if Hikaru went for his go-to response to such a question, there was just something about walking with Akari that had the younger of the two twins wanting to open up a little and share with her his own hobbies and passions.

Usually, the twins would answer something to throw off the questioner and change up their answers next time so that no one would ever really get 'let in' to their world. The ones who were exempt from this kind of behavior were those in the host club that they were close with, including their newest member Haruhi, who so quickly picked up on the differences between the two as twins. "We have different tastes in books." He speaks up before his brother can even part his lips to talk to the girl. "Hikaru is more into the nonfiction genre and I really enjoy works of fiction." It was one of the reasons that he really enjoyed his literature class. "Especially the ones written in English, since they're more of a challenge for me."

He ignored the blink of surprise and the silent question Hikaru was asking with his eyes as he spoke to Akari. The fact that he was being honest and open with her without having some apparent ulterior motive clearly surprised his twin, though to any outsider the small blink may have went unnoticed for the whole conversation that it actually was between the two. As they strolled through the garden, Karou glanced to the side, spotting apple blossoms among the flowers in the school's garden. With practiced gracefulness, he half-paused in a step to pluck the flower. Resuming his stride, he twirled the stem between his fingers thoughtfully, contemplative, before he held out the single blossom towards the short girl who only continued to surprise him. "Are you much of a reader, Akari?"



"It may come as a surprise to you, but I enjoy video games. Books, too, of course. Fantasy novels are wonderful. Anything with action, adventure, and of course romance." For many years those were the only two hobbies that she could truly enjoy. Her mother suggested the age-old hobby of embroidery, but Reina found it so boring considering her circumstances. She was a curious young girl at the time who was dying to go out and go play with her friends. Online gaming turned into one of the few hobbies that she could partake in that helped her feel like she could do that. Chatting over head-sets while they went on different jobs or simply made silly videos with horrible edits they posted online or even just chatting with strangers from all over the world without them knowing the graveness of her situation had been wonderful.

Reina wasn't ashamed of her history despite being reluctant to bring it up. She wasn't shy about her close brush with the near tragedy of dying young. She simply did not wish to make the conversations around her grow awkward with tension. No one ever knew how to respond to such a thing. Even if she were to be told the very same from someone else, she would only be able to let them know that she sympathized, and that if they ever wanted to talk about it, then she would lend an ear. Which wasn't always what others wanted. In her case, she simply wanted to leave it in the past where it belonged.

"I cannot say horror is much my genre for reading material, but I would love to check out a crime novel you may recommend. I for one was greatly absorbed into Stalking Jack the Ripper, though I cannot imagine that being the type of crime book that you would really read. Still, it was a fun one. I couldn't guess the who-done-it until they told me. It seemed so obvious to me once I went back and re-read it to see where I'd been mislead." She confesses with a smile, thinking about the novel that had kept her up until ungoldy hours in the morning. If she were the type of person who could pull her nose out of the book long enough to take notes, perhaps she could have solved the mystery, but she'd been too busy watching the book play out in her mind like her own personal movie.
 
Akari hadn't noticed the confused expression on Hikaru's face because she had been trying to remember how to walk. Embarrassing as it was, she was still trying to compose herself after the way she had fumbled and faltered in her words when she first met the brothers. She did not want to be caught so off guard again.

Being a global star she was normally adept at dealing with the unfamiliar. It was not uncommon for interviewers to ask weird questions or for fans especially to say or do something that threw Akari off. All of it came with the job, more or less. Even in her personal life she had gotten used to men who she felt were far too handsome or far too talented for her give her attention; but until Kaoru she had never experienced being rendered speechless and unable to control the way her body flared up in response to his and his brother's advances. Not that she had been great at it to begin with, but it had been well enough.

Books, however, she was familiar with. She would just leave out the smutty works of fiction she was heavily involved with.

Right when she had been about to compliment the fact that he knew English, she was caught off guard again by the flower pointing at her moments after Kaoru had paused to pluck it. Feeling the increasingly familiar heat that was beginning to rise at the back of her neck, Akari mentally urged it down, metaphorically stomping down on it as if it were something hidden and threatening to come out of a door on the floor.

"A huge one," She answered easily, a soft smile on her face. "Though I can't say that I've read anything in Japanese. I've mostly stuck to American authors like you. I'll read just about any fictional story; picking a favorite genre in there is really difficult." Thankfully she found that the words came out much less restricted or forced, and that the blush never reached her face. Even with the way Kaoru said her name making her feel like she was floating. "Do you have a few authors that you stick to?"


------------------------------------


Kyoya was surprised by Reina's answers. It wasn't unusual for girls to be into such things, but to him, it was even more surprising that she didn't like horror books. For some reason he would have thought her to enjoy the challenge of solving the mystery before it was revealed to her. But why he had assumed she would be like him, he was not sure.

"That is... surprising, but not for the reason you suggested." The Ootori admitted, enjoying the way lines crinkled around her eyes at her confession. "I will say that my horror recommendations range greatly, so it may be hard to nail down exactly what you will or won't like. For example, my sister is more a fan of dark romance books, regardless of the other genres mixed in. Whereas I will read anything and only choose to reread a book if I thoroughly enjoyed it the first time."

He glanced away from Reina for a moment to look at the rest of the party. Seeing that everyone was getting along, he focused back on the brunette beside him. "Perhaps we can trade. One of my brothers dabbles in gaming here and there, I'm sure I'll have some free time to play any games you think are worth playing." Whether that was a ploy to make sure that he would see Reina again or if he wanted to experience something she recommended to get to know her better, Kyoya wouldn't tell. Not even to himself.

It was pretty telling that none of his brothers gamed at all, but she didn't need to know that.

As a matter of fact, Kyoya didn't know if any of his siblings besides his sister knew what to do with any downtime they had. All of his brothers were workaholics of some sort, and they always seemed more stressed than less when they were home more often than they were doing their jobs. Kyoya didn't want to grow up to be that way, but then again he wasn't just a shell of his father's expectations so he'd had the time to explore and get to know who he was outside of the Ootori name. And he had to thank his friends for helping him learn all of that, because it was not something he would have discovered on his own.
 
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