There's a sibling??

by Nightowl_aka_Nyx

Summary:

What if Haruhi Fujioka had a sibling?
Would things change?
Would they stay the same?
And just how much chaos can middle school third year Aki Fujioka cause within Ouran Academy, and in particular, in the Ouran Host Club?

Chapter 1: A Thoughtful Car Ride

I yawned into my hand as I made my way through the packed airport. ‘Guess it makes sense…People are starting to go away for April vacation,’ I mused to myself, glancing around in search of my gate. ‘Still though, you’d think that the airport would be a little more empty at fucking two AM.’ An illuminated number stood out to me after a few minutes of searching: 213B. ‘Found it!’ Tugging my luggage behind me, I found an empty seat and sunk into the thin cushion, pulling out my phone to browse around a bit on Twitter. Stifling another yawn, I swiped through numerous notifications; most of them were about trending news stories that I had no interest in, and so I spent about 5 minutes just clearing those out before I reached one that piqued my interest from 1 to 100. “She finally texted me,” I muttered, grinning as I opened up my chat with a contact affectionately named ‘Haruuuhee’.

Haruuuhee: Hey, did you get to the airport safely?

Rolling my eyes good-naturedly, I typed out a reply with my right hand, using my left to rummage through my backpack.

Me: Yepp! No worries, all safe and sound :p arent u still at school rn?? Istg haru if you’re texting in class!

I giggled as I saw the dots on her side of the screen start moving. ‘She is absolutely typing out a paragraph about her not being that kind of student,’ I thought.

Suddenly, the typing abruptly stopped, before starting back up again. I raised my eyebrow slightly, intrigued, as her reply finally popped up.

Haruuuhee: Ugh, sorry but I gtg. Club stuff. I’ll ttyl though! <3

‘Damn. If she’s using shorthand, she really has to go.’ I nodded, despite her not being able to see me, and sent a few thumbs up and heart emojis in response before sliding my phone into my pocket, determined to get at least a few minutes of shut-eye before getting on the plane.
‘Wait. Haruhi? Willingly joining a club?’ I stopped in my tracks, considering the possibility of that happening without any sisterly intervention from me. ‘Haru…what the actual fuck has gotten into you?’

After about fourteen leisurely hours on a plane, we finally arrived in Tokyo, Japan. Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I looked past the two people sitting beside me out the small, circular window. “Home, sweet home,” I mumbled, a grin coming to my face as I took in the surroundings. As I walked through the airport, I felt myself adjusting to the language difference much like I did when I arrived in America, though in reverse from English to Japanese.
I scanned the enormous room around me; people were walking all around me, moving along in a wave-like motion with everyone heading in the same direction. Some were cutting through the crowds quickly, probably trying to either get to their flight or the nearest bathroom. ‘Big oof. Although, I should probably get to a bathroom, now that I think about it…’ 

Finally exiting the airport after another hour or so, I inhaled deeply, smiling upon the exhale. Tapping my shoes on the rough sidewalk, I pulled out my phone, seeing several text notifications from Haruhi, our dad, and one of my friends from the US. ‘Well damn, didn’t know that all it took was moving back to Japan to make me more popular.’ 

Haruuuhee: Let me know when you land pls! Also, sorry for cutting that conversation short. My club hours were starting so I had to put my phone away.

Parental figure >-< : Akiiiiiii, please tell me when you land!! I can’t pick you up unfortunately because of my work schedule, but I’ll pay you back whatever you paid for a taxi <3

Hat: Heyy ik you’re prob on the plane already annnd ive already told u how much ill miss u but i wanted to say it again so!! Love yaaaa

Looking away from the texts momentarily to order myself an Uber, I smiled at the thought of getting to see my family again. To be fair, it has been two years, though I think I’d miss them no matter the time spent apart. ‘I can’t wait to tackle-hug Haruhi,’ I thought, snorting at the thought of her facial expression.
“Hang on, what time is it?” I asked myself beneath my breath, looking at the timestamp on my phone. ‘Thank fuck that changes automatically.’ The bright text showed that it was now 6:05 AM. “Good thing I got a ton of sleep,” I muttered, glancing up once I saw the bright blue Uber pull up to a stop next to me. 

Me: lucky you, my flight was very non-lethal. Gonna be home in ab 30 mins!! Be prepared to be tackled >:D

Haruuuhee: I’m glad :)) can’t wait!

Me: bruhh why u up so early?? U don’t have to be up for another hour!

Haruuuhee: Is that really a question? Why’d you think I asked you what time your flight will be landing? I’m waiting for you, dummy.

I sighed, leaning back in the leather car seat with a tired smile. ‘Of course she is.’

Me: awww haruu!! Ilysmm

Me: thx for making me do that math btw -_- as if I haven’t gotten enough from homework

Haruuuhee: It’s good practice!

Me: whatever you say, sensei~

Closing out of the chat tab, I scrolled a little longer through Instagram before turning my phone off and laying it screen down on my lap. My eyes went to the window, lips quirking into a small grin at the brightening sky and cityscape. As the sun rose, its rays reflected off of numerous glass windows, creating small rainbows from the dewdrops gathered. The city was already partially awake, and I reveled in the quiet noise, having missed this when living in the suburbia of Boston, Massachusetts.

As I solemnly stared through the foggy car window, my thoughts went to everything I had missed through all the fun and anxiety of living in a new country: The food, the city noise…and it goes without saying that I missed my family and friends. Hell, I had missed them so much that it ached; the moment the plane had landed in Tokyo International Airport, that ache had stopped hurting as much, as if a puzzle piece had gotten filled in after having gone missing in a dusty corner underneath the couch. 

The car stopped abruptly, pulling in by the side of a building that I hadn’t seen in two very long years. I sat up, unbuckling my seatbelt as quickly as possible and grabbing my purse on the way out. The driver helped to get my large piece of luggage out of the trunk, waving goodbye as he pulled away; I waved back, turning to look directly at the front door of the place I had been missing, despite the cozy rooms I had stayed in during my trip.

None of them compared to the feeling of falling asleep in an ever-so-familiar room shared with Haruhi, hearing her breathing get slower as she fell into sleep as well or her muttering as she studied late into the night. The large kitchens with brand-new appliances felt worse than cooking with familiar pots and pans in the tiny kitchen of our apartment, a large assortment of spices in the cupboard and two taste testers always willing to be guinea pigs for whatever new recipe I was trying out. None of the host families were as accepting, as welcoming, as understanding; they weren’t my father, with his sense of style and capability to make any situation feel a thousand times better simply with his presence. They were absolutely not my older sister, with her dry sense of humor and near-constant reliability, whether that be with homework help or a hug within arms reach. 

Now, after missing everything near to the aching point of desperation, I was finally back.

Now, I was finally home.

Chapter 2: A Happy Homecoming

Standing in front of the apartment door, I took a deep breath to calm any possible nerves. 'Why be nervous? It's literally just Haruhi. Yeah, just my older sister who I haven't seen in two years, no big deal. Totally.' I reached into my purse for my apartment key, feeling around for it through various pens, my earbuds, and other things. 'They better not have changed the keys without telling me.' 

Stepping through the entryway, I felt myself tear up as I took a look around what was visible from the front door. "I'm home," I called, voice wavering; I grinned as I felt the familiar phrase echoing warmly throughout my entire body and soul. Immediately, I heard footsteps coming down the hallway and dropped everything I was holding so that I had my arms available for the tackle I had promised.

As soon as a blip of pink fabric entered my vision I jumped with all the strength left over from the adrenaline rush of the airport, wrapping my arms around Haruhi as tightly as possible. She squeezed back with equal force, kindly ignoring my tears soaking into her pajama shirt and soothingly swaying the two of us back and forth; in return, I pretended not to notice how tightly her fists clenched at the back of my hoodie, despite how my heart warmed at the gesture.

After ten full minutes of hugging and totally-not-crying, Haruhi exhaled shakily before speaking up. "Welcome home, Aki," she said, separating us enough that I could see her bright smile and stray tear tracks making their way down her cheeks. I reached up and traced them with my pointer finger, wiping them away as best as possible.

"Haru, if you cry, then I'll cry, and if I'm being honest I've kinda had enough of that for a lifetime, so let's stop while we're ahead," I said, laughing as her facial expression quickly grew exasperated. "There we go, that's the Haru I know!" I squeezed at her cheek jokingly, laughing harder as she gently slapped my hand away. Separating fully, I saw her eyes widen in shock as she gave me a glance over.

"Aki, are you taller than me?" She asked incredulously, raising her hand to the top of her head and moving it towards me after. I watched, amused as her hand reached the bottom of my forehead. "Jeez, how tall are you?"

"165 centimeters," I responded, stifling my giggles as her eyebrows rose up behind her sleep-mussed bangs. "I'd say that I can't believe that a middle-schooler is taller than a high-schooler, but I saw so many tall middle-schoolers in the US that I'm no longer surprised." As I spoke, I bent down to simultaneously take my shoes off and grab my things from the cool floor. My fingers brushed against a bump in the floorboards, bringing to mind a vague memory of tripping over it as an excited elementary student, and my smile grew; cheeks aching, heart warm. "I have no clue what they feed them in America to make them so damn tall."

Haruhi chuckled, helping carry some of my things into our shared room. "Clearly they fed you the same thing, Aki. You used to be shorter than me!" I snorted at the sight of her pout, taking the opportunity to look her over. Physically, she hadn't changed much, aside from the slight growth spurt and obvious detail of her hair being a good bit shorter. My hand instinctively reached up to brush at the undercut beneath my shoulder-length locks, a few strands of turquoise peeking out from behind dark brown hair similar to my sister's. 
'Hopefully I won't have to put my hair up at school,' I thought nervously, picking at the zipper of my luggage. 'My school in the US was strict enough with it, I can't imagine how much worse it is here...I'll need to talk to Haruhi about that at some point.' 

"Hey, by the way, do you know when you're going to start school? You're going to the Ouran Middle School, right?" I nodded, zoning back in and starting to put clothing back in drawers. 

"Yeah, I'll be in class 3-B, and I'm on a scholarship program." Haruhi knelt beside me, picking up the clothing that needed to be hung up in the dresser, and hummed in response. "The scholarship program seems a bit...unorthodox, though."

She tilted her head, eyebrows scrunching together in thought. "Unorthodox, how?"

"Well, they want me to keep my grades up, but that's not the main part of it. During classes like English and Spanish, I'll be helping the teachers with the students and I'll also be tutoring some students a couple times a week after school," I explained. 'I'm an alright student, but I'm not sure how good of a teacher I'll be...hopefully their standards aren't too high.' As if sensing my doubt, Haruhi put a comforting hand on my shoulder. As I looked back up at her gratefully, my eyes made contact with the alarm clock by her bedside and widened comically. 'Hang on, doesn't school start at eight-fourty five?' "Hey, Haru?"

"Yeah?"

I chuckled nervously. "What time do you usually start walking to school?" 

Haruhi raised an eyebrow. "Around seven-fifty, so that I can get there a bit early. Why?"

I glanced over her current state; tear-stained pink pajamas, messy hair, no school uniform in sight. "Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but...it's already seven." 

The next forty minutes were a blur of textbooks, homework, toast, and tight hugs good-bye, along with a promise to wait up for her today after I finish up with my tour of the school. Haruhi muttered something or other about being lucky that today wasn't a client day, but since she was in a rush I couldn't ask for clarification. After she left, I glanced at the massive amount of stuff I still had to unpack, and then looked longingly towards my bed. 'I shouldn't nap, though...I have to go down to the school later. Damn.' With a sigh, I resigned myself to my fate and went to make myself some much needed coffee, or, as I like to call it, heavenly bean water. 'Something tells me that I'll need it.' 

Several hours later, having unpacked more of my things, showered, and eaten, I found myself before the very-much-not-intimidating Ouran Academy Middle School. Standing before the front gate, I fidgeted around with the sleeves of my sweatshirt, not entirely sure what I should do or where to go. 'I mean, I could just go in,' I considered, 'but who knows what kind of fucking security they have in this school.' I shivered slightly, nerves on edge and brain booted up to the max with caffeine.  Thankfully, I was put out of my misery of standing before the gate like an awkward creep fairly soon; within a few minutes, I saw a man in a sharp suit walking towards me, glasses shining in the sunlight. A young woman rushed behind him, holding several folders worth of what I assumed was paperwork and clearly trying her best to not trip over her own feet in classy black high-heels. Feeling a pang of sympathy for the woman, I stepped forward, meeting them a few feet before the gate. I sent a kind smile in the woman's direction, turning it into a more professional smile as I turned my head to face the man who I assumed was the principal; he looked me over, eyes narrowing as they honed in on me.

'How does this man work with children for a living? He looks like he wants to throw me over the nearest fence. No, wait, correction: he looks like he would hire someone specifically to throw me over the fence. Damn rich people.' I held my hand out, remembering Haruhi's lessons on professionalism that were drilled into my brain. "Hello, my name is Fujioka Aki. I presume that you are the principal, correct?" I met his eyes, resisting every alarm in my brain that blared at me to run away. He held my gaze steadily, nodding stiffly as he reached his hand out and gave me what was simultaneously the shortest and most firm handshake I've ever experienced.

"Yes, I am the principal of Ouran Academy Middle School, Harada Itsuo. Unfortunately, chairman Suoh-san was not able to come and meet you today, but I am sure he will in the near future." His words were very clipped, tone perfectly neutral, not giving anything away whatsoever emotions-wise. 'Maybe he's just a robot who doesn't experience emotion, that'd be interesting,' I mused, following behind him as he led the way into the school. The woman, having only just caught her breath, sighed as she fell into step beside me. 'I feel bad for her. She probably deals with this shit all too often.' 

As it turned out, the principal had only wanted to meet me by the gate and had relegated his duty of showing me the school to his secretary, who introduced herself as Kagawa Akari. "I do apologize for Harada-san, he can be a bit..." She trailed off, clutching anxiously at her folders.

"Yeah, I can tell," I mumbled, lips quirking up into a small smile as I heard her stifle a snort behind her hand. "Well, with that over with, let's get on with the tour, shall we?" Kagawa nodded, and started telling me about the history of the school building. I glanced down at my phone. '12:00 PM.' I looked back up at Kagawa, who was happily droning on about all of the academy buildings in what seemed to be full detail. 'I...am definitely gonna be here a while.' 

Chapter 3: A New Revelation

"Aki!" My head buzzed with leftover energy from whatever dream I'd been having. I shifted myself around a bit, unintentionally exposing my feet to the cold air of the apartment. 'I hate mornings,' I thought, brain starting up like a shut down computer and slowly bringing me to consciousness. "Aki, come on!"

"Mmh...five minutes," I groaned out, smushing half of my face into the soft fabric of my stuffed dinosaur; I heard Haruhi shuffling around through the room, occasionally attempting to get me up and out of bed. Reluctantly, I lifted my head up to clear my vision, only to end up with a freshly ironed (well, if you could call 'ironed at twelve AM' fresh) brown and white dress unceremoniously thrown in my face. "Hey! What was that for?" 'Yeah, no, I know damn well what that was for.'

"Not getting up. Come on, you still need to brush your teeth and get ready before breakfast." Haruhi strode out of the room, leaving the door open as a silent message of 'no, this is not optional.' 

'Alright, might as well,' I thought, stretching as I stood on somewhat wobbly legs to get going to the bathroom. I glanced at the clock on my way out of the room: 6:45. "Jeez, Haru, you run a tight ship around here," I muttered, smiling when I saw her out of the corner of my eye making our bentos. 'It feels so good to be home.'

To my surprise, the subject of my hair hadn't come up until the night previous, when I had walked out of the bathroom with damp hair in a short braid. The turquoise streaks beneath could be easily seen, though I was none the wiser, sorting through the last of what I needed to unpack. I had music playing in my headphones and so was ignorant to the sounds of the world, resulting in me startling to the point of shrieking when Haruhi tapped my shoulder to get my attention.

"Thanks for damn near giving me a heart attack, Haru," I glared at her, though it had no real heat to it. She chuckled lightly before leaning forward and tilting her head at something. I raised an eyebrow, heart rate finally slowing down. "What's up? Something in my hair?"

"Yeah, actually." She reached up and felt a strand of bright turquoise hair as I felt my body go stiff. "What's with the blue? I mean, it looks good, but how are you gonna hide that at school?" 

I chuckled nervously, fiddling with the buttons on my shirt. "That's gonna be covered by the rest of my hair, hopefully it won't be noticed. Worst comes to worst, I'll use bobby pins to keep some of my hair in place in the back," I shrugged, smiling awkwardly as I stared down at my feet. 'I know she'll probably react okay, but still. Kinda terrifying.'

I felt a hand on my shoulder and glanced up, relaxing as soon as I saw the smile on Haruhi's face. "I think it looks pretty cool, though I am a bit worried about the school finding out. As long as you have a plan, though, I think everything will be fine."

My anxiety levels about going back to school in Japan had lessened from 78% to a solid 34 after that discussion, so my sleep had been fairly uninterrupted, which resulted in an easier morning for both of us. My complaints about the early wake-up call stayed in my head (for the most part), and Haruhi was even humming as she put her contacts in. I shuddered, hand coming up to clutch at my glasses protectively. 'I will never understand how contacts aren't terrifying for her...' 

Eyeing the half of the mirror facing me, I glanced over my outfit for the day; the brown and white dress flowed with the light breeze coming through the window, ruffles becoming less stiff and more natural and worn-in looking as the wind moved them to and fro. The school unfortunately didn't allow leggings under uniforms for the girls, so I had to make do and borrow some white stockings that Haruhi used to wear for her middle school. 'Hooray for hand-me-downs,' I thought, shuffling my feet around in hopes of getting used to the texture. "I forgot how weird the fabric for these kinds of stockings feels," I commented, chuckling as Haruhi cracked a small smile as she finished up with her mirror routine. 

"You didn't have to wear uniforms at the school in the US, right? Makes sense that it's taking a bit to get used to again," Haruhi shrugged, flipping a piece of my hair over my shoulder while she passed behind me to the bathroom door. I made a sound of agreement, following behind her to get to the kitchen table. Even after a few days in a row now of being home, it felt surreal to be at the same kitchen table as Haruhi again; kicking at each other's feet, eating in companionable silence, occasionally talking about someone or other...'I missed this,' I thought, nodding along as Haruhi talked about the latest lesson she'd learned in History.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity to my nerves, Haruhi walked me down to the middle school. "I'm glad that our schools are so close to each other," I commented, "that means we can spend time together after school easier!" 

Haruhi cracked a nervous smile at that, chuckling as if I'd said something funny. "Ha...yeah, totally! I do have a pretty full club schedule though, just so you know."

I gasped dramatically, throwing my arm over my eyes for comedic effect. "Haruhi, with a full club schedule? Be still, my heart! You're growing up so fast," I sighed deeply, wiping away a fake tear from my eye. Glancing over at Haruhi for a reaction, I burst out laughing at the sight of her rolling her eyes, leaning away to avoid the inevitable elbow to my ribs. 

"Yeah, yeah, I know, shocking. I'll introduce you to my other club members soon, just...they're kind of a lot," she explained, smoothing a stray hair. 

"That's alright, you should've seen some of my friends back in the US! I'm used to a little bit of weird," I reassured. Haruhi muttered something along the lines of "they're more like a large amount of weird" but I didn't pay much mind to it, choosing to instead gape at the school I had toured two days before. It seemed even more intimidating when seeing waves of students going inside and walking around the courtyard, different friends going to their individual friend groups. 'Hopefully I'll be able to make some friends soon enough.' 

"Well, guess I should get going," I said, turning to face Haruhi fully. She smiled at me assuringly, giving me a quick hug before turning me by the shoulders and gently shoving me towards the gate. 'Gee, thanks sis, right into the shark tank.'

"You'll do great, Aki. I'll see you after club hours!"

I waved back at her, clutching at my schoolbag as if it were my lifeline. "Bye, nee-san! See ya!" 

And with that, I walked through the front gate, smiling as if I completely had my shit together. 'Fake it til you make it, don't fail me now,' I thought, glancing around through the large doors. After changing my shoes and a few minutes of searching, I was able to find my homeroom, finally approaching the teacher after a moment of hyping myself up for it. "Um, excuse me? I believe I am one of your new students, Fujioka Aki," I said, shuffling my feet lightly along the smoothly tiled floor. 

The tired-looking woman in front of me glanced me over briefly, humming as she took a look in her attendance book. "Fujioka, Fuji- ah, there you are. Well, welcome to my homeroom and Ouran Academy, Fujioka, it's a pleasure to meet you." She held out a hand and I firmly shook it, nerves cooling a bit at her soothing voice. 'Well, she seems nice enough.' "Your seat will be by our class representative, Haninozuka-kun," she pointed towards a boy who had a darker-blonde hair color and glasses, nose in a book as a classmate behind him attempted to make conversation. 'Hm. Interesting dude. At least the person behind him Iooks social.' 

I walked over to my seat, sitting down a few seconds before the bell rang. The boy beside me, Haninozuka, glanced over in my direction as I shuffled some of my things around, eyes going back to his book as I looked over at him. 

The teacher stood up, clearing her throat to silence the class. Miraculously, it worked within seconds, a massive difference in comparison to the five to ten minutes it took my old classmates to quiet down. "Good morning, everyone. Today, we don't have any school news, aside from the usual reminder of no running in the halls. We also have a new student joining us today. Fujioka-kun, could you stand up and introduce yourself?"

I stood up somewhat shakily, receiving a calming smile from the teacher as I walked towards the front of the class. I looked above everyone's heads, making it look like I was looking at them but not making eye contact with any of the curious gazes sent my way. "Hello everyone, I'm Fujioka Aki. I was born in Japan and went to elementary school here, but went on a boarding school program to the US for the past few years. I hope to make friends with all of you and ask that you take care of me!" I bowed low at the end of my slightly rushed sentence, standing back up to full posture after a few seconds. 'I swear, if I have to answer any questions right now...' 
Thankfully, no questions were asked, though I did hear quite a few whispers going around as we transitioned into the first class of the day. Haninozuka had given me a polite nod as I came back to my desk, and the student behind him (who I later learned was named Morinozuka) smiled at me brightly, so that's progress in the way of socializing. Go, me!

Now there's only...the entire rest of the school year to go. Oh boy.

Chapter 4: A Budding Friendship

The first few classes were a bit of a blur; it took a while to get used to learning in Japanese again, but after that adjustment everything felt fine. It also helped that I had gotten a head start on a few of the topics that were being talked about, meaning that I could focus more on getting used to the language being used and my surroundings rather than the material for the time being (bonus to being Haruhi's sibling, I guess. She has a penchant for being prepared).

My seat-mate, who I'd learned was named Haninozuka Yasuchika, was not what I would call sociable. Which, okay, that's fair. The guy sitting behind him, on the other hand, was the complete opposite. "I'm Morinozuka Satoshi!" He had enthusiastically shaken my hand, smiling at me with the brightness of a million suns. I grinned back hesitantly, glancing over at Haninozuka in slight bewilderment. He had lightly shrugged his shoulders at me, turning back to his book and flipping a page. 'Damn, talk about leaving me to the wolves.' I turned my gaze back to the cheerful boy before me, hand still gripping mine with the strength of a weight lifter. 'Well, at least this wolf is friendly...'

"Hi, Morinozuka-kun! I would introduce myself, but I already have," I chuckled awkwardly, free hand fidgeting with my pencil. He laughed along, smile somehow becoming even brighter, if that was even possible.

"Say, Fujioka-kun, what does your family do for work?" I tilted my head slightly in confusion, mulling over a response in my head for a minute. A very silent minute. 'I hate awkward silence...ugh, whatever, I'll just be honest. I doubt anyone gives a shit.'

"Well, uh...we don't really have a family business or anything," I shrugged, trying as hard as possible to come off casually. "My dad works, and my s-brother occasionally babysits. I volunteer at a bakery near our house, if that counts." I took in the suddenly silent room around me, glancing around at my very obviously eavesdropping classmates. Many seemed shocked; others, disgusted, or amazed, or a mixture of the two. 'Right. Rich people. Business and status is kinda lowkey a really big deal here. Fuck, they definitely give a shit. Multiple shits.' 

Before I could start spiraling any further, the bell signaling that it was time for lunch rang out, and within moments the room was empty, aside from me, Morinozuka, who now looked a bit like a guilty puppy, and Haninozuka, who was still flipping through the book that had hardly left his grip the past few hours.

"Ah...sorry for putting you on the spot like that, Fujioka-kun," Morinozuka apologized, eyebrows furrowing as he frowned, eyes now tracing the tiny cracks in the tiled floor. "I didn't know..."

I raised an eyebrow and chuckled shakily, shaking my head as I spoke. "What're you apologizing for? You asked an honest question, I gave an honest answer. It's the others' fault for listening in if they got an answer they didn't like, ya know?" 

Haninozuka chimed in. "She has a point, Satoshi. You need to stop taking the blame for things that aren't your fault." He looked up at me, dark blonde hair shining a tad brighter in the light sun of the classroom. "And as for you, I would like to apologize on the behalf of our classmates. Many of them find the sheer idea of commoners strange, due to our sort of upbringing," he explained, shuffling the papers on his desk into different folders and tucking away the book into his schoolbag. 

I nodded in vague understanding, now remembering that Haruhi had said something along those lines in one of our phone calls. "Huh, good to know. Guess I'll be more cautious with that kind of topic." Glancing up at the clock, I estimated that we had around thirty-five minutes left of our lunch period, give or take. "Does everyone eat in the cafeteria?" 

Morinozuka nodded. "Yeah, either there or in one of the many common areas."

"Cool, good to know." Stepping towards the door, I paused abruptly, now remembering that oh yeah, I don't remember jack shit about where anything is. "Is there a common area near here? I was hoping to get some stuff done during lunch, so I don't wanna use up time finding a place to eat, y'know?" Morinozuka 'ahh'-d in understanding, thinking for a second before smiling once again. 'For some reason, it feels wrong to see him without a smile on his face...I'm absolutely not gonna think deeper into that, nope, nope. You've barely known him for a few hours, Aki. Chill the fuck out.'

"Oh, there's an exit nearby that leads out to one of the smaller greenhouses on campus! C'mon, I'll show you!" Without any sort of warning, he grabbed my hand and started speed-walking away from the classroom. See, the thing about that is that, apparently, what 'speed-walking' is for Morinozuka is 'this is a goddamn marathon' for me. Looking ahead at him, I estimated him to be a little bit short of six feet. A.K.A, in comparison to my measly 5'5, fucking tall. I heard soft footsteps catching up to me and correctly guessed that Haninozuka was coming with, seeing him out of the corner of my eye as he held a bit of distance behind us.

The silence this time around wasn't awkward; nor was it melancholy. It was a friendly silence, a quiet that only budding companionship could provide, and I welcomed the nostalgic feeling that came with it with a small smile.

Finally, after a three minute walk for Morinozuka and a three minute marathon for Haninozuka and I, we reached the greenhouse that was the whole reason why we came here. It was truly one of the prettiest things I had ever seen, and I let go of Morinozuka's hand as I wandered over to the blooming hydrangea, gently feeling the petals. A cool breeze ruffled the plants, flowing along my hand like an invisible river.

Suddenly, Haninozuka broke into the silence, startling me back out of my brain. "The benches are this way," he said, turning to the left of the greenhouse building and leading the way to a large area of benches; an elegant fountain in the very center stood tall, shining proudly as the sun filtered its way through the sky and various branches of the surrounding trees. I chose the bench closest to me, settling down with a sigh and grabbing my laptop out of my bag. On top of it was a teal sticky note:

Wish you luck! You'll do great :) - Haru

BTW I'm making your favorite tonight

"Yes!" I pumped my fist in the air, smiling brightly as my mouth started watering at the thought of dinner. 'Speaking of food, I should probably eat lunch first before starting on tutoring plans,' I thought, rummaging further into my bag for my bento box. 

Logging into my laptop, I chewed mindlessly on my food (some rice, leftover sweet and sour stew from last night, broccoli and apple slices) as I waited for my internet to load. "Hey, Fujioka, are you gonna go get food with us or-" Morinozuka paused, taking in my already half scarfed down bento, and nodded approvingly. "Ah, nevermind, I see you've brought your own lunch. We'll be back in a few minutes!" He waved goodbye and rushed up to where Haninozuka was standing and waiting for him, rather impatiently if the scowl on his face and insistent tapping of his foot were anything to go by. I waved back, smiling through a mouthful of rice. I probably ended up resembling a chipmunk, but I like to think that it came off as endearing.

Upon the duo's return, my lunch was fully in the depths of my stomach cavity and my attention was completely on the laptop screen, typing away at example tutoring plans based on the current curriculum (from what I'd seen so far, anyways). "Okay, so I need to finish all of these for next week to not stress about that, and then send these in for review as soon as possible...with that kind of schedule, I should be able to plan out at least five tutoring outlines," I muttered, chewing on my lip as my typing increased in speed to keep up with my brain's fast pace.

"What're you working on there, Fujioka-kun?" Morinozuka sat down on the other end of my bench, settling his ornate lunch tray on his lap as he glanced over at my screen in curiosity. "I didn't catch much except for the word 'tutoring'."

I rested my hands for a moment, unscrewing the top of my water bottle and gulping some down before answering. "Part of my scholarship program requires me to tutor some students in subjects like English and Spanish after school as well as assisting teachers in those classes rather than attending them for my own learning." I looked back down at my computer, typing out a final sentence and sending it to the English department for evaluation. "It's a bit unorthodox, but hey, I'm an unorthodox person," I continued, shining a grin in Morinozuka's direction.

He grinned back, twirling his fork around some spaghetti.

"I'm excited to find out for myself, Fujioka, what 'unorthodox' may mean."

Chapter 5: A Comforting Conversation

'Well, that went about as well as it could've,' I thought, kicking my foot lightly against the iron gate I stood before. After lunch, the rest of the day had passed by uneventfully, if filled with more conversation (Morinozuka-kun and Haninozuka-kun were to thank for that) than the first half of the day. I had stayed behind to talk with a few of the teachers I would be helping, as for my first day they simply had me observe how the language classes went rather than actually helping anyone in those classes. Through that observation, I got a few pieces of helpful information:

1. The teachers had a solid curriculum, and were available for any extra tutoring or help.

2. The students, to their credit, made some effort to look like they were paying attention.

3. Annnnd approximately 1/3 of the class was near failing.

Obviously, this is where I come in; my guess is that administration saw that I knew English fluently in addition to Japanese and that I was fairly good in Spanish classes, so they decided to make it part of my scholarship to help lessen their work and give me something to do, as well as, ya know, helping the students or whatever. Thankfully, the teachers seemed like overall decent people, so I was able to talk to them about my observations smoothly. After those conversations were over, since club hours were only halfway done I decided to wait outside the highschool for Haruhi's club to finish up.

As I stood leaning against the iron gate, my brain wandered back to the conversation Haruhi and I had the night before. We were having dinner and had gotten to the subject of clubs, talking about all the different ones available at both the middle and highschool.

"Yeah, I'm trying to decide which ones I wanna check out. I might go see what the acapella groups are like," I said, finishing off my last gulp of water. "I've heard a lot about one of the clubs at the highschool, though. The student who I had talked to during my tour kept gushing about it. Maybe you know it?"

Haruhi's shoulders tensed. 'Why does she seem nervous?' "Hm, maybe I do. What's the club name?"

"I think it's a host club or something, I dunno. Didn't listen in too hard when she was talking, to be honest," I shrugged, eyebrows scrunching in concern as Haruhi frowned. "You good? Sensitive topic? I can shut up, if you'd like," I offered, reaching out to lay a comforting hand on top of Haruhi's. She shook her head, sighing before relaxing her posture.

"I wouldn't call it sensitive, but it's definitely a long story," Haruhi began, fidgeting with the hem of her shirt. 'Yep, nervous.' "So, at the beginning of the school year, I didn't have a proper uniform since it was way too expensive for us to afford. I just wore a sweatshirt and pants, and hoped that I'd be okay." I nodded, humming in agreement. 'Those uniforms really are far too expensive. Wait, why did they foot the bill for mine but not Haru's?...questions for later.' "Then, a few days in, I was looking for a quiet place to study, but all of the libraries were either too full or too loud. Eventually, I found what I thought was an empty music room, and went in."

I interrupted, raising an eyebrow. "Let me guess, it was the host club?" She nodded, a few stray hairs falling into her face. "What even is a host club, anyway?"

Haruhi sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose as if to prevent an oncoming headache. "Basically, it's a group of generally attractive guys who host guests at tables, have tea with them, and flirt with them. They all have different personalities and their own "thing", and it's apparently fairly appealing since they have a lot of clients," she explained.

I nodded, chewing thoughtfully on some noodles. "Yeah, that sounds like something that would get a lot of people interested." As I swallowed down the noodles and reached for a piece of asparagus, I paused, my brain puzzling some things together. 'Hang on...Haru's nervous to talk about the host club, and she knows a lot of the details about it...is she a client there?' I grabbed the asparagus, just barely catching it on my plate as it slipped briefly from my chopsticks, and took a bite. 'Hmm, no, she wouldn't be as nervous to talk about it if that were the case; plus, it's really not her thing.' Finishing off the spear of asparagus, I laid down my chopsticks, sighing contentedly at the satisfying feeling of a full stomach. 'Wait. Haruhi hasn't told me her club yet, has she?'

I looked back up from my plate, holding back a surprised smile. "Haru, are you part of the host club? You said it was a bunch of guys, right? Are you there for any guys interested in being hosted, or for girls who like girls, or something?" As Haruhi opened her mouth to speak, my brain ran ahead of her mouth, interrupting her before she could even take a breath. "Hang on...you wore a sweatshirt and can come off as masculine...and you have a male uniform! I saw it in the laundry! You're identifying as a guy during the host club!"

Haruhi seemed amused, if a bit disgruntled at my enthusiastic deduction. "Well, technically I'm identifying as a guy during school hours in general, but yeah." I grinned, bouncing in place in excitement.

"Cool! Oh, wait, does that mean I should refer to you using he/him pronouns and as my brother, rather than my sister? Or would you rather I go completely neutral with they/them?"

Haruhi thought over her response, subconsciously chewing on the inside of her cheek. "I mean, honestly I don't really care about pronouns in general, but I guess at school it would be best to refer to me with traditionally male language," she shrugged. "I don't mind being referred to as a guy, and I don't have any particular feelings surrounding neutral or female terms. It's all just language to me." 'Oh my god, I think I'm literally watching as Haruhi comes to her queer realization,' I thought, leaning my chin in my palm. 'I don't think they've made any connection yet...I'm giving it five minutes, max.' Just as I thought that, Haruhi's head turned back up from her plate to face me, an expression of epiphany written all over their face in bold ink. "That...that's not the typical cisgender girl's experience, is it?"

I smiled gently, shaking my head. "Nope, it very much is not. There's a lot of labels out there, and feel free to choose one or none, but what I'm hearing sounds a lot like being agender or nonbinary, though nonbinary is more of an umbrella term," I defined, giggling when Haruhi let out a frustrated groan. "It's okay, you're all good! Like I said, as long as you know what you're comfy with, you can either look into some labels or tell all the labels to go fuck themselves, for all I care." That got a chuckle out of Haruhi, which was the desired effect. She began picking up the dishes left over from dinner, getting the plate she had saved for dad and carrying it into the kitchen. I followed with several other plates, the chopsticks that we used stacked neatly on top.

As we went through our system of cleaning up after dinner (Haruhi washing, drying, and stacking the dishes in the cupboard, me wiping down the table, putting away any leftovers, and covering our dad's plate in plastic wrap for when he got home), the apartment was quiet; aside from the clinking of dishes in the sink, the water rushing down from the faucet, and the sound of light footsteps as me and Haruhi moved around, there was no conversation. Haruhi was lost in thought, eyebrows scrunched together, and I let them be; after all, it's not every day that you discover a new thing about your identity. Lord knows I had a long crisis after realizing my sexuality, despite knowing that my dad is bisexual and proud. It's a lot to process. I hadn't even realized that my thinking of 'oh my fucking god, everyone is attractive, ahhh' was not the typical heterosexual experience until I talked about it with some of my American friends.

After we finished up, I turned to face Haru and placed a hand on their shoulder. "You doing okay? I know it's a lot to process. Believe me, I've been there before," I chuckled, smiling when she wrapped her arms around me.

"I'm alright. Thanks, Aki, for talking me through that." They hugged me even tighter, squeezing gratefully. "I do think that I'll do what you said and, ah, tell labels to go fuck themselves." We both shook with laughter, the joyous sound of it echoing through the apartment.

"Damn, Haruhi! We need to celebrate, I think that's the first time I've ever heard you swear! I'm proud of you," I half-joked, laughing even harder at the swift elbow to the ribs I received for the comment. 'Worth it,' I thought, wheezing as Haru's cheeks flushed a bright pink.

The light breeze flipped me back to the current moment, my eyes turning to see the sky becoming a similar pink as Haruhi's face had been. "Where is Haruhi?" I mumbled, checking the time on my phone. 6:07. "Yeah, they should've finished up by now."

"Aki! Over here!" 'Speak of the devil.' Glancing behind me, I saw Haruhi walking towards me with two gingers following closely behind her, looking at me with open curiosity. "Sorry for the holdup. Some certain somebodies," she glared at the unnamed gingers, "were busy begging me to stay over tonight and slowed us down."

Smiling hesitantly at the two boys, I nodded in understanding. "It's alright, I was stuck in my own head anyways. Could you introduce me?"

"Right! Introductions, yeah. Hikaru, Kaoru, this is my younger sibling, Aki. Aki, these are the Hitachiin twins, Kaoru and Hikaru. They're in the host club with me," Haruhi said, waving me closer. I waved at the twins, glad to meet some of Haruhi's friends. 'She did avoid calling them her friends though...hm.'

"Hey, Aki-chan! It's nice to meet you," the twins said in unison.

"What grade are you in?" One of them (Hikaru, I think) asked, leaning an elbow on his brother's shoulder.

"I'm a third year in middle school! I did just start today though," I answered, poking at Haru's side. She swatted me away, making me burst out in giggles.

"Don't poke me."

I leaned down towards her face, hands clasped behind my back innocently. "Why?"

"Because it's annoying, Aki."

"But why?"

Haruhi looked at me exasperatedly. I bit my lip to keep in another giggle-fit, choosing instead to use this moment to grab her bag. "I- Aki, why?"

I grinned at them cheerily. "Now look who's asking 'why'," I remarked, holding the bag out of their reach. "And since I can answer questions, unlike some people, it's cuz I wanna hold it for you."

Haru looked at me suspiciously. "Hm. Fine. Going back to the other topic, no, I can't stay over. I have this one to look after," she said, gesturing in my direction. I pouted, but stayed silent. 'I'm only a year younger than you!'

The two gingers shared a glance, and looking closely, I was able to see an oh-so-familiar twinkle of mischief shining in their eyes. 'Ah, so we've got two chaos demons on our hands. This is bound to be interesting.'

One of them opened his mouth to speak, but I beat him to the punch. "Hey Haru, if the only concern is that I'd be left alone, why can't they just stay over at our place?" Despite receiving a glare, I continued. "It's logical, plus, I get the chance to get to know your friends. And didn't you tell me how important it was to start making connections?" To be fair to myself here, I wasn't entirely bluffing; she did lecture me on making connections to further my future career. Buuut yeah, no, this was definitely moreso about getting to know her friends. What can I say? I'm curious...and also extremely protective. Do with that information what you will.

The twins were visibly holding back laughter now. "Yeah, Haruhi! We wanna get to know your little sibling!" They exclaimed, wilting slightly when Haruhi sighed. 'Oh boy. Time to bring out the big guns. Younger sibling powers, activate!'

I approached her once more, holding out the bag and pouting my cutest possible pout, even adding a small lip tremble to seal the deal. "Please?"

I kept that up for several seconds, the feeling of Haruhi wavering palpable. Eventually, they closed their eyes, looking for the world as if this would be their greatest regret, and nodded. The twins and I cheered simultaneously, one of them subtly giving me a high five once Haruhi turned to start leading the way home. I grinned, proud of my accomplishment and excited for the night ahead of us, and skipped up the path to walk beside Haruhi, nudging her shoulder as a way of saying "thanks." She nudged back, "you're welcome."

Chapter 6: A Shared Appreciation

I sat criss-cross on the floor of the living room, laptop resting on my legs and only having half of my attention; the other half was focused on enjoying the interactions between the twins and Haruhi, the three of them being cramped together in the kitchen. 'I'm so fucking glad that we cleaned the stove recently,' I thought, hiding a snort in my elbow as I saw one of the twins (Hikaru, maybe?) open the cupboard, eyebrows raising excitedly as his eyes wandered around all of what was inside. He glanced over at me and looked between the cupboard and I a few times before decidedly padding over to my corner, settling down next to me as my fingers ran back and forth along the keyboard.

Finishing off a sentence, I looked over at him, stretching my arms out above my head. "So, how goes the investigation on the lifestyle of your average commoner?"

He chuckled along with me, leaning back on his hands. "Fairly well, if I say so myself. I mean, most of the challenge was convincing Haruhi to let us stay over, and you covered that for us, so..."

'Okay, based on voice it's definitely Hikaru.' I nodded, pretending to look thoughtful for a second. "Hm, I guess you guys owe me now, right? Or do rich people not do IOU's?" I joked, grinning as Hikaru burst into surprised laughter.

"No, you're right, we do owe you," he said, sighing as his mirth died down. "It's up to you how you use that favor."

I hummed in thought, glancing over what I had typed out to give my eyes something to look at other than him. "Well, I'll be sure to give it some thought and save it for something good," I replied, finalizing the document and sending it over to my English teacher to review; she had asked for me to come up with some ideas for activities and worksheets that I would start doing with students in tutoring next week. "Off topic, but am I right in assuming that you've taken a language class at some point?"

Hikaru nodded, adjusting himself to be mirroring my sitting position. "Yeah, it's one of the required courses at Ouran. So far, Kaoru and I've taken Spanish and English, since those are the languages most often spoken amongst my mom's clientele." 'Hm, interesting. Rather than just talking about himself, he talks about him and Kaoru like a joint unit...wonder if there's a pattern there. Wait, no, focus on the conversation Aki! Human interaction now, mental dissection later!'

I tilted my head, absentmindedly fidgeting with my hands. "That makes sense. Have you noticed anything that was a struggle to learn? And were there certain things that helped?"

Hikaru's nose scrunched up a bit. "Uh, I dunno...grammar was a struggle, I guess, since it's so different from Japanese, and it was the same for the word order." I nodded, thinking back to my own struggles when I was learning other languages and recalling similar ones. "Not to be rude, but why'd you ask?"

I chuckled lightly, stretching my leg out as it began feeling like pins and needles were jabbing into it with the malice of an angry bear. "Nah, that's a fair question; I did kinda spring that on you with no context. As part of my scholarship program, I'm tutoring some students after school in English and Spanish, so I'm figuring out beforehand what I may need to focus on, though obviously I'll need to see what the students are struggling with," I explained, noting out of the corner of my eye that Haruhi was putting her outdoor clothes back on. "Hey, nee-san! Where're you headed?"

She turned her head, slipping one of her feet into a worn-out looking black sneaker. The fabric stretched languidly, almost like a cat arching its back after a lengthy nap. "I just realized that we don't have enough food in the fridge for even the most basic of recipes; I'm gonna go get some stuff at the store, do you need me to grab anything?"

I hummed in consideration, moving the laptop from my knees and placing it on the floor. "Could you get me some mango ice cream mochi? I'll pay you back for it."

Haruhi made a dismissive hand gesture and made for the door, passing by Kaoru as he came and sat down right by Hikaru, gently nudging him aside to make room. "Don't worry about it, Aki, it's alright." Before I could even protest, they shut the door behind them; my shoulders deflated lightly, a pout coming to my face. 'Haru, I swear...hmph. I'll sneak some money back into their wallet when they're not looking.'

"So, Aki-chan," Kaoru started, with Hikaru finishing off the sentence, "what do you think of Haruhi being in the host club?"

I stopped to think, mulling over how to respond. 'I dunno what kind of answer they're expecting from me...if they even have any sort of expectations.' "Well, if I'm being honest, she seems a lot happier from being in the host club with y'all. She's not spending all her time studying now, and she has you guys as friends, which is massive progress." I chewed at my lip anxiously, wondering what would be considered too much to say. 'Probably everything I just said, in Haru's opinion.' "Personally, I'm glad she has this club to turn to. Makes me worry less, ya know?"

They nodded in understanding, Kaoru in particular looking as if he knew exactly how I felt. 'Huh, must've hit close to home there,' I thought, smoothly changing topics to their mother and what she did for a living. We discussed her clothing line for a while, the twins making a delightful discovery in that Hitachiin Yuzuha happened to be one of my favorite designers and public figures, being one of the few I knew of to speak on mental health as openly as she did. 'Stupid taboo on mental health and emotions...ugh.' As we spoke more about different careers and how much of the business they'd be inheriting, Kaoru got a thoughtful look on his face, pausing in his participation in the conversation. I poked him on the knee, giggling at his visible startle. "You look like you either wanna ask me something or say something," I said, raising an eyebrow. "I don't judge, or bite, I promise." 'At least, I don't bite anyone but Haruhi...but that's neither here nor there.'

Kaoru smiled at my joke, easing up a bit. "Ha, yeah, you don't seem the type." 'Oh how wrong you are.' "I was just wondering, since you've talked a lot about mental health, do you wanna go into a career in that? Or are you just weirdly knowledgeable?"

'Damn it, I must've started going on a tangent again.' "No, you're right, I do wanna go into that field. Mental health's always been important and fascinating to me, so I tend to go on and on if you get me started on it." I chuckled nervously, picking at the edge of my nail bed and staring down at my hand as if it were the most interesting thing in the world. 'Well, it's not that interesting, but my skin is fairly dry. Note to self; moisturize, dumbass.'

The twins nodded simultaneously, seemingly sensing my discomfort and swiftly switching the subject to various shows and games. By the time Haruhi got home, Hikaru and I had gotten into several playful arguments over certain characters and plot-lines, Kaoru apparently content with sitting back and watching our conversation like a constant back and forth tennis game.

The rest of the night went similarly, though the twins did have an entertaining reaction to how Haruhi and I wordlessly communicated in the kitchen while cooking dinner, alternating their gaze between the two of us with eyes so wide they were practically the size of one of those small dessert plates they have at restaurants.

The evening came and went; a majority of the morning passed by in a chaotically quick manner, what with four people getting ready, two of which didn't even live in our home. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of flying uniforms, quick breakfast, and insisting that no, we did not need to take their limo to school, we got to the academy, parting after a swift (yet dramatic) goodbye.

Right before I could step away from the trio, however, one of the twins quickly passed me a small piece of paper, winking at me as he did so. I glanced between him and the other ginger, who was busy leading Haruhi in the other direction toward the highschool (ha, yeah, very subtle), and simply shrugged, smiling in response and waving goodbye before actually turning to head into the building.

As I walked along the paved pathway, my curiosity got the better of me and I stopped in my tracks before the door to the school, carefully unfolding what appeared to be an index card as the rest of my schoolmates passed me by. 'Ah jeez, of course even their fucking index cards are bougie; these damn rich people.'

The note was simple in everything other than penmanship and paper, a short phrase hastily scrawled:

Music Room 3.

Chapter 7: A New Discovery: The Investigating

"Wait, so arranged marriages are an actual thing?" I took a thoughtful bite out of the mini raspberry pie that Morinozuka had very kindly shared with me from his lunch ("They have more than enough in the cafeteria, anyway," he had said, pushing the pastry towards me with a grin). The raspberry filling was tart and not too sweet, the dough crumbling ever so slightly over my chin as I let out a hum of satisfaction. "Damn, I kinda figured that arranged marriages didn't really happen that much anymore. Ya learn something new everyday, I guess," I shrugged.

"Yeah, they're not nearly as popular as they once were but they're not uncommon," Haninozuka said, typing away at something or other on his laptop. Looking a bit closer, I could see tiny designs of dinosaurs imprinted into the otherwise pure black keyboard in a dark green tint. 'Aw, cute!' "Usually they're set up to bring more income in differing ways; more publicity on both companies involved, for example." I nodded in understanding, allowing him to fully focus on the screen without splitting attention between me and his work.

"Hey Fujioka-kun, I have a question about your tutoring sessions," Morinozuka spoke up. He'd been rather quiet while Haninozuka had been explaining, choosing instead to munch on what was left of his food. I tilted my head in curiosity, prompting him to continue. "I know you've mentioned it briefly, but which subjects do you cover?"

I hummed in understanding, taking a moment to mentally sort through which ones I was handling; I tend to sometimes have the memory of a very smart goldfish. "I mainly go over Spanish and English lessons, though sometimes I help with the occasional math review. Why'd you ask?"

As I was speaking, Morinozuka gave Haninozuka a sidelong glance, though he did it so quickly I might've missed it had I blinked. 'Huh. I wonder if Haninozuka-kun is struggling...well, we have our English lesson next, so I'll be able to observe then.' "Ah--uh, no specific reason, just curious!" Morinozuka laughed nervously, fidgeting with the ends of his sleeves. 'Bad liar. Yeah, that checks out, he seems incredibly earnest.' "I wanted to know since it could be helpful knowledge to pass along to anyone struggling in their learning, especially with all the shame we as a school have with asking for help." 'Okay, at this point he can't possibly believe he's being subtle, can he? If he does, this is physically painful to watch, though I can appreciate his intentions.'

Apparently Haninozuka agreed with my thoughts, going by the death glare that Morinozuka was bravely meeting head-on with an unwavering stare of his own. 'Fucking hell, they're both terrifying!'

Covering my momentary terror with a cough, I pointedly glanced down at my phone screen. "Hey, as a heads up, we have class in fifteen minutes, so I'd suggest you two finish up with the angry goggling situation y'all have going on and pack up while the hallways are free of traffic," I commented, snickering as they both flushed at being called out and grudgingly followed my lead.

As I shouldered my schoolbag, I jolted as a loud ringtone echoed through the greenhouse that had become our trio's lunch spot. "Ah, sorry, that's my phone, let me just -" A concerned frown pulled at my lips as I saw the contact name on the vibrating piece of technology; immediately, I picked up, feeling a pang of worry shoot through my entire being. "Dad? What's up?"

A relieved sigh met the ear I had pressed the phone against. "Hey Aki-chan, this is Chano-san." 'Dad's boss is calling? Using dad's phone? Ah jeez...I have a feeling.' "Is this a bad time?"

I inhaled and exhaled deeply, waving off a concerned-looking Morinozuka and a mildly-intrigued-looking Haninozuka. "Nah, you're all good, I'm still in my lunch period. Is everything alright? You're calling from dad's phone, so I'm just gonna assume right off the bat that he's out of commission," I reasoned, pacing slowly before the mountainous fountain and trying my best to let the sound of running water calm my nerves.

Chano-san chuckled, and I could almost visualize him shaking his head in disbelief. "You Fujioka kids; so analytical. Yeah, Ryuji's been working for far too long, he nearly passed out serving his last customer. Currently he's pouting in the back seat of my car, even though he knows damn well that I'm right." The last part of that sentence was clearly shouted back towards where dad was no doubt pouting to his best ability, and I heard a muffled 'I'm fine, Atsumu!' in response before Chano-san kept talking. "I'm gonna hang out with him at the apartment until you or Haruhi-chan comes home from school, just to make sure he actually rests and eats."

I nodded, humming in agreement. At this point, Morinozuka had started gently pulling me along behind him to get to class; I didn't make any protest, allowing him to guide me through the now somewhat crowded hallway. 'Welp, so much for avoiding the traffic.' "Yeah, that sounds like a plan. Haruhi and I both have activities after school today, so we'll be home at the same time, if that's okay."

We had gotten to the classroom just as Chano-san and I finished up the call, with three minutes to spare before class. Morinozuka sat down at his desk, laying a cheek on his folded arms and looking at me with eyes that felt like they could see right through my skeleton and organs. "Is everything alright? That sounded worrying," he asked, dark eyes filled with such genuine concern that my heart fluttered. 'Those eyes are gonna be the death of me, aren't they?'

I sighed, raking a hand through my hair anxiously. "Yeah, just...my dad overworks himself a lot, and this is one of those times. It got to the point that he nearly passed out while serving customers, so his boss took it upon himself to get dad home and keep an eye on him until nee-san and I arrive from school," I explained quietly, not wanting to be even more of a 'tragic story' to the class than I had already become. No, seriously, they try to offer me weird luxuries as if I were begging for food and money on the streets rather than a lower middle class citizen. As funny as it is, I'd honestly rather not keep getting offers of high-key expensive bags made of, I dunno, dragon scales or something.

Before Morinozuka could respond with anything but an empathetic facial expression, our English teacher came into the room, pausing any sort of deep emotional conversation that may have sprouted from my opening up. 'Ew, feelings. Ironic that I'm going into a career based on talking about them...I'm gonna go back to ignoring that bit of information for now. Just for funsies.'

The class went as per usual; I was used as an example for some sentences, I walked around and helped students with explaining what the fuck the textbook was asking of them ("No, I promise you, you're not the only one confused by the directions. The people who wrote this have never had to learn from their own material."), and I observed. The only thing that was different was that I dedicated more time than usual to the observation of one specific student.

Now, if there's one thing I'll give to Haninozuka, it's that he's damn good at looking like he doesn't need help in any sort of capacity. 'Mm, such a fun, unhealthy habit.' His face was a perfectly blank slate, with no indication that this was a subject he struggled in. The only thing visibly off was that he wrote random letters of the English alphabet as answers, always subtly ducking down as I passed by his seat, and from the looks of it he had managed to fool the teacher for a while now. The third time this happened, I made direct eye contact with Morinozuka, and raised a questioning eyebrow, glancing in the struggling blonde's direction before looking back at the brunette. Morinozuka responded with an exasperated shrug, giving the message of "look, I tried, he's in your hands now." 'Mood.'

The rest of the school day went by uneventfully, barring a few worried texts I received from Haruhi after she heard the voice mail left by Chano-san after she didn't pick up the phone.

Haruuuhee: so you're sure he's okay? He didn't sound hungover at all?

Me: mhm, minus the burnout he's all good, Chano-san didn't mention any alcohol involved

Me: try not to worry too much, you're gonna tire yourself out doing that & i doubt father dearest wants that

Me: he's safe in Chano-sans hands :)) and then when we get home we can lecture him! call it sibling bonding or whatever

Haruuuhee: ...alright, yeah, you do have a point. I have club now so hopefully that'll take my mind off of it a bit

Me: if you're that concerned you could always give Chano-san a call yourself, i'm sure he wouldn't mind, esp bc he knows we're protective lmao

Haruuuhee: true, I may do that honestly

Me: cool beans :> aight, i've gotta get to tutoring, i'll ttyl

Me: love yaaaaaa

Haruuuhee: <3 you too

I sighed fondly, shaking my head as I quickly dropped my phone into the front compartment of my schoolbag. Looking up, I scanned over the students before me: today it was only two second years who had been coming fairly consistently, the rest of the desks empty. Smiling, I greeted them and asked what they went over in class today, and went from there. Sometimes I had a lot more of a solid lesson involved, but with only two people present and with their level of understanding it wasn't needed; essentially, I was just rephrasing what the teacher had taught them,  just in a more understandable way. It felt therapeutic, slipping into English as if it were oil on the kitchen floor. "Almost! Replace 'were' with 'was' and the sentence would be perfect," I said. "'The grocery store was crowded, and we were in there for a while.' Nice job!"

The shorter second year visibly brightened. "Yeah, that does make more sense. I wasn't sure which part of the sentence was off, so I kinda just went for it." I hummed in understanding, placing the paper back on her desk. She fidgeted with her fingers, cracking various knuckles before clearing her throat. "So...do you think I'll get a passing grade on my test next week? Or do I need to emotionally prepare myself for failing?" 'Oh, this sweet child. I hate the education system sometimes.'

I nodded enthusiastically. "For sure! You're doing really well, and you're already showing so much more progress and understanding. I'm very proud of you, Yamamoto-chan." Turning to face the other second year (and giving Yamamoto an opportunity to compose herself), I saw him looking up at me with tears in his eyes. "Wait, why are you crying?! You're also gonna do well! Really, both of you have had an incredible improvement!" 'Shit, shit, shit, why the emotions!"

He laughed shakily, waving his hand as if to wave my concern away. "No, no, that's not why I'm crying, though I do appreciate the encouragement." He paused, taking a moment to wipe his eyes with a handkerchief and passing it to Yamamoto, receiving a grateful nod from the other. "You're very genuine and actually make sense when you're explaining things, and to hear you say with such confidence that we'll do well..." He trailed off, staring into space for a few seconds before snapping out of it and looking back at me. "Anyway, yeah, that was really- thank you."

I nodded, holding back tears of my own. 'Jeez, these kids must be under so much pressure from their family...more than the average highschooler.' However, the moment was broken by a sneeze right outside the door and the two second years bolted before I could say anything more.

'Uh.

What just happened?'

My attempt at re-booting my thought process was halted when the door creaked back open, footsteps quietly shuffling their way through the doorway; controlling my eyebrows so that they didn't shoot up into my hairline, I smiled up at the most recent student to join my tutoring sessions, trying my best not to giggle at the borderline pout he was sporting.

'Well I'll be damned...someone give me one of those old-fashioned fancy telephones, cause I fucking CALLED IT!'

"Welcome to tutoring, Haninozuka-kun! How can I help you?"

Chapter 8: A New Discovery: The Conclusion(s)

Haninozuka glared at me, a distinctly displeased air wafting off of him. "Not a word to anyone that I came here, got it?"

I nodded, pantomiming zipping my lips. "Fine, that's fair, but I hope you realize how unhealthy your level of shame around asking for help is," I said, raising a challenging eyebrow at his pout. Sighing, he nodded, taking his notebook and folder for English out of his schoolbag with the look of someone just sentenced to cleaning up glittery kinetic sand after a bunch of toddlers smushed it all into the carpet. "So, going back to my original question: how can I help you?"

"...The letters aren't making any sense to me," Haninozuka mumbled, sitting down in a scrunched posture rather than his usual ramrod straight. "They just - I read things correctly, but when saying them out loud it's gibberish that comes out! And when I write things, I'm thinking of the word and in my head it seems right, and then I try to write it and it comes out all wrong for some reason, just - ugh! I don't know! And hearing it is even worse!" I sat back, allowing him to have his moment of anger. 'That must've been bottled up for a while...hm. I wonder...'

After letting Haninozuka rant for a while and let off some steam, I waited for him to catch his breath before speaking again. "Hey, Haninozuka-kun, I have a slight question for you, if you don't mind." He shrugged at me, scowling down at the papers before him like they had personally offended him. 'Honestly, they probably did.' "Did you ever have a hard time learning how to read or write in Japanese when you were younger, similar to what you're experiencing now? Like, for example, mixing up similarly written kana or kanji, or saying out loud 'was' instead of 'saw'?" The beginnings of a realization were slowly dawning on his face.

"Well, yes. Those issues are fairly normal to some extent, but I..." He trailed off, lips turning down into an ashamed frown.

"You had more difficulty than the average child?" I gently offered up, sadness pooling inside as he stiffened and nodded, face turned down to his notebook. 'Oh, hon.' "Haninozuka-kun, that's perfectly fine. Struggling, needing help, asking for help - that's all okay! Hell, more than just okay, it's normal. What isn't okay is that you were made to think that it's a sign of incompetence, and through that you got your struggle downplayed to the point that it was overlooked as a possibly clinical situation."

At that, he glanced up at me again, this time in confusion. "Clinical?"

"Have you ever heard of dyslexia?" At the shake of his head, I continued, trying my best to plow through the ever-growing rage boiling inside of me over society and how it works. 'Save this for therapy. No need to explode right now. He doesn't need that.' "I don't have any personal experience, as I'm not dyslexic, but I have friends and mentors who are and have talked with me a lot about their struggles with it. The reason I bring it up is because what you experience sounds a lot like what they go through with their dyslexia."

Haninozuka seemed lost for words; he just stared at me, processing. After a few moments, he seemed to zone back in, taking a deep breath before speaking. "So, would I need to refer to a psychologist to know for sure?" His voice was just barely shaky; I could see his hands clenching around the edges of his uniform sleeves, knuckles turning white.

I hummed in consideration. "Well, not necessarily. You could talk to your primary care doctor and ask to be evaluated, if you'd feel more comfy with that rather than a psychologist." 'From how he's reacting, there is definitely some ingrained shame around seeking psychological help. Not surprising, unfortunately...love that for society.' "I should mention, though, take this with a grain of salt and do your own research, since at this point I'm a bit more familiar with the mental health system of the US than the one in Japan." 'Calling them "systems" is giving them far too much credit, but that's a rant for another day...time. Place. Person?'

As I spoke, Haninozuka's fists and posture relaxed significantly, a sigh of relief echoing through the otherwise quiet room once I finished. "That may be what I end up doing. I've got to admit, while it is intimidating to find out that I might have a learning disorder, it's also...reassuring, in a way," he admitted, eyes gazing out at the trees by the window. "Is that strange?"

Setting aside my papers, I leaned my forearms down on the desk, absentmindedly tapping my fingers along the wooden grain. "Nope! I felt the same way after I was diagnosed, too. People make out labels to be such scary, permanent things that stick to you like one of those annoying bar-code stickers on a plastic water bottle, but in reality they're a lot more like magnets."

He nodded, leaning back in his chair ever so slightly. "That makes sense. Out of curiosity, what were you diagnosed with?"

I snorted, somehow not expecting for him to be so forward with the question. "As a heads up, not everyone likes talking about this kind of stuff as much as I do; I know a solid chunk of people who would've gotten massively offended at you for even daring to ask that question."

Haninozuka nodded once more, raising an expectant eyebrow after a few seconds of silence on both ends. "Alright, jeez, so pushy," I grumbled, fidgeting around with the ends of my hair as my anxiety started ramping up. "Well, there's the generalized anxiety and depressive disorders," I began, "and then I'm also autistic." 'Welp. No going back from that. Please don't be a judgmental asshole...I'm starting to get attached and it's not a velcro, easy-to-rip-off kind of attachment...'

Aside from a slight widening of his eyes, Haninozuka didn't have a visual reaction. Silence encased the space surrounding us, louder than any noise. And when I say 'any noise', I mean any noise. As in, this silence felt louder than a truck honking right next to your open car window on the highway.

Then again, it might've been my anxiety impacting that; my point still stands, regardless.

After a few moments of absolutely deafening silence, Haninozuka cleared his throat, visibly...uncomfortable? Confused? Flustered? A combination of the three? I couldn't be sure. "I...well, if I'm being completely honest, I've been told in the past that people who have autism -"

"Autistic people," I quietly interjected, eyes glued to the table.

He paused before continuing, and I braced myself for the undoubtedly harsh words he was about to utter. "- That autistic people are fairly incompetent, or intelligently slow, and rude." 'Yep, that checks out. Well, ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for joining me, but I'm afraid this friendship is ending abruptly -'

"However." 'What?' I felt a steady gaze on me, and I hesitantly met it, inhaling sharply at the sheer amount of determination and kindness in those light brown, almost amber eyes of his. "However, Fujioka-kun, none of those words even barely apply to you, and it wouldn't be the first time that I was told one thing when reality was a complete reversal of it. And while I currently don't understand anything about being autistic, I want to." He leaned forward, mirroring my position and leaning on his forearms, bringing our foreheads to be merely centimeters apart. "So please, Fujioka-kun; make me understand."

Now, usually, I despise eye contact; unless I'm trying to make a point, I just stare at people's foreheads to make it look like I am making eye contact (great life hack, by the way. Yay anxiety!). This time, though, eye contact was unavoidable. I mean, how the fuck am I supposed to avoid it when I'm mega-focused on not making our foreheads bump like bumper cars? Not even going to try to lie, though; Haninozuka's eyes were, at the risk of sounding cliche, mesmerizing. Staring into them was like staring into the center of a freshly shelled chestnut. Well, minus the smell. If his eyeballs smelled like chestnuts, I would be concerned about a possible medical condition.

It took a few seconds to let my thoughts come to a screeching halt. "I...yeah. I'm not sure if I can fit it all into one bite sized conversation, but if you're willing to be open minded, then I'm willing to be your teacher for Neurodivergence 101," I said, nervously chuckling. We shared a hesitant grin; it felt like the beginning of something new, something important, something exciting and nerve-wracking and heartfelt. Like the first verse of a song was ramping up and we were on the edge of the upbeat chorus, the kind that people jump to at dance parties; like we were about to head off onto one fucking hell of an emotional rollercoaster.

What stunned us out of the borderline romance movie moment, you may ask? The sound of a ringtone. Yeah, make that movie a rom-com. The phone started ringing and we simultaneously jumped apart as if the table were on fire, Haninozuka briefly clearing his throat before he answered. "Hello? Yes, my apologies; I wasn't planning on going to after-school activities, but Satoshi dragged me along to one of his friends' clubs." Haninozuka eyed me, sighing as the person on the phone with him kept talking. "No, it won't take much longer. Yes, I will be sparring tonight. Mhm. I - yes. Alright, goodbye now." He hung up with a flourish, slipping his English materials back into his bag.

"I'm gonna wager a guess that you can't stay for the extra help we never got to?" I said lightheartedly, frowning at the despondent shake of the head I got in response. 'Well damn, that's one hell of an opinion change. Should I feel proud? I think I feel proud.' "Hey, why the long face? Dyslexia or not, I can help with your English! Or I can at least help you complete the work for the class, if you'd be open to that."

Haninozuka glanced up at me, visibly surprised. "Wait, really? But you're already going out of your way to help me learn more about neurodivergent people, with nothing gained in return at that! Why would you also help me with my English?"

I sighed, shaking my head in mock frustration. "Well first off, I offered, so I'm clearly fine with it. Secondly, neurodivergence and mental health related stuff is one of my biggest interests, so any chance I get to talk about that is a win in my book. And thirdly, because that's what friends do, isn't it?" All I got in response was a dumbfounded look, so I decided to elaborate. "Ya know, spending time with each other and enjoying said time, while also helping each other along the path of becoming at least a semi-decent human being? I mean, a lot of the time that's more subconscious than anything, but still."

Our stuff gathered, we began walking out of the classroom and through the hallways, footsteps loud and slow. "I've only ever really had Satoshi, so I guess I don't have much experience with friendship other than that." 'Oh, way to punch me in the heart for the third fucking time today. Also, mood, making friends is hard.' "But thinking about it, what you said fits rather well with our dynamic."

I nodded, the movement jostled somewhat by my jumping from tile to tile. "Yeah, it does! From what I've seen, y'all fit like two puzzle pieces perfectly suited for each other," I said, giggling as I had a wobbly landing. "And I doubt you do, but in case you feel bad about a lack of friendships growing up, I had the same thing. Sure, I had a few friends, but I've always been closest to my brother." Glancing back, I saw that Haninozuka had stopped in his tracks, so I slowed to a stop too, not wanting to leave him behind. "Honestly, I think here in Japan, you and Morinozuka-kun are the closest thing I have to friends outside of Haru."

Haninozuka turned to face the large window, leaning his palms on the sill. "We are friends." Thinking I misheard, I asked him to repeat what he said. "Fujioka-kun, you are friends with Satoshi and I. We are friends with you. Honestly, you should've heard how excited he was once you started eating lunch with us and talking to us; one would think that he's never talked to another human being in his life."

I shuffled my feet, stepping closer to where he stood. "And you, Haninozuka-kun? Were you also excited, or at least happy?"

Turning back to face me, I saw a gentle smile on his face. "Did I not include myself when I said 'Satoshi and I'? Of course I was happy. If I wasn't, I wouldn't have kept sitting and talking with you." He stepped forward some, bringing us to be merely two feet apart.

"And please, call me Chika. You've more than earned that right."

Chapter 9: A Weird Factor

Notes:

Quick definition before reading, just for a bit of context!

Stimming: the repetitive performance of certain physical movements or vocalizations; self stimulation. This behavior is thought to serve a variety of functions, such as calming and expression of feelings. As an example, a stim that I have is snapping my fingers, or stretching them. In my experience, a stim is a more voluntary action.

Now, onto the show!

We continued walking, the mood feeling lighter and the hallways getting lighter with it. Though, the latter was probably because we stepped into a part of the school with more windows. Actually, on second thought, it's more fun to think that the universe aligned exactly with our conversation; adds that drama, that spice, ya know?

"Hmm...Chika. Nice," I mumbled. "Well, since you're giving me permission to call you Chika, to be on even ground you can call me Aki!" Glancing over my shoulder at him, I noticed a faint blush painting his cheeks. 'Aw, does he blush easily? I am so exploiting that...I can already imagine the comedy.' "What? You just declared so confidently that I can call you Chika, and then when I uno-reverse that you get flustered?" I teased, pretending to cough into my fist in order to hide a laugh at his ever-increasing blush.

"I...shush! I am not flustered," he choked out, lightly batting at my arm. "Going back to our other conversation, do you think I would be able to get sufficient information from someone whose family is incredibly well-versed in medical subjects?"

'Mhm, real subtle topic change. I'll let it slide.' "I mean, it depends on the person. How do you know them?"

Chika adjusted his bag slightly, slowing his pace as he thought. I matched his pace as well so as not to speed ahead and miss any vital information. "He's a friend of my older brother's, Ootori Kyoya. He's a second year at the highschool, and his family is a substantial part of the medical industry of Japan." 'Why does that name sound so familiar? I swear I've heard it somewhere before. Maybe it's his family name that I know? Because of a business or something?' "Anyway, I was hoping to discuss this with him before bringing it up to my doctors; get some sort of insight from a more familiar and possibly more, ah, accepting source, so to speak."

I nodded along, coming to a stop at one of the water fountains by the front gate and taking a seat on the large edge of it, running my fingertips through the rushing mini currents. 'Damn, I didn't even realize how fast we were walking.' "Yeah, that makes sense! He might not have a lot of specific knowledge on dyslexia, but he'll probably have a better idea of what to expect here in Japan when talking about it with doctors," I said, absentmindedly swaying side to side, gently colliding with Chika's right hip in the process as he sat down beside me. 'I mean, if he minded, he would either move away or ask me to stop, so...I'll keep going. I haven't stimmed in a while.' "Also, you have an older brother? How the fuck has that not come up in conversation?"

Chika chuckled a bit, leaning back on his hands slightly. "I don't know, actually. I sometimes forget that we're not telepathic, and that you don't have that information unless I share it with you. But yes, I do have an older brother," he heaved a sigh, rolling his eyes a bit. "He's...an interesting personality, I'll say that. We are very different people."

I hummed, intrigued. "You don't sound overly enthused about that. Maybe you could tell me about him?"

He spared me a glance before looking down at the marble of the fountain, eyes tracing the lines and imperfections within the rock. "Honestly, it kinda feels like I don't really know him that well anymore. Or maybe like I never did. A few years ago, in his first year of highschool, his appreciation for sweets and cute things...escalated. He joined a frivolous club and abandoned his position as captain of the karate club. He used to be serious, and admirable. Now he's a laughing-stock for the family name," Chika grumbled, eyebrows sinking as he frowned. 'I know he has a thing about reputation, it would be strange if he didn't given his circumstances, but that sounds...maybe not scripted, but...'

"Somehow I feel like you're saying what you've been told to believe," I started, cupping a bit of water in my palm, "and it doesn't sound like you believe it, even if you think that you do." 'He's been too accepting of me to be so judgmental of his brother. Then again, who the fuck knows, maybe his brother is legitimately some kind of crazy wackadoo.' Chika opened his mouth to argue, but no sound came out; like his brain had a glitch in the system. I dripped a bit of the cool water from my palm onto his head, shocking him out of the glitch with a mild squawk. "So what do you feel towards your brother? What do you actually believe about him?" He stayed quiet, mouth in a firm line. 'I think this might be one too many epiphanies for the day...' I sighed, dropping what water was left in my hand onto Chika's head. "You don't have to answer those questions, but at least think about them."

Finally booting back up to reality, he nodded, shaking his head with a small pout. "Was the water really necessary? My hair is plenty clean, I assure you." Chika felt a bit at his hair, shaking away the condensation that came off when he lifted his fingers back up.

I giggled, lengthening my sway to lean into him a few seconds longer and pulling away before he could make anything of it. "The water wasn't cuz I thought you haven't washed your hair, dummy, it was to distract you from the thought spiral you were spinning down," I explained, reaching into my bag for a fidget cube to hand him. 'I feel like Mickey Mouse with his fucking mouse-ka-tools kit...this is a surprise tool that will help us later! Well, now, not later, but the point still stands. All I need now is a clubhouse.' Chika hesitantly held the cube, glancing at me for a second, and then started to mess around with the different functions. His eyes lit up as he pressed a particular button that made a very satisfying clicking noise, subconsciously smiling at the clicking pattern he had created. "The water was like this fidget cube; it was meant to help you focus back into the moment and get out of your head." He nodded, looking back up from the cube to me. "It also had the benefit of the 'weird factor'."

Chika's eyebrows flew up to the top of his hairline, fingers briefly pausing mid-click. "Do I even want to know what you mean by the 'weird factor'?"

"The 'weird factor' is my phrase for something that weirds you out enough to snap you out of a negative headspace; in this case, it was the splash of water," I said, lazily stretching out my arms and reaching towards the clouds, dusted with a light pink as the sun slowly started making its way down the sky. "Anyways, out of curiosity, what's the so-called frivolous club your brother's in? Because in my lowly, middle class opinion, many things at this school can be considered frivolous." 'Ha, understatement of the year.'

At my question, Chika froze up a bit, eyes flickering back and forth between me and the ground, as if watching an invisible tennis match. "I'm not sure you would want to hear about it. It doesn't seem like the type of thing you would enjoy or agree with," he explained, rushing the words out of his mouth like they were going to get squished down before he could say them. "But the long and short of it is that it doesn't help to expand his knowledge, nor his physical prowess, and it's over-indulgent of his other interests." I hummed in response, mentally scribbling down as many notes as possible. If you want a clear picture of what my brain looked like at that moment, imagine that one meme of the guy with the red string connecting pictures in a weird web-like mess.

Chika sighed, clicking more intensely at the cube. "For whatever reason, Ootori-senpai is also in that club. That's how they got to know one another to the point of being friends rather than just acquaintances." He stood up suddenly, head turning towards the road past the gate; I could see a sleek black limousine pulling up to the curb, the windows blacked out so I couldn't see inside. 'Even though I'm extremely aware that these people are bougie, it still manages to surprise me every time. To be fair, it's not everyday the average person sees a limo, but still.' "Is that your ride?" At his nod, I stood up too, taking slow steps forward. "C'mon then, don't wanna keep them waiting!"

He shrugged, hitching his bag up a bit, the strap having fallen down from his shoulder to his upper arm. "They'll wait as long as I want them to," Chika remarked, voice as cool as ice. 'Damn, didn't know I was talking to Mr. Freezer. Then again, the change didn't happen til he saw the car...I'm making a connection. A weak, velcro-esque connection, but a connection nonetheless.'

My steps got even slower, looking more like I was walking through hot lava. "Well then, we can take as long as we want!" I exclaimed, tugging at Chika's sleeve to keep him at my speed. "I have an older sibling too. He's also in an...interesting club, to say the least." 'Interesting is a mild way to put it.' "But it seems to make him happy, or at least content, so I try not to question it too much. Honestly, I'm just happy he's in a club at all, since that means he's actively socializing with people he at least tolerates," I said, rambling on slightly. Glancing over at him, Chika looked to be listening intently, eyes facing the ground but head tilted towards me and nodding along as I spoke.

"I can appreciate that. Since my brother is naturally fairly extroverted, I never really had that worry," he responded, glancing over at me with a look of consideration before looking back to where he was walking, narrowly avoiding a small crack in the concrete. I couldn't help but laugh at his wobbling, reaching out an arm through my mirth to help him regain his balance. "Honestly, he's a little too extroverted," Chika grumbled, brushing imaginary dust off of his now somewhat wrinkled uniform.

"Yeah...I spy a bias," I sing-songed, falling into giggles again at the dirty look he gave me. "I mean, that coming from an introvert? It's fair to have that opinion, but again, you're kinda biased against it."

Our conversation wound down as we finally reached the limousine; that same cold cloud from before came back over Chika, eyes glazing over as he got closer and closer. As he looked at me, however, the cloud seemed to clear a bit, eyes shining just a tad bit more like how they did in that classroom. Chika cleared his throat, glancing at and away from me several times. "I, ah...would you like a ride home? I wouldn't want you to end up walking in the dark." 'Aww, so he does have a soft side! It wasn't just my imagination after all.' He opened the limo door, eyes bouncing between me and the limo.

I smiled, fidgeting with the zipper of my schoolbag. "Thanks for the offer, but I'm all set. I've had enough rich people bullshit for the day."

He nodded in understanding. "Yes, I'm starting to see how our lifestyle can be overwhelming for people of lower classes. I doubt there's much I can do to prevent that, though." He said, awkwardly sitting down in the car in a way where he was still facing me. 'Holy shit, another break-through! I'm getting through to him! I wonder how much further I can get with this...'

Chuckling, I began moving in the direction of the sidewalk, slamming the door shut for him and waiting for the window to roll down before speaking. "Alright, well, thank you for coming with me and Morinozuka-kun to explore that club, Ch- ah, Haninozuka-kun!" I said, motioning my head in the direction of the open window between the main seating area and the driver. Chika's eyes squinted in confusion for a moment before widening in what looked to be understanding. 'Gotta keep stuff on the down-low; who knows what could happen if the driver mentions that Chika has a classmate calling him by his first name, let alone that classmate being a middle class citizen. I'm just glad that Chika took the hint.'

Chika nodded. "Of course, Fujioka-kun. I hope it was informative, and I'm glad to have been of assistance, as annoyed as I am that Satoshi dragged me along without asking," he said, playing along near effortlessly. "You should get going now; the sun isn't going to wait around much longer, after all."

"Yeah, you have a point about that. See you tomorrow, Haninozuka-kun!" With that, the limo drove off into the picturesque setting sun, telenovela-style. Sighing, I began my journey home, mentally preparing a lecture on 'How Not to Overwork Yourself 101' for my dad. 'Alright, so I wanna hit a few specific points like making sure to not overextend himself, hydrate before ya die-drate, uh...oh! Allowing himself to take time to just genuinely relax is another big one...'

I made my way down to the highschool, leaning up against the gate as per usual as I waited.

Me: heyy haru, just got to the highschool

Me: tutoring kinda turned into a therapy sesh between me and one of my friends but i mean,,i'm not complaining lol

Haruuuhee: Alright, I'll be omw out to the gate soon, I'll be there in fifteen mins or so, give or take a bit

Haruuuhee: Somehow, I don't find the therapy thing all that surprising. I just hope that it was willing, on their part?

Me: yeeeeaaaahhhh~ well, mostly. but you know how middle school boys are like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Haruuuhee: Stubborn asses?

Me: OMFG Haru!! You swore again! So proud :D

Me: and yes, exactly that.

I grinned as I re-read our conversation, chuckling at the sheer differences in our tones even over text. Zoning out momentarily, I got startled back into reality by the sound of my phone's loud ringtone. "Fucking hell - hello?" 'Wait, shit, that was an unknown number!'

The person on the other end sounded much more composed than I did, though that may have had something to do with the fact that they didn't just get the everloving shit scared out of them. I dunno though. "Hello, is this Fujioka Aki?"

'No, this is Chili's,' I almost responded, biting my tongue to prevent any excess sass from escaping me. "Yes, that would be me. Can I help you? Or are you one of those stupid telemarketers? In which case, just tell me and I'll hang up so as not to waste either of our times," I forced through in the most passive aggressive tone I could muster.

The (vaguely masculine sounding) voice chuckled, as if entertained by my ire. 'Cheeky bastard.' "No, I am not a telemarketer. My name is Ootori Kyoya, I am in the host club along with your older sister Haruhi." My eyes widened in recognition, pieces of a tangled puzzle finally starting to click together. "I'm calling because I would like to enlist your help during some of our club hours on occasion -- nothing too extreme, just sit beside Haruhi and talk with her and her guests every so often."

Inhaling deeply through my nose and letting out the breath in one sharp go, I took a second to process the offer before responding. "Firstly, why? Why would I be needed when Haruhi is managing herself as a host just fine? And secondly, how would I be compensated for this?"

The voice now known to me as Ootori hummed, considering for a moment. "Well, while Haruhi is indeed a good host, especially as such a new one, the guests only really see one side of her. Normally, that would be fine, but since we have access to you, I think it would be beneficial for the guests to see her interactions with you to get a taste of what another side of Haruhi may look like. It could attach some of her guests more firmly to staying as hers, and attract some new ones." 'Yeah, that checks out. Unfortunately well thought-through.' "As for your second question, you may or may not be aware that Haruhi is acting as a host to pay off a debt for breaking an incredibly expensive vase; through helping with her guests, you would be helping her to pay it off quicker."

I paced around by the gate, kicking lightly against the pavement. "As long as I don't get so many hours or tasks that I get overwhelmed with my actual responsibilities, then sure."

"Excellent. I'll contact you with further details later on. Goodbye now." Ootori hung up without another word, leaving me standing by the gate in silence yet again, jaw dropped to the ground.

I inhaled deeply before going into a brain-storm, brain zooming at the speeds of a race car; sound effects and all. 'So Ootori Kyoya is in the host club with Haruhi, and Chika mentioned earlier that Ootori was in the same club as his older brother, which confused him because it's an extremely 'frivolous' club, and Haruhi has mentioned someone by the name of Hani-senpai before when talking about the other hosts...'

"Oh my god, Haruhi is in the same club as Chika's older brother!"

Chapter 10: A Nervous Wreck

"Damn, it's nice out today," I said to myself, admiring the trees gently swaying; a cool breeze brushed against me as I walked, very welcomed in a warmer season like mid-spring. The academy had planted sakura trees along some of the paths between the schools, with many of the pale pink petals landing down on the path itself and the students who walked along it. With the sun shining through the branches and reflecting off of the crystal-clear glass of the windows, the scenery looked like something straight out of a Ghibli movie. 'This is one of the many things I missed while in America; the natural beauty is incomparable.'

Approaching the front gate of the highschool, I saw a tall masculine figure sitting on a bench beside it, sun reflecting off of his glasses and a laptop on his lap, fingers typing away at an honestly incredible speed. "Hello! I'm gonna assume that you're Ootori-senpai?" I called out, speeding up slightly to meet him by the gate. At the sound of my voice, he looked up, nodded and shut his laptop, standing up right as I reached him.

"Yes, that would be me. It's a pleasure to meet you, Fuijoka," he responded, shaking my hand firmly. "Let's get going, shall we? No use in dawdling, after all." With that, he began walking at a speed reminiscent of Morinozuka, my legs desperately trying to keep up. 'Why do so many of these aristocratic kids have long fucking legs? What do their parents feed them, bougie vitamin gummies? Honestly...'

As we made our way through the highschool, I glanced over at Ootori every thirty seconds or so. His face was carefully blank, not giving away any hint of emotion aside from the barest smirk. The minutes ticked by slowly; the only sounds around us were our footsteps on the shiny tile floor and our breathing, mine sounding much more heavy. 'I really thought I was in better shape than this. Note to self: increase cardio by eternity percent so I can keep up with these borderline Sonic-level people.'

At this point the silence was becoming too stifling for my taste, and coming from a self-proclaimed ambivert, that's saying a lot. "So, Ootori-senpai, what do you want to do in the future? Any plans after highschool?" He eyed me briefly, making eye contact for a split second before looking away and carefully humming in thought.

"Well, as you may or may not know, I am the youngest Ootori child, so I do not stand a large chance of inheriting my father's company," he began matter-of-factly, "though I do hope to do exactly that one day. Other than that, I'll most likely pursue a college degree in business or go into pre-med, perhaps a bit of both."

I nodded, trying to keep myself from starting a rant on how unhealthy of a schedule that would be for his mental health. 'You barely know him, Aki, chill on the therapy mode. Plus, you never know, he could be one of those people that thrives in stressful environments.' "That's understandable. This might be an odd question, but do you think that your goals are solely because of your family's business, or are you actually interested in pursuing that knowledge and those careers?" 'Fuck. So much for not going into therapy mode.' Ootori briefly stopped in his tracks, looking back at me with a bemused facial expression before beginning to walk again, though at a bit of a slower pace now. I took the chance to catch up to him, no longer looking like a lost baby duckling.

"Stop looking like a deer in headlights. It's a good question, if a bit invasive," he finally commented. "I'm not fully sure, to be honest. I might get back to you on that." My eyes wide, I nodded, filter having finally returned full force and reverting me to awkward silence. Ootori sighed, apparently deciding to take pity on me and continue the conversation. "Well, I suppose I should ask how you would like for me to refer to you. I wouldn't want Haruhi after me with one of his pens as a weapon, after all."

I snorted, not expecting the sarcastic remark. "That's fair, honestly. You haven't seen him weilding a butter knife...now that is a terrifying sight." We both chuckled (well, I chuckled. He let out some air from his nose and I think it counted as a chuckle for him) as I continued speaking. "You could refer to me however you want, honestly. I don't hugely care about formalities or pronouns, as long as you treat me with respect. Hell, the twins have started referring to me as Aki-chan, so, take that as you will," I shrugged, lips quirking up into a smile at the air of irritation that was caused by my merely bringing up the Hitachiin twins.

Ootori nodded. "Alright then, Aki-kun it is." I hummed in approval, my breath finally caught up with my body as we continued walking, turning down a few hallways. Would you like to know something that the middle and high schools both had in common? Pink. So. Much. Pink. Now, I have nothing against pink; it's a pretty color, and I've thankfully gotten past my "not like other girls" phase where I despised pink simply because it was "girly". But, as with any color, there is such a thing as too much of it. And the schools of Ouran Academy? Well, to be frank, if pinkness were water, the schools would be drowning in it and had plenty to spare.

I continued ruminating over the vast amount of pink my eyes were registering, absentmindedly coming to a stop as Ootori did at a set of double doors. Behind the doors, I heard some muffled talking before all noise in the room ceased. 'Well. That's not eerie at all...' As if to add to the eeriness of the whole situation, Ootori glanced down at me with a smirk tilting his lips, sun hitting his glasses just so that I couldn't see his eyes.

"Are you ready?" He asked, the question echoing slightly through the empty hallway. Even though the sun shone and the weather remained warm, any leftover chill from winter invaded the hallway we were in, bringing goosebumps to my skin.

"...that depends. What should I be ready for?" I asked, trying to play myself off as confident and failing miserably, hesitance showing through. I received no verbal response aside from a dark chuckle as Ootori opened the doors in a theatrical fashion, disappearing in the radiant beam of light emanating from the room. Flower petals poured down over me; it would have been very romantic if I had a) been, I dunno, getting married? or b) known what the actual fuck was going on. I squawked in a very parrot-like manner, coughing to dislodge any petals that had flown into my mouth as I continued to be blinded. Squinting, I could see the silhouettes of an arranged group of people, going very precisely by height.

"Welcome!" They all said simultaneously. Hearing the voices of Haruhi, the twins, and Ootori, I relaxed minutely, though I was still mildly recovering from the theatrics of it all. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the lights went back to normal and the shower of flower petals came to a stop, revealing the Host Club in its entirety. I took the opportunity of my eyesight returning to take a couple of steps inside the room, holding back laughter at the various facial expressions of all the hosts. Ootori, obviously, was unsurprised; the twins looked ecstatic, whispering eagerly and making various hand gestures. Haruhi looked to be a combination of surprised and confused. I scanned over the three that I didn't know and was immediately able to find Chika and Morinozuka's older brothers; they had a large resemblance, though Chika's older brother was rather shorter than I expected. And, lastly, there was a tall blonde guy in the center, glancing between Haruhi and I and muttering to himself frantically as if his mind was imploding. 'Oh boy. My theatre kid senses are going off...'

After a few moments of awkward silence, I cleared my throat, offering a small wave. "Hey guys...I'm guessing y'all are the host club that Haru is part of?"

The silence returned for a mere second before all the noise in the room culminated in an explosion of the tall blonde guy's yelling, the twins teasing aforementioned tall blonde guy, and Chika's older brother attempting to calm everyone down. Through all the chaos Haruhi sidled over to me, donning a lovingly annoyed facial expression. "So, this is why you were acting weird yesterday?"

Chuckling sheepishly, I nodded. "Yeah...I wasn't really subtle about that, was I?"

Haruhi raised an eyebrow. "You mean that you obviously trying very hard to not tell me your plans for today after school to the point that you started giggling like a nervous wreck was supposed to be subtle?"

I feigned a swoon, gasping dramatically to add to the theatrics. "Haruhi! How dare you call me a nervous wreck? The audacity!"

Haruhi sighed, giving me her trademark 'how are you the way you are?' stare before giving into the fit of giggles that had befallen me. "So, you excited to officially meet my group of idiots?" They asked after taking a moment to catch their breath; I noticed that, though they did lightly insult the rest of the club members, they did it with a similar fondness in their eyes and voice as when they addressed me that way. '"Not my friends" my ass. Talk about denial.'

I nodded, stifling yet another chuckle at the antics happening with the rest of the members. "Is that even a question? Of course I am. You know I love me a good group of himbos, after all." Haruhi and I shared an amused glance before taking a few steps forward towards the chaos awaiting us.

'Well, no going back now. Let's see where this takes me!'

Chapter 11: A Chaotic Influence

"Oh, Haruhi-kun, how do you bear the burden of being the eldest son with your mother gone?" I damn near spit my tea out, swallowing and muffling my coughing in my elbow. 'Jesus, and here I thought that I was direct with asking questions about trauma! Who the fuck asks that as the conversation opener??' The girl that had asked the question was gazing longingly at Haruhi as they pondered a response, dark brown eyes the picture of innocence and naivete. There were about five girls sitting around Haru and I; they seemed rather curious about my presence as Haruhi introduced me, if not a little bit resentful. What about? No idea, personally, though I have a suspicion it has something to do with the fact that a) I get to live with him, b) interact rather closely with him, and c) I'm a girl -- in their eyes, at least -- and no matter the relation, that's competition for Haruhi's attention, I guess?...I swear, the longer I'm here, the more braincells I lose.

Now, to go with the tropey phrase many a Disney or Nickelodion protagonist have used to open an episode: you may be wondering, how on David Tennant and Michael Sheen's Green Earth did I get into this situation? 'Aki, why are you watching your sibling be asked to trauma dump over tea in a room of professional flirt-ers?' you may ask. (Or you may not; In which case, my bad, but I'm gonna answer anyways).

To be quite honest with you, I'm not entirely sure myself. Every few minutes or so I pinch myself to double check if this is all a fever dream I'm having, just to counter all the weird shit that I've been witness to.

I mean, first there was the realization that Ootori Kyoya was in the Host Club and also Chika's brother's friend; then there was the secondary realization that the (admittedly rather vague) description Chika provided of his older brother's club fit with the Host Club. The final and tertiary realization was that my life was really starting to feel like a fucking coming of age dramedy.

After those three revelations, there was the invitations from now three members of the Host Club to deal with. Well, the invitation from Ootori was more of a polite demand, but I digress...for now. Don't get me wrong, I am very miffed with him over how he treated me like he was entitled to my services; that's just currently one of the lower concerns on my list of priorities, which goes as so:

Stay hydrated
Stay sane
Take anxiety + depression meds on time
Get academic shit done
Text friends in US and scold them for staying up so late
Keep an eye on parental figure when possible
Throw metaphorical hands with one Ootori Kyoya over the amount of sheer audacity he possesses

It goes further, but you get my point.

So with three invitations now, my curiosity was piqued: what did they even do there? How good were the Hosts at flirting? Do the girls who come to visit them actually have decent standards? Or are they just horny and/or starved for affection? (Those last three questions could technically be lumped in with the first one, but they were far too pressing to not have a category of their own.) And when my curiosity gets control of the steering wheel...well. If y'all could picture the monkey from Tim Urban's procrastination Ted Talk, or even if you can't, you should get the general gist.

Long story short, the day after Ootori had called me, I dialed the number that Ootori had contacted me with, made very brief (and somewhat salty) conversation around the various arrangements and scheduling questions I had with him, and boom! I was scheduled in to be unofficially co-hosting with Haruhi for the next afternoon (also known as Today™). Flash forward to the rose-petal-mouthful welcoming to Music Room 3, and then we'd be where we left off.

As Haruhi was still kind of fumbling around for an answer (not that I blame them, because again, what kind of fucking question is that), I decided to jump into the ring of fire. "Well, he really does such a good job of it, helping our father and I with all sorts of things," I said, putting on my best show of doe eyes, batting eyelashes aggressively and all. I scanned my gaze over the girls sat around us, watching carefully for their body language; thankfully, my chosen method had worked, with a majority of them now on the edge of their seats. "Haru-nii's a very strong emotional pillar for me. You know how strong emotions can be," I added a dramatic sniffle and ran a few fingers beneath my waterline to feign wiping tears away, "and when they overcome me, he's always there to help and keep me standing." 'As true as this may be, being this melodramatic is fun.'

Immediately I saw the effects of my (frankly rather mediocre) acting; two girls swooned, the other two beside them frantically supporting them while fanning their own faces as if to prevent tears. 'I...really?? That's all it takes?? Jesus, I need to bring in my laptop and show them the goddamn Titanic or The Notebook if they have that many repressed tears in their reservoirs.' Across the room, I saw out of the corner of my eye that one of the twins gave me a thumbs up behind his back; it took all of my strength not to burst out laughing. Haruhi disguised a snort, feigning a cough into her fist. "Yeah, what Aki-chan said. I'm more of a support pillar than a leader, or at least that's how I see it. We try to have a balanced household."

One of the girls who had swooned shot back up, eyes sparkling with unreleased emotion and curiosity. "Haruhi, you've mentioned that you do the majority of the cooking; isn't it traditional for commoner women to do the chores like that? Or is your sister just that bad at cooking?" I inhaled sharply. 'Mm, isn't that just a delicious combination of miseducation, sexism, and insult. She didn't even try for subtlety!...Actually I rather respect that, in a way. Still though, ouch.'

A valiant effort was made on my part to not make eye contact with Haruhi, because I knew that if I did, we would both bust out laughing and would blow this entire production we were putting on. I elbowed Haruhi as subtly as I could when she didn't give an answer, making it look like I was just subtly leaning against her. "Well, that was while Aki was in America for her studies. Now that she's back, we tend to share the kitchen; one of us makes the main component of the meal, while the other helps with prepping ingredients and setting the table."

"And we sometimes trade off on the meals we make," I piped in, taking a sip of my now lukewarm tea before continuing. "But Haruhi tends to make breakfast, I prep our lunches from leftovers, and we make dinner together. Weekends vary based on who's up first, though."

This type of conversation repeated as the various clients cycled through, the brief moments in between taken up by minute glances and snorts before being waved aside for later as more clients sat themselves down in the decently comfortable seating available. I had a fun time observing what sort of acting was most effective and on who, as well as the type of people who tended to approach Haruhi rather than another host. A pattern that I noticed was that while some of his clients did seem a tad bit cold towards me, many others merely took a curious approach to me and took Haruhi's introduction of me as his little sister in stride. Those girls in particular took care to not come off as cruel in their questions and phrasing, which I appreciated, even if their questions were still...concerningly invasive.

And coming from me, someone who thrives off of asking people questions that may be better suited to a therapist's office, I feel like that says a lot.

Eventually, the client-taking time was up and it was just the club members and I in the room. The twins sidled up on either side of me, leaning an elbow on the back of the couch I was sat on. "So, Aki-chan," started Kaoru, "you finally decided to come visit us?" Hikaru finished the question.

I rolled my eyes lightly, glancing over at Ootori briefly. "Yeah, that's one way to put it. This is off topic, and let me know if this is edging into uncomfy territory, but is the whole 'we're brothers in love with each other and it's taboo and forbidden' thing just an act, or...?"

They chuckled in unison. "When we joined the club, Tamaki insisted that if we played up our attachment to one another, there would be more people interested in becoming our clients," Hikaru explained.

Kaoru nodded in agreement and continued, "We weren't hugely against it, so we went along with it, though at first it was mostly just 'cause it was funny for us."

"Turns out that the boss was right," they synchronized. "So we decided to keep up the act for club hours and interactions with our clients." I hummed in understanding, lips pursing slightly as I processed the info. 'Okay, I'm gonna go ahead and assume that even before this club they had a hefty and dependent attachment to one another...then they were encouraged to amp it up to being essentially 'forbidden gay lovers'...so that's probably not helped with the codependency. Got it.'

While I was thinking, the twins had apparently decided to sit down and had taken two of the spots that Haruhi's clients had taken previously; for once, I observed, their postures were relaxed enough to see more physical differences between the two. Hikaru let his lankiness sprawl across the entirety of the chair, almost man-spreading but keeping his ankles intwined with one another. His fingers tapped subconsciously on the armrests of his chair, following a beat that I couldn't discern. Kaoru, on the other hand, sat straight, though in a relaxed posture rather than fully at attention; he had one leg crossed over the other, arms folded on top of each other loosely, and one of his fingers was absentmindedly picking at the skin around his nailbed.

"Hikaru! Kaoru!" Tamaki's call came from across the room, reverberating through the tall ceilings.

"Yeah, boss?" Came the simultaneous, though unenthusiastic, response.

Tamaki seemed to materialize behind my seat within moments, just spontaneously appearing from thin air. "What are you doing? Are you trying to corrupt Haruhi's innocent little sister? Isn't it enough that you're taking Haruhi to the dark side with you?" 'I'm sorry, innocent? Whomst the fuck do you think you're talking about, dude?' When he went to put an arm around my shoulder, I leaned as far away as I could, staring at him deadpan when he aimed a hurt puppy-eye gaze in my direction.

"Nuh-uh, no thank you, sir. No touchy unless you ask first and I say yes, understood?" He nodded, eyes glazing over in a very recognizable 'I messed up and I don't know what I did so I'm beating myself up mercilessly' way. The reason I recognize it? I've seen it on myself far too many times. Been there, done that, one might say. I sighed, shuffling myself back to where I was sitting previously. "It's not a personal thing, Suoh-senpai. Those are my typical boundaries with everyone except maybe Haruhi. I'm not mad at you, I don't hate you, you've just gotta ask first, mkay?"

Looking decently less dejected, Tamaki nodded and sat down on the one-seater couch beside mine. "Are these incorrigible twins trying to get you to join in on their mischief?" He asked. I glanced over at Hikaru and Kaoru, making brief eye contact with both of them, and smirked.

"To be quite honest, I'd say that it's the other way around."

Chapter 12: A Quiet Similarity

As I watched a comedic argument break out between the twins and Tamaki, I began noticing that I felt somewhat off. The lights in the room had slowly started to feel too bright, bringing a feeling similar to when I press the heels of my palms against my closed eyes to ward off a headache; the previously okay sound level of the room was now overwhelming, heart beating in my chest like an anxious jackrabbit as Tamaki's voice rose to a shrill yell. 'Hmmmm yeah I need to take a breather, I can feel my anxiety like it's that one screaming chicken from Moana. What's its name again? Dammit, that's gonna bother me until I remember.'

Grabbing my school-bag, I made eye contact with Haruhi and mouthed 'hallway'. They frowned minutely in concern, tilting their head as their eyes scanned over me. I tried for a smile, though it probably came out as more of a grimace than anything.

I stepped into the hallway, gently shutting the door behind me with a sigh. Looking around the hall, it looked briefly like it was abandoned, minus the dust. And the ghosts. And the building being deteriorated. Yeah, okay, it was only 'abandoned' in the fact that there was nobody else in the hallway except for me; so sue me, I like dramatic phrasing.

There was a nice spot beside one of the windows a few steps down the hallway. It was the perfect balance of dark and sunny, and well, the floor is the floor. 'And the floor is fucking amazing,' I thought, making my way to aforementioned spot and sliding myself down the wall into a sitting position. I pulled up one of my knees to my chest, the other stretching out much like a cat would it's paw. The tile beneath me was cool to the touch, cutting through my skirt and stockings ever so slightly; I sighed at the soothing feeling before rummaging around in my bag for my phone and headphones, finding both rather quickly and leaning back against the wall like a marionette with its' strings cut as my playlist began to play.

The opening riff of Hotel California by the Eagles made me smile, fingers idly tapping out the beat. 'Deep breath in for one, two, three, four...keep it in for one, two, three, four, five, six, seven...exhale for one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Repeat. Focus on the song. Dark desert highway.'

By the time the second chorus of the song had started, my heart had settled back down to its normal BPM, breathing now significantly more steady as well. I settled my chin against my right hand, relaxing my jaw out of the intense teeth-grinding I was doing. As the song ended, I heard the door to music room three opening and looked over, expecting to see Haruhi and surprised when I saw Haninozuka and Morinozuka instead. The taller of the two glanced to his left while Haninozuka looked in my direction, making eye contact with me and waving.

"Hiya, Aki-chan! Are you doing okay?" 'Huh...his tone was definitely louder around everyone else. Well, tiny blessings and all.' I hesitated to respond; after overstimulation, I sometimes go nonverbal for a period of time, and I wasn't sure if that had happened or not. Haninozuka and Morinozuka seemed content to wait, though, which was a relief.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity (hint: it was maximum two minutes) I was able to respond, and my voice didn't come out as a meaningless garble. Yay for small wins! "Eh...better than like ten minutes ago, at least," I chuckled derisively. "I got a bit, ah...overwhelmed by the noise and lights, so I came out here."

Haninozuka's eyes widened slightly in...understanding? "That's okay! Takashi gets overstimulated sometimes too!" He glanced over at Morinozuka, as if suddenly realizing that that info may not have been okay to say without asking first, but Morinozuka simply smiled lightly and nodded.

"Talking is difficult. Noise and textures make it worse," he said emphatically. I nodded in agreement, raising my eyebrows a bit when Haninozuka sat down a little bit away from me, criss-cross-applesauce and everything. Morinozuka elegantly dropped down beside him, the only noise made in the process being a practically silent 'oof' as he made his final landing on the shiny, clean floor.

We sat there for a while in companionable silence, the only thing breaking it being the occasional humming coming from the blonde. It was peaceful, and the company was surprisingly calming. 'I think I know where Chika and Satoshi get it from,' I thought, smothering a smile.

While the dynamics amongst the cousins were undeniably swapped, with Haninozuka being the bubbly, chatty one and Morinozuka listening and contributing occasionally, it felt very familiar despite my never having met them before. I looked at my phone for a second, only then seeing that I had a text from Haruhi.

Haruuuhee: Hey, you doing okay? I wasn't sure if you wanted company or not

Me: bit better now, chika and mori's older bros came to check on me :)) we're silently chillin

Haruuuhee: Aww, that's sweet of them! And I'm glad you're feeling better.

Me: also apparently mori-senpai is also autistic!! or at least neuro-spicy :D we stan

Haruuuhee: That...makes a lot of sense actually. In a positive way I mean

Me: dw i get what you mean (ｏ'ｖ｀ｂ)ｂ

"Have you been settling in okay?" Morinozuka suddenly asked, not looking directly at my face but head tilted in my direction to indicate that he was listening to what I had to say. My heart warmed at the sight, appreciating the body language.

I adjusted my posture, now sitting with my legs sprawled out across the hallway. "Surprisingly, yeah. This is the first really intense anxiety moment I've had since getting back from the US, aside from the night before starting school here."

Haninozuka smiled cheerily, the air around him brightening visibly. It was like he was a dehydrated flower that had stopped drooping once receiving water. "That's amazing! Well, it's not amazing that you have anxiety moments, but it is amazing that they haven't happened as often!" Morinozuka nodded solemnly, a slight quirk up of his lips being the only indication of any changing emotion. "Have you been able to make some friends in your class? Friends are very important," Haninozuka said pointedly, wagging his finger at me in a mock-scold. 'I know he's older than me, but my god he knows how to work those cute wiles of his.'

I snorted, nodding. "Yeah, I've made a few connections. Two of them are especially amazing; they remind me of you two, actually." 'I'm not being very subtle, am I?' Haninozuka tilted his head, resembling a confused puppy, so I elaborated just enough to explain...but not enough for them to realize who I was talking about (in case you haven't noticed, I have a flair for the dramatic. I also enjoy causing wholesome chaos).

"Well, they have kinda opposite personalities, so people wouldn't expect them to be friends per se, but they're super close and can read each other very well. They also have more in common with one another than it may seem like they do."

"Ooh, that is sort of like us, right Takashi?" Haninozuka looked over at Morinozuka for his input, said input being a nod and a slight smile. The blonde responded in turn, grinning brightly and swaying a bit as he turned back to face me. "Well, in that case, I'm happy you've made those connections! having friends like Takashi is very good." He nodded to himself solemnly, though the grin didn't disappear, nor did it decrease in brightness. It was kind of amazing how well he could hold the expression for so long, honestly. 'Maybe he exercises his cheek muscles??'

"Friends like you too, Mitsukuni," Morinozuka murmured, eyebrow somewhat raised in a manner that was comedically similar to the way his brother did; I smothered my chuckle into my elbow and masked it with a feigned cough. 'I know the apples don't fall far from the tree, but apparently they don't always fall too far from one another either.' My eyes slid over to look at Haninozuka once more.

'...I don't think Chika's apple landed as far away from his older brother's as he thinks it did.' 

Chapter 13: A Frenzied Morning

You know how anime main characters often wake up to birds chirping, a cheery ray of sun shining through their window and onto their pillow, and with a solid amount of energy to meet the day...

...And then everything descends into what can only be described as sheer fucking chaos?

Yeah. Take a wild guess as to what happened to me.

I had gone to bed at an actually decent time for once, and woke up to the sun shining through the bedroom curtains. Birds weren't chirping, but I did hear Haruhi snoring, which was a blessing in and of itself; she rarely sleeps in on Sundays, and I usually wake up around the time that she is preparing breakfast, so to hear and see her still blissfully in dream-land made me smile. I crawled out of bed carefully to make sure that I didn't wake her, tip-toeing my way to the bathroom and cringing as my feet stepped on a creaky floorboard. Glancing back at Haruhi, I sighed in relief at the fact that she seemed to still be soundly asleep, and continued in my mission to get ready for the day as quietly as possible.

As I brushed my teeth, my brain wandered to thoughts of what the day ahead held for me. Morinozuka and Chika had wanted to hang out with me outside of school, so I invited them to go somewhere where they could learn more about 'commoners'. I didn't tell them where; I just told them to wear casual, comfy clothes that they wouldn't mind getting dirty, and for the love of everything, not to come to my house in a limousine.

'I wouldn't be too surprised if they decided to ignore the latter part of my instructions,' I thought, laughing to myself before spitting out my toothpaste. As resigned as I was about their upper-class tendencies, I was genuinely excited to hang out with them outside of our shared time at school; they would get a glimpse into my day-to-day world, see what clothes I liked to wear and my outside of school hairstyle. I would get to see that side of them, too. I had taken my opportunities to be open about those things at school for granted when I was in America, and now that I was getting used to Japan once more, I missed those opportunities more and more.

Stepping into the main living area, I was met with the sight of my dad sipping what smelled like some strong black tea, flipping idly through a fashion magazine and muttering beneath his breath about something or other. I smiled, leaning against the doorway I had just come through; as stressful as it could be to have him as my parental figure, I treasured small, tranquil moments like these. After all, you never knew when that tranquility could be broken.

As if the universe heard my thoughts and decided to play a massive cosmic joke on me, a loud (polite, but loud) knock sounded from the front door. I exchanged a confused glance with my dad, both of us looking at the clock on the wall for a second before looking back at each other.

"Didn't you say that your friends would be here at nine? It's not even half past eight," Dad said, eyebrow raised in befuddlement.

"Yeah...I mean, I thought that they would be early, but not this early," I responded, making my way over to the door as another knock was heard. "Coming!"

I opened the door enough to stick my face out; Chika was standing back and leaning against the railing, wearing a pair of light-wash jeans and a dark maroon collared shirt that was partially unbuttoned to reveal a white t-shirt underneath. 'Damn, he looks nice in maroon...in casual clothes as a whole, really.' I directed my gaze to Morinozuka, who had evidently decided on a pair of black jeans and a navy blue hoodie. 'Nice and simple; I approve!' Both of them were better dressed for the day than I was, as I had expected to have more time to change out of my goddamn pajamas. "Hey guys! I see that y'all actually listened to my instructions on dressing casually, so yay for that!"

Morinozuka grinned in response, stepping back from the door a bit now that it was somewhat open. "We did our best! I know we're a bit early, we can wait out here for a bit! The weather is nice, so it's not a problem."

"Yeah, y'all can wait out here! Just...uh. A few things, before you do." I grimaced a bit as I tried to figure out phrasing, cursing my challenges at interaction in the morning. 'It shouldn't be this hard! For fuck's sake, these are perfectly reasonable requests! Just say them out loud goddammit!' I held up a finger to signify the first part of my request. "Alright, first off, y'all caught me off guard being so early, so I'm still in my pajamas. I'm decently dressed, just incredibly comfy in clothes that make me look like a fluffy sock. Don't you dare judge me for it, I'm gonna go get changed as soon as I close the door." Chika snorted lightly, coughing to cover it up (and failing to do so). 'This man needs a lesson in the art of subtlety.' I glared at him briefly before continuing. "And secondly, my dad will probably come out here and interrogate you guys. This is normal for him, he's...a bit protective." 'Understatement of the year.'

The two exchanged a glance before looking back at me; Morinozuka's head tilted in curiosity, making him resemble a golden retriever even more than usual. "Protective, huh? Well, thanks for the heads up; now, go get dressed properly, Fujioka-kun! Whatever you have planned for us awaits!" He said, making his voice become all grand towards the end of his speaking and giving an exaggerated flourish as he did so. Chika and I shared a good natured eye-roll, and I stepped back inside only to find my dad right behind me.

'Jesus Christ, how did he come up that close to me without me noticing?! What is this, a cheap horror movie?' Dad looked over at me as I caught my breath from being startled, a deadpan look upon his face. "Go get dressed, Aki-chan. I'd like to see if my daughter is making friends with the right sorts of boys," he said, shooing me away as I weakly protested. Why even argue at this point? Honestly, I dunno. But it makes me feel better knowing that I at least somewhat tried to go against his over-protective and accidentally misogynistic actions...even if said 'trying' was half-hearted at best.

I hurried back into my and Haruhi's room, greeting her with a quick 'good morning' as I noticed that she was finally awake-ish; her only response was a muffled string of words that weren't decipherable, and when I asked her to clarify, she just groaned into her pillow and turned over to face away from me. "Yeah, that's fair," I muttered, proceeding to sort through all the possible clothes I had thrown together to combine into different outfit options. I was shuffling through them all so quickly that I wasn't able to register the individual items properly, getting lost in a haze of panic.

Eventually, after a bit of waffling about with what felt like my entire closet, Haruhi was awake enough to take pity on me. "You don't have to make a big thing out of it; just wear a pair of dark ripped jeans, a shirt that's brighter in color, and then throw on an unbuttoned flannel over the top that matches either one. Accessorize if you feel like it. That's your usual outfit formula, isn't it?"

I paused in my frantic movements, thinking over Haruhi's split-second analysis of my clothing habits. 'That is both impressive, heartwarming, and absolutely something I would do, too. I guess the overthinking and over-analyzing habit is genetic.' "You're a genius and a lifesaver, Haru, thank you so much!"

After Haruhi's help, getting ready went much quicker. I chose a pair of black jeans ripped slightly at the knees (after all, I wouldn't want to be indecent and flash my entire kneecap for all of Japan to see and clutch their pearls at), an emerald-green t-shirt I got from the men's section, and a dark green and blue flannel. I decided to go light on accessories and just put on a simple black choker. I'm not gonna wax on about how I'm 'not like other girls'; my style is my style, and I wear whatever the fuck I feel good in. If that means putting on a cheap, stretchy black choker because I like the look and feel of it? Then I'm putting on that choker.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity (but was really 20 minutes, maximum), I rushed back to the front door, small backpack in tow. There Dad was: interrogating my friends as if his life depended on it. Chika met my gaze and shrugged minutely, the corner of his mouth quirking up the tiniest bit in a reassuring smile before going back to his 'I am listening intently and judging you' facial expression. I sighed in relief, smothering a chuckle at how frantic Morinozuka seemed to prove himself to my father. 'How sweet and golden-retriever-y of him; poor guy, Dad's not gonna go easier on him for that,' I thought with a grimace, tugging on my shoes and tying them at breakneck speed.

Haruhi had also gotten up by this point, walking into the living room/kitchen/entry way area as I finished the second bow on my laces. "Dad, I think they get the gist of it." Dad attempted to interrupt, but Haruhi kept going. "You trust Aki's judgement, right? Do you really think that she'd be friends with them still if they weren't good people?" At that, Dad promptly went silent, simply nodding his approval to the boys and quietly apologizing to me as he went past. I squeezed his shoulder in reassurance, shooting Haruhi a look of 'please make sure he's okay and interpreted the message correctly', to which she nodded in return. 'I love how our family communicates. Truly, so healthy! Absolutely my favorite thing in the world.'

Sighing, I adjusted my flannel as I turned to face the guys. They looked concerned, but before either of them could ask about what had just happened, Haruhi stepped in once more. "Hey guys, nice to meet you! I'm Haruhi, Aki's older sibling. Sorry about Dad, he's a bit protective of us. I trust yours and Aki's judgement, so I'm not too worried. Just...y'know. Don't get arrested, or into a fight, or anything, alright? Make responsible decisions or whatever."

I snorted as she turned to face me. "Wow, such weighty expectations! Guys, I think all of our plans have been ruined," I said, dramatically shielding my eyes from Haruhi with my arm like one of those maidens from an older romance novel. Haruhi sighed annoyedly at my antics, making a shooing motion towards the door.

"Okay, okay, that's enough out of you, you dramatic clown. Get going and spread your chaos through the neighborhood or whatever," they said, affectionately shoving me through the door. As they closed it, I heard them mutter, "those two really are related to Honi and Mori-senpai; it's like if their personalities were reversed." 'Yeah, my thoughts exactly.'

I turned to Morinozuka and Chika, finally ready to start our adventure for the day. "Alright boys, who's ready to experience the amazingly fun activity that is people-watching at a public park?"

Chapter 14: A Lesson In People-Watching

"So, why, exactly, are we going to this park?" Chika asked, finally breaking his silence; we had been walking for ten minutes without him saying anything (both in general or about my activity of choice) which rather surprised me; I thought he'd last five minutes, tops. Morinozuka and I had been idly chatting about school activities coming up, as well as his and Chika's tournaments, and Chika had been silent as anything, only letting out an occasional hum of agreement. Not unusual...if anyone else was talking to him. When Morinozuka brought up kendo and karate, I had honestly expected Chika to snap out of it. I'd rather he be rude and talkative than broody and silent, y'know? "There's nothing special there, and I don't understand how 'people watching' or whatever is considered entertainment," Chika continued, kicking at a pebble in his path as he spoke.

Morinozuka chuckled nervously, running a hand through his hair. "Yeah, I wasn't gonna bring it up, but Chika does have a point; I'm not exactly sure what we're in for, though I'm sure it's awesome!" He was quick to reassure me, hands twitching out of what I assumed to be anxiety.

I smiled at the two of them, fondly shaking my head. "Guys, as much as I appreciate the politeness, y'all have full right to ask why the fuck we're going to the park, and also about the people-watching thing. It's understandable! My feelings aren't hurt whatsoever, so get your heads out of your asses," I chided affectionately, reaching around Morinozuka to ruffle Chika's hair. On my arm's way back to my side, I poked Morinozuka in the ribs lightly; I had recently realized that he's ticklish as fuck, and I planned to take full advantage of that (with his express permission and boundaries established).

With both hands back in my pockets, I picked back up where I left off. "There's a few reasons why I decided we should go to the park, and specifically, this park near my apartment. Firstly, y'all both mentioned how you wanna learn more about people who belong to lower social classes than you, right?" I received two nods of confirmation. "Well, what better place to observe my fellow upper-to-lower middle class people like fish in an aquarium than at the park? There's people there doing all sorts of things: exercising, hanging out with friends, playing sports, gossiping about shitty co-workers or bosses...a lot of stuff! Pretty decent variety to get to know us with, right?"

Morinozuka seemed intrigued, tilting his head like a curious puppy. "Well, that explains the picnic blanket and the mountain of snacks and drinks we're bringing with us. I still have some doubts, but whatever may happen, I'm just excited to spend time with you guys!" He smiled brightly, and when I say brightly I mean literally, this guy's smile practically doubled the amount of light outside. 'I feel like I really should've brought sunglasses with me, goddamn.'

By this point in our conversation, we'd already gotten to the park; as I had thought, there were all sorts of people there doing all sorts of activities. We got lucky with finding our spot; a perfect bit of grass beneath a flowering tree, petals occasionally falling with the breeze and speckling the green of the grass with tiny clusters of pale pink. The three of us had fallen into a content silence, focusing on spreading out the picnic blanket I had brought and putting out some of the snacks we had agreed that the guys would pick up before coming by my apartment.

Finally content with the beautiful arrangement we'd created, I sat down criss-cross applesauce, reaching over to grab a juice box. 'Alright, time to settle in for the show.' Morinozuka eagerly followed my lead, promptly sitting down with a bit too much enthusiasm, leading to an 'oof' from him and snorts of laughter from Chika and I; speaking of Chika, he'd evidently waited to see where Morinozuka and I would sit, eventually deciding to sit down between us, leading to a bit of a triangle configuration in terms of how we were sat. Taking a satisfying sip from my apple juice (cold apple juice is the best, fight me), I turned just enough to be facing Chika. "So, Chika, what are your thoughts on the plans for today? You were pretty quiet on the walk over."

He hesitated momentarily before responding. "Well...to be quite honest, I feel like this was an excuse for you to ask us to hang out outside of school. I do hope you realize that we value you as a friend, and that we don't need an excuse to hang out with you; you can just ask." I blushed as his eyes stared into my soul, feeling as though he was unravelling every little knot of my thought process.

"...yeah, okay, it was mostly that," I acquiesced, grinning sheepishly as I continued. "However, what I said earlier is also true! Who says that 'listening to someone shit-talk their boss without context and then guessing at what the context is' can't be a fun friendship-growing activity?"

Chika scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Please, who could possibly be interested in hearing petty gossip from people you don't even know or care about?"

Not even fifteen minutes later, Chika looked to be entranced with the conversation happening on the bench behind him. 'I think I have the right to feel both very proud and also very smug about this.' It had started out relatively tamely, with the two conversation-ees discussing what was going on in each of their work lives. We'd figured out from context clues that they worked in the same place, in two different departments, and with two different managers; the entire time, the three of us were taking notes on sticky-notes and showing them to each other, mixing in some actual conversation so as to not cause any suspicion.

However, things got interesting rather quickly as they got into more details about the aforementioned managers. "So, you know how it's kinda an open secret that your manager, Ito-san, and my manager, Kato-san, are dating?" The person sitting on the left side of the bench began, continuing his sentence once he received a nod in response. "Well, apparently, the regional manager is not happy about that, and he's been complaining about how 'it should've been him with Ito-san' and making a ton of other really weird comments in the break room."

"Oh, ugh," the co-worker grimaced. "I'm guessing that any amount of reporting the regional guy isn't gonna do anything?"

The other grinned mischievously, leaning towards his co-worker. "Usually, it wouldn't. But do you wanna know who was in the break room the entire time he was being an asshole?"

The three of us glanced between ourselves, quietly muttering random shit about English as we scribbled down our theories. "Hey, Chika, is this sentence right? I remember it from class but I dunno if I wrote it correctly," I said, sliding over my pad of stickies. On it, I'd clumsily jotted down: boss or one of the managers. Gotta be.

Chika glanced over the sticky-note, reading over it a second time before responding. "Yeah, it's right. Your handwriting could use some work, though," he teased, snorting as I pouted in protest. Morinozuka leaned over a bit to read the note and nodded his agreement. 'I can't tell if he's agreeing with my note or the comment on my handwriting...hmmph.'

"Who? Was it Ito-san? She'd better have slapped him for that." The co-worker was clearly (understandably) on the edge of their seat, and so were we. The three of us waited with bated breath, almost blowing our cover of 'innocent students who aren't eavesdropping' with how quiet we'd gotten.

The grin became wider. "Nope. It was the boss of the regional manager -"

"- Also known as Ito-san's mother!" The co-worker finished, gasping in shocked delight. Meanwhile, Chika, Morinozuka and I were all gaping at one another, none of us having expected that plot twist. 'Out of all the snacks we brought, the only one we didn't bring was some popcorn! I feel like I'm watching a J-drama!' "So, what happened next? Did she fire him?"

"Well -" The storytelling coworker was interrupted once more, this time by a phone notification. "Oh shit, apparently we have a last-minute company-wide meeting in an hour. That's an asshole move...but we should get going if we wanna make it on time," he said, sighing as the two stood up. "I'll drive?"

His co-worker snorted, nodding as they walked away. "Yeah, as if you'd let me behind the wheel again after what happened last time."

Their voices soon faded into the distance, leaving the three of us on a cliffhanger that would probably never be fulfilled. I looked over at my friends, doubling over in hysterical laughter at their facial expressions; Morinozuka looked like a deer in headlights, jaw on the floor and attempting to create words but failing. Chika looked to be in deep thought, subconsciously chewing on his bottom lip. They startled at the sound, quickly recovering and joining me in the helpless giggles. This went on for a few minutes, and each time I thought we'd finally finished, I made eye contact with one of them and we started laughing once more.

Eventually, our fits of laughter actually came to an end; in the midst of it all, I'd flopped down onto my back, the top of my head just barely resting on Chika's lower thigh. He'd stiffened at first, though in a matter of minutes he was back to sitting as if nothing unusual was happening. My stomach felt like it was filled to the brim with butterflies; my soul felt peaceful, content. 'I don't usually feel this weird when I do physical contact with friends...what's different this time? Hm. A topic worth investigating...but I'll do that later. I'm gonna enjoy this for a bit, while I can.'

Morinozuka broke the comfortable silence. "So, what do you guys think happened the last time they were behind the wheel?"

I snorted, doing my best to glance over at him without ruining my relaxing position. "That's the first question you have? Like, fair, but also, what the fuck happened between the mom and the regional manager? And does this company-wide meeting have anything to do with the whole situation? I need answers!"

Chika looked down at me, pausing a bit before speaking. "I don't know where they work, but this would most likely cause their HR department to crack down on any romantic relations between co-workers, if they're still strict about that; I'm willing to bet that the meeting is either about that, the firing of the regional manager, or some sort of combination of the two," he reasoned, tilting his head as he spoke. 'Cute...in a platonic way! Total friendship feels over here, mhm!'

I hummed in agreement. "Yeah, that sounds about right. I don't really know how harsh Japanese work-spaces are with romance in the office, but in the US it tends to vary. From what I can tell, dating a co-worker is fine, but dating anyone in a position of power in the same company is very frowned upon. I think it's about the possible power dynamics, which makes sense."

"It tends to vary on workplace, but honestly, it's not unusual for co-workers to date," Morinozuka chimed in. "As long as it's consensual and there's not a ton of PDA, many actually encourage it." He stood up as he spoke, stretching out his arms above him. "Anyways, I'm gonna go throw out our trash. I'm assuming that commoner trashcans don't look all too different from ours?" He grinned teasingly at me, laughing as I threw my empty juice box at him. "I'll take that as a yes. Pass me the rest of the trash, if you will...without throwing it at me, if at all possible."

After gathering all the trash we'd produced through snacks, Morinozuka walked off to find a trashacan, leaving Chika and I by ourselves. I tried to distract myself from the blush that was probably staining my cheeks and ears and looked up at the clouds, attempting to see shapes in them. "Have you ever done cloud-watching?" I asked, allowing myself to look up into his eyes for a moment before looking back at the clouds. "Sometimes, if there's enough, I like to stare at them and see if I can make out any shapes amongst them."

Chika didn't respond for a minute or so; glancing back at him, I saw the underside of his chin as he stared up at the blue sky. "Well, I guess I can kind of see...something that looks like a fluffy sheep, I think?" He ended the sentence as more of a question than a statement, looking back down at me for affirmation.

I raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. "Wow, a white, fluffy animal shape in the clouds? How original of you; no really, I commend you on your creativity!" Chika shoved at my shoulder playfully as I laughed. I didn't even have to look at his face to know that he was pouting in feigned grumpiness.

"Well then, oh creative genius, what do you see?"

I looked up into the clouds once more, now only seeing a ton of fluffy sheep because Chika had brought them to mind. 'Not that I'm gonna tell him that, he'd get so fucking smug.' I thought back to the vivid memory I had of Haruhi, our mom, and I cloud-watching from the little porch area outside of our apartment door. I think Haruhi was just about to turn five, and I was about four. "Look into the clouds, girls, and you can see anything you would like to," she'd said. Haruhi and I took that a little bit too literally, but reflecting on it, I think mom was trying to make some sort of deep point about our future and how we have the power to do what we wanted do. In the moment, though, she'd merely laughed and hugged us closer, an arm around each of our shoulders.

'I can see anything I'd like to, huh?' I looked back over at Chika, who was facing me, head tilted slightly downwards and one eyebrow cocked in clear curiosity. His eyes, from this angle, looked to be a bit darker in color, though they still had that amber shine of intelligence and that kindness that I'd seen in them on the day that I told him I'm autistic. "Aki? You still there? Or are the clouds just that interesting to look at?" I fought the urge to respond teasingly, and let a genuine smile take over my features.

"What I see is beauty." 

Chapter 15: A Needed Moment Of Dissonance

The borderline romance-movie moment Chika and I were having was, thankfully, interrupted by Morinozuka coming back from his mission to find a trashcan. I say 'thankfully' because honestly, I haven't had a crush in so long that I think I've forgotten how to process them. Like, my brain bluescreened as soon as I thought back to what I said and how fucking romantic that sounded. If it weren't for Morinozuka's return, I would have started mentally shitting bricks out of pure panic. 'I see beauty'? I mean, come on! What am I, a protagonist in some sort of drama? Give me a goddamn break.

The sound of a phone ringing beside my ear stunned me out of my thoughts; I yelped, jumping on instinct. As a result, my head ended up falling off of where it was pillowed on Chika's thigh and onto the blanket. "Fuck...you'd think that the blanket would've been more of a cushion," I grumbled, pouting at Morinozuka who was visibly holding back laughter. "I see how it is. The audacity of you to laugh at my suffering!" I ended the sentence with an overly-dramatic sniff, feigning offence.

Chika had picked up the phone as I was making a comedy show out of my "suffering"; I quit my dramatics as soon as I saw the frown now painting his features. It didn't feel right to continue if something serious was up. "Yes, father, of course. I will be home as soon as I can. Goodbye." He hung up the phone, sighing heavily as he looked up at Morinozuka and I. "Father's called me home; apparently, my presence at a meeting with an...associate has been requested last minute."

I exchanged a somewhat confused glance with Morinozuka, who seemed to mirror my confusion, if a little more resigned. "Are they allowed to do that? No offense, but I don't think it's legal to include a middle schooler in business dealings, no matter how knowledgeable they are," I commented, regretting my words as I saw Chika's body stiffen. 'Fuck. Was it my tone? I don't know if I phrased that well...damn it, the autism strikes again.'

"I wouldn't expect a nobody from a lower class family to understand the way wealthy families manage their businesses." He said, tone standoffish and words sounding automatic, though that didn't lessen the sting. Inhaling sharply, I looked away from him; I didn't want to start crying before finding out if he actually meant what he said, but I couldn't help grimacing at the sting of oncoming tears behind my eyes and in my nose. 'What the hell? 'A nobody'? Excuse me?? Where the fuck did that come from?'

"Chika! Fujioka-kun just asked a question; nothing they said deserved that kind of a response," Morinozuka admonished, eyebrows furrowed.

I looked back over at Chika, who's face looked torn between guilt, concern, and anger. "Chika, take a minute, take a few deep breaths, and try again. I'm hurt, I'm mad, but I'm also concerned. You went from being content and chill to lashing out. You don't need to tell us everything, not by a long shot, but please just...communicate."

As Chika took his minute, I took mine; I turned away again, slowing my breathing, wiping away the stray tears that'd escaped, and mentally repeating a few mantras my old therapist taught me. 'What he said hurts. I am allowed to feel hurt. I can feel hurt and angry whilst acknowledging that Chika most likely feels anger and hurt as well. Keep up communication, feel my feelings, take my space and give him his. This isn't the forever of our friendship; this is just an unpleasant moment of growth, as long as we both take that opportunity.

Ugh. I better be as good of a therapist to others in the future as I am to myself right now. This shit sucks.'

After what seemed like an eternity, I turned back to face Chika. He seemed a bit calmer, anger dissipated from his facial features. He only began speaking once Morinozuka nudged him, as if waiting for permission. "I'm sorry, Aki-kun. Genuinely. I was, as you would say, speaking out of my ass; I am angry with my father, but that doesn't give me the right to take my feelings out on you." Chika shifted in what I presumed to be discomfort, taking a deep breath before continuing. "I don't feel comfortable discussing why I am angry, but I take back my statement of your being a 'nobody'. You are not 'nobody': you are Fujioka Aki, and your worth in this world goes beyond monetary value or class differences. I hope you'll forgive me."

I sighed, scootching a bit closer to him and dropping my head to rest on his shoulder. "I do. I appreciate the apology and communication; I'm still angry, but I get it. Sometimes feelings get too big for our bodies and end up hurting others. You gotta listen to yourself when you have those big feelings and do stuff to self-regulate." I waited a few seconds before continuing. "As the injured party, though, I feel that I'm entitled to some sort of compensation," I joked, snorting as I felt more than saw Chika's head turn to face me. "Not monetary compensation, dumbass. I mean a hug, if you're comfy with that."

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Chika hesitantly wrapped one of his arms around me in a half-hug fashion. "...is this okay?" He mumbled, sighing in relief when I nodded.

Sensing the puppy eyes from behind me, I chuckled, extending an arm. "I can feel you staring, Morinozuka-kun. You're free to join the hug, too." The tall boy moved like lightning, wrapping his arms around both Chika and I (with minimal feigned grumbles from the former). We stayed that way for a little bit; I think all of us needed it. The previous moments, though short, were full of overwhelming emotions. The hug helped bring us back to ourselves fully, only separating when Chika's ride home had arrived.

As the car drove away, I heard Morinozuka sigh. "He's gotten better at communicating his feelings. That's in no small part thanks to you, Fujioka-kun," he said, smiling. "It's been almost a month since we met you, which isn't a lot of time, and he's already started to change so much." The brunette leaned back on his hands, gazing up at the sky. I was in a similar position to his left, facing him as he spoke. 'Why does this feel like it was supposed to be a filler episode but became character development?? Like, I just wanted to hang out with my friends. C'mon, universe, gimme a break.' "I mean, I've always admired him, but I admire him even more now."

I tilted my head at him, eyebrows scrunching up in thought. "Any reason in particular? That's not meant to be an insulting question towards Chika, to clarify, but just...can you elaborate a bit? Sounds like you've got some big feelings, and I've got the emotional capacity for it." Morinozuka tore his gaze away from the sky for a moment and made direct, intentional eye contact with me, raising a single unimpressed eyebrow in question. "Okay, fine, I don't have that much capacity, but I have enough to hear you out. Better?" I grumbled, rolling my eyes good-naturedly at the satisfied nod I got in response.

"Despite his shortcomings, Chika's always been able to make up for them in his other traits; he's not the best at socializing, but he's incredibly intelligent. He struggles to connect with his emotions and put names to them, but he has a knack for reading other people. He's more gangly than muscly but still manages to excel at karate and judo...the list goes on." As he spoke, Morinozuka's eyes gleamed with emotion. In them, I saw admiration; I also saw sadness. The self deprecating kind. 'Oh hon...I had a feeling, but still...'

I sat in silence, giving him time to continue when he wanted to. "We've been by one another's side for as long as I can remember, and I've held him in high regard for practically the entire time. But, well...that level of observation of another person's traits leads you to observe your own in comparison. And over the years, I've found that I just...don't stack up to Chika. I can't compare."

Before Morinozuka could continue digging himself into a self hatred spiral, I interrupted. "Well, no shit you can't, because you aren't Chika." His head spun to look at me, eyes wide with what I presumed to be shock and hurt. "You heard me correctly, but lemme rephrase: you aren't comparable to Chika because you aren't him and he isn't you. You are different people with different personalities, strengths, weaknesses, thought processes, whatever. He's Haninozuka Yasuchika and you're Morinozuka Satoshi. You're your own people; it's not fair to either of you to compare yourselves on some made up metric!"

We sat there for a minute or so, Morinozuka's eyes still wide and mouth slightly agape. I sighed, deciding to break the silence. "I get where you're coming from. I have a similar habit of comparing myself to others, usually my older brother." I glanced up from staring at the ground to see if he was processing any of my words; he seemed to have processed my earlier outburst, and was now sitting up at full attention, listening intently.

"He's the smartest person I know. Out of the two of us, even though he's more introverted than I am, he's always had a knack for making friends, which isn't something we share. He has his weak spots, sure, but over the years, I often compared myself with him. It didn't help that since we've always gone to the same schools and I'm only a year behind, I've heard other people comparing us our entire school careers. 'Oh, Haruhi is so smart! He works so hard, and he helps me with my work, too.' 'I wish Aki was as smart as him! I thought having a Fujioka in my class would stop me from failing, but she's nearly as bad at math as I am.'  Shit like that followed me until I went to study in America."

"Are you worried that it will follow you again next year, once we go into the high school?" Morinozuka asked, frowning. "I'd understand if you were, though the way you talk about it, it sounds like you stopped comparing yourself with him."

I chuckled bitterly, twirling a few pieces of grass in my fingers. "I wish. It's not as bad as it used to be, but I've got my bad days. The distance helped, but then I felt guilty because I missed him at the same time. Now, I'm adjusting to my growth and trying to take care of my mental health in general despite my perfectionism. Fun times!" I cheered flatly, throwing the strands of grass up like it was naturally occurring confetti. Morinozuka smiled as the greenery scattered around us, landing on the blanket we'd been sitting on for the past few hours. "Anyways, all of that was a drawn out way of saying 'yeah, me too, buddy'. As much as I try to keep an eye on it, bad habits don't go away easily."

Morinozuka tilted his head at me, silent for a few moments. "...how have you gotten better at not doing it? I wanna try, but it somewhat seems like an impossible thing to stop doing once you start."

I grinned at him ruefully. "It's a pain in the ass; it takes paying attention to your thoughts, and then actively trying to change the route those thoughts go down." The brunette groaned, pouting lightheartedly as I laughed. "Yeah, I know. Re-working the mental machinations of your brain is a ton of work. That's why I started light, trying to replace immediately negative thoughts with more neutral ones, like 'I'm working towards getting better at this' or 'I'm the average amount of good at this and that's okay' instead of 'I'm a fucking failure oh my god', y'know?"

He nodded, looking deep in thought. I let the silence between us flow comfortably, occasionally interspersed with distant conversation, laughter, and the hubbub of traffic. It was peaceful.

A few minutes into the silence, I felt Morinozuka's eyes on me, and turned my head towards him in a silent question. "You enjoy taking care of others," he said, the phrase sounding like a question. I nodded, wondering where this would go. "You enjoy taking care of others, and you do it almost automatically, from what I've seen. Your father, your brother, Chika, me, the students you tutor...you always try to be the safety net." He continued, eyebrows somewhat furrowed. I nodded again, because, yeah, that's accurate. "I can't help thinking, though; do you have enough left to be your own safety net, outside of your support system? You've said this phrase before, 'if you're busy watering other people's gardens, who's going to water yours?'. Do you apply that to yourself?" Morinozuka's concerned, firm stare bore into my eyes, which were wide in...I don't even know, honestly. How the fuck do you react when someone reads you for filth in such a validating manner?

He seemed to take my silence as a response, frowning ever so slightly. "You said that comparing yourself to others is a habit that you've gotten better at not falling into. What about your habit of taking on the problems of others? We're in middle school, Fujioka-kun; I may be in a different social class, but even I know that it's unhealthy to do that, especially when you're only fucking fourteen.

When are you going to water your garden?"

I gaped at Morinozuka, trying very hard to stay serious. Apparently my brain's filter decided to add some levity to the conversation, though, because all I could say in response was, "Holy shit, Morinozuka-kun, you can swear? First Chika, now you, that's two in one day! Am I that bad of an influence?" He gave me an unimpressed look, though I could tell with how his lips were twitching that he was holding back a smile. I fluttered my eyelashes in an attempt to seem like the picture of innocence that we both knew I wasn't, sighing as he didn't budge. "Yeah, okay, I am crap at prioritizing myself. Ya got me. I am working on it though! It's slow going, but it's going," I said, trying to come off as chill and falling more into the category of somewhat defensive.

The brunette hummed thoughtfully, looking back up at the sky for a moment before looking back down at me. "Alright then; let's make a deal," he said, holding out his right hand with the pinky outstretched. My heart warmed; 'so he did pay attention to my ramble about pinky promises and how they're unbreakable by childhood law.' "You try harder to prioritize yourself and not take on the problems of others, and I'll work on not comparing myself to Chika. Deal?"

I grinned, wrapping my pinky around his and shaking gently. "You're on. And while we're on the subject of deals, could I make a deal with you that you call me by my first name?"

Morinozuka smiled, sunshine finally coming back to his face. "Only if you call me by mine!"

I shook our pinkies once more, laughing as I felt his pinky finger tighten its grip around mine. "In that case, it's a pleasure doing business with you, Satoshi-kun," I announced, making my voice sound all grand and announcer-like. Satoshi laughed along with me, smiling even wider.

"The same to you, Aki-kun."

Chapter 16: A Walk Through Memory Lane

"Bye, Fujioka-senpai! I'll make sure to make you proud with my next test grade!" I heard a voice yell from behind me; turning my head, I saw Yamamoto Itoka waving at me as he turned to walk to his limousine.

I waved in return, snorting slightly. "Yamamoto-kun, I'll be proud of you no matter what, alright? You'll do your best, and that's what matters," I shouted back, rolling my eyes fondly at his immediate emotional reaction. The second-year's eyes welled up with tears, smile becoming wobbly as he saluted me.

"Yes, ma'am! Understood!" I waved goodbye once more as he finally sat down in the expensive car, sighing at his enthusiasm. 'Oh, Yamamoto-kun. Keep shining, buddy. Lord knows the adult world needs that kind of attitude more often.' I did my best to ignore the itchiness at being called "ma'am"; not many things set off my dysphoria, but that definitely does. I shook my head, decidedly putting off processing those icky feelings until home.

"I should look into booking a therapy session sometime soon...though that does mean looking for a therapist that fits my very specific criteria. In Japan. Which isn't known for its mental health support...that's gonna be a pain in the ass, even though I need to do it sooner rather than later," I grumbled to myself. I kept thinking on the topic as I made slow, precise steps down the sidewalk, meticulously stepping over every single crack and hopping over the occasional anthill.

I know I need some sort of therapeutic support, so I will do the research, even if I'm grumpy the entire time. It feels like a lot has happened in a very short amount of time, and I can't process all of it on my own; I mean, almost a month ago now, I came back home for the first time in a few years. I got enrolled in a bougie-ass school, got used to speaking my native language consistently again...and that was just the shit I was expecting.

I didn't expect to gain two friends on my first day, let alone get this close with them in a matter of weeks. I didn't expect that I'd be able to talk to them about my neurodivergence, either. I also didn't think that Haruhi would be in a host club, but honestly, I've long since made my peace with that. It's a good change of pace for them, and it means that they're not just focusing on grades and schoolwork.

The buzzing of a notification from my phone startled me out of my thoughts, pausing in my steps. 'Ha! Speak of the devil.' 

Haruuuhee: sos, major case of not like other girls

Me: ?? Are u okay??

Haruuuhee: I'm fine. I think Tamaki-senpai is gonna have an aneurysm though

Haruuuhee: scratch that, him and the rest of the club aside from kyoya-senpai are all gonna have aneurysms.

Me: that doesnt surprise me, i don't think he can have one of those if he tried

Me: hang on tho, are honi senpai & mori senpai also freaking out??

Haruuuhee: yes. Please come soon, you know this sort of thing much better than I do

Me: you can say that its bc I had a 'not like other girls' phase lmao, its ok, ive accepted it

Haruuuhee: hey, you said it, not me. We're in the music room.

Me: OK ok omw

I raised an eyebrow, sensing Haruhi's monotone urgency through the texts. "Well, it's a good thing I haven't passed the highschool yet," I mumbled, turning around and stepping through the open front gate. As I walked, I reflected on my history with the experience that is the 'not like other girls' phenomenon; I only recently realized just how unhealthy of a mindset that was to have, thankfully having grown out of it whilst in the US.

For those who are lucky to not be in-the-know of what exactly a 'not like other girls' phase is, allow me to enlighten you. This explanation from onewomanproject.org explains it pretty accurately:

"The logic is fairly simple. You notice femininity is viewed negatively and this leads to you being treated as inferior. So in order to escape this treatment, you distance yourself from feminine stereotypes and archetypes. You rise above the inferior feminine “other girls”. You're not like them."

Something that I think definitely influenced my "not like other girls" phase was my dad; don't get me wrong, I love him dearly, but he has a bit of a fixation on the idea that Haruhi and I are his daughters. He loves dressing us up in the frilliest, most classically 'girl' clothing possible. Haruhi doesn't hugely care, as far as I can tell; not that I blame her. I'd much rather put up with the fluffy skirts and purple bows than have him in his tired, over-worked and sometimes drunken state.

Even given all of that, though, I've never been super comfortable with him shoving me into this tiny box. Part of it was definitely due to my sensory issues; tulle is my worst enemy, with velvet and silk coming in second and third place. Coincidentally, they happen to be very popular in the vast realm that is the girls' clothing aisle. The texture of all of those fabrics makes my skin itch, goosebumps traveling in rapid waves across my body unpleasantly, even if only my fingers touch the offending fabric. All in all, a very yucky experience that I would like to avoid when at all possible.

I think another part of it is how women and girls were portrayed to me via various media, versus how I saw the women in my life. I didn't want to be weak, a burden; I wanted to handle myself, instead of having to be rescued. My mom, in my young, impressionable eyes, was none of that. She was strong, opinionated, and conquered any challenge set before her, whether that entailed a difficult court case or gently yet firmly wrestling me into my clothes so that I wouldn't run off streaking down the street. It wasn't until she became deathly ill that it even came to mind that there was a battle she couldn't win.

It wasn't until her passing that I realized that there were more than one definition of the word 'loss'.

As soon as I got to America at twelve years old, I shut out as many traces of femininity as I could from both myself and my wardrobe. I forbid myself from buying anything pink, purple, frilly, or outwardly 'feminine' from the girls' section, only making exceptions for undergarments. I scoffed any time I passed by a Victoria's Secret, ignoring the simultaneous twinges of 'I want to kiss her' and 'I wonder if I could look like that?', and choosing instead to shove them all the way down. All the way down, where they couldn't reach my heart, where they couldn't influence my traitorous thoughts.

I'm honestly not sure how I had any friends during this phase of my life; then again, I'm probably being a bit harsh on myself. I still had redeeming qualities, though I deeeefinitely had a ton of internalized misogyny going on. My friends agreed, when I brought this up.

"To be fair, we were also going through that phase. It was expressed differently, yeah, but it was rooted in the same kinda logic, if you could even call it that." One of them, Em, had pointed out. We were hanging out in her room after school; she was laying on her bed, head nearly hanging off the edge of the bed and legs sprawled up against the wall. I had chosen to get comfortable on her soft, crocheted rug. The snapback hat that was the namesake for her contact in my phone stared down at me from where it hung on a bed-post, dangling without a care in the world. "You took that thought process, ran with it and decided to eradicate all pink and bright purple from your wardrobe, sitting on a high horse because you didn't wear makeup. I took it and decided to go full emo kid. Different streams diverging from the same original river, you get me?"

I had hummed in agreement, running a finger over the rug's intricate patterns of pale blue, dandelion yellow, and pastel purple as I ruminated on the statement. The silence between us wasn't awkward; it never could be, with Em. Our conversations have always been like the ocean  - active and loud at times, peaceful and quiet at others, like waves receding back into the rest of the ocean.

Some of that peace followed me as I walked down the hallway of Music Room 3, flowing along in the breeze with some scattered petals. I sighed, smiling at the thought of Em, at the thought of what she would say about this whole situation. "She'd probably tell me to just open the fucking door already," I muttered, shaking out my hands as I reached out to the door handle.

"I mean, I was a menace and kinda still am...in comparison, how bad could it be?"

Chapter 17: A Melancholic Deduction

'Oh. Oh, wow. I jinxed myself, didn't I? God fucking dammit.'

I walked into what could only be described as 'chaos incarnate'. Is that a phrase that aptly describes the Ouran Host Club on any day of the week? Yeah, absolutely. However, my brain was a little caught up in processing what was happening around me to be creative with descriptions. Cut me some slack.

Scanning the room, I took a mental head-count of everyone there along with a brief summary of what they were doing; Tamaki appeared to be on the brink of a mental breakdown, sitting in the corner of the music room with the posture of a man who wanted his peonies watered but got them electrocuted instead. To his left were Haninozuka and Morinozuka, the former likely trying to comfort his junior and the latter standing a bit awkwardly as what I presumed to be additional emotional support. Morinozuka made brief eye contact with me as I glanced his way, and we exchanged small smiles of greeting. 

My eyes met Haruhi's once my head turned in their direction. I tilted my head questioningly, and their response was a silent, long-suffering sigh and a nod in the direction of the Hitachiin twins. They seemed to be in the process of being lectured, facial expressions varying between uninterested and annoyed (Hikaru) and somewhat entertained and confused (Kaoru). Turning my head once more, I was met with the metaphorical spotlight of a person that Haruhi texted me about; she had an incredibly commanding presence, her voice loud, clear, and just the tiniest bit on the border of grating. From this brief first impression, I'm not gonna lie, I was somewhat intimidated. Gotta provide credit where credit's due though, the sheer amount of confidence exuding from her was impressive. 'I...don't quite know what to think of her just yet. More data is needed for a proper analysis.' 

Looking past the spectacle going on in the center of the room, I saw Ootori typing away on his laptop, occasionally pausing to sneak a glimpse over at Tamaki's depression corner. Every time, he took a second to scan over Tamaki, as if making sure that he was not in any genuine distress, before going back to his laptop with an air of 'I'm busy, don't approach,' that discouraged said possible approaching.

So obviously, I approached.

"Hey...uh. I'm guessing you know what's happening, could you give me a quick run-down? Haruhi barely gave me the Sparknotes of the situation, and I'd appreciate a more detailed summary," I asked, just barely keeping my lips from quirking up in an amused smile as Ootori let out one of his usual, long-suffering sighs.

"Well, the young lady is named Houshakuji Renge. Her father is a client of my family's, and evidently, he showed her a picture of what I looked like."

My eyebrows furrowed in thought, trying to connect how we got from point A to point W(hat is going on). "And...how is that relevant context? What, she saw your face and immediately decided that you were the one, no question about it?" I laughed as I said it, but Ootori simply nodded, raising an impatient eyebrow as I paused in my chuckling. "Oh. Oh shit! Is that actually what happened? Like, I got it deadass on the nose?" 

Ootori let out what I assumed to be a brief huff of laughter. "Very nearly, yes. Not quite 'deadass on the nose', as you put it, but close. Apparently I look like her favorite love interest in her favorite otome game. Upon seeing me, she essentially copy-pasted his qualities onto me without even bothering to check if I was actually anything like this character," he grumbled, going back to his typing. "Shoddy research method, if you ask me." 

I nodded, humming in thought as I looked back over at the girl - Houshakuji. Taking note of her mannerisms and the lowdown I got from Haruhi and Ootori, it made sense that she was an otaku; she acted incredibly similar to how some of my friends in the US had acted with me at first when they realized I was Japanese. 

Deciding that I needed more time to observe, I moved to sit with Haninozuka and Morinozuka at their usual table. Given the fact that Tamaki was still method-acting his way to becoming a rock, I assumed that they had given up on trying to pry him from the floor. 'Ah, well. He'll be okay. Sometimes you just need to have a breakdown on the nice, cool, tile floor. Sometimes you don't even need the breakdown, floor time is just great overall. Wait, I'm supposed to be observing! Fuck!' 

And observe, I did. I greeted Houshakuji, introduced myself, and then let myself melt into the background, conversing occasionally with my table-mates. The new self-appointed manager seemed quite content to ignore me, anyhow; I dunno if it's because I'm femme-presenting, or if it's because I'm not in the 'main cast', but being ignored by her is absolutely fine by me. For the time being, anyway. Being ignored makes it easier to observe the one doing the ignoring, after all. 'Ignore doesn't even feel like a word anymore, with how much I've said (thought?) it.' 

I saw how she only ever seemed to give compliments to Ootori, how she kept calling Tamaki a 'phony prince', the way she brushed Haninozuka aside when he tried to speak to her, harshly rebuking him to 'rebuild his character'. Thankfully, I was able to cheer him up by distracting him with stories of Haruhi and I when we were younger. As I spoke, though, my thoughts were racing through analysis after analysis. 'So, it's not just Ootori that she's approaching as if he were a fictional character. She's approaching this whole thing as if the hosts are simply characters...which, I mean, they do put on personas, but they're based on real parts of them. Is she literally trying to re-write who they are as people? Does she realize she's doing that?'

However, I also saw how her eyebrows furrowed in concentration, lips moving in near-silent muttering as she took in the information she was shown and exploding in an exclamation of realization, spitting out sentences of character analysis with an ease that I was impressed by. The character analysis, while incorrect, was detailed and intelligent in the conclusions, romanticized though they were. I saw how she wrung her hands in excitement, bouncing up and down as she passionately lectured the twins on something I tuned out for my own sanity. I saw...a lot of the same traits I had when I was younger, honestly. My conclusion was still far from complete, but while Houshakuji Renge rubbed me the wrong way, she did not seem to be pure harm and hurt. No; what I could see was someone trying their best to interact with the world in a way they understood, stomping all over the unspoken boundaries of others without realizing. 'Hm. She's not all that bad; I could see myself having a good time talking about fandom related stuff with her. I think she just needs some pointers on boundaries and social interaction. My fellow-neurodivergent senses are tingling.'

I frowned as she turned to me mid-analysis, shaking my head before she could even speak. "Nuh-uh, I'm not a host, so I don't need to 'improve my character' or whatever the fuck. I am perfectly fine developing as a person on my own time, thank you very much," I said, shoving my chair back as Houshakuji continued to invade my space. She finally stopped a few feet away from me, raising an unimpressed eyebrow.

"Why are you even here, if you're not a host or a client? I'm their manager, so what use would you have in this full cast?" 'Okay, ouch. Way to feed into my imposter syndrome. At least she's direct...' 

"As far as I can tell, I'm here to provide Haruhi some help in paying off his debt, along with showing a side of him that could be appealing to his clientele. Seeing as there are currently no clients, though, and I'm apparently not of any use right now, I'm gonna head out and get a head start on homework," I sighed, picking up my bag and waving at Haruhi. "See you at home, Haru! I'll start prepping the ingredients for dinner for ya. Nice to meet you, Houshakuji; see y'all tomorrow!" 'On set, apparently. Is she a theatre kid, too? I don't think that would surprise me, honestly.'

Thoughts and theories about the hows, whats, whens, and whys of Houshakuji Renge went through my head like clockwork, continuing in the background as I chopped vegetables, greeted dad with a hot cup of tea, snarked at Haruhi as they cooked dinner, made my way through some homework and a tutoring lesson plan, all the way through my dreamless sleep and into the next school day. It was obvious that something was on my mind, apparently. As soon as it hit lunchtime, Satoshi and Chika dragged me out to our usual spot for lunch, beginning their interrogation as soon as they came back with their lunch trays. I hid a smile behind my water bottle as Chika instinctively passed his cup of watermelon over to me. 'I love how he remembered that watermelon is my favorite from a random doodle I passed him during class. Like, damn. Talk about dedication.' 

Once they were assured that I was, indeed, okay, I proceeded to tell them a somewhat altered story of yesterday's events; I didn't mention too many specifics, simply that I was trying to help Haru's club with their new manager and that it seemed like I could possibly follow in Icarus's footsteps and fly too close to the sun in doing so. I did mention the whole "she thinks that she is engaged to one of the defacto leaders of the club and it's causing some tension because he's not really dealing with it" thing because, well, that's kind of a really big part of the situation, y'know? It was necessary info.

"Hey, remember what we talked about," Satoshi said once I finished ranting, pointing his fork at me scoldingly. "Don't take on so many problems of others that you ignore your own! You're not a therapist yet, you're not getting paid for this. You have no obligation to help, even though I know you still will."

Chika interrupted Satoshi's rant, apparently deciding that the point was taking too long to get to. "What I think Satoshi is trying to say is that we don't want you to overwork yourself, especially when technically it isn't your problem to fix. It's the guy who she's convinced is her betrothed who should deal with this." 

I couldn't help but snort at his use of the word 'betrothed'. "What are you, an old-timey earl? Not that I don't appreciate the word 'betrothed', mind you, it just sounds old fashioned as hell."

"Do you have a word you'd rather I use? 'Intended', maybe? 'Spoken for'? 'Affianced'?" Chika raised an eyebrow as he spoke, tone completely deadpan. 

"I gotta say, I appreciate your wide vocabulary," I said, only half teasing. What can I say? I like a guy who knows his way around a dictionary. Or at the very least is versed in how to use a thesaurus in a tasteful manner. 'I'm not gonna think harder about this than I have to, I'm not having a feelings crisis right now.' "'Betrothed' is fine, it just sounded funny in the same sentence as the word 'guy'. Anyways! Back to your point, y'all are right, and don't need to worry. I'm getting better at not letting myself be walked all over! At most, all that I'll be doing is homework, talking to Haru and the guys in his club, only get involved if I really have to. I won't be pulled into anything, pinky promise!" 

'I swear, the universe is laughing at me. What, is a pinky promise not good enough? Jeez.' I mentally grumbled, finding myself quite literally pulled onto set by Houshakuji (who insisted I call her 'Renge', since it's what she was used to in France) not even two days later. "Hey! Can you let go of me, please? I can walk without being pulled to and fro like a goddamn Raggedy-Anne doll, y'know!" I attempted to pull myself away from her, but Housh- Renge had a grip strength that surprised me a little. 'Damn, girl. I'd find that kind of attractive in a passive way if it wasn't for literally everything else going on with you.' 

"No can-do, Aki-chan! The film won't reach absolute perfection until it has all of the club members featured, and Haruhi-kun insisted that you are an important part of the club too! I have such a good idea for your character arc!" Renge sighed dreamily as she continued tugging me along, seemingly ignorant to my attempts of setting myself free. None of the rest of the Host Club were around yet, so there was nobody who could physically intervene on my behalf. "I can picture it now...a sheltered youth, hiding your pain behind sarcasm and helping others, trying to fit back into a culture that you'd been raised in but that had continued to develop faster than you realized while you were in another country for two of your most formative years!" I quit struggling against her momentarily as she spoke, shell-shocked with how on the nose she was. 'How the fuck - even Haruhi doesn't know some of that shit! At least, not that they've told me! How does Renge know all this?? Is she even better at reading people than I gave her credit for?'

I managed to get myself free of her grasp as she finished speaking, interrupting her before she could continue dissecting me  with the same ease that she waxed poetic about Ootori with. "Okay! My turn to talk now!" I aimed my best glare her direction, and only felt a bit bad for her when she visibly wilted upon meeting it. "First off, I did not give you permission to touch me. Consent is a thing, you need to ask before touching me or anyone else, for that matter. Secondly, I also didn't give you permission to call me by my first name! Just because I'm younger than you does not mean you get that privilege automatically. It's 'Fujioka-kun' or 'Fujioka-chan' from now on, am I understood?" Renge nodded, so I continued. "Thirdly, I do not consent to be filmed. I don't feel comfortable being filmed, especially as a last-minute decision and as a junior high student in a high school production. In this production. I can appreciate you wanting to expand on the host's character lore or whatever, but I don't like how you're going about it as if they're not real people; they are regular people, just like you and I. Even if they have a certain persona they use during their hosting, the way you approached this film production felt dehumanizing. Well, at least to me," I finished off lamely, not entirely sure where to go in the conversation (lecture?) from there.

Surprisingly, Renge was the one who continued the interaction, facial expression sobered and her tone of voice matching it. "I- I'm sorry, A- no, Fujioka-chan. I haven't been the best manager, have I?" I assumed it was a rhetorical question, but I shook my head 'no' anyways. "I won't put you in the film if you don't want to be in it; I just assumed that everyone would. I'll try to start being more wary of the touchy stuff too, but that might be difficult, so I can't promise that I won't mess up," I tried to jump in here, because who wouldn't mess up when learning an entirely new habit within daily interactions, that was okay, but her words were flowing just as quickly as they had before, giving me no room to interrupt. "Thanks for being direct about all this. Honestly, I have trouble understanding real people - it's easier for me to just refer to myself and everyone around me as 'characters'. It helps me understand the world at least a bit better." As Renge explained, her words became more quiet...withdrawn in a hesitant way that I knew all too well myself. 'Neurodivergent senses proved correct once more.' 

I felt my facial expression softening, tension melting from my muscles as quickly as it had appeared. "I get that. My brain is weird too, not exactly like that, but enough so that human interaction is difficult. I appreciate the apology and the explanation. I wanted to say this earlier - it's okay to mess up. What's important in those times is to apologize sincerely, clean up the mistake if that's feasible or even wanted, make a plan to improve in the future, and continue on with life. You're already on the right track with this situation, which is a big accomplishment!" I smiled at Renge, celebrating mentally as she hesitantly smiled back. "Thanks for trusting me with your troubles, by the way; that means a lot, and I'm glad you felt comfy enough to let me know." 

With the more positive shift in conversation tone, some of Renge's confidence and cheer seemed to come back. "No problem! Oh, this is completely off topic, but I noticed your laptop stickers earlier. Are you a fan of that detective show, the one all over Instaglam right now?" 

I nodded, ignoring the blush rising in my ears. "Ah, yeah. It's a guilty pleasure of mine. The mysteries are actually engaging, and the character interactions are amazing! The fanfics are better, though..." 

Renge cut in excitedly. "Do you have any recommendations? I get into a lot of media through the fanfictions, sometimes I even prefer them to the canonical content!"

I pointed at her enthusiastically, bouncing on my toes. "Yes! Thank you! I love canonical content, but a lot of the time the fan creations expand so much more on the lore and character relationships, it's incredible! What fanfic platform do you use?"

We continued like that for a while before the rest of the host club showed up on set, simply geeking out over fandom stuff together. We disagreed on many a topic, but finding a commonality helped smooth over our interactions greatly. I found myself feeling happy and fulfilled in a way I haven't been since I got back to Japan; I may have made friends, but most of my fandom friends were back in the US. While Renge is certainly far from perfect, so am I. Once she began filming once more, I couldn't help but glance over at her from behind my history textbook. The more I thought about it, the more heartbreaking it was.

'How lonely has her life been, to depend for so long on fictional realities for the feeling of a genuine, human connection?'

Notes:

guys i just fucking realized that i can just press "rich text" instead of html and it would keep my formatting. i. i dont have to painstakingly type < em > and < / em > after every single italicized piece of text OH MY GOD WHY DID I NOT GOOGLE THIS BEFORE I COULD'VE SAVED SO MUCH TIME AND EFFORT

HOW AM I IN COLLEGE???