//Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran High School Host Club.//

CHAPTER SEVEN
BULLY

Asami stares blankly at her phone, her heart beating out of her chest as her hands shake.

From: Unknown

*see attached file*

I only wish for you to know the truth, my little butterfly

She has yet to click on the file in fear of what she is going to discover. What if it proves everything that Emica said? That Yuzuru cannot be trusted? Her finger hovers over the attachment as her heart and mind fight with one another. Her mind wants to know what is in the file but her heart does not want to find out. Her heart is content with her life with the Souh's, and it is willing to live in naivety to keep itself content; however, her mind is yearning to know the truth because how can she truly live life happily if half of her life is a lie? She already lived a lie for a decade, can she really continue to live in another possible lie? What could Yuzuru be hiding from her? From Tamaki? She bites her lip and goes to click on the file as her mind wins over her heart when a knock sounds on the door. She jumps, shutting her phone off as Hana strolls through the door. "You need to leave for school soon, why are you not dressed yet?" She eyes the young girl in concern. Asami has never been late for anything since her time at the mansion.

"I woke up late." Asami answers and slides out of bed. Hana frowns, not believing that to be true and goes to say something when Asami hurriedly gets ready and leaves with Tamaki. Tamaki observes her, taking note of the stressed body behavior. Asami keeps running her fingers across the screen of her phone while debating on when a good time would be to open it.

"Is everything okay?" He asks. She jolts of her thoughts and looks at her brother.

"Yeah, everything is okay. I'm just worried about a test I have today." She lies—technically she does have a test today on English grammar, but she is not particularly worried about it. He hums, not entirely convinced that is the truth but let's it go.

"If you need to talk, I'm here." He says, reaching over and gently squeezing her hand. She squeezes back and smiles at him.

"I know. I can always count on you." She comments. The duo make it to school and get out of the car. "I'll see you at lunch." She waves goodbye, heading up the front stairs and enters the school. She weaves in and out the crowd of chittering students. Most people at the academy have grown up with each other thus friend groups have long been established. Asami has not had any success in joining a friend group excluding the Host Club. Her only friends outside the club are Haruhi and Kazuki. Her eyes sweep the crowd of students as she walks in hopes of finding one of the two before the bell rings to get to their first period. Instead, she finds someone that she is suppose to talk to about using his club room to contain the animal shelter supplies. Nekozawa Umehito, the president of the Black Magic Club. He wears a dark cloak with a hood over his face, concealing his black hair and blue eyes. On his hand is a cat puppet known as Beelzenef. Tamaki is scared to death of this student because he is convinced Umehito put a curse on him one day. The Black Magic Club main room is in the basement of the north building; however, there is an empty room next to Music Room 3 that the club uses from time to time—what they do in there, Asami has no idea. The only other member of the club she knows is Kanazuki Reiko, a girl with long black hair and brown eyes who has a crush on Mitsukuni. Asami has stumbled on Reiko casting love curses on him which she found adorable, but it scared him and he ran away from her. Reiko is currently walking beside Umehito and Asmai sighs before heading over to them.

"Nekozawa-senpai, Kanazuki-senpai, may we speak for a moment?" She asks the duo, tightly clenching the straps of her bag.

"What can we help you with, Souh-san?" Umehito asks. "Do you need a cursed object? Do you need help casting a love spell? Reiko-Chan is especially adept at those." The girl nods her head in agreement.

"The Host Club is actually hoping to do a cat cafe theme for the girls. We're going to partner up with an animal shelter to help their cats find homes, but we need a place to put all the cat supplies. Would it be okay if we use your room next to Music Room 3?" Asami asks.

"You are helping cats find a home?" Umehito seems to brighten quite a bit at the mention of cats. "I volunteer at an animal shelter that would be ecstatic to partner with you. Let me give you their number and yes, you certainly can use the room." Reiko hands him a piece of paper and pen which he writes the number down and hands it over to Asami.

"Thank you for your help, senpais." Asami bows and waves goodbye as she leaves. The bell rings, signaling that first period will be starting soon so she makes her way to her class. Unknown to her, a pair of eyes follow her from the shadows of the hallways.

•••

Asami holds her head in her hands as she tries to not scream in pure annoyance as the twins continuously poke her throughout class. They have made it their mission to annoy her to death. They are waiting for their English teacher, Miss Wada Jun, to enter the classroom. Hikaru snickers as he throws some paper balls at her head while Kaoru repeatedly pokes her arm with his pencil. "Why are we doing a cat theme?"

"Because Tamaki wanted to." She grumbles.

"Cats always attack me for some reason." Hikaru states and raises an eyebrow when he sees the side look he gets from Asami. "What? Is there something wrong with that?"

"Animals are typically good judges of character. If they don't like you, there's definitely a reason." She comments. He gasps and places a hand over his heart in hurt.

"Are you saying I'm unlikeable?" He asks.

"A bit." She responds and Kaoru snorts. "You have made it a point to annoy me and treat me like a toy ever since we met." She defends her opinion and turns to Kaoru. "That goes for you too." Kaoru's smile drops and he throws a glare at Hikaru after hearing him snort. They go to say something when their teacher walks in.

"I hope you are all prepared for the test today. The test is rather easy in my opinion so I do not see many of you failing." Jun comments as she takes out a stack of papers and begins passing it out. "As always, eyes on your paper. If you are suspected of cheating, you will immediately get a failing grade on the test. When you are done, please submit the test in my bin and start working on your English essays. You must have a topic approved by me by the end of the period today because we will begin writing next class." Asami grumbles, not enjoying the thought of having to write an essay. She takes the test from her teacher and quickly skims through it.

Section 1: Parts of Speech. Identity the part of speech of the underlined word in each sentence.

1. Sarah enjoys playing the piano. She writes down verb in the blank spot next to the sentence.

2. The tall building stood proudly in the city skyline. She writes down noun.

3. I saw a black cat crossing the road. She writes down adjective.

4. The book on the shelf belongs to me. She sighs because this part of the English language confuses her. She tries to remember what the correct answer is. Is that an adverb or a preposition? She puts preposition as the answer and hopes for the best. She finishes the rest of the section pretty easily and moves onto the next section.

Section 2: Sentence Structure. Identity the type of sentence for each given sentence.

1. Where did you go last night? She writes down interrogative.

2. Stop making so much noise! She writes down exclamatory. There are a few more question that she answers fairly quickly.

Section 3: Subject-Verb Agreement. Choose the correct verb form (are or is) that agrees with the subject in each sentence.

1. Mary and her sisters _ going to the beach. She writes 'are' in the blank.

2. The dog _ running outside. She writes 'is' in the blank.

3. They _ rushing to work. She writes 'are' in the blank.

Section 4: Verb Tense. Choose the correct verb tense (do, did, or does) for each sentence.

1. Sarah _ her homework yesterday. She writes 'did' in the blank.

2. Sarah _ not like dancing. She writes 'does' in the blank.

3. _ they like pineapple? She writes 'do' in the blank.

Section 5: Capitalization. Correct the following sentences.

1. my favorite book is "to kill a mockingbird." She corrects the sentence to: My favorite book is "To Kill a Mockingbird."

2. the capital of france is paris. She corrects the sentence to: The Capital of France is Paris.

Section 6: Identity the structure (verb, adverb, adjective, noun, preposition, or article) of each word in the following sentences.

1. Do not run away from a bear! She decides to write what each word is below them: do is a verb, not is an adverb, run is a verb, away is an adverb, from is a preposition, a is an article and bear is a noun.

2. What do you think you are doing? What is a pronoun, do is a verb, you is a pronoun, think is a verb, you is pronoun, are is a verb and doing is a verb. She jots that down on her paper and cracks her neck before diving into the rest of the section. She finishes, gets up to place the test in the bin and goes back to her desk to shuffle through her English book to find an interesting topic for her paper. She waits as the twins finish and turn in their paper before getting their attention.

"What did you guys get for number two in section two?" She quietly asks the twins as they research topics. That is the one question that she thinks she may have gotten wrong.

"Imperative," they both answer and she curses. "What did you put?" Hikaru inquires.

"Exclamatory because of the exclamation point." She mumbles in slight embarrassment that she had forgotten imperative sentences.

"It's an easy mistake." Kaoru assures her. "Plus missing one question isn't going to ruin your grade in here." She smiles at him, thankful for his support when his brother ruins the moment.

"But missing a lot of questions will. Since you missed that one, you probably missed a lot more." Hikaru suggests. She shots him a glare. "I'm just being honest." He grins at her cheekily. "I mean, its safe to assume you only got put in class A because of your father so you're most likely not that smart." Kaoru closes his eyes as he tries to understand why Hikaru is being a bit more rude today than usual.

"You're such a dick." She hisses at him, turning back to her book and huffs in a way to indicate that she is ignoring him. She despises when people say that she only got her status at the school due to her father. She worked hard on her academics her entire life to ensure that she would have a good chance at getting into a nice school. Her outstanding grades should not be overlooked because of her father. She pauses and frowns a bit when she does realize that her father's name and money is also what pushed her into class A. If it weren't for that, she'll probably be in the same class with Kazuki. She finds an interesting topic in her book about bullying and anti-social behavior and decides to write about that. She heads up to Wada, "Miss Wada, may I do my paper on bullying and anti-social behavior?"

"Sure, that sounds interesting. Since this paper is only meant to be about three papers, you'll need to find at least three sources." Jun informs her. Asami nods her head and the bell rings, signaling the end of class. She goes back there desk, gathering up her supplies before practically bolting to her next class without the twins.

"Do you always have to be mean? You know her father is a sore subject for her especially when the other students have already made those same comments to her." Kaoru asks as they try to follow her.

"Well apparently I'm unlikeable so why not just be mean to everyone?" Hikaru shrugs. Kaoru shakes his head at how petty his twin can be. For the rest of the day, Asami and Hikaru ignored each other as Kaoru tries to get one of them to apologize for what they said to the other during English class.

•••

Haruhi is observing everyone around her. Asami is busy calling animal shelters nearby while she tries to make Tamaki's cat cafe theme come true. "Yes, we will gladly host your cats and find them homes. We receive over a hundred customers each day. I am positive that we can get most, if not, all of your cats adopted by the end of the day." Haruhi overhears the brief conversation as Asami strolls by, writing in a notebook. She gets along with Asami but she wonders why the girl is apart of the host club. It does not seem like Asami's scene.

"Where will you take me during the summer, Tamaki-Kun?"

"Anywhere you want."

"What is your favorite music, Tamaki-kun?"

"Whatever you favor."

"I baked a cake today. Would you please eat some?"

"If you feed me." Tamaki gently strokes the girl's cheek, causing her to swoon. Haruhi grimaces and turns to see the twins with their own customers.

"And this guy formatted the data he made overnight when he was half asleep!" Hikaru laughs. "And he panicked and cried to me—"

"Hikaru!" Kaoru protests, looking down at the ground in sadness. "You are cruel...in front of everyone..."

"Kaoru" Hikaru suddenly grabs Kaoru's face and forces him to look up. "I'm so sorry, it's just because you were so cute that time."

"Brotherly love!" Their customers swoon. Haruhi sweat drops.

"Why do girls rejoice with tears? I don't understand this world." She grumbles.

"Our motto is to make use of each of our characteristics to answer customers' needs. By the way, Tamaki is our best." Kyoya informs her and hands her a piece of paper that shows that Tamaki gets 70% of their customers.

"What, that guy is number one?" Haruhi gasps in shock, gazing at the number in absolute confusion.

"You will be taking care of chores for a while. Run away if you want," his glasses glint dangerously and he devilishly smiles, "but I have an excellent staff at home. Do you have your passport?"

"Work hard for the 8 million yen, Dasaoka-kun." Tamaki whispers creepily in her ear causing to shriek.

"Please don't do that." Haruhi pushes Tamaki away from her.

"Stop scaring her," Asami appears and scolds the two before smiling at Haruhi. "Don't worry Haruhi, Kyoya's staff hasn't been able to find my kidnapper yet so I'm sure they wouldn't be able to find you as quickly as he's implying if you ran away. Ignore Tamaki, he likes the reactions he gets from people so you can't give him the satisfaction of having one." Kyoya and Tamaki deadpan at her.

"That is a completely different situation." Kyoya comments.

"Asami, don't joke about that." Tamaki whines, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. "She'll be caught soon." Asami shrugs and mouthed to Haruhi, 'sure she will.'  "Now Haruhi, that is one of my best techniques." He gazes at her in confusion at her strange reaction.

"I'm not interested in that kind of stuff." Haruhi says. "Besides it doesn't really matter, does it? Guy, girl or appearance...it's what's on the side that counts, right?" She silently thinks to herself, 'I don't understand why this kind of club even exists.'

"True." Tamaki suddenly lets go of Asami and places a hand to his head and one over his heart as he theatrically speaks. "It is so barbarous. God sometimes creates humans with perfect bodies and it's content. I know you need to tell yourself that because how else are you suppose to live with yourself," Asami winds up to hit his head but he dodged. "Why is there art in museums? Yes, to show off beautiful things is the duty of those who were born beautiful! I'm beautiful and I founded this club for those that hunger to see beautiful things," he gestures to the hosts, "and I don't skimp in my effort to pursue that beauty."

"How to say this...troublesome...not that word...something more like..." Haruhi muses during Tamaki's rude monologue. "I know!"

"You've understood!" Tamaki brightens up.

"It's annoying!" Haruhi exclaims. Asami brings a hand over her mouth to muffle her hysterical laughter as she turns away from the group. Tamaki crouches into a ball in his depressed corner. The twins appear next to Haruhi, both chortling along with Asami.

"You're strong after all!" Hikaru says.

"There aren't many people who could hurt him that much!" Kaoru comments.

"Commoner with a lot of nerve!" They both state.

"Tamaki, stop being a baby." Asami sighs, crouching next to him and he launches onto her to cry into her shoulder. She pats his back while rolling her eyes. "You were being a bit annoying about the beautiful thing." He gasps and launches out of her arms, pointing at her.

"Beautiful things are what built this society!" He yells.

"Souh-senpai—" Haruhi gets cut off.

"King." Tamaki corrects her. "I go by that here." He winces and yelps in pain when Asami pinches his ear.

"No you don't, the twins call you that to make fun of you." She hisses. "Don't you dare make Haruhi call you by that, that's so demeaning." Tamaki goes back to sulking when the twins knock into him.

"You're blocking the way, sir. Don't just slack off from work." The twins berate him.

"Tamaki, you have many customers waiting in line." Kyoya informs him. Asami looks up when the door to the club opens and Takashi walks in with Mitsukuni on his back. She smiles, immediately heading over to the two and opens her arms wide for Mitsukuni to jump into.

"Sorry we're late!" Mitsukuni says as Asami places him on the ground. He holds her hand with a bright smile. "I fell asleep while waiting for Takashi's other club activity to finish." He yawns and rubs his eye with his free hand. "I'm still kinda sleepy. Ami-Chan," he gazes up at her with wide doe eyes, "can we eat some strawberry shortcake?" Asami nods her head and they head over to the kitchen area with Takashi following behind.

"Is he really in eleventh grade? And that scary face dude hasn't spoken a single word yet..." Haruhi observes.

"What are you talking about? Honey-senpai is the eldest in the club. He's much smarter than he looks and silence is Mori-senpai's selling point." Tamaki informs Haruhi after getting over his sulking.

"I just wanted to study somewhere quiet." Haruhi sighs in annoyance at her situation. Asami appears with the two elder males, skipping with Mitsukuni over to a couch while Takashi follows them with two plates of strawberry shortcake in hand.

"Why? What about your home?" Tamaki asks.

"My father brings his lover during the daytime. He has a night job." She states.

"You don't get along with your father?" He questions, smiling at the happiness clear on Asami's face as she enjoys her piece of cake. That smile drops when he sees her take a piece of her cake and holds it up for Takashi to eat. He vibrates at the indirect kiss occurring and is about to go scream at Takashi when Haruhi distracts him.

"We get along just fine though he spends too much money. It's just I want to bother him as little as possible. He brought me up for ten years by himself and I thought I should do whatever I can." She trails off.

"That kind of environment is pitiful, isn't it?" Tamaki softly says. Haruhi furrows her eyebrows and lets out a confused sound as Tamaki once again launches into a theatrical display of emotion. "And your stable diet is white carrot rice, as I expected? Being too poor, you have to houkou! Or mean rich people overwork you and you cry yourself to sleep!" He shakes Haruhi by her shoulders.

"What era are you talking about?" Haruhi exclaims.

"I've been watching Oshin lately and it's my favorite." Tamaki cries into a handkerchief. "I didn't know you were the model of that girl."

"I'm not. This story is totally different." Haruhi comments.

"Ok, Haruhi! Time to learn! Maybe it is impossible with your looks," Asami pauses in her eating to shot a dangerous glare at Tamaki for his rude words, "but I'll train you thoroughly! Let me see... you probably could get 100 people! If you get 100 people to request you, you are debt free! And be a host star of Oshin world!" He claps his hands together with a pleased smile.

"No, no." Haruhi deflates. "I'll rather do chores." Asmai giggles at her friend's misery.

"This is going to be amusing to watch." She comments.

"Isn't Haru-chan your friend? Shouldn't you be stopping this?" Mitsukuni questions.

"Haruhi can handle themself. If they don't want to do something, I'm sure they'll let Tamaki know." She shrugs. "Do you like this one better, Takashi? I put less sugar in it so it wasn't as sweet." She turns her direction onto the silent male. He nods his head at the question and allows her to feed him another piece of the cake.

"I like having lots of sugar in mine." Mitsukuni pouts.

"I'll make the next batch extra sugary for you."

"I can't wait to taste them, Ami-chan!"

•••

The first motto of the Ouran Host Club: Be Strong, Be Dignified and Be Beautiful.

"Thank you for wait—" Haruhi goes to set a cup of tea down on a table when Tamaki slaps her hand.

"Not that way!" He yells. "When you put down the glass, you have to use your pinky finger as cushion." Asami tunes out the lesson and focuses on working on her essay concerning bullying when a shadow looms over her. She glances up to see Kyoya.

"Can I help you?" She asks.

"Have you finalized the details of the cat cafe theme?" He asks. She nods her head, bringing out a notebook and handing it over to him. The notebook contains all the details about the shelter, about the usage of the room next door, the price of everything and how to advertise the event. He pushes his glasses up his nose and nods his head at her in thanks before going back to his couch to look over the details. Asami goes back to her paper, briefly keeping an eye on Ayanokoji after hearing her speak about Haruhi in a distasteful way. She wishes she could say something to the rude guests but Tamaki and Kyoya have forbidden her from doing so. They don't want to lose any of their darling customers. She gets lost in her writing but is brought back out when Haruhi comes back from the store with instant coffee.

"Isn't this the one peasants make? That if you pour hot water, the coffee is ready to drink?" Tamaki gushes as all the host gather around the coffee. Asami watches this in astonishment.

"This is the rumored peasants'..." Kyoya mumbles.

"So it's true that poor people don't even have time to grind beans." Kaoru gasps.

"I wanted to try it once." Mitsukuni says.

"Such lovely wisdom from peasants." Hikaru muses.

"I'll go buy the right one! I'm sorry it wasn't the expensive coffee beans that you usually use!" Haruhi shouts, getting ready to stomp back to the store when Tamaki dramatically holds the coffee above his head.

"No, I will drink it!" Gasps rings out from around the room at his exclamation.

"Asami," the twins appear on either side of her, "you were once a peasant. Did you drink this too?"

"Please stop calling us peasants." She sighs. "And yes, I drank instant coffee too but I'm more of a tea person."

"Make us some." Hikaru demands.

"Go drink some that's Haruhi making, I'm busy." She states.

"I don't trust Haruhi." Hikaru scoffs. "He might mess it up. I want you to do it." She stops writing and gazes up at him with wide eyes.

"You trust me?" She whispers quietly, truly touched.

"Don't make a big deal out of it." He snarls and lifts her up from her spot. Asami allows him, too dazed at what he admitted. Is this his way of apologizing for what he said earlier during class? Whatever it is, Asami just accepts the moment. Kaoru is even gaping at his brother. Asami helps Haruhi make a few batches of instant coffee. She gives two cups to the twins and watches them sip it with amazed expressions on their faces. She shakes her head at them and continues giving out cups of instant coffee to the guests.

"How about mouth to mouth?" Asmai blinks as Tamaki is suddenly cupping a girl's face and pulling it closer to his.

"I'll drink it!" The girl shouts with a blush on her cheeks.

"Why are they okay with practically being sexually assaulted?" Haruhi grumbles as she stands next to Asami.

"They're lonely rich girls who are desperate for any kind of affection." Asami replies. "Most of their families are too busy for them plus I'm sure half of these girls are in loveless arranged marriages."

"I never thought about that." Haruhi hums in realization. She always viewed every rich person as the same: horrible, greedy people. Maybe she needs to start seeing things from a new perspective. Her train of thought is ruined by Tamaki.

"Haruhi! I want another cup!" Tamaki shouts, walking over to the girls.

"Be polite!" Asami yells while hitting him over the head.

"Haruhi, may I please have another cup?" Tamaki corrects himself and rubs his sore head.

"You liked it?" Haruhi asks.

"Yes. This inelegant flavor and wonderfully not rich taste makes me want more!" He comments. Haruhi groans and goes to get him another cup. Asmai frowns, noticing the whispers of Ayanokoji and the glares she directs toward Haruhi. Asami walks over to Kyoya and taps his arm. He glances down at her and she gestures to Ayanokoji.

"I think we might have a future problem with her. She does not like Haruhi at all and seems to be scheming with her friends." She whispers.

"I'll keep an eye on her." Kyoya promises. The uneasy feeling in Asami's stomach doesn't go away.

•••

The second motto of the Quran Host Club: Unending research is the guide to being a good guy.

"Everyone, we'll try the peasants ramen today!" Asami and Haruhi watch dumbfounded as the host club attempts to make ramen.

"Are you sure that paternity test was right? How are you related to that?" Haruhi asks, gesturing toward Tamaki who is directing the hosts on how to properly make the ramen.

"We did it twice to make sure I truly was Asami Souh so unfortunately, I am related to him." Asami winces when she sees Kaoru spill some of the boiling water on Hikaru who yelps in pain. "We should properly help before they injure themselves." The two integrate themselves into the lesson. "Give me that," she slaps the twins' hands away and takes the boiling pot of water. She easily pours it into their cups and puts the lid back over the top. "You guys need to be careful. Are you okay?" She grabs Hikaru's hand and overlooks the red finger that was burnt from the boiling water. "We need to run this under cold water before it blisters." She leads Hikaru away to the sink while Kaoru watches them in silence. "I can't believe how reckless you guys can be." She continues to scold him as she holds his finger under the cold water. Hikaru merely stares at her with a slight blush on his cheeks. "Let me know if it starts to blister at all. Hopefully we got cold water on it in time." They head back to the group who are finishing their ramen.

"My ingredients are stuck to the lid." Takashi informs Haruhi. The people present are surprised that he actually spoke to her.

"If you put the ingredients below the noodles in the beginning, that won't happen." Haruhi tells them.

"What an amazing technique!" Tamaki gushes. "You are wonderful. May I express this feeling with my body?" He gets uncomfortably close to Haruhi.

"Please don't." Haruhi states. She smirks as Asami appears and grabs Tamaki by the ear, ripping him away from her.

"Personal space!" She shouts at him. He whimpers at how aggressive his sister can be.

"It doesn't match the picture, does it, Kaoru?" Hikaru taps his chin in thought.

"I agree with you, Hikaru. The situation doesn't add up." Kaoru joins him.

"You see, females," Asami corrects him with a look, "I mean women, love two beautiful homosexuals together. It is a nice plot to have two guys who cannot decide to further the friendship or not." Hikaru states.

"In our case, we have our twin-ness as our forbidden weapon." Kaoru points out.

"Twincest." Asami mumbles.

"In addition, you will be loved by the two with such a deep bond at the same time. Isn't that the ultimate romance for the girls?" The twins chorus, creepily cupping Haruhi's face with their hands before moving away from her. "But you can't even pass the first condition. We wasted our time explaining."

"Don't explain it then." Haruhi sweat drops.

"The problem is once again, the visual. But then..." Tamaki observes Haruhi. "Probably taking off the glasses won't help much, probably just make the eyes smaller. What's with these, anyway? These old fashioned glasses?" He removes the glasses. The hosts freeze, seeing that the glasses did make a huge difference.

"You guys are so objectifying." Asami groans.

"These are my grandfathers." Haruhu informs him. "I lost my contacts on the morning of admission ceremony."

"Hikaru! Kaoru!" Tamaki snaps his fingers and the twins suddenly appear in barber uniforms with scissors and mirrors. "Kyoya, give a phone call to the school designated tailor! Mori-senpai, if you have extra disposable contacts, share them!"

"What about me?" Mitsukuni asks.

"Please eat some cakes, Honey-senpai!" Tamaki orders. Mitsukuni sulks and goes to eat some cake with Usa-Chan. "Asami," She perks up from her position with a raised eyebrow, "come stand by me as we wait for my masterpiece to be revealed!" Kyoya shows up with an extra male uniform, Takashi appears with his extra contacts and the twins have worked their magic on Haruhi's hair. They all wait outside the makeshift changing room as Haruhi puts everything on.

"Excuse me," Haruhi steps out of the curtain, "this uniform." She adjusts the uniform. Asami clasps her hands to her cheeks as she blushes at the sight of Haruhi, seriously questioning her sexuality.

"How wonderful...our finest project..." the twins mumble. Tamaki goes to say something but is beat to it by his sister.

"You look so beautiful!" Everyone watches in shock as Asami acts like Tamaki. Asami is holding Haruhi to her face and rubbing their cheeks together with her eyes closed and hearts swirling around them. "Haruhi, let me be your first customer!" She sing songs.

"Now I can see how you're related." Haruhi comments while trying to get out of Asami's hold.

"You're so adorable!" Asami continues to squeal, ignoring the other hosts.

"You almost look like a girl." Tamaki observes.

"Haru-Chan looks cute!" Mitsukuni gushes.

"If you had that face, why didn't you tell us earlier?" Hikaru asks.

"Maybe you could get a customer or two." Kyoya states.

"Yes, everything was calculated. Here, now is the time that your true worth will be revealed! Go show the people your thin-veneer of beauty!" Tamaki exclaims before reaching over to rip Asami away from Haruhi. "And no, you cannot be his first customer, that's cheating." Asami pouts and makes grabby hands toward Haruhi.

"You can be my customer for today, Ami-Chan!" Mitsukuni tugs on her hand, trying to direct her toward his couch. She sulks and follows him over. The club opens and girls come pouring in. Unsurprisingly, Haruhi already has a few customers. Asami engages with Takashi and Mitsukuni while also providing snacks and drinks to their guests as she keeps an eye on Haruhi. She is proud that Haruhi seems to be doing well considering her guests are blushing and giggling. "Ami-Chan, you should come watch one of Takashi's kendo matches with me sometime! I think you'll be very impressed." He lightly laughs, clinging onto her arm with one hand as his other hand holds Usa-Chan.

"Oh, that does sound like fun. Are you okay with that?" She asks Takashi. Takashi nods his head, shyly glancing away from her. "Kazuki use to be into kendo but he never really learned it. I wonder if he'll like to join your club." She muses and takes out her phone to text her friend when she gets distracted by Tamaki introducing Haruhi to Ayanokoji. She narrows her eyes, not liking the look on the red head's face. Tamaki glomps Haruhi.

"Mori-senpai, help!" Haruhi cries out. Takashi heads over and grabs Haruhi out of Tamaki's arms. Asmai smiles as Tamaki throws a bit of a tantrum and tries to get Haruhi back but Takashi keeps her from his hands. Takashi eventually puts Haruhi down and rejoins the group.

"Thank you for helping Haruhi." Asami says to him with a gentle smile.

"I was asked for help so I helped." He quietly says.

"Still, it was nice of you to help. Especially when some other hosts," She gestures toward the twins and Kyoya, "wouldn't have helped even if they were asked."

"Do you think I would've helped, Ami-Chan?" Mitsukuni asks.

"I know you would've helped too if Haruhi asked you." Asami informs him. The trio continue to entertain guests for the rest of the day. Asami leaves to go grab more tea when she sees Haruhi gazing out the window at something. She joins her in worry that maybe Maru is lingering about but pauses when she sees that all of Haruhi's belongings are in the fountain. She grabs Haruhi's hand. "Come on, I'll help you." They pass by Ayanokoji and she makes sure to make eye contact as she says her next words, "some guests can be true bullies toward people they're jealous of."

Asami and Haruhi wade through the fountain, grabbing all of her things. "She's my main suspect." Haruhi comments, looking for her wallet. "I don't even know or care to know her reasoning behind this. My food money is in the wallet." She groans.

"I can always give you some of my money if they don't accept yours for being too wet." Asami tells her. "Ayanokoji has a strange obsession with Tamaki, she's very clingy and she views you as a threat for his attention. The club posted a picture of Tamaki and me on their Instagram and she immediately was ripping me apart in the comments. I wanted to strangle her but I'm not allowed to do anything to guests."

"That's bull." Haruhi shakes her head.

"Hey peasant!" Tamaki shouts, startling them both. "What a nice hobby you have, skipping the club activity, dragging my sister along with you and playing in the water? Why did you wet your bag?" Asami goes to tell him what truly happened when Haruhi cuts in.

"I just dropped it." Asami stares at her in confusion. "But I left my wallet in the puddle."

"Dummy, you should always keep your wallet in your bag. Anyway, your searching method is really weak." Tamaki takes his shirt off and joins them. Asami protects herself from the flying water as he frantically searches the fountain. "You have to do it like this, dramatically!"

"It's okay, you'll get wet!" Haruhi tries to stop him.

"You know the saying, 'a good man in dripping water'?" Tamaki laughs and squeezes Haruhi's cheeks. "What? You're making such a cute face again. Did you fall in love with me?" Asami turns away, allowing them to have their moment until she hears the next part. "Finder's fee is 30%?"

"You are not taking her money!" Asmai throws a coin at him from the fountain.

•••

Asami stands beside Kyoya, glaring at Ayanokoji. "Why can't we just kick her out now? Why do we have to wait for her to do something?"

"So we have witnesses for her behavior and can ruin her reputation here." Kyoya informs her. "She'll never dare show her face around Haruhi again."

"I knew I didn't like this girl when I first met her. She always had this vibe of a snake." She snarls. "I swear, I just want to drop kick her out the window. What does she think she's doing, asking to be Haruhi's customer?"

"You're very protective over Haruhi," Kyoya notes. "Is there a particular reason?"

"Haruhi is the only friend I've made on my own since coming here. I just want to make sure they're okay." She defensively says.

"Help!" The two snap their heads over to see Ayanokoji on the ground with Haruhi on top of her. "Haruhi-Kun suddenly became violent! I knew he was barbarous. Somebody, hurry, this peasant—"

"I'm sorry," Hikaru says with a smirk, "Our hands slipped," Kaoru finished the sentence as they both pour water on her. Asami laughs, enjoying the show.

"Did you think we didn't know about it? Please don't look down on our information network. Of course, we have evidence on the river issue as well." Kyoya reveals the photographs in his hands.

"This person is scary." Mitsukuni says, pointing at Ayanokoji. "She's like an oni, Ami-Chan, protect me!" He hides his face in Asami's dress. She pats his back and glares at Ayanokoji.

"She really does look and act like a devil." She spats.

"Looks so ugly." Takashi states.

"You look beautiful outside, but it's not good if you only look good. I'm sorry to say this, but can you please never come back? You cannot be a customer if you behave badly toward my fellow club member." Asami has never seen such a cold look on Tamaki's face before. Ayanokoji rushes out of the club room in tears.

"We have that kind of customer every so often." Kaoru sighs. "It's gets annoying. Girls are so catty." Asami coughs. "Some girls are so catty."

"You need a punishment for causing trouble. Add another 100 customers to your work quota!" Tamaki tells Haruhi. "If you weren't here, I wouldn't lose my best customer and I wouldn't have to look for wallet with this beautiful body. I have high expectations for you, natural rookie." Tamaki gives Haruhi a strange look. Asami observes this and briefly wonders if her brother may be falling in love with Haruhi without even knowing that she's actually a girl and not a boy.

"Oh, what's this?" Tamaki picks up a school id.

"Oh that's probably mine." Haruhi says.

"Haruhi..." Tamaki's bangs over his face.

"Yes?" Haruhi asks.

"Are you a girl?" Tamaki questions.

"Biologically, yes." Haruhi responds. Utter silence as Tamaki processes this. "Oh that picture was taken when I was in 9th grade by the way." Tamaki begins freaking out.

"I'm surprised it took him this long to notice." Asami says. Each host club member voices how they also knew.

"If senpais thought of me as a guy, I figured that was okay with me plus you bought me a guy uniform too. Probably my consciousness of being a guy or girl is lower than other people. And I'm not interested in appearance either. Oh but, you were cool earlier, senpai." Tamaki blushes. "And actually, I realized it's not that bad to be popular along the girls." Haruhi sends a wink at Asami who blushes. "I'm probably a little too into that."

"You can most definitely be more into it," Asami suggests with a giggle. Tamaki gapes at them both, not appreciating how Asami is trying to steal away his future lover.

"Stay away from Haruhi!" Tamaki yells, pointing at Asami. "We need to let Haruhi embrace her femininity, not let her embrace being masculine!"

Will this be a story about siblings battling over the heart of Haruhi? Or will one sibling get distracted by their many other admirers? Only time can tell.

•••

Asami nervously eyes the door in front of her with a sign that says 'Dr. Nakamura Emiko.' Her father is forcing her to finally see a therapist because he is concerned about her mental health. Tamaki apparently told him how easily she jokes about her situation and neither think that's healthy coping. She doesn't think she needs to talk to a shrink about anything because she is perfectly fine. She knocks and the door opens to reveal a rather young looking woman. "You must be Asami, please come in." She enters the room, glancing around to see that it looks like a stereotypical therapy office seen in movies with the black lounge seat and couch. Emiko gestures for Asami to sit on the seat while she takes a seat on the couch. "How are you feeling today?"

"I'm feeling fine." Asami states.

"It's okay to not feel fine especially given your situation." Emiko comments while quietly observing the young teen. "Let's start at the beginning. Can you tell me what you're comfortable sharing about your experience with Emica?"

"Emica was my mother. She raised me as her daughter and spoiled me. I was given everything I ever wanted and needed as long as we had the money for it. She was nice, loving and caring." Asami informs her with a bit of a defensive tone to her voice.

"How did it feel learning that she is not your real mother?" Emiko questions.

"Like my entire world shattered." Asmai sighs. "I couldn't make sense that the person I knew could do such a horrible thing. It was hard separating the Emica I grew up with the Emica that I know now."

"Do you still see Emica as your mother?" Emiko questions.

"Our sessions are confidential, correct? You cannot tell my father about anything I say in here." Asami asks.

"Our sessions are confidential to a degree. If I have reasonable suspicion that you are in danger or putting someone else in danger, I will alert necessary authorities; however, I cannot tell your father about your sessions without your permission." Emiko responds, leaning closer to Asami curiously. Asami nods her head and looks down at her hands.

"Emica will always be my mother." Asami admits softly. "I can't see her as anything else. She was my mother for a decade and even though I know she kidnapped me, that doesn't make all my memories with her vanish in thin air. It's hard viewing her as anything but my mother."

"Have you met your real mother yet?" Emiko inquires.

"No, I haven't. I'm told she's missing." Asami answers. Emiko hums at that, understanding that without the presence of her real mother, Emica will always fulfill that role.

"How do you feel your life is going right now with all the new changes?" Emiko asks. Asami snorts and rubs her face, allowing herself to be fully vulnerable.

"I feel like my entire life is just falling apart and I don't know what to do. I feel myself being dragged in various directions because on one hand, everyone hates Emica and wants to put her in jail but on the other hand, I still view her as my mother and I don't want to put her in jail but I have to for the sake of my real family." She closes her eyes. "Sometimes, I wish I never went on that field trip because I would still be in Shirakawa with Emica and my friends. Maybe then my life wouldn't be in pieces right now."

"Have you ever heard of the law of failure?" Emiko asks. Asami jolts at the change of subject and eyes her.

"No."

"The law states that in order for things to fall into place, they must first fall apart. It's kinda like a puzzle because in order to put the puzzle together, it must be broken up into pieces first. Your life is in pieces at the moment because you were ripped away from everything you've ever known and plopped into a new environment with new people who are claiming to be your real family. You are establishing familial bonds with them which is allowing you to put together some pieces of the puzzle yet you still hold onto that bond with Emica which is causing so many other pieces to be withheld from you." Emiko grabs Asami's hand and smiles sadly. "Healing takes time and until you properly heal from what happened to you, you will always be holding onto that bond with Emica. Your journey of healing begins today. We will start on recognizing that Emica is not your mother. Have you ever watched the Disney movie Tangled? Rapunzel is kidnapped by Mother Gothel and kept away from everyone in a tower." Asami nods her head. "You are Rapunzel and Emica is Mother Gothel. She took you from your family and hide you away where she hoped they would never find you again. She ensured you developed a motherly bond with her so you wouldn't dare leave her. In order for you to put together all your puzzle pieces, you need to let go of Emica." Asami isn't sure if she'll ever be ready to fully let Emica go.

"There's something else..." Asami trails off, knowing that Emiko may view this as a danger to her wellbeing and report it to the police.

"Don't force yourself to share anything that you're not comfortable sharing." Emiko assures her.

"Emica has been in contact with me." Asmai drops the bomb and watches as Emiko's eyes widen in shock. "She sent me a file telling me that it'll show me the truth but I've been too scared to open it because what if it only makes my life fall into more pieces?"

"Can you continue living your life without knowing the information she's sent you? Or do you feel like it's necessary for you to know?" Emiko asks.

"I feel like I need to know. I need to know why she did everything she did and this could be a clue." Asami states.

"Open it." Emiko encourages her. "I'm right here with you so I can help you process whatever it is that she sent you." Asami nods her head and pulls out her phone.

"She's been eluding to the fact that my father hasn't been honest with Tamaki or me about Emica's relations to us. I don't understand what—" her breath hitches in her throat when she finally sees what's inside the file that Emica sent to her. 

"Asami? Are you okay?"

How can she be okay? In front of her face are pictures of Emica pregnant with Yuzuru and a very non-pregnant Anne-Sophie in front of a hospital. Some pictures include a one year old Tamaki in Anne-Sophie's arms which tells Asami one thing. Anne-Sophie and Yuzuru used Emica as a surrogate for their children.