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

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

A SURPRISE VISIT

"Why are you dragging me out of bed so early?" Asami yawns, swiping at Tamaki's hands as he tries to rip her comforter off. She glances at the clock to see that it is before 8:00 am and glares at him darkly. It was their one day off of school for the week, meaning that Asami planned on sleeping and cuddling with her cats all day.

"We're going to Haruhi's house!" Tamaki declares excitingly. His blue eyes shine while his face lights up in a smile.

"Does she know about this?" She asks, kicking her foot out and catching Tamaki in the chest thus causing him to stumble backwards. She props herself up on her elbows to raise an eyebrow at her brother.

"It's going to be a surprise," he tells her as he stays on the floor.

"I don't think this would be a nice surprise. Haruhi will certainly not like this," she comments tiredly. "Why do you want to go now? Can't we wait until we see her at the club and ask her if we can come over?"

"No!" He yells, launching onto his feet and grabbing her hand. Horror is clearly written on his face. "I had a nightmare." He shudders. "That Haruhi lives in a shabby house, wearing poor clothing and is fasting because she has no money for food!" He cries out and plants his face into her bed. She sighs and robotically pats his back as he sobs. "My precious daughter is living in a slum!"

"You've never been to her house before. How about we don't make assumptions?" She says while getting out of bed.

"You're coming with me?" Tamaki perks up, eagerly watching his sister shuffle over to her closet.

"At least if I'm there, I can help mitigate the situation." She yawns and opens her closet. "Now get out. I'll meet you in the car."

"Thank you!" Tamaki shrieks, rushing out of the room. "Ready my car, please!" She hears him call out to the driver. "Asami and I are going on an adventure!" She grabs some casual black pants and a blue sweater, changing into them rather quickly.

"Pardon me, Tamaki-sama. What shall you do about breakfast?" Asami brushes her teeth, wondering if this is even a good idea

"Ah, damn it! There's no time for that right now!" Tamaki states as he impatiently hops around in wait for Asami. As soon as he sees her coming down the stairs, he grabs her arm and drags her to the car.

"Pardon me, Tamaki-sama." The two pause in front of the door as Shima stares at them. "Half of the clothes you are wearing right now consist of your pajamas, and you are still wearing room slippers." Asami glances at her brother to see that it is true. Tamaki runs back up to his room and changes into his proper clothes. "Such bad manners."

"I know." Asami sighs. "Maybe he should've went to finishing school." The two giggle at the images of Tamaki in finishing school. Tamaki appears once again, but he is in his school uniform.

"Ahem. Well then, we shall be departing again." Tamaki declares. Asami holds her hand out to stop him.

"Tamaki, go put normal clothes on. We're not going to school." She grumbles. He glances at his outfit to realize that he did, indeed, put his school uniform on without thinking.

"I pray every day that you could become a splendid man who will notice his own errors." Shima comments. Asami snorts at that. "If you do not have anything scheduled for today, then we shall study manners together!" Shima begins dragging Tamaki away.

"Wait, I do have something scheduled! Asami!" Tamaki calls out. "Bring me the phone!" Asami calmly hands him his phone. Tamaki hurriedly dials a number on the phone. "Kyoya? There's something I need to discuss with you."

"Oh no," Asami groans, "are you really going to make the entire host club come to Haruhi's house? She's going to kill me for letting this happen."

"No, it's going to be just us and Kyoya!"

•••

Asami gazes around the area, not appreciating the amount of attention the limo caused. Many of the residents have come out to gawk at them—particularly at the host club. She frowns when she catches a trio of girls giggling and pointing at Kaoru. She scoots closer to him and grabs his hand, intertwining their fingers. Kaoru glances down at her with a raised eyebrow but glances away with a blush creeping its way onto his face. Hikaru smirks happily at the duo and wishes Haruhi was here so they could tease Kaoru together.

"Wow, so this is Haruhi's house?" Kaoru asks.

"It's pretty big. I didn't expect this." Hikaru comments.

"There are so many rooms!" Mitsukuni gushes.

"No, actually, this is what they call a commoners' condominium building." Kyoya informs them.

"Haruhi only lives in one of these units, she doesn't own the whole building." Asami states.

"Kyoya... What's with this crowd?Especially those doppelgangers!" Tamaki angrily points at the twins.

"I see. I completely thought that you had no courage to come alone, so I got more people to come. I guess that was unnecessary. Well, let's go home now, kids." Kyoya moves to usher Hikaru and Kaoru away.

"Kids? He really gets into his mother role." Asami mumbles. "What if he's secretly in love with Tamaki?" She narrows her eyes at the black haired boy in thought.

"No, no, we don't wanna go home!" They protest. Kaoru tightens his hand in Asami's. "Asami, save us!"

"I mean, I would prefer to go home." She muses and goes to follow them back into the car.

"My bad. I'm sorry. Don't leave me alone!" Tamaki shouts, waving his hands rapidly around.

"What? What? Are they shooting a film here?"

"Rich people! Rich people!"

"Listen, fellow subjects. You must not forget! This is nothing more than a "we were in the area and just came by to say hello" type of casual visit, not at all a research project about the quality of life of the Fujioka family! Words like "pathetic", "tight", and "ragged" are all forbidden!" Tamaki lectures them. Asami lifts her other hand to her head, massaging her temples. This was going to be a disaster.

"Yes, sir!"

"Most importantly, you must not make Haruhi and her father feel like you want to go home—" Tamaki gets cut off as Haruhi stomps toward them.

"Just go home right now!" She yells at them.

"See? Not a nice surprise." Asami states, glancing at Tamaki. Tamaki shrieks at the sight of the angry Haruhi.

"Shut up! Get lost!" Haruhi yells. "You!" She points at Asami. "How could you let this happen?"

"Hey, this is so we could put Tamaki's mind at ease since he had a nightmare about you living in a slum." Asami defends herself. "I couldn't let my darling brother suffer."

"A slum!" Haruhi repeats, glaring at Tamaki.

"Eek!! Haruhi is using extremely foul language!" Tamaki whines. "It's you two, right? It's because of you two!" He gestures toward the twins and grabs Asami, trying to yank her from them. "Stay away from my sister before you corrupt her too!"

"First, it's not because of us." Hikaru says.

"Second, your sister is equally as corrupted as we are." Kaoru comments. Tamaki continues to yank on Asami who is staring at him in pure boredom.

"Excuse me, Haruhi-chan. Is everything okay?" An elderly woman appears. "Riding those foreign cars... Are these people yakuza or something?"

"That would be cool." Asami muses. "Can you imagine me in a yakuza? I'd be a boss lady."

"You'd die by annoying your boss in the first five minutes of being there." Hikaru states, rolling his eyes at her.

"Rude!" Asami cries out and strikes Hikaru in the chest. "Tell him he's wrong!" She says to Kaoru.

"I mean..." Kaoru trails off. She gasps in hurt and starts hitting his chest in anger.

"Don't make me use the moves Takashi taught me on you!" She angrily says.

"No..." Haruhi replies to the landlady.

"Shall I call the police?" Tamaki takes the landlady's hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, madam. I am Haruhi's friend. My name is Souh. We apologize for the sudden visit and the disturbance we caused." Tamaki woos the elderly woman.

"Oh, don't say that. Hahaha! Haruhi-chan, I'll bring some candy over later, okay? Ohoho! Please enjoy your time here." The landlady leaves. Haruhi sighs and walks to her apartment with the entire group following after her.

"Let me just say this: You guys can take a little peak for like three seconds, okay? Once you've seen it, just lea—" Haruhi gets cut off by Mitsukuni.

"Haru-chan, here's a gift! It's cake!There's a strawberry one and a chocolate one and many more!"

"Well, okay, maybe some tea, too..." Asami gives Mitsukuni a thumbs up in approval. Haruhi opens the front door, revealing a normal apartment.

"Pathetic." Hikaru comments. Tamaki pinches Hikaru's cheeks. He winces in pain and rubs his sore cheeks while Tamaki snarls at him like a rabid dog.

"This is cute." Asami states.

"A 2K unit of a wooden building. This is pretty much it for a commoner family of two, I guess." Kyoya tells them.

"Yeah, and with Haruhi's height, this low ceiling isn't really a problem, either." Kaoru says.

"What a cute looking room!" Mitsukuni gushes.

"It's okay. You don't have to push yourselves to praise it." Haruhi rolls her eyes at them as she takes her shoes off at the entrance.

"Huh? Haru-chan, we have to take off our shoes?" Mitsukuni asks. "We didn't do that at Ami-chan's old house."

"Because I wasn't living there anymore so I didn't really care." Asami comments making the host club members wince.

"Yes, please." Haruhi answers.

"Wow, we have to take off our shoes to go in. This place is like a dojo!" Takashi nods his head in agreement at Mitsukuni's words.

"Then give us some slippers." Hikaru orders.

"Ah, I see tatami mats already." Kaoru points out.

"Okay, then we don't need the slippers." Hikaru realizes. Everyone takes their shoes off and enters the apartment, strolling into the tatami room. "What? That's it?!"

"Ow." Takashi hits his head off the ceiling light. Asami cups her mouth, trying to not laugh as the boys awkwardly bend their backs to avoid hitting their heads.

"I didn't expect a light to be hanging there!" Kaoru comments.

"It seems like we've underestimated the dwelling of commoners! Okay, since it's a tight space, everyone get into your P.E. sitting position. It's a method the commoners invented to save space." Tamaki sits down with his knees up and his arms wrapped around them.

"You guys are so rude." Asami tsks, being dragged around as the twins start to open doors to look inside the rooms. She pulls them away after they open a closet full of women clothing. "Haruhi, do you need help with anything?" She takes her hand away from Kaoru and heads over to Haruhi. Kaoru glances between his hand and her with a pout. Mitsukuni uses the bathroom and comes back out with tears streaming down his face. Takashi comforts him before they join Tamaki on the floor.

"I'll be making tea, you can help me with that." Haruhi says. Asami nods her head and goes to follow her into the kitchen when suddenly, Hikaru holds out a bag to them.

"Ah, Haruhi. If you're going to make tea. Here's some black tea my dad brought from Africa. Here." Hikaru hands Haruhi a bag of black tea.

"Th-Thank you." Haruhi cocks an eyebrow questioningly.

"It's pretty good as milk tea. Do you have milk?" Kaoru asks.

"Yeah, I have some milk." Haruhi leads Asami into the kitchen and they begin to work on brewing the tea. Asami notices Tamaki scolding the twins for something and wonders what is going on over there.

"I'm sorry we showed up unannounced and for how rude they're being. They were just as rude when I took them to visit my childhood home." Asami sighs tiredly.

"It's okay, it's not like you can control Tamaki. He does what he wants," Haruhi grumbles, "privileged rich boys."

"I think I called them that too." Asami laughs which Haruhi joins in.

"H-Haruhi, sorry. You don't have to use that tea...We'll just have water." Kaoru randomly said with tears in his eyes.

"Huh? Really? But we already made it." Haruhi and Asami turn to reveal  mismatched cups of prepared milk teas. Asami pours some for the twins and Takashi while Haruhi does the other boys.

"Phew! That was close..." Hikaru mumbles. Asami takes a seat next to Kaoru, raising an eyebrow at their weird behavior.

"We were barely saved by commoner wisdom." Tamaki whispers.

"That means..." Kaoru trails off.

"Here, none of our common sense works at all! Even saying something that you didn't mean could deal severe damage to Haruhi's heart! So basically, in this contest... whoever embarrasses Haruhi loses!" Tamaki exclaims.

"Will you stop making everything a competition?" Asami hisses, reaching over to backhand Tamaki's head. He winces and rubs his sore head while trying to avoid Asami's angry look. "Act like normal guests. You're going to insult Haruhi if you keep acting weird."

"I agree. I have absolutely no clue as to why it was necessary to develop this into a contest situation..." Kyoya sighs.

"So you don't have weird pictures to give as rewards this time?" Asami questions. She gains shocked looks from the host club. "Do you think Haruhi and I wouldn't figure out about your fears competition at the beach?"

"Sorry, I didn't have enough cups." Haruhi apologizes, coming back with more mismatched cups for herself and Asami. Asami smiles at her in thanks and sips her tea.

"You can choose the cake first, Haru-chan." Mitsukuni informs her.

"Huh, really?" Haruhi asks.

"Yeah, we're used to eating that stuff anyway." Hikaru comments. Tamaki shushes him.

"I'll take the strawberry one." Haruhi says.

"She's so cute, but we can't budge! We have no clue what would hurt Haruhi!" Tamaki says.

"The dangerous traps of the commoner world!" The twins chorus. Takashi takes the strawberries off his cake and gives them to Haruhi.

"You like strawberries?" He asks.

"Yes! Thank you very much!" Haruhi smiles brightly at him.

"Ahhh!! I should've done that!" Hikaru complains.

"I wanted to give her some!" Tamaki whines.

"Act faster than." Asami states, staring at the duo oddly. "Nice guys finish last. You have to beat the other suitors for Haruhi's attention." Kaoru blinks at those words and sends a glare at Hikaru who sends him a look. The Host Club members eat their cake.

"Ah, my stomach's getting hungry now that I ate this cake." Mitsukuni states.

"Oh come to think of it, it's past lunchtime already." Hikaru realizes.

"Can you guys, like, not live in such a carelessly free lifestyle?" Haruhi asks.

"Well, we are the ones visiting out of the blue. We'll pay for the meal. How about we get your favorite sushi?" Kyoya asks.

"Huh? It's okay! I'm scared of the consequences of being treated by you, Kyoya-senpai." Haruhi states.

"Smart, he'll add it to your debt." Asami points out. Haruhu nods in agreement to that.

"Don't worry." Kyoya pulls out a gold credit card. "The money is coming from the winning bid on your notepad."

"Wouldn't that make me the original payer?" Haruhi grumbles. "Okay. I know a good sushi restaurant in the neighborhood, so I'll give them a call. That place should be high-quality." Tamaki furiously scribbles a note on a piece of paper and gives the note to Haruhi. Asami peaks over her shoulder to read the note and deadpans.

"Sushi packs that say 'deluxe' on them are not necessarily high-quality!! Be careful!" Haruhi crumples the note and tosses it in the trash. "I know."

"Idiot." Asami comments, shaking her head at Tamaki.

"Wahh!! You fool! Daddy didn't want you to make a fool of yourself and so that you could pretend...!" Tamaki cries out.

"I want to eat your homemade cooking, Haru-chan." Mitsukuni informs Haruhi with flowers floating around him.

"Honey-senpai!! What a bold comment to say!" The twins gasp.

"We were holding ourselves back from saying it, too!" Tamaki says.

"That's not a problem, but it'll take a while if we start now." Haruhi states.

"We'll wait!"

"That means I'll have to go to the supermarket again." Haruhi muses.

"Oh, we'll go."

"We want to go to a commoner's supermarket, too!"

"Me, too! Me, too!"

"Well, this might be a good experience."

"All right! Commoner supermarket! Commoner supermarket!"

"I'm looking forward to it!" Asami watches in pure amusement as everyone, excluding her and Tamaki, leave the apartment. She notices her brother heading over to the shrine of Haruhi's mother and joins him. They sit next to each other quietly, paying their respects.

"Oh well. I'll just give up on this holiday. Senpai? Asami?" Haruhi goes back to the tatami room to see Tamaki and Asami sitting at the family altar. "You're not going?"

"I am, I'll see you guys there." Asami stands up, giving her brother a squeeze on the shoulder and leaves him alone with Haruhi.

"Asami!" The twins appear on either side of her and latch onto her arms. "Can you be our guide? You probably have more experience in a commoners supermarket than we do."

"You guys need to watch how you say things," Asami says with her eye twitching. She waves at the feminine man walking towards them, recognizing him as Haruhi's father from pictures.

Ranka smiles at her and enters the apartment "Haruhi, I'm home~! Why's the door open—" the dead silence causes her to peak her head in to see Tamaki on top of Haruhi. She gasps, remembering the beach incident.

"Stop taking advantage of her!" She shouts. Ranka walks over to Tamaki and Haruhi and throws Tamaki against the wall. Asami claps her hands in approval.

"I left you all alone last night. You must've been lonely, right? Good gosh! My left hand hurts so much that it's as if I had just punched away the biggest creature of the century. I wonder if I'm working too much. I sure would like to drink a hot cup of tea now."

"Haruhi, do you heat water with firewood? Where do you keep the firewood?!" Tamaki asks in a hurry, trying to make a good impression on her father but has already failed to do so. Ranka steps on Tamaki like a roach.

"Oh, dear! I think I just found a gigantic bug! Besides, hey! Who do you think you are, calling my daughter by her first name?!" Ranka yells. Hikaru and Kaoru curiously walk in.

"So that is Haruhi's dad." Kaoru muses.

"Hikaru, Kaoru! My saviors!" The twins walk over Tamaki's body to reach Haruhi's father.

"Ah, pleased to meet you! We're Haruhi-san's best friends, the Hitachiin brothers! My lord, so you finally laid your hands on Haruhi? We're sorry. This guy is a total womanizer. He's a pheromone machine and the count of women he's played is higher than the number of capillary vessels in his body." The twins state, throwing their arms over Asami's shoulders.

"Yes, I apologize for my brother. He doesn't know how to respect women." She sighs while evilly laughing inside her mind. "My name is Souh Asami, I'm Haruhi's other best friend."

"Played?" Ranka repeats with a dark aura surrounding him.

"That's wrong! I've never played anyone! I-I seriously...! I seriously take care of your daughter as my own." Tamaki yells. Asami facepalms. You should've confessed!

•••

The Host Club members are gathered in the tatami room again. Tamaki sulks against the wall with Asami patting his head in fake sympathy.

"I see. You guys are the Host Club I've been hearing about. My, what a group of handsome princes and a beautiful princess. I can't decide on who I should pick. Right, Haruhi? Oh, you can just call me Ranka-san. Ranka is my Genji name at the crossdressing bar I work at." Ranka informs them.

"Genji name? Is that like an alias?" Mitsukuni asks.

"That's right, Mitsukuni-kun."

"Huh? How come you know my name?"

"Fufu...The seniors, Haninozuka-kun and Morinozuka Takashi-kun. Then, the freshmen that are in the same class as Haruhi, Hitachiin Hikaru-kun and Kaoru-kun, right? I wonder which one's which. Souh Asami-chan is also in the same class as you three. I've been hearing a lot about you guys."

"Huh? Haruhi's been talking about us?" Kaoru asks.

"No, I've been talking with Kyoya-kun on the phone a lot." Ranka replies. Kyoya and Ranka clap hands together.

"Ranka-san, you are such a beautiful person." Kyoya says. Everyone stares at him in shock. "We're taking care of his precious daughter. Of course, a greeting and periodic reports are obvious things we should do. This should have been your job originally, though." He says to Tamaki.

"What a fine president you are. Oh, sorry, Kyoya-kun. You were the vice president. The president must be someone pretty worthless." Ranka says. Asami watches in worry as Tamaki gets metaphorically killed by those words.

"Just a minute, Dad! I never knew that you were connected with Kyoya-senpai!" Haruhi yells.

"Huh~? But Haruhi, you never talk to me about school!" Ranka whines. "You do mention Asami-chan often," she smirks triumphantly at the host club, "but you hardly speak about anyone else! I was worried about you!" Tamaki begins growing mushrooms in Haruhi's closet.

"That doesn't mean you can secretly --Senpai, stop growing mushrooms in other people's storage rooms!" Haruhi shouts. Tamaki sulks even more.

"Haruhi, daughters like you... have a cute angry face, too!" Ranka dotes on Haruhi.

"He reminds me of Tamaki." Asami comments, making her way back over to the twins.

"Yes, he terrifyingly resembles him." Hikaru agrees.

"No wonder Haruhi is good at handling our lord." Kaoru says. Haruhi walks away from her father, grabbing Asami's hand and dragging her with her to the door.

"Oh no, where are you going?" Ranka questions.

"The supermarket. I'll go on the errand alone. I'll be right back, so everyone just wait here quietly." Haruhi leaves for the supermarket, dragging Asami with her. Asami smirks again and waves goodbye at the boys. Hahaha, I win.

•••

"How dare he," Haruhi snarls and stalks toward the supermarket, "what a breach of privacy."

"Aw don't be too hard on your dad, he's just worried about you." Asami throws an arm around Haruhi's shoulders and rubs her cheek against hers. "He wants to makes sure you're doing alright at school. Plus, if my daughter was surprised by boys everyday, I would want to be updated on her well-being as well."

"They could've at least told me about it." Haruhi huffs. "Why is everything done behind my back?"

"Because boys are idiots and don't know how to communicate." Asami points out. Haruhi nods her head, thinking about how Kaoru has no idea on how to properly communicate his feelings toward Asami. They enter the supermarket and Asami whistles. "Wow, this is so much bigger than the ones we had in Shirakawa."

"You should take me to visit there someday since I missed out on the first outing there." Haruhi suggests, grabbing a basket.

"That'd be fun. At least you wouldn't make rude comments the entire time. We most likely won't be able to go into my childhood home, I'm pretty sure it's been sold." Asami muses and grabs a basket as well. She glances up to see Haruhi staring at her in concern. "What?"

"Were you able to grab anything from there before it was sold?" She asks softly. She knows anything about Asami's previous life is a touchy subject so to hear her say it so casually was a bit concerning.

"A few pictures," Asami smiles gently, "but I didn't want anything else. Too many memories." Haruhi hums and drops the subject. Asami follows Haruhi around, grabbing whatever she is told to grab. "Ohh," Asami's eyes light up when she enters the snack aisle. "They have so many flavors of Pocky." She eagerly looks through all the flavors: chocolate, strawberry, matcha, cookies and cream, almond crush, milk, mango, banana, coconut, and caramel. She taps her chin in thought as she scans the flavors while trying to decide.

"Pocky?" Haruhi smirks. "Do you plan on playing the Pocky game with someone?" She wiggles her eyebrows playfully. Unknown to them, the host club and Ranka are following them and listening in on their conversations.

"No!" Asami scoffs, but a blush creeps its ways onto her neck and up her cheeks.

"Your blush is saying yes," Haruhi teases, "who is it?"

"Stop," Asami grumbles, reaching out to grab the milk poky and throws it into her basket. "I am not playing the pocky game with anyone."

"But you have someone in mind who you'd like to play it with." Haruhi comments, chuckling. "I bet I know who it is." She suddenly sees a flash of red behind the end of the aisle. An evil thought comes to her mind.

"Oh, really?" Asami raises an eyebrow and sends her a curious look.

"A certain Hitachiin brother?" Haruhi suggests. She hears a clash in the aisle next to them as if someone just tripped into something. She tries to hold her laughter in, knowing exactly who it is.

"Don't say such things." Asami nervously laughs, but Haruhi notices her blush darkening.

"You're not denying it," Haruhi states. She goes to say something else to try to get a confession; however, the moment is ruined when Tamaki appears at the end of the aisle. "Huh? Tamaki-senpai, what's wrong?" Haruhi asks.

"Ah, umm, yeah! I suddenly felt like carrying the shopping basket for you! Daddy likes to carry shopping baskets, you know?" Tamaki comments.

"Huh? Weirdo!" Asami snorts at Haruhi's words before freezing. If Tamaki was here, then the whole host club should be here. She heads out of the aisle to stumble upon Mitsukuni climbing into a cart.

"This is going to be fun!" Mitsukuki exclaims happily. "Push me really fast, Takashi!"

"Wait," Asami tries to call out to stop them from causing a ruckus in the store, but Takashi rushes off with Mitsukuni in tow. She shakes her head and continues to walk around the store to see Kyoya mumbling and writing stuff in his notebook.

"So double coupons mean I need two of them?" Kyoya mumbles. Asami decides to leave him alone and finds the twins in the coffee aisle.

"Ah, a whole mountain of commoner coffee." Hikaru and Kaoru are shoving coffee packages off the shelves and into a cart.

"What are you doing?" Asami asks. Kaoru freezes and his eyes flicker between Hikaru and her, recalling how Haruhi thinks Asami likes a Hitachiin brother—Kaoru being Kaoru fully believes that it has to be Hikaru because why would anyone choose him over his twin? "You do know this is considered rude." She informs them.

"Why?" Hikaru asks.

"Because you're taking all the coffee." Asami deadpans. "There are other customers who want some too." She gestures to the group of people behind her who are staring angrily at the twins.

"Oh well," Hikaru shrugs, "we were here first. They can go somewhere else to buy this coffee."

"You're hopeless," Asami sighs and begins to take packages of coffee out of the cart and handing it to the group of people. Kaoru joins in and Asami smiles in thanks at him. She furrows her eyebrows when he quickly looks away from her with a forlorn expression. Did she do something? Hikaru facepalms, knowing all too well what Kaoru must be thinking after overhearing Haruhi tease Asami about liking a Hitachiin brother. Hikaru sighs, 'oblivious idiots, Haruhi and I are going to have to up our game.'

•••

Back at Haruhi's apartment, the group settles down to eat. Asami takes a seat next to Takashi this time. She wants to give the twins some space in case she did something to upset them—specifically Kaoru.

"Here, Tamaki-san, have some chrysanthemums, your favorite!" Ramos exclaims while piling the leaves up on Tamaki's plate.

"Haru-chan, this is delicious!" Mitsukuni gushes.

"I agree." Takashi quietly says.

"So this is what home cooking tastes like." Kyoya muses.

"Meat! Meat! Commoner meat!" The twins chant.

"What's going on?" Haruhi sweatdrops, exchanging a look with Asami who merely shrugs.

•••

Asami stretches in her seat, yawning as she stares at the paper in front of her. She has been working on math work for the last hour or so since they got back from Haruhi's house. She tiredly rubs her eyes and glances at the clock to see it is getting close to ten o'clock. Normally, she passes out around midnight so today must have been more draining than usual. Suddenly, she receives a test notification and she glances to see who it is from.

GROUP-CHAT NAME: SECRET GIRL CLUB

From: The Village Idiot (Hikari)

Look outside!

From: The Lovesick Fool (Kaori)

Surprise!

Asami eagerly looks outside her window to see her two friends standing by the gates, waving up at her with bags in hand. She waves back and rushes downstairs to welcome them in. She hugs them both with a squeal. "What are guys doing here?"

"Our school is closed for a bit due to a water main break so we decided to come visit." Kaori says, gazing around. "Wow, you're rich rich now."

"And you have a cute brother." Hikari whistles after seeing a portrait of the family.

"Gross, don't say that." Asami laughs and pauses when she notices two other figures strolling up to the door.

"Asami!" Hikaru and Kaoru call out before stopping when they see the two girl twins. The two sets of twins glare at each other, lightning flashing between them. "Why are they here?" Asami glances between them with wide eyes. She truly never wanted them to meet because she cannot even fathom the amount of chaos that would ensue.

"Because we're her best friends." The girl twins hiss.

"Funny," Hikaru fake laughs, "I haven't seen or heard about you guys hanging out with each other that often. If you're best friends, shouldn't you be doing stuff together more often?" He smirks. "We're with her every day. "

"Of course you are, you go to the same school." Hikari scoffs. "It's a bit harder for us but at least we make it work. Could you say the same if you went to different schools?" Asami whistles and claps her hands.

"You're all my best friends, how about we go watch a movie and bake some dessert?" She asks.

"No, I have a better idea." Kaori states, smirking. "Let's play 'Who Knows Asami Better' game. The twins with the higher score win the spot of being her best friends."

"This is unnecessary." Asami tries to interrupt and is ignored.

"Let's do it." Kaoru says. "I hope you don't cry too much when we win."

"I think you mean when we win." Kaori snaps back. Asami groans, rubbing her face.

"I just wanted to sleep." She whispers.

After a few minutes, the group is in the library. Asami is standing next to a whiteboard while the two sets of twins sit in front of her with smaller whiteboards in hand. Asami wrote their team names on her board, Girls Are Better and Boys Are The Best, to keep track of scores. "Okay, I want everyone to know that I still think this is stupid." She comments.

"We don't care." The four twins chorus and immediately send glares at each other for talking in unison together. Asami sweatdrops and sighs.

"Okay, first question. What is my favorite color?" She asks. They all write and turn their boards over, periwinkle. "Both teams get a point (1:1). What is my favorite food?" They all write and turn their boards over, chirashi and korokke. "Okay, wow. To be fair, chirashi use to be my favorite dish and korokee is my new favorite dish. I'm going to give the girls a half point and the boys a full point (1.5:2)." The boy twins send a victorious look at the girls. "What is my favorite dessert?" They all write and turn their boards over, red bean cake. "You both get a point (2.5:3). What is my favorite show?" They all write and turn their boards over, Attack on Titan. "Both get points (3.5:4). Favorite movie." They all write and turn their boards over, Spirited Away and Twilight. "Unfortunately, that's wrong, Hikaru and Kaoru. I love Twilight, but Spirited Away will always have a special spot in my heart. The point goes to the girls (4.5:4). Who's my favorite Avenger?" They all write and turn their boards over, Black Widow and Thor. "Thor is the right answer, the point goes to the boys (4.5:5). Okay, here's a hard one. What's my favorite instrument to play?" They all write and turn their boards over, violin and piano. "I do play those the most, but my favorite is actually the harp. Neither of you get a point (4.5:5). What is my dream for the future?" They all write and turn their boards over, affordable medicine business. "Wow, you both get that point (5.5:6). What's my worst fear?" They all write and turn their boards over, being buried alive and deep water. "Ugh, those are equally worst. You both get a half point (6:6.5). Okay so let's see, Girls Are Better have 6 points and Boys Are The Best have 6.5 points. This is the last question, are you ready?" They nod their heads. "What...Hogwarts house do I belong in?" They all write and turn their boards over, Slytherin and Hufflepuff. "Hmm, the winner is..." the teams lean in closer, eagerly waiting to hear who won. "A tie (6.5:6.5). Girls get a half point because Slytherin is my second house and the boys get none. The answer is Ravenclaw. You're all my best friends." She grins at them as they all throw their whiteboards on the ground.

"Rematch!"

Most of the night was spent playing numerous rounds of Who Knows Asami Better, many of them ending in ties.

•••

Asami struggles to sleep and finds herself in the kitchen, drinking some warm milk. She stares outside and calmly watches the nocturnal animals roam around. She jumps when a hand lands on her shoulder and turns to see Kaoru standing there. "I woke up and saw you weren't in bed." He yawns, taking the seat next to her. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, I just can't sleep." She replies. "Kaoru..." she pauses, trying to think if this is the right question to ask. She stares into his eyes and finds the courage to blurt out her thoughts. "What would you do if you couldn't be with the person you liked due to your family?" Kaoru blinks in surprise at the question and looks a bit more awake now.

"Well, I suppose I'd have to find a way around my family then. I'll try to use my charming skills to change their minds," she cracks a smile at the small joke, "but if that doesn't work, I'd sent up distractions and go behind their backs to see the person I like without them knowing." She nods her head, tapping her fingers against her glass. "Is this hypothetical or a real situation?" He inquires.

"Purely hypothetical." She comments. He hums, not fully believing that. "Hey Kaoru..."

"Yeah?" She bites her lip as she debates with herself in her mind. She wants to come clean about how she finds joy in every smile he sends her, how her heart races when she sees or think about him, how she eagerly waits to hold his hand or touch his arm when given the chance, how her stomach flutters nervously when they're alone, how he's like a magnetic who attracts all her attention in any room, and how even the simplistic interactions between them seem signification to her. "Asami?"

This is it.

This is the moment to confess her feelings.

"Thank you for welcoming me into your world and being my best friend."

"Thank you for putting the effort in to enter my world and being my best friend."

She couldn't do it.