I don't wanna lie to you guys, I probably won't keep going with this, updates will probably be few and far between since my motivation is basically non-existent, I'm really sorry for those of you that were invested in this and have stuck with me. I just wanted to update what little I had left from writing in advance ages ago since I know some people (including me) get worried when authors have long unexplained absences, for example there's a story on AO3 called 'Know What I've Made by the Marks on my Hands' and the author hasn't updated or anything since late 2017 and it's still on my mind.

Chapter 6: And So We Continue

I run and run a thousand miles, and I am barely breathing,

Only the fuel of a passionate heart keeps my body strong and moving forward.

Third person POV

A loud tannoy beeped as a woman's muffled voice crackled throughout the halls, repeating the same message it already had been for a good ten minutes. "We will begin conducting physical examinations shortly. Will all students please make their way to the clinic in their respective buildings in an orderly manner."

Haruhi and Marcelline absentmindedly mouthed along with the announcement while pulling a range of faces, while Kaoru rolled his eyes in annoyance and Hikaru clenched his fist which was shaking vengefully at the tannoy as they passed it. "I'll show you an orderly manner." He grumbled through gritted teeth.

"What's that 'formation A' junk you guys were spouting yesterday, by the way? What do you guys even do at these kinds of exams?" Haruhi asked, seemingly unbothered when her second question was answered dissmissively by each of the identical red-heads in sync, the first one having been ignored entirely.

"I don't think it's any different than one you'd get in any other school." Hikaru began.

"Yeah, why'd they be any different for us just because we've got more money than you?" Kaoru added.

Marcie narrowed her brows in thought with a hand to her chin, considering whether or not to bring up that Kaoru's comment had sounded like an insult. However, she was given no time to dwell on the idea any further as they and the rest of their classmates approached the clinic's double doors. She and Haruhi paused, but the twins nonchalantly pushed the doors open and strolled past them with the rest of their classmates tagging along behind.

"Welcome, students!" A chorus of creepily cheerful nurses and doctors called in a synchronised sing-song tone. They were all lining the sides of a red carpet that stretched from the door to the opposite wall which was a reasonably far distance away. The room was basically as big as the hallway they'd come in from, with a slightly higher roof and less windows.

"What...the hell...?" Marcie murmured in a tone that sounded like more of an alarmed and slightly panicked 'where am I' than a simple 'what's going on'.

Haruhi whacked the back of her head as they caught up with the twins with a quiet whisper of 'watch your language', and she politely rephrased the blonde's question despite being just as confused. "The hell is this?" Well...y'know, she did her best.

Meanwhile the twins simply shrugged, hands in pockets as they loitered casually past. "It's just the usual."

Haruhi's eyebrow twitched from irritation. "The usual?" She echoed to no one in particular as the four were each called off by their nurses.

Marcelline POV

My exam had been over and done with pretty quickly, so I was able to leave the building and head over to the one that held the clubrooms, since the exam had taken up all the time for the rest of classes. I ain't complaining. I got outside in time to see the rest of the host club gathered together on the path infront of the school gates, all watching a disheveled man in a doctor's coat stumble down the road in a somehow determined way. Curious, I walked closer to the group and stood beside Mori who had Honey on his shoulders. He leaned down as I stretched up on my tip-toes to whisper into his ear. "What'd I miss?"

He chuckled lightheartedly. "It's a long story."

After deciding that I probably wouldn't want to know anyway, I followed the hosts back to the club room and started helping to setup the props for our cosplay. Today's theme was traditional Japanese, and I had an outfit of my own to advertise and take orders for Yuzuha-san again. Their grandmother even paid a visit to help them make the kimonos and teach us how to put them on properly to avoid a repeat of last time where we struggled for nearly the whole club hour to knot the obis.

Their grandmother (Kazuha) was an undeniably...unique woman. The twins constantly insisted she was some kind of demon, and avoided talking to her unless it was absolutely necessary. The first thing she'd done upon meeting me was squish my cheeks together, fix my collar and ask which one of the twins I was dating. Kaoru spat out his drink as Hikaru laughed loudly before correcting her.

I smiled to myself as I recalled my interaction with her and made my way to Tamaki's table, picking up my tray of tea-sets after triumphantly doing warm-ups like I'd previously vowed to myself that I would, and ignoring the weird stares I was getting from the guests around me. Why go to Tamaki's table first? It's because I like getting the worst things out of the way as soon as possible. Like when taking an exam or eating a pack of skittles. One considerably more fun than the other.

I managed to refill the tea and leave before Tamaki had the chance to pick up each individual cup like he had the other day. I sped over to the twins next who were being complimented on their kimonos. A few of the guests immediately asked to place orders as soon as I got there. Speaking of 'immediately', the twins didn't waste any time grabbing eachother's chins and making suggestive faces and phrases. Always a delight to witness, of course. And here when I say 'delight', I mean I throw up in my mouth a little every time.

"They're up to that nonsense again." Haruhi said, rolling her eyes from where she'd appeared beside me. Having finished with their table, I returned the twins' subtle wave as we started to walk to the next table.

"Surprise." I drawled, copying her eye roll.

"Haruhi, you've booked another appointment. Keep up the good work." Kyoya said with zero enthusiasm from where he'd popped up beside us, although he at least had enough traces of human emotion to look amused when I barely managed to hold in a shocked yelp at his sudden appearance. "I'm not going to charge you interest on your debt like I normally would, so you should be able to pay it off if you keep this up. Although, the rental fee for that kimono you're wearing is nothing to sneeze at."

"Achoo." I deadpanned, observing the blank look he sent me.

"Bless you." He said.

Haruhi let out a snort, badly hidden behind her sleeve in the form of a fake cough, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't find it just as funny as she did. I was just slightly better at hiding it. Kinda. Kyoya politely waited for us to finish our strained giggles and regain our posture before an eager guest came over, her cheeks slightly red.

"Hello, Kyoya-senpai! I still can't get over how cute you look in your kimono! You don't happen to have anymore of those picture books coming out soon, do you?" A few other guests who'd overheard immediately lit up and bounded over, curious to hear his answer.

"Unfortunately not, ladies. There's nothing planned at this point in time." He said, putting on a smile that seemed out of place on someone of his character. In response, a majority of the guests let out deflated sighs as they sulked back to their seats, but a few hung around as the twins walked over after having listened in.

"Doesn't the club make tons of money off of those, though?" Hikaru asked with Kaoru nodding along while leaning on his shoulder.

"We do, but I haven't been able to get any with a quality that's up to my standards as of late. Those picture books were just full of hidden-camera shots. If we want to get ones of higher-quality that will actually make profit, I'm afraid we'll have to start digging into the school's budget." Kyoya explained.

First of all, the idea that Kyoya had casually mentioned having hidden cameras littered around the school made me fidget uncomfortably. Secondly, 'digging into the school's budget'? Haruhi seemed to have picked up on that part too, because she leaned closer to my ear in order to whisper to me.

"Are they really allowed to do that?" She asked, and I noticed a hint of something like fear in her tone that probably would have made me laugh if I didn't feel the same.

I just shrugged instead. "I guess anything's possible when your club leader is the chairman's son." Her response was to simply roll her eyes as we started to walk away from the other three; a perfectly timed, air-headed laugh of Tamaki's ringing in my ears from nearby.

Honey ran up to us on the way with teary eyes and his arms raised in a way similar to a toddler when they want to be hugged or picked up. I immediately knelt down to do both, squeezing him tight before asking what was wrong. "My sandal! I lost it!" He cried out between sniffles. Before either of us could do or say anything, Mori was at my side with Honey's sandal already in his grip.

"I noticed that you dropped it." He said simply, holding Honey's foot and slipping it on for him. Tsubaki and Kiriko were at their table nearby, watching with content smiles as Honey leapt from my arms to Mori's for a tearful embrace.

Looking around, I saw that he wasn't the only one. The twins were cradling eachothers faces as per usual, though this time Kaoru had tears in his eyes with a somewhat wistful expression. Tamaki was, of course, also crying as he spewed some crap about how being in the presence of such beautiful princesses was overflowing some kind of fountain? Good for him.

Haruhi seemed to have noticed as well, since she was glancing at them all with an unreadable expression before turning to me, brow raised. "Is it just me or does everyone seem more...sensitive...today?" She said, deciding it best to choose her words carefully.

I shrugged. "Maybe it's just that time of the—ack!" She cut me off with a nimble jab in the ribs.

"I wonder how they can all cry so easily, though?" She changed the subject as she drew her elbow back after cruelly attacking me, with Hikaru and Kaoru just so happening to be passing by, the perfect distance to be bumped into. The older twin let out a small noise of surprise as I spotted a small bottle slip from his sleeve and hit the floor with a light smack.

The pair of them blanched as Haruhi bent to pick it up. Her eyebrows narrowed as she read the label. "You've gotta be kidding," she mused in disappointment while turning the bottle around to show me, "eye drops? Isn't that cheating?"

Hikaru scoffed and swiftly plucked the small bottle from her hand, tucking it back into his sleeve after glancing around briefly to make sure no guests had seen. "For your information, using eye drops is totally normal."

"No woman alive can resist a man on there verge of tears." Kaoru piped up, nodding in agreement beside him.

Haruhi was still unconvinced, her expression turning to one of disapproval. "That's cheating." She repeated. Hikaru only waved a dismissive hand in her direction with a subtle eye roll as the younger of the Hitachiins rummaged in his sleeve as if he was looking for something. Part of me wondered if they had hidden pockets in there. If so, why? What are they hiding? My eyebrows lowered as my suspicion grew higher and I sent a narrow-eyed glance in their direction. I am onto you.

He whipped out two small boxes with a traditional Japanese sweet inside, handing one to each of us with a deep bow. "Here you go, ladies."

Haruhi mentioned to Hikaru about how something like this would be a nice offering for her mother's shrine, to which Tamaki instantly shoved him aside to pile sweet after sweet ontop of the one she already had, relishing in the opportunity to get a swoon or two from the surrounding guests.

Meanwhile Kaoru raised a brow at how I was holding the box between my thumb and finger at arm's length. "It won't bite, you know."

My eyes narrowed as I strained my arm in an attempt to move the suspicious thing further away from me. "But I will."

He sighed, shaking his head slowly while patting mine as if I was a small child. "That's kind of the point. It's meant to be eaten, after all."

I huffed, accepting defeat by reluctantly popping open the box. Kaoru seemed satisfied until I brutally ripped the sweet into two and offered him half. "If I'm going to eat it then you need to as well. That way I know you haven't poisoned it."

At that explanation, his look of amused confusion melted away as he took it from me with no hesitation and wiggled his eyebrows triumphantly while he chewed. "As if I'd waste my poison on you, loser."

In the midst of rolling my eyes, I noticed a head of long brown hair decorated with one large pink pow standing meekly by the open double doors. "Who's that?" I asked, suddenly nudging Kaoru roughly with my elbow who nearly choked in response but smoothly played it off as a normal cough. Almost too smooth.

"Looks like the Host Club's got a new guest~." He purred along with Hikaru who had suddenly appeared at his side, each of them expertly whipping out a rose from the mysterious Mary Poppins pockets to glide over and greet the newcomer. Poor thing. Run while you still can. It's not too late for you yet!

"Watching from afar is no fun."

"Come in! We don't bite."

Yeah, no, it's too late for you.

"Please, Miss?" The twins chorused, radiating petals and glitter. I once again thanked the heavens for not giving me hay-fever.

The girl flinched away from them, causing Tamaki to stomp over and lecture them on How To Be Gentlemen and not overwhelm the first-time-guests. Even though he also brandished a rose as he spoke to the girl, ignoring the way she fidgeted uncomfortably as he got way too close for comfort.

HE GOT A SMACK?!

"Get away from me, you're a phony!" The girl yelled out as she swiftly whacked him across the face. He stumbled back a few feet, his Princely Aura having shattered along with his pride.

"Wai-what do you mean, phony?!"

"Just what I said—you're phony! I find it hard to believe that someone like you is the princely character of this host club!"* She persisted; the shy and timid girl from just a second ago having morphed into a loud, boisterous (and let's be real, extremely annoying) person who kept jabbing a finger in Tamaki's direction and spewing out oddly-worded insults faster than a mobility scooter hurling towards Greggs Bakery at closing time. Tamaki was pierced by a labelled arrow for each one she said, jostling him this way and that from the force of them.

The rest of the hosts just watched in boredom while the guests still lingering in the room didn't even seem to notice. I, meanwhile, was having the time of my life. Good on this girl, annoying as she was, for not falling under his spell like what seemed to be almost every other girl in this school. The whole country maybe. That brought the total up to three girls I knew of who were immune to his flamboyant, princely ways, which must have been quite the dent in Tamaki's pride.

When the gutsy newcomer was finally satisfied with utterly crumpling Tamaki's self esteem, he paled and drifted back to us like a sheet of glamorous paper, then fell to the ground with a thud while the twins 'ooh'ed and 'ah'ed at his new technique: One Man Slow Motion. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little impressed myself, the guy was certainly an idiot but no one could deny he was entertaining.

That was all I had for this chapter but I had this bit lying around in my notes for a while based off a meme I saw and thought I may as well include it. My idea for the rest of the plot would be Michelle waking up and coming to school with them. the pairings I had planned were Marcie x Kao, Haruhi x Hikaru and probably Michelle and Kyoya. I'm sorry I couldn't stick with it long enough to give you guys the chance to meet her. Marcie and Michelle were actually based off my two favourite dolls as a kid, lol. I stopped playng with them when Marcie's fuckin head popped off tho! Anyways, enjoy this last lil unfinished bit.

I watched them sit there on deck chairs, loudly sipping their drinks from straws like toddlers as they watched their maids set up their house-sized pillow fort for them further down in the garden.

"Can you not do something a little more...productive?" I asked, reluctantly taking the drink that Hikaru passed me as I was offered the chair between them.

Kaoru flicked my straw with a smug grin. "Paper straws. We're helping the environment, yo."

I supressed a grin at his goofy antics and opted for rolling my eyes instead. "Maybe instead of having paper straws, you could read paper books and, y'know, not make two poor identical ladies slave away in the baking sun to conjure you up a huge fort that you'll probably be bored with in like five minutes?"

"Puh-lease, this fort will be our new home. Besides, we've read the dictionary. Every book is just a remix after that."

I'll admit, that crap about the dictionary had me stumped so I decided to ignore it for the sake of the devious plan brewing in my head that I desperately tried to stop from showing on my face. "I find it hard to believe that either of you would survive in a breezy fort with no WiFi or furniture for a few seconds, let alone a night."

They each took a moment to pretend to take offence before exchanging their signature Cheshire grins. "Wanna bet?"

I let myself smile in return, allowing a fraction of malice sneak in. "Yes." Let it be known, from that point I was willingly doomed. I knew there was no way I'd win this bet since they'd probably bend the rules in their favour somehow. I honestly didn't mind, no matter what punishment they threw at me. My idea was worth it.

"If we spend the night in our fort without any of that stuff you mentioned, you have to model for our designs for the whole weekend." Their faces showed how smug they were, but jokes on them. I intend to lose. Ha.

I didn't even bother asking what I'd get if I won before leaving, which I probably should've done in order to avoid suspicion, but I was in too much of a rush to find Mana-san.

She was in the library, sitting peacefully in a chair not too far from the door with a book on the desk infront of her. She jolted violently when I entered, and I had to give her a moment to calm down before I continued.

"We need to buy tin-foil immediately. A lot of it."

they cover every individual object in the twins' room in tin foil. All the maids are off duty the next day so they have no help in getting rid of it all. Marcie has to be their model but she says "since you two loved that fort so much, I thought I'd give you the option to spend another night in it! Or, y'know, you could take care of this yourselves?"

"But if I aimed to lose and succeeded in losing, in a way, doesn't that mean I won?"

"...no." He said slowly, pricking me with another pin.

The world always changes around us, but weakness will always remain,

through all the pain, believe in who we are right here and now

~ Sprint - Vic Mignogna

I skipped most of the physical exam because honestly that episode wasn't all that interesting to me so I thought I'd shorten it and merge the next episode so the chapter wouldn't be too short. Lead good lives y'all, thanks to anyone who stopped by.

*My phone keeps trying to correct 'host' to 'hostel' and like...thanks, but...that would be a very different show.