Running a hand through my extremely short and magenta hair, I looked at myself in the mirror. Dressed in a snappy blue suit and tie, I looked a lot more comfortable than I felt. I ran through the reason I was here in my head to rationalize my uncomfortableness.

There was 'civil unrest' - otherwise known as the 2016 Presidential Race - in the USA, so they sent the children to different, more peaceful countries. I got sent to Japan, which should have been a godsend for me, because I was sent to the family that we had hosted a couple years back, so I knew them as well. My friend there, Una, had been accepted into an elite school before I had come, and when I had showed up, apparently the head of the school had decided to let me in as well, as long as I did okay.

There were only a few problems. We were representing the common US citizens, so we had to be on our best behavior at all times.

And there was the language. I had managed to learn Japanese pretty well, thanks to the tutors my family had gotten me, so I was as good with speaking and reading it as anyone else. The other thing I was worried about was that I was very big. In Japan, I'm really tall, seeing as I'm 5'11'', but also I'm a big person, in more ways than height. Big shoulders, deep chest, big bust… I was almost as big as the biggest guys were. And now I was starting high school, while sticking out like a sore thumb.

"Tone? The car's waiting for us to go."

"Thank you, I'll be down in a moment."

I looked myself up and down to make sure I was presentable, shouldered my violin and walked out the door.

I walked through the halls of Ouran Academy, looking around me in wonder. The place was grandiose. Huge ceilings, huge chandeliers, long carpeted hallways, and lots of people. I was getting a lot of strange looks. I mean, seeing a tall, magenta-headed person probably wasn't that common here.

I talked to a few people, learned a few of the popular people's names, but had also heard of a Host Club. I had no idea what that was, and honestly didn't care that much. Una and her friends kept giggling about this Host Club. It was kind of weird. More than kind of, actually. The first day of school was absolutely crazy. I was running hither, thither and yon, trying to find my classrooms, meeting teachers, getting homework, and trying to find a quiet corner to practice my violin and read Shakespeare. Una was trying to get me to come meet the Host Club, but since I had no desire to learn what it was, I was looking for a room in which I could practice my violin. It took me until I thought that everyone had left to find a good room. As I was walking, I tripped over a pink bunny. Huh, I thought. That's weird. I picked it up and put it under my jacket. Up ahead, I saw a room that said 'Music Room 3'. It looked abandoned, so I decided to go in there. I opened one of the double doors a crack, and got hit with blinding lights, dramatic wind and…rose petals?

"Welcome, ladies!" I heard a chorus of voices chant from within. Now, before we go any further, I need to explain something. They were going to get me a dress (the girl uniform), but I requested to wear the male uniform, a suit. That, my short hair, and my deeper voice apparently made me a boy in the eyes of the public. It also made me a boy in the eyes of the 6 boys in the room. I was very happy that I recognized almost all of them.

When they saw who was standing in the doorway, the black-haired one smirked (I think his name was Kyoya Otori?), the blond one looked like he was going to pass out (his name is Tamaki, he has every girl in the school falling for him), the short blond one looked confused (Mitsukuni Haninozuka - Honey - he's 18 but looks like he's 5), the tall black haired one looked emotionless (Takashi Morinozuka, Honey's protector), the twins (Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiinwho were in my class) exchanged startled looks, and the brown haired one who I didn't know showed no surprise in my entrance. Tamaki tried to recover his surprise, and did a pretty good job of it, but I could tell he was shaken.

"Um, well, hello, good sir, and welcome to the Ouran High school host club—"

I cut him off mid-sentence. "I think I'm in the wrong room, I'm just looking for a place to practice my violin."

Before I knew what was happening, the twins had me by my arms and were dragging me into the room. It was slightly awkward, since they came up to my shoulder. Only Tamaki, Kyoya, and Mori were my height. I pulled my arms out of their grip, and spun around, only to find myself looking into the eyes of Tamaki Suoh. He tried to hand me a rose.

"Ah, there is no mistake!" he said lightly. "It is a bit strange that you're openly gay, but here at the Host Club, we welcome people of all genders and sexuality!"

I stepped back, only to bump face first into Mori, and feel something small pulling at my pants. It was Honey.

"Don't you like us?" he asked, all big eyes and cuteness.

"I don't know if I like you or not, and I would honestly like to GET OUT OF HERE, and find a QUIET place to practice!" I steamed, starting to walk towards the door. Then the twins appeared in front of me, holding my violin case.

"You might need this," they said in unison, "but you have to ask nicely."

At this point the brown-haired one stepped in. "Give him his case back, morons."

"Mommy, Haruhi's using foul language!" Tamaki wailed.

"Nothing I can do, Daddy," Kyoya said.

Then the twins decided to play catch with my violin case.

About 10 minutes later, the twins had black eyes, I had a bloody nose, Tamaki was curled up on the floor in a protective ball, and the others were trying to nurse our wounds.

"Seriously, I'm okay," I tried to tell Honey who was trying to mop up my blood.

"Is no one worried about us?" Hikaru whined.

"Not really," Haruhi muttered. "You've survived more than this."

"I can't believe he gave me a black eye, and you one to match." Kaoru stared daggers at me.

"Next time, don't play catch with my violin." I glared right back. "Thank you for helping to stop my nose, Mori, thank you for the cake, Honey, but seriously, is there a music room I can use?"

"Yep," Honey said. "I can take you to it, if you want."

"Thanks, that would be nice." I replied.

As we left, I heard Tamaki asking the twins about me, and then turning on Kyoya for information. Whatever, I thought.

"So, you're an exchange student?" Honey asked.

"Yeah, they sent me away to save me from strife in America, but as you can tell that's working out really well for me."

We walked down the hallway awkwardly for a little while.

"Have you seen Usa-Chan?" Honey asked suddenly.

"No, what is he?"

"A pink rabbit. I lost him earlier, and I can't find him!" Honey wailed.

"Mitskuni, I told you someone would find him," Mori said. This was the first thing he'd said throughout this chaos.

"Does he look like this?" I asked, pulling a bunny I'd found earlier from underneath my jacket. I saw Mori's eyes widen when I did so, but he wasn't exactly looking at Honey or Usa-Chan. While Honni was freaking out over having found Usa-Chan, I looked sideways at Mori, crossing my arms over my chest. He put his hand on my shoulder.

"Don't worry. That's not what surprised me," was all he said.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou soooo much, Tone-chan!" Honey beamed up at me.

"Any time. Is it weird if I call you kiddo?"

"What does that mean?"

"It's an American term of endearment."

"Sure! We're here now, so go ahead and practice."

"Thanks a bunch you guys. See you around."

I walked in the door. The room had a great view of the school, and good acoustics. I pulled out my violin, picked out a song that reminded me of home, and started to play. Turns out, that was a mistake. I got halfway through and started to cry. Like a full on, break down sobbing cry fest. Everything just crashed over me; I wouldn't see me sister for years, I probably wouldn't see my parents for even longer, I was an ocean away from home, I was in a strange high school and I knew hardly anybody. I realized that I was being a total angsty teenager. Yeah, a total girl moment. Lovely…so typical… so not my style…

"Tone-chan!"

Next thing I knew, there was a small thing clinging to me like a koala and shoving a pink bunny at me.

"What the h—"

"Please don't cry!" Honey looked up at me, tears welling in his own eyes.

"Hey, you don't go crying on me, either." I wiped away the last of my tears, and looked at Honey. He gave me a huge hug, stiffened, and then looked at me.

"You're a girl."

"Despite popular belief, yes, yes I am."

"And you punched Hikaru and Kaoru."

"Mm-hm."

"Don't worry, I won't tell them."

"That would be muchly appreciated."

"And Mori won't tell them either, will you?"

"No."

"Holy shwarma," I said, scrambling to my feet. I hadn't noticed the tall 3rd year. "Anyone else here that I need to know about?"

"Nope, just Takashi and I!"

"Phew, that's good."

"Why do you care if others know you're a girl?"

"Because there are certain advantages to being a boy that you don't get being a girl."

"Like?"

"Well, first off nobody wants to pick on you, especially here, because I'm bigger than everybody. Second, no guy tries to flirt with you. Except Tamaki, that is. Third, you get to wear exceedingly comfortable clothes. Fourth, people differ to you because you're male. When you're a girl, people think you're an airhead. There are a couple more, but you get the idea."

"I see," said Honey, though he still looked confused. "So we still promise that we won't tell anybody."

"Thanks."