A/N: Japanese English Multiple voices
Chapter 3
There are a lot of things you can be prepared for in life, like getting house insurance during the flood season or buying extra candles and matches for when the lights go out. However, I don't think anyone could ever be prepared for a morning wake-up call in the form of a 6-year old leaping onto your body and yelling at you to wake up at the crack of dawn.
"Jess, Jess, Come on the sun is up! That means its time to get up! Come on sleepy head, get up get up!" A tiny voice squawked above me, small palms slapping my shoulders and cheeks repeatedly causing me to groan loudly.
"Aaow, Izumi, Izumi! Please stop bouncing on me! Ow!" I whined, opening my eyes to glare at the little terror above me. Clad in a mint green night gown with the Princess and the Frog on the front, with curly black hair in a wild afro around her head, Izumi stared down at me with excited honey-brown eyes. She giggled happily when I gave her a tired glare before she slid off my twin bed, patting my stomach happily.
"Hehehe, Come on, get dressed Jess! It's time to go to school!" She crowed happily before she ran out my room, giggling the whole way. I took a glance at my clock and groaned loudly, flopping back and covering my eyes tiredly.
"Ugh, its too early for this. Why does she have to be such an early bird.." I grumble out. I count to ten twice before lazily rolling out of bed, stumbling to my feet and going to my closet, pulling out my uniform and a towel. I drag my feet down the hall to the bathroom, taking a glance at my bed-headed self in the mirror before stepping into the shower to start my morning wake-up ritual. When I stepped out of the shower and started the second part of my morning ritual (drying and styling my hair), I jumped when a loud knock sounded on the door.
"Yeah?" I yelled, clutching the sink and exhaling loudly in surprise.
"Just wanted to let you know breakfast was done, hon!" A kind feminine voice called out, making me huff and roll my eyes in fondness.
"Okay mom! I'll be out in a minute!" I replied before opening my tub of gel and slathering my hands in it. I styled my hair similar to Sora from KH and smiled proudly, spraying my hair to keep it that way before I stepped out of the bathroom. I straightened my suit jacket a bit as I walked into the kitchen, kissing my mom on the cheek as I passed her.
"Morning Mom. What's for breakfast?" I asked, grabbing a mug from the cabinet and pouring some coffee into it.
"Morning, we are having omelets today."
"Nice!" I say with a smile, grabbing a plate and transferring an omelet from a small stack. I grinned and walked into the dining room, setting my plate down next to Izumi who was now dressed in her 'school' clothes and energetically eating her eggs. At the head of the table sat Marcus, who was reading the daily newspaper and slowly sipping his own coffee, dressed in a smart navy suit.
"Morning Marcus."
"Morning Jessie." Marcus says, setting the newspaper aside and giving me an amused smile, "Did you have a nice sleep?"
I halted my fork's path to my mouth, giving him a closed-mouth bitch face to which he chuckled at and ate his own forkful of egg. "That good, huh?" He muttered, causing me to huff and roll my eyes, shoving the egg into my mouth.
"Let's just say that my alarm clock could never wake me up as well as princess could." I said teasingly, causing Izumi to grin proudly. I smile fondly and pat her head, lifting my hand when Mom came out with a brush and some rubber bands in her hand. She sat behind Izumi and got to work on taming her hair as best she could, which involved some tears and lots of whining.
When I had finished my whole omelet, Izumi had her afro in two big pony tail-balls, finally ready to go to kindergarten. Marcus smiled and leaned over, wiping the tears from Izumi's eyes and giving her a proud grin.
"Ah, don't cry my princess! You look so beautiful today! Are you ready to go to school?"
"Uh-huh." Izumi sniffled, giving a watery smile to Marcus. Izumi walked around the table and gave Marcus a quick hug and kiss on the cheek before she went to me, throwing her arms around my neck.
"Aw, look at you, so pretty today! Mom did a good job on your hair, you look like Tiana!" I said encouragingly, making her sniff and look up at me with wide eyes.
"Like Tiana?"
"Definitely like Tiana!" I smiled, giving her an Eskimo kiss which made her giggle childishly. "You better get your bag so you can go to school, okay? Don't want to be late, huh?" I said, gently pushing her to the door, but she shook her head and stayed put, giving me her famous pout.
"Promise you'll play Princess Tea-Party after school." She declared, holding up her hand, palm down, making me smirk charmingly.
"I promise, I will be there, my princess!" I declared dramatically, taking her palm and gently kissing the back of it, making her giggle loudly. She ran to the front door and grabbed her shoes, putting them on while Mom walked over and put on her coat, giving me and Marcus a wave.
"Lunch is on the counter, Marcus! See you both later!"
"Bye Mom! Bye Izumi!" "Bye Angelina, Bye Princess!" Me and Marcus said, waving as they both walked out the door. When the door closed fully, there was a moment of silence before Marcus turned to me and gave me an amused grin.
"I don't know how you do it."
"Do what? Be the best Princess tea guest?" I teased, standing up and taking my dishes to the kitchen, "Don't worry, I can give you a few pointers, if you'd like?" I joked, grabbing my coffee and taking a last swig before putting it into the sink to be washed later. Marcus laughed and shook his head.
"I think I'm good. You have fun at school, okay?" Marcus said, grabbing a navy tupperware tub and putting his keys on top of it. I grabbed his dishes and placed them in the sink too, giving him a wave as he walked to the door and started to put on his shoes.
"Save some legs out there, Marcus." I said, making him laugh loudly. 'That was actually pretty clever, since he deals with sports surgeries.'
With that, it was just me left, which made me sigh loudly and close my eyes momentarily at the peace. I reopened my eyes and put the dishes into the dishwasher, turning it on before I opened the fridge in search of the bento that I made last night.
"Bingo!" I sang, pulling out the light blue bag and carrying it to the front door, where my bag and shoes laid. Slipping on my shoes, I tucked my lunch into my backpack and stepped out into the sunshine, locking the door behind me as I went.
I turned and took a moment to stare from our doorstep, smiling in happiness as I saw the warm sun cresting between the small homes across the street, gracing me with a pleasant sunrise. I glanced at my watch and sighed, turning to the driveway and walking, choosing to not take a picture of the scene today. 'Maybe next weekend..' I thought wistfully, starting my walk down the sidewalk, pulling out my slider-phone and texting Haruhi on the way.
To Haru : Mornin cutie! Hope ur ready 2 walk 2 skool!
I smiled and put my phone in my breast pocket, looking up and crossing the street into another block of apartments, smiling slightly when I saw the familiar tan apartments a block away. At the quiet 'ding' I pulled out my phone and grinned.
From Haru : Dont call me cutie. Im outside waiting, hurry up.
From Haru : And your txting sucks, use proper grammer!
To Haru : Nvr!
I chuckled to myself and turned the sound off, replacing the phone in my pocket when I approached Haruhi's apartment building. I lifted my hand to my eyes and smiled when I saw Haruhi descending her staircase, shuffling her bag further on her shoulder. When she met me at the gate I smiled cheekily, wolf-whistling much to her annoyance.
"Now that's a better look for you. No more sweater!" I teased, bumping her shoulder lightly in good humor. Haruhi rolled her eyes and walked ahead of me, muttering a 'whatever'. 'Honestly, at least she is wearing some type of school-approved uniform, anything is better than that stretched sweater Ranka screwed over on laundry day..'
I skipped up to her and tilted my head.
"Huh, usually you're the morning person. What's up? Did you get enough sleep last night?" I asked curiously. Haruhi sighed and shook her head slightly, running her fingers through her trimmed hair.
"Not really. I was too worried to really get a good night's sleep." Haruhi murmured, making me pat her shoulder sympathetically.
"Sorry to hear that. I know it was a hectic first day, but not to worry! I'll be here every step of the way though, so today will be better!" I cheered, making her smile fondly.
"Thanks, Jessie."
"No problem, cutie!"
"I said, don't call me that!"
"No way, cutie-patootie!"
"Ugh, Jessie!" Haruhi tried to swat me, making me laugh and skip out of range, giving her a wink.
"Cutie, Cutie-pie, Cutie-patootie, Cutie-wooty, Cutie-cutie!"
"Shut up, Jessie! Those are terrible!" Haruhi said, pursing her lips to hold in her smile.
And so went the rest of the walk, the 15 minutes it took to get from our neighborhood to Ouran academy. By the time we arrived, I noticed that more people were watching us as we entered. I glanced at a group of girls and blinked in surprise when they all tittered and turned to their circle, giggling and whispering. I hummed and turned to Haruhi, noticing her ignorant stare.
'Of course she wouldn't notice something like that. Girl's as dense as they come.' I thought with an amused chortle, waving off Haruhi's curious glance. When we entered B-hall, I waved goodbye to Haruhi and entered my classroom, taking my usual seat next to my silent, emo desk partner.
"What's up, Nekozawa-san?" I asked cheerfully, giving the gloomy character a grin. He held up his cat puppet and made a bowing motion to me, quietly muttering "good morning". I smiled in amusement and leaned my chair back, sighing softly before realizing that there were a lot more eyes on me than usual. Tilting my head, I gazed across the classroom and frowned when I saw the numerous female eyes lingering on my figure. I hummed again and turned to my desk-mate, miming a poke to his 'personal bubble' to get his attention.
"Hey, why are they staring at me like that?"
"Don't you know? It's because you're in the Host club now." He muttered quietly making me raise a brow in surprise.
"Really now?" I drawled, donning an arrogant smirk and turning to the groups of ladies, winking saucily causing a couple to squeak in surprise. I chuckled quietly and leaned forward as the teacher finally walked in and started the days lessons. The rest of the day passed fairly uneventfully, factoring out the whole female population staring in a mix of interest and curiosity.
Around lunch time, I wandered out of the classroom with the other students, heading towards Class A-1 instead of the lunchroom where I found Haruhi sitting at her desk.
"Hey Haruhi!" Haruhi looked up from her unwrapped bento and gave me a curious look before smiling.
"Hi Jessie-chan, did you forget your lunch again today?" She asked, looking over my bare hands with a raised eyebrow.
"Don't forget, it's -kun now! And no I did not! I brought it in my bag." I said, pulling out the chair next to her and falling into it. I opened my bag and started to shuffle through it in search of my lunch.
"I made some octopus hot-dogs and rice balls today! I was making some for Izumi last night and I went through a throwback-elementary school thing. Where is that stupid bento.." I trailed off, frowning and starting to lug all my books out onto the desk in search of the now-missing bento box. "It was right in here.. It's gone."
"What? Are you sure you didn't just forget it at home?" Haruhi asked worriedly, slowly chewing her rice curry thoughtfully and giving me a look.
"No! I'm sure I brought it with me, but it's not in here! Crap, I don't think I left it in my classroom either. I didn't take it out at all. Did someone take it?"
"Why would someone take it?" Haruhi pointed out, "The food here is way more high-quality than you're home-lunch." I huffed in irritation and stuffed all my loose leaf papers back into my bag in annoyance, dropping the bag to the floor with a loud thud.
"I don't know, maybe there are bullies here? Now I have to miss lunch, damnit. Damn damn damn." I growled, crossing my arms angrily over my empty stomach and slouched in my seat moodily.
"Jessie, shut up. Have some of mine, it's no problem." Haruhi said, sliding her bento closer to me making me frown.
"But Haruhi, that's your food. You eat it, don't worry about me. You're skinny as is, need as much food as you can get." I said, trying to joke at the end which made her roll her eyes in annoyance.
"No. Eat some. Seriously, just have a couple bites. Save me from your melodrama." She lightly tapped the side of the bento with her chopsticks pointedly, making me groan and sit up, grabbing my spare chopsticks from my bag and taking some curry myself.
"I'm not melodramatic.." I grumbled around my food, making Haruhi laugh.
"Yeah yeah."
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"Jessie-kun, what type of hobbies do you have?" 'This doesn't seem so bad.. Just a Q&A, some one-liners, and everything is hunky-dory.'
"Hobbies? Well, photography is probably my biggest one. But I also like to read manga and play video games too. I don't know if spending time with Izumi counts as a hobby though.."
"You're into photography? What drew you to that?"
"What type of games do you play, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Who is Izumi? Is that your lover?" I blinked at the speed these questions were asked, trying to decipher which to answer first.
"Oh, uh.." I awkwardly cleared my throat and glanced at the table for a moment, taking in the pale pink roses and delicate china filled with coffee, before I looked back up to the three curious eyes watching me.
"Let's see, in terms of manga, I tend to drift towards fantasy or action, but every so often a good comedy-romance catches my attention. For games, the same goes; Fantasy, action, quests. Currently, I guess my favorite game is the Kingdom Hearts series. The storyline, while confusing, is beautiful in it's romantic views on friendship, and the game design itself is gorgeous. I can't wait for Birth By Sleep to come out!" I realized that I was waving my hands around excitedly, making the three giggle, before I took a breath and continued on.
"Izumi isn't my lover, but I sure do love her! She is my half-sister and the best little sister ever! She's 6 years old and the biggest Disney fan ever. She loves to have tea parties and play dress up with me, her very own Prince. She loves to hang out with me when I play video games too, and she is just the cutest little munchkin!" The girls all giggle at my enthusiasm and I reach into my bag, pulling out my camera and starting it up. "Here! I can show you a couple pictures of her!" I stood up from my chair and sat next to Aimi, making her blush heavily as I showed her pictures of my sister. The other two girls leaned in and made cooing noises too, which made me smile and happily babble about what she was doing in a couple of the photos.
"You take such amazing photos, Jessie-kun. Are you planning on making a career out of photography?" Aimi asked curiously, making me nod.
"Yeah, I love photography. I just don't know what to do with it yet. Maybe be a freelance photographer. But photography has kind of been something I've always been interested in. The world is so beautiful and if you take a picture, you capture your best memories in a single frame, never to forget, always there to remind you of your happiness. What started my interest was probably when my Dad got me my first camera." I turned off my camera and fondly rubbed the side before I put it away, voice quieting a bit as I looked upwards, "I was at the airport with Mom, and he gave me the camera and said, "Take this, and take pictures of what's important to you, that way when you come back to me, I won't miss a thing." I took my first picture right there with him." I paused and smiled softly, thinking back to that tearful farewell before coming back to reality, seeing the three girls staring at me with teary gazes.
"That's beautiful.."
"You're Dad must mean a lot to you." I smiled softly and bobbed my head.
"Yeah, he does. He lives overseas in California, and I get to visit him every summer. And we talk whenever we can, so it's pretty great." I blinked and straightened up, shaking my head in good humor. "Sorry, I guess I got a bit melodramatic there. Didn't mean to bring down the mood."
"No, no!"
"You're fine, you weren't being melodramatic at all!"
I chuckled a bit and gave them a charming smile, noticing a dark figure lurking behind the tables, glasses glinting and tapping his wrist silently. "You ladies are too kind. I'm sorry I wasted all your time talking about myself. I feel rude, I wish I could of gotten to know you all a bit more.." I trail off and look to the side in mock-sadness, causing them to immediately lurch forward in sympathy.
"It's okay, don't feel bad!"
"I really enjoyed my time with you!"
"Can we maybe request you again tomorrow?"
I looked up from under my lashes and gave them a small smile. "Do you really mean that?"
"Of course!"
"We would love to talk to you again!"
"Then I will eagerly await tomorrow, until we meet again!" I said, standing and helping each lady up by gently lifting them by their hand and gently guiding them from the comfortable cushions. I watched them float to the door, whispering dreamily and smiling in accomplishment.
"Not bad."
"Thanks Glasses." I said, turning and giving him a smirk, to which he shifted his glasses up silently,
"You still need to work on your time management, however." I immediately groaned and crossed my arms.
"Well, I'm sorry. I tend to loose track of time when I'm having fun. I can't help it."
"Try harder then." Kyoya said smoothly before walking off. Immediately I puffed out my chest and made a weird face at his back, repeating his words quietly with a high-pitched voice before huffing in annoyance. "Asshole."
I look around the slowly emptying club and walked over to Haruhi's table, pausing when I notice that she was being held protectively in Mori's arms with Tamaki sheepishly trying to get her back from his arms.
"I don't need two fathers!" Haruhi shouted to Tamaki, a slight blush lighting up her annoyed expression.
"Hey, Haruhi. Do you, uh… need some help?" I cautiously ask, stopping next to the twins and trying to figure out what she was talking about.
"Nah, Mori-sempai already saved her from Tamaki-sempai." Twin B said, giving me an amused look while Twin A continued to watch the scene with mischievous amusement.
"Ah. Okay then." I took a breath before entering the 'war' zone, calmly detaching Haruhi from Mori and dragging her over to her booth. I gave her a questioning look but she merely huffed and shook her head dismissively, picking up the tea set and walking off. I grinned in amusement and followed her lead, helping clean the empty room as much as I could.
When we were all finished cleaning the room, we walked into the back where we left our bags, laughing at some of the weird questions we were asked when we noticed something missing. Namely, Haruhi's school bag.
"Huh. Where did it go?" Haruhi muttered confused. I furrowed my brow and walked around the room, looking between the changing curtains and under the chairs with no results.
"It's not in here.. Did you leave it by your table?"
"I don't think so.. Let's check." Haruhi said, walking out and looking under the tables. I followed her lead before noticing a window left cracked open. 'Oh, it looks like someone forgot to close all the windows..'
I walked over and locked the window before I realized something really familiar was in the fountain under the window.
"Aw shit!" I growl out annoyed, immediately drawing Haruhi's gaze.
"What? What is it?" She asked rushing over, concern on her face.
"I found your damn bag. Some asshole-bully threw it out the window!" I ranted, enraged. Haruhi immediately looked down before sighing softly.
"I didn't think that there was any bullies at this school.." Haruhi muttered, following my jog to the doors.
"Well looks like we were wrong. Fucking assholes. C'mon!" I shouted, immediately breaking into a sprint and flying down the hall, Haruhi barely keeping up behind me. As we were sprinting, Haruhi and I passed a girl, but I kept going, determined to save any of Haruhi's books before they became too waterlogged and force her to buy new ones. 'Who am I kidding, they are gonna have to be replaced for sure. Fucking bullies..'
I flung open the door and stumbled to a stop by the fountain, immediately kicking off my shoes and socks so I could jump in the fountain and fish out her stuff.
"Damn." I grunted, rolling up my pants messily and stepping in the cool water, tossing notebooks onto the cement as I went. "Everything is waterlogged. Haruhi, you didn't leave your phone in your bag, right?" I asked, picking up said bag. When no answer came, I looked up and realized that Haruhi wasn't there. "Oh crap, did I outrun her again?" I sighed and shook my head, deciding to ask her when she catches up. 'In the meantime, I can get as much stuff out as I can..'
I managed to fish out all of her notebooks and her bag, and a couple pencils before Haruhi stumbled out into the yard, huffing slightly and frowning.
"Hey, you okay? Might want to check and see what else you're missing from your bag, I don't know if I fished everything out yet." I said, bending over and feeling the water for anything bulky. I pulled out her dead calculator with an 'aha!' when Haruhi spoke up.
"So I know who the guilty party is." Haruhi said calmly, immediately catching my attention.
"What? Really?! Who is it? Who do I have to beat up!" I growled, turning to face her with an angry stare.
"Ayonokoji. I don't know what her reasons were, but either way, I don't see my wallet and I need that for food money this week. Also, don't beat anyone up, it would be counterproductive." Haruhi says, kicking off her shoes and starting to peel her socks.
"What? Who does that bitch think she is? No, don't take off your shoes, I'll find your wallet. Put your stuff in the sun so it can dry a little." I spat, lifting an arm to stop Haruhi from stepping in and turning back to the pond. "I can't believe her. What gives her the right to treat you that way? I can't stand bullies, they have a special place in hell for people like that-"
"Jessie, calm down. There is nothing you can do about it, so just relax."
"How can I relax!?" I shift my hands roughly in the water, trying but failing to find her wallet, "I won't let you get treated this way, no one deserves it. Especially you. I won't let them treat you like I wa-"
"Hey, Commoners!" A loud voice rings out, jerking my attention from my task and rant.
"Is that-"
"Tamaki-sempai?" Haruhi mutters, answering my question. I straighten and give the approaching Host King a blank look over before huffing and continuing my search, moving further into the pond.
"You have some nerve skipping out on club clean-up." He said haughtily, stopping on the edge of the fountain.
"Buzz off, we collected and washed all your stupid dishes. That was more than enough work." I grunted out.
"Why is Haruhi's bag all wet? And why are you in the fountain, Jessie-san?" Tamaki asked slowly, his voice softer than before. I let out a frustrated half-laugh, looking at him and Haruhi from over my shoulder.
"I'm trying to be an Olympic swimmer, what do you think Blondie?" I said mockingly, however Haruhi immediately said "I dropped it!" making me mutter under my breath and roll my eyes, returning to the search.
"Haruhi, I can't find your goddamn wallet, are you positive it was in your bag?" I grunted, swishing roughly in the water.
"Yeah! It was in there. Hold on, I'll look too. I need that food money for this week." Haruhi stepped into the water and swished forward, leaning over and rooting in a new spot, making me sigh in exasperation.
"Whatever, don't get a cold on me now." I was cut off when I heard another small splash, causing me and Haruhi to straighten and look down to Tamaki, who was also in the pond rooting around.
"Hey, Tamaki-sempai, you'll get all wet."
"We got this, no need to ruin your nice clothes." I tacked on, but Tamaki ignored us both, feeling through the water.
"Getting wet isn't going to do any harm, right? Besides, people always say I'm dripping with good looks." I smiled a bit and stifled a chuckle, about to lean over when suddenly Tamaki stood up, a familiar wallet in his hands.
"Oh, this is yours, right?" He walked over to Haruhi, who I noticed was staring blankly at him, making me tilt my head in confusion.
"What's the matter? You're off in space. You haven't fallen for me, have you?" Tamaki teased, causing Haruhi to stiffen and snatch her wallet from his hands in embarrassment and me to laugh lightly.
"Who, me?!"
Tamaki straightened up and gave Haruhi an appraising stare.
"How does something like this happen, anyway?" He asked quietly. My expression soured, but before I could say anything Haruhi replied, "Well, I accidentally dropped it out the window."
I tsked and turned immediately, stepping out of the pond and lightly shaking my legs to get some droplets off before I rolled my pant legs down. Haruhi and Tamaki hesitated before following my lead, all of us quietly putting our shoes back on and packing Haruhi's wet items in her equally wet bag.
Tamaki stared at us in concern while Haruhi calmly slipped her bag on, adjusting it a little so that it wouldn't completely ruin her clothes. I took this moment to walk up to Tamaki and pull on his tie a little, gathering his attention and lowering him to my height.
"It was Ayonokoji."
I stepped back and gave him a meaningful glare before stepping back and throwing an arm around Haruhi's shoulder.
"Well, it's getting late so we need to get going. Thanks for your help, Tamaki-san!" I said loudly with false cheer, giving him an informal salute before dragging Haruhi with me to the entrance, leaving school for the day.
"What a shitty day."
"You said it, Jessie."
˚✧₊⁎(✿ ⑅σ̑ᴗσ̑ )⁎⁺˳✧˚✧₊⁎(✿ ⑅σ̑ᴗσ̑ )⁎⁺˳✧˚✧₊⁎(✿ ⑅σ̑ᴗσ̑ )⁎⁺˳✧˚✧₊⁎(✿ ⑅σ̑ᴗσ̑ )⁎⁺˳✧˚
A/N: I swear to god, I've tried 30 variations of a heart emoji for that "Haru" text, and it just won't stick in this system, so just pretend that there is a heart emoji next to Haruhi's name.