"Did you hear what happened?"

"The murder's old news, you know."

"No! I'm not talking about that! The corpse! I heard it turned to ash while they were examining it!"

"Spooky!"

Haruhi sighed. Conversations like this were all over the school, the result of the rich having too much time on their hands. Most normal people wouldn't be talking about the recent murder as if it was a play or a show on television. Most normal people would be a little worried about their safety, especially since the murder had taken place on the school campus and the perpetrator hadn't been caught yet. Granted, there was increased security all over the place for their safety, but Haruhi still didn't think it appropriate to discuss the murder like it wasn't important. Someone had died for crying out loud! The boy's family was mourning still.

"Haruhi!"

Haruhi looked up and sighed in dismay. The twins looked too happy about something. This didn't bode well in the least. "Hikaru, Kaoru, what's—"

"We have new students!" Hikaru said brightly.

"They're all foreigners 'cept the one," Kaoru added.

"They've all lived in Europe for most of their lives," Hikaru said with a nod.

"Two of them are gonna be in our class, and the other two will be with Mori and Hunny."

Haruhi turned back to the book she'd left open on her desk. "Maybe they'll stop talking about the murder, then."

The twins looked at each other, then back at Haruhi. "If your scared, we'll protect you," they said with smug grins. They went on either side of Haruhi and pulled her into a tight hug. "We'll make sure nothing bad ever happens to our sweet little Haruhi."

"You're starting to sound like Tamaki," Haruhi said, irritated. She shrugged off their arms. "Class is starting soon. You guys should sit down."

The bell rang, saving her from their second attempt at hugging and teasing her. The teacher walked into the room, followed by two students. One seemed normal enough, with short black hair and a warm smile. The other, on the other hand, seemed out of place. He had short, white hair, downcast silver eyes, and a large scar over his one eye that stood out on his too-pale face.

The teacher wrote their names on the board in katakana for the class. The girl was Rinari Ri while the boy was Arren Waakaa. Haruhi raised an eyebrow at the strange names. Well, Rinari's was normal, but the boy's was weird.

"Good morning, class," the teacher said with a warm smile. "These two are your new classmates. Please make them feel welcome. They've come all the way from Europe to study at our school for a few weeks before they return home." He whispered something to the two.

"My name is Lenalee Lee," the girl said with a small bow. "It's a pleasure to meet you all."

"A-and my name is Allen Walker," the boy with white hair said nervously, bowing too. His Japanese didn't seem quite as good as the girl's.

That explains the weird names, Haruhi thought, glancing at the board again. Japanese didn't have an L sound, so the teacher had simply translated the sound as an R for the sake of kana.

"Please take a seat," the teacher instructed before erasing their names off the board. Haruhi watched the two as they made their way to the back of the room. "Please turn your books to page fifty three. We will be..."

Allen hadn't understood a word the teacher said. He was speaking too fast for him to follow with his small grasp of the language. It wasn't like he really needed to understand any of it, of course, but they were supposed to be undercover as students to investigate the mysterious murder of Mark Ziemba, an American student studying abroad at Ouran High School.

Well, it wasn't the murder itself that was mysterious. He'd been dismembered and left outside in front of the fountain for all to see. From what Komui had said, the authorities cleaned the scene up before any of the students had the chance to see anything, which would explain why none of the students seemed worried. Unlike them, he'd seen pictures in the mission information. He'd seen just how brutally the boy had been killed.

Still, those details weren't what got the Black Order involved. It was what happened after that caught their attention. The body suddenly turned to ash while the autopsy was being performed, which could only be the work of an Akuma. That was why Allen, Lenalee, and their fellow exorcists, Lavi and Kanda, were now attending Ouran.

The only good thing about this excursion, as far as Allen was concerned, was that Link couldn't follow Allen around the campus. Even with the recent murder, bodyguards weren't allowed on campus, so Howard Link had to stay back at the hotel. Technically, he was really there for everyone else's protection if the Fourteenth were to take control, but the Order wasn't about to explain that to the school. So, for the moment, Lenalee and Timcanpy were supposed to act as Allen's "stalkers" until they were off campus, when Link would resume his regular duties. Tim was hiding inside Allen's bag, recording everything that went on for Link to review and report later.

The bell signaling lunch sounded. They all went to the giant cafeteria, where Allen couldn't help but drool at the smell of delicious cooking. Steak... lobster... all the expensive foods Link would glare at Allen for ordering... It was enough to make Allen's mouth water.

"Allen, we're on a budget for this mission," Lenalee reminded him quietly when they sat down. "We packed our lunch for a reason, remember?"

Allen sighed and retrieved the ten sandwiches he'd packed and started munching on them. He'd never survive this school. Never in a million years.

"Good afternoon."

Both exorcists looked up at their greeters, the twins in their class. "Oh, hello," Lenalee said, setting down her chopsticks (she'd packed a traditional Japanese meal like Kanda). "You both are in our class, aren't you?"

"Name's Hikaru," the one twin said.

"And Kaoru," the other added.

"We'd like to welcome you both to Ouran," they said in unison.

Lenalee smiled sweetly, and Allen felt a small pang of jealousy that the smile was for them and not him. "Thank you, Hikaru, Kaoru."

"Hey, are all those for you?" the twins asked at once.

Allen swallowed. "Yes," he said.

"You can eat that much?" they asked in unison.

"I... er... miss breakfast a lot, so I'm always really hungry at lunch," Allen lied in his bad Japanese.

The two grinned at each other, then sat across from Lenalee and Allen. "So where are you guys from?"

"England," Lenalee replied, "near London."

"London's cold this time of year, isn't it?" Hikaru asked.

"Yes, very," Lenalee said, going back to her food. "Though, it's quite cold here as well."

"Hikaru, Kaoru, are you bothering them?"

Again, Allen and Lenalee looked up from their meal. This time, it was a shorter boy with dark hair. There was something strange about him, but Allen couldn't quite put his finger on it. Maybe it was how his voice sounded too feminine for a high school boy.

"We weren't bothering them at all, Haruhi," Hikaru said.

"Not yet," Kaoru added with a devilish grin.

"You're welcome to sit with us too." Lenalee smiled brightly again. "We don't mind, right Allen?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I don't mind."

Haruhi sat next to Allen, across the table from the twins. "I'm Haruhi. It's nice to meet you."

Even close up, Allen couldn't figure out what was strange about the girl. So, Allen just stayed quiet and ate the last of his sandwiches.

"How'd you get that scar?" Hikaru asked.

The bell rang before Allen could answer—much to his relief.

At last, the school day ended. Allen and Lenalee had successfully learned a fat load of nothing about the murderous Akuma. Granted, they'd been in class all day and wouldn't have been able to collect information anyway.

Allen closed his books and carefully put them in his bag so as not to crush Timcanpy.

"What's that?"

Allen stopped what he was doing. "Um... what's what?" he asked the girl next to him.

"That gold ball thing in your bag. What is it?"

"A toy?" Allen replied, silently praying that Timcanpy would hold perfectly still in his bag.

"Is it from an anime?"

"Anime?" Allen repeated blankly.

"A Japanese cartoon."

"I don't know," Allen said, trying to smile. "I... saw him at a store and thought he looked cool."

"He looks like a golden snitch." The girl smiled at Timcanpy. "He's so adorable! I want one!" Then she looked up from the golem. "I'm Renge. You're Allen, right?"

"Yes. It's nice to meet—"

"Are you trying to cosplay someone?"

This question made no sense to Allen. "No. What's cosplay?"

Renge's eyes widened even more. She cried something in French, then pretended to faint. Allen knew she was pretending, since she seemed to fall at the perfect angle for him to catch, but he caught her anyway.

"Um, are you okay?"

"My dream guy has just come to Ouran. Of course I'm okay," she said, batting her eyelashes.

Allen blushed. He wasn't used to people flirting. Well, he was used to people flirting with his master, but he wasn't used to people flirting with him. "U-um..." He helped her stand back up. "I-I have to go."

Hands fell on both his shoulders. "He's coming with us," Hikaru and Kaoru said with devilish grins.

"Wait, what?" But Allen didn't get an answer to his question. The two twins just dragged him away.

Woohoo! First chapter!

If you were confused by Renge's reaction to Allen's saying he's not cosplaying, it's basically a "OMG! It's someone who looks like they're from an anime without trying! I'm in heaven!"

I'd like to thank my friend Twilight on Your-Role for helping me with this fic and KeeperoftheJeep and Kairi for reading it. They're all on Your-Role, so don't bother lookin' here for them.

Tell me what you think. If you see any typos, please tell me. I always miss something.