Oddity Chapter 5

Soft footsteps echoed quietly through the abandoned hallways of Ouran High School. School was over, and most of the students had gone back to their mansions to order around their servants. Ayatsuri however, had taken the time alone, as Haruhi had walked home, to explore the campus. It was a large maze of a school, and she felt the need to familiarize herself with her surroundings.

Her head swiveled slowly as she walked through the opulent hallway, taking in the extravagant details and the expensive finery, and committing the twists and turns of the hallways to memory. She had made a full circle of that floor, and was going to go to the next, when she saw something right next to the Host Club's door. She slowed to a halt as she came across a completely black doorway, cocking her head and roving her reddish-black eyes across it, noticing the odd symbols etched in the wood. 'Are those… Celtic Runes?' she narrowed her eyes slightly, putting her hands in her pockets and unconsciously leaning forward. 'These are symbols that were commonly used by sorcerers and witches in black magic… What an odd thing to put on a door in a rich kids' school. Then again… there are some eccentric people here…' she thought, thinking back to the Host Club and rolling her eyes.

She was about to continue her circuit of the main school building, when her keen eyes caught some sort of fabric on the floor in the shadows of the only half-sunlit hall. She leisurely stepped over to it and slid a hand out of her pocket to pick whatever it was up. 'It's a… hand puppet? Of a cat?' and indeed it was. It was a simple hand puppet shaped like a yellow cat. It had slanted eyes and a wicked smile. She blinked at it. 'It's kind of cute.' And without a further thought, she stuck it into the pocket on her hooded sweatshirt, and continued her exploration.

A few hours later, she had finally walked through all of the school buildings. She had found a few rooms with people still in them; after school clubs that were still running. She had peeked in on some sort of fan girl club that met after the Host Club was over for the afternoon to squeal over pictures of the Hosts and minor possessions of theirs that they had bought from their website. Thankfully, they hadn't spotted her, or she probably would have been recognized as the black-clad figure that sat in on the Host Club sessions, considering how obsessed they were.

Though, that had been around an hour ago, so everyone, even the late-running clubs, was probably gone from the school now. Since she was done, Ayatsuri walked out of the school with a small smirk on her face. She had found plenty of interesting places in her breezing over the general layout of the school that would need further investigating at a later date. 'But for now… I want something sweet.' And with that thought in mind, her feet subconsciously carried her to a sweet shop that she had found over the summer with Haruhi.

She stepped into the quaint little shop, admiring the old-timer décor and the comfortable 'grandma's house' atmosphere. In fact, a little old lady who probably was someone's grandma was one of the owners of the little sweet shop, occasionally coming in and cooking some of the best cakes and buns. One of the middle-aged ladies that worked at the shop heard the bell on the door tinkle as the redhead made her way into the shop. She wiped her floury hands on her apron and greeted the girl with a smile. "Aya-chan, how are you doing? How's school? You haven't had the chance to come in here as much since summer break ended."

Ayatsuri took off her hat, stuffing it in her pocket with the hand puppet she had found earlier, and ruffled her two-toned hair, letting it air out after another day hidden under her hat. "School's doing great Midori-chan. Ru-chan and I have met some interesting people. They swindled her into being the little errand girl for their club because she broke a vase."

Midori smiled questioningly. "What kind of club is it?" she asked curiously as she started to prepare Ayatsuri's usual order. Ayatsuri sat on a chair next to a little table near the counter and took off her sunglasses. "And how did she break a vase? She didn't seem like a careless sort of girl when I met her over the summer."

"Ah. It's a Host Club. Haruhi broke the vase when one of the guys unnerved her and she sort of just backed into the stand it was on." Ayatsuri said with a small smirk as she thought back on it. Midori's green eyes widened as she handed the redhead her Chai tea and glazed bun.

"You mean like a place where boys seduce girls!? In a school!?" Midori asked scandalously. Ayatsuri grinned at her after she swallowed her large bite of donut.

"They are kind of man-whores, but they don't even kiss the girls. They have these acts that they do to make girls swoon, and get paid for it per customer. It's actually somewhat amusing to watch." She said as she sipped at her tea.

Midori grinned goofily. "It does kind of sound like a bit of fun." She said as she started to bake a few more cakes for the display. "What are they like? Are they handsome?" she asked the last part teasingly.

Ayatsuri contemplated for a moment. "There are six of them. One is overly dramatic; he's the one who started the club; two of them are a couple of rude twins; another is calculating and passive-aggressive, he's the one who really runs the show. The last two are pretty much polar opposites, though they are cousins. One is short, hyper and childish and carries around a stuffed rabbit, and the other is tall, barely talks and he acts almost like a bodyguard for his little cousin." You could tell from her tone of voice whom she liked the best out of the six.

Midori had a contemplative expression on her face as her friend/customer. "Those last two you described… I think they have come in here before. I was off shift, but I heard one of the teens working here blabbering about a 'cute little boy with a bunny' and a 'tall, dark and handsome guy giving him a piggy-back ride'."

Ayatsuri blinked lazily, before shrugging. "That makes a little sense I suppose. Hani-sempai is obsessed with cakes, and Mori-sempai is never far behind."

Midori's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as the door bell tinkled, making Ayatsuri turn lazily towards the door to see who just came in. "Speak of the devil and he shall appear. Though Hani isn't anywhere close to being a devil." She muttered ponderingly to herself as Hani and Mori came in the door and headed for the counter, they didn't seem to notice her in Hani's eagerness to get some cake.

Midori quickly regained her composure, though she was now curious about just how handsome the others were if these two were just samples. "May I take your orders?" she asked with a smile, thankfully making it there before one of the heart-eyed teenagers currently working there.

"Yeah! I'd like two helpings of strawberry shortcake and some vanilla coffee please." Hani said sweetly.

"Dark chocolate layer cake and green tea." Mori stated quietly.

Ayatsuri raised her eyebrow at hearing Mori actually speak. 'He's got a pleasant voice.' She thought absently as Midori politely started to make their respective orders. "Midori-chan, can I get a refill on my Chai and some white cake with buttermilk frosting while your getting their orders?" she called.

Midori grinned. "I'm surprised you haven't asked already. I suppose you didn't have as much time to inhale your sweets since I kept you talking." She said as she multi-tasked.

Hani had turned, clinging his bunny to his chest as he looked for the source of the order. When his honey-colored eyes found Ayatsuri, his face brightened. "Aya-chan! I didn't know you came here! I didn't expect to see you until tomorrow!" he bounced over to where she was sitting, plopping down in the cushy chair across from her. "You have such pretty hair and eyes!" he exclaimed. "I've never seen you without your hat and sunglasses!"

Ayatsuri blinked at the complement. "Thank you Hani-sempai. I don't think I've been told that before." And it was true; she hadn't been called pretty before. With her feature-hiding accessories, she'd only been called things like 'mysterious' and 'strange', especially considering her reputation at her old school.

Hani looked at her with wide eyes, and would have said something else, but then Mori came over, carrying their orders. Ayatsuri blinked up at him as he handed her the new order of cake she had asked for. "Thank you Mori-sempai."

"Aa." He said simply.

Then he sat down next to Hani, carefully monitoring him as he ate his sweets, and taking bites of his own cake every once and a while. Ayatsuri observed them for a while, before turning back to her tea and cake, half-listening to Hani talk about anything and everything he could think of.

Ayatsuri yawned widely, covering her mouth with her hand lazily. Hani and Mori both noticed that her wrists were smaller than normal for a boy. She then realized it was a little hot in side the sweet shop, so she took off her zip-up sweatshirt, not bothering to care that the two guys across from her thought that she was male. Hani and Mori blinked in surprise. "Aya-chan, you're a girl like Haru-chan?"

Ayatsuri blinked away the water in her eyes coming from her yawn, before answering the small senior. "Yeah. When did you figure out that Ru-chan was a girl?" she asked lazily.

Hani seemed to get over the revolution quickly "Well, I'm not sure about Takashi, but I noticed it when I saw how she reacted to Usa-chan's cuteness!" he said in his happy, childish voice.

Mori just said, "Aa." Not revealing much. Ayatsuri raised an eyebrow at him.

Ayatsuri then looked at the black leather watch on her wrist and her eyes narrowed a bit at the time. "Well, it was nice to see you two, but I need to get home. I'll see you tomorrow at the club." With that, she pulled her sweatshirt off the back of her chair, put it on, pulled her hat out of the pocket and onto her head, and put on her sunglasses. "Bye, Midori!" she called to her friend as she stood from her chair. She then flashed a sweet-polite smile at the two at the table, and quickly left the shop.

She didn't notice the interested looks on their faces. Midori did though, and decided to save it for teasing material to see if she could get the normally unflappable Ayatsuri to blush.

Said redhead was now rollerblading pell-mell down the sidewalks, intent on getting to the apartment complex before Haruhi finished making dinner; if she didn't Haruhi's normally passive temperament would flare up, and with Ayatsuri embarrassing poor Ru-chan already today, it would be more volatile than normal. Ayatsuri was always of the opinion that Haruhi would make a good mother one day; Practical, kind, and downright scary at times.

Ayatsuri ran into her apartment, having taken off her skates to be able to go up the stairs, and made her way quickly to the bedroom. She pulled out a suitably 'feminine' outfit that would pass Ranka's inspection, and slipped into the sleeveless turtleneck that matched her eyes, and the black jeans. She then jogged back out of her apartment, and slithered into Haruhi's right as she was setting the table.

"I'm not late then?" she asked cheerily. Haruhi looked up and gave her a blank expression.

"No." she said, before going back to the kitchen. Ayatsuri followed her like a lost puppy, coincidentally giving her the puppy dog eyes.

"I didn't embarrass you too badly did I Ru-chan? I didn't mean to! You aren't angry, right?" here she conjured up a few more tears and leaned down the necessary height to hug Haruhi around the middle. She wasn't meant to see it, but the brunette's lips twitched in amusement, before they were forced back into a straight line. "You still love me right?" Ayatsuri asked pitifully, her bottom lip quivering in an attempt to hold back giggles.

It was somewhat of a tradition for the childhood friends. Whenever one would offend or embarrass the other, they would get all dramatic and piteously beg for forgiveness (Ayatsuri because Haruhi would never do that) or bribe the other with homemade sweets (Haruhi, because Ayatsuri can't cook worth crap). It made for an apology, and got them to laugh. It was a 'two birds with one stone' situation.

Haruhi gave a fake, long-suffering sigh. "Yes, I still love you Tsu-chan." Before grinning, and picking up the food to move it to the table.

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Haruhi had regretfully allowed Ayatsuri to drive them to school in her haphazard, yet oddly efficient style. Haruhi got out of the car, completed her customary stumbling, before they both made their way to their respective classrooms, Ayatsuri walking with her shorter friend as far as she could.

As Ayatsuri neared her classroom, she noticed a black-cloaked figure haunting the doorway, apparent looking for something. 'Isn't he that kid that I noticed the first day? …Nekozawa was it? Didn't he have something on his hand…?' her eyes lit up behind the sunglasses that she always wore to school, and she fished the hand puppet that she had found the day before out of the pocket of her favorite hooded sweatshirt.

She stared at it for a moment. 'Cute. It's a shame I found its owner. I wouldn't have minded keeping it.' She gave an inaudible sigh before holding it out. He took a while to notice the puppet being held in front of his nose, but when he did, it only took a matter of seconds for him to snatch it and position it on his left hand.

Nekozawa stared at the black-clothed figure in front of him, who had his features hidden behind sunglasses and under a hat. "Why did you have Beelzenef?" he asked in his voice, which had been called creepy by the majority of the school. He was surprised when the stranger made no indication of being weirded out by him in any way.

"I found… him yesterday while exploring the halls after school hours." Ayatsuri said disinterestedly. "Cute puppet." She added. Nekozawa blinked.

"You are female, correct?" Nekozawa asked cautiously.

Ayatsuri nodded, a mildly curious look in her eyes. 'This guy… he's quite perceptive, isn't he?'

"What are you called?" he then asked inquisitively.

'What an odd way to ask that question. This guy is strangely likeable.' Ayatsuri thought, but answered simply, "I am called Usakichi Ayatsuri by most."

Nekozawa blinked, not that you could see his eyes through his dark green wig, and then said, "Well, Usakichi Ayatsuri, I am Nekozawa Umehito, and I am in your debt for rescuing Beelzenef." With that, he gave a small bow, and glided into the classroom.

Ayatsuri stared at the place he had been standing a moment ago bemusedly, before following his lead, and walking into the classroom just as the bell rang. Making sure to sit far away from Tamaki, and by default, Kyouya, she spent the class musing about Nekozawa for a few minutes, before her surprisingly short attention span drifted over to pondering various sweets. She still managed to get the questions right when her teacher called on her though; she was a master of daydreaming, but still absorbing what is happening around her. It annoyed the crap out of all her teachers.

Soon the bell rang, and she straightened up in her seat, waiting for the stampede of the majority of the students to make its way out the door, before leaving herself, glancing at
Nekozawa, only to find him returning her gaze. She quirked him a smirk, and left the room, shrugging off her teacher's irritated gaze, to meet her short brunette friend for lunch.

"Ru-chan!" she sang happily, glomping her friend in the middle of the empty classroom. "How are you doing today? Is anyone hassling you? Are you having any trouble in your classes?"

Haruhi shrugged off her overly protective friend, but answered her. "I'm fine Tsu-chan. Classes aren't that hard to keep up with in most subjects, so I'll be okay." Ayatsuri gave her a smile, and then they pulled out their lunches, and started to eat them.

"I'll always love your cooking Ru-chan." Ayatsuri stated after swallowing a mouthful of food. "I wish I could cook as well as you." She said wistfully.

"You can't cook at all Tsu-chan." Haruhi stated bluntly as she finished eating the sushi she had packed for herself.

Ayatsuri pouted at her friend, before sticking her last skewer of dango, still with two dumplings on it, in her mouth and pulling out her rollerblades from her book bag. She then slipped them on, turned to her friend and said a short "Bye-bye Ru-chan." and zoomed out the room and down the halls towards her next class.

A little too soon for Haruhi's tastes, school classes were over, and it was time to head to the room that held the club that made her life miserable.

When they got there, however, Haruhi became even more irked with them when Tamaki came up to her and said, "Today, instead of hosting the beautiful females of our school, we are opening the Host Club late in order to do research!" Haruhi blinked at him, wondering what type of Host-thing he would have her do today. "Today, we will be making peasants' ramen!" Haruhi stared at him with a look between incredulousness and irritation.

Tamaki made his way over to a kitchen counter that had somehow made its' way into the music room, where the rest of the Hosts were congregated. "All right men! Everyone try to make a different type of ramen!" he said in a pompous, militaristic manner. The Hosts ignored him, still examining the cheap packets of ramen that were on the table with wonder.

"How does this have a thing to do with being a Host?" Haruhi asked mostly to herself, though Ayatsuri overheard it.

"It doesn't." she said bluntly. "Rich kids do whatever they want, and I think Suoh-san has an odd obsession with so called 'commoner' things." Haruhi was a bout to respond with some sort of dry comment, but then they heard Tamaki finish his instructions.

"Listen to the teacher!" Haruhi's eye started to twitch in irritation yet again as he gestured towards her, and even had the gall to put a sash around her shoulder proclaiming 'teacher' until she ripped it off and grudgingly headed over to instruct the Hosts in the art of making cheap noodles.

Thankfully for Ayatsuri, ramen was one of the few things she could make without blowing something up or setting something on fire, so she decided to make some as well, as she was a little hungry. 'Which flavor should I use?' she thought to herself, debating between two packets. 'Chicken and pork it is then.' She then, awkwardly prepared the noodles, tuning out the chatter of the Hosts around her.

She did pay attention however, when she heard an unknown voice next to her.

"My ingredients are stuck to the lid." A deep, quiet voice mumbled. Ayatsuri blinked, and looked up to find Mori looking at Haruhi expectantly. Haruhi was looking at him in astonishment, though she tried to hide it, and went on to explain how to do it correctly.

Ayatsuri stared at him for a moment or two, before going back to finishing the cooking of her noodles, 'He's got a nice voice. Shame he doesn't use it more.' She thought absently. She then picked up her noodles and walked over to the corner of the room that she had basically claimed as her 'territory'. She watched in slight amusement as Tamaki started to invade Haruhi's personal space yet again, and concentrated on slurping up her noodles, until she heard the rude twins start to talk.

"We just don't get it. No, it doesn't add up." They said simultaneously. "Tono's supposed to be teaching you how to be a Host, correct?" they asked Haruhi as they each placed a hand under her chin, making Ayatsuri growl lowly, but continued on without waiting for an answer. "But you can't even pass the first condition!" the finished, ending up standing next to Tamaki.

Tamaki held his chin contemplatively. "Hmm… I can see that. The problem is, once again, the visual…" he then walked towards the semi-confused brunette and examined her. After a few seconds, he reached forward to take off her glasses. "Then again, taking off the glasses might not do much, probably just make your eyes smaller. What's with these old-fashioned glasses anyways?" he asked absentmindedly.

"Well, these were my grandfather's… I lost my contacts at the Orientation Ceremony the day before school started…" she trailed off as she noticed all the Hosts staring at her intently.

Suddenly, Tamaki snapped his fingers. "Hikaru, Kaoru!" he commanded.

"Yes!!" they said, suddenly appearing with a mirror and scissors, already knowing what their blond leader wanted.

While the twins got to work, Tamaki continued to instruct the rest of the Hosts, pointing to each of them in turn. "Kyouya, call the school designated tailor. Mori get some prescription contacts!" Ayatsuri watched curiously as they did their assigned jobs speedily.

"What about me, Tama-chan?" Hani asked eagerly, hugging Usa-chan to his chest.

Tamaki pointed to the small senior pompously and declared, "Hani-sempai, go eat cake!"

Hani wandered off to a table to do just that, mumbling to himself and Usa-chan, until Ayatsuri took pity on the cute little blond and invited him over to her table to watch the show.

"Waaaaah! What are you doing?!" Haruhi shouted as she was shoved into a chair and the twins started to snip at her hair quickly.

"Don't worry." One said, "We're pros." The other finished.

'I doubt that.' Ayatsuri thought sourly as she watched them like a hawk, almost wanting a reason to pound them into the dust.

After awhile, in which Hani fell asleep on the table, and Ayatsuri gently moved him to a couch, Mori and Kyouya were back with their respective items, and the twins pulled Haruhi into the changing room until they were kicked out by her.

Then, after waiting for a few moments, everyone heard steps come closer to the curtain separating the changing room from them. "Sempai…" Haruhi's voice came through the curtain.

"Ah, you've finished changing?" Tamaki asked, interrupting her.

Haruhi ignored him though, and pulled aside the curtain as she finished her question, "Excuse me, but do I really get to keep this?" she asked as she tugged on the edge of her new uniform's blazer.

Her uneven hair had been cut properly, and fell nicely around her head, and without her dorky glasses, her large chocolate brown eyes shone brightly.

She didn't receive an answer though, and when she looked up, she saw Tamaki looking at her with tears flowing down his cheeks.

"SO CUTE!" he exclaimed, and he would have given her a tackle-hug if Ayatsuri hadn't grabbed him by the back of his shirt collar.

"Don't do that. You'll hurt Ru-chan." She said blankly, before turning to her friend herself and giving her a once over. "You look good Ru-chan. Much better than that Harry Potter wannabe that showed up the first day of school." She added with a small smirk.

Haruhi gave her friend a small pout, making Tamaki get up from his 'Corner O' Gloom' and babble about how cute she was again.

"How lovely you are! You almost look like a girl!" he exclaimed. Ayatsuri held back a snort of laughter at that comment.

"Haru-chan is cute!" Hani said happily.

"If you had that face, why didn't you tell us earlier?" Hikaru asked, rubbing the back of his head.

"Hmm… maybe you could get a customer or two…" Kyouya said contemplatively.

At that, Tamaki perked up and got a glint in his purple eyes. "Yes!! It was a calculated! I knew he would be able to do it!"

'Liar.' Both girls thought.

"Here now is the time that your true worth shall be revealed!" he continued dramatically. "Go show the ladies you're appearance of beauty! The Host Club starts now!"

"Tamaki, the club doesn't start until thirty minutes from now." Kyouya stated dryly, making Tamaki go back to his corner to angst some more.

Then, Haruhi got an evil gleam in her eyes that didn't go unnoticed by her redheaded friend, who slowly backed away to her corner chair. The short brunette creepily turned to her taller friend. "Oh Tsu-chan!" she said in an eerie voice. "I think you forgot what you agreed to when I was forced into becoming a trainee-Host." She moved in like a predator, slinking towards Ayatsuri. "You said, and I quote, 'Oh no Ru-chan. You aren't going to do chores. You'll be doing this option. I'll even help it go faster. But if you do the chores I won't help; that would be boring. Being a Host might have its benefits.' So I'm not doing a thing until you're trussed up like a turkey as well." Haruhi finished smugly.

Instead of getting depressed or irritated though, Ayatsuri gave a grin and hugged the smaller girl to her torso. "Aww… That's my little lawyer Ru-chan!" she said happily, before releasing her and pinching her cheeks like some sort of overly-affectionate-deranged-great-aunt. The Hosts stared at her in shock, never having seen her anything but passive or amused.

"You know that I would never go back on my word. I always intended to join you if you became a Host." Ayatsuri said after Haruhi slapped her hands away. "See? I even got a uniform in my size!" she finished; already back into her usually bland persona, and pulling the blue blazer and black slacks out of nowhere.

Haruhi's eyebrow twitched violently for a moment before she regained control of herself.

Then the twins, who, along with the rest of the Hosts, had been listening to their conversation, sidled up to the two. "What makes you think that you're handsome enough to become a Host anyway?" they asked simultaneously in a snide voice.

Ayatsuri's eye twitched behind her sunglasses, and she turned to the twins with a forced, polite smile on her face. "Surely if you two are Hosts, it does not take much to meet the club's standards. I am quite sure that I am sufficiently pleasing to the feminine eye. It is somewhat sad that you two are so insecure in your own appearance that you go so low as to insult others on theirs without even knowing their features." She said with a forced calm, before striding into the changing room to switch out her clothes for the males' Ouran uniform, leaving the twins gawking at her back.

Hani then walked up to them, looking at the twins with slight reproach. "Aya-chan is cute though, right Takashi?" he said, asking for confirmation from his tall cousin.

"Aa." He said with a nod.

The twins blinked in surprise. "How do you know what he looks like?" they asked at the same time.

Hani's eyes brightened happily. "Aya-chan was in a sweet shop yesterday. The really good one that Takashi and I found a couple of weeks ago!" here he paused for a moment. "'He' wasn't wearing his hat or sunglasses when 'he' was there." He said with a slight giggle at calling Ayatsuri a 'he'.

The twins swapped glances, before leaning in towards the short senior. "What does he look like?" they asked curiously.

Hani opened his mouth, and was about to answer their question, when they all heard Tamaki gasp in astonishment. The five who were all clustered together turned around, while Kyouya looked up from his laptop, and saw Ayatsuri for the first time without her glasses or hat.

Her white-tipped burgundy hair fell around her face, some of it getting in her reddish-black eyes as she leaned against the wall. The blazer was tied around her waist, while the white dress shirt hid her small chest, and the black slacks were slightly baggy. Her tie wasn't fastened and hung around her neck underneath her unbuttoned collar.

"Well?" she asked blandly. "Am I aesthetically pleasing enough to entertain the vapid females of this school?"

Tamaki's eyes widened and he started to reprimand her profusely. "Beauty is no excuse to… to slander the fair ladies of this establishment!" he blustered.

Ayatsuri looked at him blankly. "I'm not insulting them. I am applying an adjective that matches their personalities and behavior patterns. Most of them are distinctly vapid, especially the ones who come to this club. That is why they fall for your 'prince charming' act."

Tamaki froze mid-rant, looking at her in horror, before he disappeared to his corner to sulk again. Soon though, they could all hear pounding feet outside the door, and all of them moved to their positions in front of the door to pose for the herd of yellow-clothed girls on the other side of it.

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All right, my sparse collection of readers; I'm really sorry about the wait, but I just couldn't think of anything to write. This chapter is extra long to make up for it though! I hope you enjoy it, and I'll try to update as soon as possible.