November 6

"Princess!" Tamaki ran up to me and gave me an exuberant hug, already sounding more persistent and excited than usual.

"Hi, Senpai," I said, giving him a weird look as I began walking to my table. Every nerve ending in my body spiked as Tamaki followed me to my destination, watching me like a hawk.

"Uh, could you.... Not?" I asked, slowly looking over my shoulder at him. "You're making me unbelievably uncomfortable." I couldn't believe I had to actually voice that request. His eyes were so wide and searching, and I felt scrutinized beyond belief, like I was under a microscope.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Princess." He stepped back, leaning against the wall to my left. That also made me curious, even though he did what I asked. He didn't do it dramatically- not a flourish or fake tear in sight. Something was definitely up.

"Tamaki-senpai, are you feeling alright?" I asked carefully. The blonde nodded eagerly.

"Of course!" He assured me, without quite looking at me. I just tried to dismiss his unusual behavior (although nothing was really too out of the ordinary for Tamaki) and the fact that he'd already called me Princess twice as I unpacked my bag. Headphones, notebook, pens, and phone all were placed in their designated spots on the desk.

As I took the notebook out, I heard Tamaki intake a sharp breath. I looked up quizzically to see his lavender eyes shining brightly. He smiled widely at me, then bounded off yelling for Hikaru and Kaoru. I watched him go with an eyebrow raised, unable to justify anything that crazy, lovesick second-year did.

"Kyouya!" I turned and shook my head as I saw Tamaki run over to Kyouya with the twins in tow. Physically shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I began writing to distract myself. As always, it proved to be a worthy distraction, as I got lost in the fourteenth chapter of the book and about an hour had passed. The guests were now milling around the room, fawning over the boys and Haruhi.

Suddenly hyper-aware that the three usually eccentric hosts were unusually quiet and hadn't bothered me, I closed my book and stood up. I saw them talking to Kyouya excitedly and decided to go investigate. As I got closer, I saw that Kyouya was shaking his head with a resigned look on his face- the usual expression when talking to them.

"... A good idea-" Tamaki cut himself off as I approached, immediately grabbing the twins and running away from me. I just sighed as I looked after them.

"Are they going to do something stupid?" I asked, turning to Kyouya. He smiled, in a way that I could swear was almost sarcastic.

"Something like that." He beckoned for me to follow him after a second, and I complied. Kyouya led me to his desk where his computer was open, and he gestured to the screen.

"Miss Sahni, why don't you take a look?" He asked. I shrugged, taking a seat and looking over the page that was up. My eyes widened as I realized that I was looking at the sales page for the host club, specifically for my books, and that the sales were through the roof. My mouth dropped open a little bit, and I quickly shut it knowing that I was being watched.

"Senpai, this is crazy!" I said, marveling at the screen. "How did you manage to market it so well?" He snickered lightly.

"Well, I am by all means an incredible marketer, but this one was mostly you, Miss Sahni. The contents of the novel speak quite loudly for itself." I smiled at the roundabout compliment Kyouya had given to me. I took what I could get.

"Thank you, Senpai," I said, once I figured out what to say in my shock.

"For what?" He asked.

"For-" I stopped talking when I heard a prominent ripping noise reach my ears. I looked up at Kyouya-senpai, who was staring halfway across the room somewhere. He shrugged his shoulders to whomever he was silently talking to, and I followed his gaze to see Tamaki, Hikaru, and Kaoru standing around my table.

I was horrified to see Hikaru tearing pages out of my notebook, Kaoru eagerly spreading glue across them, and Tamaki glueing them into another huge notebook. I got up from my chair faster than I could blink and ran toward them, snatching my notebook away from Hikaru as soon as I was in range.

"What are you doing?" I asked, resenting how shaky my voice already was. The three boys looked at me with wide, innocent eyes.

"Kaiyo-" Kaoru was the first to speak, but in my head, I'd already drowned out the sound of his voice. I looked down at the now tattered remains of my book. A large portion of the used pages had been torn out already. I reached out against my will to pull at the single page that was glued to the inside cover of the other book. It didn't budge.

"Kaiyoka?" I heard Kaoru speak this time. He sounded unsure about whether I'd heard a single thing he'd just said. Spoiler: I hadn't. I clenched my teeth together in an effort to keep my cool. Gently, I held the skeleton of my notebook closer to my chest. It felt thinner than ever with so many of the pages ripped from the binding. Only blank pages were left.

"Why is it so important, anyway?" Hikaru asked. It was clear that he hadn't understood the look that I knew was on my face, and I reminded myself that he didn't read the room very well. "It's just a notebook." Anger swelled in my chest, but I tried to keep it out of my voice as I answered,

"It's not just a notebook, Hikaru, it belonged to my father." I really tried to keep from getting emotional in front of everyone, but I felt the tears well behind my eyes as I clutched the notebook's cover closer. "It was his before it was mine." I felt the remaining words get stuck in my throat, and I knew I couldn't stop the tears that were threatening to fall. I turned and briskly left the music room, running down the stairs and out the doors and toward whatever wasn't the blank look Hikaru was giving me.

Kaiyoka left a very confused set of people in the music room. The only one who fully understood was Kyouya. He adjusted his glasses, sighing, and Haruhi looked over at him and immediately put the pieces together. She thought of her own mother and made her way toward the door. She thought better of just leaving, though, and turned around.

"Wait until I come back to do anything. And try not to make it worse," She instructed, nodding toward the art project the boys had made of Kaiyoka's notebook. "And Senpai..." She looked toward Kyouya. "When she comes back, be ready." He nodded after a moment, and Haruhi left. Kyouya cast a glance at his best friend and the twins, who were standing exactly where they had been four minutes ago.

"What did we do?" Kaoru asked Hikaru, who just shrugged. Tamaki looked distraught.

"Kyouya, what was she saying about her father?" He asked. Kyouya felt a strike of sadness for Kaiyoka as he shook his head. The feeling was mildly foreign- at least, the fact that it was directed towards someone else was.

"That's not for me to tell you. She will if she wants to."

*

Haruhi's ears perked up at the quiet sound of shaky breathing, of someone trying not to cry. She weaved her way through convoluted pathways in the garden maze before she saw Kaiyoka on the ground, back against one of the hedges. Her knuckles were white as they clutched at the notebook's meager spine, and she didn't seem to notice that so much of her hair had fallen into her face. Haruhi sighed softly, joining her on the ground.

"You want to talk about it?" Haruhi asked, pulling her knees up to her chest. Kaiyoka pulled in a deep breath, looking over at her friend. She didn't say anything for a long while.

"It was like they were tearing my father apart." Haruhi's heart broke as more tears began to slip from Kaiyoka's eyes. As she watched her friend and processed her words, Haruhi understood. Kaiyoka's father had given her that book, and for one reason or another, he's no longer with her. She could relate to the feeling, but Kaiyoka's wounds were very obviously still sensitive.

"It's okay, you know," Haruhi assured her gently. "It's okay for that book to mean as much to you as it does." Kaiyoka's eyes widened as she looked over at Haruhi, who was looking earnestly back. She continued, while Kaiyoka was still listening.

"You may be thinking that it shouldn't be as important to you as it is, but that's not the case. It's okay for you to be attached to the book if your father gave it to you." Haruhi was shooting in the dark, but she was speaking from the heart, because she knew exactly where Kaiyoka was coming from. She was in the same position as Kaiyoka many years ago. She knew how it felt to have your heart crack in two. She knew what it felt like to have an item of a lost loved one taken from you. She knew.

"I..." Kaiyoka began, but stopped. "Thank you. I needed to hear that." Kaiyoka swiped a sleeve across her face, drying most of her tears. She looked at the book in her hands, closing it and opening it and remembering every time she'd written in it. She closed it again and smoothed her hand over the cover, the embroidery evident under her palm. Haruhi watched as Kaiyoka relived memories, and the two girls sat in the courtyard in silence.

"Can we go back?" Kaiyoka asked eventually. Haruhi stared at her, surprised, but nodded. She didn't expect Kaiyoka to want to go back at all.

"Of course." Haruhi stood, then helped her friend up. They began the walk back slowly, making their way out of the maze and toward the school doors.

"I don't want to talk to them, but if I don't do it now, I never will," Kaiyo explained, easing the still-surprised look on Haruhi's face. "They did something stupid, and they didn't know how it would affect me. I'm upset, but I know I'll regret it if I don't talk to them." Haruhi nodded, suddenly feeling proud of Kaiyoka. They talked quietly about the events of the day until they got to the doors, which were closed. Kaiyoka stood with one hand ready to swing them open, but she hesitated.

"Should I forgive them?" She asked herself more than anyone else. She looked down at her notebook, smiling sadly,

"You would, wouldn't you?" She asked it, running her finger over the leather binding. Haruhi stood by, watching from a respectable distance to let Kaiyoka remember her father. After a moment, she gripped the book tightly and swung the doors of the host club open.

*

I came almost face-to-face with three horribly guilty expressions. Tamaki, Hikaru, and Kaoru were standing directly in my way, and I could see that Kyouya was watching them intently from his desk. The guests, somehow, were all being entertained by Honey and Mori, who were handing out cake with a side of kawaii as a distraction.

"Kaiyo-chan, we're sorry. We didn't mean to hurt you," Tamaki began. I was honestly more taken aback than angry at this point. Haruhi let me work through my feelings already, and Tamaki-senpai called me by my actual name. Shocking.

"Yeah. We didn't know that specific notebook meant so much to you," Kaoru added. Hikaru stepped back and let me see that the table was exactly how I had left it.

"We didn't do anything more," He assured me. I looked between the three of them, detecting no insincerity. Haruhi silently backed me up on this, because she would have called them out if she had.

"How much did he tell you?" I asked them. They all looked utterly confused.

"Who?" Kaoru asked.

"Kyouya-senpai." At the continuation of their confused looks, I shut my mouth. The less they knew, the better, at least for the time being.

"Nevermind. I accept your apologies." The three boys sighed with relief. As they waltzed back over to their guests, the three of them promised to make things right when club hours were over. I thanked Haruhi once again with a nod, and she reciprocated with a nod of her own as she went to attend to her own guests. I, on the other hand, made a beeline for Kyouya.

"You didn't tell them anything?" I asked, not bothering to dance around my question. He raised an eyebrow, as if to ask if I was being serious.

"Of course not. It's not my place to tell them just because I have a little bit of knowledge. It's for you to tell them if you so desire." He surprised me with a subtle bit of vehemence in his voice- he was being serious. I appreciated that immensely, more than I even expected to. He exceeded my expectations, and it was just now coming to my attention that I had expectations at all. I smiled at his words, letting out a breath I didn't know I was holding.

"Thank you, Kyouya-senpai."

"You're welcome."