//Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran High School Host Club.//

CHAPTER TEN
OH NO, HIDE YOUR PRIVATES

"What on earth are you doing?" Asami pauses in her stroll around the house to stare at her brother. She has come to understand that Tamaki is quite–well, quite weird. She ignores most of his odd behaviors because it does not truly bother her; however, she still needs a moment to process what he is doing. Tamaki freezes in his walk, slowly turning his head to look at his sister as her eyes lock onto the portrait he is carrying. The portrait is a drawn picture of Tamaki, Asami, and Haruhi holding hands in a meadow with flower crowns in their hair.

"Nothing," he quickly says and tries to pick up the speed to his room. She holds out her hand and shakes her head causing him to pause in defeat.

"Tamaki, I'm okay with being in that portrait, but did you even ask Haruhi about this?" She winces, looking over the drawing more to see that the drawn Haruhi has her old long hair and not her current look. "I mean this is a little weird and rude because it looks like her middle school self."

"She was so pretty," he cries and releases the portrait to launch at Asami. She catches him and awkwardly pats his back as he sobs into her shoulders. "Why is my little girl pretending to be a boy? It breaks Daddy's heart! I just want her to look like that again."

"Okay, but Haruhi is happy with how she currently looks so should you, and why did you have portraits made of the three of us?" She inquires.

"Because I'm the daddy, you're the aunt and Haruhi is my daughter which means she's your niece!" He suddenly gasps and releases her. "You kissed your niece." He hisses in disgust.

"Because you pushed her," she snips back. "Tamaki, get rid of it. I don't think Haruhi would appreciate coming over one day and seeing that creepily hanging in your room. Or at least cover Haruhi so she's not in it and it's only us." Tamaki sulks, mumbling depressingly under his breath while zombie-walking to the portrait. He slowly lifts the portrait and stares at it sadly. He lifts his one hand, softly stroking it.

"Asami! Tamaki! My darling chil—what is going on?" Yuzuru stops, raising an eyebrow at the scene he just walked into.

"Tamaki's being creepy again," Asami responds.

"I'm not creepy!" Tamaki breaks out of his depressed state to yell at her. Asami merely gestures to the portrait and Yuzuru looks closer at it as Tamaki tries to cover it with his body.

"Tamaki," he pauses, "why do you have a portrait with Fujioka in it?" Yuzuru asks. Tamaki glances around for an escape from the questioning.

"Because my darling daughter needs to see how beautiful she looked when looking like a girl so she can embrace her feminine side!" Tamaki pauses and gapes at Yuzuru. "You know Haruhi is a girl?"

"Of course I know," Yuzuru looks genuinely confused at the shocked expression on Tamaki's face. "Fujioka did register as a girl in their medical records for Ouran. I am the chairman of your school. I oversee everyone being admitted into the academy so I have access to all their records."

"I knew that you oversaw everyone's records being submitted but how do you remember everyone's gender?" She asks, warily wondering if Tamaki is so creepy because their father is too.

"I do not remember everyone's gender." Asami is happy that her father looks weirded out by that. "I simply remember Fujioka's because I had to make a special exemption from the girls' uniform for them since they could not afford it." Asami nods her head at that answer and narrows her eyes at Tamaki, 'So where does his creepiness come from then?' 

She snaps out of his thoughts and looks at her father again with a questioning look on her face. "How come her scholarship doesn't cover the cost of uniforms as well?" She asks.

"That is a good question. The scholarship has only ever covered the cost of tuition and books for students in poverty or close to," he furrows his eyebrows in thought, "it really should cover the cost of uniforms as well since we do require students to wear them. I should bring this up at the next meeting," he continues to mumble and starts walking away, but suddenly stops. "Oh Asami," he spins on his heels and smiles at her, "I almost forgot about what I originally came here to do. One of the school staff was talking about how they do father-daughter days every other weekend where they spend the entire day together hanging out. Would you like to do that this weekend?"

"What about me?" Tamaki protests in the background. Asami stares at Yuzuru, feeling like she is drowning in water after hearing those words. Memories of being alone in school during father-child events, being bullied by the other kids for not having a father, crying in Emica's arms and asking why her father had to die, and staying home in later years when fathers were supposed to come to school to avoid everyone's scrutiny. She only ever had one good memory concerning father-daughter events.

Shirakawa has an annual festival to celebrate the coming of spring. During the festival, there are numerous activities to participate in. Most children are able to participate in every event with their parents; however, that is not the case for young Asami. Asami watches with a forlorn expression as her female classmates got to dance with their fathers during the father-daughter dance event. Hikari and Kaori are laughing happily, standing on one foot each of their fathers as he tries to dance with them. She wishes she could join in with them. After this, there will be more father-daughter events such as a three-legged race, bingo, egg carrying, and much more. Emica is in the bathroom at the moment to freshen up since the multiple mother-daughter events just ended. Asami notices the pitiful and judgmental stares other parents are sending her way.

"Look at poor Asami, she's sitting all alone."

"That poor girl needs a father in her life."

"No wonder she gets in trouble at school a lot considering she has no father figure to look up to."

"It must be hard not having a father."

Asami winces at the whispers focusing on her lack of a father. She sniffs, wiping away a stray tear when a shadow figure appears in front of her. She glances up to see Kazuki smiling down at her with his hand out. "May I have this dance, m'lady?" She giggles at his goofiness.

"That's breaking the rules." She softly comments. "This is only meant for fathers and their daughters."

"Who said we were joining them?" He reaches down and pulls her up before leading her away from the event and to a quiet place in the park. She smiles and observes the yellow chrysanthemums surrounding the area. "We should make this our own private event." He announces, bowing and holding a hand out to her. "We'll have Kazuki-Asami events while they have their father-daughter ones."

"I'd like that." She takes his hand and he stands up, pulling her closer so they could sway together. Emica searches for her daughter after coming out of the bathroom, worrying that something may have happened when she stumbles upon the scene. She smiles and watches the two young children. Asami and Kazuki are laughing with one another as they do goofy dance moves. Asami will forever be grateful for the kindness Kazuki has consistently shown her throughout the years.

"Asami?" She breaks out of her thoughts and realizes she must've been quiet for too long because her father looks nervous now. "We don't have to if you don't want to."

"No," she shakes her head and smiles at him, "I want to." Yuzuru smiles back at her, nodding his head in happiness before leaving to go back to his mansion.

"Are you okay?" She turns to see Tamaki staring worriedly at her with the portrait laying forgotten on the floor. "You looked out of it there for a moment."

"I just—I just never had a father before to do this sort of stuff." She sniffs, wiping away a few tears that escaped her eyes. "I was always made fun of at school during father-child days because I didn't have one to bring with me." He pulls her into a hug and gently rubs her back. She cries softly on his shoulder. Guilt hits her when she realizes that Tamaki has been spending less time with their father since she has coke into the picture. Yuzuru has been trying to make up for all their lost time as father and daughter and it feels like Tamaki has been pushed to the side. "I'm sorry if it feels like I've been taking our father's attention from you lately." She apologizes, closing her eyes and nuzzling more into his shoulder.

"Don't be silly," Tamaki dismisses that idea, "I'm happy that you are finally getting to bond with father. I've had him to myself for a while plus, I don't mind sharing the attention." He pulls away and wipes away the last of her tears. "Now, help me hang this portrait up in my room."

"Not until you get rid of Haruhi in it."

"But she's so pretty, that'll be a crime!"

•••

Asami sits on the bench in the garden and watches the flower petals fall from the trees. She glances to the side, observing how tense Kazuki seems to be sitting next to her. After the memory she relived last night, she messaged Kazuki and asked him to speak with her in the garden before classes started for the day. Kazuki fidgets with his sleeves while staring pensively at the ground. The silence between the two is quite heavy and Asami feels unsure of what to say to break it. "I'm sorry." She mumbles after another moment of silence. He breaks his gaze on the ground and locks his eyes on her. "I didn't understand why you were so angry that I didn't tell you about the Maru situation. It happened so quickly and I didn't get severely injured so I didn't think anything of it. I'm already dealing with the Emica crap that Maru seemed so meaningless in the scheme of things. That doesn't make what I did right. You deserved to know. I realized that you got angry because you felt like I didn't trust you and I couldn't rely on you."

"It's more than that." He quietly informs her.

"Tell me." She pleads. "I don't want to lose our friendship over this."

"Ever since you befriend the Host Club, I feel like a second thought. The news showed videos of the aftermath and the entire club was there for you—but I wasn't." His voice cracks a bit. "I feel like I'm being replaced and that you rely more on them than me nowadays." She reaches over and gently takes his hand, stroking his knuckles with her thumb.

"I'm sorry," She whispers as sadness hits her hard at how she never really thought about how her new situation has impacted her friends.

"I see you guys in the hallways, during class and meal times. You're always smiling and laughing with them like you have a whole set of inside jokes with them that I'm not a part of. It makes me feel jealous." He admits. "That was us. We always were together throughout the school with Hikari and Kaori. Everything's changed and I don't," he sighs, "I don't like it." Asami opens her mouth to say something but he continues to talk. "I know you have the right to make new friends and have new inside jokes with them and everything. I want you to be happy and you seem happy with them, but it's hard for me. I feel forgotten and like I don't matter to you anymore."

"I never meant to make you feel like that." Asami chokes out and launches herself at him, wrapping her arms tightly around him. "I'm so sorry. You do matter, Kazuki. You will always be my best friend. You know and understand the innermost layers of me when most people wouldn't even give me the time of day to do that. You've been with me through some of the hardest times in my life and I will never forget that. I never meant to make you feel like you're less important to me. I've just been so caught up getting to know my brother and making new friends that I didn't realize how this was affecting you. Why didn't you say anything until now?"

"You've been going through a lot and have had major life changes in the last few months. I felt selfish for feeling like this and didn't want to bring it up, but the Maru situation pushed my feelings over the edge." He confesses to her, tightening his hold on her.

"You're not selfish for feeling like this. I'm going to do better as your friend. I'll try to balance my time with you and the host club better." She promises. The two stay there for a moment in each other's arms, comforting one another.

From a room on the second floor with a window that can clearly see the garden, a pair of eyes watch the interaction with the same happiness she experienced when she saw them dancing together so many years ago.

•••

Asami tries to ignore the glares from Yukio as she quietly works on her math assignment with the twins and Haruhi. Technically, they're supposed to be working in pairs so Asami and Kaoru teamed up while Hikaru and Haruhi teamed up. They're still quietly sharing answers between the two groups to make sure everyone is on the same page. Today, they're working on statistics.

Question 6: The following distribution shows the daily pocket allowance of children of a locality. The mean pocket allowance is 18. Find the missing frequency, f.

Daily Allowance

11-13 : 13-15 : 15-17 : 17-19 : 19-21 : 21-23 : 23-25

Number of children

7 : 6 : 9 : 13 : f : 5 : 4

First, she added all the children up: 44+f.

Next, she found the midpoint of each frequency when she takes the upper limit + the lower limit and divides that by 2.

Midpoint

12 : 14 : 16 : 18 : 20 : 22 : 24

She needed to multiply the number of children by the midpoint and get the sum of all those numbers.

84 : 84 : 144 : 234 : 20f : 110 : 96 = 752 + 20f

Now that she has her numbers, she can plug them into the mean formula.

18 = (752 + 20f) / (44 + f)
18 (44 + f) = (752 + 20f)
792 + 18f = 752 + 20f
792 - 752 = 20f - 18f
40 = 2f
20 = f

"Did you guys get 20 for question 6?" She whispers.

"Yeah." The other three whisper back. She grins, happy that she got the right answer just as the bell rings to signal the end of the day. She packs her stuff up and leaves with the trio.

"He really hates you," Kaoru comments as they leave the classroom.

"I'm surprised you didn't burn to death under his glare," Hikaru states.

"It's not right for him to be singling you out like that with his attitude. You should make a formal complaint against him." Haruhi tells her.

"And make this entire situation worse? No thank you, I can deal with some glaring." She shakes her head as they head to the host club event for today.

•••

Asami yawns, laying across a bench as the host club prepares to open in a few moments. They have set everything up in the garden as the cherry blossoms are in full bloom. Asami is wearing a matching kimono with Mitsukuni, Takashi, and Haruhi. The twins, Tamaki and Kyoya are wearing butler uniforms. "How may I serve you, milady?" She glances up to see Kaoru holding a platter of different teacups in his one hand, speaking in a strange accent that he must be imitating from a show.

"I would like one cup of tea with a cube of sugar." She speaks in a posh accent, sitting up and straightening her kimono out.

"Of course, milady," he dramatically takes one of the teacups and sets it in front of her. He grabs a cube of sugar and plops it in the cup. "Is it to your liking?" She lifts the cup, ensuring her pinky is out, and takes a sip.

"Disgusting," she makes a sour face and turns her head away from the cup, "what a sham of a butler you are. You cannot even make tea correctly." Kaoru snorts at her acting.

"Maybe I can remedy his poor tea skills," Hikaru appears next to Kaoru and smirks at Asami. "Have some of mine." He takes the teacup Kaoru gave her and replaces it with one of his own. She eyes him warily, cautiously taking a sip of the tea. She immediately spits it out and coughs. "Hey, it cannot be that bad!"

"What did you do to it?" She says in between coughs. Kaoru worriedly places a hand on her back and glances at his twin.

"I put some hot sauce in it." Hikaru grins mischievously. "I plan on giving some to Milord while he's busy entertaining." He gestures to Tamaki who is freaking out over how cute Haruhi looks in her kimono. "I just wanted to see if I put enough in it for a reaction."

"You definitely did." Asami grabs the previous teacup Kaoru gave her and drowns the contents. "Kaoru, I don't think we should allow Hikaru to make his own tea anymore. Who knows what kind of pranks he might pull on the guests."

"I would never prank our guests!" Hikaru protests, but Kaoru nods his head in agreement with Asami.

"You're right, I'll inform Kyoya." Kaoru comments and leaves with Hikaru following him while still protesting. Suddenly, the alarm sounds that guests are arriving and everyone rushes to get in position. Asami stands up, cracking her back before heading over to Takashi and Mitsukuni. She smiles at the duo and they return it. They turn to the guests entering the garden, "Welcome!"

Asami is walking from table to table to put more tea and cups out for the guests. Tamaki sits with his guests, smiling warmly at them causing the girls to blush. "Princess, which cup would you like to have tea with? Foley? Worcester? Or would you like to have Susie's Gardenia?"

"They're all British antiques. Which one is your favorite, Tamaki-kun?" One girl asks.

"This princess, to go." He cups her cheek.

"Oh my, Tamaki-kun." The girl giggles. Asami rolls her eyes in disgust and heads over to where the twins are. She smiles at the group as she holds a new pot of tea in hand to replace the one in Kaoru's hands after he finishes the current cups.

"Have you ever been to a convent garden in Great Britain?" Kaoru asks.

"I've only been to Portobello for the antique market." The guest states.

"It's pretty interesting there. We got most of our Victorian stuff there, too." Hikaru says. Suddenly, Kaoru spills some tea on his hand and winces in pain. "Kaoru!" Hikaru places the platter of sweets down and grabs Kaoru's burnt finger. "This happens because you're looking at some other stuff. You only need to look at me." He kisses the finger.

"Hikaru," Kaoru whispers and blushes. Asami reaches for Kaoru's hand once Hikaru drops it to observe the burn as well. She knows the twins did this on purpose and the burn is not that bad, but she is still worried that it could turn into something more serious.

"You need to be more careful." She softly comments, "I hate seeing you get hurt. We should go to the nurse." Hikaru nods his head in agreement as he reaches out to grab Asami and Kaoru's interlocked hand with his own—the guests are swooning over the thought of a three-way love.

"It's okay. I'm already healed by Hikaru's and your love." Kaoru reassures them.

"This is too much!" One guest frets. "I'll faint!"

"Don't waste your chance! You need to look very carefully! This is a very rare scene—especially with Asami involved!" The other guest shouts.

"You're right, ma'am." Kyoya strolls up to the table with a pleasant smile. "Beauty is as vain as this cherry blossom. You will never be able to see the same shape for two days." He gently touches a branch of cherry blossoms. "I made a photo about to capture such a day-to-day beauty. By the way, it comes with individual and group versions for 15,000 yen. We also have a set price."

"I'll buy them!" The guests crowd Kyoya with blushes bright on their faces.

"I didn't think that's how our club did so well financially." Hikaru muses.

"Wait, when was he taking pictures of us?" Kaoru asks before the twins turn to face Asami who looks a bit guilty as she whistles and gazes at everything but them. Memories of seeing the girl wander the host club with a camera attached to her neck as she helps serve the guests tea and food come to their minds. They never truly gave it another thought in those moments. They did do a few photo shoots for the albums to please Kyoya, but they did not think he was taking pictures of them without them knowing—and he even wrapped Asami into it.

"Oh, do you hear that? I think Mitsukuni is calling my name. I'm coming, Mitsukuni!" She rushes away and toward Mitsukuni's table. She makes it to their table in time to see everyone watching Mitsukuni stir some tea. She takes a seat next to Takashi, curiously watching as well. She notices that a lot of the tea is spilling out of the bowl.

"Mitsukuni, too much potion is lost already," Takashi comments. Mitsukuni sadly looks at the tea.

"Honey-kun, we'll have it! It looks very delicious!" One guest says.

"Yes! I really only wanted to have this much tea! You're amazing Honey-senpai, how did you know?" The other guest goes along.

"Really?" Mitsukuni brightens up tremendously and gets even happier when Takashi hands him a dango.

"Hmm?" Asami hums when someone taps her shoulder and she turns to see Takashi also handing her some dango. "Oh, thank you." She smiles at him and takes two of the dango balls off the skewer, gently holding them out to him. "Please take these, I won't be able to finish all of this." Takashi nods his head and takes the dango, eating it as they watch Mitsukuni give the guests the little tea he had left. Haruhi excuses herself to the bathroom. Asami watches in amusement as Tamaki stops her. She wonders how long it'll take her brother to realize his feelings for her.

"How are you?" Takashi quietly asks. After the Maru incident, Asami has noticed how closely Takashi sticks to her when they're outside the host club together. She appreciates the sentiment that he feels like he should protect her.

"I'm doing better," she replies back and bites into her dango. "I can sleep now and I made up with Kazuki. I'm still looking for self-defense classes like you suggested."

"You could come to our dojo and learn kendo." He informs her with a certain gleam in his eyes. "I could help teach you."

"I don't want to bother you more than I already do." She says.

"You could never bother me." He comments. She blinks in surprise at the straightforwardness in that response, wondering if he senses the underlying flirtatious tone. Before she could say anything else, arms wrap around her and drag her away from the table. She furrows her eyebrows when she realizes she is trapped between the twins with Haruhi next to her.

"Have you decided on your electives for this quarter yet?" Kaoru asks.

"Let's take the same electives!" Hikaru states.

"We're in the same class after all," the twins grin darkly at Tamaki over their shoulder.

"How about conversational French?" Kaoru points at the paper that contains the possible electives they can take for the quarter.

"That's actually a good idea," Asami muses, realizing that she is part French and yet knows nothing of the language. "What do you say?" She asks Haruhi.

"I don't really care what I take," Haruhi bluntly states, "but conventional French doesn't sound bad."

"Haruhi! Asami! You cannot hang out with these guys!" Tamaki screams, yanking the two away from the twins. "Haruhi, you must return to your true form and live happily with your girlfriends, that's my wish as a father!" He shakes her shoulders. "Go back, go back right now!"

"Leave her alone!" Asami yells and rips Tamaki off of Haruhi. "What have I told you? Be happy that she is comfortable with her current self! Stop trying to change her!"

"Well, we don't have to rush the matter anyways, we'll soon have—" Kyoya gets cut off when Mitsukuni skips up to the girls and grabs their hands.

"Ami-Chan! Haru-Chan! When is your class's physical examination day? Let's compare our heights!" He gushes. Asami pauses and turns to look wide-eyed at Haruhi.

"Oh no," Asami mumbles.

"Yeah, that's not good. I'll be found out." Haruhi states.

"I'll be alone in this host club," Asami whimpers and hugs Haruhi. "We must not let them find out your gender."

"There's nothing we can really do about that," Haruhi states. "I'll just have to find another way to pay the host club back."

•••

"You cannot mean that." Asami shakes her head as the girls walk to the club together after classes ended. They were running a bit late since Asami had to stop and talk to Kazuki before he headed home for the day. "We need you in the host club."

"I'm sorry, Asami, but I never really wanted to be a part of it in the first place." Haruhi shrugs. "It takes time away from my studies and I need to stay on top of my grades to keep my scholarship."

"But the host club has upperclassmen who can help you with your homework and study for exams." Asami points out. "I wouldn't trust Tamaki, but Kyoya and Takashi are fairly smart. Kyoya may not want to help, but Takashi definitely would. He's very nice and helpful."

"You would think that." Haruhi gives her a teasing look.

"What do you mean?" Asami asks curiously as they get closer to the club doors.

"You spend a lot do time with those two and with Kaoru. If I didn't know better, I would dare say you have a crush on one of them or maybe all of them." Haruhi laughs as Asami splutters at that accusation.

"I do not like them!" She shouts with a blush on her face, just as they enter the host club.

"I'm sorry we're late," Haruhi says and the girls stop when they see everyone in a meeting.

"Then we decided on formation a for tomorrow's mission: Haru-Chan is really a boy!" Tamaki shouts.

"What is this meeting for?" Haruhi asks.

"I don't even want to know." Asami shakes her head.

"Don't worry, Haruhi! We'll protect your secret will all our might!" Kaoru yells, shaking her shoulders.

"I've never made it a secret, but yes, if people found out, I will never finish my quota. I'll have to think up a different way to return my debts. I owe 5,333,332 yen," Haruhi mumbles and wanders away from the group to muse about possible solutions.

"Commander! She lacks the will big time!" Kaoru shouts, distressed.

"What an uncooperative heroine she is!" Tamaki yells in equal distress.

"I could just give you the money," Asami tells Haruhi. "Or you could tutor me and I'll pay you a lot for it."

"That isn't a bad idea." Haruhi nods her head. "I do have 80 years of my life to pay this off. I could pay it off once I get a job in the future."

"That'll take too long. Let me help." Asami dismisses that idea.

"Asami is encouraging her!" Kaoru holds onto Tamaki in horror. "We must stop this!"

"Fancy tuna and korokke," Takashi says, catching the attention of both girls.

"Oh that's right, we couldn't eat it at the dance party," Tamaki states with a dark shadow crossing his face as he smirks.

"Did you hear that? Haruhi's never eaten fancy tuna before and Asmai didn't get to eat her new favorite dish." Kaoru says.

"Oh, how poor of them." Hikaru grins.

"I'm not that into fancy tuna." Haruhi protests. "Food can't sway us, right, Asami?" No response. "Asami?" She turns to see Asmai no longer standing next to her. She gapes, turning to see Asami now standing next to Takashi.

"I'm sorry, he knows how to win me over." Asami apologizes.

"Traitor." Haruhi hisses.

"Whoever doesn't corporate, shouldn't eat fancy tuna! I'll personally make sure you will have no chance of eating it in the future!" Tamaki yells.

•••

"We will now have a physical examination for 10th grade. We are very sorry to bother you, but would everyone in 10th grade please come to each campus' nurse's office." Asami walks with the twins and Haruhi to the first nurse's office on the east campus. "Please be careful with your feet."

"What a weird announcement," Haruhi says.

"I guess they don't want us accidentally trampling over each other." Asami shrugs.

"I wonder what Formations A is. What kind of physical examination does Ouran have anyway?" Haruhi asks.

"I heard there're not many differences for the equipment," Kaoru states.

"Right, it would be good if we had differences between rich and poor for this kind of thing," Hikaru says.

"It's medical stuff, after all." The twins' chorus.

"Yeah, but I'm sure the overall experience will be different compared to the schools we went to." Asami comments and throws an arm around Haruhi's shoulders. "I expect we'll be served facials and tea while we get ours done." They enter and are welcomed by the sight of dozens of nurses and doctors.

"Welcome!" They state. Asami freezes along with Haruhi.

"Not that different, huh?" Asami mumbles, warily eyeing everything. "We went down one by one to the nurse's office and got ours done by one nurse at my school. Granted, we were rather small."

"Here, please come in. Gentlemen, that way, please. Ladies, please come this way." Kyoya informed Asami to stick with Haruhi until he comes and gets them so she follows after the two, ignoring the nurses directing her to go with the ladies.

"Would you like to have something to drink while you're waiting?" Asami snorts at that question, her assumptions being proven right. Some nurses took the twins away to measure their heights. Asami watches as groups of girls hover around where the host club members are.

"Both of you have grown 1.5 centimeters since last year. Your height is now 178.2 centimeters!" Asami pouts hearing that, knowing that the twins are quite taller than her. She spots Takashi and Morinzuka in doctor getups and stares at them in confusion. They raise their fingers to their mouths and shush Asami. She turns and sees Kyoya approaching them.

"I'm guessing these are your family's doctors and nurses?" Asami asks.

"Kyoya-senpai, aren't you suppose to be in A class now?" Haruhi asks.

"Yes, and I'm also on the medical committee." Kyoya informs her and Haruhi. They watch as the doctors and nurses lie to the students about their eyesight, weight, and height.

"Isn't that wrong?" Asami questions, scrunching her nose up.

"Running the school is a business, after all. Flattering the students is the top priority." Kaoru states.

"All of the students have their family doctors at home anyway, so this is just a formality," Hikaru adds on.

"Kyo-Chan, can I go measure my height as well?" Mitsukuni questions.

"Senpai, can you not do that, please?" Kyoya sweat drops. Suddenly, someone bumps into Asami causing her to stumble. Takashi quickly steadies her by grabbing her arm. Asami observes how Kyoya narrows his eyes at the doctor.

"Thank you." She says to Takashi who nods his head at her. Apparently, Asami missed something because the twins have their shifts off and are practically groping each other in front of the girls. She whistles and winks at the twins. The twins snort at her actions. While the girls are busy swooning over the twins, Takashi and Mitsukuni push Haruhi behind a curtain. Asami bursts out laughing, bending over and holding her stomach as Tamaki leaves the curtains in a brown wig—trying to be Haruhi. "This–this is formation–formation A?" She chokes out between laughter. Tamaki glares at his sister, offended that she's laughing at his brilliant plan.

"Haruhi, we have a doctor who will keep quiet in the next room," Kyoya informs Haruhi and escorts her to the room. The twins inform Haruhi about Kyoya's family owning medical hospitals. She enters the room. "Asami, I also have one for you right here."

"Thank you, Kyoya, but why do I need a private room too?" Asami asks in confusion. Behind her, the boys have dark shadows on their faces as they remember when they heard some of the male students talk about accidentally stumbling into her curtain and seeing her body during the physical exam.

"I just wanted to ensure your safety as well," Kyoya tells her, not diving too deep into what happened. Asami shrugs and enters the room.

"Souh-san, please strip to your undergarments so we can begin your exam. There's a curtain right there in the back that you can change behind." The female doctor smiles at her. Asami nods her head and heads over, taking her dress off when suddenly, a hand covers her mouth. Her eyes widen in shock and she immediately starts hitting the person. The person shoves her against the wall and turns her around.

"Emica?" Asami breathes out in shock, staring into the eyes of the woman she knew as her mother.

"I don't understand. I've provided you enough proof to leave Yuzuru," she spits his name, "but you haven't. Why?"

"You gave me enough proof to show me how truly crazy you are." Asami hisses. "You were merely a surrogate for my mother and father. You have no rights over me, leave before I scream."

"You're my daughter." Emica sobs and her grip tightens on Asami. "My daughter," she growls. "I birthed you. I raised you for years."

"After you stole me from my mother," Asami snaps. "You need help. Let me go and we can go to the police together. We can get you the help you need." A commotion is heard from the room next to them. Asami grows worried, knowing that Haruhi is supposed to be in that room.

"Help? I don't need help." Emica shakes her head. "You've left me with no choice. They've finally turned you against me."

"What?" Asami realizes too late that Emica has something in her hands. She gasps, feeling the pinch of the needle entering her skin. "What did you inject me with?" Her body begins to feel weak and she falls forward into Emica's arms.

"It's a sedative I stole from the doctor." She breathes out and laughs. "You're coming home with me. I'll grab your brother another time." Asami's vision begins to turn black. "Come on," she begins to drag Asami toward the window but stops when a couple of thundering footsteps are heard approaching the room. "No, no, no. This wasn't supposed to happen." Asami feels herself being placed on the ground. "You were supposed to come home with me tonight. No one was supposed to come to this room." Emica gently strokes Asami's hair, placing a kiss on her forehead as she cries. "My beautiful daughter. I'm missing out on so much of your life. I love you, you need to know that. I will be back. I'm almost done gathering all the evidence I need to bring to the courts to get you back." Asami's head falls to the side, watching in a haze as Emica escapes through the window just as the door slams open and blurry figures of the host club rush in.

"Asami!" Arms wrap around her body, cradling her to their chest. "What's wrong with her?"

"It looks like someone injected her with a sedative." Asami's eyes feel too heavy to keep open and they slowly flutter closed.

"The doctor is knocked out!"

"Cover her up," something is placed over her body.

"Asami, can you hear me?"

"Is Ami-Chan going to be okay?"

"I'm calling my police force right now."

"Asami, who did this to you? Can you tell us?"

"What if it was one of those boys? What if they did something...horrible to her?"

"Don't even say that!"

"E–" Asami tries to move her mouth and everyone gets quiet. "Em—e—emi."

"Asami," someone sharply breathes in, "did Emica do this? Was she here?" Unfortunately, Asami does not respond as she completely passed out.

•••

"How could this have happened?" Asami starts to become aware of her surroundings and hears a rather angry voice. "How did Emica slip through the school's security system?" She feels a hand tightly holding onto hers. "I want answers, my daughter could've been taken again!" She recognizes the voice as her father.

"I shouldn't have left her alone," Tamaki is the one holding her hand since the voice is coming from right next to her. "I didn't think that anything could've happened at school. I didn't think that Emica would be so...ballsy."

"Not," she coughs and slowly opens her eyes, "not your fault."

"Asami!" Her father rushes over to her and Tamaki jumps up to hug her. She grunts, softly patting Tamaki's arm and he releases her. "Are you okay? How are you feeling?"

"Thirsty." She admits. A nurse immediately hands her a cup of water and she carefully sips it. "What happened?" She asks.

"Something happened in Haruhi's room which we took care of. We got worried that something similar may have happened to you so we rushed to your room. When we entered, we found you," Tamaki closes his eyes, "laying on the ground in only your undergarments and the doctor was knocked out in her chair. You looked so out of it and couldn't respond to any of us. Kyoya called the police, Kaoru rushed to get another doctor to come help you and Takashi made sure to cover you up with his jacket. You eventually tried saying Emica before you passed out completely. It was complete chaos, everyone was freaking out until the police and doctors arrived. The school was thoroughly searched while the doctors took care of you. You were then transported to this hospital and we've been waiting for you to wake up for the last few hours." She nods her head, thankful that the hosts acted so quickly to get her help. If they hadn't thought of checking on her, Emica and her could be in another country at this point.

"What happened to Haruhi?" She asks, worried for the girl.

"A misunderstanding. A man broke in as well and cornered her because he thought she could help him find his child, but turns out he was in the entirely wrong school." Tamaki informs her. "She's safe and in a much better condition than you currently." Asami snorts at the attempt at a joke. A knock sounds on the door and they glance up to see Yoshiro and Kyoya.

"May we come in?" Yoshiro asks. Asami nods her head, locking eyes with Kyoya and smiling at him yet he does not return the smile. She frowns at this and wonders what's going on in his head. "I know this may be too soon, but can you recount what happened, Miss Asami?"

"I don't think—" Yuzuru goes to say no when Asami holds her hand up to stop him.

"I'm okay. I can do this." She reaches her hand out and grabs onto Tamaki's to hold for comfort. "I was taking my dress off for my physical examination when someone suddenly grabbed me from behind and slammed me up against the wall. They turned me around and that's when I saw Emica. She spoke about taking me with her and how I belonged with her, that I'm her daughter. She said she was gathering evidence to use in court, evidence that will ensure that she gets Tamaki and me. She must've knocked out the doctor before she came after me and she had a sedative that she injected in me. She started to drag me towards the window to take me away when she got scared by footsteps. She left me and escaped through the window." She explains what she remembers. Yoshiro writes down everything that happened.

"And you haven't been in contact with her at all?" He asks.

"Not since I learned that she was my father and mother's surrogate." She informs him. Yoshiro nods his head.

"Yuzuru, may we speak?" He gestures outside the room.

"I'll be right back," Yuzuru promises Asami before following Yoshiro. Asami observes Kyoya, not liking how tense he seems. She glances at Tamaki and subtly gestures for him to leave. Tamaki realizes what she wants him to do and stands up.

"I'll go get you some snacks and a drink." He states, quickly leaving the room and closing the door behind him.

"What's wrong?" She immediately asks once they're alone.

"Nothing is wrong," Kyoya says defensively.

"Kyoya," she sends him a look, "I know you don't like it, but I can read your emotions fairly well. You're clearly upset. What's wrong?" He approaches her bedside and sits where Tamaki was.

"I put you in that room," he mumbles, "I put you in danger. If Emica had succeeded, it would've been my fault."

"No, you can't think like that." She shakes her head at him. "None of this is your fault. You can't predict everything and you certainly can't control the actions of crazy people. I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"But how did she know that you were going to be in that room?" He asks. She pauses, not really thinking about that. "Someone is helping her."

"Who could be helping her? She didn't have any friends." She furrows her eyebrows in confusion. "Oh god, is it someone in your police force or hospitals?"

"My father is doing an investigation to find out if we do have a mole." He informs her. "But it could also be someone at the school because they were alerted to the fact that I was assigning private rooms to Haruhi and you."

"Anyone could be helping her." She breathes out in realization. "I'm not safe anywhere." Kyoya gazes at her in pity and slight guilt.

"No, you're not." He confirms. A moment of silence surrounds them as the direness of the situation settles in their brains. "We're here for you." He cautiously reaches out and grabs her hand which surprises her. "We'll protect you."

"I never doubted that you guys wouldn't." She whispers, softly smiling at him. Their hands break apart when the door opens and Tamaki comes back in.

"I got you some mochi and a drink!" He cheers. Asami is happy for the slight normalcy as Tamaki acts goofy and Kyoya talks about accounting things for the host club. She glances out the window, staring at the moon while thinking about everything that happened. She wishes the other host club members were here, but she understood that only family could visit and Kyoya gets special treatment since this is his family's hospital and his father is her main investigator in the case. She needs the twins bickering, Mistukuni's adorable nonsense, Takashi's calming presence, and Haruhi's pessimistic comments to feel truly normal. She takes out her phone to send a text message to someone.

GROUP-CHAT NAME:
CONFESSIONS AT CHURCH

From: Goddess Asami

You guys are not going to believe what happened to me today

From: Saint Kaori

Are you okay? What happened?

From: Sinner Hikari

Did you almost die again?

From: Pastor Kazuki

Does this relate to why there were a bunch of policemen at the school during physical exams?

From: Goddess Asami

Yeah, Emica tried kidnapping me and failed

From: Sinner Hikari

Damn, that sucks, glad you didn't get taken

From: Saint Kaori

WHAT? ARE YOU OKAY? HIKARI, SHOW MORE EMOTION

From: Pastor Kazuki

You're going to be the death of me

At least she told them about the incident this time.