Setsuko arrived at Pension Misuzu late the next morning. When she arrived, she was met with a scene that she was used to.

"Suoh, why are you tearing up paper? You're just making more of a mess for Haruhi to have to pick up." Setsuko said, walking up to the sulking blond.

"Oh, good morning, senpai." Haruhi greeted.

"Oh, so Itsuki's a senpai and not me. I see how it is. I'm just an acquaintance." Tamaki pouted.

Setsuko looked over towards Haruhi, seeing that the rest of the club was already there seated around the bar and a second table. At another table, Haruhi was sitting with a boy Setsuko didn't recognize.

"Oh, is this another one of your friends from Ouran?" The boy asked, he looked towards Setsuko and gave her a smile, "It's nice to meet you, miss, I'm Arai, Fujioka and I were friends in middle school."

Miss? Setsuko quickly tried to puff out her chest, only for it to be restricted- yeah, she remembered her binder this morning. "Nice to meet you too, I'm Kuwata Itsuki. And uh, sorry, but I'm a guy."

Arai's eyes widened and he placed a hand on the back of his neck, "Oh, sorry about that."

Setsuko smiled, "Nah, it's all good. I didn't mean to interrupt whatever conversation you two were having. I'm gonna go join the others." She shoved her hands in her pockets and walked to the other table where the other hosts were sitting, getting a chair between Mori and Kyoya. "A friend from middle school, how nice of them to see each other again." She mused.

"They've had zero contact since graduation so in my opinion they're not friends just former classmates." Hikaru said from where he sat at the bar. He lifted his empty glass and turned towards Haruhi, raising his voice, "Hey, Haruhi! Don't you think you should be working? You shouldn't be slacking off!"

"Misuzu said I could take a break!" Haruhi called back, then turned to address Tamaki about the hamster home he was starting to make out of scraps of paper.

"Wow, who knew your Ouran guys were so funny?" Arai said after Haruhi and Tamaki's conversation. "You know, it's such a prestigious school, I've always imagined it was a whole different world. To be honest with you, Fujioka, I was kinda worried that you were gonna have a hard time going to such an elite school. I'm glad to see you're doing well." Arai flinched slightly as he realized something before looking away from Haruhi nervously, "Um, I mean, it's not like I was the only one who was worried about you, lots of people were."

"What's with him?" Hikaru scoffed, "He's trying to use the refreshing innocence approach. Someone should tell him we've already had a refreshment contest."

"You're being unusually critical." Kyoya said.

"Your eyes are lookin' a little green, Hikaru." Setsuko mused.

"What do you mean by that?" Hikaru asked, looking at Setsuko in confusion.

"You're looking jealous, and you're not hiding it too well."

"I'm just sayin'." Hikaru said, now loud enough for Haruhi and Arai to hear. "It's obvious this guy has a thing for Haruhi. It's sickening to try and watch him flirt."

"Hikaru! What's wrong with you? Quit acting like such a jerk!" Haruhi exclaimed, standing up and slamming her hands on the table.

"Hey." Arai started, "It's no big deal. He's right. I did have a thing for you once." He admitted, causing Tamaki and the twins to look over at Arai with shocked expressions, "But who cares, you already turned me down, right?"

Now everyone looked shocked, even Haruhi. This reveal was enough to make the hosts who were sitting at the table walk over to where Haruhi and Arai were.

"W-what?!" Haruhi said.

"Why do you look so surprised?" Kyoya and Setsuko asked her at the same time.

"You're the one he confessed to, right?" Setsuko continued.

"W-well, I didn't know." She said.

"You'll have to fill us in on the story, Arai. Now when did this happen?" Tamaki said.

"Well, it was about a year ago." Arai started, and so he told them the story of how he attempted to confess to Haruhi. He had hoped for them to go to the same high school, and when he eventually told her that he wanted her to come with him, Haruhi completely misunderstood and thought he wanted the two of them to see a counselor about it.

Setsuko shook her head and sighed, "I knew you were oblivious but to go and break a poor man's heart? That's just cruel."

"I-I didn't know that's what he meant!" Haruhi said, then she turned to Arai and bowed, "I'm really sorry!"

"So you're turning me down again a whole year later?!" He exclaimed. "Don't worry, Fujioka, I'm over it already. You didn't realize what I meant so that means you're not interested." He looked away, "But you know, I was always drawn to that faraway look in your eyes and the way you would look someone in the eyes when you spoke to them. I liked that about you, I always thought you were special"

Setsuko watched as Tamaki walked up to him and grabbed onto his hands, smiling, "You think that much of my little girl? Don't worry! I'll never forget your gallantry!"

Setsuko sighed and stepped up to him, grabbing the sobbing blond and pulling him away, "Don't scare Haruhi's old friend. Sorry about him, Arai, he's a little..." She moved her finger to the side of her head and twirled it.

"Hey, are you calling me crazy! Itsuki you bastard, I'll make you pay-!"

"Hey, Arai, wanna hear a story from when we went to the beach?" Setsuko exclaimed, seeing Tamaki flinch in realization before he quieted down and went to a corner to sulk and mutter about how nobody respected him as club president.

"You really should stop teasing him." Kyoya said with a sigh. "Anyways, you seem to be more energetic than usual."

"Is it obvious?" Setsuko asked with a smile, "I finally got more than three hours of sleep last night! I haven't been this well rested in ages."

The expression on Kyoya's face grew to concern, "You should be sleeping a lot more-"

"I can't, at least not with my schedule."

"Hey, what was Haru-chan like in middle school? I'm curious." Honey said, moving to sit at the table Arai and Haruhi were at.

"Oh, I wanna know too, tell all the juicy details." Setsuko said, walking away from Kyoya who looked like he still wanted to say more, but Setsuko was not in the mood to listen to him.

"Uh, yeah, sure, I guess we can tell you guys some stories." Haruhi said, and just like that everyone- except the twins- were sitting around the table laughing at stories from Haruhi's middle school years, eventually they got to the topic of school trips.

"Wow! You guys went to Kyoto for your middle school field trip?" Honey asked. "How unusual that you stayed in the country."

"Nah, it's quite normal for us, really." Arai said.

"Well, I'm quite a fan of Kyoto." Tamaki said.

"I can't tell you how many times I've had to tour the temples with him." Kyoya said with a sigh.

"Hm, it seems the twins are still over there, I think they'd like listening to these stories." Tamaki said, noticing that the mentioned twins were still sitting at the bar. He stood up and waved to them, "Hikaru! Koaru! Get over here! This may be our only chance to hear about what Haruhi was like in middle school!"

"Sorry, but I'm not interested." Hikaru said, leaning back and letting out a sigh before he looked at the rest of the club with an annoyed expression, "man, how stupid can you guys get? Where's the fun in sitting around talking about somebody's past? I don't see the appeal. Besides, doesn't that guy realize that Haruhi doesn't want anything to do with him? She's got plenty of friends, so she doesn't need you around, get it?"

"Hikaru..." Setsuko started, but before she could say anything, Haruhi stood up and walked over to him, only a second later did she watch as Haruhi slapped Hikaru on the cheek. "Oh shit."

"That's not something for you to decide, Hikaru!" She shouted. "I'm not gonna tolerate you insulting my friends anymore, you got that?"

"But why- why should anyone else even matter to you?" He stood up, and slammed his hand against the bar table, "I thought we were your friends! Are we, or aren't we?"

Setsuko was taken aback by the outburst, but she could tell by the look on Hikaru's face as he ran past her to the stairs, he was hurt by Haruhi's actions, but he also seemed... scared.

"Hikaru! Wait for me!" Kaoru shouted, getting up and running after his brother.

"Their world is still so small... it's such a shame." Tamaki muttered.

"I better be going; it looks like things have gotten tense. Besides, I have to head back to my uncle's shop." Arai said, getting up from the table.

"Oh, okay then. I'll walk you out." Haruhi offered.

"Thanks, I appreciate it, Fujioka."

With that, the remaining host members followed Arai to the gate just outside the pension's grounds. He grabbed his bike from the bike rack and turned to the host club, "It was fun meeting all of you." He said, turning to face the club.

"I'm really sorry, Arai." Haruhi apologized.

"It's okay. I don't know what I did, but whatever it was, it sure seemed to set him off, huh?" He replied, smiling.

"I don't think it was anything you did." Setsuko said.

"What do you mean by that?" Arai asked.

"Ah, it's nothing I should talk about, just know it wasn't you."

"Hika-chan." Honey said, dragging the attention away from Arai and towards the door to the pension, where Hikaru was walking up to the group.

"I was outta line, I'm sorry." He said.

Wait... that voice. Setsuko thought, looking at Hiakru with wide eyes.

"Thanks, don't worry about it. Well, see you soon, Fujioka." Arai said, and with a final wave and smile, he turned and biked away.

"So Koaru. Tell me why you're pretending to be Hikaru." Haruhi asked as the club members were standing and waving goodbye to Arai. Kaoru flinched and tried to slide away, but before he could move, Haruhi grabbed his cheek and pulled him closer, "Hey, what happened to that scratch on your cheek?"

"I just covered it up with some concealer." Koaru said, nervously laughing as Haruhi released his cheek from her grasp, "I don't think Hikaru is going to get over his temper any time soon. He's no fun when he's like this. So, I've got a small favor to ask you." He smiled, "How would you like to go out with me tomorrow on a date."

"You shady devil! How could you think of asking my precious daughter on a date when her father's right here! Haruhi! You'd better say no! Say no!"

Completely ignoring Tamaki's sobs, Haruhi smiled softly and nodded, "Sure, why not. I have the day off anyways."

"Oh Haruhi! I need you to help me with some cleaning!" Misuzu called out from the front door.

"Oh, I have to go, see you guys later, then!"

"Cool, I'll take care of everything, so all you have to do is show up." Kaoru said with a grin, waving to Haruhi as she went inside.

"A date, huh? Well, you have fun with that, I'm gonna get catch up on some more sleep tomorrow." Setsuko said, though as she said that she felt a pair of eyes burning holes onto her back, turning around nervously, she saw that Tamaki was looking at her with a smile, "Uh, what's that look for? Kaoru, what are you planning?"

***

"This is the stupidest plan ever." Setsuko said.

The previous day had passed by, and the morning of the date between Kaoru and Haruhi was upon them, and Setsuko was standing in front of the host club wearing black hair extensions pulled up into pigtails with pale blue ribbons, A short sleeved button up, a black overall skirt, and some simple blue flats.

Apparently, Kaoru asking Haruhi out on a date was part of a plan. That morning he faked being sick to get Hikaru to take her instead, so he could make amends with her and hopefully open his world up a little more. Him and the other hosts would be following from a distance, but Setsuko was going to be closer, and listening in on their conversation. Kaoru had come to Kuwata's cottage early that morning with his and Hiakru's maids to ambush her and give her a total make over- she was just lucky they let her get dressed herself.

"Why do you even need me to listen in? They're just going on a date."

"You're damage control, if something ends up going wrong, I want you to either swoop Haruhi or Hikaru out of the situation as fast as you can. In case this plan ends up backfiring, you know."

She sighed and shook her head, "You really care about your brother... fine, I mean it's not like I have much choice anymore, but you're paying me back for this somehow. Or, I dunno, I might just set fire to some of your things." She said, crossing her arms, "Let's just head to the pension. It's already getting late."

The two of them stepped into the cab that was waiting outside the cottage and the rode to the pension, where the host club- aside from Hikaru and Haruhi- were waiting outside everyone seemed calm and tired, except for Tamaki, who was nervously pacing. When the cab stopped, Kaoru got out first, getting the attention of the nervous Tamaki.

"Hikaru! You have to stop your brother! He's gone out on a date with my little girl!" Tamaki sobbed.

"Suoh, that's obviously Kaoru." Setsuko said, sliding out of the cab after Kaoru.

Tamaki stopped shaking Kaoru, looking at Setsuko, then at Kaoru, and continued shaking him. "Dropping my precious Haruhi for another girl. She might be beautiful, Kaoru, but how could you do something like that to my little girl!"

"Wow, thanks for the compliment." Setsuko said, rolling her eyes.

"Wait... Itsu-chan?" Honey asked, looking at Setsuko with wide eyes.

"In the flesh."

"You look pretty." Mori said, giving Setsuko a thumbs up, which she returned with finger guns.

"Thanks. Kaoru didn't give me a choice. Now, are we going to follow the two of them or stand here all day? Who knows, they could be kissing." She laughed as Tamaki let out a scream of panic and started running towards the main town, with that, the rest of the hosts followed after him.

It wasn't a long walk to the main town, and it took even shorter to find Hikaru and Haruhi. The club hung back far enough so that the two wouldn't see them, while Setsuko wondered close by, just within earshot of the two.

Eventually the two of them sat down on a bench, and Setsuko grabbed a free brochure and sat on a bench nearby, pretending to read through it while she listened in on their conversation.

"-know... why don't we go to that outlet mall by the train station? They've got cheap clothes there." Hikaru suggested.

"That's cool but do you need to buy some clothes?" Haruhi asked.

"No, there's no way I'd buy my clothes at that place."

"Then let's skip it."

"What a pain."

Setsuko sighed and looked away from the two and off into the horizon. The clouds seemed to be gathering into a dark mass off into the distance. It looked like a storm was coming.

__

Not OHSHC making me remember how single I am

*

*Everyone is giving advice to Kaoru*

Haruhi: It's okay to ask for help.

Hikaru: You're not a burden.

Setsuko: Murder is okay.

Mori: Your feelings matter.

*

Arai: Why would you do that?

Haruhi: Because I feel guilty.

Setsuko: Guilt is a trick emotion. It's put there by your parents to stop you from doing things that feel good.

*

Setsuko: I am an expert at identifying birds.

Arai: Okay, what about those ones flying over there?

Setsuko: Yeah, they're all birds.