Hide Away

Chapter 25: Childhood Friendship

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.