MAIKO TAKATA was not good at making friends. She only had one friend, and that was Haruhi Fujioka. But when Haruhi finds themselves becoming a host in Ouran Academy's notorious Host Club, Maiko meets some new people that allow her to flourish in a n...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
MAIKO.
"I can't believe she tried to threaten you!" Haruhi exclaimed with furrowed eyebrows. They had a deep scowl etched into their face, clearly distressed with the bit of information I told them. "You need to tell one of them, Mai. How long has this been going on?"
"About two weeks," I shrugged.
Their mouth dropped open in disbelief. "What? Two weeks?" I nodded. "Wait, is that why you said you lost your bag yesterday and couldn't come with us? To avoid Tamaki because of Princess Ayanokoji?"
"Well, no, not really." I mustered up a half-smile. "I really did lose my bag... because she threw it in the fountain," I grimaced.
If Haruhi's eyes could get wider, they would probably be bigger than their head. "Maiko! You have to tell someone! If not Tamaki, tell Kyoya-senpai. You know he can handle that."
It was true: Kyoya Ootori had one of the biggest influences among other students because of his widely-known family name. No one would want to accidentally cross him.
"But I'm not apart of the Host Club, Haruhi," I sighed. "If it were you, it would make sense to tell them. But I'm not you. They don't have the same familial bond with me as they do with you," I reasoned with them.
They frowned and pulled me into a hug, "I know you're used to being alone, Mai, but you're not now. You have me, and you have them too, even if you don't think so." They pulled away but kept their arm around me to keep me close. "I can't believe you didn't tell me." She looked at me sadly.
"Don't look so sad," I bumped their shoulder gently with my own. "Honestly, I didn't think it would last this long. I thought I would be able to just endure it, I guess."
After talking with Haruhi, I immediately felt a bit better. I didn't like bringing them into my problems, but it was getting tiring; there was something new each day, and it got up to the point where I didn't know if I even wanted to be here anymore. Was it worth it? Just to attend the most prestigious school for teens?
As soon as I walked into the music room, I was attacked by Honey-senpai in the form of a bear hug. "You said you would come more often!" He whined. "You've only come twice this week!"
It was weird knowing that every time I walked into the music room, there was no tall, annoying bundle of sunshine jumping at the chance to hug me. It was weird to even make eye-contact with him, because at this point, it felt like something I wasn't even allowed to do anymore.
"Honey, it's only Wednesday." I stifled a laugh at the way he pouted in return.
"Maiko!" The twins suddenly appeared beside me, each leaning onto one of my shoulders. "Have you decided on your elective courses for this term? We're trying to convince Haruhi to take conversational French with us, you should too! We are in the same class, anyway."
