Haruhi's twin

Halloween Special #3 : The Cursed Escape Room

Emi's pov

With Halloween just around the corner, school seemed to get scarier or maybe it was just the teachers. It seemed like all they wanted to do was bury us in homework, which was just wonderful, not. I was so annoyed that I ended up stuck in a project with Ian and Akihiko once again, it seemed like my teacher really just liked torturing me. Those two could hardly ever to anything that was done in group projects and sometimes, I just think the teachers don't care about the relationship these two have with one another. They mostly think I have this magical ability to get them to work together, which is not always the case. They think I can magically make them friends and to be honest, I wouldn't be able to even if I was an actual fairy godmother. But this time I had Yori and Kaoru in the group, Hikaru and Haruhi were lucky enough that they didn't take this class with us. I felt a little bit better knowing that I had at least my boyfriend and my best friend with me, so I won't have to deal with those two alone. As I walked with Akihiko, Ian, Yori and Kaoru to the cafeteria, I noticed that everyone was crowded around one of the bulletin boards in the hallway. It seemed that I wasn't the only one to notice this though, Yori and Kaoru noticed the large group around the bulletin board as well. We looked at one another, before looking back at the huge crowd. I usually never saw a huge crowd like this around the bulletin board, not unless, Tamaki-senpai or Kyoya-senpai posted something to promote the Host club's event or deals.

"Huh?"

"Why do you think that big crowd is over at the bulletin board?" Ian asked, brushing back his black hair. "Who knows? Maybe some sort of flyer for a ball for some famous rich family." Kaoru shrugged, "Is that even a thing?" Yori quirked an eyebrow, looking away from the crowd. Sometimes I completely forget that Yori and Kaoru are actually the same height, but I at least grew a few inches as I am now a few inches taller than Honey-senpai. "Yes, it is. From time to time, rich families love promoting their upcoming grand banquet balls. They think it's the best way for us young people to socialize and make great connections with one another, so that one day in the future, those connections would benefit us and them. But those balls are usually just breeding ground for lots of drama. Wouldn't recommend going to one." Kaoru explained, "Well, I would love to go to a ball." Akihiko started, making all of us groan out loud. In the end, my curiosity got the better of me and I headed over to the large crowd. I pushed my way through, I was lucky enough there were some who made way for me to come through. I popped up in front of the first two people, my eyes going straight to the flyer that was promoting an escape room. I took a picture of it, squeezing my way back through the crowd which if I might add, was not exactly easy. I managed to break through and nearly fell over if Kaoru hadn't caught me, "Thanks." I breathed in a sigh of relief, thank god this hallway wasn't any smaller or I would have panicked. "No problem. Come on, let's go get lunch." The five of us ended into the cafeteria, both Akihiko and Ian breaking off from us to go find someone else to sit with.

I headed off to our usual table, while Yori and Kaoru headed to the line to get food. "Hey, Emi. How was class?" Hikaru greeted as I took a seat across from him, sitting in between Tamaki-senpai and Kyoya-senpai. Honey and Mori-senpai looked "It was okay.. Despite the fact that my teacher put me in another group project with Akihiko and Ian." I opened my bento box, smiling to myself as I noticed what Haruhi had packed. "Haruhi, you packed my favorite!" I looked up at her, she smiled at me as she ate her food. "So.." Tamaki-senpai started, "Uh oh, I don't like the sound of that 'so'.." Hikaru chimed in, "Yeah, me neither." Kaoru stated, plopping down in the sea beside his twin.

"What are you planning this time, Tamaki?" Kyoya-senpai asked, he had a look on his face which suggested to me that he was not doubting that Tamaki-senpai planned something stupid. "Well, I'm glad you asked, Kyoya. I have an announcement to make." He brushed off his jacket and cleared his throat, a smirk on his face. "All of us hosts will be participating in this!!" He held up a flyer, which was the same one I recognized to be hanging on the bulletin board in the hall. "This is the annual Escape Room that this lovely couple holds every year to raise money for those less fortunate than us. We will be participating in it tomorrow night." I stopped eating, nearly joking on my food as he said escape room. Kyoya tapped on my back, as Hikaru grabbed my milk and handed it to me. When I got it down, I swallowed and breathed in deeply before looking at Tamaki.

"An escape room?!!"

"Tamaki-senpai, you are insane if you think we're going to an escape room." Hikaru deadpanned.

"Well, you all are going to have to do it. I've already signed us up and paid for our room. There is no backing out now." I looked at Haruhi, who only face palmed at Tamaki-senpai's declaration. "Oh great, now we'll be stuck in a room for hours with you." Anna deadpanned, "Aw, Anna. Don't be so mean. I think this will be so much fun." Honey-senpai smiled, "Right, Takashi?" I looked at Mori-senpai, who sat there stoically the entire time and hadn't really said a word about this. "Yes," Was all Mori-senpai said. "It is settled then!! We will be escaping from an escape room tomorrow night at 7!!" He shouted, nearly turning everyone's attention onto us. Kaoru looked away from Tamaki-senpai, sipping his juice as I could tell he wasn't too happy about this either.

"Wonderful.." I let out a sigh, making sure not to give away any hints to the others that I hated escape rooms. Haruhi and I once went to one with Yori, Anna, and Dad and it was the literally the worst experience we ever had.

~~

"So this is the place?" I asked, "Yeah, this is the address, Kyoya-senpai sent over. Apparently, Tamaki-senpai was supposed to send us all the address and he forgot, so Kyoya-senpai did." Yori explained. Haruhi, Yori, Anna, Hikaru, Kaoru and I all stood outside of the building which was packed with people. Tamaki-senpai also left out the fact that we were supposed to wear costumes, but again we got lucky because Kyoya-senpai relayed that information to us as well. Haruhi, Kaoru, Hikaru and I didn't have to worry about scrambling to find costumes as we had already bought them for this year a few months ago, we planned a group costume. Anna and Yori cosplayed Tanjiro and Nezuko, which was adorable. Hikaru dressed up as Natsu, while Haruhi dressed as Erza. Kaoru cosplayed Gray and I had chosen to cosplay Juvia, it fit since we were a couple anyways. But we weren't sure about everyone else's costumes, hopefully they weren't in something corny or stupid. "Leave it to Tamaki-senpai to forget things like that." Hikaru deadpanned, "Should we go in?"

"Yeah, they might already be here. Best not to keep them waiting." When we walked in, I immediately felt my palms become a bit clammy. I took in a deep breath, following after everyone as we navigated through the crowded lobby to find the front desk. "Hey!! I see them!! Haruhi! Emi, over here!!" We heard a voice shout, I looked up at Kaoru who was looking around to find who called out to us. "Oh, there they are." Kaoru grabbed my hand, leading me over to the voice. I smiled as Mori and Honey-senpai both appeared, dressed in steampunk costumes. "Ah, there you guys are." Kyoya-senpai pushed back his hair, "Kyoya-senpai is that you?!!" We shouted, taking in his costume.

"Yes, it is me."

"Oh, hey!! I'm so glad that you guys could make it!" Tamaki-senpai appeared, his costume took me as surprise as I hadn't expected him to show up dressed as Jellal. "Are we late?" I turned my head to the left, a groan escaping my lips as Akihiko and Ian came walking over to us. "What are you two doing here?" Yori quirked an eyebrow at the pair, "Tamaki-senpai invited us yesterday after lunch, I decided to take him up on his offer. So here I am." Ian said, I noticed that he was dressed as Yatoro from Noragami, while Akihiko was dressed up as Zen from Mystic Messenger. A game that I fell in love with a while back, it just irks me that he happened to dress up as my favorite member of the RFA. "And what about you, Akihiko? I thought you would have attended a party." Hikaru shrugged his shoulders, "Nah, usually Halloween parties thrown by rich children aren't really all that great. Besides, I couldn't pass up my opportunity to see Emi in a costume." He stepped closer to me, wrapping an arm around my shoulder and pulled me closer to him. "And I do have to say, Emi. This cosplay suits you well. Why don't you drop the ginger and date me?" He offered, "No, thank you." I pushed him away, rolling my eyes at his pathetic excuse for flirting.

"Okay, now that everyone is here. Let's get going to our room, shall we?" Tamaki-senpai announced, looking overly excited.

"Yeah, let's go!" Honey-senpai shouted.

"Oh, this will be just great." Kaoru muttered sarcastically, "We're going to be stuck in a tiny room with the idiotic narcissist, who stop picking fights with the other idiot. This will be such a party." I chuckled at Kaoru's sarcastic remarks as we headed down the hallway, together as one large group.