Ouran Host Club Hostess (DISCONTINUED)

Morinokuza's Apprentice

"Welcome!"

I weaved around the kotatsus and the mats, doing my best not to trip over the newly placed decorations, or my outfit. As much as I liked the flowing sleeves, and the wide trouser legs that managed to nearly touch the ground in spite of the very high-heeled slippers I was wearing, those lovely qualities just made it incredibly difficult for me to manoeuvre myself around easily.

Today the Host Club had decided on a historical theme. They were dressed as the shinsengumi, a group of samurais that were loyal to the shogunate during the Bakumatsu era, and acted as a police force during that time. It had been Renge's idea to do this, as well as the proposal that we shouldn't assign roles to any of the hosts, but simply let the guests make their own suggestions as to who was who.

Well, apart from Tamaki. His character had been decided on almost immediately by the incoming guests. "Tamaki, you're cosplaying as Sakamoto Ryoma, right?" A girl quizzed, her hands clasped to her chest. Several of them had gathered around Tamaki, watching him with awed eyes. "You look so wild and cool!"

"Of course," he agreed smoothly. "He is someone I admire greatly after all. Your hearts will surely belong to me!" The deeper voice, coupled with the Tosa dialect, sent them into shrieks of excitement.

I paused beside Haruhi with a hand on my hip to watch the proceedings. "It sounds weird when he talks like that," she commented flatly to me, one hand resting on the fake sword hanging at her side. She looked down at her costume curiously. "On a similar note, I never knew this Bakumatsu era theme would go down so well with everyone."

"What are you talking about?" Hikaru and Kaoru appeared behind us, rolling their eyes. "This is like the basics of basics."

"It's practically a pillar of romantic fantasy," Kaoru held up a finger. "Practically every girl is in love with the Bakumatsu era. They especially love the shinsengumi."

The idea is somewhat similar to English medieval knights, and I can see why, I thought dryly, and then blinked when Honey popped up. "Most of the girls who like it are maniacs though!" He chirped happily. Maniacs?

"Is the reason for their popularity due to the noble way with which they sacrificed their young lives for their country?" A familiarly overdramatic voice spoke up. "Or is it because of the stoic manner with which they disciplined themselves to strictly follow Bushido? Or is it because..."

I turned around to see Hikaru and Kaoru perform one of their 'scenes', in which Kaoru pretended to have been felled by an arrow. Hikaru caught his arm as he staggered, and pulled him close. You can't die, he whispered. This is it for me... Kaoru replied softly but with feeling. Several girls screamed in the background, squirming in a frenzy of excitement.

Ah, I nodded in understanding. Maniacs. Of course. Going by the expression on Haruhi's face, she too had reached a similar conclusion. "Well, I'm busy. Have fun!" I patted her on the back, leaving her to be the object of several girls' fantasies, and went to fetch more refreshments for the guests. As I passed by, I overheard one of the girls likening him to Souji Okita because her expression was apparently very ephemeral and beatific.

Alright it was, but not for the reasons they probably thought. She's still thinking about that meat sale that's happening at the supermarket, isn't she? Very few things can make my cousin have that expression, and one of them is food. It is one of the things we have in common, except she has far better self control than I do.

I fetched a tray of...I'm not quite sure, but it looked like some sort of fancy candy sitting on fake leaves. If walking around normally was hard, then walking around while balancing trays of food was harder. At least I didn't have to serve any drinks, since they would most likely have ended up on someone's clothes.