Ouran Host Club Hostess (DISCONTINUED)

Make a Choice

Kyoko rarely ever disappointed anyone.

She was like that, the kind of person who did her best to live up to the expectations of others. Her schoolteachers thought she was smart, so she got good grades. Her classmates thought she was nice, so she endeavoured to be as friendly as possible.

The twins thought she loved them, and they were right.

Her mom thought she was careful and obedient, so she strived to be. It wasn't as though it was so much of a chore, Kyoko genuinely loved her mother, and naturally accepted every rule given to her as law. Of course she had some secrets, what child doesn't, but she lived up to the better part of her mother's expectations. Until that night.

The drive home was tense, and all the while home Kyoko intermittently replayed the expressions on her mom's and the twin's faces. She ignored the worried and sympathetic looks Haruhi kept shooting at her. Her cousin wouldn't get into trouble since uncle Ryouji already knew about the Host Club and Kyoko's boyfriends, but that only meant that the repercussions on her would be greater.

After all, it had been her who'd kept secrets for the better part of a year, and who'd convinced uncle Ryouji not to tell her mom. As fun and as easygoing as her mother was, boys and the idea of her daughter liking one had always been a touchy subject. Kyoko wasn't sure if it had anything to do with her father, she'd never asked. That too was a very touchy subject.

They reached home in silence, and her mother killed the engine, plunging the inside of the car into silence. Then she spoke. "Haruhi, go inside."

"Aunt-"

"Did I stutter?" Haruhi winced, but slipped out of the car with an apologetic grimace. Kyoko watched her disappear into the house, and then turned back to her mother. The car interior was dim, the only light being the light from the street and the condos. She could see the forcedly casual manner with which her mother gripped the steering wheel. "When were you planning to tell me?"

Kyoko lowered her eyes. "Tonight, when we got back. I didn't want to hide them from you-!"

"So instead you just lied to me for the better part of a year?" Kotone asked, her tone mild. The topic might as well have been incredibly banal. Kyoko kept her eyes down. "So...twins, huh? How long has this been going on?"

The dating or the flirting? She opted for the former. "A few weeks," she replied quietly. "But they're not playing with me mom, I swear! We've been friends ever since I joined the school and they've always been nice to me!"

"And so what?" Kotone snapped, breaking her calm façade. "What proof do you have of that? They told you they did? Please Kyoko, boys can and will say whatever they need to say to get close to girls. It's what they do. I thought I taught you better than this Kyoko. Really, two of them? What do you think people will say about you?"

There was so much disappointment in her eyes, coupled with anger that was shown in the tenseness of her fingers, and the downward pull of her lips. Kyoko felt her chest clench, wanting to defend herself but not knowing what to say. It's very difficult to argue with parents. It's almost impossible to know what to say to them to diffuse the situation and make you see your point of view; make them angry enough, and they could singlehandedly destroy your life.

"And joining a Host Club!" Kotone continued, almost throwing her hands up in disgust. "Do you even know what Host Clubs do? I thought you'd join something better, something you could write on a personal statement for university. Instead you're doing this."

"I'm only in the Host Club to help Haruhi!" Kyoko said quickly. "She broke something expensive, and I'm helping her pay it off by working there! Besides, we don't do anything questionable. It's more like a very chatty café if anything."

Kotone muttered something scathing about schools that left out expensive decorative pieces that were a very obvious hazard. "And what? The boyfriends just came with the situational package?"

"No!" Once she started talking, it was like she couldn't stop. Everything she wanted to say came pouring out. "Mom, I've made so many good friends in the Host Club mom! Tamaki, Kyouya, Mori and Honey! I've had much more fun with them than I would have had in the other clubs! The twins..." she paused, unsure how to continue, or even if she should. Her mother was staring at her, eyes narrowed, jaw ticking. "...the twins have been incredibly kind to me. Yeah they've made mistakes, and they're sometimes very clueless about social niceties, but they like me. They genuinely like me for me. They won't (and can't) pressure me into doing anything I didn't want.

"Maybe this won't last mom, I don't know, but what I do know is that I'm happy. That may sound totally arbitrary and mushy to you," she accidentally raised her voice when her mother snorted, and quickly lowered it again. "But it's true. My grades are still really good, and I'm not in any trouble with the school."

Kotone sniffed, but she couldn't dispute the last part of her daughter's statement. Kyoko's reports and grades were always positive, it was one of the reasons she'd trusted the girl to make her own decisions and stopped asking so many interrogatory questions. Clearly that was a mistake. "Even if they love you, you're dating two boys at the same time," she said. "People are going to give you a reputation. People are going to label you in so many ways because of this, and it's going to loop back to me. They'll say it's because I'm a bad mother! Don't you care?"

"People will label anyone and everyone, regardless of what they do or don't do!" Kyoko burst out. "I don't want to have to live my life constantly wondering what random people I don't even know or care about think of me!"

"Be quiet! Don't you dare raise your voice at me!" Kyoko backed down, immediately cowed. "You're just a child! What do you know about love anyway? Does this all sound romantic to you?" The older woman took a deep breath, as though to calm herself, and faced forward again. The buckle of her seatbelt clicked open, and she pushed open her door. "For the rest of the holidays, you're forbidden from seeing them."

Kyoko jerked and fumbled out of the car after her. "Mom! Mom, please-!"

"Kyoko, this is not up for discussion!" Kotone yelled back, walking towards the building of condos. "And you're just lucky Ouran is such a good school, otherwise I would have emailed them tonight and have you taken out immediately! So either you break up with these twins, or whatever it is you teenagers do, or I will take you out of Ouran and back to England with me! Is that what you want?"

The younger girl stared after her mother, eyes wide and burning. Her chest hurt, and the pain migrated up to her throat and she choked on the beginnings of a sob. Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and she looked down at the screen through the brimming tears.

Kyoko, are you okay? Do you need us to do anything for you? – Hikaru

The thought of going back to England, of leaving her friends and cousin, of leaving the twins behind... She swallowed, and rubbed at her eyes. Then she tapped out a reply, and slipped her phone back into her pocket.

Don't call me anytime soon. I love you.