Just Look into It

7. Maze like School

The end of the day was chaos for the system. Ryo fought against numerous alerts about missing students, fast speeds, and the like. The dance wasn't for hours after school, much later than she would have liked in fact.

Even so, many of the heiresses and princesses were absolutely positive that they wouldn't have time before the dance. Many of them left the school early to get dolled up.

Ryo knew that very few boys would be at the dance, unless they had a partner going. She thought the whole situation was weird.

Not long after school dissmissed, Ryo walked down closer to the gates to meet Yuu.

The boy stood right at the gates, bag secure on his back. He was deaf to the world, eyes locked securely onto the large textbook in his hands. Unfortunately, she recognized the book. It held some of the information she had studied so hard to enter Ouran at the high school level.

Looks like middle school wouldn't be lasting very long.

"Yuu," she called out, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Ah, Ryo! Did you know-"

"Sorry, but we've got to hurry to the club room. You can tell me all about it tonight at the dance," she bargained.

With an excited hum and vigorious nod, Yuu hurried behind his sister as they walked further into the school. They passed various  workers preparing the ballroom for that night.

Upon pushing the club doors open, Ryo sighed at the chaos. Tamaki insisted on helping Haruhi put on her suit, while the twins offered Haruhi to wear a dress instead. Walking up to Kyouya, Ryo resisted the urge to take the textbook from Yuu and chuck it across the room.

"The system has been set up for the night, including the motion activated spotlights for the final dance."

"Good, I appreciate your hard work," he quickly shot back.

"Okay. If that's all, Yuu and I will be watching the system if you need us." She turned to walk out, when Kyouya called her to a stop.

"I believe you are forgetting something."

Ryo cursed under her breath. "I had hoped that you forgot."

"Of course not. You are representing the school after all."

Knowing that he was enjoying every second, she guestured for him to show her towards the changing room. She pushed Yuu along, the boy watching everything with wide eyes.

"Honey-senpai kindly lent one of his older suits for the young gentleman to use," Kyouya said, pushing a curtain open slightly.

The noise level of the room slowly went down as Ryo helped him into the small suit. It fit like a glove on the boy, and he stared at the mirror for quite sometime.

"Ryo, why am I wearing this? Are we going to see mom?"

A sense of dread and sadness instantly washed over her. She quickly bit back the feelings.

"We'll go see her sometime this week. But today is a special day, you know why?" she asked. "These boys are throwing a big party for all of the kind ladies that go here. So we need to look nice, right?"

"A party?"

"Yep! And we've got a special job. We're going to make sure that everyone stays safe tonight." Ryo smiled at him. Oh, how she wished that she could embellish the story with evil wizards and knights. But she knew that he would quickly see through her words.

"Let's go show Kyouya," she said, pushing him forward.

Yuu hurried out into the open room, walking carefully to where Kyouya was seated.

"Thank you for procuring a suit for me. It must have been difficult to find one if this quality in my size," Yuu said. Ryo bit her cheek- such stiff words from an eight year old.

Kyouya smiled. "It was no trouble at all, young sir. Make sure to thank Honey-senpai however, it was his suit after all."

"I will." Yuu spun around with a huge grin. "Ryo, it's your turn, right?"

"Ah, yes. I hope the dress fits correctly," Kyouya called out. "I unfortunately wasn't able to find a tailor to have a dress made. The one in there originally belonged to my sister."

"Go on!" Yuu cheered.

"Sorry, but no can do. I've got to double check that the system is running correctly." Noting the look on their faces, she rolled her eyes. "I'll wear the dress, but I don't think I should be wearing it when I am crawling under a table to adjust wires."

Ryo grabbed the garment bag and took Yuu's hand before walking out of the near silent club room. The only sound was Kyouya's typing as she walked away.

As Yuu began sketching one of the girls he saw on the monitor, Ryo began running the first system check of the night. This would be an important night- if everything worked out, her systems would be able to act without a constant monitor or contact nearby. It was already semi aware.

Everytime her eyes slid over to the black garment bag, a slight heat began to take over her face. She shook her head and backed away from the various computer screens. The various technology could put out a lot of heat.

At long last the party started.

Ryo could hear the orchestra playing in their room as she moved to a far corner to open up the garment bag. She opened it up to see a maroon dress. Floor length and off the shoulder, the sleeves and top of the bodice were made of lace.

Ryo quickly changed into the soft, silky fabric. Her hands ran across the skirt. She was mesmerized by the quality of the outfit. However, that feeling was quickly overcome by disgust and a sense of uncomfortableness.

"Yuu, what do you think?" she asked. Silence answered her. Turning around, she didn't see the familiar mop of brown hair anywhere. "Yuu?"

Her eyes quickly trailed over to the various screens. However, she didn't see her brother anywhere on the monitors.

Worry coursed through her veins.

Without thinking, she darted from the room to search for Yuu in the maze like school.