Just Look into It

16. Unstable

Her mind felt fuzzy. As her eyes quickly ran over Renge for any injuries, the sound of whatever Tamaki was saying didn't register fully. Ryo knew that was an issue, but she could rest later. Not wanting any of Renge's schemes cast a bad light on the host club, she was quick to follow after the two students who quickly ran once they got the chance.

"Excuse me! Please wait up!" she called out, already quite a while away from the others. "I just need a moment of your time!"

Luckily they didn't continue too far, but as they paused, she noticed how tense they were, like cornered animals. She wasn't sure she would ever understand what made Renge tick.

Ryo took a breath and bowed towards the two boys, "I'd like to apologize on behalf-"

"Whoa whoa- Wait you're apologizing to us?"

Startled and a bit confused, she straightened. "Of course. Miss Houshakuji is currently under the care of Ouran's Host Club, and as such is pretty new to the school."

The one who lashed out had a bright red face and a very submissive posture as he managed to look her in the eyes. It occurred to Ryo at that moment that they were incredibly blurry.

"But I lashed out and hurt you all, I should be the-" he quickly sputtered.

She smiled and shook her head, which was a bad idea. "She made assumptions about the two of you which shouldn't have been made. Any reasonable person would have gotten upset. Both of the others seemed unharmed, so don't worry. I'm sure none of them hold anything against you, but I'll make sure to run interference just in case."

"But the cameras-"

"No footage of that scene will be released. The host club has strict policies about it's members engaging in violence," she mused, closing her eyes with a small smile to try and both reassure the two, as well as calm the pounding that had started in her head.

Suddenly she felt arms wrap around her. Shocked, her eyes flew open to see the two leaning onto her, tears in their eyes.

"T-Thank you for forgiving us and not-not judging us-"

"There's no reason to get all worked up," she blurted, unsure of how to react. "Don't worry about it. You two had better get going though just to save yourselves from any other trouble."

Being connected with the host club was hard.

She waved as the two departed, leaning quite heavily on the wall. A slight breeze tossed the stray locks of hair into her face, the sensation coupled with the sound of shifting branches allowing the girl to relax.

Pulling her hair out from its normally tight ponytail, she slid down to a sitting position. It was oddly quiet she noticed, not hearing the chaos of the host club or the chatter of random wandering students.

Ryo could recognize that she had probably hit her head against the wall or something, but she felt fine and normal-ish. She felt drained, which wasn't uncommon, but her mind kept going back to how badly the visit had gone.

Things were a mess.

Reaching up to double-check, she sighed as her glasses were nowhere to be found. Not wanting to strain her eyes or irritate her head further, she decided to close her eyes and sit for a moment longer.

The quiet sounds of the mostly empty campus were much more relaxing than she had expected it to be. With her eyes closed and a comfortable breeze occasionally stirring her now loose hair, the brunette found herself starting to drift off.

A light hum started to drift from her lips in an attempt to stay awake. She figured that Yuu would find something to occupy himself until she got there, and it wouldn't be long until a host tracked her down for some other version of chaos.

She could afford to sit for a while longer, right?

She would prefer that Kyouya or Mori come to find her, mainly being that the two of them were the calmest of the hosts, and weren't likely to bother her for something unnecessary.

No, Kyouya was likely to bother her if it suited him, but she wasn't in any position to argue against that. She hated to admit that she had begun enjoying the moments she interacted with him when passing over information. Their relationship had grown recently she supposed, and she really did admire many of the things that Kyouya did.

It was nice to see him...

But it also hurt.

He always seemed to show up at her weakest points, and he had never held it against her.

Ryo slowly blinked her eyes open, feeling quite a bit more relaxed than normal, or as relaxed as she could be with the migraine that had settled in her skull.

Man, she was tired.

The brunette let her head tilt to the side, vision still quite blurry without her glasses. It seemed like there was someone nearby, but she couldn't quite tell. Strands of her loose hair fell over her shoulder, but her head hurt too much to put it back up.

Her eyes narrowed a bit. Was there someone there?

Letting out a soft hum once again, closed her eyes and let her head rest back against the wall. If there was someone, she figured they would make themselves known.

"Miss Ryo? Are you alright?"

The sound of quick footsteps approaching startled her a bit, her eyes going wide as she turned to face the sound. Ryo found herself even more startled as her green eyes met a pair of darker bespectacled ones mere inches from her own face.

"Kyouya?" she blurted, a bit surprised that he had actually shown up.

"Yes, it's me," he mused, what looked like a smirk finding its way onto his face before disappearing. "You were right about Renge, however. I ended up breaking my composure a bit."

Ryo found that she didn't want to lie to herself at the moment as a smile slid on her face, "I wish I could have seen the great shadow king snap, though Renge's reaction probably would have made me feel more guilty than satisfied."

"I am sorry for all of the trouble we have caused you since her arrival-"

Her vision began to swim, causing her to stiffen slightly. As her eyes attempted to refocus, she noticed the intense look of concern on his face.

"Are you alright? I was told you took the majority of the attack-"

"It was hardly an attack," she scoffed.

His eyes narrowed at her. "Even so, I must request that you allow me to get you checked for any injuries."

"While I appreciate the concern I must decline." It was about time she got back to normal. Taking a deep breath, she pushed herself to stand up.

In an instant, her vision blacked out and a wave of nausea hit her stronger than anything she had felt in a while.

"Miss Ryo? Ryo?"

She could feel a strong arm wrapped around her, holding her up from the ground.

Slowly her vision returned, though she couldn't exactly find her footing.

"What's wrong? Please talk to me," the strained and very out of character voice reached her ears as Kyouya held her.

"I-I'm sorry, I don't know what's wrong with me... I must just be exhausted from a long week," she muttered, trying to stand on her own.

"Miss Ryo." His voice suddenly grew firm, somehow still retaining a soft undertone. "I believe you may have gained a concussion. I'll have my driver take us to get you medical attention."

"No, I... but Yuu is waiting- I can't burden you any further, you've already done so much-"

"It's no burden at all, I don't like seeing those close to me injured." As Ryo looked up at the taller male holding her weight, still quite dizzy and unstable, she noticed the slight coat of red on the tips of ears.

"A-Alright."