BLOOM [OHSHC]

Chapter 3 - Down the Rabbit Hole

Roses and tea.

Someone's hand in mine.

My ears rang with screaming.

An icy shiver ran through me, and I forced my eyes open. A chandelier hung overhead, glowing softly in the setting sun.

"She's awake!" A kind voice chirped from my side, sharp on my fuzzy brain.

Grimacing at the volume, I clutched my pounding temple in my hand and pushed myself up to sit. "Careful," said a low voice from above me. I craned my head back, finding a tall, black-haired boy leaning over the back of the couch, his stoic eyes fixed upon me.

"Are you feeling better, Michiyo-kun?" I swung my gaze down to my side, where a tiny blonde boy knelt beside the couch. He gripped my hand in his, brows creased with worry. "We were all so worried when you passed out, especially your sister."

My heart shook in my chest. "Mei? Where is she?"

The small boy pointed across the room, where Mei huddled against the wall, clutching her head and rocking. Screaming at the top of her lungs for me. "I gave her Usa-chan, but he didn't seem to help," he frowned.

Scrambling off of the couch, I fell to my knees and crawled across the room to Mei. My mind couldn't quite process what was happening, what had happened before. I took her hand in mine, squeezing softly. "I'm here, Mei," I gasped, pulling her to my chest, soothing her, "I'm fine, I'm alright."

Her whole body trembled. Spurts of words escaped her bloody lips - she'd probably been picking while I was passed out - nothing quite making sense as she shook her head. "Alone," she spat, "Gone. Thai. Chiyo. Chiyo. Chiyo." My nickname played on repeat for a heartbeat, Mei's shuddering slowing to a simmer from a boil. In her hands, she gripped a pink bunny - probably the Usa-chan the little boy had mentioned.

"I'm okay," I repeated, holding her tight. I ran my fingers through her ink black hair, hoping the repetition would comfort her.

A hand touched my shoulder, gentle and tentative. When I looked up, I found Haruhi kneeling beside me. "I'm sorry about them, about this," she whispered with a grimace, gesturing over her shoulder at the huddle of boys at the coffee table. "They didn't mean for all of this to happen."

Pain jolted through my stomach, twisting and knotting. My cheeks flushed hot and tingly, embarrassed... but of what, I couldn't say. "It's fine," I mumbled, switching to scratching Mei's back through her uniform. "Can I have my bag?" I needed to get both of us out of this pink-walled nightmare ASAP.

One of the boys must have heard and jogged it over - the tall, black-haired one. Haruhi gave him a soft smile and a nod. I managed a nod for him too, before flipping open the flap of my bookbag with one hand and digging around inside blindly, looking for my phone. Mei sniffled beside me, her trembling almost completely gone. The plastic case on my phone met my fingers, and I slid it out from between two textbooks.

As I texted our driver, Ellis, Haruhi leaned in and asked, "Is there anything we can do to help?"

"No, we're going to head home," I muttered, shooting a steely glare at the group of boys. They'd been staring, and turned back around to hastily pretend they hadn't been. "I'll see you around, Haruhi."

"Sure," she nodded, helping me to my feet.

I managed to loop my bag over my head - and Mei's too once I grabbed it from where it had been discarded - and then scooped Mei into a clunky piggyback ride. "Goodbye, Host Club," I said as we left, "Please don't bother either of us again."

Kicking the door open, I carried Mei out into the hall, down the stairs, and into our waiting towncar. I greeted Ellis and fell asleep in the back seat beside Mei, our fingers tangled together, before we even left the Ouran grounds.

-

"Well that didn't go according to plan."

The rest of the Host Club stared at Tamaki, open-mouthed.

Tamaki sipped his tea and shrugged. "What?" he smiled. "Today was just a fluke! We'll have to try again on a different day, right?"

Hikaru shook his head. "I don't think that's a good idea, boss."

"She seemed pretty pissed off when she left," Kaoru added. They sipped their tea in unison.

Haruhi sighed, and said, "We should probably back off, senpai. That was a nightmare for us, so I can't even imagine how stressful it was for her and her sister."

The doors opened, drawing the group's attention. Renge waltzed in, grin wide. "How did it go?" she squealed, "Did she say yes?" She twirled in her school uniform, positivity radiating from her as her skirts swept in a wide spin. In her mind, their argument was fool-proof; there was no way that Michiyo Kimura said no to joining the Host Club.

"Unfortunately, no," Kyoya answered, tapping away on his phone. "But now she knows we're interested."

"What?!" Renge screeched, plopping down in a free armchair. She stole a slice of cake and shoveled a large bite into her mouth, upset. "What happened? What went wrong?"

"What didn't go wrong?" Hikaru laughed, only to get smacked by both Kaoru and Haruhi. He shut up pretty quickly after that.

"If you all had been listening during the meeting earlier, you would have known that Kimura's sister, Mei, is on the autism spectrum," Kyoya said coolly, reaching over to write something in his notebook. "And Hikaru, Kaoru, and Haruhi informed us that Michiyo is preparing for an upcoming role, so we should have anticipated that she might be malnourished."

"Tama-chan should say he's sorry," Honey blurted, staring at his plate of strawberry shortcake. Usa-chan sat in his lap, unharmed by Mei.

"Me?" Tamaki blanched, setting his teacup on its saucer. "What did I do?"

Haruhi was the first to speak up. "You were a little overbearing, senpai. We could have talked for a bit, gotten to know Michiyo first to make sure she was a good fit with everyone before offering her the position. Eased them both into the Host Club's craziness."

"But that's like beating around the bush!" Tamaki whined. "I was just trying to get to the point." He pouted and pushed his cake across his porcelain plate.

"Apologize," Mori grumbled just loud enough to be heard, staring out the window at the setting sun, his teacup nested in his palms.

"But... but..." Tamaki stammered, searching for a rebuttal, "You're on my side, right, Kyoya?"

"Afraid not," Kyoya sighed, looking up from his phone. He leveled a tired look at Tamaki, and explained, "Our profits will increase exponentially with Kimura in our Club. Every day that she isn't here, we're basically losing money."

Tamaki withered, slumping back in his armchair. He tried pouting his puppy dog eyes at Haruhi, to no avail. She shot him a 'you-did-this-to-yourself' look, and he crumpled even further into himself. "Fine. I'll apologize to Kimura," he grumbled.

Honey brightened and wiggled in his seat. "Yay!"

"Operation: Get Kimura to Join the Host Club is back on track!" Renge cheered.