They were a lot different than I last remember. Torsten was pure muscle despite only being fourteen. He could give some bodybuilders a run for their money. But he still prided himself on his appearance, with his slicked back brown hair and holier-than-thou aura. However, he was still a softie and a kid deep down, he was only fifteen after all.

Willy wore the dress to the airport. He had gotten a little chubbier since the last time we skyped together, but he was flaunting his short bell dress. His hair had grown out so it was longer than mine, and he clipped a pretty red rose to the side of his head. What little makeup he wore was perfect and the beauty mark beneath his left eye was more prominent than I last remember. Speaking of eyes, his got so much prettier. Instead of blue and brown like me, his were green and brown. They weren't natural, but a side effect of an experimental medication he had to take as a kid. His eyesight isn't as good as it used to be, but he didn't need glasses yet.

Lastly, Wenzel was whiter than I remember. He was an albino with the whitest skin and hair, and the prettiest violet eyes. He really grew out his hair, keeping it in a low ponytail that brushed against his lower back, and had an even goofier smile than he did as a kid. It was cute when he burst out laughing, but nothing came out as his face turned progressively red.

When Wenzel was a tiny little toddler, he got a head injury that damaged the speech part of his brain, the Broca's area. It took a long time and a look of speech therapists and language teachers to get the special snowflake where he's at now. He can understand German and Japanese and can sign fluently. But his laughs, his cries, his groans, everything is silent. Wenzel can never speak again and he doesn't mind. Oh sure, it can get frustrating for him if he forgets his phone or notepad and pen, but he doesn't miss what he can't really remember. It was odd, but I'm glad my cousin has such a positive outlook on life. He used to have such difficulty connecting with others because of it, especially as a kid when he couldn't really understand and lost his temper at the drop of a pin, but he's finally managing it all.

When you got down to it, they were still the same cousins I loved dearly.

We spent our entire first day together hulled up in the house, just talking and being around each other. Willy just about killed my ears with his squeals when I mentioned the Host Club wanted to meet them. From what I had told them of my rather strange but well-meaning friends over texts, calls, and IMs, Willy was the most excited to meet them. Maybe because he got to be around handsome men or because of all the events they host, I wasn't quite sure.

"I can't wait to meet them once the weekend's over!" Willy gushed, starry eyed over all the endless possibilities.

Kuro and I shared a look. "Uh, what?"

"We're going to be here for a month, we can't fall behind on our education," Torsten said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world, his siblings nodding in agreement. "Father pulled a few strings so we will be attending Ouran as well."

Wenzel's eyes sparkled with mischief as his hands flew around, making signs. "And that means we get to spend time together, cousin dearest."

"Wh-bu-that's not fair!" Kuro wailed, hugging young Willy to his chest as fake tears poured down his cheeks. "I've waited just as long as Hiroki did to see you again and you're just going to abandon me?"

"Y'know, you could just sneak in?" Saburou stuck his head in through the door, giving us all a little scare. He grinned like the little shit he was and bit back a laugh. "You think I'm just going to hang around here all day? And miss out on spending precious time with my sweet little Hiki?"

My face warmed up a little and I hissed at him, shoving the door shut on him with a vicious kick. "Stay out of here, weirdo! Family only!"

"You know you love me!" he yelled on the other side of the door before walking away.

I rolled my eyes but turned my attention back to my sweet cousins and Kuro, who got that look on his face like he had a brilliant idea but it was just going to end up in tears. Mine, his, I don't know, but there would be tears.

"Well, this is probably the worst time you could choose to come school-wise," I sighed and plopped down on the floor beside Wenzel, leaning against his shoulder. "The school festival was just announced and everyone's already running around like crazy, making plans. 'Cause I'm in a club, I have to help out with whatever we're doing along with my class. You're lucky, Torsten, Willy, you guys'll be in the middle school sector and won't have to deal with this yet."

"Does that mean I get to help too?" Wenzel signed, his violet eyes wide and childlike.

"I don't know, I guess? You might not do as much since you're a special snowflake who's only sticking around for a month, but they'll probably give you something to do. Maybe give some musical entertainment?" I shrugged.

Though they weren't Ookubo's by name, they were by blood and therefore had to suffer through music lessons as a kid just like the rest of us. Torsten was in the same boat as Kuro (he didn't have a lick of musical talent), but Willy played the flute, saxophone, and piano all beautifully and Wenzel, well, he could bring just about anyone to tears with his violin. He was on a whole other level than the rest of us.

"Hey," Kuro kicked my foot to get my attention. "Don't you have to meet up early tomorrow with your club?"

I frowned and kicked him back. "Yeah, but no way am I showing up on time. Morning meetings usually turns into slacking off time. The last time I showed up on time, I took a nap up until classes started."

Usually I would get in trouble for such a thing, but given that Honey was taking a nap too and Kyoya the Dark Prince was pretty tired, so tired, in fact, that he didn't bother waking me up. He was probably just too grumpy to deal with anything.

"Hiroki, cousins, I think it's high time I start taking some responsibility around the house," Kuro said and slapped his knees as he stood up with a determined look on his face. "From now on, I'll be doing the driving-OW!"

"We're not kicking Mr. Toho out on the curb just because you want to hog them for yourselves!" I exclaimed, kicking both of his shins. "Just come with us, dumbass."

"Oh, you little shit, you're gonna get it!" Kuro hissed through clenched teeth before pouncing.

Torsten sighed as Wenzel laughed silently and Willy cheered us on as we rolled around on the floor, wrestling like we did when we were kids. "Honestly, you two really haven't changed."

Willy jumped up and down the stairs in excitement, in his new brown uniform with a dark red rose clip in his hair. Somehow, someway, Willy got his hands on the girl's middle school uniform as well as the male uniform. There was a short argument between him and Torsten this morning about first day impressions, but Willy obviously won. Torsten was such a sucker for his siblings.

"Hurry up, Hiki! I can't wait to meet them finally!" he squealed, running to the top of the stairs for the third time.

"Willy, calm down or you're gonna trip and hurt yourself," Torsten said sternly but didn't put his heart into it. While he might be the big and buff cousin, he wasn't used to all the stairs like I was. Willy, on the other hand, was just a mystery to the world. His energy alone could probably power the whole of Japan.

Willy ignored the warnings of his older brother and went on ahead. Torsten went ahead, chasing after him while yelling in German. Wenzel walked beside me, silently chuckling at his siblings. I shook my head and giggled a little. Torsten was such a mother hen.

"Hold up you two, you're going the wrong way!" I yelled just before they could go up another flight of stairs. "It's called music room three for a reason."

We got off on the third floor and I lead the way. Wenzel still walked beside but looked behind his shoulder every now and then at his younger siblings. Torsten, at this point, was keeping a firm grasp on Willy's arm to keep the fourteen-year-old from running off.

Not too long did the pair of double doors come into view. I was kind of glad I didn't hear any shouting or any kind of destruction that usually came from the club room. Then again, maybe it was just too early in the morning for them.

I opened the door just as the twins yelled, "rich men!"

"Nobleman!" Honey giggled happily, Usa-chan riding atop his head.

"Every man," Mori was pretty indifferent to it all.

"Poor man . . ." On the other hand, I'm surprised Tamaki hadn't burst into tears as he posed dramatically, probably imagining patches all over his uniform.

"Destitute!" The twins and Tamaki shouted when all eyes turned to a somewhat devastated looking Haruhi as the playing cards fell through her hands.

Kyoya sat between Luca and Gorou at the table, the latter two choosing to read (Luca) and play videogames (Gorou). There was something about Kyoya's smile that was unnerving. Maybe if he's in a really good mood, he'll overlook me being late, especially since they were only playing card games.

"What are they doing?" Willy whispered as we stared at them through the crack in the door.

Kyoya leaned forward slightly, resting his cheek against his hand in a very elegant manner. Once it clicked just what kind of game they were playing, I could only deduce that Kyoya came out as the stinking rich man and from Haruhi's look of horror, there was a penalty.

"Just a card game, it's good," I said and pushed open the door wider. "Hey guys, be nice! I brought some visitors and I don't want you chasing them away!"

Just as the twins started berating Haruhi for losing a game she taught them about, all of their heads turned in my direction. The cousins lined up beside me, a bit Von Trapp style. Willy bounced on his heels, a large smile on his face as he waved to the club, Torsten was all business and no play, didn't even crack a smile or anything, and Wenzel just stood there with his hands in his pockets, smiling serenely. Tamaki practically vaulted over the table to greet us and the twins weren't far behind.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, personal space there, guys," I said, stepping in front of my cousins before the trio could crash into them. "Anyway, oldest to youngest, this is Wenzel, Torsten, and William, but we all call him Willy."

"It's so nice to finally meet you! Hiki told us so much about you all!" Willy squealed, breaking formation and rushing forward to grab Tamaki's hands with stars in his eyes. "You're Tamaki, yes? You must be because your eyes are so pretty! I've never seen anyone with that shade before but it's so cute!"

I snickered behind a hand as Willy kept going on and on about Tamaki, who seemed to turn a little red at every little endearing compliment. Willy had that effect on people. For some reason, he loved everything about humans from looks to personalities to little quirks they might not even notice themselves and could go on for hours about just one person. The ways his eyes shone and the adorable smile he had on his face always trapped people and it was hard to escape him. Just the honesty behind his words was enough to make anyone feel warm and special.

"What's with your cousin?" the twins whispered loudly, slinking up on either side of me and slinging an arm around my shoulders.

"He just really loves meeting my friends," I smiled before whistling, catching Willy mid-rant. "Hey, you might want to give him some breathing room, Willy. How about you meet the twins?"

Smirking, I shoved the twins forward, their arms messing up my hair as their arms ran over it. They jumped a mile high when Willy gasped cutely and captured their hands, leaving Tamaki bright red and speechless.

"Oh my gosh, you two have such beautiful red hair, it's even prettier than what Hiki described! You two look almost identical, it's gonna be so hard telling you apart, but I'll get it! I won't even ask Hiki for help," Willy vowed before going on and on about their hair and eyes.

Slowly but surely, Willy hit every single club member in the room with compliments and praise, reducing them to a blushing and speechless mess, except for Kyoya. He seemed to be the only one immune to Willy's . . . Willy-ness. Even Mori and Gorou were red in the face! Wenzel decided to take pity on Kyoya, who sat there smiling with Willy holding his hands and ranting about his glasses and cool exterior. The albino walked over and placed his hand on Willy's shoulder. He immediately stopped, set Kyoya free, and stood up, smiling at Wenzel.

"Es tut mir Leid," Willy said before looking back at the still red and speechless Host Club. "I'm sorry, it's just Hiroki talks about you all and I was so excited to meet her friends."

Tamaki cleared his throat, still a little pink in the cheeks. "Well, it's very nice to finally meet Hiroki's cousins. I must say, you are so . . . CUTE!"

Willy's squeal turned into a fit of giggles as Tamaki wrapped his arms around my youngest cousin and began spinning around, talking a million miles a second with the biggest smile on his face. Torsten and Wenzel were very surprised at Tamaki's forwardness, even a little upset, until I shook my head.

"It's Tamaki. If anything, Willy will get on just a little too well with him," I whispered before clearing my throat. "Can you please set my cousin down, Tamaki? You still have to meet Torsten and Wenzel."

"Tamaki-senpai, you should really set Willy-san down," Haruhi added.

At Haruhi's word, Tamaki slowed to a stop and set Willy down with a smile. The chubby boy was a little dizzy, but successfully made his way back to me, wrapping his arms around me to steady himself.

"Please don't use honorifics," Willy giggled a little. "It sounds weird."

"Anyway, since they're staying here for a month, they'll be attending Ouran for a while. Willy and Torsten will be stuck in the middle school, and Wenzel's stuck with me since I'll be acting as his translator-and before you ask, Tamaki, he's mute and can understand Japanese perfectly," I explained before the king of the hosts could jump to any conclusions.

"Pleasure to meet you all," Wenzel signed with a smile and Torsten immediately translated before I could even open my mouth.

"Hey, you'll be in the same class as Chika-chan and Satoshi!" Honey gasped, pointing at Torsten before smiling. "It's gonna be fun! Tell them I said hi, okay, Ten-chan?"

Each of the hosts then introduced themselves to my lovely cousins and once that was done with, we gathered around the table, dragging up more chairs from the corners of the room to fit us all. Torsten asked about the card game they were playing and Haruhi explained it to him, shivering a little when she also explained that they were playing a penalty game.

"What's that mean?" Willy asked curiously.

"It means for two weeks Haruhi is my servant," Kyoya said with that ever charming smile.

"T-Two weeks?! That long? No one told me about that!" Haruhi yelled, face getting rapidly paler by the second. "Besides, I have to help with the school festival and I already have duties for my class!"

"Kyoya, she's right! Before you pick on Haruhi, you must get past me!" Tamaki said and it would have been a valiant effort if Kyoya hadn't given him a look.

"Shut up, poor man. You're my slave too," Kyoya said rather bluntly and kind of . . . un-Kyoya like. Usually he would put up with Tamaki's behavior then strike him down with witty comments and sly words, not Haruhi-like blunt attitude.

The black haired teen turned to the rest of us first years. "Incidentally, what's class 1-A doing at the school festival?"

The twins and I grinned. While Hikaru and Kaoru dug through their school bags for their sketched out designs and few props we had at the moment, I proudly explained.

"Agence de Detectives Prives! We came up with it pretty recently but we already have a lot planned! We're going to have several different mysteries going on. There's one with missing possessions, catching a stalker, and, my favorite that I so brilliantly came up with, solving a murder worthy of Sherlock Holmes himself!" I crowed while the twins showed off designs for the costumes and the basic layout of what the setting was going to look like. "Hikaru and Kaoru really wanted to try their hands at sleuthing clothes and making them fashionable so it didn't take a lot to convince the class president to include them."

"That sounds like fun!" Willy and Honey gasped.

"Yeah, that's why I'm busy right now. I'm thinking up the suspects and the cases but," Haruhi gave me a halfhearted glare. "Hiroki's very controlling."

"Oi, I'm all about this mystery detective shit, just ask Tao. If we're doing this, we've gotta do it right," I said and stuck my tongue out at her.

"What perfect timing," Kyoya said and pulled the joker card out from the messy pile on the desk, his cold smile sending shivers down everyone's spine. "Haruhi and Tamaki, you will aid me in uncovering the true culprit, agreed?"

What the hell was he talking about?

After I escorted Torsten and Willy over to the middle school sector of campus, I went to class with the others, including Wenzel. Though he was all smiles, he wasp practically glued to my side the entire day. He was wary of new places, especially with his pigmentation issue. Even if he was crazy rich, there was always someone who bullied him over his albinism and lack of voice. It seemed much didn't change in the years we hadn't seen each other.

We didn't have much of a normal day though. Wenzel watched and his hands moved a hundred miles a second, firing off one question after another about the construction crews, the carpenters, electricians, business owners, and, well, just about the entire working class of Japan. With the festival only two weeks away, classes and clubs were already getting things set up. Classes had free reign of classrooms, but clubs fought over certain locations in the school.

"Wenzel, I don't know why "only" Ouran does this, but I'm positive there are a couple other schools out there. In fact, I'm pretty sure Lobelia is worse since they have a tendency for theatrics," I muttered to myself at the end, a chill running down my spine as I remembered the Zuka club. If I see them again, it would be too soon.

Wenzel wasn't the only one with questions. Haruhi looked exasperated at the amount of workers and designers in our classroom. If I had to guess just by looking at her face alone, she was thinking we all were rich bastards.

"Why are there so many merchants here?" Haruhi finally asked just as the twins waltzed over, holding a layout of what the room would eventually look like. "A school festival is supposed to be an amateur thing, isn't it? I mean, aren't we supposed to make everything ourselves to learn self-sufficiency and teamwork?"

"Oh no, not at all. The Ouran Festival is all about foresight and leadership," the twins said.

"Besides," Hikaru continued. "It's not for us. It's for the parents! Unlike Halloween or Christmas, this is one event the parents can participate in. And it's a chance for them to check up on their kids. They look at our use of money and manpower, and how smoothly and accurately we carry out our plans."

"Y'know, to appraise our future potential," Kaoru finished.

Both Haruhi and Wenzel were satisfied to finally have an answer, but something else was on Haruhi's mind.

"That's . . ." she hummed more a minute before shrugging her shoulders. "Bothersome."

"No. "That's Herculean" is what you should say. Don't be impertinent," the twins scoffed in unison before smirking. "Well, our parents leave us alone, so we're free to do whatever we want!"

"Ah, I thought so," Haruhi deadpanned before looking at me and Wenzel. "What about you guys?"

Wenzel grimaced at the thought and shook his head and I chuckled weakly. "Wenzel's mom isn't, uh, exactly on good terms with my dad so it's been a couple years since she set foot in Japan willingly. Besides, I would be surprised if any of them found the time to come to the festival."

The classroom door slammed open, startling everyone, and one of our fellow classmates ran in, carrying a piece of paper.

"Hey! They announced the candidates for the Central salon!" he yelled and slammed the paper on a desk.

Everyone gathered around to see the candidates except for Haruhi, Wenzel, and I. There were some mutters about the sports clubs like football and basketballs being strong and the student council wanting to get re-elected this year. From what I remember of seeing the central salon during my short tour of the school with Chairman Suoh when I first came to Ouran. It was pretty and had more Western and European influence than the rest of the school.

Wenzel tugged on my sleeve and signed, questioning the importance of the central salon.

"Well, if I had to guess, it's a lot prettier than the ballrooms and club rooms. Besides, considering that this is Ouran, they're probably using the ballrooms as an open area for mingling. With that out of the way, the best and more prominent room gets the most students and parents, right?" I theorized.

"Right you are, Ookubo-san," the class president said, walking up to us. "Because the grand ballrooms on both floors are used as loungers for visiting family members, the central salon gets the most attention by far. The group who resides in the central salon reigns over the school festival! Only the most talented and confident top-class clubs enter this race. It's regarded as the biggest clandestine event of the festival." The president finally got his hands on the paper and handed it over to us. "Our class considered joining the race, but we decided against it. First years have no chance of winning anyway."

Haruhi nodded in agreement then froze at what was written on the paper. I groaned and Wenzel patted my shoulder in condolences.

RACE FOR THE CENTRAL SALON

Class 3-B

Host Club

Basketball Club

Football Club

Ikebana Club

I was busy enough planning out the mysteries with Haruhi for our class and I know that the Host Club was going to do something, but did we really have to compete for the central salon? They could just smile at the students and parents and get way more than whoever's in the central salon.

"Wenzel, my dear cousin," I placed one hand over his and sighed. "If I'm going down, then I'm taking you with me. Consider yourself a temporary Host Club member!"

Hallo, is'a me, Gabby!

Sorry I couldn't have this up in December, but ta-da!

So I'm thinking that if I'm going to post chapters as often as I used to, I'm going to have to drop the chapter minimum words down to 3,000 instead of 5,000. It's not a guarantee that I will post more often, but it'll help me not stress about it as much.

Anyway, we got cousin bonding time and sibling wrestling! Funnily enough, it's the only form of "fighting" Hiroki will do with her siblings because, y'know, wrestling is "fake" or fake. BTW, if you want to see a great video on wrestling, watching "Wrestling isn't Wrestling" on youtube. It's kind of a semi-accurate history of the WWE.

Anyhow, I hope you guys like the latest batch of new characters and hope you continue to read and followed Smiley Faces!

Toodles~