Lovely Wallpaper

"Ah? So Haruhi-senpai is coming back next month?" Takeda Umeko said, retying her long, ash brown hair into a tight pony tail and grunting as she lifted a small crate of cabbages up and onto the stall's table, wiping her sweat away with the back of her hand. "Where did you hear that from?"

An entire week had already past since Yori chatted with her old friend and just now she was able to meet up with Umeko. It was weird considering they attended the same school, but due to their different class schedules and club activities after, it was hard to meet up. The Saturday sun glowed brightly above all, its harmful rays being blocked by thick, fluffy white clouds. The temperature outside was the type where you could wear a light jacket and not die of a heat stroke.

"From her father of course," Yori said, picking at the cabbage's leaves before taking one and placing it in her basket. She was grocery shopping for her mother who was too busy tidying up the house to go out herself. Daisuke was out playing wit his friends and causing mishap wherever he went. "And from her as well. Chatted with her not too long ago."

Umeko nodded her head, placing her hands on her hips for just a moment before bending down once more to carry a small crate of potatoes. She staggered as she brought it to the next stall, dusting her hands on her apron and looking down at them. They were red and stung slightly when she tried to make a fist. She cursed under her breath and made a fist anyway, cries of pain shot through her, but it wasn't something she couldn't handle.

The Takeda family wasn't exactly rich, but weren't poor either. They owned a little stall in front of the grocery store where they sell vegetables and fruits. It was easy and had a good business. The only problem was that Umeko was usually stuck with all the work on the weekends, her three older brothers retreating from the work, their excuse being that they've been in charge of the stalls all week and needed a break, to go drinking with their buddies no matter how early in the day it was. The girl missed the times when her mother was around, but couldn't do anything about it.

A speeding car drove by and Umeko shivered from the zoom sound it made. Why was that person in such a hurry? He could have run over an innocent child trying to a retrieve a ball that had run away to the street. Yori, not noticing her friend's glare where the car had just drove by, took two potatoes and placed it in her basket beside the cabbage, removing the handle from her arm and casually held it up with both her hands.

"Over that webcam thing of yours?" Umeko asked, continuing the conversation as she lifted another crate, this time it was string beans.

The order of vegetables Umeko was bringing out was curious, but no one seemed to mind. Everyday it was a different batch yet it was always the set the people needed. Yori took a couple as well. In truth, she didn't even have a grocery list. She was just picking any vegetable that Umeko pulled out. She was sure her mother could come up with something with what she got. If not, then this should be the last time Yori was trusted to go shopping without a list. After all, she was already stripped the privilege in fetching her brother from school when she deliberately forgot where he studied.

"Yep," Yori stood slightly on the tip of her toes to look past the stall and wondered how many more crates were there. "You should get yourself a laptop, you know. Once we graduate high school, it would be easier for you in college."

"I'll get one when I can afford one and still be able to have food on my table and clothes on my back," Umeko lifted the final crate onto the table and tossed whatever was the freshest to Yori who caught it in her hand and placed it in her basket. She didn't particularly care what she had just got. The girl reached into her pocket, pulled out her money and paid for her purchase.

"Did you see any of her friends?" Umeko then asked, returning the change and packing the vegetables into a plastic bag. She was curious about them having seen the Host Club, most of the time two ginger haired boys and a loud, put very handsome, blonde; kidnap Haruhi on multiple occasions when she, Umeko, was on her way to Yori's apartment.

"No. Apparently they were next door doing some nonsense and what not." Yori laughed under her breath, remembering Haruhi's exasperated face. "Her boyfriend got lost in the grocery store. Can you believe it?"

"From what I hear about him, yes, yes I can." Umeko laughed before glancing down the street, once again, to see non other than Yasumura Mei walking across with her boyfriend, who had a very intimidating face, but didn't seem all to dangerous since his girlfriend was dragging him around. "Does Mei know?" she turned to Yori when the couple entered the grocery, the girl waving at the two before disappearing past the sliding doors.

"Maybe. She's close with Haruhi-san and her friends after all." Yori blinked, her eyes looking at the now closed, glass doors. "Listen, I've got to head back home. I promised Haruhi we'd continue our chat today since it was cut short due to her boyfriend's disappearance." She continued, brushing her hair back and messing up the clip Mr. Fujioka placed on her before leaving. After his daughter left, he decided to dote on Yori by dressing her up in the girly clothing his daughter left behind.

"With only those random set of vegetables?" Umeko raised a brow, but shrugged anyway. Mrs. Ishikawa was a talented cook She'd think of something with what her daughter had bought. If not, take out was also an option or maybe eating with Mr. Fujioka. Speaking of him…."Say 'Hello' to Fujioka-san for me!" Umeko called out when Yori was already making her leave.

"Will do!" Yori waved, her voice slightly distracted, and continued her way down the street, looking both ways, and heading back to her apartment, grudgingly carrying her bag of vegetables up the stairs and into her home. She placed them on the kitchen table, her mother having disappeared and leaving a note, before entering her room. Opening the curtains to let the sunlight in, Yori crashed on her bed and pulled out her laptop.

Displayed as Yori's laptop wallpaper was a chubby girl with an awkward smile showing her multicolored braces. She had acne and long, curly hair tied up into pigtails with lopsided ribbons. There was a pink color decorating her cheeks and blue eye shadow on her lids. Her lips were glossy. On the left side of the picture was a thin, beautiful girl with long blonde hair held in a braid and lime green eyes. She had freckles sprinkled across her nose. Yori recognized her in some movies trailers she had seen. She was a teen actress, but hasn't gone to a stage where most would have been arrested for doing drugs, having a DWI and other scandals. Lucky for her, she had her head screwed on right.

A girl with shoulder length auburn hair and bright blue eyes was on the right side of the photo. She wore large glasses with no grade and posed with a 'peace sign'. In the back was Umeko with her long ash brown hair held back with a headband and her grey eyes shining with obvious glee. Beside Umeko was Haruhi, laughing at something the girl had said. Lastly, there was a girl just behind the one on the right. Her hair was curly, ginger colored and her eyes a nice hazel. She was grinning at the camera as well.

Yori laughed under her breath and soon clicked on Haruhi's name, the red blinking light appearing beside her webcam once more. She carried her laptop onto her study desk and sat on her swivel chair, waiting for Haruhi's pop out window to load. A second past and finally the webcam on the other side of the world showed the wallpaper of Haruhi's living room. Yori furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. Where was Haruhi?

"Haruhi-san?" Yori asked knowing her voice could be heard. "Are you there?"

"Ah! Where did that voice come from?" Someone from the other side yelled out, voice almost like a child's but not quite, and the sounds of pots and pans toppling over was heard. Yori's eyes widened.

"Hello?" She tried again. She realized that whoever spoke was one of Haruhi's friends. After all, the panicked voice used the Japanese language. "Where's Haruhi-san?"

"Haru-chan?" The voice sounded distracted. Yori heard a fridge door being closed and a small cheer. "Haru-chan and Tama-chan went out!"

"Really?" Yori asked, her voice soft. She wondered if the person on the other end, whoever he was, heard her and repeated what she said. "Do you know when they'll come back?"

She pictured whoever was talking to shrug. "I don't know. Kyo-chan is the best person to ask!" the person was still distracted. It took him longer to reply to her questions.

"Are you alone in Haruhi-san's apartment?" Yori spoke carefully; she didn't want to sound like someone dangerous. Her question seemed like something a pedophile would say when a child answers his parent's phone without asking.

"No…Takashi's in the bathroom," the person replied, there was a long pause and the sounds of cheerful humming filled the silence.

"How about the rest?" Yori asked, her voice full of interest. She was actually talking to someone in the Host Club? Whoever was speaking stated that Haruhi and Tamaki were gone and Kyoya wasn't with him apparently. Takashi was somewhere else so that left Yori three people to guess from.

"Kao-chan and Hika-chan are probably trailing after Tama-chan and Haru-chan." Another long silence. The sound of a door being opened was then heard. "Ah! Takashi! You want cake?"

Yori's eyes lighted up, she saw half of 'Takashi' in the pop out window. He was incredibly tall. "Ah. No thanks." Was what Yori heard from the other side and joyful humming returned to cover the silence. Yori though about clearing her throat, to politely get their attention to her, but figured they wouldn't hear her anyway.

Something crossed the girl's mind. What were these two doing in Haruhi's house when she wasn't home? Why did Haruhi leave her laptop open? Did she forget about their meeting? No. Haruhi wasn't the type. Yori closed her eyes and imagined Haruhi just opening her laptop only to be whisked away by the hyper blonde to have a spontaneous date. She could see Haruhi trying to tell him she had other plans but the blonde either ignored them or didn't hear them. Another vision was Haruhi telling him she had something to do, Tamaki retreated into a dark corner and just to get him back out, she agreed to go. Opening her eyes, Yori didn't mind Haruhi abandoning their chat due to such reasons. After all, this gave Yori the chance to meet some members of the Host Club.

The sounds of a plate clattering into a sink reminded Yori that she had to speak up in order to continue her conversation with who she guessed was Mitsukuni. The small chat they had so far began to make sense – the childlike voice, the opening of a fridge and the humming. No doubt the boy, well man since he was probably twenty years old by then, was eating cake that belonged to the Suoh-Fujioka couple.

"Ne, Takashi, one of Haru-chan's friends was talking to me earlier. I wonder where she went…"

The voice of Mitsukuni trailed off and soon Yori saw him standing in front of the webcam, his back facing her. Her heart skipped a beat. He was still quite short for his age, but it was obvious to her that he had grown a few inches during his stay in the US. He was probably taller than Haruhi yet shorter than the twins. Sure, he probably lost his Lolita factor, something Haruhi had to explain to her when asked about the Host Club's members, when he grew but from his voice, which also changed a bit, and mannerisms, it was obvious to anybody that he was still cute.

"Friend?" Takashi asked, his voice was deep and somewhat soothing to hear. Yori saw him look around the room, seeing no one else but his cousin.

"I didn't see her around here either. I just suddenly heard her voice when I was getting cake," Mitsukuni said, he sounded sad. "Do you think she left?"

"I'm still here. Sorry for the silence," Yori spoke up and the two turned to her direction, both eyes wide in surprise. She gave them a smile and a small wave. In an instant, Mitsukuni was right in front of the camera, a grin spreading across his lips.

"Wow! She looks like a green eyes Haru-chan, right Takashi?" He said the moment he got a good look at Yori. He turned the camera to face Takashi who only nodded, his hands in his pockets. Mitsukuni made the webcam focus on himself once more.

"I'm Ishikawa Yori, Haruhi-san's neighbor," Yori introduced herself. Mitsukuni did the same only he mentioned his and Takahshi's nicknames.

"It's nice to meet you both, Haninozuka-san, Morinozuka-san," she smiled, not wanting be so friendly with them just yet. After all they are much older than her and are strangers in a way.

Mitsukuni was just about to say something when the creak of the front door opening distracted him, making him and his cousin turn around to see Haruhi, looking more tired than ever, and the rest of the Host Club entering. They were all chattering around her and from what Yori saw, Haruhi was getting a bad headache from it all. The brunette let out a sigh and was shocked to see the short blonde and his tall protector standing by her laptop. She raised a brow and saw Yori smiling at her from the screen.

"Yori!" Haruhi exclaimed, remembering her forgotten friend, and made her way to the laptop, bending down so that Yori could see her face. The boys behind her looked at each other in confusion thinking Haruhi had exclaimed 'Mori' instead. "I'm so sorry. I was dragged –"

"It's fine. It's fine. Your two friends kept me company." Yori laughed when the rest of the Host Club tried to get a glimpse of her from behind Haruhi. Of course, Haruhi wasn't exactly pleased since they were pushing her. Yori laughed once more when she heard comments of 'green-eyed Haruhi' and the like. "Anyway, I see that you've had a long day. I'll chat with you next time, yeah?"

"Alright. This time I'll make sure to bring my laptop into my room and lock the door." Haruhi sent a glare at her boyfriend, which automatically sent him into his corner. Yori laughed once more.

"Bye!" Yori waved and logged out. When the pop out window of Haruhi disappeared, Yori couldn't help but smile to herself. She had seen the rest of the Host Club. It was just a matter of time before she met them all personally. She leaned into her swivel chair and was just going to close her eyes for a second when her mother's voice echoed throughout the entire apartment.

"Yori? What in the world did you buy? None of these are on my list!"

"You didn't give me a list!" Yori said loudly, not wanting to leave her swivel chair just yet.

"Yes I did. It's on the refrigerator as usual."

"Oh." Yori bit her lip and slowly climbed into her bed, pulling the covers over her. She probably just lost her privilege to go grocery shopping on her own.

I will start referring to Hunny and Mori by their nicknames by the next chapters and so on an so forth. I was just using their real names for this one since Yori isn't all to familiar with them just yet

I hope you enjoy it :)

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