Ouran High Host Club: The Education of Fujioka Haruhi
by K. Stonham
first released 9th July 2006

"And then you divide by X," Haruhi finished.

"Ahh, now I get it!" Kaoru exclaimed. His brother leaned down, examining the solution.

"Hey, Haruhi, how come you're so good at math?" Hikaru inquired, looking back up at her.

Haruhi shrugged and perched on the corner of her desk. "It's just easy. If you follow the correct steps, you always get the right result."

"Ahh, logic," the twins said in unison. The way they said it made it seem as if it was a foreign concept to them: something they'd heard of, but never personally experienced. And sometimes Haruhi was inclined to believe that was the truth. Not that the two of them didn't get good grades, of course,--she'd seen their marks--but they were stronger in the arts than in the sciences, and then there was their behavior in the Host Club, where they went willingly along with whatever scheme, theme, or cockeyed plan President Tamaki cooked up.

"Anything else I can help with?" she asked.

"No, I think that's it." Kaoru shuffled his papers into a neat pile, tapping their edges against the surface of his desk to align them, and placed the stack in his satchel.

"Did you bring a box lunch again?" Hikaru inquired, returning to his desk on the other side of Haruhi's.

"Don't I always?" she asked with a slight laugh. There was no need to go into the territory of I can't afford to eat in the cafeteria here. Besides, her own cooking was, if not gourmet, perfectly good.

"So did we!" they declared, producing identical bento boxes and displaying them with identical flourishes. Haruhi raised an eyebrow. They'd never brought lunches from home before; why the sudden change?

"What did you bring, Haruhi?" Kaoru asked.

"A hard-boiled egg, some pickled vegetables, and leftover grilled eel from last night," she answered, taking her own bento box out of her satchel and unwrapping it. "The two of you?"

"Sashimi, tempura, and pickled vegetables too," Hikaru replied. She peeked over at his lunch and was reminded again by its picture-perfect contents and sparkling design that her classmates had people who cooked for them.

"It looks nice," she commented, knowing without needing to look that Kaoru's lunch would be identical to his brother's. She took her chopsticks out of their container, suspicion hovering in the background of her mind as to why they were having bento boxes today. Was it just one more stage in whatever contest the two of them were having with Tamaki-sempai regarding her? Inwardly she sighed. Why did all the members of the Host Club have to be so stupid like that? She was tempted to consign them all to that strange, unknown territory labeled as "boys," but given that she herself was masquerading as one, she was actually trying to look at it as a form of research. Besides, they were her friends.

"Do you always eat lunch all alone in here?" Hikaru asked, leaning back and indicating the empty classroom with a gesture of his own chopsticks.

"Usually," she replied. "Everyone else eats outside, or in the cafeteria, so it's nice and quiet. I can get some studying done."

"You must study a lot," Kaoru remarked. She looked over and he smiled cheekily at her. "You have the top marks in the class, after all."

"I'm a scholarship student," she replied. "I wouldn't have gotten in if I didn't have good grades. But, yes, I do study a lot."

"But your grades haven't slipped at all since you entered the Host Club," Hikaru pointed out. "When do you make up the time studying that you spend with us?"

"I don't study all the time," Haruhi clarified.

"You're just naturally smart," Kaoru concluded.

"You say that like the two of you aren't," Haruhi rebutted. "The difference is, I apply myself more because I have to. If I let my grades fall, I'll lose my scholarship for next year. I can't afford to let myself be too distracted."

"Hmm." The twins identically tapped their chopsticks against pursed lips, expressions considering. Their expressions brightened. "We could pay for your tuition," they began.

"That's not the point!" she retorted, then calmed herself again. "There are things I want to do, and I have to study hard to be able to do them," she told the twins. She smiled. "Not everyone has the advantage of being born with money, after all."

They were silent after that, and she wondered if she might have actually gotten through to them for once. The problem with rich people, or at least one of the problems, was that they honestly had no clue what it was like to not be rich. Which of course didn't mean that she knew what it was like to be rich, but she thought she had an idea. She could survive if she was suddenly as well-off as any of her classmates. Take the Host Club, though, and bring them down to her economic level... well, she wouldn't place bets on any of them.

And the Hitachiin twins were exchanging a glance over her head, which about half the time meant trouble. "Haruhi," Kaoru asked suddenly, and his voice, just a shade lighter than Hikaru's, held some kind of sudden adultness to it that was weird, "what would you do if we were serious?"

"What do you mean--" Haruhi started, then was cut off by Hikaru's mouth on hers.

She'd had one kiss before, which was part of the Host Club's annual Dance Party. She'd given the winning kiss and it had accidentally turned out to be on the mouth. Kanako's lips had been soft and perfumed with cherries. Hikaru's mouth was nothing like that. It was hot and his tongue was in her mouth, coaxing, teasing, and she thought he was probably a good kisser (she knew she wasn't) and wondered if he'd practiced with his brother. She thought he must have, and wondered how much of their "brotherly love" act wasn't just an act, and then he was gone, looking at her, fingertips still lingering gently beneath her chin, his eyes dark with seriousness.

Then Kaoru's fingers turned her toward the other twin's desk and he was kissing her, as thoroughly as Hikaru had but as always just that one shade softer than his brother. And he too was serious and gentle, making her almost understand what they'd said about a girl's ultimate fantasy being loved by the both of them. But she still couldn't quite grasp it, and then he too was drawing away and they'd presented her with this, changing things, and she had to make a decision.

She wondered what Tamaki would think about it, and could envision the apoplectic fit he'd have. And she could see, too, where it would really hurt him. There was a cold space in her stomach, making her suddenly wonder if her being a girl would have the potential to ruin friendships and maybe even break apart the Host Club. She thought Hikaru and Kaoru must really want her because they weren't actually stupid and would have realized that making any move like this could change things badly. Either that or they knew her well enough to know that she was too sensible to let things end that way. And their eyes were on her.

More than that, though, Haruhi wondered what she wanted.

She wasn't a normal girl, and she knew it. But she also didn't think she was a lesbian. In the vague "someday" of her future, she always pictured ending up with a husband, a home, and a few kids, though she was less sure of how to balance the career she wanted with a family. But she was confidant she could manage it. Did she want to date the Hitachiin brothers, or...? It maybe could be hidden from their class, and even if it couldn't, part of the brothers' reputation was based on bisexuality. For herself, she didn't care if her classmates thought she was homosexual as well as a boy.

It still came down to what did she want.

"Haruhi?" Hikaru asked, and his voice was quiet, as if he was just now realizing the position they'd put her in. Or was it hesitant, she wondered? The twins had given her the power to turn them down, after all, and if they were serious, as she thought they were, a bad rejection could hurt them. She didn't really want them withdrawing back into their social isolation.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly, not looking up, trying not to hurt them, but not agreeing either. "I can't..."

They were quiet for a moment. Then Hikaru asked, "Is it because of Tamaki-sempai?" There was a slight undercurrent of anger in his voice.

"Hikaru!" his brother hissed, reprimanding him for it.

Haruhi shook her head. "No. I don't think so," she said honestly. It might be, someday, who knew, but for now... "I'm just not ready." She could almost feel the two of them take that, mull it over, accept it.

"So it's not that your father would object to you having two boyfriends, then," Kaoru finally teased. Haruhi relaxed. This wasn't going to ruin their friendship, she thought, relieved.

"Dad wouldn't mind," she said. "He'd probably like the two of you better than Tamaki-sempai."

"So, Haruhi, can we come over to your place after school and study with you?" Hikaru asked.

"No," she refused.

"But, but, but, we really want to!" they chorused. "Because you're so good with math."

"Get a tutor," she told them bluntly.

"But Haruhi!"

"Do you even know how to take public transportation?" she asked them.

"We've heard of it," Kaoru answered, sounding dubious.

"Fine," she replied, figuring out a way to stump them. "When you can take public transportation all by yourselves, without any help from me or anyone else, to my place, I'll study math with you." And she returned to her lunch.

At the very worst, they'd figure it out and she'd have to study with them. She decided to call it her contribution to the education of rich people.

She was certainly learning a lot from them.