"My... you all haven't changed, have you?"

Eight pairs of curious eyes turned her way, and she offered a demure smile, shifting her load of hardback books to her other arm. 

"I'm sorry," she said, all smiles and patience. "That was a little... rude of me, no? I shouldn't have barged into your conversation like that. Carry on, forget I was here."

She shouldn't have said anything. That much was obvious, judging by the varying degrees of suspicion present on each of their faces; the one wearing glasses looked particularly distrusting of her, and the vibe he gave off made her want to scurry around the corner and hide herself in her European History class. But she'd been through that before, and really, he wasn't as intimidating as he was when she met him the first time. 

Beyond that, though, it was common sense not to say anything. She usually never broke her self-imposed rule unless she was certain they wouldn't react negatively to what she had to say. It slipped out, just now, before she'd had time to file it away and seal her lips against its impromptu escape. 

Thinning her lips in a customary smile - more out of courtesy than a desire to smooth over her embarrassing faux-pas - she dipped her head in farewell and spun on her heel, clutching her books to her chest. European History. It was a wild ride over there for centuries upon centuries, a history of blood and violence, betrayal and regicide, revolutions and crushing defeats. Peasants and monarchs alike suffered and lived and died by the hand of fate, and well, that was fascinating. To her. When she tried to explain to others just why she loved such disturbing history, they sort of just made a face and excused themselves from the conversation. So she'd learned not to bother with that.

In any case, Euro was her last class of the day; after that she'd have to settle in for a night of writing a paper about the fall of the Roman Empire, as well as an essay about the feudal age of Japan. Her lips twitched into a scowl at the thought of another sleepless night, and once again she found herself cursing the workload she'd saddled herself with for this semester. If only she'd listened to Marcy and dropped Asian History, or moved it to next semester. But no, she'd thought she could handle it and hadn't heeded a single one of her friend's rants on the subject.

Sighing, she thought that if nothing else, she wasn't failing, and that was comforting in its own way.

"Miss, could we have a moment of your time?"

A hand gripped her by the shoulder, turning her to face whoever had spoken without her consent. Unbothered, she smiled at the glasses-wearing man from earlier, tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear. She had fifteen minutes until her Euro professor went through roll-call, and the Jameson building (where the class took place) was only a five minute walk from the square she just left. She had a few minutes to spare to answer questions, if that's why the whole group had gathered to catch up to her.

"Of course," she said. "I'm Dina Michaels. How may I help you?"

"Ootori Kyoya," the ravenette said, by way of an introduction, extending his hand for her to shake, which she did with a giggle. If Kyoya found her strange, he said nothing of it. "You said something in passing that caught our attention."

"Do you know us, Dina-chan?" 

Dina's gaze dropped to the small, cherubic blonde peering up at her from behind the legs of a giant and the petite ravenette who stood at his side. Another smile claimed her lips, and the blonde took that as an invitation to skip closer to her, eyes wide and full of endless, endearing charm.

"I don't," Dina said truthfully, biting back another giggle as the blonde beamed at her. "Know you, that is. Not really."

"Are you quite sure?" Kyoya asked, pushing his glasses up his nose with one precise finger.
Dina bobbed her head. "I'm sure. It was my mistake to call out to you like that. I'm sorry to have troubled you, Ootori-kun, as well as your friends."

While Kyoya narrowed his eyes, trying to make sense of her use of honorifics, the blonde suddenly seized her hand, coercing her down to his level with a few gentle tugs.

"Dina-chan, it wasn't any trouble!" he chirped. "You seem really nice, so it's fine! I'm Haninozuka Mitsukuni, but you can call me Honey!" Spinning around (and tugging Dina along with him) Honey proceeded to point to the other members of his group. "That's my cousin, Morinozuka Takashi, but he's Mori to everyone."

The giant inclined his head to her, and she fought the urge to curtsy in reply. He very much played to her idea of what a knight in shining armor should look like, though she doubt he had any idea he fit such delusions.

"Mi-chan's next to him! She's Takashi's girlfriend," Honey added in what was meant to be a conspiratorial whisper. However, as he barely lowered his voice from his usual chatter, everyone within ten feet heard him well enough, and the girl in question ducked her head into Mori's side with a squeak of protest aimed, presumably, at Honey. Dina noted the flush of red down to the collar of her shirt and mercifully chose not to coax the girl out of hiding.

"The twins who are paying attention anymore are Hitachiin Kaoru and Hikaru!"

They were, in fact, completely detached from the current proceedings, finding more interest in a game on one of their phones, which played cheery, electronic music every time they achieved something (she guessed this only because they'd grin and high-five one another in the same moment that the music began its course).

"And finally, it's Tama-chan and Haru-chan!" Honey giggled, gesturing towards the taller, violet-eyed blonde and the rather masculine-looking girl who was now busy fending off the hug he was forcing on her. Honey, seeing the amusement flickering over Dina's face, leaned in to add, "They're dating, too!"

"They seem to get along," Dina commented, though surprisingly it came without the sarcasm one might have expected. 

"Uh-huh," Honey agreed easily. "They love each other!"

Dina nodded, but frowned a moment later as she excused herself from Honey with a polite word and turned back to Kyoya. He didn't seem miffed by her ignoring him, but then again, she never could read that calculating visage of his, then or now.

"I'm sorry, I've gotten off-track, Ootori-kun. Is there anything else I can do for you?"

He was silent for a moment. 

Dina checked her watch, assuring herself she'd have no trouble making it to class even if this conversation carried on a bit longer. She hated to seem rude, but Professor Thompson was a hardass most of the time and he wouldn't even let her take her seat if she was more than thirty seconds late.

"Are we keeping you, Miss Michaels?" Kyoya asked, and she hastily hid her watch behind her back.

"Just class," she said dismissively, though Kyoya looked rather unconvinced by her show of confidence and glanced at the large, ornate clock built into the center of the square. "It's really nothing. Although, if you wouldn't mind, we could carry on with this later? I'll have free time after three o'clock if you're fine with that?"

"That would be fine, Miss Michaels," Kyoya replied with a practiced, professional smile. He wasn't trying to charm her; he considered their meeting as nothing more than business. She could read that much from his expression, at least.

"Can we come, too?" 

Honey tugged at Mori's arm, bringing the giant forward (and with him came Mi-chan, his little, blushing girlfriend, who'd since regained a sliver of her composure, and offered Dina a sympathetic smile, as if she'd been through all of this before), his face alight with childish pleading, glancing from Dina to Kyoya and back. Eventually Dina just laughed, ruffling the boy's hair, to which he giggled himself and playfully threw her off.

"I'd be happy to see you all again," she said, and with that bid them a real farewell, apathetic twins and quarreling couple included. 

She could feel Kyoya's eyes on her back as she walked away, and a trill of excitement leapt up her spine. It was so very strange, seeing them all again, without any of them even remotely aware of who she was. But they hadn't changed, as she'd noted upon sighting them. Honey, perhaps, was different, but only physically, and in that she could say the same for the others. But their hearts were very much the same as she remembered.

She couldn't wait till three o'clock to roll around.   

So... I had this idea for a story and I really wanted to incorporate it into a fanfic universe, but I couldn't decide which one. Eventually I settled on OHSHC because I was missing this world (and Micah, clearly). It's all pretty damn confusing from just this tidbit (plus it's not my best writing but meh) but if I ever get around to writing this for real, I'm sure I could explain things a bit better.