Needless to say, I was surprised to find out at practice the next day that not only were they telling the truth about Mori being in the kendo club, but he turned out to be the captain of the kendo club. I guess I could be a bit oblivious sometimes.

A bit… well, I guess it was sorta a stretch to call not noticing the captain of your own club being a bit oblivious- more like majorly oblivious.

"Mori….san," I greeted him upon arriving in class.

Mori paused in his warm-ups to glance at me. There wasn't any hint of what he was thinking in his expression.

"Morioka-san," he greeted in return.

Then we both just stood there, staring at each other. The silence stretched on a few uncomfortable moments until a club member called out to Mori for help with something. Giving me a nod, he turned away and went to correct the club member's stance. For the majority of club time, much to my annoyance, I found myself focusing more and more on watching him and not on practicing. I even ended up with a few bruises as a result, when a first year asked me to let him practice a technique he'd recently learned. Of course, I paid a little attention to them after that. The bruises he probably ended up with were probably more painful than the few I earned. Despite that, the first year didn't seem too upset.

When everything was over and done with, and I was changing back into the school uniform, I decided that I'd learned at once one thing during practice today. No matter what I might learn by watching his interactions during club time, it wouldn't do me any good if I ended up slacking off on my end. All of this crossed my mind as I ruefully rubbed my throbbing arm before grabbing my things and headed out of the changing room. As usual, I only found kohais wishing me goodbye, and that was probably because it was tradition in kendo to acknowledge your seniors. The majority of the club left quickly, which made me alone beyond the few people lingering in the main part of the practice room. Even in the club I'd found it difficult to make friends. The boy who had asked to practice with me earlier, and a few other people, talked to me sometimes, but not enough to count as anything.

"Morioka-san."

Startled, I glanced towards the door that led into the boy's changing room. Mori, still in his kendo outfit, had a bag slung over his shoulder and was looking towards me. I quickly recalled how it'd been suggested we walked to the club together when I'd been invited yesterday.

"Mori-san," I said while putting a smile on my face. "Are you not going to change before we go?"

His face was as expressionless as ever.

"I will change there."

"Oh."

He seemed to watch me for a second longer before starting towards the door. Startled, I followed him as I assumed he expected me to.

The moment he opened the door a figure flung itself at him.

"You're done~" Honey declared happily.

Mori simply dropped his bag and caught Honey, actually holding him in the air. I could only stare at this strange scene, my mind refusing to come up with anything to say.

"Mitsukuni," Mori greeted, then sat him down.

Honey peeked around Mori, his eyes flicking around till they spotted me. Once he had, he happily darted past Mori to fling himself at me as well.

"Nao-chan~"

Startled, I didn't do what Mori had. Instead I found myself being hugged, with me just standing there like a statue. A second later he released me, not seeming to care that I hadn't reacted in any way. He then spun on a heel to seize Mori's hand with one of his and glanced back at me to grab my free hand that was hanging tensely at my side.

"Let's go!"

Mori started out the door once again, Honey trailing behind him this time. Unsure of what else to do, I just allowed myself to tugged along behind him with my bag held in my other hand.

Once we'd arrived, Honey dropped my hand to go to the changing room with Mori. For a moment I simply stood frozen in place in front of the doorway. What had been only a simple music room the day before had transformed into some sort of tropical paradise, complete with the birds and the heat. Completely unsure of what to do, I stiffly sat my bag down on one of the tables and perched on the edge of a chair. As I looked around to see who all was already here, and what they were doing, I swiped a hand across my forehead to clear away the sweat that was still collecting on my forehead. Following kendo practice by the heat of a tropical paradise setting made me wonder about if they had anything that I could change into.

Honestly though, I thought to myself as I looked around. What would make someone want to do something like this? What's the purpose in it?

I could almost immediately draw up an answer from my mind, as irritating as the idea was. I'd spent the night yesterday, after finishing practice, doing as my uncle suggested. A suggestion from my uncle was the same as an order. Which meant I found myself reading up on host clubs. From what I'd learned, a lot of them would have cosplay type days, which I guessed was what this was. Then again, while I understood that it wasn't such a strange thing when it came to groups like this… I couldn't help but find it weird.

Why the hell would someone want something like this in December?

Shaking my head, I noted that the only one of the host club boys who I hadn't seen come in was the cross-dresser, Haruhi. A moment later, I'd decided there wasn't anything for me to do right now and searched through my bag until I located my book. It only took seconds to locate the page I'd left on before class.

I'm not sure how much later it was, but Haruhi did end up showing up, looking like a boy once again, and making a fuss over the tropical atmosphere. Only a few minutes after she arrived was when the club events actually began- at which time I found myself retreating to a table that was more towards a corner of the room making sure to keep my bag and book with me.

Unfortunately, I'd only turned a page when I remembered my uncle's request. Glancing around the room, I located where Honey and Mori were with my eyes. Hesitating, I considered my options, and my chances of backing out of this. Realizing that I should just get it over with so that I could report that I had done something when I got home, I stood and searched the room for Kyoya. I'd easily recalled that yesterday Kyoya had been the one Chie had discussed her booking with.

Locating him, I walked over to where he and Haruhi stood, discussing something about Bali. The look on his face as he finished their conversation was creepily close to that smile my uncle had worn when speaking of his plans the night before.

An evil smile, I noted to myself. It'd be a good idea to stay on his good side.

"Kyoya?" I called out, once I was sure they had finished talking.

"Hm?"

He turned towards my voice, his steely gray eyes not betraying whatever might be on his mind.

"Morioka-senpai," he said as he spotted me. "Did you decide on the offer Tamaki gave you yesterday?"

I paused before him, surprise shooting through me, although I was careful to keep it from my expression. How had he so easily guessed what I'd come over to discuss?

"Yes," I told him, pulling up my practiced smile. "I was wondering if I could meet with Mori and Honey sometimes, I got along with them quite well yesterday."

As I spoke, Haruhi was pulled away by one of the fangirls, leaving me alone with Kyoya. He pursed his lips thoughtfully and glanced down at the clipboard in his hands. A second later he gave a nod, writing something down, then flipping a page over and writing again.

"That will work," he said as he wrote. He then paused and glanced up at me from the board. "No one but them, then?"

That unreadable face of his was unnerving.

"Yes, just them," I said, putting up a sheepish expression this time, hoping it would seem real. "I don't really know anyone else just yet, and they're the same age as me, so it's easier."

Kyoya studied me for a moment then simply nodded his head.

"If you are willing to wait, they'll be free shortly," he said, turning his head slightly as one of the girls called his name. "If you'll excuse me."

Watching him walk away, I tried to push away my uneasy feeling before going and sitting back down in my secluded corner. Within a moment I had gone back to reading. Bits and pieces of conversation caught my ears as things went on, such as some girl deciding Haruhi was her favorite, or the twins making sickening comments towards each other.

It wasn't too long, however, before I heard my name being called and looked up to see Kyoya gesture towards Mori and Honey's direction. I nodded back at him and gathered my things. I almost instantly decided it would be best to leave him be and walk over to Honey and Mori on my own, as Kyoya seemed to have quite the audience of fangirls questioning the tropical setting of the club.

"Hello, Mori-san, Honey-san," I said as I approached the table.

Honey instantly turned to look at me, an adorable grin spreading across his face.

"Nao-chan!" he said cheerily.

As I sat my things down next to my seat and tucked my book away in my bag, I noticed that Honey was tilting his head to the side and giving me a thoughtful look. Once I'd sat down, he grinned again, apparently making a decision on whatever he was thinking about.

"Nao-chan is too formal!" he declared.

"I am?" I asked, allowing my surprise to reach my face this time, deciding it was probably the most appropriate expression to be displaying. Most of the girls here in the club seemed to display a lot of emotions, so that would most likely be the best approach when interacting with these boys.

"Uh-huh," Honey replied. "You don't need to use '-san'!"

I offered him what should have come across as a curious smile.

"Then what should I use?"

As I spoke, I allowed my eyes to flicker to Mori for a moment. I wasn't too surprised to find that despite his even expression and his silence, he seemed to be paying attention to Honey and I's conversation.

"Well," Honey said slowly. "We're in the same class, and now we've talked, so you should just say Honey and Mori without the honorifics. That's what everyone but our kohais call us!"

The smile he gave me as he finished speaking was bright and cheerful. I actual paused before replying to him just to admire the fact that I could tell that his smile was completely genuine.

"Then I'll do that," I replied.

"Good," Honey said happily.

After that, Honey reached past Mori and I to grab a cake off of the sweets stand sitting to the side of the table. Curious, I watched as he sat it down on the table and picked up a spare fork. The reason for my curiosity was that he already had a half-finished piece sitting in front of him. The reason for the cake became obvious a second later, however, as he pushed it across the table to me. With that same smile in place he offered the fork for me to take.

"You looked really happy when you ate that cake yesterday," he told me in explanation. "So you should eat some today, too!"

I hesitated, running through all I'd eaten today, just as I'd done yesterday when I was offered a piece. If I was going to come here and eat cake almost every day, it would seem that I would have to take up my amount of exercise so that I didn't risk the chance of putting on any weight. I was rather certain that uncle would not appreciate that, seeing as he'd put me on a strict meal schedule since I'd moved in with him.

"Aren't you going to eat it?"

Startled by his voice, I looked up to reply to Honey, but found my eyes settling on Mori instead. That emotionless expression of his was still in place, but I almost felt like there was some feeling of curiosity coming from his look. Curiosity towards what, I couldn't have said, since I wasn't even sure why I felt like it was there.

"Nao-chan?"

"Y-yes," I said, tearing my eyes away from him and looking to Honey. "Of course."

Taking the fork I was being offered, I broke off the tip of the cake. My eyes watched as crumbs fell to the plate from my small bite. Unable to continue to ponder whether it was a smart idea to eat the cake any longer, I quickly slid the bite into my mouth. Across the table Honey giggled, causing me to cover my mouth with one hand as I ducked my head, barely avoiding my cheeks flushing in embarrassment.

What had my expression looked like, I wondered. He'd laughed, so it must have been obvious how much I loved the taste of a simple bite of moist cake.

"Nao-chan really likes cake," Honey commented happily.

"Just a little," I murmured, using breaking off another bite as an excuse not to look at them.

Honey giggled once more, than began eating his own cake and allowing us to sit there in silence for a few moments. When I'd finished my cake, however, he'd already begun talking cheerily about some different topic. I gave a reply now and then, my eyes settled on the empty plate. Suddenly it disappeared from my view, and I glanced up in surprise.

Mori had moved it over by him and was removing another slice from the stand. Without saying a word, he sat the new slice down on the table and moved it over to where the empty plate had previously been sitting. My eyes flickered between him and the cake before settling on him. Some part of my mind noted that Honey had stopped talking and I forced myself to simply offer Mori a friendly smile.

"Thank-you."

He just nodded in return, that expression of his never really changing.

"Takashi is really nice," Honey said happily, then paused as something seemed to occur to him. "Oh! Is Nao-chan coming to the Christmas party?"

I frowned, trying to remember if I'd heard anything about the party. I barely managed to pull up that a few people had discussed it earlier while I was reading.

"That's sometime later this week, isn't it?" I asked.

"Yep! You have to come. I know you don't like people, but it'll be fun anyways!"

I knew what my uncle would say if I mentioned the party to him, or if he heard about it somehow. I was sure that after yesterday he'd start monitoring any news about the club that spread around his sources.

"I'll come."