the first day of high school is uneventful. the second changes everything when a contract pulls you into the Host Club—you begin to realize nothing about it is temporary
༝༚༝༚
𝑒𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒
ㅤ♡ hikaru hitachiin x enigmaticrose!reader
ㅤ♡ following the anime
ㅤ♡ clean romance
ㅤ♡ 978 words
ㅤ♡ a/n i'm hoping to make this as little as a 4 part series. bare with me!
ㅤc h a p t e r 2
previously
“The Untouchable Maiden!”
“The Literary Rose?”
“The Daydreaming Beauty.”
“Why are you guys talking about her like she’s some mysterious heroine?” The boy from the hall sighed, sweat dripping down his forehead.
“That sounds fun and all—not really,” you took a step back, “but I—”
The twins appeared at your side, boxing you in with mischievous grins. “Don’t go.” One said, his voice slightly more boyish than his counterpart.
In the blink of a second, your book was on the floor and your eyes were on him. His expression seemed to change for whatever moments lied between your eyes locking and Kyoya clapping.
“In theory, you could leave.” Kyoya stepped forward, shoving the paper you had just signed in your face. “But then you’d owe us ¥600,000 every time you didn’t show up for work.”
Your expression remained oddly calm, but your movements were too quick to be anything but frantic. You snatched the page out of his hand, only to discover it was merely the first page of a much larger contract. “This is blackmail.” You deadpanned.
“No, not even close.” Kyoya took back the contract. “I need to make copies of this, I’ll be back.”
“Have you ever done something like this before?” The boy from the hall—your sworn enemy now.
“No,” you bent over to pick up your novel, dusting off the cover.
“I’m sorry I dragged you into this,” he grimaced. “It’s one hundred percent my fault.”
“It is.” You agreed. “But, I shouldn’t have signed anything without reading it.”
The next morning, you tried convincing yourself Kyoya Ootori had been joking.
By lunch, you realized he in fact, hadn’t been.
A copy of the contract had been waiting for you on your desk. Whispers followed you when you walked down the halls. Girls and boys alike kept stopping to ask you if it were true. You would blink, the never-changing expression fueling them.
There might have been a loophole in the contract, or at least there had to be something illegal about using false pretenses to get her to sign it.
“Woah, what happened to you?” The twins grinned when you walked in.
Kyoya adjusted his glasses as you approached his table, noting the eyebags that screamed for rest. “I spent my entire lunch going over it.”
“And?” He raised an amused brow.
Oh. He thought this was funny?
You slammed the contract in front of him. “I found seven loopholes.”
“Eight.”
You’re eye twitched.
“You missed one.” He lifted his tea cup to his mouth, sipping.
“Paragraph fourteen contradicts paragraph six."
"It does."
“Paragraph twenty-two wouldn't hold up in court.”
"Probably not."
“And section three is ridiculous.”
“Thank you.”
You stared him down as if that would help you unsign this stupid document. “I could fight it.”
"You could."
"And I'd win."
"Most likely."
"Then why are you acting so smug?"
"Because you're not going to."
Your eyes narrowed, the slightest form of emotion showing, “Why not?”
He sipped his tea. “You tell me.”
“I hate you.”
“Get in line.”
Behind you, choked laughter gets muffled too late. You turn a twitching eye onto the twins, which looked away immediately and began whistling.
“Fine.”
Kyoya didn’t look surprised, which only pissed you off more.
“I’ve decided.” The ‘king’ raised his hands like he was declaring a new law. “You, —san,” he jabbed a finger in your direction, “are the Host Club’s newest member, the Daydreaming Maiden!”
“That’s just a mix of what we said.” One of the twins accused.
“Yeah, Boss, come up with your own name.” The other added.
Back and forth they went. You tuned them out to background noise, unable to help from noticing the boy from the hall, whose name you still didn’t know walking back over to Kyoya. Now that you thought about it, you didn’t know any of their names, safe for Kyoya, of course, his name was in bold on that stupid contract.
In hindsight, learning their names before signing a legally questionable document would've been the smarter decision.
You sighed and turned, unsure where you were going, but sure it wasn’t going to be anywhere near any of them.
A tug on your dress’s puffed sleeve stopped you. “Where are you going?”
Oh great. The kid again. “Somewhere.”
“Can me and Usa-chan come?” A looming figure appeared behind him and you shifted slightly. “Takeshhi too!”
“Alright, —san, watch me. This is the first thing you need to know about being a host.”
“I should know your name if you know mine.” You said, though to no one in particular.
“True,” Kyoya nodded from across the room.
“Alright then. Men?” The weirdo ‘king’ hummed.
“I’m Karou.” The twin with the lighter voice bounced.
“And I’m Hikaru.” It wasn’t his face or the way he introduced himself that made you pause. In the moment, you didn't know exactly what it was.
But again, the feeling was gone just as quickly as it had arrived.
“We’re twins.” As if that wasn’t obvious, but you didn’t waste energy on saying that.
“I’m Hani and this is Usa-chan!” He held his stuffed bunny up.
“Nice to meet you,” the boy always glued to Hani’s side nodded. Well, maybe you’d learn his name later.
“And I,” spun in a circle, posing just as red roses sprouted by his head. “Am Tamaki Suoh, the King of this Host Club.”
“I see.” Your evened out response did not make him falter.
“Haruhi, go on, don’t be shy.”
The boy from the hall glared at the king, “I’m not shy!” He yelled, and was it you or did he seem more feminine than the rest? He smiled at you then, “I’m sorry again for dragging you into all of this. I know it can be overwhelming at first, but you get used to it.”
