An American Rabbit in Japan

Chapter 15

Dinner that evening was relatively simple in the eyes of the wealthy young gentlemen, but Bunny was very happy with it. It was followed by a simple dessert of strawberry shortcake, which Honey had multiple servings of and still was magically the first person to be finished eating.

"Hey Bunny, what have you been up to today?" Tamaki hadn't seen her all day and being unaware of their close encounter, he was curious about her day.

"Nothing much. Got lost in the house a few times."

Tamaki chuckled; he always found quirks like this quite endearing. The charm of a commoner was never lost on him. "I also wrote a letter to Haruhi." This grabbed the twins' attention.

"Has Haruhi written to you yet?" Kaoru asked.

"Not yet, but that's fine. I'll probably get her letter by the time she gets mine."

"It's been four days since Haruhi left," Hikaru complained. "I can't believe we haven't heard from her. Snail-mail is way too slow; letter writing is stupid."

Most of those seated at the table were stunned (Kyoya found it simple to continue eating his meal). Tamaki tried to say something but ended up making his usual unintelligible grunts and gurgles.

"Tamaki, chill out. I'm a big girl." Bunny didn't seem upset with Hikaru, but she wasn't smiling. "Hikaru, I can understand why you don't like letter writing because it can take a really long time to get a response, and it's even more frustrating when something gets lost in the mail, but it is so worth it to me. When you open that envelope and see that person's handwriting, it's almost like hearing their voice again. International phone calls can get expensive, e-mails seem so impersonal, and visits are too few and too fleeting. But you can keep letters. Letters are like pieces of your heart that you're sending away and to receive a piece of someone else's in return is so special and so sweet. Having such a personal memento can really help when you're missing them. I think that makes it well worth the wait." Bunny then excused herself from the table and began to head to her room but stopped before she got too far.

"Hey, Hikaru?"

"...Yeah?" The teen answered with trepidation.

"Haruhi probably brought her laptop with her, and even if she didn't, she can use the ones we have at home."

"So?" The amount of sass that one word could hold...

"So, e-mail works both ways. Don't complain about not hearing from Haruhi if you haven't reached out to her."

Kyoya couldn't hide his smirk any longer. "Well gentlemen," he said once Bunny was out of earshot, "it seems that she truly can take care of herself."

***

Bunny grudgingly followed a hyper Honey as he happily skipped down the hall, swinging Usa-chan in the air.

"Honey, why are you awake so early?" Bunny was definitely not a morning person, but Honey sure was.

"Because I wasn't sleeping anymore!" he replied with glee. Bunny couldn't resist the impulse to roll her eyes. His charm wasn't effective until after morning hours. Bunny was grateful to see that she wasn't the only night owl when they reached the dining room table. The twins looked miserable, Kyoya wasn't even there, and Mori-well, he just looked like Mori. Tamaki, however...

"Good morning, Bunny! Good morning, Honey!" The blue-eyed blonde was chipper as could be, buttering a scone as his two friends took their seats.

"Morning, Tamaki," Bunny grumbled. The two morning birds chattered away as Bunny attempted to blink away the desire to sleep. She wasn't too successful and nearly missed her mouth when she tried to eat.

"Just when we thought we'd never meet someone as clumsy as Boss," Hikaru muttered playfully.

"Oh hush." Bunny couldn't hide the smile tugging at her lips.

"Glad to see that everyone appears to be enjoying breakfast," Kyoya said as he entered the room, stifling a yawn as he took his seat. There wasn't a single trace of happiness to be found on him though. The way he narrowed his eyes when the twins got too loud and his sluggishness suggested that he considered such an early time of day to be an abomination.

"Eat quickly, my good man!" Tamaki encouraged the grumpy VP. "Honey-senpai and I have decided that it's excellent weather for a beach outing."

Hikaru and Kaoru seemed to perk up at this. They snuck a quick look at Bunny before exchanging mischievous grins. Oh yeah, swimsuit time.

Bunny choked on her tea before Kyoya could make a witty refusal to Tamaki's plan.

"Whoa Bunny-chan, are you okay?!" Wide-eyed with panic, Honey rushed to Bunny's side, anxious to help in any way he could.

"Yeah! Yeah-ugh-I'm fine," she sputtered, quickly wiping her face. Kyoya quirked an eyebrow at the sudden outburst.

"As thrilling as that sounds," he quipped to Tamaki, "I spent a large portion of last night planning out today's activities to prevent any complaints of boredom." He looked pointedly at the twins, who rolled their eyes dismissively. "We'll be visiting my family's water park this afternoon. The, ahem, "hurricane" issue has been resolved."

Hurricane? Bunny thought. What the hell kind of water park is that?

"That's wonderful news; having another run in with your private police force would be rather unpleasant," the Host King voiced his approval.

Private police force?!

"I agree, Tamaki, which is why I've taken special precautions this time. Now, we have some free time until the limo will be taking us. I suggest you go ahead and pack anything you'll need to bring so that it won't take us long to actually get everyone out of the house."

"W-wait, Kyoya!" Bunny finally summoned the courage to interrupt. "That sounds like a lot of fun and I'm sure your family's water park is amazing, but I don't even have a swimsuit! I, uh, I forgot mine at home!"

"Jeeze Bunny, what kind of person goes on a summer vacation and forgets their swimsuit?" said Kaoru.

"We know you're blond but really, this is something we'd expect from the boss and not you."

"Hey, what's that supposed to-"

"That's unfortunate Bunny, but I'm sure you'll find Mrs. Hitachiin's swimsuits for the season to be very flattering." Kyoya's hand clamped firmly over Tamaki's mouth; he wasn't in the mood for one of his outbursts. Kyoya hadn't consumed near enough caffeine for that yet. The twins' attention quickly shifted back to the blonde girl, and Bunny was frightened by the devilish glint in their eyes.

The table soon erupted into excited chatter ("We'll help you pick a swimsuit!" "We'll make sure you look super cute!") and Kyoya took advantage of the cacophony to slip away quietly, taking his coffee with him. The noise faded away as he put more distance between himself and the other teens. Kyoya was grateful for the room to think.

Bunny... There was something off about that girl. Kyoya may not have been well-acquainted with her, but it was clear that something was going on. As a person who was normally pulling all the strings, Kyoya wasn't fond of being in the unknown. It was time for the Shadow King to do what he did best. Things were going to get very interesting.

Author's Note :
Hey guys! Sorry things have been so quiet- I was working a lot more, then I had to move, and my beta reader had to quit bc she didn't have the time to beta read. I'm still working a lot, but I've moved into my new apartment and I'm currently looking for a new beta reader. I've got the next two chapters written and I'm going to keep writing, so hopefully by the time I find a new beta reader I'll be able to post on a schedule again. I hope you've all been doing well! 💟