nodus tollens | t. morinozuka

Chapter 4

Arashi decided to make it up to Kyoya by giving him some homemade brownies. She knew it was a friend-ish thing to do and they were merely acquaintances but she wouldn't mind if she made another friend at the school beside the club members.

She didn't want to approach him in the club though. No, no and no. Just no. Each time she stepped into that damned room, something went terribly wrong. She reacted and made a scene in every visit and she couldn't stand to be an inconvenience. Besides, it was sort of embarrassing to be so sensitive when they didn't know the reason why.

They were both in the same class anyway and both of them arrived early enough to have a few minutes alone even though Arashi usually had her nose buried in a book.

Arashi stood up when Kyoya came in just to grab his attention. She didn't want to do something like knocking on the desk. It was too loud for such a peaceful silence in the morning.

"Yes, Arashi?" Kyoya questioned, warily eyeing the box in her small pale hands.

She hesitantly reached her arms and nodded encouragingly for him to take the box. He did. His face as hard as it usually was when he woke up. She once heard Tamaki's loud voice in the hallway complaining how Kyoya was always grumpy in the morning; another reason why she was very reluctant to give it to him.

He slowly lifted the blue lid enough for some heat to be shown through December's cold air. His face, which was so tensed and pulled, softened and relaxed. It was amazing how the heat in his hands and the brown goodies in the box made him feel like he was at least going to get through his day without any eruptions. Arashi could just see how the small shifts in his eyes went perfectly with the shifts in his posture.

"Thank you, Arashi," he said, sighing through his nose with small smile.

The girl nodded in acknowledgement and slowly sat down, opening her book to get back to her reading.

Kyoya sat behind her like he usually did. She could hear him open the box to its widest and one of the pieces of the brownies gently rubbing against the carton surface as it was picked up. She couldn't hear anything after that. He was a silent eater who appreciated silence.

She smiled to herself. She read way too many books.

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It was only at lunch was she was approached by the Host Club again. They somehow found where she normally sat and she doubted Haruhi actually blurted anything.

"Well, have you thought about it?" Tamaki asked, hands placed impatiently on his hips.

Arashi merely raised her eyebrow in question and looked at Haruhi and Kyoya, waiting for them to explain. She was familiar with them both so she felt more comfortable in their presence than the tall blonde's.

"He means joining the club." Haruhi scratched the side of her neck embarrassedly.

Arashi shook her head and turned her head back to the book. Her eyes were calmly following the words until they were ripped out of her grip.

Tamaki held his hand holding the book up in the air with a slight scowl on his face. And some sort of pout too.

"Listen to me," he whined and Arashi blinked at him, trying her best to be patient.

"If you join, you'll get free food everyday and can help our friend Haruhi over here clear his debt to this club," Kyoya uttered and the silver-haired girl's eye strayed to him with a betrayed feeling. Kyoya wasn't even looking at her.

She sighed and shook her head again. She didn't even want to know what kind debt made Haruhi forcefully join. She held out a hand in the direction of the book but Tamaki stubbornly shook his head.

She sighed through her nose and quickly signed a please to no success.

She bent down her head in frustration and picked at her food with the chopsticks. She could buy another copy anyway. The food momentarily took her mind away from the book. It was a very nutritious bento Inazuma made and she didn't want to let such delicious food go to waste. It looks so luscious and-

"Tamaki," she heard a deep voice she had never heard before mutter. She didn't lift her head though. She didn't care about their club dynamics right then. "That's enough. Give him back the book."

That, however, made her neck almost snap with how fast she swung her head towards who spoke.

It was a very tall dark-haired boy with deep grey eyes that caught hers for a few seconds before she turned hers away to the book. Tamaki placed it in front of her albeit begrudgingly. She nodded in gratitude and ignored their presence and words until they were gone. They probably realised that she wasn't going to change her mind.

At least, that was what she hoped.