When Tsukimori Kanade came barreling through the doors of Music Room Three after stepping on a banana peel, she felt no panic, no fear, and no surprise.
Only profound confusion.
Why?
Why on earth was there a gorilla throwing banana peels around inside a prestigious academy?!
Yes, the school did have an incredibly lavish zoo and aquarium, complete with peacocks, lions, giraffes, and various primates…
But why was a gorilla eating a banana inside the school building, and why had it thrown the peel directly beneath her feet?!
Moving with the speed of a short-track speed skater, Kanade drove an elbow into the heavy doors of Music Room Three and burst through them like the wind. She had plenty to complain about, but she wasn’t panicking.
Because, theoretically, Music Room Three had recently been converted into an exhibition hall for a charity auction. The Tsukimori family had donated a Renaissance vase, and it should currently be on display inside.
So, the white-haired boy with the single-sided fringe calmly thought, if she couldn’t avoid crashing, the most likely outcome was simply that she’d hit someone else’s donated exhibit.
She could pay for the damage afterward.
Besides, if nothing else, her family seemed to be a ridiculously wealthy conglomerate.
Then again, at Ouran High School, if you threw ten stones, you’d probably hit eight members of old-money conglomerate families, one second-generation rich kid who’d struck it rich overnight, and one young master or lady whose family had risen through the underworld.
Kanade, who had just been transferred to Ouran at her father’s arrangement, belonged to the first category.
Although she herself was still in the process of filling in some rather fundamental gaps in her general knowledge, she’d learned all this from the information she’d memorized.
And, going by her own circumstances, Kanade felt she was actually more like the second-generation rich kid who’d gotten wealthy overnight.
After all, she’d only been given the surname Tsukimori seven days ago.
Seven days ago, she had still been a student from a future world six thousand light-years away. She’d gone by a single name—Kanade—and had grown up in an interstellar society so close to utopia that all forms of discrimination had been eliminated.
Then, in the blink of an eye, the universe exploded.
And so Kanade, along with all the millennium’s worth of rare collectibles she’d spent years accumulating—doujinshi, plushies, and all manner of high-tech bionic intelligent figurines—exploded along with the entire world.
Kanade should have become nothing more than cosmic dust.
Instead, she somehow survived the Big Bang and became the only daughter and sole heir of the third-generation Tsukimori family in this world: Tsukimori Kanade.
Her new father promptly ordered her to disguise herself as a boy and take over the family business. Seven days after landing in this world, she returned from France to Japan and transferred into Ouran High School.
A second chance at life was certainly something to be grateful for.
Being reborn as the heir to a noble family wasn’t bad, either.
And since the future world had long since discarded gender labels, Kanade didn’t think pretending to be a boy made much difference. She accepted the arrangement without complaint.
But ever since arriving in this new world, Kanade couldn’t help remembering all the beloved merchandise that had vanished into cosmic dust.
Every time she thought of them, her heart seized up with grief.
That faint melancholy naturally showed on her face.
Still, she’d already lived through the destruction of the universe and the extinction of humanity.
Compared to that, slipping on a banana peel was hardly worth panicking over.
Besides, it was only a music room in there…
Right?
Her elbow hurt as the doors of Music Room Three exploded open.
But what burst into Kanade’s field of vision was not an open exhibition hall.
It was a dazzling expanse of brilliant white light, accompanied by a shower of extravagant rose petals flying straight into her face.
The opening was so excessively gorgeous and dazzling that Kanade instinctively shut her eyes and raised both hands to shield her head.
…What was going on? Were they holding a ball in here?
With her vision temporarily gone, Kanade had no way of controlling her trajectory. She could only let herself hurtle like a cannonball into the white light beneath the shower of roses.
She managed to crack her eyes open just enough to see a row of display cases and a row of…
People?
Don’t tell me these people are the ones throwing all those rose petals.
There was no time to think.
She crashed straight into a warm, solid embrace.
A low, muffled groan sounded above her head.
Unable to stop herself, Kanade slammed into the person in front of her, taking him with her as they crashed into a redwood desk.
Only then did she manage to brace both hands against the heavy redwood desk behind them and halt her momentum before she could fall.
“Phew—I’m sorry, you…”
Finally free of the banana peel, Kanade breathed a sigh of relief.
She lowered her head to look at the student she’d just slammed into the corner of the desk and began rapidly flipping through the list of notable classmates she’d memorized before enrolling, preparing to make a proper apology.
“Houjou… Shizuru-san?”
Kanade froze when she got a good look at the person beneath her arms.
Her gaze traveled over his distinctive glasses and exceptionally handsome, unmistakable features.
There was no mistaking who she’d just crashed into because of that banana peel.
It was the third son of the Houjou family, Houjou Kyoya.
He was also someone her father had specifically warned her to keep an eye on.
The Tsukimori family intended to expand into the medical market in the future, while the Houjou family had entered the medical industry back in the age of the great conglomerates and quickly risen to prominence. To this day, they remained one of the most powerful noble families in healthcare.
Cultivating a good relationship with them would obviously benefit the Tsukimori family’s future development.
Well, that’s that.
I just met him and I’ve already knocked him over.
Dad, you can give up on your dream of entering the medical industry now.
Kanade thought this gloomily.
“Um, could you get up?”
Houjou Kyoya adjusted his crooked glasses and spoke in an unhurried tone.
“Tsukimori-san.”
The good news was that Kyoya had memorized her information too.
Realizing this, Kanade released her arms and watched gloomily as Kyoya straightened himself while holding his lower back.
She wanted to say something.
But she didn’t know what.
The bad news was that Tsukimori Kanade might already be on his blacklist.
…
There was nothing for it.
She’d better apologize and offer compensation first.
She hadn’t exactly held back just now. Kyoya’s lower back was definitely going to bruise.
“I’m sorry, Houjou-san. I accidentally stepped on a banana peel thrown by a gorilla while passing by. Then I accidentally crashed through the door, and accidentally knocked you over.”
The banana peel responsible for the crime had already vanished without a trace.
Kanade, who had somehow managed to weave through countless display cases before landing precisely on Kyoya, offered this feeble explanation with a weak social smile she’d only recently learned.
“Please allow me to provide full compensation, including medical examination fees, recuperation expenses, and emotional damages…”
“But the best hospitals are all run by the Houjou family—”
“—so Kyoya-senpai doesn’t even have to pay for an examination.”
A pair of pink-haired voices appeared from somewhere, stretching their words in an obnoxiously teasing tone as they spoke in perfect unison.
“That compensation doesn’t sound very sincere.”
Kanade had studied this.
These two nearly identical boys belonged to the Hitachiin family, a household that dominated the fashion industry.
They were twins.
And they had terrible personalities.
Having been thoroughly bullied by their words despite knowing she was in the wrong, Kanade sensibly followed their lead.
“Of course, the compensation won’t be limited to what I’ve proposed. If there is anything the Tsukimori family can do to be of assistance, please feel free to ask.”
“Although she’s a little short.”
A hand suddenly settled on Kanade’s shoulder without a sound.
Kanade remained perfectly composed as she turned her head.
She saw a handsome blond.
No.
A handsome Tamaki Suoh.
He stroked his chin with great interest.
“But she happens to fill exactly the type our Host Club is missing.”
This was Tamaki Suoh, the only son of the Suoh family, whose influence extended throughout finance and education.
The very Ouran High School Kanade had transferred into was operated by the Suoh family.
The chairman of the school board was none other than the current head of the Suoh family—and Tamaki’s father.
In short, he was the chairman’s son.
And another name her father had specifically highlighted.
“Mhm! Kanade-chan is the melancholic type!”
A sweet, childish voice chimed in.
Kanade followed the voice and saw a blond little boy surrounded by tiny pink flowers, smiling at her.
He was also hugging an adorable pink bunny plushie.
“Ah.”
The tall black-haired man standing beside the blond boy responded with a single syllable.
His aura was like a calm, reserved iceberg, keeping everyone at arm’s length.
But that sense of distance quickly collapsed when he transformed into what was essentially a human jungle gym for the blond little boy, somehow turning his aloofness into an irresistibly adorable weak point.
Wait.
This is the high school division, isn’t it?
Where did an elementary-schooler come from?
Kanade instinctively thought this, only to finally match the faces to the names in her memorized information.
They were Mitsukuni Haninozuka, heir to a famous martial-arts dojo, and Takashi Morinozuka.
Both came from martial-arts families with deep connections to the military, and both were among the sons of prominent families her father had highlighted for her.
Though…
Didn’t Dad highlight six or seven names?
Kanade thought about it.
Is this really just a music room?
Why aren’t these people studying or socializing? Why are they all gathered here like this?!
At that moment, Kanade—who had memorized nothing but her classmates’ profiles before enrolling—was completely unaware that the Ouran High School Host Club even existed.
After listening to an entire headful of inexplicable remarks, she attempted to steer the conversation back onto the proper track.
“Houjou-san, what do you think we should do about the compensation? I’ll cooperate fully.”
The naturally melancholic white-haired boy wore the school’s male uniform. The blue blazer and black trousers emphasized his exceptionally well-proportioned, long-legged figure.
His naturally drooping puppy eyes were now lowered with guilt, drawing attention to the beauty mark at the corner of his eye and making everyone realize, almost despite themselves:
This person is really beautiful.
It was a naturally melancholic kind of beauty.
“As for that…”
Kyoya looked at the white-haired boy before him, whose presence was so distinctive, and lightly tapped the notebook in his hand.
Before Kyoya could deliver his verdict, Tamaki Suoh had already extended an offer.
“Become one of us, Kanade.”
Amid a shower of mysteriously appearing rose petals, the blond boy took three quick strides toward Kanade.
His magnificent golden hair gleamed as though lit from within.
He solemnly offered her a rose.
“Join the Host Club. We—and all the girls of Ouran—need a male host of your type.”
Host?
Kanade, coming from the future, automatically stripped away the gender-specific terminology.
She slowly compared the word against the common-knowledge database she’d recently downloaded.
Does he mean a member of the public-relations and external liaison department?
But why would the girls need me?
“Well, well, I think we already have enough people—”
“—but if Big Brother wants to add another member…”
“We wouldn’t mind having one more toy.”
Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin spoke in perfect unison.
Nearby, Mitsukuni spun around happily while clutching his bunny plushie, scattering pink flowers everywhere in welcome.
Takashi Morinozuka:
“Ah.”
Kanade:
“Ah?”
She didn’t entirely understand what the Host Club actually did, but…
“If Houjou-san thinks this can count as part of the compensation…”
Kanade looked toward Kyoya, who was standing nearby with a faint smile.
Her gaze slowly drifted downward, finally settling on the wrinkled patch of clothing where he’d hit the corner of the desk.
“Then it would be my honor to join your club.”
“You talk like some old man from the last century.”
The Hitachiin twins glided over like a pair of mischievous little demons fluttering their wings.
“You keep saying ‘I’ and ‘your esteemed club.’ It’s so outdated and stuffy. You don’t need all those honorifics at school.”
“Oh. I see.”
Kanade, who had spent seven days with her head buried in reference materials, suddenly understood.
She turned toward Kyoya.
“It would be my honor to join your club.”
“‘My honor’ and ‘your club’ are so old-fashioned! What century are you from, Grandpa?!”
The Hitachiin twins looked deeply dissatisfied.
“Is that so?”
Kanade earnestly sought instruction.
Beside this large-scale language lesson, Kyoya finally stopped scribbling across his record book.
The narrow phoenix eyes behind his glasses curved into a pleasing arc.
He smiled like a fox in a fairy tale.
“Then join the Ouran High School Host Club and work off your debt.”
The rest happened astonishingly fast.
Kanade vaguely remembered being made to sign one agreement after another, including a number of blatantly one-sided, essentially free contracts granting Kyoya the rights to her image, audio and video recordings, derivative works, and so on for all three years of high school.
Then she was given a schedule requiring her to attend club activities at three o’clock sharp the following afternoon.
Before she could make sense of anything, countless hands pushed her out of the music room.
“Ouran High School…”
Kanade looked back at Music Room Three.
The classroom doors, decorated with elaborate carved reliefs, were slowly closing.
Yet Kanade had the strange feeling that an entirely new world was quietly unfolding before her eyes.
“I should look the word up in a dictionary when I get back.”
The white-haired boy rubbed his head and turned away, walking past one tall floor-to-ceiling window after another, each filled with clear blue daylight.
She passed a short-haired student in casual clothes coming the other way, the student’s attire completely at odds with everyone else.
The two brushed past each other in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows.