Chapter Text
“Haruhi, look! There’s some twins swinging that look your age! You should go play with them!” The man next to me said. That man is Ryoji Fujioka, my father. Only, this was about 10 years ago, and my mother recently passed. My father was clearly trying his hardest to hold it together and try to convince me to make friends to distract me, but I really didn’t want to. Especially since those boys are obviously rich. Anyone with eyes could tell, considering they had nannies, bodyguards, and were probably wearing clothes worth more than my dad makes in 4 months. But clearly, my father didn’t get the memo and pushed me to talk to them. So, begrudgingly, of course, I went over and spoke to them.
“Hi. My dad is making me talk to you two, even though you two look like you’re worth more money than I can think of. Can you shoo me away so I can go back?” I asked bluntly to the two kids, who stopped swinging when I came near. The nanny came over immediately, likely to shoo me away as I had said, but the two had other plans and waved their hands in unison.
“Hmm. Who’s your dad?” They asked in unison, looking bored.
“Uh, the one that has long hair.” I pointed in his direction, obviously itching to go back.
“Oh. You’re a poor kid?” The boy on the right said, looking at my dad before looking back at me.
“Hikaru, don’t be rude! She was obviously forced to come here, she just said so!” The other boy said to the rude one, Hikaru, he called him.
“Oh well, but this girl is intriguing, my name is Hikaru.” The boy announced, as if I didn’t hear his brother.
“I heard.” I responded, as I had heard his brother.
“Oh, so you do know us? Just wanna befriend us for money?” He asked snootily, as if I was dumb.
“No? I couldn’t care less how much money you have or who you are. I heard him say it.” I nodded to the other boy, who immediately realized he HAD said Hikaru’s name.
“oh, i forgot I said his name! Well I’m Kaoru!” The nicer one, Kaoru, said. He was more pleasant than Hikaru, but he still had that disachment that Hikaru had, but more masked.
I was quietly standing next to them for a while, listening to their mannerisms. It wasn’t hard to tell them apart, especially with how they talked. The boys randomly got up and mixed themselves up before announcing in unison a game.
“Ok! It’s time for the ‘Which one is Hikaru’ game!”
“The left one is Kaoru, the right one is Hikaru.” I said certainly, noting their slight differences in stance.
“Uh o- …” They began to say I was wrong, but froze, blinking. The nanny frowned at their reaction. She seemed to not want them to befriend me.
“Give us a reason!” They demanded. It was 50/50 after all, I could’ve just guessed luckily, right ?
“Hikaru presents himself far more detached compared to Kaoru . It depends off the way you two stand.”
The two blinked. When people got it right, they never had a valid reason.
They then scurried off to whisper to each other, and then ran back and both grabbed one arm and announced to their nanny and guards that they were ‘keeping’ me. They immediately ran over to my father and asked to buy me…? My dad said no, but shared his house phone number with the nanny to set up play dates.
“Haru!” The boys ran over and tackled me when I arrived at the huge mansion. I blinked up, craning my neck to look at it. “I- uh- should I take off my shoes? Um-“ I had never gone to a friend’s house before, let alone rich kids.
“Nah, I mean if you want?” They replied, shrugging as hey ran in, running to a pretty woman that resembled them. “Mama! This is our best friend! Watch this!” They spun around each other and smiled at me.
“Which one is Hikaru?” They purposely stood straight so I couldn’t tell.
“Right is Hika, left is Kao,” I replied, honestly used to their shenanigans. They nodded and ran over to me, their mother stunned.
“You- you actually can tell them apart?
“mhm, you can too, right?” I replied, not realizing I hit a nerve.
“Uh… no? Anyways! I’m getting you clothes! Good job getting a cute girl to be friends with you boys!” She scurried off, and they giggled as if that was normal.
“Wait, she’s getting me clothes?” I tilted my head.
“Uh, yeah? I mentioned that you’re a commoner, so my mom decided to give you some clothes!”Hika replied, dragging me and Kaoru off to their room to play. The nanny followed after us, whispering something to her maids around us, looking right at me. I didn’t hear them, but Hikaru and Kaoru did, and they frowned.
“She’s acting like you’re a criminal.” They grumbled.
“Oh yeah, she hates me.” I said bluntly in reply,freezing their anger with confusion.
“She does?” They both immediately asked.
“Duh. She’s always glares at me.” I pointed out.
“Oh, then we can fire her and get a nicer nanny!” They immediately tried to resolve.
“No, you don’t have to do that. Not like she can force you to make other friends in place of me.”
“I guess. But if we do drift, we’ll find you!”
“Sounds like a threat. Oh no, Hika, Kao, are you threatening me?”
“Huh?! No we’re not!”
I laughed in response at their comment, smiling. We continued having play dates and such, till one day, they ran into my house really sad.
“Haru! We have horrible news!” Kaoru said first, clinging to my left.
“We have to move!” Hikaru continued, grabbing my right hand.
I froze for a moment, the wheels turning in my mind. Once I processed, I felt my heart shatter into 3,000 pieces.
“So… no more hanging out?”
“Uhuh! We’re moving to like, Barcelona! For a long time! We can’t come visit anymore!” Kaoru exclaimed, frowning.
“Uh, could you when you get back?” I asked hopefully.
“…no… our nanny said we should try to make better friends. But she doesn’t get you’re the best!” They said in unison, before both looking at each other and pulling out a box from their bag.
“This is for us ! So we won’t forget each other!” Hikaru opened it, and there lay 3 matching hair clips. The two took one out and helped put it into my hair before putting their own on.
“woah … these are really pretty! Are they expensive?” I asked, almost worried for the price.
“Eh, it’s only 4 million yen. They’re nice, right?” They shrugged before smiling. I froze, what if I broke it?! We ended up hanging out before they left to pack, and I immediately stowed the clip away somewhere safe. I was probably going to keep it as my most prized possession, especially knowing they gave me it. I, realizing they weren’t coming back, began crying. No more friends, no more happy days hanging out with them, just nothing. I tried to make other friends in school, but they all only wanted to be friends for free answers.