The episode begins with Haruhi as a middle-schooler visiting Ouran with her father, Ryoji. In the admissions office, the dean remarks on her intelligence, while Ryoji says she's too smart and so independent that she completed the school application on her own and wanted to come to the interview solo, as well. Haruhi sits to one side of the room; behind her is a large painting of a woman and a young girl sitting together under a tree, its possible symbolism being Haruhi and Kotoko. The dean invites Haruhi to explore the campus and she agrees; the painting altered to show the little girl chasing a pink rabbit resembling Usa-chan.