Chapter Text
By the time I woke up, it was the next day. Yesterday was already bad enough, really.
Remember that whole “bracing” thing? I really had to hold in the next day, as this day, I lost another.
Two days left until Valentine’s Day. February 12th.
Before the storm.
This morning, there was a different air to everything. Everything just felt all too strange. With Miss Asahina disappearing with little-to-no explanation whatsoever as to why, I couldn’t quite keep a completely carefree mind anymore. Even if she really wasn’t in danger, non-existence has got to be some sort of call-to-action, right?
I was just finishing getting dressed when my sister bursted into my room, running and making a low “vrooooom..” noise as she did, her hands both to her side like an airplane.
“What’re you doing?”
“Your friend’s here.”
“Huh? Which one?”
“The brown-haired girl.”
“…huh?”
Without telling her to shoo out of my room, I headed downstairs to see what it was. Haruhi never showed up to my house unannounced like this. She barely shows up here at all, really. Especially in the morning.
Before I opened the door for her, I peeped through the small window to see if she’d be up to anything. The result of this was rather scary— she was standing there with both hands on her hips, lips puckered as if she was already not happy with my actions today. What? Did I sleep a little too much for your liking, o’ Queen Haruhi?
Yet, scary as that was, there was also a hint of anticipation in her eyes. Was she just playing it up to make sure she was ready for when I stepped out? Would that mean she plans her scoldings in advance? That would explain how she’s so perfectly able to chew us out each and every time she starts on us.
Putting the notion aside, I finally opened the door for her. Had I waited any longer, she was sure to have more words than she already probably has for me.
Opening this door, I was met with the second door, the glass door. I used this as a bit of space between her and I, not wanting to be pulled by the collar or the scarf just yet. Too early for that.
“What took you so long?! You’re expected to always be prepared for your Brigade Leader!”
“And as a member of the SOS Brigade, I expect my Brigade Leader to inform me when she’s coming over.”
“I did!”
She pulls out her flip-phone, pressing it a few times. She slammed it against the glass so hard I was almost certain it’d shatter. Through the foggy morning haze that stained the window, I could make out the text; “I’ll be there in the morning to check if your kitchen is good enough for cooking!”
Now, I was about to call myself an idiot. Then I read the send time. 1:00 AM. One in the morning! Why would I be awake at that time? At that, why was she awake at that time?
“So?! Gonna let me in or what?” Haruhi put the phone awake, opting to press her face against the door instead. She then quickly regretted that, leaving a face-shaped smudge in the door. I will now never forget the sight of that dumb look in the door. Maybe her tiredness caused her to make a slip-up.
“What, are you a vampire? You can let yourself in.”
“Hmph!” Aggressively, she opened the door and stomped her way into the house.
“Make sure you take your shoes off!”
“I— I was getting to that!” She pulled her leg up and hopped a time or two, pulling her shoe off her foot. She then repeated that for the second one and stepped into the living room. “Now, tell me. Where’s your kitchen? We don’t have all morning. If I get to school late because of you, there will be penalties!”
You’re already waaaaaay to late to be saying that. At the rate you’re going to go with this, we’d be lucky to make it by the end of first hour.
Haruhi slammed a list of everything we needed against my chest. It wasn’t much, actually. My sister and I do this every year, so most of what we needed was the actual cooking supplies rather than the utensils to make anything. This made her a tad-bit proud of me for once. “Maybe all my training really is paying off on you, Kyon. What would you do without me?”
That was a little angering to hear, but it was a compliment all the same. “Whatever. Can we go now? It’s already nearly the start of first hour.”
“Don’t you rush me.” Her mind suddenly shifted. As typical Haruhi did, she did something without asking. Namely, she began rummaging through our fridge. She pulled out a carton of eggs, her eyes pointing to the pan on the stove.
My mind couldn’t comprehend the sight I was seeing, she turned the heat on the oven and stared down at it, waiting. I couldn’t quite put into words what the feeling was here. Confused? Impressed? ….relieved? Whatever it was, I wasn’t disappointed with it. Haruhi has always been full of surprises. This is no different, and for once it’s actually a welcome surprise rather than one that leaves me angry.
“So, Kyon… do you have any plans for Valentine's day?”
“Hm? I thought I told you— I’m not busy that day.”
“No, that’s not what I…” Haruhi trailed off, her eyes staying on the pan. I got the feeling I knew what she was asking. I didn’t want to suggest anything though. If I got it wrong, it’d be awful for me.
“Then what do you mean? You already asked it, so you might as well finish—“
“...do you have any plans with a girl?”
“Plans with a girl?” Her cutting me off had me a little shaken, the question being far more direct than I was expecting. “N-no – not really. That sort of thing isn’t really what I do.”
Those words were meant to ease her mind. I thought that if I made it entirely clear I was free for the day that she’d be happy. The result of that attempt was her seeming kind of pissy. I didn’t even know why. Does she really care about my relationship at all? If so, why?
“Do you have any plans with a guy?” I ask. “Happen to run into any time travelers, aliens, or espers?”
“As if! Everyone at our school is so boring.” She said, taking out her momentary anger on the egg in her hand, cracking it over the counter and dropping it into the pan. “Can you believe that I haven’t found a single one yet!?”
“Maybe they’re playing hard-to-get. I don’t think any alien worth their salt would just come out and say it.”
“Well, that’s what our club is for, and that hasn’t worked either..”
“Then try and settle for a guy – or maybe even a girl – that isn’t any of those, huh? Maybe just a normal person, who is not an alien, who is not time-traveling, and who doesn’t have any secret powers. It’s boring, sure. But it is much easier.”
This is when she would hit me in any given conversation. Push me away, call me an idiot, tell me that there isn’t any way that would happen.
That sort of reaction is what I was trying to create. But she didn’t give me that reaction. “Well.. I guess there is one human I might be interested in.” The way she said it almost made her sound normal, and if she didn’t use the word ‘human’, it would have been completely normal. The polar opposite of what she is.
“Huh? Really..”
“Yeah.. It’s a… guy.”
Okay, that’s a start I guess. Now what of it? To try and make her more specific, I risk my safety and press the matter further, “who is he? Have I seen him before- oh, wait. Is it Koizumi by any chance?”
“Koizumi?! Why the hell would it be someone like him- and- and- and why do you even care?! Put your nose where it belongs– far away from mine! Your Brigade Leader demands it!” Apparently she had enough of my questions.
The eggs were finished, topped with so many spices that I couldn’t tell which ones were which. I didn’t know we owned these many spices in the house. But when I took a bite into it, any care of which ones they were ceased to exist. I forgot that Haruhi was actually a really good cook. She just doesn’t show it too often on account of making me pay for restaurants all the time.
Only after making it did I notice it’s odd shape. It was put into the shape of.. a heart? I didn’t even know that it was possible to shape an egg. That must have taken practice. But practicing something like that would be a little much for Haruhi to do.
“Haruhi, this is really well made.” I state. She shoved it off, not even bothering to eye me. Harsh. “How long did it take for you to get this right?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” She said with sass to her voice.
“I mean- did you practice cooking this?”
“They’re just eggs!”
“The shape.”
“Oh..” Haruhi paused for a minute. Probably thinking up an excuse, if she didn’t have one planned already. Maybe she did and just decided to second guess it. “Well- I.. just a few tries yesterday! It isn’t that hard!”
“Huh.. could you have tried until 1:00 AM?”
“Wha—“ She stopped breathing entirely for a few seconds, taking a few steps forward and slamming her hand on the table, making the plate jump and land again. “Now- you- Kyon! You’re getting too comfortable giving me lip like that!”
“Giving you lip?” I ask as if I didn’t understand. ‘Course, I did, but I was having fun giving her a hard time. “Whatever do you mean? I’m just asking questions. Really!”
“Well, then you better stop! What makes you think 1:00 AM specifically anyway?”
I could reveal to her that much, but… “it was just a guess.”
“A guess?”
“Mhm.”
She crossed her arms and stepped back again, turning away from me in a real quick manner. She started washing the dishes that she had used, thorough in her cleaning.
It was this sort of thing that confused me most about Haruhi. One second she’ll be scolding you like no tomorrow, next she’ll be cooking you breakfast and cleaning like nothing happened.
“Don’t we have to get to school, Haruhi?”
“Gimme a second! Who cares if we miss an hour?”
But Haruhi, didn’t you say earlier that…? Oh, whatever…
On our walk to school, both of us were quiet. Haruhi even in her silence seemed a little uptight. Anxious about something. She kept fidgeting with the end of her skirt and scratching her shoulders. Every now and then, there was a glance shot up at me and immediately taken away.
So high maintenance… I thought to myself while we walked to school.
Before we arrived, I received a text message from Koizumi. I flipped my phone open and read the message. It was a pretty simple one, “ Come to the table outside during lunch. I imagine Miss Suzumiya might not enjoy that, but we have to discuss something.”
“Whatcha lookin’ at?”
“Got a text from Koizumi.”
“About what?”
“He wants to meet in the cafeteria. Says he has something important to talk about. Without you.” I don’t know why I decided to let her in on this at the time. Really, it only served to make her frustrated. And, well, it did.
“What?! But we have to plan for our meeting on Valentine’s! No skipping!”
“Sorry. We could always go after school.“
“Ugh.. what’s so important anyway?”
“Dunno. He didn’t mention what. Just said it was. And that you couldn’t be there.”
Haruhi puffed her cheeks like a squirrel with nuts in its mouth. With a new found anger, she marched ahead of me. “Make sure you come after school, or it’ll be both of your guy’s heads, got it?!”
Of course I would. But I didn’t decide to give her a confirmation. I felt that was sort of implied— I want to keep my head. So instead, I just gave her a smile. “Thanks for making breakfast this morning, Haruhi.”
“Wh… whatever.” She basically ran the rest of the way to school. I followed at a sluggish pace. We overshot first hour, and I didn’t care to be early to second. So there was no need for me to rush.
Later on in the day, once lunch came around, I got up from my seat. Before I could head out, someone grabbed at my back. I sighed and cocked my head back, “yes, Haruhi?”
“A-After school. Tell Koizumi not to show up! If he does, then it’s still both of your heads!”
“Huh? But aren’t we supposed to discuss the meeting—?”
Haruhi pushed me into my desk, making me hit my leg on it. And as quick as she was to hurt me, she was also quick to leave without another word. It was strange, yet expected of her. I went along with it, and headed to lunch as planned.
I headed to the cafeteria and took a right outside the doors there. Took another right around the corner of the building, and before me sat Koizumi. His face resting with mischief, he gestured to me to take a seat, all the while eating sushi from his lunch. Because of course he is.
“What is it today?” I didn’t care to engage in idle chatter with him. In fact, I wouldn’t had talked to him at all had I not been forced to here. My straight-forwardness was met with him taking his leisurely time finishing his bite, drinking down a bit of canned green tea he must’ve gotten from a vending machine.
“Well, I have bad news. This time, it’s of actual importance.”
“Yesterday wasn’t?”
“Well- it was. Sort of.” He took another sip of his tea, and crossed his legs. “Yesterday, Mikuru Asahina vanished. And, while you and I cherish Miss Asahina, there is no universal, cosmic, or extraterrestrial threat were she to never come back.”
“Today there is?”
“That is what I’m saying, yes. It’s a little more.. no- it’s a lot more dire today. I would say this is probably the hardest situation we’ve gotten ourselves into so far.”
“What, did Haruhi find out her powers or something? Can you stop speaking in tongues and get to your point already?”
Koizumi showed a sign of irritation for once. He furrowed his brow and got up from his seat, his head hanging low ever so slightly, his eyes locked with mine. “At exactly 1:00 AM last night, Yuki Nagato vanished from our plane of existence. Just like Miss Asahina.”
At the time, to say I was in disbelief would be an understatement. Miss Asahina, and now Miss Nagato, I had thought, questionatively panicking. I shot up from my own seat, slamming a hand against the table. “But- isn’t she a part of the Data Integration whatever? There’s no way Haruhi had the power to up and make her vanish! Wouldn’t that cause some sort of.. I don’t know! Some sort of problem for them?”
“Of course, and that’s where the problem lies; it has. Without Yuki Nagato to properly analyze the flow of data from our dimension, the Data Integration Thought Entity will surely start to take matters into their own hands.”
“But— but..”
“Now, don’t get it twisted. There is no immediate course of action they’ll take. They aren’t so stupid.” Koizumi started to pace back and forth in front of the table. Even he was starting to seem anxious just explaining this. “They’ll wait and see if Yuki Nagato will appear again here. If not, there are two courses of action I could see them take.”
“If I’m correct, one would be to send in a replacement.”
“Right.” He nodded at me, “Yuki Nagato isn’t special to them or their modus operandi, and our relationship with her means very little to the Entity. If that happens, even if she reappears here, she’ll essentially be scrapped. She’ll be considered replaced by her superior, and will be taken out of the mission.”
“What about the second course of action?” I was getting scared at the moment. This would be the second time my friend with Miss Nagato would be threatened by the Entity, in such a short time too. “What could be worse than that?”
“Well.. to put it bluntly- preventative measures. We’ve been lucky that the entity only wants to observe Miss Suzumiya thus far. But, come to it, seeing that Miss Suzumiya could start affecting them, they might just.. terminate her.”
“Terminate her?!” My breathing was starting to pick up, and I could feel my balled fist tightening so much it began to hurt. I took a step back and put a hand on my mouth, looking down at the ground.
Listen- for a guy in my situation, I have to brag, I’ve been pretty resilient. I’ve taken everything that has happened so far, for better or worse, rather well. When the universe reset, I got it back together. When Haruhi and I got trapped in another dimension, I kissed her and we escaped. When Ryoko Asakura tried to stab me, I watched as Nagato helped save me.
No matter what happened, I would always somehow come on top. I took it on the chin and pushed it off the next day.
But in this situation, even I had to draw a line. Threatened with three of my friends- a time traveler, an alien, and what was essentially a goddess- being threatened by some other dimensional entity of which I haven’t even been able to see, or probably will be able to see, it was needless to say that I was furious. I was upset. I was.. kind of scared.
When I came to that realization around Christmas, coming to accept my enjoyment of the SOS Brigade and all the things that surround it, the last thing I could’ve possibly imagined was this.
“Kyon.” Koizumi tried to get my attention, approaching me. “I know this is probably stressful for you, but-“
“Oh, is it? Can you tell? Is it your ESPer powers that let you in on that secret, or what?”
“… but, I feel you may be taking it poorly. Still.”
Tears fell to the ground from my face, but I didn’t care anymore. I felt hopeless. Nagato was usually the one to help me out more than any other. With her gone, this was something only Koizumi and I could hope to solve.
“It’s true that this situation is dire,” he continued, “but, unlike any other time, you have the ability to solve this outright.”
“You— you said yesterday that I was the reason this was happening.” My shaking body could hardly manage the question, my tear-filled eyes having difficulty seeing him nod, “then what is it? What did I do?”
He seemed conflicted in his gaze. Deciding between whether or not to tell me. He knew the answers to solve this conundrum, and if he told me now there was a chance this could be solved today. But, it seemed he didn’t care.
“That’s for you to find out. Still.”
I had a need jerk-reaction with that response. Without my brain even processing that I did anything, Koizumi fell back towards the table. He hit his back against the metal and sat down. A grunt of pain came out as he hugged his stomach and leaned down.
“Kyon.. I…” He struggled to form words, “hear me.. out.”
“What?! What do you have to say that’s so important now? You can’t even be bothered to help me save our two friends! I understand wanting me to grow- but… but..”
My now sore balled fist opened to drape my hand over my face in hopes of stopping my crying. It didn’t work.
Koizumi painfully got up from his seat and put his hand on my shoulder. “Kyon..” his voice was weak, and his stance was shaky. When he gripped my shoulder, I couldn’t tell if that was to make me feel better or to help keep himself up, “.. I believe you can do this.”
I almost felt bad for clocking him in the gut then. Almost. It would have been better if he just gave me the solution, but… “fine. I’ll do it myself then. As if I have any choice in the matter, thanks to you.”
By the time lunch ended, I had finally stopped crying, and Koizumi was in less pain than before. He was comfortable enough to walk now at least. “By the way,” I said, walking slow beside him back to the cafeteria, “Haruhi requested you don’t come to the meeting this afternoon.”
“Really? That’s unlike her.”
“I know. I guess she was a little frustrated that you pulled me by myself.”
“Wait- did you tell her this was happening?”
“Yeah? So what?”
Koizumi blinked a few times at me and shook his head. “Nothing, I just.. I thought you would make some sort of excuse as to why you weren’t meeting her. Not tell her directly.”
“Ah.. yeah. I don’t know why I did it. This morning was strange in general. She was acting weird, I was acting weird.”
“She was acting weird, you say? How so?”
“Well.. actually, this may somehow fit into our case here.” I put my hands in my pockets. I felt my cheeks heating up for some reason, but I couldn’t tell why. “Yesterday night, going into today’s morning, she stayed up practicing how to make a heart-shaped egg. Until 1:00 AM, in fact. At least. That’s when she sent me a text.”
Koizumi gave me the sort of look that I wasn’t in on something. I was stupid and he was far smarter— that kind of look. It frustrated me, actually. Enough to make me question why he was doing it.
“Huh? Oh, no reason. I didn’t even notice I was.” Yeah right. As if. “But that is odd. What did the text say?”
“Just that she was coming over this morning.”
“Did she make you those eggs?”
I didn’t answer him for a moment. So he asked me again, and then a third time. “Why do you care?” I cracked back, grunting.
“Is that a yes?”
“Don’t ignore my question.”
He did end up ignoring it.
We had finally entered the cafeteria. Staff was cleaning up, all the students being to their classes by now. We must have been there way longer than I knew. And before we parted ways, “hey,” I told him, “I’m sorry for.. uh..”
“Yeah.” He brushed it off, a mostly genuine smile on his face, “it’s no problem. As an ESPer, you get hurt a lot more than this.”
And with that, we went to our respective classes.
Another long day of classes ended up with my routine of heading to the clubroom after school.
Standing outside the room, I was a bit tense. Knowing that an already aggravated Haruhi would be awaiting me inside was honestly a little scary. An angry Haruhi who was also especially off today. There was quite a lot I wasn’t looking forward to here. But I tried to look past it, sucking it up and opening the door.
“I’m here.”
“What took you so long?!”
“Nothing. I just didn’t feel like rushing.”
“Hmph..”
She was sitting at our computer. It blocked me from seeing her. So I of course approached her. Her hair was up in a gorgeous ponytail, and she was sat cross-legged. When I tried to get closer, she shooed me back in a snap, “hey! Don’t— don’t get so close! I’ll hurtcha!”
“Woah, woah. What’s with the sudden aggression? I just-!”
“Back off!”
With little room to argue, I did as told, hearing furious computer clicks from her. She typed and she clicked and she hit the monitor in a panic. Haruhi certainly wasn’t the best with technology, I know. But I’m not sure what could cause this sort of struggle.
“Is there something you need help with, Haruhi?”
“N— not from you, Kyon! Just sit down! What’s got you so nosy?!”
“What’s got you in such a fuss?”
I took my usual seat in the clubroom, hearing as she turned her computer off and got up from her seat. She took loud steps across the room and stopped at the side closest to the door, staring down the door as if she was in a standoff with it. No rhyme or reason. Just.. standing there.
From the profile shot I got of her, she seemed to be impatiently waiting for something.
“S- so?” She spat.
“So what?”
“Gonna say somethin’?!”
“Huh? You’re the one who wanted the discussion here. You’re the leader, right?”
“Ugh!” She turned around and took a step forward with a ground-shaking stomp, “no, no, no! Not about that! I don’t care about that right now! What I’m talking about is..”
She got shyer as her sentence went on. At that point, I knew what she was talking about. She wanted me to mention the ponytail.
Compliment fishing was new for her. I always thought that Haruhi wouldn’t care for anything so trivial such as that. And when it was coming from me, someone who she hardly took seriously, I really began to question this.
“Oh, um..” It was a hard conversation to open. Thinking my words through, I open my mouth and try to speak like it was normal, “I— I saw you tied your hair up today, Haruhi.”
“Yeah, so? What do you care?”
“Wha—“ I.. don’t get her. “I just thought it was weird is all. You never—“
“So you think it looks weird , huh?”
“I never said that. It’s weird for you to do that.”
“Fine! Guess I’ll un do it then!”
“No, don’t! You don’t have to do that..”
Whereas she wouldn’t listen to me under any other more normal circumstances- today wasn’t at all normal. When I told her she didn’t have to, she literally stood there and didn’t do anything.
“What were you doing with Koizumi at lunch?”
“Talking. Not much.”
Haruhi didn’t like that answer. Or rather, she must have not believed it. Her face scrunched up like a cat getting sprayed with water, pursing her lips and squinting her eyes. I don’t know why that of all things sparked a reaction. This has happened so many times, I can hardly count it as an uncommon occurrence.
Did she not know we had previously? That could be the only answer. The next question would be why does she care.
Honestly, I couldn’t begin to fathom what had gotten into her. Koizumi certainly seemed to understand. So why couldn’t he just spill it for me? Life and death is on the line, Haruhi is acting erratic, and two people have disappeared from this plane of existence— or maybe just existence all together.
“I’m leaving!” Haruhi announced loudly to.. just me. She hastily exited the room, her ponytail flailing in the wind behind her.
I wanted to go after her, but honestly, I needed a break. There was one thing I had to check.
I got up from my seat and went to the computer. It was off by now. So I booted it back up and went to the browser, which I had assumed Haruhi had been so quick to get off of. There were all the tabs closed. There was however one friend of mine to help me.
Hitting CTRL and H at the same time, it would show everything that had recently been searched. Haruhi was unaware of this feature. So when I checked, it showed me what she had so vigorously tried to hide.
Two searches from two minutes ago.
I tried to read them.
My eyes just.. couldn’t focus on them. As if the blue light within the monitor had gotten brighter, or I suddenly had only 5/5 vision, I just couldn’t see them. I could see there were words there, yeah.
My mind tried to tell me I was just stressed from the day so my eyes were buggy. But I knew what was going on. Haruhi’s will was so desperate for me not to see these, I couldn’t. The laws of the universe, her universe, would not let me.
I had waited a little longer to see if she would come back. She didn’t, so I went home.
When I got home, I felt much the same as last night. I was tired to the point of hardly being able to hold my body up.
Nagato and Miss Asahina were both gone. If some strange entity decided to show up- be it Ryoko Asakura, new alternative worlds, or some other dastardly beings- I’d be defenseless. Sure, I can solve this case on my own, but how long will I be given? The Data Overmind people would make their own solution any day now, and seeing how difficult Haruhi is, there’s very little chance I can solve it.
When you’re faced against someone who can shift the world to not allow you a simple answer, why bother trying?
Despite that line of thought, I kept myself awake. If it was going to be anything like last night, someone was going to disappear. In all honesty, it could even be me. Realistically, the choices were me or Koizumi. And, again, realistically, there was a nagging suspicion in my heart it wouldn’t be me.
The clock was reaching 11:30 PM, and so I pulled out my phone and called Koizumi. It went through five rings, telling me it could not complete my call. When it said that, I instantly hung up and tried again. And again. One last time, and I was worried.
Ring…
Ring…
Ring…
Ring…
Ring…
Your call could not be completed—
I grunted, and limply held my phone down. “Of all times not to—“
because this number does not exist.
My heart jumped, holding up my phone again with new life. I checked my contacts first thing. Koizumi was there. His name, his number— everything was there that should be. So how could his number not exist?
Unless he.. doesn’t exist.
The pure frustration inside me was immeasurable. Haruhi had now made all of them disappear. For what? She made this stupid club, and now she’s getting rid of it? Just when I had finally accepted them all. A time traveler, an alien, an ESPer.
I went to dial another number. Haruhi. Haruhi. Haruhi.
“Haruhi!” I shouted the first thing when she picked up, standing up on my bed now, looking down at my feet.
“Wh— what?! You hurt my ear!”
“What do you want right now?!”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“Just— anything! What do you want?”
Haruhi went silent for a heart-throbbingly long half-minute. “Meet me tomorrow before school! In front of—“
“No.” I was unable to wait that long. With the way I felt, waiting that many hours would be painful. It was already strenuous enough just having this call and not doing anything. “No! Tonight!”
“T— tonight? Are you crazy? What’s gotten into you?”
“Where are we meeting?”
“I— in front of the school!”
One day left until Valentine’s Day. February 13th.
The Storm.
I had arrived at the designated place. Haruhi must have been taking her sweet time. It was 12:15 AM. I snuck out of my house. I didn’t do this often- it just isn’t the sort of person I am. The situation was too dire not to now.
I hadn’t even grabbed my jacket on the way out. This left me freezing in my wait. Even the burning sensation my anger had left me with could keep me warm. I was shivering, gritting my teeth, hugging myself to maintain warmth.
“Are you stupid or something?” I heard an approaching voice. Haruhi. She came at a walking pace. “You knew it was going to be cold! Why didn’t you bring a jacket?”
“It’s not that big a deal.”
“Sure seems like a big deal to me.”
We stared at each other.
Haruhi understood that I meant business here. My heart was racing and I could feel myself sweating through the cold. My sore knuckles started to go a little numb in the cold. “Listen, I mean, what I have to say isn’t important..” She insisted.
“Spit it out.”
“Okay, okay!” Her cheeks went red, white clouds coming from her mouth. I noticed her hair was still in a ponytail. It was messier than earlier, so she must have undone it and redone it. “Just.. well.. ugh! Why is this so important that you have to call me here so late?”
It was impossible to even try to get across what I was going though. So I didn’t try. “Tell me what you want now!”
“Wh- who told you I wanted anything anyway?!”
“Haruhi! Tell me what you want now! I’m not playing games here!”
“Kyon! Stop being so confusing!”
“I’m being confusing?!”
Haruhi stopped talking, and I couldn’t stop.
“I mean— I’m sorry, but am I the one who came this morning and made heart shaped eggs? You told me you just came for an inspection, and it lead to that! And you’re calling me confusing!” And I kept talking, “after that you came in and practically forced me to comment on your ponytail! Not to mention you’re wearing one right now, and it looks drop-dead beautiful on you- but how does that make sense! You- you just said how cold it was!” And talking.. “And what was with you messing with the computer? What’s so important that I can’t see it? Just… god!”
Putting all this together, the conclusion came to me. I could figure it out, Koizumi, and I’m a little frustrated I didn’t find it sooner. It was so obvious. It’s always been so obvious. So obvious, just thinking about it is pissing me off.
“So say it!” I screamed, stomping my foot forwards towards her.
“Sa- sa.. say.. say what?!”
“Don’t play dumb with me!”
Months, I’ve put up with her. We’ve had so many life or death moments, it’s absurd. I’ve started spending a lot of time with Nagato, Miss Asahina, and Koizumi. She got jealous. I’ve always been partial to Miss Asahina, so she ridded of her first. Then Nagato when I spoke to her yesterday, and now Koizumi when he specifically called to talk to me privately.
I’m not the smartest person. I admit- I’ve been blind to these feelings of hers for a while now. And trying to empathize with her, I’m led to believe I’ve been bad to her. So guess what, Haruhi? I’ll say it for you.
“One last chance!”
“Or what?!”
“Or I’ll say it for you, Haruhi!”
“Wha.. Kyon-!”
“I love you!”
Fine! I’ll say it. Even when I accepted my place in the SOS Brigade, I couldn’t admit this to myself. It’s just one of those feelings. I never seeked it out, it never came to me, so I never bothered to think about it! Haruhi had to nearly kill me to get me to say it! Am I that dense? Is she that reckless?
The surroundings around us began to close in. Not in a tunnel vision sort of way, but a physical way. It was literally closing in, and snow began to fall onto us. There was no snow in the forecast, and there was no earthquake or other natural disaster happening either.
Haruhi was forcing the scenery to be perfect here. A love that she had always wanted. Or maybe she wanted it to be how I wanted it? Either way, it was perfect.
“I have loved you! I- I shouldn’t even have to speak it!” I felt myself getting closer to her. Not walking. Sort of just floating, really. “So you say it now!”
“Say… say what? What delusions led you to believe I.. that! You’re insane!”
She fought it. The snow picked up, and fog appeared. It was so strong, it pushed me backwards, my feet dragging across the ground. I was absolutely freezing. I couldn’t feel my nose anymore, and I could hear my teeth chattering together. Why does she have to be so resistant?!
“They aren’t delusions!”
While I was being pushed back the ground was still closing in. I was being pushed to the edge. I didn’t know what would happen if I reached the edge and I didn’t want to find out.
Haruhi followed me, except she was walking normally. “Just- just want drawed you to this conclusion then? Explain to me exactly!”
“I already did!”
“Then explain it again!”
“We have no time!” I cried out, pressing my foot even harder against the ground. I couldn’t even tell if it hurt or not. My foot had gone numb too. “What’s keeping you from just telling me how you feel? What- what do you think is going to happen?”
“I…” She got closer to me. “I… what’ll happen to the club if we break up?”
“Huh?”
“What’ll happen if we break up! What if we have a fight so bad we break up?! Will we have to disband the club? How will we find time travelers, aliens, and ESPers?!”
“Don’t worry about that!” I quickly think of something to say back. “I wouldn’t want to break up with you anyway! You’re too close to me for that to even matter!”
“Do- do you—“
“Yes! Yes I mean it!”
I was approaching the edge. Fast. I thought when we talked it out, it would stop.
Now is about the time one of our friends would intervene. They’d give me advice, they would pull us out of danger— anything.
“Wh- what about Mikuru?! Wouldn’t you prefer her-! Or- or Yuki!”
“They’re just friends! They always have been! Sure, I sort of pamper Mikuru and.. and I can’t say I don’t have a taste for her figure, but it’s nothing more than that! You’re who I have genuine feelings for!”
“And Yuki?”
“Who cares! Again! You. Are. Who. I. Want!”
The snow stopped, and the chill went away. I finally stopped sliding, and the floor stopped closing in. I was mere inches away from falling into the infinite void. Seeing down there finally, it’s just black.
I was breathing heavily. Haruhi got up close to me, “and Koizumi?”
“Wh— ..what about Koizumi?”
“… nothing.”
Things had finally calmed down. She seemed unphased by all of this. Everything. The huge blizzard, the limited ground. Why was she not weirded out by this? Or amazed at that.
“So.. s-say it.” I urged her one last time.
“… I love you too.”
I couldn’t feel myself smiling, but I think I was. After that, my vision started to go black. I took a tripped step towards her and pulled her into a hug.
“Ky- Kyon..” I hear her say. “Why does this have to be a dream..?”
I knew something was up.
This is closed space. Just like last time, she’s confusing it with her dreams. I can’t stand for that. I won’t stand for that.
“Haruhi.. when we wake up, can you promise me something?”
“.. yes.”
“Tell me, the real me, how you feel. Okay? I promise I- he- will accept it with open arms.”
“You’ll tease me..”
“He won’t.”
With that, I blacked out entirely.
I woke up in my bed. I checked my phone and it was an hour or two before school.
I dial Mikuru and put the phone to my ear. She picked up pretty quickly. She was pretty shaken up. Worried that she was in a coma, or that she had been kidnapped. I calmed her down and explained, briefly, what had happened. Leaving out the last part, the confession.
“S- so everyone should be back?” She asked.
“You were the first to go. So if you’re back, everyone else should be back as well.”
After a little more talking, we hung up. And right on time, a text came to me: “ Kyon!!!!!!! You had better get yourself to the school gates pronto! For every second you’re not here, there’ll be a penalty! Starting in twenty minutes!”
I didn’t rush though. I was happy to take my time. As I got dressed, I called Nagato and Koizumi. Koizumi was rather cheeky, trying to dig deeper through my recounting of the events.
“Are you sure you aren’t leaving anything out?” He knew exactly what I was leaving out. And why. “Nothing important?”
“I’m sure.”
Once the call was over, I headed to the school gates.
I grabbed my jacket this time I went to the gates. She was impatiently standing there for me. This is more like her.
Her hair was tied up again, and she couldn’t dare face me when I showed up.
“So?” I said.
“… there’s something I need to tell you, Kyon— and- and don’t take it the wrong way!”
“Oh? What could it be?”
Haruhi crossed her arms together and changed her stance. Her posture wasn’t confident like usual. Her shoulders were slumped, her head was down, and her legs were shaky. Was she really that nervous?
“It’s just that.. you know!”
“Nope. Not at all.”
“Ugh! Do I really have to spell it out for you?!”
“Seems so.”
“… I like you.”
You know that thing I said about teasing her? Yeah, I lied.
“You’re only telling me this now? We’ve known each other for a long while now, and only now you like me?”
“Wha…” Her head rose, blood rushing to her cheeks, leaving her with a positively cute, surprised look. “Y— you know what I mean! A- and while we’re at it, why are you so smug?!”
“No reason. And I really don’t know what you mean.” I lean down, right to head level. “Could you tell me more clearly?”
“…d-dumbass!”
She grabbed my shoulders and pulled me into a kiss. Not a long one, not a special one. No snow was falling. No closing floors. No giants. No darkness. No time travelers, aliens, or ESPers in sight. Including me. But she had chosen me anyway, for whatever reason. And I was lucky enough to be able to choose her.
And that’s all I could really ask for, huh?