{[( So, this is going to be written based on the wiki articles I've read AND all that exists of the Haruhi series in anime form. The reason for this is due to not having read the manga or light novels, so these are all I have to go on. If you find anything inaccurate, then please let me know and I'll be sure to make a correction, or at least attempt to. This will be a fic that I am writing as Kyon x Haruhi, however, I would like to keep true to the characters so I apologize if the relationship develops slowly. It's also a series of seemingly one-shots, but they're all connected somehow. Haruhi is a very close anime to me, so I'll do my best to represent it. Hope you guys enjoy it.)]}
Birthdays are one of those things that I've never really fully gotten into. Sure when I was a kid and I had parties full of friends and family and that was a lot of fun, but after turning about 10 or so, you start to lose that excitement. Okay, maybe it's just me, but speaking as someone who hasn't done anything too special for their birthday in several years, it's a bit odd for anyone to do anything special for it.
"Hey Kyon," I heard as I placed my bag on the hook.
"What?"
"What do you think about the idea of the SOS Brigade getting a dog?" She asked.
"A dog, huh?" I asked. I'd be lying if I said I didn't like dogs, but why did she want one for the club?
"Yeah, I was thinking we could get one and use it to try to sniff out aliens!" Of course. "After all, they say dogs have a good sense of smell, so maybe if we get one, we could use it to find them!"
I let out a small sigh. I would have told her not to do it, but it's not like it would convince her. "So, what kind of dog were you thinking of, a blood hound or something?" I asked.
"Maybe, I haven't really decided." She said, sitting back to think. "Why don't we go and look with everyone? It'll be more fun."
"Well, I suppose having a dog for the club room wouldn't be the worst thing. Alright, let's do it." I said, seeing an excited smile come across her face. Wait a minute, whose job would it be to watch after the dog outside of school.
"Yo, Kyon." I heard Taniguchi saying as he came over. "Heard it was your birthday from Kunikida."
"Oh, is that so?" I responded.
"I'm a little low on cash, so I can't get you anything, but I figured I'd tell you happy birthday, buddy." He said, in the same tone he always did.
"Well thank you. So is Kunikida here?" I asked, looking around the room.
"Nah, he got held up with something. Anyway, I'd better take my seat before class starts." He said.
I nodded. "Alright." He went back to his seat and class began a few minutes later.
When classes ended, Haruhi left the room without saying a word.
Odd, usually she tells me to head straight for the club room right now. Oh well, I may as well go anyway. I highly doubt she's canceling activities for today.
I made my way to the club room where Nagato and Miss Asahina were already. Luckily, I came late enough for Miss Asahina to have finished changing into that maid outfit Haruhi required her to wear. Not that I'm complaining.
"Hey, is Haruhi not here yet?" I asked, thinking maybe she'd stopped by.
Miss Asahina shook her head. "No, she hasn't come by yet. Oh." She said, stepping toward her bag and pulling out a small paper one. "Um, I found out it was your birthday and so I got you something. Here." She said, handing it to me. "I'm sorry if you don't like it, but I got it on really short notice, so…"
"I'm sure I'll like it just fine." I said to her with a smile.
"Really?"
I gave her a nod. "If it's from you, then I'll like it regardless."
She sighed. "Thank goodness." She said, before looking at me expectantly. I opened the bag and pulled out what appeared to be a cell phone charm with a small rubber cat on the end of it. "Do you like it?"
I don't really think I have any use for this, since I'm not a big fan of cell phone charms, but I'll definetly figure out something. Maybe I'll just hang it in my room or something. "I do. Thank you very much."
She smiled. "Oh, I think Miss Nagato has something for you too."
I looked over at Nagato, a bit surprised. "You too, Nagato?"
She looked up from her book and pointed to a green bag on the table in front of where I would usually sit. "Oh, hard to believe I didn't notice it before." I said, walking over to the bag. "Can I open it now?"
She turned a page in her book. "If you want."
I decided to go ahead and open it, since even though she wouldn't admit it, I'm sure she'd like to see my reaction. I reached in and pulled out two things. One was a book that looked to be like something that Nagato would usually read. Big words and all. The other seemed to be a game of some kind.
"Hey, Nagato? What's this?" I asked, holding it up. "Is it a game or something?" I asked.
She turned a page. "It is a game that I developed on the computers in the computer club." She said, in the same monotone as always.
I smiled. "I see. It's been awhile since we played any games together. Actually I think we only did it that once." She just nodded and continued reading her book. I placed the gifts in my bag and took a seat just as Koizumi opened the door.
"Hey there, everyone. Is Miss Suzumiya not here today?" He asked.
"I don't know. She rushed out of class and hasn't come by."
He nodded. "Oh, I see. By the way, Kyon, I heard today was your birthday."
How is everyone finding out about this?
"I apologize, but I haven't gotten you any sort of presents or anything." He said, with that same smile of his.
"Oh it's fine, don't worry about it." I said. Honestly, I appreciated the gifts the other two got me, but I didn't expect anyone to get anything for me. Especially not Nagato.
Koizumi just nodded his head. "Well, I hope you'll at least accept my wish for you to have a happy birthday."
I nodded. "Thanks."
It was kind of nice to enjoy the silence of the club room that was normally non-existent. Koizumi and I played a few rounds of a game while we waited to hear from Haruhi. Strangely enough, we'd been here for a while and we still hadn't heard a word. Of course, eventually she did turn up.
"Attention SOS Brigade!" She shouted, the door slamming open. "So, as we all know today is Kyon's birthday. As Brigade leader, it's my duty to celebrate these sorts of occasions."
Since when? We've never celebrated anyone else's birthday in here. Come to think of it, I don't even think I know the others' birthdays.
"So, in celebration of his birthday, we are going to let him choose what dog the SOS Brigade will be getting."
"A dog? For the club room?" Miss Asahina asked.
"Oh right, I forgot about that. She said she wanted to get a dog this morning." I said, remembering our early morning conversation.
"I don't think dogs are allowed on the school's campus, but a dog would make it a bit more lively in the club room." I almost thought Koizumi was going to say something against Haruhi, but when he added that second part, it negated all of that.
Haruhi nodded. "Yeah, so we're all going to the pet store right now to pick out the perfect alien sniffing dog!"
After Miss Asahina finished changing, we all left to the local pet shelter. I didn't really care what kind of dog was picked out, so I just figured I'd just wait and see what they had. After looking around for a bit, Haruhi seemed to pick one.
"Hey, Kyon. What do you think of this one?" She held out a small shiba in my face and I had to say, this didn't seem like the kind of dog Haruhi would have had in mind, though she probably didn't have one in mind. Actually, she did say she didn't know earlier.
"Well, it is kind of cute." I said as Miss Asahina came over and Haruhi handed it off to her.
"Aw, it's so cute." She said, the dog starting to lick her.
It then started sniffing around and jumped out of Miss Asahina's arms, running over to Nagato before sitting down. She stared at it for a moment before kneeling down and petting it.
"Huh. Looks like she likes you, Nagato." I said, walking over to them.
Haruhi came up next to me. "Yeah, I never knew you were an animal person." She said. "Wait, how did you know that the dog was a girl?
"Hm? Oh, well this shelter organizes their genders with blue and pink collars." I said, pointing to a sign.
Nagato continued to pat the dog on the head.
"So, do you like it, Nagato?" I asked her.
Nagato looked up at Haruhi and I, before turning her attention back to the dog.
I looked over at Haruhi. "Why don't we get this one? Nagato seems to like her and it's not often that Nagato shows interest in something." I suggested.
Haruhi nodded. "Yeah, but it's supposed to be your choice."
I was surprised she actually remembered that. "Well, then I'm making my choice to get this one."
She nodded. "Well, if you're not getting it for you… then you name it." She said.
"Me? Uh, alright." I thought about it for a moment. "How about Nanako?" I suggested.
"Nanako? Huh, I've got to admit, that's not a bad name." She said, smiling with approval. "Alright then, her name will be Nanako, the alien-sniffing dog of the SOS Brigade."
Oh give me a break with that alien-sniffing thing. Though, come to think of it, the dog did seem to go straight for Nagato. Maybe…
"Hey, Yuki, do you think you can keep Nanako at your place?" She asked.
"Oh, actually pets aren't allowed at Nagato's-" I was going to continue to say she can't have pets, but then Nagato interjected.
"I can."
"What? But Nagato, I thought you weren't allowed to have pets." I said, surprised.
"I cannot. However I will make it work." She said, standing up and holding the dog.
It sure looked like Nanako wanted to go with Nagato, so I nodded. "Alright. Make sure you take care of it though." I told her. She nodded and began walking to the door. "Hey, wait, we can't just walk out of here without paying."
After what seemed like forever, we finally managed to adopt Nanako. Since it was getting late, we all decided it was good to head home for the day. I walked part of the way with Haruhi, who seemed to be a bit bothered.
"You okay?" I asked, against my better judgement.
She nodded. "Yeah, I'm okay. Just thinking about some stuff."
She didn't Sound very convincing.
"Well, okay." I said, letting her keep to herself. I've found that if you pry, then usually the other person ends up getting angry. I could tell she had something on her mind. It was just a matter of time until she said something.
"Kyon, tell me something…" She said, stopping and turning to me. "Why didn't you tell me it was your birthday?"
Wait, that's what's bothering you? "Well, it didn't really seem important, to be honest. Birthdays tend to lose their excitement once you leave primary school."
"Well of course they'll be boring if you don't tell anyone." She said, matter-of-factly. "I mean how can you expect anything special to happen if you don't tell your friends?"
Wait, does she think of me as a friend? When did that happen?
"Or, I mean… you should let your Brigade leader know when your birthday and other important things like that are happening. I mean, if you had a girlfriend or something, don't you think she would like to know?"
I don't get it. Is she offended that I didn't tell her when my birthday is?
"Sorry, I guess I'm just not used to people celebrating birthdays anymore. All my family does for birthdays is maybe cook a good meal or go out to eat somewhere nice, and maybe a few presents." I didn't really know if I should apologize, but since she seemed to be upset, I felt I should.
"That's why you should try extra hard to make them special." She seemed to calm down a bit. "Anyway, I'm going home." She said, splitting off. "Oh, here." She said, tossing me a small box. "That's for you, alright. Don't lose it." And with that, she went home.
What could be in this?
When I got home, I made sure to put Nagato and Miss Asahina's gifts in a good place and turned back to the box I'd placed on my bed.
"Well, I guess I should open it." I said, picking it up and undoing the ribbon. Upon opening the box, there was a blue piece of cloth with a note on top.
Kyon,
You should have told me your birthday was coming up. If you did, I would have had more time to make this. Either way, this is for you.
Haruhi made me something?
I picked up the cloth and realized it was an armband, similar to Haruhi's. But instead of a position written on it, the band had on it, written in black… "Kyon." I wish she'd used my real name, but I suppose at this point, no one even remembers that anymore. I'm a bit surprised I do, honestly. Oh well, I appreciate the gesture.
I spent some time with my family and shortly after that I went to bet. Thankfully tomorrow is Sunday, and that means I won't have to worry about getting up early for school or anything.
{[( Next time, in The Romance of Haruhi Suzumiya - Kyon's Birthday Part II)]}