Diclaimer: I did not create and do not own School Rumble, this is purely fan made.
Before you begin: Just a couple things you should know before reading this: First off, I did not read the manga, I watched the anime. Also, I watched the ENGLISH version, so I'll be using names and such from that. This story disregards the last episode of the 2nd season and instead goes in a different direction. One last thing, this is my first fan fic ever...so be gentle. Enjoy!
Chapter 1: Reality Check
"Is this really what you want?"
Although the ghost speaking to Yakumo appeared as a young girl, her tone was very straight forward and almost cold. She floated on nothing and gave the room, now darkened from a blackout, a faint glow as she stared into Yakumo's eyes.
"Admit it. You're in love with Harima, aren't you?" It seemed more like a declaration than a question. The ghost continued to stare unblinking at Yakumo, as if trying to read the answers in Yakumo's eyes before she spoke them. Yakumo looked away from the ghost for a moment and searched her own feelings for an answer, but she and the ghost already knew what it was.
"You've finally found someone that you're in love with..." said the ghost before Yakumo could give her reply, "Why would you throw that away?"
"...but Harima is in love with Sis, not with me" Yakumo finally said, feeling her own answer weighing on her heart.
"And that is why you want your sister to see more of Harima..." the ghost continued "You thought it would make Harima happier if you sent your sister over to help him, rather than yourself."
The ghost was right, she had done it for Harima. She wanted Harima to smile and he would always smile when Sis was around.
"I...I do care for Harima" said Yakumo "and that's why I want him to be happy. I also want Sis to see more of Harima so that maybe she'll be able to see his feelings for her."
The ghost stared at Yakumo for a moment, her expression unchanging. The room was silent as Yakumo pondered her feelings and the things she said to the ghost. The silence was abruptly broken by the ghost's cold tone...
"And if Harima tells your sister of these feelings...what do you think will happen?"
Yakumo's eyes snapped up and met the ghost's cold gaze. "Well, uh..." but the ghost cut her off with another question.
"Have you forgotten that your sister is in love with that expressionless boy, Karasuma?" The ghost's words took on a slight sense of urgency. "Harima's love is misplaced but he's too thick to see the obvious, and if he finally does confess..."
The ghost trailed off as if to let Yakumo finish the statement for her. Yakumo looked at the ghost with a worried expression and began to think back to a time when she and Harima were walking home together after completing a project. She remembered the sad tone and sorrowful expression he had when asking if Karasuma had gone to see Tenma on her birthday. At the time Yakumo wanted nothing more than to get Harima's mind of what was depressing him and make him smile, so she had given him a gift she had gotten him for his birthday which was the next day. It seemed to work and Yakumo was happy for that, but now...
"I...don't want Harima's heart to get broken" said Yakumo "but then...what can I do?"
"You do seem to be very concerned about Harima's happiness...but, what about your happiness?" the ghost said, forcing Yakumo to turn her gaze towards the ground again.
"That...doesn't really matter right now" said Yakumo.
"Maybe it should..." the ghost said as she faded from view. The light in the room had gone and now Yakumo stood alone in the dark, thinking heavily on the ghost's words. She continued to think about Harima, and what would happen to him and his relationship with Tenma if he told her how he feels.
"If Harima tells Sis the truth, she'll probably reject him..." Yakumo thought, "I don't want him to get hurt...maybe I should try and keep him from revealing his feelings to her."
Just as Yakumo had decided on what to do next, the lights in the house came on. The power had come back, and with it she realized how late it had gotten. Am I too late? She thought and she hurriedly headed downstairs and rounded the corner to where the phone was hanging on the wall. She picked up the receiver and dialed Harima's cell phone number and after just two rings someone picked up.
"Hello...Harima?"
Harima hovered over the sleeping Tenma nervously and gazed upon her beautiful face which glowed from the moonlight's touch. Tenma had fallen asleep while helping Harima with his comic, so he had laid her down on his bed so she could rest. Harima's glasses had been accidentally knocked away by Tenma as she swung at something in her dream, and now he had been grabbed around the neck and gently pulled towards her.
This is...this is just like before, Harima thought as his face drew ever closer to Tenma's. Much like the first time they met, she had grabbed him in her sleep and pulled him in for a kiss, and much like that time he could not resist her. Harima got closer and closer, until he could feel her breath on his face, but then he heard her whisper something...
"Oh, Karasuma."
Harima halted his advance, his eyes widened, and a cold rush came over his body. The truth he had been running from for so long had caught up to him. Tenma was confessing her love in her dreams to Karasuma, not to him. He had known for a long time how Tenma felt about Karasuma, but he just couldn't accept it. He refused to let his love die so easily, and tried so many times to make Tenma open her eyes to him. But he knew now, Tenma only had eyes for Karasuma, and nothing was going to change that.
I'm such a fool, Harima thought as he slowly pulled away from Tenma. He gently took her arms from his neck and set them at her sides then retrieved his sunglasses from where they had fallen next to Tenma's head. After carefully getting up so not to disturb her he returned to the kotatsu where he had been working on his comic. He began to ink the lines on the pages like he had been doing before, only now he wasn't looking at the pages. He was looking right through them, all he could see were images of Tenma, of all the times he had attempted to tell her his true feelings and failed. Then he began to see the times when she was with Karasuma, and how she always had that beautiful smile on whenever he was around. The truth had been in front of him all along, but he always turned a blind eye to it.
So, this is how my love ends? Harima thought to himself, Should I just wish for her happiness? Should that be enough for me...what about my happiness? Harima was filling up with emotions, he began to feel very alone. I should have known Tenma would never love me, why would she? I'm just a violent delinquent, no girl could ever love someone like me, especially not someone as sweet as Tenma.
As he was lost in thought, Harima continued to furiously ink the panels in his current project, which was due that following morning, but after a moment he stopped and began to look over the current page. He looked at the hero and heroine who had been designed to resemble himself and Tenma. Thats right, he thought, I've been drawing comics for a while now but the whole reason I started was to express my own fantasies about being together with Tenma. He stared at the picture of the heroine, so then...why should I even bother with this?
Just then, Harima heard a sound and the light in his room came back on. Hmph, guess the power's back, I'd forgotten all about it. The lights had gone out just before he was pulled towards Tenma as she dreamed, but since the curtains were open the moonlight was keeping the room mildly lit. Now that the light was on, he could see his work more clearly and as he stared at the characters on the page he contemplated whether he should continue what he was doing, or just give up entirely. Comics had become a big part of his life, but with his dream of a romance with Tenma fading away, he wondered why he should be drawing at all. He was about to put his pen down, when he heard his cell phone ring...
"Yea?" he said simply after he flipped open the phone without looking to see who it was.
"Hello...Harima?" the voice was easily recognized by Harima, so soft and reserved, it was Tenma's Sister, Yakumo.
"Oh, hey Tenma's Sister." Harima said, still staring down at the page he had stopped on. Yakumo thought she could sense a bit of sadness in Harima's voice. "Sorry about noting being able to come tonight...was Tenma able to help you?" she said. Harima glanced up at the sleeping Tenma for only a moment, then returned his eyes to the comic in front of him "Well...she tried, but I guess she wore herself out, she fell asleep so I'm just letting her rest for now." "I see." said Yakumo, still sensing that something was off in Harima's tone, she attempted to switch the subject off of Tenma. "So...how's the comic coming?" she said. Harima continued to stare down at it for a moment, still wondering over his motivation for completing the comic.
"...I just don't know anymore." He finally said. Harima was usually pretty honest with Yakumo and this was no different, he really didn't know what to do next. He just kept staring at the same panel, wondering. Yakumo knew, for certain now, that something had happened to make Harima so unsure of himself. She wanted to say something, but she couldn't think of the right words.
"Maybe...I should just give up this comic drawing stuff..." Harima began to say, but before he could finish his sentence...
"You can't!" Yakumo blurted into the phone.
Harima was caught off guard and almost fell over where he sat. Not only did Yakumo cut him off, but she actually raised her voice. But it wasn't in an angry or forceful way, more like a sad plea.
Yakumo was surprised at herself for speaking out the way she did, but she knew in her heart that Harima couldn't give up his work, for whatever reason. Harima had spent a lot of time working on his comics and he had too much talent to toss it away. But also, helping Harima with his comics was the one excuse she had to spend time with him, it was something they enjoyed doing together.
"I'm sorry..." she said with a blushed face "Its just that...you've worked very hard, and come so far...why would you think about quiting now?"
Harima was still a little shaken from Yakumo yelling at him. He sat back up straight and tried to form a reply in his head that would explain why he was thinking about giving up, without revealing the truth about his broken feelings for Tenma.
"Well uh..." he began "I guess...I just cant find the right motivation."
"Motivation?" said Yakumo, still wondering what could have brought this all on.
"Yea...its just..." Harima began to get angry at himself "I'm not even that great of an artist, I doubt anyone even likes my comics anyways."
"...that's not true." Yakumo said in a low tone. "I...really enjoy reading them." her face was becoming red as she spoke.
"Huh...?" Harima was a bit surprised at what Yakumo had said.
"And I also..." She continued "really enjoy...helping you work on your projects." Her face was now a deep red, "So please...don't give up on it. I'm sure there are more stories you want to tell...and I know there must be people out there who would really like to read them."
Harima sat in silence thinking about what Yakumo had just said to him. I really am a fool, he thought, my dream of a happily ever after with Tenma may be gone...but I cant let that destroy my dream of being a famous comic book artist. I have to be strong and move forward, there are people counting on me.
"Thank you" Harima said. "...I guess I was giving up on myself, I'm such an idiot sometimes." He cracked a small smile "But you didn't give up on me, just like always you're there to help me out. So, thanks a lot Tenm..." Harima caught himself, after all she'd done for him was he still going to refer to her just as "Tenma's Sister"?
"I mean...Yakumo." he corrected.
"...Um..." hearing Harima finally call her by name made Yakumo's face blush even worse than before and she even had trouble speaking. "Its...its nothing" was all she could muster.
"Alright then" said Harima "I guess I should finish this up, I've got a deadline to meet."
"Ok..." Yakumo was still blushing "good luck...and let me know how it goes."
"I will, See ya later." Harima said and then he flipped his cellphone closed. He looked down at the pages again, and began to skim through them, stopping on the last page. He stared for a moment at the final scene where the heroine declares her love for the hero, and they share a warm embrace in front of a setting sun. He felt a small singe of sadness at the scene, but before he let himself become depressed again, he crumpled up the final page and threw it into the trash can.
He reached for a clean sheet of paper and dipped his pen in the nearby ink bottle.
A/N: Thats it for the first chapter. I'm definately gonna do more but I'm a slow writer so it might take some time. Let me know what you think!