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The timeline for this story is weird. I decided to leave out events at the very end of the anime until I had a better grip of where the story itself should fall. Keep that in mind and let me know where you think it should fall.

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Popular Disclaimer: I do not own School Rumble. If I did, we'd animate the rest of Season 3.

Love is a Battlefield – Chapter 1 – Day of Defeat

*****

Harima says to always read in a well lit room, and stop slouching. It's totally not bad-ass.

*****

Three little words, that's all they are. But when I say them the world changes. The world rearranges around me and my destiny unfolds, for good or bad.

"I love you," I said.

She looked at me in the same way that a deer looks into a pair of headlights before splattering onto the side of the road. "I don't understand. I thought you loved Yakumo. Are you being a monkey?" she asks.

"No, I explain, "I went out with your sister because you wanted me to. She's been helping me with a project when we've been together. Everything else has been an misunderstanding. I've been trying to get close to you."

"But, Harima," she responds, "I love Kurasuma. I'm sorry, but I can't love you."

My heart turns into a lump of iron and plummets to the pit of my stomach. My intestines begin seeking an exit through my esophagus. My brain implodes in on itself and begins to die. I am in the clutches of the small death, who knows the limits of the pit of despair: infinite.

She continues, sticking the knife deeper into the squishy innards of my poor lacerated psyche, "Besides, why can't you just be my big brother and be happy?"

Thus, my world exploded, replaced with a living nightmare where Tsukamoto Tenma, the love of my life, was replaced with an evil doppelganger. My Tenma couldn't be this evil creature incapable of loving me. After all, I loved her. Too bad my Tenma doesn't exist in this world. It wasn't fair.

"I'm sorry Harima, but I can't love you that way. I know Yakumo cares about you though, so why don't you come by later, big brother? I know she'll want to see you later."

That's the moment that the clouds decided to come rolling into the frame. The picturesque day changed into the scene of a downpour, and Tenma began to run back to the school to get her umbrella. It was just after classes, and I was certain today was the day that Tenma would accept my feelings for her, but it ended so horribly. Gone was the happiness of the fool.

I almost didn't hear when when she said, "See you later, big brother!" The words then echoed in my head for an eternity. "BIG BROTHER!" I wanted to die.

That's when the downpour started, and I just stood there. I still wasn't sure that the world was done changing, and I held onto the hope that it was just a dream. An awful, god-forsaken reality that would continue to change until my happiness came back to me. But alas, my happiness has been ripped out and smashed against the anvil of truth. Such is life it seemed.

The rain cleansed me of hope, and I steeled myself against the tears that began to well in my eyes. Guys don't cry, like that sissy song from the late 70s said. Especially guys like me, because we're just too awesome for it. Too bad, since my eyes decided to start leaking like a sieve, raining like the weather as it were. Here I was, a bad-ass crying in the rain because of a woman. How pathetic. Thank goodness there was no one to see this.

Then the rain stopped, but the sun had yet to come out. The sound of rain hitting fabric was clear in my ears, and I realized I was not alone. The awful realization that someone had been watching the entire time from around the corner slowly pierced what was left of my quivering gray-matter. Suddenly, I was no longer a bad-ass.

That's when I realized who it was. "Want to go get a drink?" she asked, and then began to lead me away from the place of my rebirth.

It was Eri, the blond bombshell, who had the most explosive personality I had ever seen. She could be your friend one moment and your murderer the next. This could be good or bad, but right now I have to decide what to do about Tenma. Can I just give up? After everything that's happened, I have no clue.

*****

She's been staring at me for five minutes, and I've been staring at my coffee for just as long. This is awkward, but I don't know what to say. To be comforted by her of all people. Will she bribe me for favors to keep this from everyone?

"I saw what happened," she said. Pretty obvious if you asked me. I got shot down by the woman of my dreams, the only woman I had eyes for. The girl I'd do anything for. "So, what are you going to do now?"

"I don't know. I thought about running to the ends of the earth, or just trying to kill Kurasuma. Either would probably land me in the same place really." I took a drink of my black coffee, and the bitter taste restored my senses. I was beginning to feel again, even if I was still mostly numb.

She tapped her cup of gently, looking at it as if it were the most interesting cup of coffee ever produced. She had something heavy on her mind. "You know, some of us care about you deeply, but have been afraid to say it. Sometimes we go to say it and you act like an idiot, so we stop just short."

"What are you saying, rich girl?" I asked, confused. This seemed awfully familiar.

"I'm saying," she continued, "that you're not alone. I'm saying that I'm here for you. I'm saying that, even though you're a thick skulled ape of a man, I like you."

Still confused about what she's trying to say, I blurt, "What do you mean? I don't get it."

"I love you, you moron."

I was still mostly numb from getting dumped by Tenma, but this was still hitting me like a freight train carrying 200 metric tons of brick at 25 meters per second and the momentum was going to carry me screaming into an intensive care unit and deposit me in a morgue. I was right back when I was standing in the rain. The world was continuing to redefine itself around me, only I couldn't figure out if this change was good, bad, or indifferent. Although the rich girl sitting in front of me was beautiful by any definition, and had just confessed her love for me, I was still dazed from this double-shot. First Tenma lets me down like a nuke from a B-52 bomber over Nagasaki, and now the rich girl, who I really had no business talking to now that I think about it, was confessing her love to me. I picked up my cup of coffee and downed it in one gulp. This was too much.

She had a worried look on her face now. "Are you okay?" she asked.

I tried to laugh it off, "Oh yeah, I have days like these all the time." Without my bad-ass emotional shell, I couldn't remain convincing.

Her tone was more serious now, reminding me why I had thought of her as the ice queen for so long. "Of course, there is still someone else, but Tenma doesn't feel the way you want her to feel. Do you really think she deserves you?"

"It's not a question of what she deserves," I retorted, "but a question of how I feel, and I still feel the same way about her." I sighed, knowing the truth in my heart. It was gone. "However, you're right about her. I have to move forward."

She looked surprised, almost shocked, and happy to hear this. I'm usually more bull-headed than this, but I'm beaten and it's time to move on. She was about to speak when I stopped her.

"I've got to go." That wiped the grin off her face. She hadn't won quite yet, and the look showed worry with a twinge of panic. "I have to talk to Yakumo. We'll talk later."

I got up from the table and walked out of the cafe in silence. I think Eri followed me out, looking at my back as I went, her eyes filled with worry. I was still so numb, walking to Tenma's house to see her sister, that the world could have been dying around me for all the good it would have done to get my attention. I had passed my breaking point. I could no longer care for the day.

*****

I was at the door now. The scent of the evening was coming strong and the coffee had worked its magic. Most of all, however, I felt as if I was floating. The world was beginning to settle again, and I suddenly knew what words to say. For some reason the conversation with Eri had given me strength. That might not be love, but it was what I needed here and now.

I knocked on the door, waiting for the inevitable. Yakumo appeared, seemingly expecting me. It had taken me some time to walk from the cafe, and I hoped that it was past their dinner hour. I wouldn't want to impose too much after all the day had given me. It appeared that she had been making tea after doing the dishes, so all was well.

"Would you like some?" she asked, motioning towards the teapot.

She poured me a cup as I thought about it, and I thanked her for it. No need to be rude, after all. We sat down at the table and I thought about where to start. The coffee had allowed my mind the energy to regroup, but apparently not enough to reorganize.

Then she piped up, "So, you finally confessed to my sister." She was being so direct, which was surprising. She must be worried and steeled herself for this encounter. Working on that manga really told her about me. There's no hiding now anyway.

"Yeah," I replied, "I did. Did she tell you?"

Her gaze darted toward the living room, "Yeah. I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it." I leaned back a bit in the chair, trying to look relaxed to try and relieve the tension that suddenly embraced the room. "It's history now. It was just a silly dream."

She looked at me with a gaze that could melt ice and bluntly stated, "It wasn't silly! It was how you felt!"

I smiled. For the first time that day, I smiled. Yakumo had finally showed that spirit that resided in her innermost heart. "How do you feel?" I asked, the stupid smile still on my face.

She immediately looked startled, hiding her eyes by looking into her tea, blushing a bright red. It's obvious, but unless she says it, it's meaningless. We sat there, the air refusing to answer for her, for some time.

Starting to see that the answer wouldn't escape her red lips, I asked, "Did you know that Eri was there?"

She looked up and said, "No, I didn't."

"Well," I continued, "I always thought of her as nothing more than a spoiled brat, but she confessed her love to me." She didn't look surprised at this, as if she had known for a while. "What would you have me say to her? Should I tell her to buzz off?"

"Do you like her?"

I actually hadn't thought about that. Eri had her rough edges, but she was cute. And people do change, given the proper circumstances. Who knew what those were for her? The only answer I had for Yakumo at the moment was, "I don't know. I wanted to know how you felt about me before I said anything to her."

She smiled. "I just want you to be happy."

"Then tell me how you feel."

"Well, Tenma likes you, and I'm sure she'd like you being around..."

I interrupted her sternly, "Leave your sister out of this."

The air was silent for the next few minutes as we looked into our tea, hoping for the answers that would not come from our mouths.

"Well," I stirred the quiet first, "I had better go. You know where to find me when you work up the courage to tell me. Just know that I won't wait too long." I got up and started toward the door.

"Kenji!" I stopped just short and turned around to see her face filled with worry. "You look good without the sunglasses."

That's when I remembered that I had taken them off to confess to Tenma. I hadn't even noticed until now, though I really should have. I smiled as I took them out of my pocket.

"Just don't run away," she pleaded.

*****

I love you. Three little words. But, when said, they change the world around you, for better or worse. These are my thoughts as the moon travels across the sky, hanging there as if by an invisible thread. My world, it would seem, is still changing. I occurred to me as I walked home that today was the start of a new me. Just as saving Tenma had changed me, losing her had done the same.

I dropped my sunglasses on the ground and crushed them under my foot, wondering what tomorrow would bring. Wondering, and perhaps fearing.