They say that once you find the one, don't let her go, because you'll never find another like her.

I don't get that phrase. I'm not sure it's all that popular of a phrase, and to be honest, I've only really heard my mom say it, but she said it's a common phrase, so I'll assume that's the case. Anyway, I don't think it makes all that much sense. If you think about it, there are at any given moment on this planet, around seven billion people. The majority of them get married to someone else who's living at the same time as them, and typically who's living really close to them (in terms of the planet, of course).

The odds that mostly everyone on the planet would find their "true love" in their lifetime and right where they live, then, seems preposterous, if you use that phrase as a rule of thumb. That phrase would mean that within one's short existence, they would have to find the person that's meant for them out of all seven billion people living on this Earth, and then also manage to keep them around. Ha! No chance.

That's why I think that phrase is dumb. Anyone can fall in love with anyone else, and then do it again, and again, as many times as possible. And just because one person they fall for leaves, doesn't mean that they won't ever be happy with anyone. It just means they have to keep looking. After all, plenty of people go through rough relationships with someone who they thought was the love of their life, and then later down the road they get married to someone who ended up being better.

You might be wondering why I'm bringing up this topic. Well, I'll tell you.

It was after school, and as always, I was stuck playing Othello with Koizumi again. He was losing miserably again. Nagato was reading in the corner again. Asahina was serving tea again. And I was bored out of my mind. Again. It seemed to be just another SOS Brigade meeting, though notably without the presence of the chief. There was only one thing that set today apart from most other days.

It was Valentine's Day.

Yes, it was that season of love, that special time when the students of every high school in Japan would find true love.

Ironically enough, it seemed to be quite the opposite for the Brigade. I mean, what do you expect, when over half of them are doing a job twenty-four seven? Heck, I don't think Nagato is even capable of romantic feelings.

Yet despite the fact that no one in the SOS Brigade cared about Valentine's Day, or was in a romantic relationship of any kind, the topic of romance still managed to get carried to my ears.

"Kyon, what do you think about romantic relationships?" Koizumi asked me out of the blue as he lay down a black tile onto the Othello board.

Why did he care, was my question. After all, he was an esper full time, and he'd never taken a liking to anyone like that as far as I could tell.

"Hmm. I suppose that's true. I guess that the fact that it's Valentine's Day has gotten me curious about the subject. Have you ever been romantically entangled, then, Kyon?" Koizumi said with the usual pleasant smile on his lips.

"Not like I'd tell you," I responded nonchalantly.

Koizumi shrugged. "Fair enough."

Haruhi suddenly burst through the door, wearing a bunny suit and holding a tall stack of flyers in her arms. An irritated expression covered her face as she stomped across the room and angrily dropped the flyers onto the table in the middle of the room. She gave Asahina a glare as she plopped in front of the computer.

"Asahina, where were you today?" Haruhi asked in a severely reprimanding tone, her irate eyes fixed on the poor girl. "I couldn't find you in the club room earlier, and you weren't in your classroom either!"

Asahina trembled. "Ah, I'm s-sorry; a classmate asked me for help with something so I couldn't make it to the club room on time."

Haruhi glared at the frightened girl. "Next time, you tell me before you go and help out a classmate. I had to hand out flyers by myself, and then that stupid student council president made me leave, the bastard!"

I raised an eyebrow. Why was Haruhi passing out flyers? What was the occasion, I asked.

Haruhi just gave me a look as though the answer to my question was the most obvious thing in the world. "What do you think? It's Valentine's Day, a time when all the girls give all the boys chocolate and whatnot. There are couples piling out of those doors by the dozen! It's the perfect opportunity to pass out flyers."

Well, yes, that was true, but people piled out of those doors every day anyway, I pointed out. What made the fact that they were couples so important?

Haruhi smirked smugly. "Kyon, remember when we did that whole investigation with those sick dogs?"

Oh, all too well. I was sure Shamisen remembered as well. I nodded in response.

"Well, I was thinking we'd do something like that again. Here," Haruhi tossed a flyer my way.

I stared at it, and confusion riddled my face. On the flyer, in big, bolded letters, we're the words "COUPLES' COUNSELLING: COURTESY OF THE BRIGADE."

"Couples' counselling?" I looked up at Haruhi, confused. "Why are we suddenly doing couples' counselling? And why does it just say 'Brigade' instead of 'SOS Brigade'? Won't people be unsure of who to go to in that case?"

Haruhi looked down at me, like she would an unwanted fly in her drink. "It says that because the student council president is trying to hunt us down, so I can't just blatantly put our name on a flyer. You recall that we aren't officially a club, at least according to him. So I put 'Brigade' there instead. People will know it's us. What other brigade is there?"

Koizumi nodded pleasantly. "I see."

"And we're doing couples' counselling because...?" I repeated, urging Haruhi.

"Because you never know what juicy, supernatural secrets these couples might be hiding. Maybe one of them is a vampire or something! This counselling thing will help us squeeze them dry of anything they might be hiding!"

"And what happens if...oh, I don't know...they come looking for actual counselling?"

Haruhi scoffed. "Don't worry. I'm a master negotiator; is counselling really any different?" Yes. "I'll just maneuver our talks towards the supernatural. There's gotta be something I can glean from these couples!"

Good luck with that.

The rest of my time at the club room that day was spent listening to Haruhi go on about the sort of thing that this could offer the brigade, and chastising me for my disinterested look. After that, Haruhi announced she was retiring to the computer to put up the flyer there, and I, already bored beyond belief, continued playing Othello against Koizumi while Haruhi's typing bore a hole into my brain. The clock seemed to slow with each passing second, until the glorious moment when I could go home.

"Hold up, Kyon!" Haruhi's voice cut through my hopes like a knife as she grabbed my shoulder forcefully. "I need you to hand out flyers in my place."

"Now?" I asked, desperation edging into my voice. "But there's no one else around right now!"

"Of course not, numbskull." Haruhi scowled. "Tomorrow. No doubt that annoying student council president will be on the lookout for anyone from the SOS Brigade dressed up in bunny girl outfits, so you'll be handing out flyers instead. It won't catch as many people's attention, but at least we'll avoid detection."

I looked incredulously at Haruhi. "Two things. First off, I'm also a known member of the SOS Brigade. Won't the student council president notice me handing out flyers and shut me down just as he would you?"

Haruhi chuckled in a high-and-mighty tone. "I guess you'll just have to be a bit more discreet then, huh, Kyon? Oh, and don't even think about getting caught. Trust me, if you do, heads will roll."

I decided to stress about that statement later, and held up two fingers. "Second off, it isn't even Valentine's Day anymore. Why would you want me to hand out holiday-specific cards the day after the holiday?"

"Were you even reading those flyers?" Haruhi glared at me. "They don't say 'Valentine's Day' anywhere on them. They just say 'Couples' Counselling'. And there will still be couples tomorrow, so make sure you get to passing out flyers tomorrow! Got it?"

I sighed, dejected, and nodded my head wearily, ready to go home and take a nap. Haruhi released her grip on my shoulder and I gratefully exited the club room. Tomorrow was another day.

Sure enough, Haruhi kept her word, though I had no doubt she would, and as soon as I arrived in the club room she dumped the flyers in my arms and sent me straight out the door. Great. I didn't even get to sample any of Asahina's glorious tea.

I made my way to the school's main doors, where most of the students were flooding out, and positioned myself in front of a tree, so that anyone behind me would only see tree bark. I then began passing out flyers to anyone nearby, though only a few were getting out. I imagined Haruhi and Asahina dressed up in bunny girl costumes in my mind. I bet they usually passed out way more flyers than I did.

After around ten to fifteen flyers were passed out, I noticed that the bulk of the students had passed me by, and only a few remained trickling out of the school. I handed out a few more before calling it quits. After checking my watch and finding out I still had a good deal of time before I could leave, I reluctantly made my way back towards the club room, the still large stack of flyers weighing down my arms.

Haruhi's eyes immediately locked onto me as I entered the club room, expectant glee in them, before they narrowed as she noticed how many flyers were left.

"What the hell, Kyon?" Haruhi said angrily. "I thought I told you to hand out flyers!"

I stifled a frustrated groan and set the flyers on the table. The reason why I hadn't handed out very many flyers was mostly because, through being discreet, I was forced to limit the amount of people I could hand flyers put to, I explained. Also, I just didn't really try very hard (I kept that part to myself).

Haruhi clenched her jaw. "See, Kyon, this is why you're the lowest ranked SOS Brigade member. Oh well; at least it's on the website now. Hopefully more people will see it there."

I sighed, and sat in my typical seat, gratefully taking a cup of tea from Asahina. I prepared myself for another boring day at the club room. I was, to my displeasure and misfortune, not let down. Again, the club room remained filled with only the sounds of Othello tiles hitting the board, of Nagato's page occasionally flipping, and of the clinking of tea cups against metal table. It was strange. For as much as Haruhi was newly motivated, she wasn't really doing much. Usually she would have us out acting on her orders, bugging people or running around town again.

Thanks to my earlier task, though, the time between when I sat down and when it was time to leave was shorter, and though I braced myself for another potential chore from Haruhi, I managed to get away unscathed. My hindrance would instead come from someone else.

"Kyon, may I speak with you alone?" Koizumi asked me as we both exited the school.

Great. What did he want? I nodded my head and he suggested a cafe at which we could talk. Not long after, we were sitting across from one another in a cafe. Great again. Two guys sitting across from one another at a cafe? I'm sure we didn't give off an impression different from the reality at all.

I ignored any potential looks we were getting and got straight to the point. "What is it? Is it about Suzumiya?"

Koizumi nodded, his usual pleasant smile replaced by a somewhat melancholic frown. "Unfortunately, yes, it is. You see, the Celestials are getting more dangerous, and their appearances are becoming more frequent as of late. My job is getting much harder."

Fantastic. I remembered the blue, destructive giants found within closed spaces which I had seen more times than I'd have liked. "Go on," I prompted Koizumi. "What's the problem with Suzumiya this time?"

Koizumi stared down at the table. "I'm not certain what exactly caused it. As is my duty, I constantly observe Haruhi Suzumiya and her behavior, and indeed I did so extensively as of more recently, due to the Celestials. I attempted to search for any abnormalities, so as to locate what it was that was causing Suzumiya to become so unstable. Do you know what I found, Kyon?"

I frowned at him. "Spit it out."

"I noticed that Suzumiya seemed to be glancing at couples a whole lot more than usual. As is the case around Valentine's Day, plenty of other students have recently begun going out, and have been making it plainly evident through their actions in and about the halls. Suzumiya seemed to be glancing at; nay, even staring at couples, especially when they were engaged in public displays of affection, according to my most recent observations."

"So, what, you're saying she's jealous? Does she want a boyfriend or something?" I asked.

Koizumi shook his head. "No, I don't think that's it. After all, the looks weren't jealous, nor longing. They appeared to be more...despising."

What was he, a psychologist? "So she hates couples, then. Big deal. She's made it clear that she doesn't think much of love."

The esper gave his signature shrug. "That could be the case. I'm inclined to think that it isn't, though. Suzumiya didn't seem to particularly loathe couples last year, after all."

I cocked an eyebrow. "So what you're saying is that you have no clue as to why she's like this." He nodded. "Then why are you telling me all of this?"

"I would like your help." Koizumi stated. "These changes only seemed to begin occurring around a week ago. I'm certain that some event that happened around that time was the trigger for Suzumiya's newfound hatred towards couples. I would very much so like to know why, in order to resolve the issue and lower the danger of the Celestials, but I am not terribly close to Suzumiya. Someone who was a lot closer to her than I would have to talk with her about that." He looked at me suggestively.

I returned his look with an incredulous expression. "You want me to talk with HaruhI?"

Koizumi smiled pleasantly. "I would appreciate it very much."

"But I'm not very close to her." I protested. "Most days she barks orders at me and then yells at me when I don't do them right. Compared to me, you're much closer to Haruhi, Mr. Lieutenant Brigade Chief."

Koizumi remained smiling. "I don't think you realize just how close you are to Suzumiya. You recall when she nearly destroyed our world? You were the only person from this world she chose to keep. You clearly mean a great deal to her."

I stared at the table. Great. As usual, he was beating me with evidence. How was I supposed to get out of this? "Look, maybe Haruhi is just—"

"Listen, Kyon." He interrupted me. "I know that you don't want to talk about her problems with Suzumiya, but it is very important. You are, whether you realize it or not, the closest person to Haruhi. I feel like, out of all of the people on this planet, she would only confide her problems in you." Seeing my continued look of disdain, he pressed on. "I'm not asking much. Just try to figure out what is making Suzumiya emotionally unstable, so that we may resolve it. And remember what could happen if she becomes to unhappy..."

I glared at the triumphant esper before me, before sighing reluctantly. "Fine."

Apparently, as per the unfortunate norm, Koizumi was indeed right. During the days following our conversation, I decided to do what he had: observe Haruhi. After all, I wanted to know whether what he was saying was true. That bastard could be pretty nasty at times.

So I watched Haruhi. Not many opportunities arose, as the majority of mine and Haruhi's day was spent stuck in a classroom listening to Mr. Okabe talk instead of around couples. However, whenever we traveled throughout the halls, couples filled them, clearly on a sort of high from the recent Valentine's Day. And indeed, Haruhi seemed to glower at them, clear hatred radiating off of her being. It sent shivers down my spine.

It was clear, then, that Haruhi really did despise couples. Then what was the reason? I guessed that was what I had to find out. How was I going to go about that was the difficult question to answer. I didn't know the first thing about talking out someone's problems, much less a complicated girl like Haruhi Suzumiya. How was I supposed to figure out her issues? I certainly couldn't just go up to her and ask "Hey, why do you hate couples?" I had to be subtle about it; that much was clear. How to do that, though, was something I was still racking my brain trying to figure out.

Then, one day, while sitting in the club room as Haruhi schemed up another plan involving the exploitation of others, Koizumi got up.

"I am terribly sorry, but something involving Nagato, Asahina and myself has arisen. We have to leave now. I hope it does not interfere with our activities." Koizumi only briefly gave looks at Nagato and Asahina, but from just a glance, I could tell he'd already told them about the situation. They were clearly working together, at least temporarily.

"Its fine, for today." Haruhi said. "I'm still thinking of what we could do to lure out aliens, anyway. I wonder what they'd want?"

Koizumi bowed, and then, with only the slightest of nasty grins, winked at me.

Oh. So that's what he was doing. He wanted me to talk to her now. Well, thanks for prepping me for that one.

The three then walked out of the room, leaving Haruhi and I alone. As she clacked away on the keyboard, I sat in silence, my brain testing out different ways to bring up the conversation topic and their corresponding situations. After enough tries, however, I gave up. Screw it. Looked like I was going to have to do it straight-up; no pomp and circumstance.

"Hey, Haruhi." I said, interrupting the relative silence of the room.

"Mm?" she hummed a response, her eyes not leaving the computer.

"Has something happened with you recently?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" she asked nonchalantly, her hands still typing away.

"I don't know," I began. "I just noticed that you seem to get really mad whenever you see a couple. Why us that?"

This caused her to stop. Her fingers hovered above the keyboard, an unreadable expression on her face. "W...no. No. Why would you think that?"

I casually shrugged. Inside, however, I was grinning triumphantly. Clearly I was getting somewhere. I just had to keep pushing forward. I knew Haruhi was going to be a tough egg to crack. "It's just what I've been noticing. Like, whenever we pass by two people holding hands in the hallway, you always seem to tense up and glare daggers at them."

Haruhi's mouth moved without sound, as she tried to find words. "I...I do?"

I nodded. "Yup. I was just wondering why that is?"

Haruhi's strange new expression of defensiveness was immediately replaced by her annoyed expression, the one she used most often around 'ignorant classmates'. "Even if that was the case, which I'm fairly certain it isn't, I wouldn't just go around telling people about my internal reasoning, even if they were members of the brigade. They're internal for a reason."

I sighed. "Alright, fine." I decided it would be best not to press her. If I did, she would get suspicious. It seemed I was going to have to try again some other time.

As Haruhi and I reverted into our former silence, I thought of my most recent one-on-one conversation with Koizumi. He'd said that I was the closest to Haruhi out of anyone. I frowned. How was that possible? I knew that Haruhi thought of me as the closest person to her, at least subconsciously, thanks to the whole 'closed space world recreation' ordeal that happened so long ago. Still, though, even knowing that, I certainly didn't feel like I was the closest to Haruhi. I scowled as I imagined Koizumi's forever smiling face. The next time I saw him, I was going to have to try to get him to talk with Haruhi instead. After all, out of all of us, he was the most psychoanalytical. I sighed. You know, one day Koizumi should just try having a serious conversation with Haruhi. At the very least, it wouldn't turn out how he'd like it to. I'd love to see frustration on his seemingly eternally pleasant face.

I thought about this for the rest of the meeting, until it was time to leave. I didn't run into Nagato, Asahina, or even Koizumi, and though I'd have liked to have attempted coercing him into taking over my duties as Haruhi's secret shrink, I was just happy not to have to worry about any of them for once. Well, I guess I wouldn't mind seeing Asahina.

I made my way home, and as the previous conversation topic, that being couples, was still fresh in my mind, somehow I found it wandering through my memories. I recalled that saying that my mom always said.

And that is why I brought up the topic of romance earlier. Quite long-winded and convoluted for something so insignificant, but I'll say this: as I thought about the phrase my mom always said, I couldn't help but feel like it was important in some way. Maybe I'd find out sometime in the near future; maybe in the far. Regardless, I knew it had a role to play.

Believe me, though, I would have loved to say that Haruhi's emotional state returned to normal, and that life went on as usual, but unfortunately that wasn't what happened. After all, when you're in the SOS Brigade, normal simply isn't something that happens.

It turned out that I would be getting hints as to the reasoning by Haruhi's unexplained hatred towards couples sooner than I expected. After heading to school the next day, sitting through my classes while Haruhi slept behind me, and listening to Haruhi's latest speech on how she planned on attracting aliens, I began to head home as usual. However, as we were all leaving at the same time, I ended up walking alongside Mikuru Asahina.

I wondered whether Koizumi had talked to her and Nagato about the newest Haruhi dilemma. I figured, what was the harm in asking? Even if Koizumi hadn't explained it to them, surely elaborating on it myself wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. I peered behind me, checking to see if Haruhi was near enough to overhear us. Luckily, she seemed to be out of sight. I turned back to Asahina. "Say, Asahina...remember how yesterday, you, Koizumi and Nagato left Haruhi and I alone in the club room together?"

Asahina glanced at me with curiosity in her big eyes. "Yes?"

"Well, I was just wondering whether you'd been told why you had to do that."

Asahina nodded. "Oh, don't worry, Kyon. Koizumi-kun explained everything to me. I know about Suzumiya's wavering emotions. By the way, what happened while we were gone?"

I shrugged. Nothing much, really. It was surprising to me that I seemed to be the one who was fuelling the conversation. Usually Haruhi was the more talkative one, I told her.

Asahina nodded pensively. "I suppose it all has to do with how Suzumiya's been acting lately. I just wonder why it's happening."

A thought suddenly struck me. Asahina wasn't exactly the most perceptive or proactive person. I wonder if she'd thought about if that far? "Asahina, have you given thought as to why Haruhi's acting this way? Y'know, like an event or something that triggered this in her?" I recalled Koizumi stating that something must have happened around a week ago, or eight days ago at this point. While neither he nor I were able to come up with anything that might have caused the change in Haruhi, there was no saying whether somebody else hadn't. Maybe Asahina had an idea tucked away in her brain somewhere.

Her eyebrows knitted in thought, Asahina stared at the floor as we walked. After a good few seconds, her eyes suddenly lit up, and she turned to me eagerly. "Yes, there was something! It was around a week ago."

"Go on," I urged.

"Well, after school, Suzumiya said that she had wanted to come to my house to visit. I told her that I already had plans with Tsuruya at her place, though. But then she said that she'd just come with me to Tsuruya's instead! So we went there, and once we arrived, we did all the normal things the three of us usually do. Then, somehow in our conversation, we got to talking about boys, and Tsuruya mentioned having a boyfriend."

I blinked. Wait, what? "Tsuruya's got a boyfriend? Since when?"

"Well, that's what I was gonna get to."Asahina said. "Anyway, Haruhi reacted similarly to you, though she seemed a bit mad about it. Apparently, according to Tsuruya, she just started going out with him a few days prior. We ended up moving away from that conversation topic fairly quickly, but Suzumiya seemed to be tense and lost in thought the rest if the visit."

I waited to see if Asahina was finished. "So what you're saying is, Haruhi doesn't like couples because Tsuruya has a boyfriend? Why?"

Asahina stared at the floor as she walked, her eyes narrowing in thought. "I suppose it's because Suzumiya feels protective of Tsuruya. It's like Tsuruya's interacted with the Brigade enough to basically be a member in Suzumiya's eyes. Maybe she just feels like she wants to protect her from a boyfriend who might hurt her. At least, that's what I would guess."

Wow. That was quite the analysis. Who knew Asahina could be so psychoanalytical? Though, it was unreasonable to assume anything of Haruhi. She'd proven our theories wrong before. But Asahina's theory did seem to make a lot of sense. How did she manage to formulate it, I asked.

"Well, I just thought about how I might react if you or Koizumi got a girlfriend." Asahina smiled up at me.

I was in heaven. To think that Asahina of all people wanted to protect me (well, and Koizumi, but I'll ignore that for now) from a potentially hurtful girlfriend was enough to give me long-lasting bliss. And she had that adorable smile.

"Wait a sec," I said, a thought dawning on me. "Don't you feel protective of Tsuruya, Asahina?"

Asahina looked away from me sadly. "I will admit that I do, a little, but it doesn't matter. As a time traveller, I can't interfere with anything like that, and I most certainly can't get attached like that to others."

Sheesh. Being a time traveller must suck. Although, I guessed I'd already been through something like that, when Asahina the Elder got me and her younger self to go errand running to establish the fate of the future. Ah, I remembered it all too well. It was bad enough knowing what was going to come, but having to do seemingly arbitrary chores for unknown reasons probably took the cake for worst reason to be a time traveller. Oh well. At least Asahina knew why she was here.

I regarded Asahina pensively. "Say, Asahina...do you think I could go see Tsuruya right now?"

"About her boyfriend? Yeah, I'm pretty sure she's free today." Asahina said, before chuckling. "But Kyon, you know you don't have to ask my permission to go to Tsuruya's place. I'm not her father."

I laughed sheepishly. "Ah, sorry...I guess I just wanted to know whether today would work fine or not. You know, cause you're her best friend and all..."

Asahina put a playful finger to my lips. "Kyon. Just go already."

Man, she was adorable, and especially so when she was confident. Not that I disliked the timid Asahina. I'd say that both had their perks.

"Okay, Asahina." I said determinedly. Then, with the location of Tsuruya's massive mansion in my mind, I ran towards the school's exit. I turned back to wave to Asahina just before I reached the end of the shoe lockers. "See you!" I called, earning a polite wave from Asahina.

My feet naturally began making their way to Tsuruya's as I thought about her gigantic home. It must have been nice to get to live someplace so huge. My house was a flower in comparison to Tsuruya's redwood.

Now was not the time, however, to think about the square footage of compared housings. I had the more pressing matter of Tsuruya's boyfriend to worry about. If he truly was the source of Haruhu's emotional instability, then all I had to do was get him and Tsuruya to break up, right? But it would be more complicated than that. First off, it wasn't like anything I'd ever done with, say, Nagato. Nagato would just do most anything I asked her if she knew it was for Haruhi's sake. But Tsuruya was in the dark. She had no idea that it was crucial to satisfy Haruhi. So breaking her and her boyfriend up wouldn't be as simple as just saying that Haruhi doesn't like the idea of her having a boyfriend. I would have to get them to do it through other means.

Ah, but I wasn't a relationship-destroyer. I didn't want to break the two of them up just to satisfy Haruhi. After all, this was Tsuruya I was messing with, not just Haruhi. Argh, why did I have to be the one to solve Haruhi's problems for her? I wish Koizumi would stop being so damn vague and just tell me why he couldn't do it, plain and simple. He could at least help me out.

I was nearing Tsuruya's place. It was time to focus on the present. I'd worry about Haruhi and Koizumi after I talked with Tsuruya. I rung the door bell.

Wait a minute. Was her boyfriend there with her?

A buzz came through the speaker next to the doorbell. "Kyon? Is that you?" Tsuruya's familiar, exuberant voice met my ears.

"Yeah. I hope I'm not disturbing you. Could I come in?"

"Sure!" Tsuruya said before the speaker shut off. Then, I was let into the massive Tsuruya mansion, where I was greeted by the SOS Brigade's favourite partner in mischief.

"Hey, Kyon!" Tsuruya greeted me with a proud grin and a vigorous wave. "What brings you to my humble abode? I hope Mikuru didn't say anything weird. It's not about my new boyfriend, is it?"

"Well, about that..." I said sheepishly as I scratched my neck. Darn. How did Tsuruya figure out why I came here so quickly? I guess Asahina was talking a lot about her boyfriend...I think? Maybe because of her duty as a Haruhi observer. "Tsuruya, I'm not sure whether you're cool with talking about it or not, but I do actually need to talk with you about him. Its really important."

Tsuruya's smile faltered somewhat, but she brightened immediately and turned on her heel. "Fine. I'm not sure what your situation is that it's really important for you to talk about my boyfriend with me, but I'm sure you have your reasons. Follow me; I'll have us served some tea." Heh. It was like I was back at the club room, except those serving my tea were getting paid.

As I followed behind Tsuruya, I smiled. She always knew when to refrain from pressing hard on a subject, and she was cool with talking about topics she didn't necessarily want to talk about, just because her underclassman said it was important. It made me proud to have her as my upperclassman.

Tsuruya brought me into a traditional Japanese-style room, and sat down across from me at the table. A servant with a teapot and two cups walked in, set down the cups, filled them with tea and left with the pot. "So?" Tsuruya said, a cheery smile on her lips as she brought the cup to her mouth. "What about my boyfriend do you need to talk about?"

I took a deep breath in, measuring my next words. I couldn't let Tsuruya know who Haruhi truly was, but I still needed to find out all I could about Tsuruya's new boyfriend. Maybe the person that he was was the reason Haruhi was suddenly despising couples.

"Tsuruya, what's your boyfriend like?" I asked.

Tsuruta giggled. "Gee, Kyon, how straightforward. I didn't realize you swung that way. Trying to find out if he's worth stealing from me, are you?"

I sighed. Definitely not. I should have hoped that all of my fawning over Asahina would have proven 'which way I swung'. I just wanted to know whether he was a straight-laced kind of guy or a laid-back, cool guy, I told her.

"Well, I wouldn't say he's either of those things. Honestly, he's more of a sleazeball than anything. He's pretty vulgar, and kind of rude to others."

What? Why would she want to go out with that kind of a guy, I asked.

"Well, that may be the way he is, but those aren't the reasons I like him. I like him because underneath all the vulgarity and the rudeness, he's a really sweet, nice, charming guy who I believe really likes me back. I mean, if you compared the moments when we're around others to when we're alone, you'd think he was an entirely different person."

"I hope he still treats you right when you're around others, though," I said concernedly.

"Oh, he does." Tsuruya said heartily. "He always seems to put me over everything that it's crazy. But it just goes to show just how much he genuinely likes me. Besides, it's not like some guy who's looking to cheat on me the first chance he gets is going to be my boyfriend. My family's far too overprotective for that. They thoroughly examined him before he was approved to be my boyfriend."

"Ah, I see," I responded naturally. Sheesh, Tsuruya's family 'examined' him? I wonder what that entailed. "Anyway, Tsuruya, you told Haruhi about your new boyfriend a few days ago, correct?"

Tsuruya nodded.

"Did you notice any changes in her after you told her about him?"

Tsuruya brought her thumb and forefinger to cup her chin pensively as she looked upwards in thought. "Well...I'm not the most observant person in the world, but as you know, I do my best to make others as happy as possible. And after I told Haruhi about my boyfriend, she did end up a little tense, now that you mention it. Kyon, are you saying Haruhi's unhappy because of my boyfriend?"

Well, it was really only a best guess at this point. I couldn't really be entirely sure why Haruhi was upset. She typically hid her true feelings from others. That being said, I did want to know whether Tsuruya had said anything about what her boyfriend was like, I told her.

"Well, I did give a brief summary of his personality, but mostly I just showed them a video I took on my phone with him!" Tsuruya said, pulling out her phone on cue. I watched as her thumb swept across the screen several times over, before tapping it decisively and holding the screen up to me.

A video on the screen began playing. Tsuruya and a guy with scruffy hair and poor posture filled the screen, with Tsuruya's arm around the guy's shoulder and the guy's hand cupping Tsuruya's hip. Tsuruya had an expression of cheerfulness while the guy had one of nonchalant contentment. They both stared through the screen at me.

"Hey, whoever is watching this!" The digital Tsuruya said exuberantly as she brought the phone closer to her and the guy. "This is my new boyfriend! Say hello!"

"Hey," The guy said with a considerably more reserved tone in comparison to the girl next to him. "This is my girlfriend. We're going out!"

"You bet we are!" Tsuruya said happily. "Tell the audience how we met!"

"Well, I was on a date with, like, the fifteenth girl that month, and we'd met on a dating site." The guy explained, apathy entering his tone of voice. "Anyway, as the date wore on, I began thinking, 'Wow, this girl is really, really boring. Come to think of it, pretty much all the girls I've dated so far have been boring. Are all girls this boring?' And then, as I was about to leave the cafe we'd been having our date at, I accidentally bumped into Tsuruya. We ended up starting a conversation, and one thing lead to another." The guy smirked, tightening his grip on Tsuruya. "I can now successfully say that not all girls are completely boring!"

The digital Tsuruya grinned. "Alright, everyone, byyyyyeeeee!"

The video stopped, and Tsuruya pulled the phone away, returning it to her pocket. "So? Does that give you a decent idea of what my boyfriend's like?"

I grimaced. While I had to admit he did look like he cared for Tsuruya, his attitude towards other girls was alarming. Was Tsuruya really sure about her choice of boyfriend?

"You just haven't seen him for who he truly is," Tsuruya explained. "I do have to admit, though, this video probably wasn't the best thing to show Haruhi as a first impression. After all, he really shows off his condescending side here. But trust me, he's a total sweetheart underneath it all."

"Alright, alright," I said, holding my hands up defensively. "I believe you. I'm just not sure Haruhi does. I don't know if she's ever told you her opinions on love before, but..." Yeah, love wasn't exactly something Haruhi held in high regard. It didn't help that all the guys she'd dated had been deemed boring by her, though. But surely Haruhi wasn't condemning Tsuruya's boyfriend just because she didn't think much of love. After all, when she had asked about whether Koizumi had had plans with his girlfriend during the meeting during the previous December, his fake complaint about not having any wasn't met by a reprimanding Haruhi. No, this case was a unique one to be certain.

"Well, I don't believe she has, but from what I can tell, she's not much of a fan, right?" Tsuruya hypothesized.

"No." I confirmed. I got up, dusting off my pant legs. "Thanks for having me, Tsuruya. You've been a big help."

"No problem, Kyon!" Tsuruya said cheerfully as she stood up as well. "Anything for Haruhi and my favourite underclassman!"

I smiled at her comment. Even though it was coming from Tsuruya, who said that sort of thing every day, I still enjoyed the compliment. And so, with a newfound feeling of revival, I headed out of the Tsuruya mansion. I had a lot to tell Koizumi. Even though I disliked our talks, I knew this one would be necessary.

Dammit, Haruhi. Why are you so frustrating?

Hey, one and all! Welcome to my second fanfic. This time I decided to go for Haruhi Suzumiya.

You see, I felt like all the HaruKyon fics out there weren't capturing their relationship and progression towards becoming a couple the way they should have. So I decided to step up to the task!

This fanfic will probably consist of larger chapters than my first one. I'm not sure how long it'll be, but I can assure a slow build on the main pairing (HaruKyon, in case that wasn't clear).

Please comment and fav, and I'll see you next time!