Haruhi Suzumiya lay in her bed. She stared up at the ceiling in the darkness. She wondered what it would be like if she were somebody else. She wondered what it was like at a school for rich people. She heard that schools for rich people were different, and curiosity bit at her and wouldn't let go.
Now she was tired. She turned off her light and went to sleep.
She woke up with a start. Her head felt cold, her bedding was different and her walls were a different colour. She sat up.
Suddenly, her shoulder itched. When she reached over, she could not feel her dark hair brush against her hand. She felt around her neck. When she finally felt something, it wasn't much.
She got up and searched the room for mirrors. Her clothes were different, too. This was definitely not what she had fallen asleep in. She looked in the mirror.
She did not look anything like herself! Her hair was cut short. She was embarrassed. She looked just like a boy.
Alarmed, she left her room.
"What happened?" she shouted. Her voice sounded really different.
What's happened to me?
She realized she was in an apartment and found herself in the kitchen.
When she entered, there was a strange man with long, red hair.
Who is this? Where's my family?
"Something wrong, Haruhi?" he asked, turning to her with a smile.
This was too weird, how did this man know her name?
"Uh....." Think! "Nothing. What's for breakfast?" Haruhi had no idea what was going on.
After a quick breakfast, it was time for her to go to school. She was now convinced that this was a result of aliens, or maybe espers. She decided she'd explore it as best as she could today. This was a once-in-lifetime experience.
She assumed the beautiful pale suit was her uniform. She wasn't sure if this was the girl's uniform for this school or not, but she didn't care much. She'd find out when she arrived. She learned this was Ouran Academy.
She yearned for her yellow hair band with the ribbons, but she knew it would look awful with this short hair.
She paid bus fare as she had no idea where she was going.
Soon she had arrived at Ouran Academy.
It was huge. She had no idea what she was supposed to do.
"Haru-chan!" a happy voice called out.
Haruhi turned towards the voice, but before she could react, a short boy who seemed like he shouldn't have been in High School yet bolted into her arms and she was spinning around on the spot.
When he finally let go, she was a little winded.
"Haru-chan!" the little boy repeated. He sounded really excited, for some reason.
"Uh...Hello, what's your problem?" Haruhi didn't have time for these kinds of characters.
Tears welled up in the boy's eyes. He hugged his pink stuffed rabbit and ran up to a much taller boy with short, black hair. He climbed up on his shoulders. The tall one stared at Haruhi. She began to feel quite uncomfortable.
"Something's wrong with Haru-chan," he said quietly to the tall one.
"Mmmmm hmmmm," the tall one replied while nodding. Then he turned and walked away with the blond tyke on his shoulder.
Haruhi kept walking.
She was almost late for her first classes, but she finally had things figured out.
She saw that the girls in this school wore yellow, puffy dresses that were really ugly in her opinion. She was relieved she didn't have to wear it.
When she entered the doors of the Host Club in search of somewhere to spend her break and think things out, she immediately received stares from all the members of the Host Club.
"Haruhi," said a tall blond who was about a foot taller than her. "What did you do to Honey-sempai?"
"I don't know!" snapped Haruhi. She assumed Honey was what they called the short one. "There's something wrong with him!"
Tears welled up in the short blond's eyes and all the girls that surrounded him gasped.
Haruhi immediately left the room and ran through the stone hallway.
When she finally stopped, she leaned forward and caught her breath. When she looked up again, two red-headed twins were standing in front of her.
"Why happened?" they asked in unison.
"Ugh!" shouted Haruhi. "Why do you care? All I wanted for a little something interesting to happen! All I wanted to know was what a rich high school is supposed to be like! Why did it have to be such a disaster?"
"What are you talking about? You've been here for a long time now. What has gotten into you, Haruhi?" the one on the left leaned towards her.
Haruhi knew she needed to tell someone what had happened to her.
She proceeded to explain who she was when she went to bed the night before and who she had become. The twins didn't let her finish without asking a few questions in the process, but she answered them. By the end, the twins understood.
"Well, there's only one thing I can say," said the one who had talked to her first. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure that sooner or later, Haruhi Fujioka will come back here and you will go back to being Haruhi Suzumiya."
"Hikaru," said Haruhi. "Thank you."
As they walked back to Music Room #3, they explained to her what being a host was all about and how she was supposed to act to come across as though she was Haruhi Fujioka.
Haruhi now knew what was going on and felt in control. She knew the first thing she had to do; apologize to Honey.
Haruhi ended up playing as a host with not much difficulty. She thought it was kind of fun.
"Renge!" she commanded as she approached the club director. "You've got to get in the Host Club act, too."
"Really?" Renge replied just as ambitiously.
"Of course!" replied Haruhi. "Every member should take part. It doesn't matter if this isn't a host club to treat the boys, but you've got to get in the act. Maybe a waitress, or a bunny girl...."
Haruhi Fujioka woke up suddenly. She looked all around. She was really scared and disoriented. She was not in her apartment. She realized she was wearing light yellow girly pyjamas. She never would have ever dreamt of buying them.
She looked around some more. Her head felt strange. She left the room she had woke up in and wandered around. When she found a bathroom, she looked in the mirror. She didn't recognize herself. Her hair was suddenly longer. She hadn't had long hair for some time. Now her hair fell just to her shoulders. She looked feminine.
"Dad!" she cried. She wanted his help. Her voice didn't seem to suit this tone of voice as if it wasn't supposed to be used for such cries. Haruhi could tell there was something wrong, but she just couldn't put her finger on it.
She went down the stairs and saw a man standing close to the stairs. He looked alarmed.
"Uhhh…." Haruhi wasn't sure what to say. Was this man supposed to be her father?
"Nothing!" she suddenly brought herself to say.
"Good," said the man. "I wasn't sure about what happened there."
Tamaki-sempai, thought Haruhi angrily, if you are behind this, come off it right now. This isn't funny!
After cautiously eating her breakfast, looking up at what was around her every few bites; she went upstairs and got ready for school.
She found in the closet the school uniform. She wasn't unfamiliar with sailor uniforms, but she hadn't worn one in a long time.
She put it on. She didn't feel uncomfortable, but she didn't feel right. She knew right now she wasn't herself. Physically, that is.
Her chest jutted out underneath her top and it didn't feel natural for her as she was used to it not sticking out as much.
She saw on the bedside table a yellow headband with long ribbons. She picked it up, then walked over to the mirror. She fixed it into her hair. She didn't like it very much, so she put it back.
When she finally got to school and entered homeroom, her stomach lurched. She had no idea where she was supposed to sit. A boy who sat next to the window looked disturbed. His face wasn't like that until he set eyes on her.
Haruhi guessed that he was reacting to the fact that now she was going to sit behind him, so she took her seat there.
"What's with you?" asked the boy.
"Uhh…..nothing I guess," Haruhi answered.
"You're not acting like yourself."
"Really, huh?" Haruhi felt very uncomfortable now. She had no idea what was wrong with this day. She had ruled out that it was a dream. Dreams are never like this. If it was a dream, she wouldn't be hoping what was happening was a dream. You don't think when you're dreaming.
The day went by very strangely. Students were looking at her like she had green skin or was contracting some sort of rash that you can't tell you're getting. She had no idea who Haruhi Suzumiya was.
She followed the boy she sat behind since she had no idea where to go and he said that he'd better head to the club room. She assumed he was supposed to be her friend.
When they arrived in the room, two girls were already there. One of them had short grey hair and was delved deep into a book. She only looked up for a moment.
The other girl had long, chestnut hair that curled slightly and came a quarter of the way down her back. She was standing up and putting on some fresh tea. When she saw that Haruhi had come in the room, she immediately started taking a maid costume from a clothing rack.
"I'll hurry up," she said in a quiet, weak voice.
"No, wait," said Haruhi. Again she didn't sound like her voice was supposed to sound like that. "You don't have to change into that!"
Everyone in the room went silent and stared at her.
"What?" That time her voice sounded right. It was at that moment that Haruhi realized that her voice was not the same as it used to be. Now she was convinced that she was not herself, literally. She was in the body of someone else. Haruhi had never believed it was possible to swap lives with someone by going into someone's body. She wondered why all these things had to happen to her, like they always did.
"So, isn't there something you want us to do?" said the boy she had met in class suddenly.
"Uh….uh…." Haruhi's eyes darted around the room. What should I ask them to do? Suddenly her eyes met the book shelf.
"I…I want you to read….I want you to read your favourite book from that shelf." A sweat drop slid down her forehead. Was that good enough?
Suddenly, the silver-haired girl got up from her chair, closed the book she had been reading and approached Haruhi.
"Please come with me," she said in a monotone voice.
"What's with her?" Haruhi asked to the other three people in the room. Not to anybody in particular, she just wanted an answer to her question.
Without an answer, she left the room with the other girl.
She closed the door behind them and they stood in the hallway.
"You are not Haruhi Suzumiya," said the girl in her monotone voice.
"Well...uh....yeah. I'm not," said Haruhi. She didn't know anyone else knew.
"It was evident when you entered the room," the girl continued. "Haruhi Suzumiya is able to manipulate data on a very large scale, but you cannot. You are not capable of changing reality and manipulating data. You did not create the timequake and you are not the reason for my existence. You are Haruhi Fujioka."
"You know my name?"
The girl only nodded, and then continued once more.
"I am Yuki Nagato, a Humanoid Interface, created by the Data Integration Thought Entity to make contact with organic life forms."
"Really?" Haruhi had no idea these types of things really existed. This was one of the most exciting moments of her life.
"Haruhi Suzumiya is currently living also in the organic body of another. This proves that the organic body and the mind and spirit of organisms are separate pieces. This other body belongs to you. You and she are currently living in each other's worlds. While I could easily repair the data and restore things back to normal, it will not be necessary on my part, for Haruhi Suzumiya is the cause for this and will easily be the cause for everything to avert back to the way it was before. Haruhi Suzumiya can manipulate the data to her desire, as she has just shown an example of. She will not wish to stay, so she will not. If she wishes for you to come back, you will. It will happen exactly nine hours and fifteen seconds from now without anyone realizing it, all but me."
Yuki finally finished her long monologue.
Haruhi was the first to ever not have to ask questions, as she was very used to technical vocabulary and was not challenged by this. She knew the circumstances now and was no longer afraid or confused. However, she was not about to tell anyone else in the SOS Brigade.
As Haruhi joined the reading club members and sipped the freshly brewed tea, she attached the "Brigade Chief" armband, and picked up a book.
"Don't forget," she said. "Find something unusual."
Haruhi Suzumiya and Haruhi Fujioka both went to sleep that night with much more ease than they had woken up with. The next morning, they both woke up and breathed out sighs of relief. They were back home and now they could do what they wanted and meet the people they knew and cared about. Each was grateful of the other taking notes from the classes they had missed.
They each walked up to their mirrors, and looked themselves in the eye.
"Thank you, Haruhi."
Weeks passed. They continued their lives the way they were until it seemed the one strange day was a distant and blurred memory. Their worlds seemed undisturbed, unchanged.
One afternoon, Haruhi Fujioka went out to buy food that her and her dad needed to make their dinner for that night. She was focused on what she needed to do. She almost didn't notice the girl with the yellow ribbons rippling from her hair....
She stopped and turned, looking sideways at the other girl. The girl with the ribbons was doing the same thing.
They stopped and stared at each other for a few moments, then smiled warmly.
"Pleased to meet you, I'm Haruhi Fujioka."
"Hi, I'm Haruhi Suzumiya,"