Author's notes: No, this isn't the tale of terror I promised in my notes for chapter 10 of "Haruhi's Boyfriend". That story is basically good to go, but the cover artist needs more time, so I'm putting this up in the meanwhile.
This story came to me in a roundabout way. I started thinking up a between-the-scenes of "Endless Eight" story. Then I came up with the Koizumi segment of this story as a parallel to the "Endless Eight" bit, but eventually realized that the ideas I had for the "Endless Eight" bit weren't strong enough even for one half of a parallel fic, so I dropped it. Then I began to see how the Koizumi segment, which I already felt was strong enough to stand on its own, could be strengthened through the addition of the other segments. On top of that, Haruhi's actions in the original segment were changed, and the perspective was originally Haruhi's, not Koizumi's.
Despite all that craziness, thematically this is pretty clear-cut and tidy compared to most of my Haruhi Suzumiya fics (this is only the second one I've published, but there are two more which are completed and two more in progress). And it was a heck of a lot of fun to write.
My Haruhi Suzumiya fics share continuity, so you'll see references to the events of "Haruhi's Boyfriend" here, but nothing that requires you to have read that fic.
The characters and milieu of this fan fiction work are property of Nagaru Tanigawa, Kyoto Animation, and Funimation.
Nagato
"Yuki, I have an idea."
Yuki Nagato was right in the middle of reading about Dermaptera, which she was finding to be one of the more interesting living beings on this planet. She had learned that humans have the curious notion that if you're reading, that means you're not paying attention to them, but she didn't raise her eyes from her book yet. Haruhi Suzumiya's idea might not be anything important.
"Maybe we can shock him awake."
Nagato assumed that the "him" Haruhi Suzumiya was referring to was Kyon, the comatose individual lying in bed. One day before now, he had fallen down a set of stairs and sustained injuries to his head, beginning his coma. Two days after now, his coma would end. This was a necessary step in restoring the default reality. However, Haruhi Suzumiya did not know of this. She believed Kyon's coma to be strictly the result of an unfortunate interaction between unaltered information. Statistical data which Suzumiya was unquestionably familiar with showed that humans often do not recover from such comas in a reasonably short time, or at all. Therefore, it was important to Haruhi Suzumiya that Kyon awake as soon as possible.
"Everyone knows that even if they don't react, people in a coma can still hear you, right?"
Nagato's readings had not yet provided her with an answer to that question, so she did not respond.
"So if they hear something that really shocks them, it might give them a jolt, waking them up! It's just a question of what might be able to shock Kyon that much. I've been brainstorming that, and I think I've got an idea. You're always really quiet, right?"
She flipped to the next page of her book.
"I said, right?"
Nagato nodded.
"Right! You hardly ever talk, and when you do, your voice is so quiet that we all have to hush up so that we can hear you. So I think it would really shock Kyon if you walked up to his bed and screamed at the top of your lungs, 'Wake up!'"
Nagato had just reached a good pausing point in her book, and this seemed like a good time to clearly indicate that she was paying attention. She looked up.
Agitation was a common condition for Haruhi Suzumiya, but at present she was in a particularly elevated state, and had been since Kyon's injury had occurred. Heartrate, perspiration, and breathing were all above normal levels for the situation, raising the strong probability that she was using her power on her own bodily functions to maintain a state of hyper-alertness. Her eyes were mildly bloodshot, leading Nagato to consider the hypothesis that last night she had slept significantly less than the optimal eight hours, if at all. At present these symptoms were subtle, most of them beneath the threshold required for detection by human senses, but remaining in this hyper-alert state for the full length of Kyon's coma could be deleterious to Haruhi Suzumiya's health.
"Well, don't just sit there!" An unexpected choice of words, given that Miss Suzumiya herself was seated at Kyon's bedside. "Get over here and do it!"
Nagato set aside her book, stood, and walked over to the hospital bed. To fulfill expectations, she looked down at Kyon's comatose body, even though there was nothing of interest to see; for all intents and purposes, the Kyon she knew was not present.
"Remember," Suzumiya coaxed her with a whisper, "...say it as loud as you possibly can."
She nodded, and opened her mouth.
"WAKE UP!"
Yuki Nagato's cry was short and terse, but louder than a fire alarm. Startled shouts and gasps could be heard from nearby rooms.
Even Haruhi Suzumiya was clutching her hands over her ears. "Oh, wow, Yuki! I didn't think you'd be that loud! Geez! But if anything can wake Kyon..."
Suzumiya looked over Kyon hopefully, her hyper-alert eyes watching for the slightest sign of consciousness.
There was none. Yuki Nagato had known there wouldn't be. If this were a normal coma, Suzumiya's idea would have succeeded in waking Kyon - not because of the intrinsic power of her voice, but simply because Haruhi Suzumiya wished for it to work. But this was not a normal coma, and even Haruhi Suzumiya could not overturn the fundamental laws of the universe. Kyon could not manifest as two identical batches of information in two different versions of the same existence over the same time frame. Therefore, he would awake two days from now, no sooner and no later, as certain as matter would rush to fill a vacuum.
But even were she at liberty to explain these facts to Haruhi Suzumiya, she knew they would be of no reassurance.
"Damn it." Suzumiya slumped back in her chair. "I really thought that would work."
Nagato said nothing.
After a few moments of sullen silence, Suzumiya looked at her and forced a smile. "Well, thanks for trying, Yuki. That was a really good attempt."
While she was pondering how she might respond to this gratitude for a consciously vain attempt to resolve an ailment that she herself had caused, an aide came in and pointedly asked them to keep the volume down in consideration of the other patients. She admitted to being the one who had yelled and apologized.
Once they were alone again, Suzumiya said, "Okay, Yuki. You can go back to your reading."
She did not move. "You should sleep."
"It's the brigade chief's responsibility to watch over brigade members." She wasn't looking at Nagato; she was looking at Kyon. "I can sleep after he wakes up."
Nagato had read novels in which situations like this occurred. Usually, the character in her situation prevailed by playing on the other character's desire to make the patient happy. "Kyon will be unhappy if he awakes to find you suffering from sleep deprivation."
"At least he'll be awake. I have to make sure he wakes."
Nagato considered. It was important that she got Suzumiya to sleep. Only in sleep could the unhealthy hyper-alert state she was maintaining be halted. Nagato's mission was to observe, and keeping the life expectancy of the observation subject from decreasing was a part of that mission.
Nagato also called to mind that Suzumiya had been allowing her to spend time with the Computer Society. She was allowing this only because Kyon had wanted her to allow it, but nonetheless, she was allowing it. Nagato did not feel any attachment to Haruhi Suzumiya, the way she did to Kyon. However, she had done Nagato favors, however small, which went beyond the minimum required of her as the SOS Brigade leader. Nagato therefore intended to act beyond the minimum required of her as an SOS Brigade underling.
She reviewed her memories of Kyon's debates with Suzumiya, analyzing them for the essential means he had used to successfully persuade her. She then used them to build an argument relevant to the current situation.
"Trust me," she said.
Suzumiya looked at her, surprised.
That was the first reason why Suzumiya listened to Kyon: She trusted him. However, Nagato could not recreate the history of truthfulness and loyalty which had earned Kyon that trust; all she could do was submit a straightforward request for it. "I will not allow harm to come to Kyon while you sleep. This is my assigned shift. It is my responsibility. Your responsibility is to be well-rested to greet Kyon when he awakes."
"Huh. That's true." She appeared even more nonplussed. "It sounds like something Kyon would say. Has he been rubbing off on you? Well, okay. I'll take a little rest. Make sure you wake me in thirty minutes - and immediately, if he wakes up, of course!"
Nagato did not respond to that as Haruhi Suzumiya lay back in her chair and closed her eyes, as she had no intention of waking her until she had gotten whatever rest she needed. She had endured waiting for far longer periods than this, and she had her book with her to keep her from becoming bored. Even if the wait were burdensome, it was indeed her responsibility, far more than Suzumiya could know.
She read for just three minutes more before she detected the signs that Haruhi Suzumiya had fallen asleep. She glanced over at her slumbering figure.
Nagato hoped that the Data Integration Thought Entity would remove her from her assignment once Kyon awoke. She had become a far greater danger than Haruhi Suzumiya. While Suzumiya had the potential to erase and rewrite all existing information, she was restrained by a small but growing sense of compassion and by a deep-rooted desire to have Kyon's support in everything she did. Moreover, she was closely watched by people who understood her and the danger she represented, and would take action to counter it. Nagato, on the other hand, was of a different species than the rest of the SOS Brigade, and so did not share the same moral and emotional restraints, something none of them apart from Mikuru Asahina seemed to realize. Communication with them was difficult, and they tended to anthropomorphize her feelings and responses. Thus, none of them had anticipated that she would usurp Haruhi Suzumiya's power and reshape the world for the sole purpose of fulfilling her personal desires, as such an action would be unthinkable to any of them, even Suzumiya at this point.
At the same time, she wished her time with the SOS Brigade could be longer. Thanks to Suzumiya and Kyon, she had experienced more in the past few months than she had in the rest of her life. Rationally, this was no reason for happiness. But she had become like Haruhi Suzumiya, desirous of personal evolution and newness.
This was all the more reason why she must be removed from her present assignment. The harm she had attempted in altering the world could not be fully accounted for, but among other things, that alteration of information had separated Suzumiya from Kyon. Nagato did not know what that had cost her, but could infer how great it was by the fact that she was maintaining this vigil and hyper-alert state in a futile attempt to awake and reunite with him.
Though Haruhi Suzumiya did not understand Yuki Nagato, Yuki Nagato felt she was beginning to understand Haruhi Suzumiya.
Asahina
Mikuru opened the door to Kyon's hospital room to be confronted by the silent face of Yuki Nagato staring at her.
"Ah -"
She caught her instinctual scream at the back of her throat. It was so unnerving; Nagato was right there at the door, as if she were waiting in ambush... or had known when she was coming, down to the second. And as she recoiled, Nagato just looked at her with those icy eyes, as if analyzing every cell of her body, and then walked past her without so much as a greeting.
Mikuru would never get used to that creature - ever. Whenever she looked at you, it was like she was examining a bug under a microscope. And Mikuru increasingly suspected that she had something to do with what had happened to Kyon. Even taking into account Nagato's naturally stony disposition, she didn't seem half as concerned about him as the rest of them were.
"Why are you just standing there, Mikuru? Come on in! Kyon won't bite!"
She shook herself with a nod, and stepped into the room. Inside was Kyon, looking just as he had the day before. Miss Suzumiya was seated at his bedside, smiling up at her. "Don't look so nervous! I'm glad you're here."
"Um... So you've really been here this whole time?"
"I told you all, it's my responsibility."
"Um, yes. But you have to take care of yourself, too... though you look pretty good, all things considered..."
"I napped for a couple hours. Yuki was supposed to wake me, but she forgot. It's okay, though; she kept a good watch over Kyon while I was asleep. Anyway, it's a good thing it's your shift now, because I just got another idea of how we can get Kyon to wake up, and I need your help with it."
"I- I see..." Mikuru was already getting a bad feeling.
"You know about Snow White and Sleeping Beauty, right?"
Mikuru was afraid to say anything.
"Well, behind every myth there's a little bit of fact. Maybe the right bit of fact needed to save Kyon. People in comas are still aware of what's going on, and if you give them reason to want to wake up, they'll wake up. You see what I'm getting at?"
She shook her head.
"Just give Kyon a kiss, and maybe he'll wake up!"
"Ah..." She took a step back. "W-why do you need me for that? Why can't you do it?"
"That wouldn't work. Kyon hated it the one time I kissed him. It has to be someone he wants to kiss him."
She took another step back. "W-w-well, how about Miss Nagato?"
"That might do it, but if anyone's kiss is going to wake Kyon up, it's yours." She sounded like she'd given this a lot of thought. "You're the cutest girl within a 15-mile radius, and he likes you."
"I don't know, Miss Suzumiya. I've never heard of anyone being woken from a coma by a kiss in real life, and if he does wake up, Kyon might be mad we did that to him..."
"Are you kidding? He'll be happier about the kiss than about being out of the coma! Now stop being so shy and get to it."
"But I... I... Ahhhhhh!"
She screamed because Miss Suzumiya had leapt up from her chair, vaulted over the bed, and seized her by the arms. "Where do you think you're going? Get over here!" As Mikuru's body went rigid, Miss Suzumiya pushed and dragged her to Kyon's bedside. "I know this is your first kiss, but it's really not that big of a deal. All you have to do is bend down and put your lips on his. Once you've done that, pushing your tongue into his mouth is a snap."
"T-t-tongue? Help!"
"Hey! Are you punking out on me? Be quiet and stop struggling!"
Mikuru made a desperate attempt to pull free, but Miss Suzumiya shoved her down so that her face was within an inch of Kyon's. In the midst of the painful armlock Miss Suzumiya had on her, the sombre atmosphere of the hospital, and the antiseptic smell of the bed, Kyon's expression was incongruously peaceful.
"You disobedient brat!" Miss Suzumiya sounded angry now. Really angry. "Kyon could be dying, and all you can think about is your pathetic insecurities! Don't you even care whether he wakes up or not?"
"Y-yes, but -"
"Then stop squirming and kiss him!"
With that, Miss Suzumiya shoved her one inch further, squashing her lips over Kyon's. Mikuru squeezed her eyes shut, trying not to cry.
"That's not good enough! You've got to get your tongue in there!"
"Mmm-mmph!"
"I'm not letting you up until you give him tongue! And at least pretend you're enjoying it, you prissy ingrate! If you were in a coma, Kyon would have happily kissed you to get you to wake up! He'd do anything for us! So stop acting like kissing him is some horrible ordeal!"
Mikuru really hated defying Miss Suzumiya. Not being able to breathe through her mouth, having her breasts painfully wedged against Kyon's ribs, and the overall humiliation of her position were extremely unpleasant as well. So she did the only thing she could do.
Forgive me...
She inserted her tongue. She tried not to think about what it felt like.
"Ugh, don't just let it rest in there!" the SOS Brigade chief instructed, still holding her firmly down against Kyon. "Work it around a little! Come on, like you mean it! Nobody likes a cold fish!"
She tried moving her tongue left, then right, up, then down. She had no idea what she was doing, and didn't really care. She just wanted this to be over with.
"No, no! You've got to tease him awake!" She pushed and pulled Mikuru around, trying to guide her tongue as though with a ship's rudder. "Smoother! Sexier! Make him want to get up and kiss you back! ...Ugh, why isn't this working?"
With a sigh of exasperation, Miss Suzumiya released her and collapsed, resting her chin on her wrists and her elbows on the bed. Mikuru pulled off of Kyon and sucked in air, her face flushed with humiliation.
"Why didn't it work?" Miss Suzumiya muttered, studying Kyon's still sleeping form. "It wasn't the greatest kiss of all time, but still. It should have worked."
Mikuru almost jumped out of her skin when the door to the room opened behind her. An aide came in.
"Excuse me," she said. "I know you have special visiting privileges, but there are other patients in this hospital. Could you please keep the noise down to a mild racket?"
"Um..." Mikuru wasn't sure what to say. Of course she was happy to keep the noise down, but that matter was really up to Miss Suzumiya, who didn't seem to be paying attention.
"Is there a problem with that, ladies?" the aide pressed.
Miss Suzumiya turned around. She looked abjectly depressed. "No, no problem," she answered. "We'll be quiet."
"Oh..." The aide looked surprised. "It's you again. Shouldn't you be going home at some point?"
"No. I should be staying here."
"All right. But it really is better if you take care of yourself."
The aide left, closing the door behind her.
Maybe it was Miss Suzumiya's deflated state giving her a sense of security, but Mikuru felt a surge of anger. "You had no right to say those things to me, Miss Suzumiya!" she burst out. "If there was anything I could do that I thought would help Kyon, I'd do it! And I... oh..."
Her false sense of bravado withered even before Miss Suzumiya turned and fixed her with a glare, before she moved or said a word. As soon as it left her mouth, the outburst was recognized as foolhardy, a danger not only to herself, but the world.
"'Thought'?" Miss Suzumiya repeated. "You don't do the thinking for the SOS Brigade! I do. You just do what I say when I say it, especially when it involves the safety and well-being of a fellow brigade member! Do I make myself clear?"
She clutched her hands together and lowered her head. "Yes, Miss Suzumiya. I'm sorry."
"Hmmph." She folded her arms and looked back at Kyon. "I guess I can't get too angry at you. You did it in the end - even if you did a crummy job of it - and it didn't work."
Seeing her look at Kyon, Mikuru thought of something. Miss Suzumiya had proclaimed she would stay by Kyon's side 24/7 until he awoke, but before now, Mikuru hadn't believed she would really do it. She had assumed that, in typical Suzumiya manner, she would get bored of her watch after an hour, make some excuse for abandoning her vow, go home, and show her face for just a few minutes each day thereafter. Yet here she was.
Which meant... "Miss Suzumiya... Please don't worry so much about Kyon. I'm sure he'll recover."
Miss Suzumiya twitched. "I think I just made him want to not wake up. I was forcing you to kiss him. He always hates it when I force you to do things you don't want to."
"Yes, but... He still really likes you, and wants to be with you..."
"You're just saying stupid things to be cute. Not that I don't approve."
"No, I..." She hesitated. Should she tell her? It might be gossiping about things she didn't really understand, but Miss Suzumiya seemed so dejected, it might be necessary. "...When you were dating Takuma, it really seemed to upset Kyon. Like he was jealous."
"Huh? Really?" She looked at Mikuru with astonished but credulous eyes. "He was extra grouchy that week, but I thought that was because playing in the band again was hard for him. He's the sort of guy who begs and begs for something and is all miserable when he actually gets it, you know? If I weren't around telling him what to do, he'd be doing nothing but making himself unhappy. But you think it was because of me and Takuma?"
Mikuru nodded.
"Hmm." She turned back towards Kyon, hands on her hips. "I'll have to have a talk with him about that. I didn't expect him to be happy about my breaking up with him, but jealousy is unacceptable. Especially when he's the one who encouraged me to get another boyfriend in the first place! What a hypocrite. And nobody likes a stalker, right, Mikuru?"
"Um..." She was a bit confused by Miss Suzumiya's reaction.
"Right! We have to get him to give up that kind of attitude, or he's going to ruin what little reputation he has with the girls."
"Um... well..."
"Anyway, what are we standing around for? Take a seat, Mikuru. It looks like lazybones here is going to be resting up for a while yet."
Koizumi
"I feel like I've run out of ideas for getting him to wake up."
Miss Suzumiya said this right out of the blue. There had been no conversation between the two of them for the past, oh, five minutes, and not once since Koizumi's shift started had she said anything about taking action to get Kyon to wake up. She was charmingly unpredictable like that.
"Have you got any, Koizumi?"
"Well..." He put a hand to his chin. "What have you tried so far?"
"Yelling at him, kissing him, boxing his ears, and threatening to kick him out of the SOS Brigade."
"And none of those worked? Remarkable."
"I know, right? And the kiss came from Mikuru. Mikuru! Who on Earth stays sleeping when they're getting smooched by Mikuru?"
"Kyon, apparently. So, you gave her permission to...?"
"Permission, hell! I practically had to strap her to the bed and work her jaw for her! I could understand if he was awake, but you'd think kissing a guy while he's asleep, even Kyon, wouldn't be such a big deal."
Why did it seem like the most interesting SOS Brigade activities always happened while he was absent?
"Anyway, do you have any fresh ideas?"
He reflected again. "How about this? Put your arms around him, move close to his ear, and whisper, 'I love you'?" He knew that he shouldn't tease her, especially not during this most dire of times, but he couldn't help himself.
"Interesting idea." Suzumiya wasn't in her usual spot by Kyon's bedside; she was standing by the window, looking outside at the setting sun. "And who's going to do that?"
"You would be the best choice, surely. But if you'd rather not, I could do it."
"You?" She snorted. "Trust me, Koizumi; Kyon doesn't swing that way."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive. Kyon's sex drive isn't exactly subtle, you know? You just need to pay attention to him." She sighed, and turned away from the window. "Alright, I'll give it a shot."
To Koizumi's astonishment, the leader of the SOS Brigade walked up to Kyon's bedside, wrapped her arms around his neck, and, without any hesitation, whispered into his ear the very words Koizumi had suggested. Her delivery was rote, lacking the depth of emotion he knew she felt for Kyon deep inside, but still, she did say them.
Suzumiya's readiness to cast aside her pride for a long-shot idea for curing Kyon was perhaps the most ominous sign yet of just how dire the situation was. The mere fact of Kyon being in a coma was fearful enough, of course, given his importance to Miss Suzumiya. Ever since Kyon's fall, closed spaces had been opening up at an alarming rate - in most cases, with no celestials populating them, making them impossible to get rid of. One theory was that Suzumiya was subconsciously preparing a space to bring Kyon to if he should seem in danger of becoming brain dead. Koizumi took some reassurance from this theory, but it left the question: If she brought Kyon to one of these closed spaces, would she bring him back? The agency saw no sure solution to the situation save for Kyon recovering from his coma.
And that, it seemed, was manifestly impossible. Had there been any doubt of it in the first place, one need only spend a few minutes with Miss Suzumiya to know that there was nothing she wished for more than for Kyon to awaken from his coma. In spite of this, after more than 24 hours, Kyon remained unconscious; if that was not proof that there was some unnatural cause behind his coma, Koizumi didn't know what would be.
"Nothing." Miss Suzumiya let go of Kyon and took a step back. "I'll ask Mikuru to try it on her next shift."
As was often required for this job, Koizumi kept his grimace on the inside. "I'm not sure she should. If multiple people say that to Kyon, it will just make him confused."
"I guess," she admitted. "But what else is there to try?"
Nothing. The hospital staff were doing everything they could, and Miss Suzumiya had already applied the greatest power in the universe to the problem, even if she wasn't aware of it. Until one of their agencies uncovered further information, their best course was to simply wait, and hope that whatever power gripped Kyon would release him on its own.
Fortunately, Koizumi knew Miss Suzumiya's mind quite thoroughly, so he knew that if he actually said that to her, the resulting tantrum would be most unpleasant. Deputy chief or no, she would not allow anyone to suggest giving up on saving Kyon.
"Frankly, I don't know." He shrugged helplessly. "I consider myself quite intelligent, but I'm afraid I'm rather short on imagination."
"That's not true. You've given plenty of great ideas for the SOS Brigade, way more than Kyon, Mikuru, and Yuki combined."
"Yes, but this is rather a difficult problem, isn't it? And there's a limit to what we can do."
Suzumiya frowned. "What do you mean?"
"All of your ideas thus far have proceeded from the assumption that Kyon is in control of his condition. That's a reasonable possibility, so the ideas were good. But suppose that there is a problem with his brain that he can't control?"
She grabbed Koizumi's lapel. "So you think we should just give up?" she said, the volume of her voice distinctly raised.
He held his hands up. "Not at all. I was merely explaining why it is so difficult to come up with worthwhile suggestions. We'll think of something in time, I'm sure."
"And what if we don't? What if we can't save him?"
"Miss Suzumiya, you can't seriously be considering defeat as a possibility. That's not like you."
She stared at him. Then she released his lapel and walked away, without a word.
If this was what she was like after one day, Koizumi didn't want to see her if Kyon remained in his coma for a week or more.
Now she was busying herself with straightening Kyon's hair. "Do you really think that Kyon will be okay?"
He decided it would be safer to not flat-out lie; Suzumiya could be very perceptive. "Sometimes it just takes time. Even if we don't think of any more good ideas, Kyon may recover on his own before long. It's only been a day."
"A day, huh..." She stared vacantly down at Kyon's face. "It's really only been one day."
Koizumi excused himself to the hospital cafeteria. As he went through the line, getting dinner for them both, he pondered whether it meant anything that Suzumiya had selected Asahina to kiss Kyon, and again to say to him "I love you".
He hoped not. He had long been hoping that Miss Suzumiya and Kyon would fully embrace their romantic inclinations towards each other, and not simply to make his job easier. The two of them were good for each other. Kyon was instilling in Miss Suzumiya the beginnings of a conscience, and coaxing her to seek out friendship and companionship. Miss Suzumiya, in turn, was getting Kyon to put effort and enthusiasm into life, instead of wallowing in cynicism and complacency.
Kyon's attraction to Miss Asahina was not only a threat to that relationship; it was its complete opposite. Asahina in every way appealed to Kyon's tendency to take the easy way out: She would never argue with him, never refuse him, never demand he do anything difficult. Perhaps most crucially, she would not, and indeed could not, ask him for commitment. Kyon could dally with her as long as he liked, always free to pursue someone else if the whim struck him. Miss Suzumiya, for all her distaste for the marriage convention, would not settle for less than Kyon being hers exclusively.
Asahina's feminine submissiveness didn't seem natural, either. It was too calculated, and it was obvious how having the man with Haruhi Suzumiya's ear in her romantic thrall would be advantageous to her sect. Koizumi's own superiors had more than once suggested that their job would be much easier if he were to turn Miss Suzumiya's affections from Kyon to himself. He wouldn't do it, and not because he found Miss Suzumiya unattractive. On the contrary, if Kyon were not in the picture, he probably would have made a play for her of his own volition. But because Kyon was in the picture, it was clear to Koizumi why he was wrong for Miss Suzumiya in every way that Kyon was right for her. And he refused to be to Miss Suzumiya what Miss Asahina was to Kyon.
After all, Kyon and Suzumiya were his friends.
That, above all, was why he did not trust Mikuru Asahina. He had gradually come to regard Nagato as a companion and trusted ally, but Asahina was so persistent with her flirtations that it made no difference whether she was being careless or outright manipulative.
He carried the heavily loaded tray back to Kyon's room. Miss Suzumiya hadn't moved from where she was standing.
"I'm not hungry," she said when he held the tray out to her.
"You should keep your strength up. Kyon and the rest of the brigade are relying on you."
She stared blandly at the tray. Then she took the pork and rice and the fish.
Koizumi sat down with his own meal while Miss Suzumiya dutifully picked up pieces of food and put them down her throat. He had never seen her eat with so little enthusiasm.
As night approached, he took his leave, promising to see her again for his shift tomorrow. Of course, the agency would have no problem with his spending the night in Kyon's room so that he could directly monitor Miss Suzumiya's state. However, in addition to his need to rest and his desire to support his comrades in addressing the closed spaces, Koizumi wanted to give Miss Suzumiya some time alone with Kyon. It wouldn't be the best of quality time for them, what with Kyon being unresponsive, but it might be all the two of them had left.
Suzumiya
"Hey, Kyon."
Haruhi was sitting in her chair again. She preferred standing over his bedside, but even she became tired of being on her feet. The room had faded to a gloomy tone with the setting of the sun, but she didn't move to turn the light on.
"I don't really know if you can hear me or not..." She considered. "...but I guess I believe you do, because otherwise, why would I feel bad about forcing Mikuru to kiss you, as if you were awake and yelling at me about it? I mean, I didn't feel bad at all about making her do that photoshoot while I sent you to get the heater. Though I guess that was different, because that was fun. Making her kiss you would have been fun if it had worked, but it didn't. So maybe I just feel bad about it because it was a complete waste?"
Kyon didn't say anything.
"Anyway, listen up. It's one thing if you can't hear me, but don't think that just because you're in a hospital bed that I'll let you get away with ignoring me. This is really important."
She took a steadying breath.
"You've got to wake up. I know that napping your life away is probably a dream come true for you, but it's causing a whole bunch of problems for the rest of us. We've all been missing school to look after you. And if you don't wake up in time for the Christmas party... I don't like having to tell you this, but your reindeer act was going to be the highlight. If you call in sick on that, I don't think I'll even feel up to making my hotpot. The whole thing just won't be as fun.
"Mikuru gave up her first kiss trying to get you to wake up. Her first kiss could have been with someone special, you know?
"Koizumi's been all out of sorts. He excused himself twice today to take personal phone calls. That probably means he's having some other big problem, and we can't deal with it because we're too focused on you.
"Yuki's been acting weird ever since you fell. Kind of like she's in denial of what's happened to you.
"And you're giving me more grief than the rest of them combined. Nothing makes sense anymore. I keep thinking, how could this have happened? You always seemed like you had some mystic charm, like nothing could ever go wrong for you. You almost single-handedly turned that ballgame around for us. You got all the editing done for our movie in one night. Hell, you fell off a cliff while we were on our summer retreat, with me on top of you, and you just smiled at me like it was nothing! How can falling down a little flight of stairs do this to you?!
"I can't stand seeing you like this..." She wiped her eyes. "...but I'm afraid that if I leave you and go home, you'll slip away.
"Yeah, that's right... I'm terrified of you dying. I'm only telling you that because I trust you not to tell anyone. The leader of the SOS Brigade isn't supposed to show any weakness. It's her responsibility to her underlings to be strong. But I have feelings too, you know?
"So, please... Please, wake up."
Silence.
She poked him. "Hey. I meant right now. Come on, open your eyes. This just gets worse for me with every second."
Unbelievable. She was practically begging him, and he just continued to lay there.
"So that's how you want to play it? Fine. I thought you cared enough about me to stop this if I asked nicely, but I'm willing to bargain, too. How about this: You get to be brigade leader for a day - no, a week - and I won't hold you responsible for what happens during that time. Mikuru will wear whatever you want. So will Yuki, Koizumi, and I. The club will take part in - or not take part in, knowing you - whatever activities you want. On top of that, we don't have to talk about you being jealous while I was dating Takuma. But this offer is only good if you wake up in the next two minutes. Got it? The clock has started!"
She waited, tapping her foot. Kyon wasn't stirring. "Sixty seconds left.
"Forty-five seconds.
"Thirty seconds.
"You're running out of time, Kyon! Chance of a lifetime here! I'm never making you an offer this generous again! Ten seconds!
"Nine! Eight! Seven! Six! Five! Four! Three! Two! One!
"Zero." She poked him again, making sure he was still unconscious. "Well, you blew it, Kyon."
Haruhi found herself staring down at her knees. "Did you think I was lying? Well, I wasn't. I'd have done all of that if it got you awake right now."
She thought for a moment. "You're getting bored of me riding you about this, aren't you? I guess it must be a real pain, hearing all these people talking to you and about you and not being able to say anything. Well, I did bring reading material for us." She dug into her bag and pulled out some books.
She'd grabbed them from her "to-read" pile without much consideration to what they were. The first one was The 8-year Engagement. She glanced at Kyon and made a face. Yeah, that one would definitely be awkward under the circumstances.
"Here we go," she said, pulling out the next book. "Exit Game. It'll be a perfect warm-up for Koizumi's winter mystery game."
She turned on the light so she could read, and sat by his bedside. She read 42 pages worth to him, then gave a yawn.
"Alright, time for bed." She brushed her teeth and set out her sleeping bag. Koizumi had brought it for her when it became apparent that Kyon might remain in his coma through the night, but this was the first time she'd actually use it.
She gave him one last look. "Just in case I wasn't clear, you're not allowed to die. I mean, when you're 90 or so, fine, but right now, absolutely not. Until further notice, your heart is to keep on beating and your brain is to continue firing neurons."
Part of her told herself that she was babbling. But another part, a much quieter one, believed that maybe, Kyon would stay alive because of her saying that.
She turned off the light and got into her sleeping bag. "And I expect an apology when you finally wake up for all the worry you've caused me! Understood?"
It felt good to say that, but of course she expected no such thing. She knew what he would say when he woke up and she told him about the trouble he'd given her. He would remark that bashing his head and going into a coma wasn't his idea, maybe tack on some jib about how seeing her face upon awakening was ten times worse than any worry she might have had, and ask where Mikuru was. And she'd be fine with all of that, because at least then he'd be awake.
She zipped up her sleeping bag.
"Good night, Kyon."
END