The Sound of Haruhi Suzumiya's Heart
a Haruhi Suzumiya Literature Series' Oneshot
by : keindahaha
(HARUHI POV)
It was weird. I woke up on my bed in sweats like I just had a really bad dream. But what was the dream about? The only thing I remember was a really familiar strong fragrance and strong warm arms enveloped my whole body. It's been the second time I woke up like this. The first one felt so real and the second one felt like a memory of the first one. This time I could remember the smell very well. It smelt like rice, salt, and sweat. I swore I have smelt this somewhere close to me. I tucked back inside my blanket and tried to sleep before my alarm rang to wake me up.
"Haruhi, what's wrong?" A voice in front of me asked me. As usual that was Kyon.
"Nothing wrong. I just couldn't sleep well last night." I said and closed my eyes again as I was trying to sleep before the class begin.
Then it hit me. That familiar fragrance of rice, salt, and sweat, I could smell it so well. I forced my eyes to open and found no one but Kyon looked worried.
"Sure you okay? You have been acting weird since morning." He asked.
"Well, weirder." He added like somehow what I have always done in the morning was weird enough.
Was it Kyon's fragrance? I didn't know. I'm not some kind of animal who likes to sniff, right? I just gave Kyon a sigh and placed my chin on my desk again. Kyon let out a disappointed sigh and turned his body. A few minutes later, the teacher came and the lecture started but my mind was somewhere else and didn't pay any attention to the lecture.
By minutes and by seconds, the smell was getting me intoxicated. I could not help myself but I could feel my face flushed hot. My heart was beating so hard that I could hear my heart boom clapping loudly. The heat radiated from my face was making me sweating as hell. Oh god, what happened?
"Suzumiya-san, are you alright? You look flushed." The teacher noticed this.
"M… May I go to the infirmary, Sensei? I'm not feeling very good." I said to him.
"Sure, Suzumiya-san. You are really in a bad shape. You should take some rest." He said.
"Thank you, sir." I dashed out from the class.
Instead to the infirmary, my legs guided me to somewhere I knew too much. The SOS Brigade clubroom. I entered the room and took a seat in front of our computer. My heart was still beating hard. The sound of my heart was echoing inside the clubroom. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. It was embarrassing yet I felt good. Like my adrenaline was being pumped into my blood and made a huge euphoria on me. Okay, what's going on with me? Or more likely, what's going on with me and Kyon? Stupid Kyon.
(KYON POV)
It was lunch break and Haruhi still not coming from infirmary. What's going with her anyway? She came into the class with gloomy expression today and when the class started she suddenly look flushed like that and dashed out from the class. I could hear her heart beat, beating so loudly and hard. Was that just me hearing things or something? I ate my too-much-salt-rice-balls that were made by my sister. God, my stomach was going to kill me after school. I have decided to go for a walk since I really wanted to avoid that stupid Taniguchi today. But weirdly my legs carried me to one specific place. The SOS Brigade clubroom.
"Kyon! I need to talk to you." Koizumi suddenly appeared out of nowhere before I could reach clubroom's doorknob.
He led me to the staircase and climbed to the roof level of the building. He seemed didn't want to let anyone know about something he wanted to talk about.
"A huge closed space has appeared since this morning." He started.
"Well, I have no doubt. Haruhi has been in a very weird mood since this morning." I said to him.
"That's not the thing, Kyon. There's something is going on right now. The closed space is flickering." Koizumi said.
"Flickering?" I was confused.
"You know that usually the closed space destroyed after we defeat the celestials, right?" Koizumi asked me. I gave him a gesture of not sure.
"Well, this closed space is somehow different. It was flickering and beating like…"
"The sound of her heartbeat." I cut Koizumi.
That time I remembered how Haruhi's heart beat echoing in my ears earlier.
"Uhm… Yeah. That's right." Koizumi said in a little bit shocked tone.
"Haruhi has been acting really weird since this morning around me. That shocked look she gave me this morning, it was like she found something yet she lost it there too. I was a bit worried. Not a bit. A lot." I said to Koizumi.
Koizumi gave me a little teasing smile to me and patted my back before heading to the staircase.
"Well, you better solve this right now. I'm off to do some duties." He said and left.
The bell was ringing out loud so I got my ass moving to the class. Don't want to ruin my already ruined day with Mr. Okabe gave me a detention. When I arrived to the class, Haruhi was still not there. I saw her bag still hanging on the side of her desk and I assumed she has not gone home yet. I took a seat on my desk and placed my chin on top of my desk. I got a bit relaxed as I could hear my own heartbeat beating as humanely as possible.
(HARUHI POV)
I have decided to put the brigade activities on halt today. I picked a marker and a paper to write the announcement. I bet the only one will come in to this room when he read this announcement is only Kyon since I left my bag in my class unattended. I placed the announcement in front of the door and decided to take a nap in brigade room.
Earlier I heard Koizumi calling Kyon in front of this room. At lunch, I assume. Why did Kyon want to go to this room? And why Koizumi randomly appeared? Are they hiding something from me? Hey, nobody hides something from the Brigade Leader! As my train of thoughts filled my head, I started to slip out from consciousness and fell asleep.
Zzzz…. Zzzz…
Wait, there was that feeling again. The familiar strong fragrance of rice, salt, and sweat lingered around my nose. But the different thing was instead of the strong arms enveloped my whole body, it was just a light pat on my shoulder. Should I wake up?
"Haruhi…" A voice called me. Should I wake up now?
"Haruhi…" He called me again. I could feel my body was shaking.
"Haruhi!" The last one made me wake up from my short slumber. I turned to see Kyon was the one who was waking me up earlier.
"Kyon!" I gave him a small fist to his shoulder.
"Ouch! Hey!" He complained.
"You were surprising me!" I said and turned as I still not even dare to face him.
The room suddenly became painfully silent and uncomfortably awkward.
"Haruhi…" He said in a worried tone and broke the silence.
"Are you hiding something from me?" I started to interrogate him.
"Huh, what do you mean?" He asked.
"I knew you and Koizumi up to something. I heard Koizumi called you earlier at lunch. Are you hiding something?" I asked him again.
"N… No… It's not like that." He answered.
"Then, what's happening to me?" I asked him.
"What do you mean, Haruhi? Eh, hey!" I took his right hand and placed it on my chest, right on my heart.
I could saw blush spreading on his face as I have done a daring move to place his hand close to my breast just to prove him what's going on with my heart.
"You could hear it, right? It's echoing out loud just to have you close to me." I said to him.
"The sound of your heartbeat…" He said.
"This morning, I was having a dream. No. A memory. A familiar fragrance and strong arms enveloped me. I remembered the first time I felt this was at the night Yasumi-chan said that she was a middle school student. What have you done to me, Kyon?" I asked him again.
He stood there in silence and turned away his face. He pulled away his hand to his own side from my heart. I let a disappointed sigh when he did that. I decided to leave the room immediately and run from Kyon.
"Stupid Kyon!" I yelled at him.
"Haruhi! Wait!" I heard him yelling from the room but I didn't care anymore.
I could feel a hot tear rolling down on my face. Am I crying? What happened to me? I ran to the school gate and eventually bumped into Yuki-chan. She looked at me with that usual unimpressed expression. She gave me her hand and led me somewhere I never thought she would lead me to.
(KYON POV)
"Haruhi! Wait!" I yelled when Haruhi suddenly stormed out from the room.
I was left there in shock. Haruhi seemed remember a little thing about the night she almost killed. I still could feel her heartbeat on my right hand. It rhymed perfectly with the sound of Haruhi's heartbeat that I heard earlier. I took my right hand and placed it on my ear.
"THUMP… THUMP… THUMP…" I could hear my heartbeat synchronizing with Haruhi's.
I felt my heart slowly melt. I could feel warmth across my heart. Maybe Haruhi was right. It was me who has done something to Haruhi. I suddenly felt craving for Haruhi's heartbeat. I felt a need for being close to Haruhi. Is she trying to tell me something, too? What is this feeling?
I took a seat in the brigade room to calm myself down until I noticed Koizumi was in front of the door looking at me with that smile I wanted to pull off his face. He walked closer to me and gave me a pat on my back.
"I know what you are going to say. The closed space is getting bigger and more dangerous than ever, right?" I said to him.
"Yes, it's getting bigger but it's not getting any dangerous. The closed space is in a waiting state. No celestials or any kind of that in there. What's going on with you two?" Koizumi asked.
"What have I done to Haruhi, Koizumi? She kept saying that I have done something terrible to her. Yet, she has a fragment of memory of Sasaki's closed space." I said to him.
"To be frank, I don't know what things have you done to her. Even the memory part was very new to me. But I think you should ask a woman about this kind of things." He said and got ready to leave.
"You may want to fix yourself first." He said while pointing directly at my heart and left me alone.
A woman, huh? Tsuruya-san? No, she would make it worse. My sister? No, she was too young to even understand about this. Asahina-san? No, I would definitely get distracted before I could solve my problem because of her moe reaction. Nagato? Hmm, I guess there's no other choice. After all she was closer to me than anyone else. Nagato may a strange silent alien but at least she will listen even she didn't have anything to answer. She would answer with scientific mumbo-jumbo that I will never get it but at least she tried to answer it.
I have decided to visit Nagato's apartment ask her any advice she could provide. I took my bag, exited the room, and locked the door before I started to walk down the stairs slowly just to have myself thinking about earlier events.
(HARUHI POV)
Yuki-chan brought me to her apartment and let me took a seat under her warm kotatsu. She left me a little and came back with two cups of hot tea.
"Please enjoy." She said and silently took a seat in front of me.
I took a sip from my cup of tea. The tea made me a lot relax.
"Thanks, Yuki-chan." I said to her.
She nodded and started to get up.
"Wait! I want to tell you something!" I said and stopped her from getting up.
"You are the closest one with Kyon, right? Is Kyon hiding something from me?" I asked her.
"What's going on with me? When I am close to Kyon, my heart is starting to beat loudly like they are crazy on something. But when I told Kyon about this, he just stood there and said nothing. I want him to say any words but he said nothing. I felt my heart clenching hard and I decided to run from him. What has Kyon done to me?" I said to Nagato.
Nagato gave me a small nod as a signal that she was listening.
"There's a dream, no, a memory that has been haunting me since this morning. A unique fragrance of rice, salt, and sweat and strong arms enveloped my whole body." I made a pause to take a breath.
"I realized that was all Kyon's. He made me intoxicated and he made my heart beat beats loudly." I could feel my heart beat starting to beat loudly.
Suddenly, Nagato stood up and grabbed my wrist. She dragged me to her bedroom and forcefully made me sit in there.
"Wait until my signal. Don't let out any sound." She said simply and closed the door leaving me in the darkness of her bedroom.
Hey! Let me out! God damn! She locked the door. I let out a sigh and did what she has said, wait until her signal. I heard the intercom was activated and I was shocked from the voice that was coming from the intercom.
(KYON POV)
I pushed 708 to the buttons and activated the intercom.
"Nagato? Are you there? I need to talk to you. It's about Haruhi Suzumiya." And suddenly the apartment was opened like Haruhi's name was some kind of a magic spell.
The lift was showing the level I was going through. 1… 2… 3… 4… 5… Hmm… I wonder if Asakura live here again (since the recent event involving Data Integration Thought Entity, I could swear I saw Asakura and Kimidori back then). 6… 7… I finally arrived at the 7th floor of this apartment. I walked to the room 708 where Nagato was live and pressed the bell button.
Nagato opened the door and showed that usual unimpressed expression. She let me in and told me to have a seat while she was bringing cups of tea for us.
"Thank you, Nagato. I'm sorry for visiting you unnoticed." I said to her. She gave an affirmation nod.
I took a sip from my cup of tea and let out a sigh.
"Have you noticed any differences in Haruhi? She seemed a little bit off since morning and I am a lot worried of her." I asked.
She shook her head as a sign of negativity. I covered my face with my palm and let out a silly chuckle. I felt stupid. Haruhi was right. I was stupid. Stupid enough to even come to Nagato just for asking silly questions. Stupid enough to let Haruhi slipped out from your hands. Wait, what did I just thinking?
"Am I stupid, Nagato? Tell me, why I felt… this?" I gestured to all of myself.
"I'm craving for her heartbeat. I feel the need for her to be close to me. I feel my heart being melted away by the sound of her heartbeat. I…"
"I am afraid if I interfere with your errors, I would greatly affected by that and I cannot guarantee that I will not experiencing abnormal behavior and causing major catastrophe. The Data Integration Thought Entity suggests me not to interfere with your errors deeper." Nagato cut me before I could finish.
"However…" Nagato got up from her seat and walked to her room door.
I saw her murmuring (or chanting, I don't know) something and slowly slid the door. I wondered what she hid behind the door and I was shocked to see Haruhi was standing there. I saw tears coming from her eyes. Is she crying? Stop it! It's not Haruhi like! I walked closer to Haruhi. I raised my hand to wipe those tears away.
"Hey, stop crying. It's not Haruhi like." I said to her.
(HARUHI POV)
Yuki-chan seriously let him enter? What was he doing here? I could hear the front door opened. I assumed Kyon was entering the room then. I felt my heart start to beat abnormally loud. Oh, god. I think if I stay close to the door, Kyon would probably hear my heart beat and figured out that there was me behind Yuki's bedroom door. But I thought he didn't hear me because I could hear he walked normally to Yuki's living room.
"Thank you, Nagato. I'm sorry for visiting you unnoticed." I heard Kyon saying.
There were a bit of silence for a while before I could hear Kyon started to talk.
"Have you noticed any differences in Haruhi? She seemed a little bit off since morning and I am a lot worried of her." He asked.
There was a moment of silence after that. He worried about me? And it was not just a bit but a lot? Is he playing with my emotion right now? Tears? What is this? Haruhi Suzumiya is not a cry baby! I could hear Kyon chuckling from the outside.
"Am I stupid Nagato? Tell me, why I felt… this?" He asked again.
"I'm craving for her heartbeat." No, stop it. You were just trying to play with my emotion.
"I feel the need for her to be close to me." Stop it, Idiot. I could feel my heart racing and beating loudly.
"I feel my heart being melted away by the sound of her heartbeat." Just stop it.
"I…" Before he could finish the words, my tears were streaming everywhere and I could not focus anymore. Please stop, stupid Kyon.
But before I noticed it, Yuki-chan's bedroom door opened and revealed to him a tearful me inside. Please, I don't want to be exposed like this. I couldn't stop myself from crying. Why idiot? Why? I was trying to look away but he already touched and held my face gently so I couldn't do so. He wiped my tears away from my face.
"Hey, stop crying. It's not Haruhi like." He said in a soft tone.
His hand was warm and comforting at once. I calmed down a bit from his voice.
"Is it true? Things you said before?" I asked him.
"Yes, it's all true." He answered in full confident. I didn't dare to see him directly.
"Haruhi." He called me for an attention.
"What?" I looked into him for once.
"I love you." He said it.
He said it for god sake! And I froze on that spot at once. Shocked. But once I snapped myself, I knew I must answer him. I raised my hands to touch his warm face.
"Stupid, Kyon!" I said to him before I kissed him right there and felt his heartbeat close to mine. Today I let Haruhi Suzumiya's heartbeat not just hers but Kyon's.
.
.
.
By the way, I'm sorry Yuki-chan… I forgot you were there that time…