Suzumiya Haruhi no Kito
The Plan of Suzumiya Haruhi
Disclaimer: Many thanks to Tanigawa Nagaru-sensei for providing these wonderful characters! (And his writing style!)
Like everything else with Haruhi, it occurred spontaneously. It was December—North High, second year—and class was ending. Haruhi and I were preparing to go home when—
"Kyon!"
Hearing my name boomed out like that, I turned around.
"You don't have any prior plans this weekend, do you?"
None whatsoever. Of course, I knew perfectly well that coming from Haruhi's lips, that sentence was a statement, not a question, the "do you?" being a mere formality. Ah, well, at least I—or rather, she—won't become bored this weekend.
"I'll take that as a no. Let's go somewhere then."
Which most likely meant that Haruhi had thought up another pointless adventure for her beloved SOS-dan. Another city-wide search, I suppose. What is it this time? A kappa? A kirin? Maybe if we stand in the right spot and leap hard enough, we'll leap back in time by a month or so. Are you thinking of searching for such a spot?
But all I said was, "Have you talked to the others yet?"
"What do you mean, 'the others'? I didn't mean the five of us—"—and here her voice dropped a note—"—I meant the two of us."
Two? As in, me and her? As in...a date?
All I could really do was stare at her as if she'd suggested that we go scale the nearest mountain. Wordless seconds passed. Her intense brown eyes fixed upon me and immediately bored through my indecision.
"You, me, somewhere, together," she said as if explaining a simple concept to a child. "Well?"
Considering the SOS-dan's weekend adventures—which I often end up at least partially funding—she'll probably drain my pocketbook if I say yes.
"I will not 'drain your pocketbook'!" Now she seemed genuinely annoyed, grabbing my tie to show what she thought of that idea. "What sort of girl do you take me for? Anyway, how much could it possibly cost to go ice skating?"
...I think I can manage that.
"Then it's settled!" She let go of my tie and threw me her winning smile, the one I would always—over my outward reluctance—give anything to see.
"Be at my house. Saturday, 10 AM," she continued, "and if you're just one minute late, I really will find ways to drain your pocketbook!"
This last sentence she punctuated with a wink as she turned and left.
So. It's finally happened. After both of us dancing around the subject for so long, Haruhi's finally made the first move.
...wait a second. Do either of us know how to ice skate?
Author's notes — This is a scene that popped into my head as I was waking up this morning. I wrote it down, fleshed it out, and here you go. I may expand it into a longer story if I can think up some more ideas, but for now, I'm content to leave it as a one-shot.
You get a cookie if you can guess the reference in the "leap back in time" bit.
And as always, thank you for lending me your eyes. Ja ne!
— Flower of Paper
