I trudged my way up the same hill I'd taken hundreds of times to get to school. Normally it was like a mini-marathon, which made PE a useless addition at school.

But when it was this hot it became a test of endurance. I didn't even know how far I'd gotten, as the merciless sun blinded me whenever I tried to even squint. It didn't help that my clothes were stuck to me like wet pieces of paper, or that my hair was matted to my forehead.

Still, I soldiered on, my jacket hanging loosely over my left shoulder. It was when I found myself underneath some shade that I was able to actually see how far I was from school. I let out a sigh of relief as I realized that North High was right around the next corner.

Something else caught my eye. Taniguchi was walking ahead of me by a few paces. He was walking pretty fast and didn't seem to mind the heat at all, as he was still wearing his school jacket.

Despite my lack of energy on having dragged myself up the hill in this hellish weather, I jogged forward a bit and caught up to him.

'Yo, Taniguchi.' I said simply, giving him a light slap on the shoulder.

Taniguchi turned his head to see me walking in stride with him. He eyed me strangely, looking me up and down seriously, before he finally spoke.

'Hey, Kyon.' He replied, much more sternly than I thought possible. Normally he'd greet me with his typical enthusiasm and ignorance. But I felt something was off immediately.

'Say, Taniguchi, did you end up going to the cinema with your girlfriend? You haven't stopped bragging about her since you two started dating.' I asked out of the blue.

'Yeah.' Taniguchi replied oddly. That was it. Why didn't he start raving about the subject as usual? You couldn't shut the guy up about his supposed "victories" over the fairer sex.

'Ok, then.' I said uncomfortably. We reached the school without another word between us and were already in the classroom, taking our seats silently.

What was with the guy? Was he sick again? Maybe his girlfriend had dumped him over the weekend and he was being somber about it. A rare moment of seriousness for him, I guess. Well, I wasn't the type to pry into such matters so I let him be for now. But I would ask him about it later.

As the rest of the class piled in, looking just as worn out by the heat as I was, I finally spotted Haruhi walking in through the door. She looked the same as always, with that little scowl on her face and a hand on her hip. She saw me a second later and I instantly noticed a strange gleam in her eye. Her scowl disappeared as she crossed the room in great strides and approached me quickly, now smiling mischievously.

I frowned a little. Great, what did she want now? Couldn't her antics wait until after school? At least in the clubroom I couldn't be stared at by my classmates. It was bad enough that people thought I was crazy for involving myself in Haruhi's inexplicable activities.

'This heat is terrible! Why didn't I wear my PE clothes like last time?' she started. No "hello" or "good morning" from her, typical. 'At least this skirt breathes my legs properly. I think you should try wearing a girl's uniform, then maybe you'll stop complaining about how hot it is these days?'

Weren't you the one just complaining about it?! And don't sound so serious!

'Hell no.' I replied simply as she took her seat behind me. 'As if people didn't think I was insane enough.'

Haruhi huffed and starting rummaging about in her bag. I turned away from her, waiting for Okabe-sensei to arrive. I cursed the school's lack of air-conditioning once again, and wondered why it hadn't magically been installed in the school. Haruhi whined about it all the time. Maybe I should talk to her about how nice it would be to have the whole school air-conditioned?

'Hey, Haruhi…' I started.

'Hm?' she muttered, not even looking up at me.

I stopped myself for a second. Wouldn't it be too suspicious if it were to actually work? Knowing Haruhi, she'd quickly catch on if the school suddenly had full air-conditioning right after I asked her about it. Or would she even notice?

No, I shouldn't mess with things any more than I should. Who knows what could happen? I quickly dropped the subject.

'Nevermind.' I sighed and turned around again.

Haruhi muttered something about wasting time and ignored me.

Okabe-sensei arrived a little while later, and the day began.

When lunch break arrived a few hours later, Haruhi tugged the collar of my jacket as I was getting up to leave for the cafeteria. Naturally, I fell back onto my chair and turned to her, frowning.

'"Hey, Kyon. Wait up." Maybe you should try it one time?' I said angrily. Haruhi just propped her chin on her hand and smiled. Not the good kind of smile, mind you. Did Haruhi even have a good smile?

'Kyon, let's arm wrestle.' She asked. How lame. Why stop me for that? And she hasn't let go of my collar yet.

'Let go, I've gotta eat something before break is over.'

Haruhi still smiled

'Don't waste time with that. Come on, if you win, then everything's on me for a year!'

That stopped me. It would be my one triumph over her. But what were my chances of even winning? Who knows how much strength she had in those arms? I knew firsthand how much energy the girl had. I hated to think about it, but being the centre of the universe had to be some sort of advantage.

I sighed again. Might as well get it over with. I always had to pay for everything on Haruhi's trips anyway, so losing wouldn't change anything.

'Fine. Let's just do it.'

Haruhi's eyes glinted evilly. She then planted her elbow on the table and offered her hand. I turned my chair to face her and did the same, locking my hand in hers. I felt scared all of a sudden, maybe her desire to win was so great that she'd end up ripping off my arm?

I started to sweat, If I hadn't been already.

She continued to smile, now baring her teeth. Haruhi was determined all right. Though her hand was much smaller than mine, I could feel her energy brimming through her fingertips.

'Ready, Kyon?' She asked. Or taunted more like it.

'Yeah, sure.'

So long, arm. I cursed not learning to use my left better. As if the mid-term exam wasn't going to be impossible enough.

'GO!' she yelled suddenly and in the space of half a second, I was an inch away from defeat.

I grimaced and fought back, trying my hardest to lift my hand away from the desk. I knew Haruhi was strong, but this was the first time I had actually tested her power.

Yeah, she was strong. I could barely keep my hand from slamming onto the wood of the desk. I strained my muscles and grit my teeth, if I was to lose then so be it, but I wasn't going to let her humiliate me more than she already has.

Haruhi hadn't even blinked yet. She still had that same smirk on her bright, energetic face. Her body didn't even budge, as opposed to mine shaking all over with the exertion.

Note to self. Don't arm wrestle with a god. Losing is a possibility.

'Ack!' I growled, frustrated. I'd been glaring at those unflinching eyes since the start of the stupid game, so I tried to look away and feign disinterest in the competition. I then realized that everyone in the class was crowded around us, yelling support for both of Haruhi and I.

Don't make this worse! Go eat your lunch or something! A stupid arm wrestle can't be this interesting to watch!

I turned my glare towards Haruhi again, and was shocked to see a few beads of sweat rolling off her brow. She was still smirking, but her lips were shaky, devoid of their total confidence.

Our hands had gotten at odds somehow, fighting for supremacy over the other. I tried to picture Haruhi paying for every meal the SOS Brigade would have in the future. I'd make sure to go on a food binge if that ever happened. Sweet, sweet payback, Haruhi.

I pushed myself harder, finally starting to overpower her. Her pompous confidence was gone now, replaced by sheer physical will.

Our faces drew closer to each other as it intensified. I didn't feel a thing at staring at her from so close, and I'm sure she must have felt the same. I just wanted to crush her, and finally show Haruhi that I wasn't a slave to be pushed around for menial labor.

My hand almost had her pinned, her eyes wideneding in astonishment. I could tell exactly what she was thinking. How could this idiot beat me? ME? I'm the Brigade Commander!

Time for my coup d'état, Commander.

I was grinning now, the same way she'd been at the beginning.

Then something happened. Something I'd never expected. Haruhi bent forward and kissed me on the cheek.

My concentration was shattered, and that was all she needed. With the strength of a tiger, she slammed my hand down on the table.

'Yeah!' she bolted up from seat and pumped a fist in the air, cheering jubilantly.

Damn it! That sneaky little cheat!

'Haruhi! The hell was that? I won't let that count!' I protested. I ignored my numb hand for the moment.

As a few girls around her clapped cheerfully, she simply stuck her tongue out at me, winking. She then promptly left the room, followed by a few awestruck students to the door.

I sighed once again. Why did I even bother thinking that I could beat her? At least my arm was feeling better.

A few students gave their condolences around me. Maybe they couldn't believe I had the guts to take her on in such a forward way.

'Urrgh.' I groaned and rested my head on the table in dejection. I should just go to the cafeteria and forget about it. At least I put up a fight.

And my arm, it was still tingling. Not that Haruhi had broken anything, but…

I clenched my hand.

What the heck was this? Why was my arm feeling so…normal? I'd gone all out in trying to beat Haruhi, should I still have full use of it?

…Whatever. What's the point? I'm just going to forget about it, and hope Haruhi doesn't gloat about it later.

Finally the end of the school day arrived. The sky had become a little cloudy so the heat had dropped considerably, but not far enough to warrant my sweater. I felt down, but thinking about Asahina-san's tea picked my spirits up a little. I guess I'll head to the clubroom and pray that she'd be there with that angelic smile. Ahh, Asahina-san, you sure know how to cheer me up. Without you, I'd have long since disbanded myself from the SOS Brigade.

Keeping the image of Asahina-san wearing that cute maid outfit as always, I found myself already in front of the SOS clubroom.

I knocked first, lest she was changing again. I made a mental note to have a quick look see through the MIKURU folder in the computer. Just to make sure it was still there, yeah.

'Come in!'

A voice called. My hand froze on the door knob. Who had that been? Not Asahina-san's shy little near-whisper, nor Haruhi's roaring tone.

I entered the clubroom to see Nagato Yuki at the other end, sitting on a chair as per normal, an open hardback book on her lap. Had it been her? Why was she looking at me like that?

Indeed, Nagato was staring at me as I entered the clubroom. Her look was…weird. Not Nagato weird but…weird.

'Hey, Nagato.' I greeted quickly, nodding my head.

Nagato's pale porcelain face gave a little smile.

'Yo.'

She went back to reading her book.

I stood there, dumbstruck.

Yo?

YO?

And she smiled? That was as strange as Asahina-san entering a kick-boxing tournament on her own will.

'You Ok?' I asked, taking a seat at the table.

Nagato looked up from her book again. Her tiny lips pouted a little as she fixed me with a coy gaze.

'I'm feeling pretty good. You?' She replied, blinking a few times.

Something was wrong with Nagato. Why was she acting…normal? By normal I mean like what any other girl in this school would act like. Besides Haruhi of course.

'Nagato, are you sure you're feeling Ok?' I asked again, concerned.

She arched an eyebrow and tilted her head a bit. My heart beat a little faster at seeing her like that. But that wasn't her, and I knew it. The amount of emotion she had shown me in the last minute was more than she had divulged since I first met her.

'I'm…fine.' Nagato giggled briefly, looking at me as if I'd just cracked a joke. 'Are you allright?'

I guessed I must've looked pretty idiotic at that point, as Nagato stood from her chair and approached me, looking worried.

'Kyon-kun. You look like you can't breathe.' She said, half-jokingly, her eyes widening slightly.

Then before I could get any more confused, the door to the clubroom was bashed open, hitting the adjacent wall loud enough to make me jump.

My first thought was of Haruhi, barging in to make another ludicrous announcement but I was completely taken aback when I saw Koizumi standing in the doorway, glaring at me.

Koizumi, glaring?

Nagato, smiling?

Had the world been switched again?

'You SONOFABITCH!' Koizumi yelled across the room, pointing a shaking finger at me. His usual carefree smile had taken a vacation. His delicate features were now contorted in obvious rage. Seeing Koizumi like this was more shocking than Nagato giggling…almost.

I was still at a loss for words. Turning my gaze away from the fuming Koizumi, I looked over to Nagato. She looked scared, her fearful eyes darting back and forth between Koizumi and I, her hands clutching her skirt nervously.

'Koizumi, what-'

That was all I could blurt out before I saw his fist hurtling towards my face.

I squinted my eyes shut, expecting an explosive pain on the bridge of my nose. Instead, I felt my body move on its own; my own hand swiping the attack away, my other hand taking hold of Koizumi's arm.

I opened my eyes to see Koizumi flying across the room before spectacularly flipping in the air and slamming into a bookcase painfully, blasting reading material in every direction as the bookcase itself toppled over and crashed to the floor.

Nagato yelped as an encyclopedia flew over head, ducking just in time.

Just as I was about to start to comprehend what had just transpired, Haruhi came bolting in through the open clubroom door, completely ignoring the groaning form of Koizumi and the fallen bookcase on the floor beside her.

'Hey, Kyon!' Haruhi addressed me, standing a little too close. She looked over the moon about something. Maybe how much money I owed her for trashing the bookcase? As if she didn't have enough leeway with me already…

'I want you to be my boyfriend!' She exclaimed happily.

Nagato gave a minute gasp from behind me. Koizumi didn't say anything.

'What…?' Was all I could manage.

Haruhi's smile just grew wider. I knew her enough to know when she was serious.

'So it's settled, then!'

I didn't say anything yet!

'You better not cheat on me, Kyon! Or I'll execute you myself!'

Koizumi let out a painful cough from his resting place atop the fallen bookcase. I turned to Nagato instinctively. She gazed at me silently, doing a pretty good impression of the real Nagato. She then looked away elsewhere, giving me the cold shoulder.

What was going on?

'Where's Mikuru? Who else is going to clean up this mess but the SOS Brigade's official mascot maid?'

I lowered my head and heaved yet another tremendous sigh.

I just wanted some tea.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

AN: Review please! Twenty seconds, tops. It means a huge deal to me!