Introspection
by Moonraker One

CHAPTER TWO

The magnitude of the moment had to end abruptly as he took off to avoid too many people seeing him. He would think about what had happened and what this new change by Haruhi meant, but right now, he had to avoid his name and picture being put in the newspaper. He knew exactly what danger would come. Damn it, he thought, if Haruhi finds out about this the shit's REALLY going to hit the fan. Taking off at a tremendous speed, he found that his senses caught up to him when he accelerated to unimaginable velocities. If the reality-warping girl with boredom issues had truly made him into a Kryptonian, like he believed she did based on what he'd just been through, then he'd have all the powers. But therein lay the problem. Haruhi knows next to nothing about DC Comics. I highly doubt she even understands his abilities, so God knows how my powers might work here in the real world. He had to be careful. He had his own beliefs as to how Superman's powers worked in the comic books, but this wasn't necessarily going to be what he believed.

It seemed as though everything around him had frozen in place. He saw the people as statues unmoving as he rocketed towards his school at thousands of miles per hour on foot. To him, it didn't seem like anything over a hard sprint that he'd usually give during a track meet. It dawned on him, despite his lack of scientific knowledge, that time had not frozen and that he merely could maintain his senses at much higher velocities than ordinary humans. Almost effortlessly did he weave through the sea of people, arriving at the front door to his school in less than a second. He stopped instantaneously, halting less than two feet from a fellow student. A gust of wind caused by the air displacement of a supersonic Kyon stopping immediately knocked the boy off his feet.

"Sorry about that," Kyon apologized, lifting the boy to his feet. Quickly did he head to the lockers where he retrieved his books for the early periods and changed into his school shoes. His first period came and he took his seat right in front of Haruhi. He tensed up rather thoroughly; he had to avoid doing anything that remotely seemed superhuman. She could not be allowed to witness something that might cause the laws of physics to be dramatically altered.

Haruhi sighed and rested her head on her hand. She wore a frown. "I still haven't forgotten how you directly disobeyed an order I gave by doing pointless activities, Kyon. Today, you're going to have to be punished!" As promptly as she said it, she went back to staring into space while the class began.

Kyon turned around. "You know what?" he thought about it. "Nevermind." He could not be bothered by any more of the girl's crap. He had too much to worry about, since class could pose a number of problems. Someone could hit him in the side of the head with a pencil and he'd have to pretend to be hurt, even though he might barely feel it. All in all, what she said took a back seat to what she could do.

"Good morning, class," the teacher said, "and because I'm not sure which of you are paying attention in class and which of you aren't, it's time for a pop quiz!"

Everyone groaned, rather predictably, but Kyon started to panic, since he hadn't studied the material. Of all the students in the classroom, he knew three of the ones who knew the material down cold sat near him, so he listened hard to see if they whispered anything. He could occasionally pick up what the person across from him said when whispering, which had made the difference in previous quizzes and tests.

"Take one and pass the rest back," the teacher ordered, placing stacks on each desk. Once the test came back to Kyon, he found he knew only two of the fifteen questions. Once everyone had started, he started listening. Sure enough, at least three of the questions, the other student answered by quietly talking to himself. Kyon looked at the student in front of him. He could see part of the side of the paper, but the student's body obstructed the rest. Kyon glanced carefully to see if he could make out the writing on the side, and something surprising happened. He found he could see the paper, as a circle of the student's body had become invisible.

Kyon practically shot backwards in his seat. He seemed perplexed until it hit him. Yeah, that's right, Superman CAN see through objects. He got back to concentrating. He answered the questions rather quickly, since he could see them clear as day. Upon finishing, he looked over the quiz. He could remember having read some of the answers in the book previously. Ah, now I remember having read that! How did I forget? He slapped himself in the head.

The class finished soon enough, and he found himself headed over to Physical Education. This would prove to be a rather difficult class to control his powers in. He went into the locker room and changed into his exercise outfit. Walking into the weight room, where the day's activities would take place in, he noticed that among the girls in the room, Haruhi was not among them. It helped his mood. Before he could greet his teacher properly, a cup of water splashed in his face.

"Okay, class, it's time for us to start the weight training session. I'm not going to require that you record your activities, but please, if you don't exercise on at least two separate machines I'm going to penalize you." The teacher then went over proper weight lifting techniques, and how to properly spot someone. As soon as he finished his spiel, which lasted about twenty minutes, he went into his office and left the class to their own devices. Kyon tried to ignore the student that had thrown water in his face, but found it impossible.

"Oi, Kyon," the significantly taller, muscle-bound student beckoned, "how did they let you in this class? Ah well. I guess everyone has to have their fair shot."

"Blow it out your ass, Komeda," he replied, heading in the opposite direction.

"Arrgh! How can you dismiss me, pencil neck? You've got a bit of muscle tone, but you haven't the strength to keep up with me!" He sat down on the seat of a bench press, with arms folded. "Are you chicken?" He leaned back. "Oi, Mashiro! Put about 150 kilograms on!" The fellow student, in awe of his upperclassman, continued to load weights onto the bar until it had close to 330 pounds on.

"There you go, sempai!" the scrawny boy said as he stood back. A member of the soccer team spotted the large Komeda while he pressed the bar a total of 5 times. He gritted his teeth and pushed hard with each repetition. He smiled. "You're great, sempai!"

"Sure I am," he agreed, looking at Kyon. "Let's see what you can do, pencil neck! Mashiro, why don't you take all the weights off. Let's see if pencil-y here can lift the 20 kilogram bar!"

Kyon held a hand out, grinning. "No, Mashiro, leave the weights on." He laid backwards on the bench press, gripping the bar with both hands. If Haruhi isn't here, then she won't believe it if anyone else tells her. He kept his grin as he looked to each of them. The spotter lifted the bar and he began pressing it. Making sure to grit as though it required effort, he lifted the bar and brought it back down for a total of 11 repetitions. To him, it felt like lifting an empty cardboard box. Once he put the bar back on the slot, he sat up and pretended to pant. "Does...that make you...feel any better...Komeda?"

The muscle-bound athlete angrily gritted his teeth the students began to look back and forth between the student who was six foot four easily, and the much smaller student who more than doubled his amount of repetitions with sheer amazement. "I...I don't know how a pencil neck like you did that, but I could've done more!"

Kyon folded his arms. "Then why didn't you?" Laughter came after his revealing his sempai's bluff. The muscular student went to his own corner of the weight room and trained in private. The young student Mashiro, whom Kyon had a whole three inches on, approached.

"Kyon! That was amazing! How did you do that?" His cheeriness reminded him of a male Asahina. "You lifted the same weight a bunch more times, and you're not even nearly as muscle-bound as Komeda is! How did you do it?"

Kyon looked at the parasite-like younger student. "My parents are mad scientists who make a superhuman potion that I drink, and it gives me super strength and makes me bulletproof."

Mashiro open-mouth smiled and almost jumped in the air. "Really!...?"

"No." He began to walk away. Still, the boy persisted.

"Seriously, Kyon, how did you do that?"

"I'm magical."

"Are you serious?...!"

"Of course not! Now go away!"

The boy got mousy. "But...can I hang out with you? I mean, I always hang out with Komeda, but he treats me like crap."

Kyon struck his face with his palm. Oh god. He's the henchman type student that hangs out with bigger students. He's like Igor to Doctor Frankenstein. Please, anything but this brat. "Look, I really think you should go do your own thing." He kept walking. The boy initially looked as though he wouldn't follow his sempai, but almost a second later, he stood right back at Kyon's side. "Fine, you can hang out with me."

"You need anything, Kyon-san?"

He looked the boy straight in the eye. "PLEASE don't refer to me by a suffix. I'm not your commanding officer." He kept walking. He wiped his eyes. Already his second day with these abilities and he'd managed to acquire a sidekick, despite not wanting or searching for one. How amazingly fucked up this day already had become, and all he had intended to do was stand up to Komeda for being a bully. He sat on a bench and began curling dumbbells with the proper technique. Mashiro emulated his upperclassman's posture and technique, albeit with much lighter weights. Kyon contemplated this pest at his side.

I can sort of understand Haruhi making me into Superman, but what's with this guy? Most superheroes have a sidekick, but not Superman! Does she really not know anything about the subject? He waited for the bell to ring. During his thought process, Mashiro stopped to rest and changed dumbbells several times, while Kyon forgot and kept curling the same weight the entire hour. He stood up and began walking towards his next class, while the student headed off towards his.

"I'll see you at lunch, Kyon!" Mashiro beamed, heading off.

He was glad to get rid of the parasite, even if only for a few class periods. At lunchtime, he got to the line a few minutes early and thus, to his table early, but he could not evade the squirrelly student. He sat and listened while the younger student talked about his comparatively boring life. Such small things were so important to someone who hadn't been through what Kyon himself had been through. They separated again after lunch, but as Kyon found himself alone in the hallway on the way to the club room, the guy appeared again.

"Oh yeah! I did hear you were in that club with Haruhi!" Mashiro yelled, approaching the side of his new friend.

"Let me give you a word of advice, Mashiro," Kyon assisted, "you don't want to involve yourself with Haruhi. She's a lot like a mixture of the violent tendencies of Akane Tendo from Ranma one half, the creepiness of a rapist, and the commanding presence of Joseph Stalin. She has a way of subverting your free will like Satan." He believed his description of Haruhi, while an understatement, gave at least a ball park figure.

Mashiro looked at him. "But...I want to hang out with you, Kyon!"

"Okay. Fine."

The two of them headed into the room and sat down. Asahina and Itsuki both noticed the new arrival. "So, Kyon, you brought in a new guy!" the esper boy replied.

"Don't ask me. He chose to come here."

Mashiro looked around. "What do you guys do here?"

"Whatever Haruhi decides to do," Kyon answered.

"We have to talk after the meeting," Yuki Nagato emotionlessly said to Kyon.

The door burst open. "OI!" Haruhi threw a piece of paper on the table. "We're going to go on a cave adventure, eh? There's a new guy?" She walked past Kyon and examined the student. "Kyon, did you bring this guy in? He looks cute! He's like a late bloomer that still looks cute enough to pass as a thirteen year old! He's the kind of kid you hear getting molested by a priest." She looked at Kyon. "You're off the hook of my punishment! This is a great discovery! He'll be the sister character to Asahina's maid! It's like a Victorian story where a maid and her brother have to work in a rich man's house to survive, and he has an affair with the sister!" She pulled the boy to his feet, feeling his shoulders and arms. "He's skinny enough to pass as a pre-teen!" She grabbed his crotch. "Ah, but boy is he developed!"

Kyon pushed him back and stood between Mashiro and Haruhi. "NO. Not again." He wore an angry stone face. "It was bad enough when you did this to Mikuru."

Haruhi stood back, perplexed. Sheesh, what's gotten into Kyon? He never acts this way! Her initial concern gave way to anger. How DARE he stand up to me! "Kyon, for that, you're going to be punished! Pay me for the food we're going to eat before our cave adventure!"

Mashiro sat down. Kyon opened his wallet and threw money on the table. "Just don't touch him or Mikuru." He sat down.

"Thanks Kyon!"

Kyon was trembling inside. His bravery had given way to a haunting realization. Oh shit. I really did it. I wasn't even thinking. I don't know what inspired me to do that, but I really did it. Now Haruhi's mad and she might fuck up the space-time continuum. He wiped his brow. He looked down at the table.

Itsuki got up and approached Kyon. "Do you have to use the bathroom, Kyon?" Kyon took the hint.

"Yeah, I have to use the bathroom." The two left the class room, Itsuki making sure no one was following.

"Kyon-kun? I don't exactly know what happened there, but my initial concern has turned out to be true. She's pissed off and closed space is starting to appear. Kyon, I respect what you did, but please, we have to give her what she wants, because the alternative is very bad."

Kyon folded his arms. "Itsuki, you KNOW that isn't right. She shouldn't be allowed to just fondle people. That's violating personal space."

"Well, I hope she gets over it soon, because it's just now starting to stabilize." He headed in the opposite direction. "I need to help my comrades. I think we can take care of this. Just don't piss her off anymore."

Kyon headed back towards the classroom. "FUCK!" he shouted in a whisper. Goddammit, that girl needs to be humbled without the world being at stake. If only she didn't have her damned powers! He headed back to the club room. "If only she didn't have her damned powers," he whispered to himself.

He sat down between Mashiro and Haruhi.

"Where's Itsuki?" she asked.

"Something came up, and he had to go. He got a call," Kyon lied.

Haruhi threw her papers all over the floor in anger. "You know what? Fine. None of you seem interested. Why do I even try with you boring idiots?"

Kyon approached her, sensing imminent danger. "Look, Haruhi, I really think it'd be amazing if we went on our cave journey." He said "our" instead of "your" for effect. She brushed him off.

"Bull. You're lying."

"Haruhi, please. Your ideas are very interesting. Maybe all of us are too many? Why not just you and me?"

She looked at him, her angry grin slowly turning into a smile. "You're an idiot, but why not? Maybe there is stuff that others will miss."

Kyon followed her as she began leading him. Oh thank God, he thought.